Australians Making Noise in AMerican College Athletics

In the last 3 decades or so, American intercollegiate athletics has been enhanced by the abilities of foreign student-athletes. These athletes have excelled both on the athletic fields and courts as well as in the classrooms of American colleges and universities.

But I would say that many of the most successful foreign student-athletes are from "Down Unda". Australia has exported many of their best young athletes to American colleges and they have made a huge impact. A fellow blogger named Catherine Ritter, who is from Australia, has a blog about the science and art of winning at Bridge. Her blog site is
ababe-in-the-woods-of-bridge.blogspot.com. This blog about Australian student-athletes is in tribute to Ritter, who has amazing insight on how to win a Bridge. Many of her insights can be applied to sports and to life. In this blog, we will look at a few Aussie college athletes who have made their mark in America.

We will start with a basketball player from Australia's capitol, Canberra. Sophomore Guard Patrick Mills has had two tremendous season for St. Mary's University in Moraga, CA. This pas season, Mills earned First Team-All-West Coast Conference honors. As a First Team High-Major All-American by CollegeHoops.net, he started the first 20 games before breaking his hand against Gonzaga on Jan. 29. St. Mary's struggled in their games without Mills in the lineup. Many people think that if Mills hadn't injured his hand against the Zags, the Gayles would have easily gotten a bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Gayles exclusion from this year's tourney sparked controversy among experts and pundits. There were many who thought St. Mary's still should have gotten in based on their strength of schedule and were penalized due to the injury to Mills.

In spite of all that, here are just some of the exploits of the sharp shooter from Canberra, Australia: averaged a team-high 18.4 points per contest and was second on the team 101 assists and 57 steals...was a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, which honors the nations top point guard...was selected to the Naismith Trophy Award Mid-Season Top-30 list, which honors the nation’s top player...twice named as WCC Player of the Week this season (11/24/08 and 12/8/08), giving him five such honors for his career...scored in double figures in 25-of-26 game as a sophomore...had a season-high 31 points against WCC rival Santa Clara (1/09/09), when he hit the game-winning three with 2.4 seconds on the clock. 2007-08: Was named First Team All-West Coast Conference and the WCC Newcomer of the Year...was named Player of the Month for November...was a three-time WCC Player of the Week Selection for the weeks of (11/16), (12/24), and (2/19)...started all 32 games for the Gaels in his true freshman season...set a Saint Mary’s freshman record for points in a season with 472...scored a team-high 24 points in the NCAA Tournament against Miami...also set the freshman mark for points in a game with a 37-point performance against then #11 ranked Oregon...his 37-point game ranks sixth all-time on the SMC single game scoring list.

By the way, he also did extremely well in last year's Beijing Olympics for the Australian National Team: 2008 Olympics: Played for the Australian basketball team in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China...was the only collegiate basketball player competing in the 2008 Olympic Games....was the youngest player in the history of Australia to compete in the Olympic Games in basketball...in six games he averaged a team-best 14.2 points per game while coming off the bench in each game...scored 20 points in the quarterfinals against the United States while recording three assists, two steals, and no turnovers in 28 minutes...scored an individual tournament-high 22 points against an Argentina squad that included five NBA players. Mills has decided to declare for the 2009 NBA Draft. I would love to see the Atlanta Hawks get him, but Mills will probably not be available by then. One more factoid about Mills, he is one of 5 Aussies on the St. Mary's Basketball Team.

Another Aussie that we want to highlight is another basketball player, and he, like Patrick Mills, attends a college on the West Coast. He's Sr. Joshua Wetzler and he plays for the Hustlin Owls of Oregon Tech. This 6'7 post player hales from Perth, Australia, and here are some of his accomplishments: Started all 37 contests in 2008...Set Tech single season record shooting 64.3% from floor in 2007 only to surpass that in 2008 when he shot 72.9% from the floor... Voted team's Outstanding Rebounder in 2007 and 2008...Averaged 9.8 points and ranked first in the conference in rebounding averaging 9.0 boards a game last year and 3.7 offensive rpg...An HM selection to the all-conference team in 2008...Was a NAIA All-Tournament selection in last year's run to national title...Selected as Team Captain for Tech this season...Ranks in the NAIA II tournament top-10 in rebounding with a total of 80 boards...Set last years season high of 25 points versus Northwest and 18 rebounds versus Evergreen State... A Management/Marketing major...born December 11, 1984...son of Robert and Nola Wetzler. Beofre he arrived at OIT, Wetzler played for coach Mal Keene and the Western Australia Perry Lakes Team, which won four straight W. Australia Basketball Titles. He was a Western Australia Div. 1 All-Star in 2004, and was known as a "vacuum cleaner on the boards." Wetzler will enter his Senior Year this Fall at OIT, and we expect bigger and better things ahead.

