Top-10 Individual Performances
6/26/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Monday, July 1 officially marks the beginning of a new chapter in the storied history of the BIG EAST Conference.
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Through a series of features that will appear each day this week, SHUPirates.com will provide a snapshot of Seton Hall and its place as a founding member of the league, marking the Pirates' accomplishments over the first three-plus decades and outlining the vision for the future.
Today, we remember the Top-10 Individual Performances in Seton Hall history during the BIG EAST era. This feature is sponsored by College Hunks Hauling Junk. Visit www.chhj.com for more information. Ian Hennessy
1986 BIG EAST Men's Soccer Championship
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| | Ian Hennessy |
Named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1986 BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Championship, Seton Hall Hall of Famer Ian Hennessy turned in a series of dominating performances to lead the Pirates to the first men’s soccer conference title in program history. He scored four goals with an assist in the Hall’s 8-2 victory over Boston College in the conference semifinals and scored two more times as the Pirates topped Syracuse, 3-2, in the BIG EAST championship game.
That year, Hennessy set four BIG EAST Championship records that still stand today, including most goals in a game (four), most points in a single game (nine), most goals in a tournament (six) and most points in a tournament (13). He ranked second on the team in scoring in 1986 with 14 goals and 13 assists, earning First-Team All-State and All-Region accolades.
Marteese Robinson
1987 Baseball Season & BIG EAST Championship
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| | Marteese Robinson |
In the annals of Seton Hall Athletics history, one might argue that no Pirate student-athlete has had a more impressive single-season performance than baseball’s Marteese Robinson in 1987. In addition to leading the Pirates to a regular season championship and their first BIG EAST Tournament title, Robinson was named a unanimous All-American and Collegiate Baseball’s National Co-Player of the Year.
Named BIG EAST and NJCBA Player of the Year, Robinson led the nation with a .529 batting average and finished second in the country with 58 stolen bases. His batting average was the second-highest in NCAA history at the time and remains the all-time mark at Seton Hall. Robinson also set current single-season Pirate records for hits, at bats, RBIs and stolen bases in 1987.
Robinson went 7-for-13 with three RBIs in Seton Hall’s three-game sweep to a BIG EAST Tournament title.
Following the historic season, Robinson was drafted by the Oakland Athletics.
Jennifer Heider
1991 BIG EAST Women's Swimming & Diving Championships
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| | Jennifer Heider |
Recently inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame, New Jersey product Jennifer Heider helped take Seton Hall swimming to new heights in the early 1990s. In its first four years in the conference, the program did not produce an individual champion. That fact changed when Heider, in her freshman season, became the first Pirate to take home a conference title with an enduring performance at the 1991 BIG EAST Championships.
Unaffected by the stage, Heider topped all competitors at the meet in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events, giving Seton Hall its long awaited champion. She went on to claim BIG EAST titles in three of her four seasons at The Hall, adding two consecutive wins in the 100-yard butterfly in 1993 and 1994. The first female swimmer ever inducted into the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame, Heider stands as the only four-time conference champion in program history regardless of gender.
Terry Dehere
1993 BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Championship
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| | Terry Dehere |
Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Famer Terry Dehere topped off one of the finest careers in program history with a remarkable senior campaign in 1992-93. Dehere was named the BIG EAST Player of the Year and BIG EAST Tournament Most Valuable Player as he led the Pirates to their second conference championship in three years. Dehere, the program’s all-time leading scorer (2,494), led the BIG EAST averaging 22.2 points per game in 1992-93. His long list of prestigious honors that season also included First Team All-America and the Haggerty Award, presented to the most outstanding player in the metropolitan area.
“He had a classic shooter's mentality -- that is, the confidence that the next one was going in no matter what had happened prior to that,” said Tom Luicci, Seton Hall’s former beat writer for the Star-Ledger. “And he was clutch,” Luicci continued. “Seton Hall could always count on Dehere whenever it needed a big shot or points at a critical juncture. Having seen every Seton Hall player since the inception of the 3-point field goal, I'd say he was the best in school history.”
The first Pirate to have his number retired while an active player, Dehere led Seton Hall in scoring for the fourth straight year in 1992-93 finishing with 770 points (22.0/game). He helped the Pirates capture their second straight BIG EAST Regular-Season Title with a program best 14-wins and a 9-0 home record against conference opponents.
Dehere averaged 22.7 points in the 1993 BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden en route to Seton Hall’s second conference crown.
Baibe Zake
1994 BIG EAST Women’s Volleyball Tournament
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| | Baibe Zake |
With 38 kills and 33 digs in two BIG EAST Tournament games, Baibe Zake (BYE-buh ZOCK-ay) led the Seton Hall women’s volleyball team to a BIG EAST runner-up finish for a second straight year in 1994. The Pirates closed out their greatest single season in program history with a 31-4 overall record and a share of the BIG EAST regular season title.
