MSSU hires assistant women's basketball coach

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

Missouri Southern women's basketball coach Ronnie Ressel has announced the addition of Chamissa Anderson as a new assistant coach and head JV coach for the Lions.

"We are extremely excited to add coach Anderson to our staff," Ressel said. "She had been at KCK the last three years as an assistant coach working for coach McKinstry and was a part of KCK's 2016 National Championship team. Coach Anderson is a high-energy coach with a great work ethic and a passion to help young ladies be successful."

Anderson comes to Southern after three years with the Lady Blue Devil Women's Basketball Team at Kansas City Kansas Community College. Anderson assisted with recruiting, video coordination, individual workouts, practice and game preparation and monitoring study halls.
In 2017-18, KCKCC was ranked in the top 20 during the season with a 21-11 record and a team that included 14 freshmen on the roster. Freshman Lillie Moore was named All-Conference and All-Region. The team included five Lady Blue Devils ranked in the top five in the region in various different offensive categories.

In 2016-17, The Lady Blue Devils ranked top-20 in five of the twelve regular season polls. Despite the loss of four starters and 80 percent of the offense and rebounding from the national championship team, the Blue Devils finished 19-13 while competing in arguably the most competitive conference in the nation. Two Blue Devils, Brooklyn Wagler and Brie Tauai, were named to the NJCAA second All-Region VI team.

In 2015-2016 the Lady Blue Devils reached 33 wins for only the 2nd time in program history. The team's 33rd win was a 81-59 win over Illinois Central to win the 2016 NJCAA Division II National Championship; first time ever in school history. The team won every National tournament game by a margin of 19 points per game. The Blue Devils were led by All-American and National Tournament MVP Cheyenne North and All-Tournament selections Erin Anderson and Brooklyn Wagler.

For two seasons (16-17 & 17-18), Anderson has also helped coach the Next Level Eclipse AAU basketball team in the Kansas City area.

Anderson finished her collegiate career at Trinity International University. As a two-year starter for the Lady Trojans she averaged double figures in both scoring and rebounding and was ranked 24th in total rebounds in NAIA Division II in her senior season in 2010-2011. She graduated with a BA in Sports and Wellness Management in 2011, she continued at Trinity as volunteer assistant coach. Prior to TIU, Anderson played one year of collegiate basketball at Siena Heights University before transferring to Ellsworth Community College in 2009. While at Ellsworth, she set a single game record for rebounding and is listed in the Top five rebounders in a single season in Ellsworth history.

In addition, her coaching experience includes two years as head junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach at Chicagoland Jewish High School and coaching AAU basketball for Full Package/All In Athletics in the Chicagoland area.

"I'm extremely excited to work with the staff here at Missouri Southern," Anderson said. "This is a great opportunity and I can't wait to get to impact another women's basketball program and I'm ready to get back on the court. This is one of the premier Division II conferences in America and it'll be great to compete with some of the best women's basketball programs in the country."

Cardinals select third baseman as top draft choice

(From the St. Louis Cardinals)

The St. Louis Cardinals, armed with three selections during the first night of the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, selected a high school infielder, college pitcher, and college first baseman.

St. Louis selected third baseman Nolan Gorman out of Sandra Day O'Connor High School in Phoenix, Ariz., with the 19th overall pick in the opening round. The Cardinals selected right-handed pitcher Griffin Roberts with Competitive Balance Round A pick (43rd overall). Due to the offseason signing of Lance Lynn, St. Louis was awarded a Second Round Compensatory pick (75th overall) and selected first baseman Luken Baker as the club’s final pick of the night.

Gorman, 18, stands 6-foot-1, 210 lbs. and hails from Phoenix, Ariz. The left handed-hitting third baseman batted .419 (116-for-277) with 32 home runs, 118 RBI and 115 runs scored in his high school career. As a senior, he helped lead the Eagles to their first 6A State Championship, hitting .421 with 10 home runs, 46 walks, a .640 on-base percentage and .896 slugging percentage in 32 games. Gorman was showcased on all-star teams and for USA Baseball last summer, and won multiple home run derbies, including the 2017 MLB High School Home Run Derby during All-Star Week in Miami. He also took part in home run hitting contests at Wrigley Field and Petco Park. Gorman is good friends with left-handed pitcher Matthew Liberatore, who was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 16th overall selection earlier in the night. Both players committed to the University of Arizona.

