CCU Athletics Notebook: Past four-time conference champion and school record-holder dies
Former Coastal Carolina University track & field athlete Jacob Simatwa, who holds a school record and was a four-time Big South Conference outdoor champion from 2002-04, has died.
A member of the Chanticleers’ 2003 Big South Outdoor Track & Field championship team, Simatwa won Big South individual tiles in 400 meters in both 2003 and 2004 and was also part of the winning 4x400 relay teams in those years.
A six-time Big South All-Conference performer – 400 (2003 and 2004), 800 (2003 and 2004) and the 4x400 relay (2003 and 2004) — he still holds the school record in the 800 meters at 1:50.59 and ranks No. 5 all-time in the 400 meters at 47.56.
He is also part of the school record-holding 4x800 relay team with a time of 7:44.13 and competed in the 400, 800 and 4x400 relay at both the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Regionals.
Originally from Endebess, Kenya, Simatwa died last Friday in St. Louis. A GoFundMe page has been established to raise funds for his funeral expenses, which may include transportation.
Chants picked 2nd
CCU has won the Sun Belt Conference baseball regular season or tournament championship in each of its first three years in the conference.
With just one starting position player returning from 2019 – it would be two but starting outfielder Parker Chavers is expected to be out until May after shoulder surgery – the Chants have been picked to finish second in the Sun Belt’s East Division in the Coaches’ Preseason Poll.
Junior pitcher Zach McCambley was the only Chant named to the 15-player 2020 preseason All-Sun Belt team.
Coastal garnered four first-place votes and a total of 61 points, one point behind East Division preseason favorite South Alabama. CCU was followed by Georgia Southern, Troy, Appalachian State and Georgia State in the East.
In the West, UT Arlington is the favorite with 58 points, followed by Louisiana with 57 points, Texas State, Little Rock, Louisiana-Monroe and Arkansas State.
McCambley is one of the three starting pitchers on the all-conference team. Last season, the Pennsylvania native went 6-3 with a 5.21 ERA in 22 games, including 11 starts. The hard-throwing righty struck out 76 over 67.1 innings, walked 27 and held opponents to a .277 batting average.
Chavers has been named to several preseason All-America teams. He was named to Perfect Game’s second team, Baseball America’s second team and D1Baseball’s third team after hitting .316 with 15 home runs, four triples, 54 RBI and 54 runs scored in 2019.
Hoops happenings
The CCU women’s basketball team continues to surge, while the men’s team has dropped four consecutive games to fall back in the Sun Belt standings.
The women are still ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Women’s Mid-Major Top 25 at No. 24 and improved to 16-3 overall and 6-2 in the conference Thursday by scoring the final 14 points of a 66-59 win over Georgia Southern at the HTC Center. CCU trailed by 11 with about 7 minutes to play.
The Chants have won six of their past seven games and rebounded from a 63-61 loss at Arkansas State on Saturday on a buzzer-beating put-back by Jireh Washington.
Coastal is in a four-way tie for second with Louisiana, UT-Arlington and Little Rock in the conference and trails Troy (16-3, 7-1) by a game. Troy defeated the visiting Chants in CCU’s conference opener 84-77.
Senior guard D.J. Williams scored a game-high 25 points Thursday and is second in the conference in scoring at 16.5 points per game. She’s also second in assists with 4.2 and steals with 2.6 per game, fifth in free throw percentage at 80 percent and seventh in rebounds with 7.1 per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the floor.
Sophomore forward Aja Blount is fourth in the conference with 14.9 points per game and is second with both a 54.7 field goal percentage and 86.9 free throw percentage. Senior guard Torrie Cash leads the Sun Belt with a 46.8 three-point percentage, and senior 6-4 center Naheria Hamilton averages 8.4 points and 8.4 rebounds, which is fourth in the Sun Belt.
The CCU women host Georgia State (4-15, 1-7) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
After winning eight of 11 games to sit just a game out of first place in the conference with a 4-3 league record on Jan. 11, Coastal’s four-game losing streak has dropped the men into a tie for ninth in the 12-team league at 4-7.
Three of the four losses came at the HTC Center in Conway to Little Rock, Arkansas State and Appalachian State, and the fourth came Thursday night at league-leading Little Rock (16-7, 10-2). Three of the losses have been by at least 16 points.
DeVante’ Jones tied his career high with 32 points Thursday and is fourth in the Sun Belt in scoring at 16 points per game, first in assists per game at 5.4, third in both field goal percentage at 48.5 and free throw percentage at 87.5, seventh in steals per game at 1.6, and ninth in defensive rebounds per game at 4.5.
Senior forward Tommy Burton is averaging 11.5 points and is fourth in the conference with 7.2 rebounds per game, including a league-leading 3.2 offensive rebounds per game.
The men are at Arkansas State (15-8, 7-5) at 5 p.m. Saturday before returning home against Texas State and Texas-Arlington next Thursday and Saturday.
Tennis earns honor
The Coastal Carolina men’s tennis team was named the most improved NCAA Division I men’s tennis program on Jan. 10 by the University Sports Program, according to Massey Ratings.
Head coach Chris Powers’ team had a disappointing 6-14 record in the 2018-19 season, and moved up 85 spots to move into the top 100 of the Massey Ratings after the short fall season, the most significant improvement of all Division I teams.
Senior Zak Talic of Australia, who played in the No. 2 spot in 21 of 22 matches last season, will lead the team this spring.
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 5:49 AM.
