Junior Kara DeWitt was one of two members of Keuka's women's tennis team to compete in the NEAC championships. DeWitt and freshman Nikita Wilkins each placed fourth at the conference championships (photo courtesy of Hung Do Le, Keuka College Sports Information Department).

Junior Kara DeWitt (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) and freshman Nikita Wilkins (Bloomfield, NY/Bloomfield) competed with the best women’s tennis players in the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) West Division, and DeWitt and Wilkins each finished fourth in their singles’ draws at the conference tournament Friday afternoon at the Birchwood Tennis Club in Clarks Summit, PA.

DeWitt, who earned the No. 4 seed in the third singles draw, fell to top seed Arion Harris (Penn State-Berks) 6-1, 6-2 in her first-round match before falling to Jenny Abraham (Penn State-Abington) 6-1, 6-4 in the consolation match.

Wilkins, who earned the No. 3 seed in sixth singles, lost to Abington’s Adela Ulitsky 6-2, 6-3 in the first-round match and lost to Berks’ Kristina Hatter 6-3, 6-3 in the consolation match.

The winners of each draw earned first-team All-NEAC while the runner-up earned second-team All-NEAC honors. The third-place winner was named third-team All-NEAC.

Junior Kara DeWitt (left) and freshman Nikita Wilkins (right) earned wins in singles play as Keuka's women's tennis team blanked Utica College 9-0 Wednesday afternoon.

The Keuka College women’s tennis team earned a shutout, 9-0 win at home over Utica College Wednesday afternoon to close out the regular season.

Every one of the six singles matches and three doubles matches was played as a pro set (first to eight games) and the Storm (3-8 overall) recorded wins at the first five singles matches and the top two doubles matches to go with forfeit wins at third doubles and sixth singles.

In singles action, sophomore Emily Knapsack (Montgomery, PA/Montgomery) defeated Jennifer Persio 8-2; sophomore Sarah Schneider (Rushville, NY/Marcus Whitman) handled Taylor Banovic 8-2 at second singles; junior Kara DeWitt (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) blanked Heather Brisson 8-0 at third singles; freshman Danielle Delgatto (Naples, NY/Naples) shut out Elise Pape 8-0 at fourth singles and freshman Nikita Wilkins (Bloomfield, NY/Bloomfield) posted an 8-0 win over Tori Hauser at fifth singles as Keuka picked up its third in its last five matches.

Knapsack and Schneider were victorious over Persio and Banovic, 8-4 at first doubles. In second doubles, DeWitt and Cooper handled Pape and Hauser 8-2 to complete the sweep.

Several individual members of the Green and Gold are competing in this weekend’s North Eastern Athletic Conference individual tournament, which runs Thursday and Friday at the Birchwood Tennis Club in Clarks Summit, PA.

DeWitt earned the No. 4 seed in the third singles draw while Wilkins earned the No. 3 seed in sixth singles. The No. 1 and No. 4 players will square off in one semifinal, with the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds squaring off in the other semifinal.

The winners of each match will play for the conference championship, with the winner earning first-team All-NEAC, the runner-up earning second-team All-NEAC and the third-place winner earning third-team All-NEAC.

Singles Results
1st singles: Emily Knapsack (KC) def. Jennifer Persio, 8-2
2nd singles: Sarah Schneider (KC) def. Taylor Banovic, 8-2
3rd singles: Kara DeWitt (KC) def. Heather Brisson, 8-0
4th singles: Danielle Delgatto (KC) def. Elise Pape, 8-0
5th singles: Nikita Wilkins (KC) def. Tori Hauser, 8-0
6th singles: Marysa Cooper (KC) won by forfeit

Doubles Results
1st doubles: Knapsack/Schneider (KC) def. Persio/Banovic, 8-4
2nd doubles: DeWitt/Cooper (KC) def. Pape/Hauser, 8-2
3rd doubles: Delgatto/Wilkins (KC) won by forfeit

Hosting the Chargers on a beautiful Friday afternoon, Keuka emerged with a 7-2 win over Lancaster Bible. Sophomore Emily Knapsack (Montgomery, PA/Montgomery) defeated Brianna Funk 6-2, 6-4 at first singles and teamed with sophomore Sarah Schneider (Rushville, NY/Marcus Whitman) for a thrilling 9-8 (7-5) win at first doubles as Keuka swept the three doubles matches and posted wins in four of the six singles matches.

