Spring break is officially over, but for Kent State’s sports teams, it never really began in the first place.

While some students spent their week off relaxing or traveling, seven Kent State teams spent their time on the playing field, course, track or floor.

Here’s a look at how the various teams fared over spring break:

Baseball

Kent State’s baseball team began Mid-American Conference play on a high note, winning four of its first five MAC games. The Flashes currently stand in second place in the MAC East, a half-game behind Ohio.

Senior first baseman Greg Rohan has picked up from where he left off last season. The reigning MAC Player of the Year leads Kent State with a .379 batting average, seven home runs and 26 runs batted in.

The Flashes (16-6) will take a break from conference play when they host Malone tomorrow. The game will begin at 3 p.m. at Schoonover Stadium.

Basketball

The NCAA Tournament is in full swing, as just four teams remain: Connecticut, Villanova, Michigan State and North Carolina. Those teams will square off Saturday in the Final Four.

As usual, several lower-seeded teams defeated higher-seeded opponents in the tournament’s first round. No. 13 seed Cleveland State was among those teams, defeating fourth-seeded Wake Forest 84-69.

Kent State’s arch-rival, the Akron Zips, did not fare so well. The Zips led fourth-seeded Gonzaga by as many as six points in the second half, but the Bulldogs rallied to win, 77-64.

Connecticut will play Michigan State at 6:07 p.m. Saturday, followed by Villanova and North Carolina at approximately 8:47 p.m. The winners of those games will advance to next Monday’s championship game.

Gymnastics

The Kent State gymnastics team defended its conference title at the MAC Championships on March 21.

The team scored 194.500 points to edge Central Michigan (194.375) for the title. It was the team’s closest victory of the season.

“It was a lot closer than we were hoping it was going to be,” Kent State coach Brice Biggin said. “But every win is special, and these girls certainly went out and deserved what they got today and did a great job.”

Senior Laci Hendress and junior Lydia Barrett tied with two other gymnasts for first place on floor with scores of 9.850. They were both named to the All-MAC first team.

Kent State will compete next at the NCAA Central Regional Championship on Saturday in Columbus. The meet will begin at 6 p.m.

Men’s golf

Kent State’s men’s golf team followed up its sixth-place finish at last weekend’s National Invitational Tournament by winning the Towson Spring Invitational this weekend in Grasonville, Md.

The team was paced by sophomore John Hahn, who finished in first place with a score of 5-under-par. Freshman Mackenzie Hughes and senior Nick Latimer tied for second place at 3-under-par.

At the NIT on March 22 and 23, Kent State shot 7-over-par to land in sixth place. Sophomore Brett Cairns tied for fifth place individually with a score of 3-under-par.

Softball

After going 8-14 in non-conference play, the Kent State softball team opened up its MAC schedule this weekend with a sweep.

Kent State defeated Buffalo 2-0 Saturday and 9-1 yesterday. The Flashes are looking to defend their MAC regular-season and tournament titles from last season, when they finished 46-12 overall and 20-2 in conference play.

Track and field

Kent State’s track and field athletes split up over the weekend to open the outdoor season.

Ten distance runners traveled to Raleigh, N.C., for the Reebok Raleigh Relays, and senior Tony Jordanek led the way by finishing second in the men’s 1,500-meter run.

The rest of the team competed at the Weems Baskin Relays in Columbia, S.C. Sophomore sprinter Destin Heasley won the men’s 800-meter run with a time of 1 minute, 52.72 seconds, and junior thrower Brittni Borrero won the women’s discus with a toss of 161 feet, 7 1/2 inches.

Women’s golf

Rain may have shortened the Liz Murphey Classic to one round this weekend, but it didn’t keep the Kent State women’s golf team from achieving its highest finish of the spring.

The team tied for second out of 18 teams at the tournament in Athens, Ga., with a score of 14-over-par. Auburn won the tournament with a score of 11-over-par.

Before this weekend, Kent State had finished in sixth, eighth and sixth place in their first three tournaments of the spring.

Wrestling

For the first time in 23 years, a Kent State wrestler – two, in fact – won All-American honors.

Senior Jermail Porter finished sixth in the heavyweight class, and sophomore Nic Bedelyon came in eighth in the 125-pound class at the NCAA Championships on March 19 and 20.

By finishing in the top eight of their weight classes, Porter and Bedelyon became the first Kent State wrestlers to become All-Americans since Don Horning in 1986.

Contact sports editor Doug Gulasy at [email protected].