Owls Reap Weekly LEC Spring Honors

'KEENE, N.H. 3/28/05 - Seven athletes on Keene State College spring teams were recipients of Little East Conference weekly honors, it was announced on Monday.  The softball team swept the weekly awards with Kaity Conklin, Ashlee Nicholson, and Meghan McLoughin earning player, rookie, and pitcher of the week honors respectively.  Owl baseball pitcher Greg Ford and women's lacrosse player Lanaya Nelson received rookie of the week accolades, while Sarah Miller and Sarah Wood earned women's track and field honors. 

Leading KSC in hits (12) and RBI (9), Conklin helped the Owls to a 9-1 start with a .414 (12-29) batting average. The freshman from Selkirk, N.Y., has hit two doubles, a triple, and a home run to open her collegiate career.  She went three-for-four, driving in four runs in a 14-1 victory over Nichols College and a perfect three-for-three with an RBI in a 5-2 win over Salem State College.  Both games were played during the Owls spring week trip to Florida.

Nicholson, a freshman pitcher from Swanzey, N.H., has performed double duty for the Owls at the plate and on the mound.  Second on the team in batting average (.476), she has banged out ten hits, and tallied six RBIs..  Appearing in five games on the mound, Nicholson (2-0, 1.24 ERA) has pitched a total of 14.0 innings, fanning 24, and allowing but five hits two earned runs.

A senior pitcher from Brattleboro, Vt., McLoughlin has registered a 3-1 record with a 0.58 ERA in four games for the Owls.  In a 4-2 victory over Norwich University, McLoughlin set a new KSC record for strikeouts in a game (15), followed by a complete-game one-hitter in a 1-0 win over Bowdoin University.  She gave up just two earned runs on 12 hits and struck out 30 batters in a total of 24 innings. 

A Nashua, N.H. native, Ford helped lead the Owls to a 8-5 start by collecting 13 hits, including a pair of doubles and a couple of triples, for a .351 batting.  The freshman has also been the team's stopper on the mound.  He has pitched in five games, earning four saves, while fanning five, allowing five hits and no earned runs. 

Nelson, a freshman midfielder from Chester, Conn., tallied a total of six points on three goals and three assists to help KSC to a 1-1 week.  She netted two goals and two assists in the Owls' 10-9 loss to Springfield College.  Earlier in the week, she scored a goal and added an assist in an 8-6 victory over New England College. 

A junior from Walpole, N.H., Sarah Miller helped the Owls to a third place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational by placing first in two events.  Miller took first in the 400 meters with a time of 1:03.13 and was a member of the winning 4x400 meter relay team (4:18.26).  She also placed third in the 200 meter run (28.38).

Wood, a freshman from Gilford, Vt., had strong field performances in several events at the Connecticut College Invitational.  She won the discus (110-06), took second in the shot-put (32-06.50) and finished third in the hammer throw (113-07).