Junior Kara DeWitt (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) defeated Erin Buckwalter 6-1, 6-0 at third singles and teamed with freshman Danielle Delgatto (Naples, NY/Naples) for an 8-3 win at second doubles. Delgatto also posted a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kacie Scott at fifth singles.

Junior Marysa Cooper (Victor, NY/Victor) and freshman Nikita Wilkins (Bloomfield, NY/Bloomfield) posted an 8-4 win at third doubles, and Wikins defeated Shyanne Smith in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 at sixth singles as the Storm won its second straight NEAC contest.

The Green and Gold hit the road on Saturday and Sunday for a pair of tough NEAC clashes, and Keuka suffered a 9-0 loss at Penn State-Berks and a 7-2 setback against Penn State-Harrisburg Sunday afternoon.

Against Berks, eight of the nine matches were sweeps by the Nittany Lions; only Knapsack at first singles managed to win a set. Facing Aimee Hoffman, Knapsack dropped the first set 6-2 before evening the match with a 7-5 win in the second. In the back-and-forth decisive third set, Knapsack and Hoffman were neck-and-neck, but Hoffman emerged with a 10-8 win.

Closing out the regular-season against Harrisburg, Keuka (2-8, 2-4 NEAC) suffered straight-set losses at all six singles events and all three doubles contests.

While the Storm didn’t qualify for this weekend’s NEAC team championships, several individual members earned spots in the tournament, which runs Thursday and Friday at the Birchwood Tennis Club in Clarks Summit, PA.

DeWitt earned the No. 4 seed in the third singles draw while Wilkins earned the No. 3 seed in sixth singles. The No. 1 and No. 4 players will square off in one semifinal, with the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds squaring off in the other semifinal. The winners of each match will play for the conference championship, with the winner earning first-team All-NEAC, the runner-up earning second-team All-NEAC and the third-place winner earning third-team All-NEAC.

Sophomore Emily Knapsack posted a win at first singles and first doubles as Keuka's women's tennis team earned its first win of the season (photo courtesy of Ed Webber, Keuka College Sports Information Department).

Sophomore Emily Knapsack (Montgomery, PA/Montgomery) and freshman Nikita Wilkins (Bloomfield, NY/Bloomfield) each picked up wins in singles and doubles action to lead Keuka College’s women’s tennis team to its first win of the season, 5-4 over the College of St. Elizabeth Sunday afternoon in Morristown, NJ.

Knapsack recorded a straight-sets, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Devlyn Elleston at first singles, and teamed with classmate Sarah Schneider (Rushville, NY/Marcus Whitman) for an 8-1 win at first doubles for the Storm (1-6, 1-2 North Eastern Athletic Conference).

Wilkins blanked St. Elizabeth’s Nastasya Tsultsumova 6-0, 6-0 at sixth singles and teamed with junior Marysa Cooper (Victor, NY/Victor) for an 8-3 win at third doubles as the Storm went 3-3 in the singles matches and 2-1 in doubles.

Junior Kara DeWitt (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) posted a 6-1, 6-1 win over Amy Cooper at third singles for the Storm.  

On Saturday, Keuka suffered an 8-1 loss at Penn State-Abington. Knapsack and Schneider handed Stephanie Mockus and Adela Ulitsky an 8-6 setback at first doubles for the Storm’s lone point.

Keuka returns to action with a 1 p.m. conference match against Lancaster Bible College on Friday afternoon at Keuka.

