In July of 2009, William Jewell College (WJC) began the four-year transition from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division I to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II. The move was made by the institution because it was no longer able to identify with the other schools in the NAIA, and therefore felt it was time to graduate to a new organization, the NCAA. Now after three years of complete eligibility, Jewell has learned the ropes of being an NCAA Division II school, both in academics and athletics.

“The basic reason was not purely an athletic decision. It wasn’t the athletic department deciding what was best for athletics; it was the institution deciding what was best for the institution,” Darlene Bailey, Athletic Director, said. “It also was about image and positioning of the institution that we feel are more like us, affiliating with a national organization that we felt strongly about and also [a change that we] felt was sustainable for us in the long term.”

The four-year transition period included two years of remaining in the NAIA in the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC). Jewell was therefore eligible for the postseason even though schools are typically forced out of their conference when they decide to transition. In 2011, Jewell joined their current NCAA DIvision II conference, the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The GLVC sought out Jewell to join the conference, which was a good fit for the College due to the number of institutions in the conference similar to Jewell. The College was able to participate in postseason play in Aug. 2012.

“The GLVC has a number of private institutions that we feel fit being associated with, schools that are like us in terms of mission, academic rigor and program offerings. We felt the GLVC fit that in terms of the sports that they sponsored, location and private institutions [in the conference],” Dr. Bailey said.

Since the addition of the NCAA branding, Jewell athletics have had more success landing recruits than in the NAIA. The department believes the College is more attractive to potential student athletes because of the affiliation.

“Kids will not close the door on us because we’re NAIA,” men’s basketball head coach Larry Holley said. “We’ve also been able to get international students. They weren’t going to go NAIA, they were going to go NCAA Division 1 or 2. If we were NAIA, I don’t know that we would have gotten any of the international guys.”

Women’s basketball head coach Jill Cress spoke similarly to Coach Holley in regards to Jewell’s ability to recruit local students.

“Even around here with recruits you’d have to explain what NAIA was. The NCAA has helped distinguish us,” Cress said.

Joining the NCAA Division II and the GLVC have also come with some costs. The  GLVC is much larger geographically than the HAAC. Therefore, teams are having to take longer trips and are incurring higher costs for food and lodging due to an increased number of overnight trips.

“I don’t think we had one overnight trip in all the years I was at Jewell before moving to the NCAA. The expense of [overnight trips] in our operating budget is much more expensive because we’re paying for things like hotels, buses and meals,” Coach Holley said. “Now when we go to Drury [University] on Thursday, we stay overnight, travel to Rolla, and play Missouri S&T on Saturday. We have the added expense of two nights lodging and three days on a big bus.”

Academically, Jewell has been able to distinguish itself by receiving awards that are specific to NCAA Division II schools. One of the most notable is the Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence for achieving four year academic success rates (ASR) of 90 percent or more. William Jewell College has maintained 99 percent ASR for the past three years, placing in the top 20 of all NCAA colleges.

“The [Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence] measures the students that come to your institution, whether they graduate from your institution or not, that they graduate from somewhere. [Receiving this award] to me is a reflection that our coaches are recruiting students that fit William Jewell. This means that our student athletes are academically talented as well as athletically, and they want to be successful in college.”

 

The William Jewell College men’s and women’s basketball teams competed Sunday, March 1  in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) tournament. Only the top 12 of the 16 GLVC teams make the tournament. This year marks the third year in a row both teams qualified.

Both teams have appeared at the tournament each year since the transition to NCAA Division II in the academic year ending spring 2013.

The women’s team received the number seven seed in the tournament and hosted 10th seeded Maryville University Saints in the Mabee Center. The Cardinals hit a 3-pointer to start the game, but that was the only lead they would see on the day. The Saints shot 55 percent from the field in the first half. Jewell’s six 3-pointers in the first half helped keep them in the game, trailing by a score of only 46-41 at halftime. The Cardinals went cold from beyond the arc in the second half going 1-14. The Cardinals continued to battle but came up short with a final score of 79-75. The women ended the season with a final record of 15-12 (10-8).

“Our pressure was pretty good. No matter how much pressure we put on them they were making a lot [of shots],” Hayli Jo Smith, senior, said. “I would have loved to win. I don’t think we went out on a bad note, though. We worked hard. We fought. It was a battle.”

The men received the number nine seed in the tournament and traveled to St. Louis, Mo., to take on the number eight seed University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). The Cardinals shot 51 percent from the field in the first half and led the game 41-40 at halftime. Jewell went scoreless for six minutes in the second half to allow UMSL to gain a 14-point lead with 12 minutes left in the game. The Cardinals chipped away at the lead and trailed by only three points with 3:39 left to go in the game. UMSL scored on their next three possessions, forcing Jewell to foul and allowing UMSL to extend their lead. The final score was 80-68. The men finished the season with a record of 13-14 (9-9).

“It was a back and forth battle all game. We played well. We fought hard. They just had a little more firepower than us that day,” Jordan Lewis, senior, said.