Zake had a dominating senior season, leading the BIG EAST in kills, while smashing the Pirates’ single-season record. The Latvian native became Seton Hall’s first female athlete to be named BIG EAST Player of the Year. An All-BIG EAST First Team selection for the second straight year, Zake recorded 20 or more kills in 11 matches and was named BIG EAST Player of the Week three times.
Zake’s .384 career hitting percentage is the highest mark in Seton Hall history.
Flirtisha Harris
1994 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championship
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| | Flirtisha Harris |
The Seton Hall track & field program enjoyed a staggering level of success but sprinter Flirtisha Harris’ dominating feats at the 1994 BIG EAST Indoor Championships stand as one of the team’s most enduring performances. While Harris, Shana Williams and Nolle Graham were each tabbed as the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Performer on multiple occasions, Harris’ 1994 indoor championship run led the Pirates to the only BIG EAST Women’s Indoor Track & Field title in program history.
That year she won the 55-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter races, and teamed with Veronica Harris, Julia Sandiford and Keisha Caine to capture the 4x400-meter crown. Harris’ times of 6.87 in the 55-meter and 23.44 in the 200-meter still stand as BIG EAST Indoor meet records. She went on to win two of her four national titles at the 1994 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship, capturing first place in the 400-meter and 4x400-meter races.
Kelly Smith
1999 BIG EAST Women’s Soccer Tournament
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| | Kelly Smith |
Behind All-American performer and all-world talent Kelly Smith, the 1999 Seton Hall women’s soccer team stormed into Syracuse and upended the second-seeded Orange with a convincing 6-2 result to capture the first postseason victory in school history. Smith was brilliant in the historic win, scoring three unassisted goals - including the game winner - and assisting on two more. Her eight points in the match remain the second-highest single game total in BIG EAST Tournament history, just one of many records that Smith still holds today.
The England product was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year in all three of her years at The Hall, and in 1997, became the first player in any sport to earn BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season. She finished the following two seasons as the NCAA statistical champion in both goals and points per game and entering 2012, still stood atop the list as the Division I all-time leader in both categories after totaling an unrivaled scoring record of 76 goals and 174 points in 51 career matches.
Eugene Smith
2000 BIG EAST Men’s Golf Championship
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| | Eugene Smith |
In what is unarguably the high moment in the history of the Seton Hall men’s golf program, Eugene Smith fired a 1-under par, 69-72-141, to win the 2000 BIG EAST Individual Championship, and in doing so, guided Seton Hall to its second BIG EAST Team Championship. The Pirates’ team captain won the event by one stroke and set a conference record for 36 holes at the marquee event.
Collectively, Seton Hall won the team title by 11 strokes over Rutgers and its two-round score of 580 set a new BIG EAST record for low score.
A two-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star, Smith won six tournaments in his career, the most in Seton Hall history. He currently owns all of Seton Hall’s par-72 records including lowest three-round score, lowest two-round score and lowest individual round. Seton Hall has qualified for the NCAA Regionals four times in the program’s history… all four years that Smith was on the roster.
In 2010, Smith was inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame.
Megan Meyer
2005 BIG EAST Softball Championship
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| | Megan Meyer |
Megan Meyer engineered back-to-back incredibly dominant seasons for the Seton Hall softball team, but her coup de grâce came in the 2005 BIG EAST Championship when she led the Pirates to their second-straight conference crown, tossing 11 innings and giving up just one run in the BIG EAST clinching 3-2 victory over No. 1 seed Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. For her efforts she was named the BIG EAST Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the second time in as many years; she also recorded a 15 strikeout performances in Seton Hall’s 3-2 win over Syracuse in the conference quarterfinals.
With the BIG EAST Championship win the Pirates went on to compete in the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year. Meyer would earn Third-Team All-America honors for the second time and was also tabbed as the CoSIDA Division I Softball Academic All-American of the Year.
Kevin Webster
2011 BIG EAST Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships
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| | Kevin Webster |
Entering the 2011 BIG EAST Championships in Louisville, Ky., Kevin Webster’s times again matched up with the best the conference had to offer, and it was clear the Kansas native was primed to make school history. On the first day of the event, he was edged in the 500-yard freestyle, picking up a second-place finish. In his second event, Webster posted the fastest 400-yard IM preliminary time and followed that performance with a championship winning time of 3:46.08.
Already a two-time conference champion, Webster took the block for his 200-yard backstroke title defense and delivered arguably the best swim of his career, clocking a time of 1:43.93 that was just six-hundredths of a second off the meet record pace and earning the third individual crown of his career. His efforts made him the first Pirate ever to be named Most Outstanding Male Swimmer Award at the at the championship meet.
| CONTINUING TRADITION: SETON HALL AND THE BIG EAST | |
| 1979: Seton Hall Joins the BIG EAST | |
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| SHU Coaches Discuss the BIG EAST |
