Sports Briefs

Women’s rowing coach named
Heather Weisel, a former U.S. national team rowing coach and collegiate head coach who also helped lay the foundation of the ODU Rowing Club, has been named head coach for the university’s first intercollegiate women’s rowing team. Women’s rowing will become ODU’s 17th intercollegiate sport this fall. Rowing has existed as a club program since 1979.

Weisel served as head coach for the men’s and women’s teams at The College of New Jersey, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Lafayette College, and is a former member of the U.S. Rowing coaching staff.

She coached ODU’s men’s and women’s club team from 1988-94, which saw its membership grow from six to 60 during her tenure. She was an adviser to the team last year in addition to her work as a speech/language pathologist. She holds a master’s in speech pathology from the university.

Alums to compete at Beijing Olympics
Sailing standouts Anna Tunnicliffe ’05 and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Charlie Ogletree ’89 will represent the United States in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 8-24.

They will join another ODU great at the games, basketball Hall of Famer Anne Donovan ’83, the U.S. women’s basketball head coach. Donovan, who resigned last year as coach of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, received an NCAA Silver Anniversary Award in January in recognition of her significant professional and civic contributions since completing intercollegiate eligibility 25 years ago.

Tunnicliffe, a three-time collegiate national champion and current No. 1-ranked U.S. sailor, won the Laser Radial title to qualify for the Olympic Games.

This will be Ogletree’s fourth straight Olympic appearance. He qualified after teaming with John Lovell to win the Tornado Class.

Soccer team gets to NCAA third round
ODU’s hopes to compete for a national title in men’s soccer were dashed in Blacksburg Dec. 2 as Virginia Tech advanced with a 1-0 victory. The Monarchs ended their 2007 campaign with a second consecutive exit from the NCAA College Cup after the third round, and an overall record of 14-7-3.

The Hokies pulled ahead 1-0 at the break with a goal in the 23rd minute. The Monarchs also had five solid shots at the goal in the half, but were unable to come away with a score.
“It was a fairly even game, I thought,” said coach Alan Dawson. “Both of these teams battled today.”