Both the Storm’s men’s and women’s tennis squads were scheduled to play North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) matches with Penn State-Harrisburg at noon on Sunday, but rain and poor court conditions have caused those matches to be postponed. No makeup date has been announced yet for the matches, which would have been the spring home openers for both squads.

Keuka’s baseball team had its home doubleheader with Penn State-Abington, slated for a 1 p.m. start, canceled due to inclement weather. Again, no makeup date has been announced for the doubleheader.

Check back to KeukaStorm.com and the Storm’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/KeukaStorm to find out when makeup dates for these contests are announced.

Jeff Bray, right, Keuka College's head athletic trainer/assistant athletic director, has worked as an athletic trainer for dozens of auto races, including an open wheel race when he met Helio Castroneves, an IndyCar driver and three-time Indy 500 champion.

By John Boccacino/Sports Information Director

Growing up on his parents’ gas station in Sterling, Kansas, Jeff Bray was surrounded by automobiles at an early age, so it should come as no surprise that the longtime Keuka College head athletic trainer/assistant athletic director considers himself an avid “Gear Head,” an affectionate term used to describe diehard motorsports fans.

Bray was bitten by the auto racing bug and has been going to the local and national speedways for as long as he can remember.

“I got into cars and into racing because I grew up on a gas station, and my wife [Kristen] says if you cut me I’ll probably bleed motor oil, and she believes that,” Bray recalled with a laugh and a smile.

“My parents had a friend who raced cars, and my dad provided tires for him, so I grew up thinking [that driver] was Zeus-like, he was awesome behind the wheel. Watching the Indy 500 was always the best day of the year, better than Christmas for me, and I lived for Memorial Day.”

For the last 18 years, Bray has carved time into his busy Keuka College schedule to work as an athletic trainer at dozens of races each year, including NASCAR, Indy Car and the American Le Mans Series. His efforts have taken him across the world assisting on race days.

“I’ve never had a bad day at the racetrack in 18 years,” said Bray, who is celebrating his 20th year at Keuka College and who resides in Penn Yan with wife, Kristen, son Tyler, 15, and daughter Kelly, 13.

“Even when things haven’t gone right, I’m still at the racetrack and that’s what keeps me going, I am fortunate to ply my trade into something I’m passionate about.”

As a teenager, Bray had some insight into his future professional career and knew how he wanted to spend his working days.  

Bray’s mother, Nettie, suffered a stroke when Bray was just 15 years old, leaving her without use of her right arm and right leg. Despite the stroke, Bray’s mom, “never complains about anything,” and after watching her dedicated efforts to rehab from her injuries, Bray decided to enroll at a pre-physical therapy program at Kansas State University, located roughly 140 miles away from Sterling.

“I went to my mother’s physical therapy sessions and I thought it was pretty neat how these people were so passionate about helping my mom recover from her injury,” Bray said.

“I’d never been around physical therapists before, so I thought how they helped people recover from their injuries was pretty cool.”

When Bray was still in high school, his government teacher approached him with an interesting question. As a sophomore at Sterling High School, this government teacher asked Bray: “Do you think you have a better chance to play football at Kansas State, or be a student-athletic trainer. I didn’t know what that field was, so I attended a Cramer Sports Medicine summer workshop.”

There, Bray met Bud Epps, the assistant trainer at Missouri who eventually became an assistant athletic trainer for the Kansas City Chiefs. Epps took Bray under his wing, and after enrolling at Kansas State, Bray worked as a student athletic trainer and worked the Wildcats’ home and away football games.

While on a road trip to Iowa State with the Wildcats’ football team, Bray was out to dinner with Jim Rudd and Hank Fijalkowski, Bray’s bosses at Kansas State, and the topic of landing a summer internship with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles popped up. While Bray was skeptical he could ever land a gig in the NFL, he applied for the position anyways and was selected as one of roughly 10-12 summer interns in the athletic training department.

