Month: May 2020

OLLU’s athletic department is proud to announce the hiring of Crystal Brock as head coach for the competitive coed cheer and dance teams that are scheduled to begin their inaugural season in fall 2020.

Athletic Director Shane Hurley commented, “We are glad Crystal is already on board to begin forming our inaugural teams. She is a highly qualified individual who has had a lot of success throughout her career. I have every confidence that she will build our teams into a program of which the OLLU community can be proud.”

Brock is a native of Cedar Park, Texas, and she is expected to graduate with her Doctorate of Leadership Studies from OLLU in May 2022. She received her Master of Education in Educational Leadership/Administration from Concordia University – Austin and her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from Texas State University.

Since 2015, Brock has been the Fine Arts Dance Teacher, Dance Team Director and Communications Applications Educator at Brennan High School in the Northside Independent School District of San Antonio.

Brock said, “I want to guide these athletes as they use their spirit to tell their stories and be the light for their future successes. We all have a purpose and a calling; there is no doubt the OLLU Spirit Program is mine. I look forward to working with OLLU athletics and the university in paving a new tradition of athletes.”

Prior to Brennan, Brock directed the dance, cheer and pep squad teams at West Campus/South San Antonio High School. She also taught at the Elite Dance Company in San Antonio and Northwest Montessori School in Austin, Texas.

Brock is a member of the Texas Dance Educators Association and has been part of the Dance/Drill Team Directors of America, Inc. She is certified as a Five-Star Cheerleading Coach from the Universal Cheerleading Association.

In addition, Brock has extensive experience in ballet, jazz, hip-hop, high-kick, contemporary, modern, lyrical, open, novelty, field and African dance, as well as stunting, tumbling, jumps, muscle building and conditioning. She has choreographed, produced and directed performances for a variety of professional groups, school events and community programs. She has trained with the Austin Ballet Company and the Broadway Dance Center in New York.

Brock has also received numerous awards and recognition as part of her high school and college squads.

OLLU will become the only university in San Antonio and South Texas with competitive cheer and dance programs in the NAIA. Currently, out of the 251 NAIA institutions, 77 are sponsoring coed competitive cheer and dance. Other Texas NAIA schools with these programs include Texas Wesleyan University (Fort Worth) and Wayland Baptist University (Plainview).

Athletes interested in trying out for the OLLU cheer and dance teams can read about specific NAIA eligibility requirements online. Student-athletes can fill out a recruiting form here.

The volleyball team finished out its 2019 season with a 19-7 overall record and 8-4 record in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC). In the Saints’ 13th season, they earned the No. 3 seed in the RRAC Championships and fell to Huston-Tillotson University 2-3 (19-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-16, 11-15).

See overall record books here.

Sadie Ballesteros, Kalani Ketchens, Alyssa Marquez, Anyssa Rivera and Anissa Tamez earned All-Conference First-Team recognition, while Natalie Fazio was named to the Second-Team and Tijana Kruta received Honorable Mention honors. The Champions of Character winner was Rivera, while Marquez and Tamez were named to the All-Tournament Team. Ketchens received Newcomer of the Year recognition.

During the season, Tamez earned Setter of the Week five times, while Bailei Hubbard, Kruta, Ballesteros, and Faz received Attacker of the Week awards. Marquez was named Defender of the Week three times.

The women swept their opponents 11 times and lost one set seven times. The Saints played five sets four times and lost three of those. The team was only swept twice, while they lost three sets just twice.

Individual leaders include Kruta, who logged a .366 hitting percentage; Fazio with 245 kills; Tamez with 747 assists; Fazio with 44 aces; Kruta with 32 total blocks; Marquez with 470 digs; and Marquez with 31 receptions.

OLLU announced the resignation of Stephen Sherman, Assistant Athletic Director and head coach for cross-country and track and field. Sherman will be transitioning to associate athletic director at Texas A&M University-San Antonio (TAMUSA), which is an NAIA school that will begin its season in 2020-2021.

Athletic Director Shane Hurley commented, “We are grateful for Sherman’s years of service and for his dedication to our student-athletes. He developed our cross-country and track and field teams from their inaugural season through this year, and we know we will have big shoes to fill. We wish him much success at TAMUSA – we know he will quickly become a valuable asset there, just as he was here.”

Sherman has been the only head coach for the OLLU men’s and women’s cross-country teams and the men’s and women’s track and field teams. His cross-country teams began competing in 2009, and his track and field teams began their official season in 2015.

Aundrea Culliver put together an impressive indoor track and field season for her senior year. She competed in the OCU Invitational in Oklahoma to begin the indoor track season. She finished 10th in the 60m preliminaries with a time of 8.18. She also competed in the triple jump and took fourth place with a mark of 10.79m.

Culliver broke an OLLU indoor record in the triple jump at the Fas-Trak in Houston in January. She also helped break a 4×400 meter relay record in indoors as the Saints finished fourth with a time of 4:06.68. Culliver finished first in the triple jump with an 11.14m result at the Texas Tech Matador Qualifier.  

Culliver was named to the Red River Athletic Conference All-Conference team each of the past three seasons for the 400m. Academically, she has made has earned RRAC Scholar-Athlete recognition.

Culliver commented, “Everything happens for a reason. Nevertheless, I trust in God’s plan. I am beyond grateful and thankful for my parents, coaches, faculty and teammates who have been amazingly supportive.”

Even though the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.)  couldn’t award a men’s golf team champion this spring, league officials wanted to recognize players for their excellent spring performances – awarding all-conference and Champions of Character team honors.

All recognized players earned all-conference awards. The A.I.I. did not present any special awards, such as player of the year and coach of the year. Selected from Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) were Diego Garcia and Kane Ybarra, while Raul Gutierrez was selected to the Champions of Character team.