6/24/2010 10:36:18 AM
Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University head men’s cross country coach Dr. Dennis Johnson announces the signings of five student-athletes who will study and run for Wingate University in 2010-11. The class includes Blake Coats (Timberlake, N.C.), Stephen Hammond (Warsaw, Ohio), James Lawson (Wake Forest, N.C.), Steven McAndrew (Felton, Pa.) and Kyle Osburn (Orrville, Ohio).
Coats was a four-time letter winner in cross country at Person High School, where he served as team captain for three years. While at Person, he also ran track and played tennis. Coats will be a Pre-Medicine major at Wingate.
A graduate of River View High School, Hammond was an All-Ohio Cross Country selection and a Academic All-Ohio selection his junior year. In the East Central Ohio League, he was an All-League selection in Cross Country three times and in Track four times. Hammond also played soccer and basketball at River View. He will major in Sport Management.
A North Raleigh Christian Academy product, Lawson helped lead them to a fifth-place finish at the 2009 NCISAA state championships. He has also posted the third-fastest time in NRCA school history. Lawson has ties to the South Atlantic Conference, as his father went to Carson-Newman College on a track and field scholarship.
McAndrew was a three-time district qualifier in cross country at Kennard-Dale High School. He was also a three-time MVP for the Rams’ cross country team. McAndrew will major in Athletic Training at Wingate.
Osburn was a four-time Ohio Cardinal Conference selection in cross country while at Orrville High School. Orrville won three district titles in track and field during Osburn’s career. He was also a member of the school’s Ohio state championship qualifying 4x400 meter relay team in 2010.
“This is a very talented group of guys we have,” Johnson says. “They are all hard-working young men. I have no doubt they will help lead our team to new heights. These guys fit the mold of what we want our student-athletes to be; well-rounded and strong academically with the desire to succeed athletically.”
The Bulldogs open the 2010 season September 17 at the Coastal Carolina University Invitational in Conway, S.C.
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.
Wingate offers 34 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education,
fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past four years.
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 36 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 45 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.