In-between his sophomore and junior years at Kansas State, Bray began his first of three seasons as a summer intern, and he did such a commendable job he was asked back for one year as a paid trainer following his graduation from Kansas State.

While with the Eagles, Bray taped Reggie White, the Eagles’ fierce pass rusher and eventual Hall-of-Famer. During the 1987 NFL Players Strike, Bray recalls working the Eagles’ home opener at the old Veterans Stadium as Philadelphia hosted the Chicago Bears before 4,000 fans.

“The first person I met, as far as players go, was [quarterback] Ron Jaworski. He brought us [athletic trainers] a couple of large pizzas and some beverages, and he was as common Joe as they come,” said Bray, whose office inside the Weed Physical Arts Center has plenty of mementos from his stint with the Eagles.

“Mike Golic was there and he was a great guy, Reggie White was a lot of fun to be around, I’ll never forget his personality and the passion he brought, not only to football but later on to his ministry career. There were just a lot of great guys to be around: Cris Carter, Keith Byars, Seth Joyner, Clyde Simmons, Jerome Brown, Terry Hoage. We also had Jeff Fisher as the defensive backs coach, Wade Phillips was linebackers coach, Tom Coughlin was a defensive coach and of course, Buddy Ryan was the head coach for my second year. A majority of those coaches went onto become head coaches in the NFL, and it’s amazing they all came from that one team.”

While it might seem glamorous working with an NFL team, Bray said the job definitely had its challenges, including grueling work days with few days off, especially in-season. But there were plenty of benefits to the position, Bray said, including working with professional athletes at the highest level and having an apartment in Veterans Stadium that allowed him to wander into the stadium’s bullpen and dugouts on quiet nights.

One day, the Eagles and baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies were holding a charity bowling tournament, and the Eagles’ front office assembled a team that included Bray.

“This guy comes and sits down next to me, we’re putting our bowling shoes on, and he’s wearing slacks and a golf shirt and he asks if I worked for the Eagles, and I said yes,” Bray recalled. “I asked who he worked for and he said the Phillies, and we’re just talking while putting our bowling shoes on when this little kid comes in and says, ‘Mr. Schmidt, can I have your autograph?’ and I look over and see that I’ve been talking to Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt this whole time! I start undoing my shoes, went to the sporting goods store down the street, bought a National League baseball and asked Mike to sign it for me. He said, ‘You didn’t know who I was, did you?’ and we laughed about it. Charles Barkley was bowling a few lanes down from us, and what struck me was they were just guys out bowling, no one made a big deal about it.”

Following a stint at Illinois State, Bray was offered the head athletic trainer job at Keuka July 1, 1992. After his first year with the Storm Bray was working with Mobile Sports Medicine Director Don Andrews at the First Frontier Circuit Rodeo finals in Albany in 1993, when Bray casually asked Andrews about his recent trip to Phoenix, Ariz.

Andrews, who has been a driving force in increasing safety in the sports of bull riding, auto racing, skiing and equestrian, mentioned he had met with Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip about beginning a sports medicine program in the Winston Cup circuit. Bray expressed an interest in assisting at various races, and Andrews welcomed him to the team for 8 to 10 races a year.

After his team lost its sponsorship in 1998, Bray switched to open wheel racing and the CART Series, which has evolved into the Champ Car World Series, and worked races across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, England and Japan.

While working alongside legendary actor/race car driver Paul Newman and the drivers of his Newman/Haas Racing Team in the Champ Car Racing Series, Bray recalls the time he observed Newman hunched over a sink in the medical center.

“Paul was one of the most outstanding people I ever spent a minute talking to. He had the cream of the crop in open wheel racing, so if a driver was injured, Paul would accompany them to the medical center,” Bray said. “So I turn around one night and see Paul over the sink, and he’d cut the tip of his finger making a salad for some guests, so we took care of his finger and got a surgeon to suture Paul up. Paul hung around afterwards and entertained us with his stories, and I’ll never forget him coming over and introducing himself to me, saying, ‘I’m Paul Newman, what’s your name?’ And I’m thinking to myself ‘I know who you are!’ They’re looked upon as bigger than life, but they’re just good, hard-working people and that’s really the neatest thing.”

