Lowmiller leads USF rushing attack

Comments (...)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Comments

Share

For more high school sports, visit McHenryCountySports.com

Ryan Lowmiller is aware of how fortunate he is to play college football at two-time NAIA national champion University of Sioux Falls.

“All I’ve known is playing in national championship games,” said Lowmiller, a Crystal Lake South graduate. “I feel really blessed to be in this situation.”

Thanks to Lowmiller, the No. 1 ranked Cougars (9-0) have their eyes on playing in a fourth consecutive NAIA title game next month and becoming the first USF team to win back-to-back titles.

“We’re really proud of what we’ve done,” said Lowmiller, a senior. “But we don’t let last year get in the way. We all have the same goal.”

Lowmiller, who has rushed for a team-best 713 yards and 13 touchdowns, will be a critical piece of the title hope for USF, which has gone 50-1 with Lowmiller on campus, beat NCAA Division I North Dakota, 28-13, on Oct. 17, and is on a 23-game win streak.

On Oct. 26, Lowmiller was named the NAIA’s National Player of the Week after rushing for a career-high 197 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns in a 59-7 win against Dakota Wesleyan two days earlier.

While playing only one half, Lowmiller broke TD runs of 7, 5, 4, 62 and 87 yards. While rushing for 13 TDs last season, Lowmiller had just two scoring runs over 10 yards. This year, he has four.

“Our coaches have been working with us a lot on breaking tackles, then identifying the safety and trying to make that one guy miss,” Lowmiller said. “We’ve been able to use what our coaches have taught us.”

For a team that is averaging more than 53 points and 250 yards rushing a game, Lowmiller’s role has expanded this season to being the third-leading receiver with 21 catches and one receiving TD.

“The coaches have given me a little more responsibility with more carries and they’ve split me out wide, and thrown me a few more balls,” said Lowmiller, who caught 16 passes combined in the past three seasons. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

Nobilio milestones: Northwestern senior libero Kate Nobilio earned Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors Monday while adding to her impressive career statistics.

While helping the Wildcats (13-11) to a pair of five-set wins against Indiana and Purdue last week, the Johnsburg grad compiled 42 digs to become the first NU player to record four consecutive seasons of at least 400 digs.

The weekly Big Ten honor was the fourth of Nobilio’s career, tying her for most all-time in the program’s history. Nobilio, who leads the conference in total digs (402) and digs a set (4.52), notched her 2,000th career dig Oct. 23 against Iowa to become the fourth Big Ten player to reach that milestone.

Nobilio is fourth all-time with 2,067 digs.

Red-hot hitter: Crystal Lake Central grad Cori Cooper was named the Midwest Conference’s Performer of the Week in women’s volleyball Tuesday.

A freshman outside hitter at D-III Lake Forest College, Cooper helped the Foresters (9-18) to three wins last week. In the victories, Cooper posted a career-high of 17 kills in back-to-back matches, then bested that effort with 23 kills in a win against Wisconsin Lutheran.

Cooper finished the season as the team’s leader in kills (301) and aces (44) and ranked second in digs (314).

Super stopper: Lake Forest College freshman Bri Schleibinger of Richmond-Burton was named Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 26 in women’s soccer.

Schleibinger earned the honor, her second of the season, by stopping 10 shots in three victories. She had a five-save effort in a 1-0 win Oct. 25 at Beloit, which was Schleibinger’s third shutout of the season.
 
SBlt Barry Bottino writes a weekly column and a blog about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at BarryOnCampus@hotmail.com and check out his On Campus blog at www.McHenryCountySports.com/blogs/oncampus.

Comments