Sometimes a little change goes a long way. But for the 2009 Flagler men’s soccer team, it was actually a drastic change after a rough start that took them all the way to their first Peach Belt Conference title. Even more impressive, this was Flagler’s first year competing in the Peach Belt.

When his team suffered back-to-back losses to open the season, Flagler soccer Coach John Lynch knew some changes were in order, especially after a 6-1 loss in their second game.

A thrilling 2009 season that featured a 29-match winning streak took the Flagler College volleyball team many places over the course of the year.

It was only fitting that such a magical run ended with the team in St. Paul, Minn., site of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship, making angels in the snow.

It’s been only four years since Flagler College first launched the Flagler Athletic Boosters Club, but in that time, the group has already raised almost $490,000 to help benefit Flagler’s sports teams that are now competing in NCAA Division II.

The boosters club was created in 2004 while Flagler athletic teams were still qualifying for NAIA Tournaments and the NCAA was but a murmur going around the administration.

Sometimes the running bug just bites: a 5-kilometer race here, a marathon there. But for Phil Lechner, ’96, the itch to run has been ultra-hard to scratch, and has meant piling on the miles.

Lechner runs what are called ultra-marathons — distances of 50 kilometers, 50 miles and even 100 miles.

“I just caught the bug and I really, really enjoy it,” he said. “It’s a sport that is exploding now because, at one time, the marathon was a challenge. But when you have 30,000 or 40,000 people running New York and Boston, people want more than that.”

This fall Flagler is adding a new sport to its roster, although it’s not quite “new.” While the college sported a women’s slow-pitch softball team in the ’70s and ’80s, it is being reincarnated this year as fast-pitch.

The decision to add softball has been on the agenda since Flagler made the move to NCAA Div. II. Most teams in the region have softball teams in place, and Flagler needed to make the
addition to its roster of sports.