While working a race in Mexico City, Mexico in 2007, Bray had the opportunity to ride in the back seat of an F1 car driven by Champ Car World Series driver Zsolt Baumgartner. After donning the fire-proof gear, Bray experienced the sensation of flying through the road at speeds of 175 miles-per-hour.

“Outside of the birth of my kids and my wedding day, that is the single coolest day I’ve ever had,” said Bray, who one day hopes to drive a Sprint car on a dirt track.

“It’s fast riding in a car at those speeds, but the speed is not as cool as the car’s breaking power. Going from 175 MPH to literally zero in a very short distance and not squealing the tires, then turning right and do it again, there’s no way to describe the rush; it’s like the best roller coaster at Darien Lake on steroids. … My career in auto racing all started with me asking a question, and to this day I’m still doing something I’m passionate about, and that’s pretty cool.”

If Bray had his way and could work any sporting event in the world as athletic trainer, what would he chose?

“It would probably have to be something in auto racing, but if I was going as a team athletic trainer, it would probably be Game 7 of the World Series,” said Bray, who added he would never go to the Super Bowl as a fan, only if he was working the event down on the field.

Veteran athletic trainer Jeff Bray, left, works on Ava Wilburn during a Keuka College women's soccer home game in the fall of 2011.

By John Boccacino/Sports Information Director

Jeff Bray is an avid motorsports fan, and when he arrived in scenic Keuka Park to accept a job as Keuka College’s head athletic trainer/assistant athletic director in the summer of 1992, he figured he was just making a pit stop.

Nearly 20 later, the man who came to campus on a two-year plan can’t imagine working anywhere else.

As he reflects on two decades of dedicated service to the Storm’s student-athletes, Bray can’t help but wonder how he ended up as the second-longest tenured member of the College’s athletics department.

To quote the Grateful Dead anthem, “Truckin’,” what a long, strange trip it has been for Bray.

Born in Sterling, Kansas, a small town that Bray said possesses a similar down-home feel to Keuka, Bray essentially grew up on his parent’s gas station before enrolling in Kansas State to study athletic training.

Bray has taped hundreds of professional athletes during a career that, among other stops, has seen him work the sidelines of NFL games, alongside pit crews for assorted auto racing events across the world, and behind the bucking chutes at top-flight bull riding competitions.

During a four-year stint in the NFL working as an athletic trainer with the Philadelphia Eagles — three as a summer intern and one as a paid professional — Bray taped Hall-of-Famer Reggie White, was part of a team that helped dynamic quarterback Randall Cunningham recover from various knee injuries, and worked alongside talented coaches such as Buddy Ryan, Jeff Fisher and Wade Phillips, to name a few.

Tom Coughlin, the Waterloo native who will lead the NFC champion New York Giants into battle against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI Feb. 5, was also a part of those Eagles’ coaching staffs during Bray’s time with the team.

Jeff Bray has worked as an athletic trainer for numerous auto races, including an open wheel race when he met Helio Castroneves, an IndyCar driver and three-time Indy 500 champion.

Bray worked alongside legendary actor/race car driver Paul Newman and the drivers of his Newman/Haas Racing Team when working in the Champ Car Racing Series. Division I schools, including Bray’s alma mater Boise State, have sought his expertise in the field of athletic training, making enticing job pitches in an attempt to land Bray’s services.

But through an athletic training career that has spanned more than three decades — the last two of them spent at Keuka — there is no place Bray would rather call home than picturesque Keuka College.

“One of the reasons it’s been easy to stay here is because Keuka’s just been a good place to be, with good people who provide a great college experience, be it coaches, parents, administrators, or the student-athletes. Coach Dave Sweet has been an outstanding mentor and has taught me all about the world that is Division III athletics,” said Bray, who became interested in physical training after watching his mother, Nettie, battle back from a debilitating stroke when Bray was 15.

