INDIANAPOLIS -- Cleveland State senior Kara Koch has been named the Horizon League’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while Valparaiso senior Taylor Root has been named the conference’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year after voting of the league’s eight head coaches. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players on their own team.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Milwaukee, winner of the regular season Horizon League volleyball title eight of the past nine years, has been pegged as the preseason favorite in the 2012 conference race.  Milwaukee received seven first place votes to earn the top spot in a preseason poll of the league’s eight head volleyball coaches.  Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team in the poll.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Capping a remarkable turnaround, Wright State has been voted into first place in the Horizon League men’s soccer preseason poll. In a narrow vote that saw the top three teams separated by two points, the Raiders captured the top spot with 40 points. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own squad.

Eight former Horizon League standouts took part in the NBA Summer League over the last two weeks, as Clay Tucker (Milwaukee), Eli Holman (Detroit), Paul Carter (UIC), Shelvin Mack (Butler), Matt Howard (Butler), Norris Cole (Cleveland State), Cedric Jackson (Cleveland State) and Chase Simon (Detroit) worked to bolster their games and position themselves for roster spots in the fall.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Twelve Horizon League men's basketball players were recognized as members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court, the organization announced today. The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts of the student-athletes both on and off the court.

CHICAGO -- Former UIC men’s soccer standout Jay DeMerit, who now stars for the Vancouver Whitecaps, has been named a “First XI” selection for the 2012 Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Star Game, to be played at PPL Park in Philadelphia on July 25.  The “First XI” selections were compiled from the most fan votes in their positions via online voting, twitter, and text messaging.

“I don’t want cancer or being a survivor to define me, but it is something that has happened to me.”



There were 205 days from November 20, 2010, when Assistant Athletic Director Mike Gilmartin received the sobering news he had cancer until June 13, 2011. That was the day he returned to his post as the head athletic trainer at UIC, a position he has held for 15 years.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Capturing seven Horizon League postseason championships, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has won the James J. McCafferty Trophy as the Horizon League’s all-sports champion for the first time since 2008-09 and the sixth time overall.

The Valparaiso Crusaders defeated UIC 14-5 on Sunday at UIC’s Les Miller Field in Chicago to claim the 2012 Horizon League Baseball Championship.

UIC scored three runs in the top of the first and never trailed as they defeated top-seed Valparaiso 4-3 Saturday at Les Miller Field in Chicago to force a championship game on Sunday.