Different ball to bounce in several NCAA championships

The NCAA recently announced that the Association has signed contracts with Wilson and Spalding to provide official balls for NCAA championship events.

Wilson's "Solution" composite game ball will be the official ball used for NCAA men's and women's basketball championships in all three divisions through June 2007.

Wilson also will be the supplier for the official softball for the NCAA softball championships in all three divisions with its A9010SST ball. That contract extends through June 2005.

Spalding will supply the official volleyball for the NCAA women's volleyball championships in all three divisions and also the NCAA National Collegiate men's championship with its NCAA TF400 ball. That contract extends through August 2005.

Those official ball agreements affect only NCAA championships. Colleges, universities and conferences determine what ball is used for regular-season games and conference tournaments.

NCAA Web site adds nutrition section

The NCAA has created a new section on the Association Web site at www.ncaa.org to provide information on optimal nutrition, positive body image and peak performance for student-athletes.

It was designed to educate student-athletes on issues such as healthy eating habits, eating disorders, dietary guidelines and wellness.

The main page of the new section features information geared toward five target groups: student-athletes athletics administrators, coaches, athletic trainers and parents.

"The planning committee wanted to create a site that provided additional information to our target groups on the health and well-being of student-athletes," said Rekha Patterson, an NCAA intern and member of the group that planned the section.

Each target group has a link that leads to a secondary page that provides checklists, links to other educational programs and practical information specific to that particular target audience.

Useful links include those to fast-food nutrition tables and also to a free nutritional analysis tool.

The section was a cooperative effort involving NCAA interns, many of whom are former student-athletes; NCAA staff members; athletics administrators; and members of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.

"We hope this will be an educational site for student-athletes and everyone who has influence on student-athletes," said Patterson, a former basketball student-athlete at North Carolina A&T State University.

To access the new section, go to www.ncaa.org and click on education/outreach and nutrition and performance.

A records steal

When is stealing a good thing? When it's bases you're swiping.

Michele Dlugosz, senior center fielder for the King's College (Pennsylvania) softball team, has been a regular kleptomaniac this year. She ended her career with 157 stolen bases, breaking the old Division III mark of 150, set by JoAnn Heckethorn from The College of New Jersey in 1994.

Dlugosz was successful stealing 43 of the 47 bases she attempted to swipe this year, and with 157 of 167 in her career.

Nikki Flynn-Gregg of North Dakota State holds the all-divisions softball mark with 250 career steals.

Number crunching

Looking back

Pitching is a key piece of any softball championship puzzle, and Simpson College's Kelly Schade was a perfect fit for the Storm's title runs in 1997 and 1999.

Schade's four-year career was as dominant as any Division III hurler's. When she graduated in 1999, she took with her seven Division III single-season and career records (four of which she still owns), every Simpson career and season pitching record, and two national championship rings.

She tossed 20 no-hitters (two perfect games) during her stellar career, including a no-no in her first collegiate game, a 2-0 win over Benedictine University (Illinois) March 12, 1996.

Her awards are numerous. She won the 1999 Honda Award and was also selected with the University of Georgia's Matt Stinchcomb as the 1998-99 GTE Academic All-American of the Year. Schade also was honored at the 2000 NCAA Convention as a Today's Top VIII recipient.

On the field, Schade was a three-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association first-team all-American. Off the field, she was a three-time GTE Academic All-American and two-time College Division GTE Academic All-America Softball Player of the Year.

An economics major, Schade is the only player to be named Iowa Conference MVP in three consecutive seasons. She was a four-time first team all-conference selection and was selected to the all-tournament team in each of her four appearances at the Division III Women's Softball Championship.

Schade has rejoined the Simpson program in 2002 as the team's pitching coach and is married to former Simpson all-American football player Kenny Fry. The couple lives in Des Moines, Iowa, where Kelly serves as an accountant with Ernst and Young.

(Simpson sports information director Matt Turk contributed to this article.)