“I really appreciate getting to know the families of the student-athletes here. At a Division I school you never really have any dealings with parents. Keuka is special from that standpoint, and as my kids get older that [relationship with the parents] means more to me, because not too far down the road it’ll be me handing my kids off to a college and I’ll want to feel as comfortable sending my kids off to college as the parents of our student-athletes feel when they send their children to Keuka.”

However, that opinion of Keuka took some time to formulate for Bray, who currently resides in nearby Penn Yan with wife, Kristen, and son Tyler, 15, and daughter Kelly, 13.

When Bray was offered the Keuka position, he had his reservations. Sweet, Keuka’s athletic director and head coach of the women’s basketball team, had been on campus for nine years and was working diligently to transform the Storm from a predominantly women’s sports-based program into a well-rounded, co-ed athletics department that produced championship-caliber teams on the playing fields, and accomplished students in the classroom.

Additionally, Bray had only worked with professional and Division I athletes at his previous jobs, and Keuka was a tiny Division III school smack-dab in the middle of rural Upstate New York.

The Storm didn’t even have a football team, a fact Bray felt was a prerequisite for any potential job. He previously had worked passionately with football teams at every stop along the way: from his student athletic trainer days at Kansas State, to his graduate work at Boise State, through his four-year stint with the Eagles, and his time spent as Illinois State’s head football trainer.

In the end, while the decision was Bray’s to make, his future wife Kristen held the ultimate card. She had grown up in the Buffalo area and was a successful basketball player at Canisius College. Even though the couple wasn’t yet married, Bray realized it was important for Kristen to be closer to her family.

So the couple came to an agreement. Kristen and Jeff would relocate and Bray would try out the Keuka position for two years, and if Bray was unsatisfied at the end of the two-year trial period, Kristen would relocate anywhere in the country as her husband searched for his dream job.

Twenty years later and, the rest is history. Bray said he “fell in love” with the job and the students, and while other colleges and universities have called for Bray’s services, the answer has always been the same: “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“I had a unique opportunity at a very young age to reach the pinnacle of our profession,” said Bray, who still carves out time in his busy schedule to work between 5-10 auto races a year as an athletic trainer.

“There are thousands of young athletic trainers, student athletic trainers that aspire to work in pro sports, and only a few get there. I had the opportunity and while I enjoyed my time in the pros, long-term I didn’t know if it was for me. After a lot of thinking, when this job became available I took it and while I couldn’t believe I was at this small college with no football, I owed it to Keuka to give it my best. After all these years this is where I’m supposed to be.”

To achieve peace of mind with his decision about his future, Bray turned to an important part of his past, Otho Davis, his mentor in the athletic training field. Davis was the long-time trainer in the NFL who had worked with the then-Baltimore Colts and was Bray’s boss with the Eagles when Bray secured a summer internship to study under the legendary Davis, who at the time was considered among the best trainers in all of professional sports.

Davis, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2000, was instrumental in swaying Bray to take the job with the Storm. While he was the influence who got Bray into professional sports, Davis also warned Bray of the dangers of working in an industry where off days are few and far between and the average work week could range from 80 to 100 hours.

Davis, who had four sons, rarely got to see his family due to the rigors and demands of the job, a factor Bray considered heavily when debating the pros and cons of the Keuka position.

As Keuka's head athletic trainer, Jeff Bray is responsible for attending to all injured players, whether they play for the Storm or the opposition.

In the end, the chance to help deserving Division III athletes won out. Now, fast-forward 20 years and Bray’s presence has become part of the fiber of a student-athlete’s life. Bray and his staff of athletic trainers work all Keuka College sporting events, ready on the sidelines should an injury befall a member of the Storm or the opposition.

