Western Carolina volleyball Head Coach Manuel Concepcion is optimistic for his team’s schedule, which includes matches with 14 non-conference opponents and a full slate of Southern Conference opponents. “The schedule is designed to be a huge challenge for us,” Concepcion said. “We want the team to be ready to play […]

After the death of Catamount football player Ja’Quayvin Smalls, Western Carolina University has decided to begin testing African-American athletes for the sickle-cell anemia trait. Smalls, a junior defensive back from Mount Pleasant, S.C., died July 8 after collapsing during a sprint workout at a voluntary, off-season practice in Cullowhee. Observers […]

North Carolina taxpayers will continue to pick up the tab for granting in-state tuition to out-of-state athletes at a cost of over $10 million a year. In a budget filled this year with tax increases and cuts to classrooms and medical services, some North Carolina lawmakers sought to include curbs […]

Five home games and a season-opening road trip to Southeastern Conference foe, Vanderbilt, highlight Western Carolina’s 11-game 2009 Catamount football schedule. The slate includes three teams which made the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs a season ago and a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) winner. “The 2009 schedule is very […]

Western Carolina’s women’s head basketball coach, Karen Middleton, who has taken over this year after the departure of former head coach Kellie Haprer to N.C. State, recently announced her assistant coaching staff. The Lady Catamounts will jumpstart its season with an all female coaching staff which includes head Coach Karen […]

A Western Carolina University football player’s first practice as a Catamount ended in tragedy. Ja’Quayvin Ja’Quar Smalls, a junior defensive back from Mount Pleasant, S.C., died unexpectedly on Wednesday, July 8 at Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva after collapsing during conditioning drills as a part of voluntary off-season workouts. Smalls […]

Western Carolina Athletics will hold the second annual “Football 101 for Women” in preparation for the 2009 college football season. Hosted by Cyndi Wagner and Gale Smith, the wives of head football coach Dennis Wagner and WCU Athletic Director Chip Smith, women are invited to join them for a night […]

Much like the ending experienced on the final day of many of his college event weekends, former Western Carolina track & field standout Manteo Mitchell again found his way to a familiar spot at Icahn Stadium in New York City over the weekend (July 10 – 12)–the podium. Running with the Southwest […]

Western Carolina women’s golf coach Steve Lott announced on July 13 the signing of Malin Jansson for the 2009-10 season. Jansson inked a National Letter of Intent to attend WCU and play golf for the Catamounts. Hailing from Nykvarn, Sweden, just outside the capital city of Stockholm, Jansson will be the […]