LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS COMPOSITE CALENDAR
The 2016-17 winter postseason officially starts this week, as Ashland University's men and women will compete at the four-day 2017 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships.
Meanwhile, the jockeying for postseason position continues with the Eagles' women's basketball, men's basketball, wrestling and men's and women's indoor track and field teams, with less than a month remaining in the regular season.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (LINK) – No. 1-ranked Ashland (24-0 overall, 16-0 GLIAC) will look to set a new program standard for most consecutive wins to begin a season when it plays host to Lake Erie (7-15, 5-11) on Thursday (Feb. 9) at 5:30 p.m.
Starting the week as one of only two undefeated teams in NCAA Division II, the Eagles are two games ahead of Saginaw Valley State in the pursuit of their second straight GLIAC regular-season championship, and fourth in last six years.
ONE TO WATCH: Junior forward Julie Worley has scored double-digit points off the bench in seven of the last nine games, and already has scored a career-high 267 points this season.
MEN'S BASKETBALL (LINK) – The Eagles (14-8, 9-7) will look to solidify its position for a third consecutive GLIAC Tournament appearance when they take on Lake Erie (4-20, 3-13) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Kates Gymnasium.
Ashland comes into the week in a three-way tie for the No. 5 spot in the conference's overall standings, 1½ games ahead of ninth-place Walsh and two games ahead of 10th-place Saginaw Valley State and Hillsdale.
ONE TO WATCH: In the last four games, Ashland senior guard Adrian Cook has scored 66 points on 25-of-45 (55.6 percent) from the field, 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range and 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) from the free-throw line.
SWIMMING/DIVING (LINK) – Ashland's men and women will compete at the GLIAC Championships on Wednesday through Saturday (Feb. 8-11) at Saginaw Valley State.
The meet will begin each morning with preliminary swimming heats beginning at 10 a.m., followed by diving prelims at 2:15 p.m. Swimming finals will begin at 5:30 p.m. each evening, with diving finals occurring at 7:30 p.m. prior to swim relay finals taking place at 8:15 p.m.
ONE TO WATCH: Junior Grace Reichard's top times heading into the conference meet are 24.64 seconds in the 50 freestyle, 53.76 in the 100 free, 1:57.31 in the 200 free, 1:07.19 in the 100 breaststroke, 2:24.30 in the 200 breaststroke and 2:12.63 in the 200 individual medley.
INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD (LINK) – The No. 1-ranked Eagle men and No. 14-ranked AU women will split up and go to the Grand Valley State Big Meet on Friday (Feb. 10) and the Tiffin Open on Saturday (Feb. 11).
With two weekends remaining until the 2017 GLIAC Championships, Ashland's men and women will look to improve upon five automatic and 30 provisional marks for 2017 Division II indoor nationals.
ONE TO WATCH: Senior Nick Hall is ranked No. 7 in Division II in the 5,000-meter run (14:30.95).
WRESTLING (LINK) – No. 9-ranked Ashland (6-3) will finish its dual season on Wednesday (Feb. 8) at 7 p.m. at No. 11 Tiffin. AU comes into the dual with eight grapplers regionally ranked and five nationally ranked.
After the dual vs. the Dragons, the Eagles will turn their attention to the two-day NCAA Super Region II tournament, Feb. 24-25 in Indianapolis, Ind.
ONE TO WATCH: Sophomore 157-pounder Colton Ullman is 16-5 in 2016-17.
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