“When I’m asked why I’m still at Keuka, ‘I say why not?’ If our point guard, [Jessica Bandrowski], sprains her ankle and is going to potentially miss some big games coming up, she’s as valuable to her team as [Boise State star quarterback] Kellen Moore is to his team,” said Bray, who used his NFL connections to secure the New York Jets old athletic training equipment when the NFL franchise decided to purchase new equipment in 1998.

“Sure, it’s not going to be in the USA Today or make ESPN that Bandrowski sprained her ankle and might miss a game, but she deserves to be treated like a professional athlete, too. But also, if I go to coach Sweet and say Bandrowski can’t play tomorrow, I’m not going to get the screws put to me [to get her ready to play] to the point that my ethics are pushed and her best interests are questioned in order to get a win.”

Bray’s influence on Keuka’s student-body is not limited to the various playing fields for the Storm’s 16 varsity sports teams. Bray also serves as an adjunct instructor and teaches two sports management classes.

Each fall, as part of their senior class projects, Bray’s sports management students organize the annual Storm Madness pep rally, a raucous affair that provides a first look at the men’s and women’s basketball teams to the campus and neighboring communities.

“Jeff has been my right-hand man for all these years, and he is immensely talented and certainly has a lot to offer to any college,” said Sweet, who credits Bray’s communication skills, problem-solving ability, and self-starter mentality as some of his best personality traits.

“He’s tuned-in well with the needs of our student-athletes and understands what we’re trying to accomplish as a small Division III college athletics program. We’re not all about wins and losses; we try to educate the student-athletes on the overall collegiate experience and Jeff has been extremely helpful, not only to the college but to me in particular.”

Applauding Keuka’s unique Field Period as one of the most beneficial aspects of a Keuka education, Bray backs the college’s required annual 140-hour long internship program that offers real-world work experience to students each year they’re on campus.

“Professionally, if you’re trying to get somewhere, don’t always think you’re going to get somewhere on your own,” said Bray, who originally learned of the Eagles’ summer trainer position through Jim Rudd and Hank Fijalkowski, his bosses while Bray was a student athletic trainer at Kansas State.

“There are people that can and will help you if they know where you want to go. I am a firm believer in our Field Period because I lived the internship route, that’s how I got into the NFL. Jim and Hank, my mentors, told me I needed to do an internship in the NFL, and at the time I was probably too stupid to ask questions. But if Otho, Jim or Hank told me to do something, I knew that was what I needed to do. Our students need to get out and have those workplace experiences, but students can’t have a broken want-to. You can’t be the one pushing them; they need the drive and motivation to succeed.”

Throughout the years, Bray’s dedication toward Keuka College and the Storm’s student-athletes has never wavered, and he is just as passionate about his job and this campus as he was July 1, 1992, the day he first reported for duty at Keuka.

“I think you’re missing the boat of life if you’re not passionate about something,” Bray said. “To this day, I’m still doing something I’m passionate about and that’s pretty cool.”

Sophomore Meghan Storie won at second singles and also teamed with Emily Knapsack to win at first doubles during Keuka College’s 6-3 home loss to Pitt-Bradford Thursday.

The Keuka College women’s tennis team scored a season-high three victories during its home match with the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford on Thursday afternoon, but the Storm still fell to the Panthers 6-3.

Sophomore Emily Knapsack (Montgomery, PA/Montgomery) breezed to a 6-3, 6-0 straight sets victory at first singles while sophomore Meghan Storie (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) recorded a win in three sets at second singles for the Storm (0-4). Storie won the first set 6-4, dropped the second set 6-2 but rebounded for a 7-6 (10-2) win in the decisive third set as the Storm claimed points at the top two singles spots.

Keuka also got a win at first doubles, as Knapsack and Storie held on for a 9-7 win, but the Storm suffered straight sets losses at third, fourth, fifth and sixth singles as well as losses at second and third doubles to drop its fourth-straight contest of the fall season.

