After earning Horizon League Freshman of the Year honors and shattering the single-season record for all-time freshman of the week awards (10), Green Bay’s Amari Davis has landed himself a spot on the coveted preseason first-team all-league.
Davis, who enters the 2020-21 season as a true sophomore, was the first player in program history to collect the honor of Horizon League Freshman of the Year. He also earned an all-league third team nod after averaging 15.9 PPG and 4.0 RPG.
The Trotwood, Ohio, native appeared in all 33 games for the Phoenix while starting 27 and broke the program’s all-time freshman scoring record, passing Tony Bennett and finishing with 524 points on the season. The stellar campaign placed him in the top 10 in league scoring while he finished second in the conference in field-goal percentage, shooting 51.4%.
First-year head coach Will Ryan‘s team was picked to finish eighth, while Wright State was favored to repeat as conference champions for the third-consecutive season. Newcomers Robert Morris and Purdue Fort Wayne are slotted to finish fourth and 11th, respectively.
The Green Bay women’s basketball team is slated to finish second in the Horizon League, as defending champion IUPUI was dubbed preseason favorite with all 12 first-place votes. Caitlyn Hibner is the lone honoree for Green Bay ahead of the 2020-21 campaign, earning a second-team nod from the conference. Hibner finished as a third-team member a season ago after averaging 9.6 PPG and collecting 7.4 RPG. It marks the first time in more than a decade the Phoenix women were not selected by the conference as preseason favorites. The last time Green Bay wasn’t favored to win the league was in the 2007-08 season, when the team finished 17-1 in conference play and 26-6 overall.
When former Bay Port athletic director Otis Chambers hired Kati Coleman as the varsity girls basketball coach in 2014, he took a chance on her despite a resume that featured virtually no coaching experience. “(Bay Port principal Mike) Frieder and Otis took a chance on me,” said Coleman, who also had a standout playing career at Ashwaubenon and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Source: Bay Port’s Kati Coleman steps down as girls basketball coach, Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Jermaine Rolle has been appointed deputy director of athletics at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Most recently associate director of athletics for compliance and student life at Minot State University in North Dakota, Rolle holds a bachelor’sin psychology from the University of South Florida and a master’s in sports psychology from Barry University in Miami.
Looking for safe outdoor activities? How about paddleboarding and kayaking, or camping?! UREC has sanitized equipment for rent including paddle boards, kayaks, canoes and everything you need for a weekend camping experience. Members of the UW-Green Bay campus and greater community are welcome to rent at this time, and you can learn safely in the “Intro to Stand-up Paddleboard (SUP) and Kayak course. “Learn how to set up and use your SUP by practicing fin placement, basic paddle strokes, and how to enter/exit the water effectively. Become a better kayaker by learning how to pack your kayaking equipment effectively and by practicing kayak-specific paddle strokes.” Everything you need to know including how to rent is on the UREC website or e-mail Ethan Harvey, harveye@uwgb.edu.
UW-Green Bay Phi Kappa Phi alumna Rosalyn Stoa received great news this summer. She was selected for the National PKP Fellowship Program for 2020. This award was given to graduate students only and Stoa was the chapter nominee for UW-Green Bay.
The application included a summary of her accomplishments, a personal statement, an example paper that she wrote, a transcript, and letters of recommendation. Compared to her grad school applications, she said this was a piece of cake.
“I actually had forgotten that I applied to this scholarship (‘COVID and all made time abstract’). It was awesome to hear and I was over-the-moon ecstatic when I got the news. I’ve applied for UW-Green Bay awards and scholarships, but nothing at the national level before, so it felt like I was breaking out of my little Green Bay shell,” said Stoa.
Rosalyn Stoa
The former Green Bay Phoenix swimmer and local Preble High School graduate was also a student researcher in Psychology. Due to COVID-19, she celebrated her Spring 2020 graduation by participating in Dive-Thru Commencement.
She recommends that students apply for any scholarships or internships that come their way and get involved in things that interest you.
“I would say that getting involved with a variety of things, such as research, club leadership, community service and having a good working relationship with your professors gives you a leg up. Communicate with your professors and have them look over application materials. Being open to new opportunities, even if they seem outside of your wheelhouse is extremely beneficial. If it doesn’t work out, you’ve at least learned something.”
She will receive an award of $8,500 for graduate school and is attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado to pursue a Ph.D. in Industrial Organizational Psychology.
Story by Charlotte Berg, intern, Marketing and University Communication
Keifer Sykes plays professional basketball in Turkey, not Los Angeles or New York. He hasn’t yet made his NBA dream fit inside his 6-foot frame. And life off the court has been pock-marked with losses and tragedies tied to the gun violence that has riddled the streets of Chicago for a century. The former UW-Green Bay star had his successes and heartbreaks documented in the award-winning 2018 documentary “Chi-Town.” Audiences saw Sykes become the first college graduate in his family’s history. They watched as he led Green Bay to a Horizon League Championship for the first time in more than a decade.
Being a student-athlete and a member of the U.S. Army National Guard during the pandemic can be hard, but to her credit, UW-Green Bay junior Taylor Reichow, a Computer Science major, excels at both.
The Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corp (ROTC) cadet and goalkeeper for the Green Bay women’s soccer team, earned distinguished honors this summer in her Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and received two awards — the Distinguished Honor Graduate Award for placing the highest in a series of tests and the Army Achievement Medal.
Taylor Reichow named Distinguished Honor Graduate
Her training took place at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. As a Multiple Launch Rocket Systems crewmember, Reichow learned things such as loading rocket pods onto resupply vehicles, military communication using the SINCGARS radio system and preventative maintenance checks on all vehicles used to shoot rockets. She did all of this in extreme (120 degrees Fahrenheit) heat!
Reichow shined from the beginning, but was nervous for the last test. “The sergeants and instructors had to give us our grades mid-way through training and to my surprise I was in the number one position with a 99.75%,” she said. “I was super nervous for every test I took because the last two were the most difficult ones. I wasn’t sure I could hold my spot because there was heavy competition. We had a field training exercise which was four days, three nights [and] I had to get a 96% in order to keep my position at No. 1, and with it, the Distinguished Honor Graduate Award.”
The Army Achievement Medal was later awarded when her Drill Sergeant in Wisconsin got word of her high achievements and he sent her name in to be considered. This medal is awarded to any member of the armed forces that distinguishes themselves by meritorious services or achievement.
She was honored by the recognition. “This is the best thing that has happened to me. I was thrilled that I was able to accomplish something this huge. Because I was the distinguished honor graduate, I was able to shoot my first six rockets while I was at training, which was everything I could ask for.”
Back on campus, she continues to train with Green Bay women’s soccer, and has also taken on leadership roles in the Women in Technology student organization. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a job in the technology industry while coaching either soccer or basketball to keep her love of the sports alive. Throughout all of this though Reichow will continue in the Army National Guard.
Two years in, Reichow joined the ROTC to be a part of something bigger than herself. She’s one example of a Phoenix rising to meet the expectations of her coaches, her teammates and her ROTC peers and leaders.
Mission accomplished.
Story by Charlotte Berg, Marketing and University Communication intern
A Sun Prairie assistant volleyball coach and Cardinal Heights Upper Middle School science teacher was named one of most influential leaders of UW-Green Bay history. Janelle Richard was honored to celebrate UW-Green Bay’s 50 year anniversary. Source: Sun Times.
