Northwestern University Athletics
Murphy's Mark: Wildcats Having Successful Spring
5/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
May 10, 2005
NCAA Events in Evanston
This weekend will be an exciting weekend for our athletic department, with two separate NCAA events being held in Evanston.
We learned Sunday night that our No. 1-ranked lacrosse team, which finished the regular season 17-0, was given the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championship. We host Mount St. Mary's at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 12. (Mount St. Mary's is the champion of the Northeast Conference and won a play-in game to make the NCAA Tournament.) If we win Thursday's game, we would host the winner of the Maryland-Princeton game at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Since NCAA women's lacrosse field has only 16 teams, our team could advance to the national semifinals in Annapolis on May 20-22 with two wins this week.
Our women's tennis team is hosting an NCAA Regional this weekend. On Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. we play Valparaiso. Immediately prior to our match, Notre Dame plays Iowa at 10 a.m. The winners of these two matches play at noon on Saturday. The winner of the Regional advances to Athens, Ga., for the NCAA Championships. We are the No. 5 seed in the tournament.
I encourage all of our fans to come out and support our teams for these exciting NCAA events. There will be great competition, and both of these teams have legitimate chances to win national championships. The last time Northwestern won a national championship was in 1941, when the men's fencing team captured the NCAA crown. Best of luck to both of these teams as they head into NCAA action.
Spring Success
While our women's lacrosse and tennis teams are receiving publicity for their successes, many of our other spring teams also are excelling. The softball team finished second in the Big Ten regular season standings (the regular season championship came down to the last weekend, with our team battling top-ranked Michigan right down to the wire), and heads to Ann Arbor this weekend for the Big Ten Tournament. Both the women's golf and men's tennis teams qualified for NCAA play. The women's golf team finished 14th at the NCAA West Regional while the men's tennis squad takes on Clemson this week in a regional at Georgia. The men's golf team played its best at season's end and finished third at the Big Ten Championships. Congratulations to Chris Wilson who earned an at-large berth to the Central Regional on Monday.
NFL Draft and Signings
Our football team fared very well in the NFL Draft, with three players drafted, including Luis Castillo, who was picked in the first round by the San Diego Chargers. Luis became only the eighth Northwestern player in school history to be picked in the first round. In addition, six of our players signed free agent contracts immediately following the draft. With nine players in NFL camps, this is obviously a sign that our football program is in good shape and respected by NFL personnel experts. Congratulations to all these players and best of luck as they start their NFL careers.
Darnell Autry
Those of you that live in the Evanston area may have noticed a familiar face walking around campus recently. Darnell Autry has moved back to Evanston and is enrolled as a full-time student. Darnell left Northwestern after his junior year in 1996 to turn pro. He was drafted by the Bears in the third round, and played in the NFL for three years with the Bears and Eagles. After his NFL career ended, he focused on acting and hoped to establish a career as an actor. When he left Northwestern, he was a year short of graduating, but made a promise to himself to finish his degree. While pursuing his football and acting careers, though, it was hard for Darnell to find time to complete his coursework. This winter, he decided that the best thing to do was to come back to Evanston and enroll as a full-time student. I applaud Darnell for this decision -- it's not easy when you are eight to 10 years older than most of your classmates -- and wish him the best as he completes his degree. In the long run, a degree from Northwestern, even if delayed a few years, will serve him very well.
