October is a busy month for Jewell’s fall sports. This year, the teams are looking at some crucial wins with a lot of talented players.

Football

Despite sophomore Tabren Yates leading a typically successful Cardinal Offense, the football team is sitting at a 1-5 record so far this year. There is no doubt that the “Agents of Change” have been showing signs of improvement every week — displayed by their win against Kentucky Wesleyan College a couple of weeks ago. With five more games to play, the team will hopefully utilize its talents well.

Volleyball

The volleyball team definitely has the talent to win a lot of games, whether it’s senior Haidan Baade recording her 1000th career dig at the team’s first Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) win this season or sophomore Bella LaPorta leading the charge with 284 kills. The team hopes to gain some traction within their GLVC standing in their upcoming Oct. 14 tournament against Lake Erie College.

Men’s Soccer

Currently the men’s soccer team is sitting at a solid 2-4-3 record with a three-way tie for most goals on the team between junior Cole Bulgren, junior Ethan Nichols and senior Carson Lee. They are looking at three remaining conference heavyweights at the GLVC with Quincy University, University of Illinois Springfield and Truman State University, respectively, for the rest of their season.

Women’s Soccer

Despite senior Corrine Hughes having an impressive eight goals so far this season, the women’s soccer team is sitting at a record of 1-11-1. The talent on the roster shows that it is entirely possible they turn their luck around as they face three conference rivals in the weeks ahead to round out the 2022 season.

Men’s Golf

It has been a rollercoaster of a season for the men’s golf team — having reached the heights of second place in the Kansas City Cup and third place at the Rockhurst Fall Invitational. Sophomore Aiden Sanders leads the team with the lowest score average of 75. The team has one final tournament in the form of the Oct. 24 and 25 Tulsa Cup in Oklahoma.

Women’s Golf

The women’s golf team received high placements at both the Kansas City Cup, third place, and Rockhurst Fall Invitational, second place. Senior Frida Hammarlund leads the pack with the lowest average score of 75.8 and was recognized as GLVC Player of the Week in late September. The team will play two more conferences this season: the Midwest Classic on Oct. 17 and 18 in Maryville and the Tulsa Cup on Oct. 24 and 25.

Men’s Cross Country

Performance for the men’s cross country team is high as they head into their final two competitions at the Baker Invitational and GLVC Championship. At the Oct. 8 Haskell Invite, the team placed fourth overall in the men’s 8k and five runners beat their career best time: senior Christian Santiago, sophomore Matthew Ingle, junior Harley Branch, sophomore Fabian Reyes and sophomore Samson Selleck. Santiago and Ingle both finished in the top 10 with eighth place and 10th place respectively.

Women’s Cross Country

The women’s cross country team is staying strong with two competitions left for the season at the Baker Invitational and GLVC Championship. The team placed sixth in the women’s 5k at the Haskell Invite with five runners beating their career best time: sophomore Lottie Vickers, sophomore Brooke Ware, first-year Lauren Flickinger, sophomore Carly Thacker and first-year Lillian Bogard. The team will face 15 college and universities at the GLVC Championship on Nov. 5, but overall their consistent performance should lead them to a good finish for the 2022 season.

Men’s Swimming

Having only started their season this past weekend, the men’s swimming team is off to a hot 2-1 start, having beaten both Maryville University, 226-31, and Truman State University, 121-83. The team scored four first place wins at the Truman State University competition: graduate student Austin Wolfe in both the 800 and 400 free, junior Conner Sawyer in the 100 free and junior Jose Carlos Sanchez in the 200 IM. The Cardinals will have to keep up their momentum through February to achieve their goals for a successful season.

Women’s Swimming

The women’s swimming team is showing signs of a winning season sitting at 1-1 after beating Maryville University, 187.5-59.5, in their opener. At the Truman State University competition, first-year Maddie Atwood placed first in the 50 free and sophomore Martina Torrent achieved first in both the 200 IM and 200 breast. It is no doubt this younger squad will have success throughout their season. 

William Jewell College’s Softball team is off to a slow start, but they still remain optimistic about the future. The Cardinals faced tough competition the past two weekends at the Lewis Dome Invitational and Drury Invitational Tournaments. 

After three losses the first weekend, Jewell battled back against Wisconsin Parkside for a 6-5 win. The Cardinals were down early in the Parkside game, but senior Allison Rawls helped the team make a comeback. Rawls – who is dedicating her senior season to her dad who recently lost his battle with cancer – hit the first grand slam of her collegiate career, putting the Cardinals in a position to win the game. The following weekend at Drury ended 0-4, leaving the Cardinals with an overall record of 1-7. 

There are many factors that affected the team’s record. Because COVID-19 limited their season, this was their first time seeing live at-bats and playing together as a team. COVID-19 has also impacted how personal the team is with each other since the team cannot gather as a group outside of practices and many of the players are first-years still getting used to the team and level of competition. 

