Notre Dame College leaves behind impressive sports history

Mar. 1—In a short time, Notre Dame College built an impressive array of sports programs.

History will confirm that over time but athletics at NDC will soon be a thing of the past. On Feb. 29, the college made official what had been rumored for some time — NDC will close its doors permanently at the end of the spring semester.

Recently, the men’s rugby team won the NCAA national championship and the men’s basketball team — which became an NCAA Division II program in 2012-13 — has been solid the past decade. It enjoyed immediate success when the Falcons joined the Mountain East Conference and defeated the nation’s No. 1-ranked team West Liberty.

Former Indians pitcher Len Barker — best known for pitching a perfect game for Cleveland in 1981 — was named head baseball coach at NDC when the school instituted the sport in 2005 and has been in charge ever since.

NDC will close its doors having 24 sports — 11 for men and 13 for women.

The most prominent success at the South Euclid campus occurred on the football field and wrestling mat.

The wrestling program began in 2006, and won two NAIA national championships in 2010 and 2011, and two NCAA D-II national titles in 2014 and 2017. NDC produced multiple individual national champions but Joey Davis stood alone as a four-time national champion who was 133-0 in his career. He’s one of three undefeated four-time NCAA champions in college, joining Cael Sanderson in Division I and Marcus LeVesseur in D-III.

The biggest impact of NDC’s closure is arguably football.

On the recruiting front, last month 18 players were listed by the school as signed with the Falcons — including the likes of Quintin Wilson of Willoughby South, Adrien Siembida-Williams of Elyria, Mitchell Lindsey of Wickliffe and others.

Players of note on the current roster include the likes of returning…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-college-leaves-behind-194700773.html

Author : The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio

Publish date : 2024-03-01 19:47:00

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