FOOTBALL

2010 RECRUITING CLASS ANNOUNCED: On Wednesday, Feb. 3, Notre Dame Head Football Coach Adam Howard announced the addition of 54 student-athletes to the NDC football program. Notre Dame's 2010 commitments include 48 high-school players and six college transfers. The class is comprised of players from five states - in addition to the wellspring of talent culled from the Buckeye State, NDC recruited student-athletes from Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Pennsylvania.


MEN'S BASKETBALL

THIS WEEK: NDC will play three games; the Falcons will be on the road for a key American Mideast Conference North Division match-up at Roberts Wesleyan (N.Y.) on Tuesday (Feb. 9) and then home for games on Thursday (Feb. 11) and Saturday (Feb. 13).

LAST WEEK: Notre Dame (17-8, 9-3 AMC) went 0-2, losing consecutive games for the first time since mid-December. Despite the losses, NDC still has a one-and-a-half-game lead on Malone in the AMC North Division, with two weeks remaining in league play… Sophomore forward Eric Dummermuth (Dover, Ohio) scored 45 points and garnered 22 rebounds over the Falcons' back-to-back losses.


WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

THIS WEEK: The Falcons will be on the road Tuesday and then at home on Thursday and Saturday. NDC's Tuesday (Roberts Wesleyan) and Saturday (Northwestern Ohio) tilts will be AMC games. Notre Dame comes into the week in fourth place in the 14-team circuit. The Falcons will be looking to hold their place or improve it, thereby ensuring an AMC postseason game at home.

LAST WEEK: Notre Dame split a pair of AMC games, winning at Malone on Feb. 2 and then losing at Cedarville on Saturday (Feb. 6). Junior forward Kealy McNally (Rocky River, Ohio) paced NDC on the week, scoring 30 points and grabbing 14 boards. Fellow junior Yvette Hunter (Jamestown, N.Y.) scored 25 points over the two road games despite suffering in injury in NDC's 88-66 loss at Cedarville. In that game against the Lady Jackets, Hunter logged her 1,000th career point, becoming the ninth player in program history to do so.

NDC ON STO: The women' and men's teams will have their home basketball double header on Saturday, Feb. 13, broadcast on SportsTime Ohio (STO). The NDC Men's game against Northwestern Ohio will be aired on tape delay at 10 p.m. on Feb. 13. The Women's game will immediately follow at midnight. … STO will rebroadcast the men's game on Sunday, Feb. 14 at noon, and the women's game at 2 p.m. The women's game will also be rebroadcast on Monday, Feb. 15 at 10 p.m.

POINTS IN THE PINK: The Notre Dame Women's and Men's basketball teams will be adding pink to their traditional Blue & White on Tuesday, Feb. 16, when the Falcons participate in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Pink Zone breast cancer awareness initiative. The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone™, formerly known as "Think Pink", in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year a success. Presently, the Cancer Fund has raised 1.7 million since the program began. In their Feb. 16 AMC doubleheader against Daemen-N.Y. (6, 8 p.m., Murphy Gymnasium), NDC will wear pink accessories, including shoelaces, to show support for the cause. Fans attending the games are encouraged to wear pink for a chance to win prizes. A donation box will also be on hand in an effort to raise money for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.


WRESTLING

THIS WEEK: Notre Dame's final regular-season match is scheduled for Sunday, when the Wrestling Falcons host West Liberty (W. Va.) in a 1 p.m. dual meet at Murphy Gymnasium.

LAST WEEK: The top-ranked (NAIA Coaches' Poll) Wrestling Falcons won their eighth straight match with a 45-3 drubbing of Mount Union on Friday. NDC won nine of the 10 bouts against the Purple Raiders, collecting four pins and three major decisions along the way. Derek Foore (Wadsworth, Ohio) pinned ranked Bill Schindel (NCAA Division-III No. 6) to run his season record to 20-0. … Notre Dame (9-1) has now whipped eight straight foes by a combined score of 268-34, and the Falcons have scored a whopping 136 points over their last three matches. In tallying 45 team points at Mount Union, Notre Dame has now topped the 40-point mark in three straight matches and five times this season.

A ONE AND A TWO…: Notre Dame remained in their No. 1 spot in the NAIA Coaches' Poll in the latest publication of the rankings on Tuesday, Feb. 2. The Falcons have now spent 11 weeks atop the national circuit's Top-20. … Defending national champion Adam Koballa (Twinsburg, Ohio) slipped to No. 2 from the No. 1 perch he had occupied since preseason. Cumberland's Mikey Davis, 12-4 on the season, replaced Koballa at No. 1. With his win at Mount Union Friday night, Koballa is now 26-2 this season. … Derek Foore retained his No. 1 ranking at 197. Overall, NDC had five wrestlers ranked at No. 2 among the 10 weight divisions.


TRACK & FIELD

THIS WEEK: The Falcons will travel to Bowling Green, Ohio, to compete in the All-Ohio Championships. That meet will be contested over Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13.

LAST WEEK: Notre Dame competed at the University of Findlay-hosted Division-II Challenge on Saturday, and the Falcon men and women placed 18th and 14th, respectively. On the men's side, the NDC effort was highlighted by the 4x400 Meter Relay (Tolliver-Leyland-Gay-Sheffey), which placed sixth with a final time of 3:27.26. The Notre Dame women earned four Top-10s - Shawnta Davis-Akron, Ohio (ninth, 400 Meter Run), Noelle Johnson-Warrensville Heights, Ohio (sixth, Triple Jump), Samantha Murphy-Columbus, Ohio (eighth, Shot Put) and Tiffany Tucker-Akron, Ohio (sixth, 60 Meter High Hurdles).

TOP SHEFF: Demar Sheffey (Euclid, Ohio) had productive day in Findlay on Saturday. In addition to anchoring the men's sixth-place 4x400 relay effort, the junior speedster also ran a personal-best 22.70-second time in the 200.

A DOSE OF THE DEUCE: Notre Dame competed in a field of mostly D-II programs on Saturday. NDC Athletic teams are competing as Year-One Candidates in the NCAA-II application process in 2009-10.


SWIMMING & DIVING

GEARING UP: Notre Dame (Men 4-10, Women 9-5) was idle last week. The Falcons are preparing for their final two events of the season - the Appalachian Swimming & Diving Conference Championships (Huntington, W. Va., Feb. 19-20) and the NAIA National Championships (St. Charles, Mo., March 3-6).

DANDY DOZEN: To date, 12 NDC swimmers (three men, nine women) have qualified for the NAIA national meet. Those 12 athletes have qualified for a total of 31 events. Greg Pristov (Madison, Ohio) headlines the NDC men's squad; he has posted national-qualifying times in six events. Emily Whittington (Pickerington, Ohio) has qualified in five events on the women's side.


BOWLING

THIS WEEK: Notre Dame will be idle until Feb. 20.

LAST WEEK: On Saturday, NDC competed at the fourth American Heartland Conference (AHIBC) event of the 2009-10 season. Results were unavailable at press time.


SOFTBALL

RANKED AND READY: NDC Softball has been tabbed as the No. 19 program in the nation, according to the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was released on Tuesday (Feb. 2). The Falcons return five starters and seven letter winners from last year's 34-11 squad that swept the AMC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA National Championship Tournament. The Blue & White are scheduled to open their season at the Smash Hit Tournament in Savannah, Ga., on Feb. 27… No other AMC squad made the Top-25 in the poll. Defending national champion California Baptist was selected as the No. 1 team in the country. The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the NAIA's 26 conferences. The first regular-season poll will be announced on March 23.