“Normally we are super close by the time the season rolls around because we’re able to do a lot of activities both inside and outside of softball,” said Rawls. 

Despite a losing record, the team remains optimistic about the rest of the season. 

“I’m super excited for the rest of the season even though we’ve had a rough start,” Payton Totzke, sophomore said. “I’ve already seen so much progress and improvement of the team these past few games. We’re keeping our heads up and staying together knowing we will get better for the next few weeks!” 

Team unity remains an important factor for the team. 

 “For us, it’s important to stick together and have each other’s backs as we continue throughout our season. As a whole, we are very optimistic about how our season will go and look forward to getting better for our upcoming conference games,” Makenzie Stahl, first-year nursing major, said.

Win or lose, these women are excited to have the opportunity to play the sport they love. 

“I am so grateful that I’m able to finish my softball career this year. When our season got canceled last year I was devastated and worried about what this year would hold,” senior elementary education major Tori Farr said. “I’m taking advantage of every opportunity because now more than ever, I see how easily the game can be taken away from you.” 

The Cardinals begin conference play this weekend with a double-header at UCM March 7 and another at Drury March 12.

“The team’s preparation for this event cannot be explained in a paragraph or even the length of this newspaper. In short, we got this team to be as physically fit as possible and worked on their technique while pushing them to swim speeds that would help them compete to the level of competition,” said Gole.

“We do a lot of weights, and running as well as swimming to keep us in the best shape we can be in,” said sophomore international relations and french major Delaney Haralson.

Haralson finished the day by placing fourth in the 400 individual medley (IM) event.

“It’s a lot of work, but definitely necessary since we finish with a four day meet that basically lasts all day,” she said.

Many members on both teams had the best performances of their careers.

“The greater majority of the members of the men’s and women’s swimming program went lifetime best times in at least one or two of their individual events,” said Gole. “Only a handful did not go a best time and the coaching staff is still trying to figure out how that happened. I applaud the individuals that commit themselves to working as hard as possible to swim as fast as they do at the end of the year.”

Trey Roggenstein, senior recreation and sport major, was one of these Cardinals who performed well, placing fifth in the 400 IM.

“Everyone wants to be that one person to step up and lead the team,” said Roggenstein. “This year we had some great performances right from the first swim of the meet til the last one. I think many people surprised themselves with how they did.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams also took home the James R. Spalding sportsmanship award from the event.

“Winning the sportsmanship award on both the men’s and women’s side means a great deal to me and the program,” said Gole. “Supporting their teammates and cheering on their opponents has become something that the members of this program see as the right thing to do.”

According to Gole, the men’s team has won the award every year the GLVC has sponsored swimming, and the women’s team has won the award twice in the last four years.

“We do try to make it a point to be the loudest, proudest team by the pool, especially during finals,” said Haralson.

While a few individuals and relay teams will be making an attempt to qualify for the NCAA Division II national championships in March, for the majority of the team, this is an uplifting end to their season. Gole and the team seem eager to improve next season.

Photo courtesy of Jewell Athletics.

“It means a lot to me. I came in here as a freshman and my expectation was that there’s really not that many [first-years] that get to play,” said Cumbie. “It was my goal this summer to start and so I tried to work harder than everyone else. That’s why I feel so great about it, all the hard work finally paid off.”

Cumbie has had a quiet and hard-working demeanor since arriving on campus last summer from Flower Mound, Texas. His hard work paid off early as he was the only first-year to end fall camp without a redshirt. Soon after he found himself starting at center for the Cardinals, something very rare at any level of college football.

“There was a point in the season where I was lagging a little bit, maybe hitting a freshman plateau or something, when Coach Brown called me out on it,” said Cumbie.

Coach Quinn Brown has been the offensive line coach for Jewell Football since the spring of 2016.

“Coach Brown deserves a lot of credit, from last year’s [offensive] line to this year’s there was a huge improvement,” said Cumbie

While the offensive line does seem to have improved from last season, the unit still struggled this season. The Cardinals’ offensive line gave up 32 sacks this season, second only to Missouri S&T for most in the GLVC.

“[The All-GLVC selection] definitely lets me feel like I can take more charge of the team and make sure people aren’t skipping reps and working hard, maybe I can motivate more,” said Cumbie. “This gives me some more confidence to step-up a little bit more.”

Getting such a high honor so early in one’s career begs the question of where an athlete goes moving forward. Cumbie and Jewell Football hope that he can build off of this great start.

“This offseason is gonna be really big for us, the coaches are recruiting hard which is gonna improve our team,” said Cumbie. “I just gotta make sure I keep working hard and doing what I need to be doing, working hard in the classroom is the most important thing.”

Photo courtesy of Jewell Athletics.