Juron ends stellar basketball career with Yellowjackets

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bob Weiner

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake graduate Jeff Juron closed out his collegiate basketball career at the University of Rochester over the weekend when the Yellowjackets lost to Coast Guard, 57-48, in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Division III tournament at Ursinus College.

The 6-foot-1 senior guard started 14 of 28 games for the 22-6 Yellowjackets, and averaged 5.9 points per game. He was second on the team in assists with 103, and was fourth in three-point field goals with 16. Juron also shot 79.6 percent from the line.

For most of his career, Juron was a starter for the Yellowjackets. He averaged 8.1 ppg as a part-time starter his freshman season, when Rochester reached the Division III Final Four. As a sophomore, Juron was the only Yellowjacket to start every game, and averaged 8.4 ppg. He topped the team in assists (64) and steals (24).

Last year, Juron started all 26 games and averaged 8.7 ppg. Once again, he led the Yellowjackets in assists (101).

He was a four-year letterman for BH-BL, and was the team captain and MVP as both a junior and senior. He holds the school record for career three-point field goals and free throws made.

WHAT THEY’RE DOING

– Gulderland High School graduate Christi Podgorski, a junior guard/forward at SUNY-Oneonta, averaged 9.7 points and 4.5 rebounds while playing 28 of 29 games for the 20-9 Red Dragons. Podgorski also shot 87 percent from the foul line.

– College of Saint Rose senior guard Steve Dagostino (Guilderland), the two-time Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year, was also named the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Player of the Year after leading the Golden Knights in scoring (17.8 ppg), assists (6.1 pg) and steals (2.5 pg).

– University of Buffalo’s Christina Villa, a Saratoga Springs High School graduate, was named the MAC scholar-athlete of the week after winning the shot put in the MAC track and field championship meet recently. Villa tossed the shot a personal-best 15.59 meters. She has been the captain of both the women’s indoor and outdoor track teams since 2006, and was both a 2007 SUNY Chancellor’s Scholar-Athlete Award winner and the recipient of the MAC Commissioner’s Award.

– Christian Brothers Academy graduate Greg Rogowski, an All-American attackman at Merrimack, moved within 12 points of becomming the program’s all-time leading scorer when he tallied four goals for his 31st career hat trick in a 6-5 win over nationally ranked Molloy Sunday. Rogowski has 117 career goals and 54 assists for 171 points.

– SUNY-Cobleskill will host “An Evening with Jack Lengyel” March 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the college’s Bouck Theater. A nationally renowned college athletic administrator and football coach, Lengyel’s greatest accomplishment was the rebuilding of the Marshall University football program after a fatal airplane crash involving the team and its staff in 1970. The movie “We Are Marshall” was based on his-story. Lengyel’s appearance will help-salute SUNY-Cobleskill’s past history as a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association and its impending move to NCAA Division III next year. Call 255-5127 for ticket information.

– Union College sophomore Allison Cuozzo finished second in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship at Ohio Northern University Saturday. She is the first Union track and field performer to become a two-time All-American.

– Union’s softball team, which lost only one senior from a 2007 squad that went 28-9 and won the ECAC Upstate championship, will open its season Sunday in Fort Myers, Fla.

– Both of Union’s lacrosse teams are ranked in the national Division III polls. The 1-0 Dutchwomen are 10th in the IWLCA poll, while the 3-0 Dutchmen are 17th in the Inside Lacrosse poll.

– With wins over Colgate and St. Bonaventure, UAlbany’s women’s lacrosse team has matched its best start (5-2) as a Division I program. Meanwhile, the UAlbany men’s lacrosse team (0-5) endured its fourth consecutive one-goal defeat with a 7-6 loss to No. 14 Drexel Saturday in the Great Danes’ home opener. Albany has lost to four national top-20 teams this season. The UAlbany men will take on nationally ranked Princeton at home on John Fallon Field Friday at 1.

– Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute athletes won numerous Liberty League honors last week. In women’s lacrosse, sophomores Sam Fennessey and Ariana Hood were selected the league’s offensive and defensive players of the week, while freshman Stephanie Caouette was named the rookie of the week. Sophomore Devin Arnold was tabbed the offensive player of the week in men’s lacrosse. In baseball, sophomore Patrick Reardon was the offensive player of the week, while Joe Zongol earned pitcher of the week honors. Junior Julianne Bass and freshman Jen Bach were the player of the week and rookie of the week, respectively, in softball. In track and field, freshman Alex Leblanc was the rookie of the week.

– UAlbany’s Tee Ladouceur (Bethlehem) was the America East Conference rookie of the week in women’s lacrossse.

– At Siena College, junior attack Matt Girsh was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference player of the week, while sophomore goalie Brent Herbst was the defensive player of the week in lacrosse.

– Scotia-Glenville High School graduate Whitney Olson, a senior at Clarkson University, won the overall Nordic title last week at the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Assocation championships at Black Mountain in Maine. Olson, who won two gold medals earlier in the week, clinched the overall title by adding a bronze in the 8.5-kilometer skate race on Friday. Olson also helped Clarkson finish second in the 3x5k relay on Saturday.