 |
URI names Thorr Bjorn to Lead Its Athletics Program
The University of Rhode Island has appointed Thorr D. Bjorn, near right, as its 11th director of athletics. Bjorn comes to Kingston after spending about 15 years at the University of Massachusetts, where he rose to the role of senior associate athletic director. Be sure to check the upcoming December issue of QUAD ANGLES for a Q & A with the new athletic director.
Assistant women’s track & field coach Kristal Yush, far right, placed second in the hammer throw at the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship held on June 23 in Indianapolis. By virtue of her silver medal, Yush earned the right to represent the United States at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro from July 13-29 and at the 2007 IAAF World Championship in Athletics in Osaka, Japan from Aug. 24-Sept. 2.
Ashhad Agyapong ’07, near right, placed eighth in his trial heat of the 100m dash and sixth in the first of four trial heats in the 200m dash at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship held in June at the Alex G. Spanos Track & Field Complex at Sacramento State. Agyapong was the first Ram runner to qualify for two events in the national championship race. A two-time co-captain of the men’s track & field team, Agyapong helped lead the team to five Atlantic 10 team titles and four New England Intercollegiate crowns. He was a 13-time Atlantic 10 champions in seven different events. Most recently, at the 2007 A-10 Indoor Track & Field Championship held on the Kingston Campus, he won the 200m and 400m dashes for the third consecutive year. He has captured five individual titles at the New England level. A three-time All-East selection, he provisionally qualified for the NCAA Track & Field national championships on three occasions. In March, he competed at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship in the 200m, where he finished 13th overall. The holder of every URI school record in the sprints—from the 55m dash indoors to the 400m indoors and outdoors—he has set or broken 16 Rhody records in his career.
Zach Zaneski, far right, played in the 2007 New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association All-Star Game held on July 22 at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Zaneski, who just completed his junior year, started 49 of the 51 games in which he played and finished the season with 50 hits (fifth on team) and 29 RBI (fourth on team) in 171 at-bats. He tied for third on the squad with 32 runs and was fourth with a .292 batting average. Defensively, the Rhody catcher recorded 309 put-outs and gunned down 17 would-be base stealers.
Three members of the women’s track & field/cross country team were named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America team. Katherine Guilfoyle ’07, Courtney Klenk ’07, and Emily Anderson ’06, right, earned accolades as top student-athletes. Anderson was named to the Second Team University Division Academic All-America team. The political science and economics major compiled a 3.95 grade point average, and was a recent recipient of a 2007 Atlantic 10 Postgraduate Scholarship. Klenk and Guilfoyle, both biological sciences majors, were named to the Third Team University Division Academic All-America squad. Klenk posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average and Guilfoyle maintained a 3.99 GPA while participating in the URI honors program, earning Dean’s List honors every semester.
