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Milne, Muhlenberg Making Noise

Jamestown Native Leads Mules Into NCAA?Division III Quarterfinals

Jamestown High School graduate and Muhlenberg College head football coach Nate Milne has led his team to an appearance in the 2019 NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals.

The Mules, who hold an undefeated record of 12-0, will hit the road on Saturday to do battle with the University of Salisbury with an opportunity to advance in the national tournament on the line.

Muhlenberg — located in Allentown, Pennsylvania — took down SUNY Brockport, 42-0, in the second round to punch its ticket into the quarterfinals.

According to Muhlenberg’s official athletics website, Milne was named head coach at Muhlenberg following the 2017 season. In his first season at the helm of the program (2018), Milne led the Mules to one of their best seasons ever. Muhlenberg went 11-2, tying the school record for wins and advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Muhlenberg was ranked in the top 10 in both final Division III polls. Milne became just the second coach in Centennial Conference (CC) history to lead his team to a championship in his first season and was named coach of the year by both the CC and the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

Prior to being named head coach, Milne spent three seasons at Muhlenberg as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Under Milne’s direction, the Mules’ offense averaged 33.3 points and 428.0 yards per game. The 2016 team featured the most prolific offense in program history, setting school records for yards and points in a season and ranking 17th in Division III in scoring.

Milne has also spent time as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Susquehanna University, an assistant coach at Cortland State University and an assistant coach at Hamilton College.

In 2007, Milne was a guest coach with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League and spent their preseason working as an assistant offensive line coach.

A 2003 graduate of Hobart College, Milne was a four-year letterwinner with the Statesmen, earning first-team All-Liberty League honors twice and playing on Hobart’s first two Division III playoff teams.

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Devin Pope (Ripley/Chautauqua Lake) has enjoyed early success this season on the hardwood for Penn State Behrend’s men’s basketball team.

The 6-foot-1 sophomore is averaging 12.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game over the Lions’ first six contests.

Pope poured in 25 points in a 94-73 season-opening win against Thiel College and scored 19 points in Penn State Behrend’s next contest, a 78-71 loss to Allegheny College.

During his freshman campaign in 2018-19, Pope saw time in 17 games and scored a total of 38 points. He had a season-high 11 points in a game against La Roche University and helped the Lions win the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Pope is Chautauqua Lake’s all-time leading scorer, with more than 2,000 points. He also excelled on the baseball diamond and the football field for Chautauqua Lake.

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Erin Radack (Lakewood/Southwestern) is averaging 9 points per game early in the season for the SUNY Brockport women’s basketball team.

In addition, the 5-foot-6 freshman has dished out 12 assists and grabbed 15 rebounds over five games.

Radack poured in 17 points in Brockport’s first game of the season against the Rochester Institute of Technology and scored 12 points in a recent outing against William Smith College.

Her extensive list of accomplishments for the girls team at Southwestern includes being the program’s all-time leading scorer and being named the girls basketball player of the year twice by The Post-Journal.

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Clayton Hanson (Jamestown/Southwestern) continues to thrive for the Army West Point rifle team.

Now a junior, Hanson recently compiled an aggregate score of 1,177 at the All-Academy President’s Trophy in November, which was good enough for the second-highest score at the event.

Hanson has posted career-highs of 583 in smallbore and 594 in air rifle for the Black Knights.

As a sophomore, Hanson competed at the NCAA Championship in Morgantown, West Virginia and placed fifth in air rifle with a score of 593. In addition, he posted his career-best air rifle score of 594 in an NCAA qualifying match.

During his freshman year, he had the second-highest smallbore average and the third-highest air rifle and aggregate average for the Black Knights. He also competed at the Junior Olympics, where he placed 25th in air rifle and seventh overall in smallbore.

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Elise Swanson (Bemus Point/Maple Grove), a freshman at Houghton College, earned All-Empire 8 Conference tennis honors for her recently completed season.

Swanson and Catie Moore posted an 8-5 doubles record, including a perfect 6-0 record during conference play, to earn conference first-team recognition. The team played all of its matches as the first doubles and led the Highlanders in both doubles wins and conference wins. Swanson also finished with six wins in singles play, including three wins in conference. She split time between first and second singles during the season.

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