De Heus Prepares to Focus on Fowards

Dayna Smith, the Rebecca Quinn Morgan ’60 Head Coach of Women’s Basketball, announced on Aug. 14 that Daan de Heus would be joining the coaching staff for the 2012-2013 season. De Heus will primarily focus his time on working with the forwards, assisting with game day scouting and helping to increase the program’s recruiting efforts.

Hailing from the Netherlands, de Heus played for the Dutch national youth basketball teams before continuing on to be an assistant coach for the Netherlands at the 2009 high school basketball world championships, which were held in Istanbul, Turkey. De Heus served as the head coach for a variety of youth and senior basketball teams from 2005-2011 — winning two championship titles at the U16 and U18 level. 

De Heus earned a degree in international business and administration from the University of Tilburg in 2010 before graduating from Ithaca College in 2012 with a master’s degree in sports management.

Under the coaching leadership of Smith and de Heus, the women’s basketball team will officially begin its season away against Colgate on Nov. 9, before returning home to Newman Arena to face off against Fordham on Nov. 11.

Featherstone Adds International Flair To Field Hockey’s Coaching Roster

On June 14, field hockey head coach Donna Hornibrook made an announcement that Gavin Featherstone would assume the role as assistant coach for the Red.

“I am very pleased to announce the addition of Gavin Featherstone to our coaching staff,” Hornibrook said in a statement. “He is a world class coach with an outstanding pedigree and an impressive track record of success everywhere he has been. I fully anticipate that he will make a tremendous impact on the Cornell field hockey program.”

Featherstone comes to Cornell from his alma mater, England’s Durham University, where he held a head coaching position for both the men’s and women’s field hockey teams. In six years as the head of the women’s program, the team won three National Club League titles in four trips to the finals, while the men earned recognition as a highly competitive squad as well.

As a former Olympic coach for both the United States (1984) and South Africa (1996), Featherstone’s coaching résumé contains a wealth of experience. With 324 international matches to his name, he was the youngest coach to ever take a field hockey team to the Olympics when he coached the United States in 1984. Featherstone also led England’s men’s and women’s U21 World Cups teams as head coach.

In addition to a wealth of coaching experience on an international level, Featherstone is an authority in many aspects of the game. He has produced 20 DVDs to teach strategies and principles of field hockey, which have been distributed to over 25 countries around the world and endorsed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Additionally, Featherstone has conducted seminars hosted by the FIH that aim to breakdown and improve overall game performance.

Featherstone received a Bachelors of Arts degree from Durham in 1975, where he was captain of the first field hockey club in the University’s history. He later became the President of the Durham University Athletic Union and continued on to play for the British Universities Team and England’s national program, where he served as team captain and competed in both the World and European Cups. Featherstone also earned a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from Oxford University in 1976.

Lang Trades Volunteer Position for Assistant Coaching Role

On Aug. 17, Nathan Taylor, the George E. Heekin ’29 Head Coach of Men’s Track & Field and Cross Country, named Zeb Lang as an assistant coach for both teams. Lang will act as a guide for the middle-distance and long-distance runners for the cross country and track and field teams.

A familiar face to people associated with the two programs, Lang spent the past four years working with the Red. He was a volunteer assistant coach from 2009-2012, and he also volunteered at Cornell during the 2003-2004 school year.

“I embrace this opportunity to coach the team that has given me so much,” Lang said. “I'm so thankful to Coach Nathan Taylor for giving me this tremendous opportunity and I'm eternally grateful to former coach Robert Johnson and John Kellogg for mentoring me in all aspects of coaching over the past several years.”

Lang attended Cornell as an undergraduate and graduated in 2003 with a degree in economics. During his time on the hill, Lang ran cross country for all four year and earned a varsity letter as a senior, as well as competed in the 2002 Heptagonal Championships  and 2002 Northeast Regional Championships. That same year Lang was a member of the squad which won IC4A Cross Country Championship for the first time since 1921. He also competed for the track team, participating in long-distance events and helping the Red with the Heps Championship his senior year.

After graduating, Lang spent a year working for Cornell and volunteering as an assistant for the cross country and track programs. After taking a five-year break and working in Colorado, Lang returned to Cornell in 2009 and completed his MBA through the Johnson Graduate School of Management in 2011. 

