Duo Wins Brown Cup
by Bryan Messerly
Men’s basketball senior Kevin Pittsnogle and women’s soccer senior Karrie Hutchins won the 2006 Red Brown Cup, presented annually to WVU’s most outstanding all-around student-athlete, in terms of athletic, academic, and civic achievement.
This year marks the fifth time that a tie occurred in the voting. Winners are selected by the WVU Athletic Council.
Pittsnogle, a four-year letterman from Martinsburg, was named to the John Wooden All-America team, becoming WVU’s first basketball All-American since 1972. Also tabbed a third-team All-American by the NABC and honorable mention All-American selection by the AP, Pittsnogle was named first team all-Big East after leading the Mountaineers in scoring this season at 19.3 points per game. He finished his career with 1,708 points, ranking sixth in school history, and ranks as WVU’s all-time leader in three-point field goals with 253.
Pittsnogle graduated last December in three and a half years with a degree in athletic coaching education and has appeared on the Big East Academic All-Star and Athletic Director’s Academic Honor Roll lists.
A native of Wheeling, Hutchins was a four-year letter winner. She was a three-year starter for the WVU women’s soccer program, starting 45 of 49 career matches as a defender. The Mountaineers posted 30 shutouts with her on the field. Hutchins suffered a career-ending injury during the second match of the 2005 season.
Off the field, Hutchins earned a bachelor’s degree in business and graduated in the top one percent of her senior class. She earned numerous academic honors: one of WVU’s Top 30 Outstanding Seniors, CoSIDA academic all-district team, Athletic Director’s Academic Honor Roll, and Big East Academic All-Star. Hutchins is also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma (business honorary), the Golden Key Society, and a counselor for the Soccer School of Excellence. She will graduate in August from WVU with an MS in professional accountancy.
Building a Dream
by John Antonik and Drew Epperley
Wrestling Coach Craig Turnbull used to stand outside the WVU Coliseum, point to a soggy patch of land between the Coliseum and the baseball field, and tell high school recruits they were going to wrestle there.
Now, that soggy patch is being turned into a new wrestling facility thanks to a generous gift from the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust. The $1.3 million, 9,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art training complex, located adjacent to the WVU Natatorium, is projected to be completed in late summer.
The complex will accommodate four full wrestling mats, which doubles the current practice space, and an aerobics area with treadmills, bikes, stair-step machines, and other exercise equipment. The facility also will house offices and a locker room for coaches, a reception area, and team meeting room.
“This is a huge step in the ultimate goal of taking a big swing at winning a national championship,” said Turnbull. “Now we can run a practice where our wrestlers can really open up without fear of getting hurt. We were able to show the architectural drawings to this past year’s recruiting class and had a nationally rated top ten class, which included our first-ever true freshman All-American Brandon Rader. We look forward to being able to walk our recruits and their families through the new facility. It should have a significant impact on our recruiting.”
The complex will also be a training facility for Olympic athletes, and Team West Virginia will be able to prepare for the Junior Nationals here. The Mountaineer Wrestling Club for children also will use the facility.
“Former wrestlers Dominic Black and Sam Kline had to move to Colorado after they graduated because that was the only place for the next level of training,” said Turnbull. “Now they won’t have to do that—they can train right here in Morgantown.”