Looking Back and Ahead

It's officially on to the winter sports scene at UCO now that cross country, football, soccer and volleyball are over.

Soccer was the final fall sport to have its season ended, with the Bronchos going down in the first round of the national tournament last Friday night in San Antonio. The Bronchos gave great effort in that heartbreaking loss to St. Edward's, a game that could have easily gone either way.

Congrats to coach Mike Cook and his team for the way they bounced back after a horrible start to the season. And extra congrats to defensive stud Alli Miller for the post-season awards she continues to rake in. It was a pleasure watching that young lady perform for the Bronchos the last four years.

Now it's time to really get cranking with men's and women's basketball and wrestling.

The men opened their season Monday with an unbelievable 116-114 double-OT win over Emporia State. Both teams put on an amazing 3-point shooting display, one of the best I've seen in 22+ years at UCO, and the Bronchos pulled out a gritty win.

Ranked 17th in the preseason Division II poll, UCO is on the road for its next three games before coming back home Nov. 30 to host USAO. Do yourself a favor and come out to Hamilton Field House to check Terry Evans' team out.

UCO's women lost a tough one in their opener at Pitt State Sunday, falling 70-69 on a last-second three-point play. The 12th-ranked Bronchos have a tough road to hoe this weekend with games against top-10 NAIA powers Oklahoma Baptist and Oklahoma City in the SWOSU Classic in Weatherford.

Coach Guy Hardaker's crew will be challenged mightly by an early-season schedule that will see them play their first 10 games away from home with seven true road games and three neutral-site battles.

UCO's powerhouse wrestling program is off to a solid start, having had seven placers in each of their first two open tournaments while splitting their first two duals. The Bronchos won three individual matches in falling to OU in the opener, then won nine of 10 bouts in routing OCU earlier this week.

Dustin Finn has proven he's one of the top heavyweights in the country. A two-time Division II runner-up for the Bronchos, he knocked off the defending Division I national champion last week and that just doesn't happen very often.

Keep an eye out for 125-pound freshman Casy Rowell as well. He's one intense rookie and is quickly showing that he will be a force to reckon with this year. In fact, Coach David James has a number of young guys in the lineup right now -- five freshman started against OCU -- and that bodes well for the future of UCO's most successful program.