Although both teams’ seasons ended in the first round of the GLVC Championship Tournament, Smith said the Jewell basketball program as a whole is on track for success.

“I definitely feel like [the women’s basketball program] is moving in the right direction. I feel like the girls that [Head Basketball Coach Cress] has now have the potential to keep going in the right direction. Coach Cress knows how to put a program in a great situation to win,” Smith said.

Lewis expressed his excitement for the future of the men’s team.

“We kind of all bought in. The seniors and some of our veterans kind of showed the younger guys what it means to really buy in and trust one another, but also trust the coaching staff,” Lewis said. “I’m excited to see what the younger guys can do in the years coming up. I think they have what it takes to bring this program into more of a winning program in the years to come.”

Two members of the Jewell basketball teams made GLVC All-Conference teams. For the women, Aerial Smith, senior, made 1st team all-conference by unanimous decision and the all-defensive team. For the men, D’Vante Mosby, sophomore, made 2nd team all-conference.

The men will lose four seniors: Jordan Lewis, Cyril Bilong, Christian Hildebrandt and Clint McCullough. These players provided almost 47 percent of the total scoring for the men this season.

This offseason, the Cardinal women will look to replace two seniors: four-year starting point guard Aerial Smith and starter Hayli Jo Smith. Aerial averaged 13.6 points per game (ppg) and 4.6 assists per game while Hayli Jo Smith contributed 10.4 ppg.

Hayli Jo Smith and Lewis are satisfied with the time they have spent on the Hill, both in the classroom and on the court.

“Being in this area and being at Jewell has opened me up to so many new things and new opportunities,” Hayli Jo Smith said. “To further my career here in basketball and to get my education was one of the biggest steps I’ve taken in my life.”

Lewis acknowledged the challenge of being a student-athlete at WJC.

“It wasn’t always easy. Like any player I had ups and downs. Overall, I’m definitely pleased with individually how I stuck it out and continued to work. That’s kind of what I like to be about: overcoming adversity,” Lewis said. “If you’re prepared for when you get your opportunity and you work, then good things are going to happen.”

The William Jewell College (WJC) men’s and women’s track and field teams competed Feb. 6 and 7 at the Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) Lion Invitational in Joplin, Mo. In the meet with 14 team members, the Cardinals hit personal best marks in 17 different events. With the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) meet in two weeks, the teams are preparing to produce their best performances at Conference.

Head Coach Tom Eisenhauer was happy with the overall performance of both squads.

“It was a great meet. We had a great showing out of our distance runners,” Eisenhauer said.

For the women’s team, Re’yven Lawrence, first-year, finished 17th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.11 seconds. Jessica Goldsberry, junior, finished 15th in the 800-meter run. Elaina Barella, first-year, finished 18th and Dylan Zinser, first-year, finished 25th. In the 3000-meter run, Elizabeth Stevenson, first-year, finished in 14th, while Lainey Foltz, junior, and Liria Gutierrez, junior, finished in 21st and 29th, respectively.

For the men’s team, Trevor Nicks, sophomore, finished 17th in shot put with a throwing distance of 14.16 meters. Uriah Heady, junior, finished 32nd in the one-mile run. Isaac Mattis, sophomore, finished 20th in the pole vault with a height of 4.11 meters.

“[The] kids are progressing well. People are improving and moving up on not only their personal bests but we also have many students who have secured a spot on our top ten all-time lists we keep for the college,” Eisenhauer said.

Gutierrez has also noticed the progression the team has been able to make over the course of the year.

“We had a really strong cross country season so coming off that, we’ve been trying to maintain momentum going into this indoor season,” Gutierrez said. “You can see it in the team making [personal records] every single week. People are consistently getting better. This past weekend was really difficult because it was such a long and large meet, but I think everybody stepped up and did what they needed to do. It was really good having that many people there to be able to push us to go faster and race harder.”

Both teams will compete in the Missouri Collegiate Challenge in Columbia, Mo., Feb. 20 before the conference meet Feb. 28. The athletes will be looking to fine tune their performances to set them up for the conference championship.

Some athletes are close to making the NCAA Division II provisional mark in their events, which means they may be able to go to nationals. Blake Alexander, sophomore, has made the provisional mark in the 60-meter hurdles. Julia Parker, sophomore, is less than five centimeters from hitting the mark in the high jump. Gretchen Mayes, sophomore, is two centimeters away in the long jump and two-tenths of a second away in the 60-meter dash.

The teams will transition right into the spring track and field season after the indoor championships. They will look to use their preparation and performances to push them into a successful spring season. They will be looking to bring home as many medals as possible from the GLVC Indoor Championship Meet.

“Our goal for the women is we’d like to be in the top 5 and there are 12 teams that compete in the GLVC. On the men’s side we’d like to be 7th or better,” Eisenhauer said. “In doing so, we also like to have several individual event champions. They do award a gold medal, silver medal and bronze medal at the conference meet, so the more golds we bring home the better.”