February 15, 2001

By Gary Rubin

Otterbein mentor wins 500th game
Otterbein head coach Dick Reynolds picked up his 500th career win on Saturday with an 88-79 overtime victory over John Carroll. The win raised his overall record to 500-284 in 29 seasons. Prior to the start of this season, only 14 other Division III head coached had ever reached 500 wins. Reynolds has taken his Cardinals to 10 Ohio Athletic Conference titles and into the Division III tournament 12 times, advancing to the Final Four in 1981 and 1991. He was the first coach to capture OAC conference titles in four different decades. His 400th win came on Feb. 26, 1994.

While he credits his success to the student-athletes who have played for Otterbein, Reynolds also thanks his family. "There is no way I could have accomplished what I have accomplished what I have without the support from my wife, Ellen, and son and daughter," said Reynolds. "They involved themselves in what I was doing and that made it even more enjoyable for me. We have all enjoyed Otterbein College. It's been our lifestyle, not just my job."

Wartburg secures homecourt advantage
Wartburg College upped its win streak to seven games with a 64-53 win at Luther on Tuesday night. The nationally ranked Knights are 20-2 on the year and 17-1 in Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Association play, good for first place. They locked up homecourt advantage in the upcoming conference tournament. It's been quite a year for head coach Dick Peth's team. Earlier in the year they upset Division I Central Florida on the road.

Peth is in his fourth year at the helm of the Wartburg program and has compiled a 63-35 mark with the Knights."Our staff feels like we have the program going in the right direction," he said. "The year before I arrived at Wartburg, the team finished second-to-last in the conference. Since then, the program has been in the top half of the league each and every year."

Before coming to Waverly, Peth was the head coach at the University of Denver, an NCAA Division II school, posting a 221-123 record in 12 years. UD won two regular season Colorado Athletic Conference titles, three conference tournament championships and qualified for five NAIA regional tournaments and three Division II tournaments in 11 seasons under Peth. The Pioneers' high-water mark in that timeframe came with a "Sweet Sixteen" berth in 1992.

Midwest monsters
Mark Scherer's Elmhurst Bluejays are off to the best start in school history. Elmhurst, 19-3, is ranked second in this week's NCAA Midwest Region poll despite losing its first conference game of the year on Jan. 30.

Another Midwest team making a charge into the NCAA tournament is Washington University (Mo.). Head coach Mark Edwards' Bears have won 12 of their last 13 games and have lost just once since Dec. 10. Wash U. faces a big showdown with University Athletic Association rival Chicago this Sunday.

Duda does it again
Despite its loss last week to Elizabethtown, David Duda's Widener Pioneers are ranked first in the Middle Atlantic region poll. It wasn't long ago that the program was struggling and brought in Duda in 1998 from Delaware Valley. Since then, Duda has lived up to his reputation of being able to turn programs around. During his two years as the Pioneers head coach, Duda has taken the team to the top of the Middle Atlantic Conference and it looks like Widener will again be there at the end of the season. While at Delaware Valley College, he was able to turn around a 0-23 team that was losing by an average of 30 points per game to a .500 team with a plus-three scoring margin in just two seasons.