Who won the 2004 - 2008 NCAA March Madness three point shooting contests?

March 12, 2009 2:52 PM

During the NCAA Final Four Basketball finals, they always hold the Annual State Farm College Slam Dunk Championships and the Annual Three Point Shooting Contests. In 2004 Candace Parker won the Slam Dunk, and in the last few years, I know at least two women have won the three-point contest (women's champ beat the men's champ). One of those women was Katie Gearlds of Purdue. But I can't remember the others, and damned if I can find any of the results in one place on the web. I find mentions of individuals who competed, usually on their school site, but no comprehensive. collection of the results--not on ncaa.com, Wiki, or ESPN or anywhere else that I can tell. SO...does anyone remember who else won those contests for the last three years, and/or where to find these results? (p.s. these are college level contests, not the McDonalds H.S. contests)
posted by rexruff to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

Here's what I was able to find from searching in Factiva:

2005 3-point: Caity Matter of Ohio State won the women's contest. ("NCAA's career 3-point leader third in contest," Topeka Capital-Journal, April 1 2005, p. D1). No mention of men's winner or overall winner.

2005 Slam Dunk: Mindaugas Katelynas of Chattanooga won the men's contest. ("Sac State Star loses dunk fest in finals," Jimmy Spencer, The Sacramento Bee, April 1 2005, p. C8) No mention of women's winner or overall winner.

2006 3-point: Lindsay Bowen of Michigan State ("Michigan State: Lindsay Bowen Wins ESPN College 3-Point Championship," College Sports Online, March 31 2006) beat Steve Novak of Marquette in the overall final.

2007 3-point: Katie Gearlds of Purdue ("Storm's Gearlds Arrives with Fresh Perspective," Darren Fessenden, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 24, 2008, online) [not a typo: the April 2008 article makes reference to Gearlds winning the 2007 contest] beat Aaron Brooks of Oregon in the overall final.

2008 3-point: Darnell Harris of La Salle won the men's contest. ("Dayton: Roberts Fourth, Lund Sixth in ESPN Three-Point Championship," College Sports Online, April 3 2008) No mention of women's winner or overall winner.

2008 Slam Dunk: possibly Sonny Weems of Arkansas ("Ewing Jr. could be joining famed Globetrotters," Associated Press Newswires, July 2 2008), although it's not clear whether he won just the men's contest or the overall.

A word of warning for anyone else searching: be careful of including the corporate sponsor's name. At least in some years, the men's contest had a different sponsor than the women's contest. In 2008 the "ESPN College Three-Point Shooting Championships" comprised the "Midas Touch Men's Three-Point Shooting Championship" and the "State Farm Women's Three-Point Shooting Championship."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:03 PM on March 12, 2009

Response by poster: Wow, excellent, thanks DA. Factiva, huh? So weird that there is no central history.
Also, I think I was wrong about Candace...she did win the McDonald's H.S. dunk contest, not the NCAA.....
posted by rexruff at 4:08 PM on March 12, 2009

On further review, I don't think there is a women's slam dunk competition (which would mean that Katelynas and Weems were the slam dunk winners in 2005 and 2008, respectively). One article ("Maryland: Gist To Participate in College Slam Dunk Championships", College Sports Online, March 31 2008) appears to very thoroughly list the 2008 entrants: all seven men in the slam dunk competition, all eight women in the women's three-point contest, and all eight men in the men's three-point contest, but nothing about a women's slam dunk contest.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:22 PM on March 12, 2009

I remember Steve Novak competing and losing to the woman in a final shoot out.

The year he competed was March 28, 2006. Part of the NCAA Men's Final Four Festivities.

Also included in the 3-Point Shooting Championship on the women's side were Nikki Blue of UCLA, Lindsay Bowen of Michigan State, Megan Duffy of Notre Dame, Erin Grant of Texas Tech, Tamara James of the University of Miami and Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers.

On the men's side, the 3-Point Shooters were Dee Brown of Illinois, Keydran Clark of St. Peter's, Steve Novak of Marquette, Kevin Pittsnoggle of West Virginia, Chris Quinn of Notre Dame and Bruce Horan of Butler.

In the slam-dunk competition, Michigan State's Maurice Ager, Memphis' Rodney Carney, Minnesota's Vincent Grier, Gonzaga's Erroll Knight, North Carolina's David Noel, Cincinnati's James White, Western Kentucky's Elgrace Wilborn and Bradley's Lawrence Wright were featured.

Try looking up the individual players or by teams, that should have the time frame or results. That's all I looked up and found since it looks like DA has the better answer.
posted by brent at 4:24 PM on March 12, 2009

...and the article linked in your followup notes that only a tiny handful of female players ever have been able to dunk, so there wouldn't be enough entrants to populate a separate women's slam dunk contest. At least for now.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:25 PM on March 12, 2009

Response by poster: Agreed, there's not a women's slam dunk that I know of....it was a big deal when Candace entered the men's.

Thanks Brent. What a pain! When I put it all together, I'll have to post the results somewhere myself.
posted by rexruff at 4:35 PM on March 12, 2009

rexruff: "Agreed, there's not a women's slam dunk that I know of....it was a big deal when Candace entered the men's.

Thanks Brent. What a pain! When I put it all together, I'll have to post the results somewhere myself."

Consider taking it to SportsFilter, framed with some info on this years participants it would make a nice FPP.
posted by geekyguy at 5:36 PM on March 12, 2009