Keuka’s women’s tennis team is done playing until the spring portion of the schedule, which kicks off with a noon North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) road match against Penn State-Harrisburg on April 1, 2012.

Sophomore Emily Knapsack is one of four returning members of the women's tennis team that earned All-NEAC honors during the 2010-11 season.

While the Keuka College women’s tennis team will feature a small roster with only six women competing for the Green and Gold during the 2011-12 season, the Storm will not be short on experience as it looks to repeat as champions of the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC).

Fortunately for head coach Matt Tantalo, while his squad is small, four of the six returners were starters for a Keuka team that captured both the NEAC regular season and postseason tournaments before falling to Castleton State in the NEAC/North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship match.

The biggest challenge will be replacing the steady game of Megan McGowan, the two-time NEAC Player of the Year who went 9-4 at first singles en route to an 11-4 overall record for the Storm, which compiled a 50-35 record in individual matches and finished the season 8-5 overall and an undefeated 6-0 in the NEAC.

“Losing Megan, our No. 1 player, is a huge loss for this team. She was a guarantee to win two points every match, and she made everyone else around her better,” Tantalo said.

“But we will definitely be competitive in the NEAC, especially with four starters returning. The biggest key for us is to have a No. 1 step up and lead the way for us. We’re pretty young but we have some talented women returning for us.”

All four returners earned spots on the year-ending All-NEAC team, led by junior Kara DeWitt (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes), who compiled a 10-3 overall record and an 8-3 record at sixth singles for the Storm. Sophomores Sarah Schneider (Rushville, NY/Marcus Whitman) and Emily Knapsack (Montgomery, PA/Montgomery) were named to the All-NEAC second team while fellow sophomore Meghan Storie (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) earned a spot on the All-NEAC third-team.

Schneider posted a 7-7 overall record and teamed with DeWitt to post an 8-3 record in third doubles action. Knapsack led the Storm with a 12-3 overall record at singles, including going 11-2 at third singles, and combined with several playing partners to post a cumulative 8-7 record.

Storie went 4-11 overall in singles and teamed with McGowan to go 7-8 overall at first doubles in 2010-11 for the Storm.

Tantalo feels confident that his team can carry over the momentum from the end of last season, when several players, including Storie and Schneider, “played their best tennis of the year” at the NEAC tournament.

“Meghan has good tools and her groundstrokes are solid, she just needs to be more consistent on the court,” Tantalo said.

“Emily is an extremely smart and consistent player who could be our No. 2 singles player; she plays within her skills and knows her limitations. Sarah has the most potential on our team; she has a good skill set, an accurate serve and she’s dominant at the net. … and Kara is extremely consistent and she understands the game very well.”

Additionally, Keuka will look for contributions from freshman Danielle Del Gatto (Naples, NY/Naples) and sophomore Marysa Cooper (Victor, NY/Victor), who played sparingly during her freshman season.

Keuka opens up the 2011-12 season with a 4 p.m. road contest Thursday afternoon against Alfred University. The Storm’s home opener will be Tuesday, Sept. 20 when SUNY Brockport comes to campus for a 4 p.m. clash.

Freshman Emily Knapsack won Keuka's only singles match.

The Keuka College women’s tennis team lost by a score of 7-2 to Castelton State College in the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC)/North Atlantic Conference (NAC) tournament championship on Saturday.

The Storm, who won the NEAC Tournament, finish the year 8-5 overall.  Castelton, who won the NAC Tournament, improve to 13-1 overall and will now play in the NCAA Tournament.

Keuka won one doubles match and one singles match.  Sophomore Kara Dewitt (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Grimes) and freshman Sarah Schneider (Rushville, N.Y./Marcus Whitman) won the third flight of doubles for Keuka by a score of 8-6.

Rookie Emily Knapsack (Montgomery, Pa./Montgomery) took the third flight of singles easily by a score of 6-2, 6-1.  Knapsack finished her rookie year with a team-high 12 singles wins, going 12-3 overall.