Our third and final Aussie student-athlete we want to shine a light is a Track and Field Star at the University of Georgia. He's Ross Ridgewell, a 5'7 Senior Mid-Distance runner from Mullumbimby, Australia. Ridgewell transferred from the University of Canberra (AUS) in 2006 to join the Dawgs Track Team, and boy are they glad he did. Here are some of Ridgewell's accomplishments while at UGA: 2009 Outdoor: Wrapped up his career by clocking a season-best time of 1:49.66 in the 800-meter run prelims for 10th place at the NCAA East Regional...started the 800 run prelims at the SEC Championships but suffered an injury and was unable to continue...tallied an NCAA regional qualifying time of 1:50.39 to win the 800 at the Bulldog Limited...clocked a season-best time of 1:51.23 to win the 800 at the Spec Towns Invitational...won the 800 (1:53.30) and was second in the 1500 at the Georgia Tech dual meet...sped to an NCAA regional qualifying and career-best time of 3:47.19 in the 1500 for fourth place at the ASU Invitational...was a leg on the second-place 4x800 relay team at the Georgia Relays. 2009: Indoor – Opened his season by clocking an NCAA provisional qualifying 800-meter run time of 1:49.82 in the prelims before finishing second in the finals at the SEC Championships. 2008: Outdoor – Finished 15th at the NCAA East Regionals in the 800-meter run prelims (1:49.51)...took seventh in the 800 (1:48.93) at the SEC Championships...clocked a 1:52.38 for fifth place in the 800 at the Georgia Invitational...finished third in the 1500 at the Jim Click Invitational with a time of 3:50.85.
2008: Indoor – After finishing with the third-best time during the prelims, earned his first All-American certificate after taking third in the 800-meter run (1:49.52) at the NCAA Championships...recorded a career-best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:48.57 (No. 2 in school history) to take second in the 800 at the Cyclone Qualifier...finished fifth in the 800 with a provisional qualifying time of 1:50.14 at the SEC Championships... joined three teammates in the distance medley relay to clock a school-record time of 9:48.42 and finish second at the conference meet, earning All-SEC Second Team honors...part of DMR team which recorded a then school-record time of 9:52.73 to finish seventh at the Tyson Invitational...also finished fifth in the mile with a time of 4:06.22 (No. 6 in school history) at Tyson...was the second finisher in the 800 with a time of 1:50.59 at the Virginia Tech Elite meet.

Ridgewell also ran Cross Country at Georgia back in 2006, clocking 26:12.27 at the 8K SEC Championshps during his only meet of the year.
As mentioned earlier, he transferred from the University of Canberra. While in High School, Ridgewell won Five straight state titles in the 800 meters, was an Under-16 Australian silver-medalist in the 400 and 800, an Under-18 silver medalist in the 400 and the 1500, and an Under-20 gold medalist in the 400 and 800. Ridgewells's personal-best time was 1:48.70 in the 800, and he clocked a 48.31 in the 400 and a 1:50.39 in the 800 at the World Junior Championships. By the way, just so we don't forget what he's really at Georgia for, he's an Accounting Major at UGA.

I'm sure there are several more Aussie student-athletes at several American colleges and universities who are having stellar careers. There have been several in the past that have gone on to fine pro careers. Players like Andrew Gays (Basketball, Seton Hall 1989). Gays helped lead the Pirates to the 1989 Final Four and to the National final where they lost to Michigan. Ben Melmeth (Basketball, University of Utah). Melmeth was a member of the 1998 Univ. of Utah team which made it to the Final Four in San Antonio and lost to the Finals against Kentucky. Last I heard, Melmeth was playing Professional Basketball in New Zealand for the New Zealand Breakers. Craig Shipley (Baseball, Univ. of Alabama, around 1984 I believe). Shipley played Shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1986. Probably the most familiar Aussie athlete to American sports fans, especially Chicago Bulls Fans, is Luke Longley. Longley was the Center on the Chicago Bulls championship teams. He also played at the Univ. of New Mexico in the late 80s

One of the big reasons for the Aussie explosion in American college and pro sports is the Australian Institute of Sport. This academy is there specifically to train Australian Olympic hopefuls in all different kinds of sports. Several AIS former pupils, like Patrick Mills of St. Mary's, Andrew Bogut (Univ. of Utah and currently Starting Center for the Milwaukee Bucks), and former Georgia Tech Center Luke Schenshire, have made their marks in the U.S. Collegiate and professional ranks as well as excelling in the Olympics for Australia. I hope that you have enjoyed this look at the impact of Australian Student-Athletes on the American college scene. It's late, it's 2AM Saturday Morning here in Atlanta, GA, and I'm done. For more info on these stories, you can go to www.oit.edu/athletics, www.georgiadogs.com, and www.stmarys-ca.edu/athletics.