Roberts, 21, the Cardinals Competitive Balance Round A selection out of Wake Forest University, is a 6-foot-3, 210 lb. right-handed pitcher, who broke the Demon Deacons’ career (12.39 K/9 IP) and single-season (13.50 K/9 IP in 2017) records for strikeouts per nine innings.

Baker, 21, the Cardinals Second Round Compensatory Pick out of Texas Christian University, is a 6-foot-4, 265 lb. first baseman who hit .347 (181-for-572) with 28 home runs and 129 RBI in 145 career games for the Horned Frogs. A prolific home run hitter, Baker hit a home run every 12.6 at-bats his junior year and once every 18 at-bats in 145 games throughout his college career. He reached base safely in 134 of his 145 career games.

Rounds 3-10 of the 2018 draft will be held today, beginning at 12:05 p.m. CDT. St. Louis has the 17th pick in the third round (95th overall), then the 19th pick in each of the following rounds.

MSSU's Allie Heckemeyer named MIAA top female student-athlete

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

Missouri Southern senior track and field student-athlete Allie Heckemeyer has been named the MIAA Ken B. Jones Award winner as the top female student-athlete in the MIAA the league announced tonight at its Awards Celebration.

Heckemeyer is the third Lion to win the award in its history, joining Shally Lundien (1994-95) and Matt Meyr (2000-01).

Heckemeyer was not the only Lion getting attention tonight as former football player Richard Jordan was inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame.

The Ken B. Jones Award goes annually to the league's top male and female student-athlete. Finalists were selected from a field of 12 male nominations and 11 female nominations at various MIAA member schools. A committee of 15 administrators in the MIAA and conference office ranked each nominee to determine the finalist.

Heckemeyer was this year's E.O. and Virginia Humphrey Award winner as the top student-athlete at MSSU. She was a Glen Dolence Award Winner, given for leadership by Missouri Southern. She is also a two-time NCAA Elite 90 Award winner, which goes to the top GPA in the gender at the NCAA Championships site. Heckemeyer is the school record holder in the indoor and outdoor triple jump, as well as the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon and was All-MIAA this year in four different events. She was the MIAA Champion in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon.

Heckemeyer finished third in the heptathlon and sixth in the long jump this year at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships, earning All-America honors in each event.

She is a team captain, a member of Catholics on Campus, Delta Kappa and Alpha Chi honor society and K-club and earned a 4.00 GPA in Kinesiology, graduating Suma Cum Laude.

Jordan was a four-year letter winner and a three-year All-American with the football Lions in 1993-96. He earned All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association honors all four years with the Lions, including first-team accolades over his final three seasons. Jordan shared MIAA Defensive Most Valuable Player honors in 1995 and won it outright in 1996. Later in 96, Jordan was named the defensive MVP of the Snow Bowl, an NCAA Division II all-star game now known as the Cactus Bowl.

The three-time first-team all-region selection was later chosen by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round of the NFL draft. Jordan, a special teams standout and reserve linebacker, won the Detroit franchise s Chuck Hughes Award as the team s most improve player in 1998. Jordan later signed with the Kansas City Chiefs before an injury forced him from the game.

A native of Vian, Okla., he ranks second all-time in MSSU history with 406 career tackles and 20 career sacks. His 136 tackles in 1996 led the team and was the fourth-highest single-season total in Southern history. Jordan had eight sacks in 1995, tied for the second-most in club history. His son Richard Jordan, Jr. was part of the 2018 MSSU football signing class.

Jordan joins Sallie Beard, Pat Lipira, Rod Smith, Warren Turner, Tom Rutledge, Jim Frazier, Eddin Saintago and the 1992 Softball Team as inductees into the MIAA Hall of Fame.