Within the past two years, Lang has helped numerous runners improve their overall times. He worked with two runners in 2011 who earned a berth in the NCAA outdoor championships — one of which earned an All-American finish in the 10,000 meters. Lang also helped to guide four sub-30-minute 10,000-meter runners, nine 5,000-meter runners who clocked in 14:30 or faster,  six 1,500-meter runners who finished in 3:50 or less and five 800-meter runners who ran 1:51 or better.

The cross country team will officially kick off the 2012 season with a tri-meet against Army and Binghamton on Sept. 7 in West Point, N.Y.

Vande Berg Will Guide Middle Hitters

On Aug. 16, Melissa Batie-Smoose, the Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball, announced that Trudy Vande Berg would be joining the coaching staff for the 2012 season, where she will take charge of instructing the squad’s middle hitters.

“I am excited to add Trudy Vande Berg to my coaching staff,” Batie-Smoose said. “We are extremely fortunate to have Trudy join our program. She has over 10 years of Division I coaching experience, is one of the best recruiters in the country, and will help us tremendously in the gym.”

Vande Berg comes to Cornell after spending the past four seasons with the Iowa State Cyclones, where she served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. She worked at Duke in the same capacity for four years prior to joining the Cyclones. While at ISU, Vande Berg helped guide the Cyclones to the NCAA Elite Eight a year ago, as well as a prestigious ranking in the nation for its recruitment class. During her stint at Duke, she led the Blue Devils to the NCAA tournament each year and coached them to Atlantic Coast Conference titles in 2006 and 2008. 

Before joining the coaching staff at Duke, Vande Berg spent time at Wisconsin and North Florida, as well as a few teams on the club circuit — including the Milwaukee Chapter of the Starlings, a volleyball club for underprivileged student-athletes.

A Waupun, Wisc. native, Vande Berg earned a degree in health care administration at Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1999, where she played volleyball for the Panthers all four years. She led the team in attack percentage each season and set program records for blocks in a match and blocks in a career. She still ranks in the Top-10 for career blocks (3rd — 403), kills (6th — 1,148) and attack percentage (7th — .263). Vande Berg was a first-team All-horizon League selection during her senior season.

The Red will begin its fall 2012 campaign under Batie-Smoose and Vande Berg by participating in the University of Colorado tournament on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 against Fresno State, UC-Boulder and Northern Arizona.

Dalrymple Returns to Alma Mater, Shares Pitching Prowess

Returning to her roots, two-time Ivy League Pitcher of the Year and former Red tri-captain Elizabeth Dalrymple ’11 has accepted a position as assistant coach for the Cornell softball team. Dick Blood, the Jan Rock Zubrow ’77 Head Coach of Softball, made the announcement on Aug. 1.

Dalrymple returns to her alma mater, where she will work closely with the pitchers, as the Red attempts to claim its fifth consecutive Ivy League Southern Division title. She was the eighth player in Cornell program history to earn first-team All-Ivy honors three times, and she ranks fifth all-time with 63 wins. Dalrymple also holds multiple Cornell career records — including strikeout mark (651), second lowest opponent batting average (.223), fourth lowest ERA (1.96), fifth in saves (4) and career games (66) and third in shutouts (17). She ranks in the Top-7 all-time in the Ivy League for all of those categories in the Ivy League’s program history.

While playing for the Red, Dalrymple earned recognition for her hard work on the mound. She was a two-time Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, as well as an NFCA All-District selection as a junior. During her senior year, Dalrymple was honored as Cornell’s Charles H. Moore Outstanding Senior Varsity Athlete.

Brusilovsky Shares Expertise With Foilists

On June 16, head coach Iryna Dolgikh announced that world-class fencer Oleg Brusilovsky will join the fencing team’s staff as an assistant coach for the upcoming season. 

“I am convinced that Coach Brusilovsky joining our staff will not only help develop our fencers' skills even further, but will also solidify our program improvements, team dynamics in training, discipline and help us in achieving higher national standings in the very near future,” Dolgikh said.

Brusilovsky was a champion in the Soviet Union as well as a five-time Ukrainian National Champion competing in foil in the 80’s.  

For the past seven years, Brusilovsky has worked at the Academy of Westchester where he has trained multiple national fencing champions. Adding to his already impressive resume, Brusilovsky also previously worked as the foil coach at the Blade Fencing Club in New York City where he trained two members of the United States national foil team.