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| 2002 MUSTANGS EMBRY-RIDDLE DAYTONA BEACH TRIP SUMMARY |
| The Brossart Mustangs returned home this morning after a "super-duper" (Sophomore Michael Schenk's words) trip to Daytona Beach and Embry-Riddle Team Camp. We departed Alexandria at 5:15pm on Thursday, June 18th, drove all night and arrived at Daytona Beach on Friday morning. Our first order of business was to compete to the best of our ability in the Embry-Riddle Team Camp. We entered teams in both the varsity and JV divisions. Several players rotated between the two. A total of thirty-two teams participated in the weekend-long event. |
| At 5pm on Friday evening the varsity took center stage at the ERAU Fieldhouse to play Gainsville, the 1999 and 2000 6-A (Big School) Florida State Champions. Gainsville led at the end of the first half 34-33 but it was all Brossart in the second half as we wore down our first opponent and posted the 67-55 upset. The JVs followed suit at 6:05pm by defeating Atlantic (a local team) 38-27 in what was to be their first of eight consecutive victories. Play continued through Friday night with the varsity falling 58-53 to Charlotte and the JVs beating Jupiter 37-25. On Saturday, the JVs ran the table by defeating Miami Menendez (42-37 OT), Lake Weir (43-24), Bronson (42-39) and Deland (51-50 2OT). The varsity defeated Neace (51-40), Bishop Kenny (48-31), and Jupiter (45-41) before falling to Atlantic on their home floor 42-48. On Sunday morning the varsity tagged a 50-40 loss on Lakeland while the JVs defeated Walton Verona another Northern Kentucky team who invaded Daytona Beach for the weekend, 35-24, wrapping up our camp competition play. Both teams found time to attend mass on Sunday morning in Port Orange. In tournament action, the varsity took the measure of Pine Ridge 51-35, before falling to Deland 53-57. The JVs rocked Miami Menendez 31-18 in their opener before running out of gas vs Atlantic 45-52. Deland went on to win both the Varsity and JV tournaments. |
| The varsity game was all out war. The Deland post player is a sophomore and already one of the tops in the country. It was very enjoyable watching him play even though he was the opponent. Brossart BigMan Derrick Rhoden did a creditable job defending him and used his size and muscle to score on him offensively. Brossart lost the varsity game 52-57, but the measure with which we competed was indeed a bright spot signalling good things to come from our varsity squad. The varsity finished camp with a 6-3 overall record, while the JVs posted an 8-1 mark after going undefeated through their regular camp schedule. On Sunday evening we moved to the Sunshine Beach Motel right in the heart of the action on Daytona Beach. There we went about the business of winding down and enjoying the rest of our stay in Daytona. On Sunday night we had dinner at Sonny's Bar-B-Que and wolfed down ribs, chicken and pork. Monday was a "free day" in which our players went "sight seeing," played football in the surf, swam in the motel pool or went fishing from Main Street Pier. We had dinner as a team at an "all you can eat" buffet which was very tasty as well as being highly accomodating. That night we partook in what has become a trip tradition, our annual Go Kart races. Unfortunately, it rained most of the evening and we found ourselves competeing on a wet track. My track record for the previous two trips was impeccable, losing only to Nick Ziegler in '99 and Paul Rhoden (who cheats) in 2001. This year I was quite sure that I would be able to dominate the 2002 field, however I quickly discovered that being 260 pounds is no advantage on a wet track and that I am no mudder, turning in three disappointing efforts, while failing to ever negotiate the hairpin lefthand turns. This was particularly upsetting to me as I had the pole in the third heat, but again failing to maintain traction, was tag teamed by Evan McDole, who had no consideration at all for my health and well-being, or mental stability, driving me into the first wall and Mitch Orth, who I thought was my friend, effectively T-Boned me out of competition. I did manage to recover and finish just ahead of a twelve year old girl who managed to draw into our last race field. All I can say is "Wait Till Next TIme." |
| Tuesday unfortunately turned rainy by noon and put a damper on our activities for the day. Myself, Derrick Rhoden, Evan McDole, Brad Seiter and Ryan Anderson took to the pier just before the rain started and fished throughout the rains until it was time to head back and get ready to go home. Together the group probably caught about 30 fish, but the largest of which may have been only a foot long. We headed home at 3:45pm and drove through repeated rain storms through Jacksonville and Lake City. Once we turned north on I-75 the rain cut us some slack and we had clear sailing the rest of the way home. We arrived back at Brossart at 7:45am this morning. We are appreciative to all those who contributed in any way to the success of our trip, especially our drivers Dan Henry, Bill Schlarman, Joe Koehling, and the coaching staff. We thank ERAU Coach Steve Ridder for being so accomodating as do we Barbara Lingenfelter and her family who went out of their way to make us feel at home at the Sunshine Beach Motel and to Coach Willie Schlarman who has the vision to organize such events and allow our players to experience the good times associated with being a member of the Brossart Mustangs Basketball program and to our players who conduct themselves as gentlemen and make our jobs easy in allowing us to provide them with these opportunities.............Coach Schabell |
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