ECU Athletics
Teri LaJeunese, Sports Information Director
ADA – While we might not be able to get on the field right now to make more memories or win more championships, here is your chance to vote on your choice of our most memorable teams.
For the next two weeks the opening round of voting will start, with the 1993 NAIA National Champions earning a bye into the second round, as the only team in Tiger history to claim a national championship.
Watch the @ECUTigers Twitter and East Central University Athletics Facebook pages or on www.ecutigers.com for a story each day about the teams and why they are memorable in ECU history. Fans can vote on Twitter, Facebook or here for two days to push a team to the next round.
The winners of each round will be revealed after all voting in the round is completed and we will continue to vote until we get an overall winner.
Now on to the second set of teams, the 2012 men’s and women’s cross country teams against the 1995-96 women’s basketball team.
The 2012 men’s and women’s cross country teams made history in Ada, claiming both Great American Conference championships, in just the second year of the league.
The men’s teams picked up its second-straight championship, while the women’s team claimed its first title after finishing second in 2011.
The Tiger men saw four runners earn a spot on the All-GAC First Team; Cale Eidson (2nd), Arturo Nava (3rd), Austin Christian (4th) and Jonathan Ogan (10th). The women had four runner on the All-GAC First Team and two more on the All-GAC Second Team; Samantha Bartlett (2nd), ReGina Germaine (3rd), Aundrea McKinney (5th), Colleta Maiyo (8th), Katie Bruner (2nd Team) and Minhuyen Nguyen (2nd Team).
The season also saw head coach Steve Sawyer named coach of the year on both sides and propelled the team to the NCAA DII Regionals, with the men finishing 11th and the women 16th.
The second team in the 1995-96 women’s basketball team, who the ECU Pesagui called “one of the most memorable seasons in school history.”
The Tigers finished the season with a 30-5 overall mark, the best in team history, and saw the team make their first trip to the NAIA National Tournament. The Tigers, who had just eight players on the rosters, were led by a duo that remains all over the ECU record books, Rebecca Cotton and Gina Farmer.
Cotton finished her two-year career with the Tigers after the season as, at the time, the all-time leading scorer, with 1,348 points. Farmer spent one more season at ECU and ended up taking over the scoring lead with 1,631 points, in two seasons. The pair also account for 21 other ECU Top-10 records.
The success of the 1995-96 team did not stop at the end of year, as the next three seasons saw the Tigers finish with 19-9, 20-11 and 20-8 records. The success was also crucial as ECU make the switch from the NAIA to the NCAA starting in 1997.
Voting will run through, Thursday, April 23 at 10 p.m.