With one week of the 2015-16 basketball season in the books, the 11th-ranked Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals are off to a fast start.
Fourth-year coach Kris Baumann’s squad went 3-0 in the Collin College Tournament in Plano. The Cardinals defeated Odessa, 79-76, Midland, 63-61, and Carl Albert, 66-61.
Trinity Valley Community College received the second-highest position among Texas community colleges in a new list of the 100 Best Community Colleges in the U.S. TVCC ranks #16 nationally in rankings published by SmartAsset, a financial services company.
“Being named as one of the top community colleges in the country is a great honor,” said TVCC President Dr. Glendon Forgey. “There were five community colleges from Texas in the top 20, reflecting the great job that Texas community colleges are doing in providing low cost, quality higher education to our citizens. This is something that our legislative leaders and all Texans should appreciate.”
Unfamiliar faces will attempt to take the men’s basketball team at Trinity Valley Community College back to what has become a familiar place.
As the 11th-ranked Cardinals open the season Friday in the annual College College Classic in Plano, the goal is to see the season reach the NJCAA tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., for a third straight year.
To do so, fourth-year coach Kris Baumann will rely on a team of newcomers. Only 6-8 Houston sophomore Melvin Swift returns from last year’s 28-5 squad that went 17-2 in Region XIV Conference play.
It’s on to the spring season for the Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinal softball team.
The Lady Cardinals wrapped up the fall exhibition season last weekend, finishing with a 9-11 mark, largely against four-year universities/colleges.
Ashley Johnston, the only coach in the history of the college’s softball program since it began in the fall of 2008, said the tougher schedule was by design.
“We had a much more challenging schedule this fall,” Johnston said. “We wanted to test our kids and see how they would handle adversity. I believe after seeing what we did this fall that we will definitely compete this spring.”
Seven new members were inducted into the Cardinal Hall of Fame on Saturday. Inductees were: (front row, from left) Yolanda Jones (women’s basketball), Shannon Bobbitt (women’s basketball), Shauna Tubbs (women’s basketball); (back row, from left) Ron Baugh (special contributor), Erik Flowers (football), Neil Derrick (men’s basketball), Chavis McCollister (football).