Richter, Huff Named February Gophers of the Month

TOWSON, Md. — Men’s swimmer Morgan Richter (Cleburne, Texas/Cleburne), who captured conference titles in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly, and women’s basketball guard Sharnell Huff (Bowie, Md./Bowie), who established several milestones during the final month of her career, have been selected as Goucher’s Male and Female Gophers of the Month for February.

Of the nine school records broken by the men’s swimming team at this year’s Landmark Championships, Richter had a hand in six of them. Individually, he set new marks in each of his title races, as well as the 200 freestyle and the 500 free. He also teamed with Colin Richter (Cleburne, Texas/Cleburne), Cody Nelson (Duanesburg, N.Y./Schalmont) and Sam Davis (Wilmington, Del./Wilmington Friends) to set a new standard in the 400 medley relay, while the Richter brothers, Davis and Dean Silverman (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) broke the school record in the 800 free relay.

“Morgan is a motivator for the rest of the team,” head coach Thomas Till said. “And in the Landmark Conference, he’s probably one of the best spokesmen around. He’s nice, he’s friendly, and he acknowledges other swimmers in his races. You can see that he’s got a lot of good friends in the conference, which I think is a testament to not only who he is, but what he can bring to our program.”

Huff’s February got off to a memorable start. Her first field goal of the month, a 3-pointer against Moravian, gave her 1,000 points for her career and tied her with Shadae Swan for the most made 3’s in program history. Huff would pass Swan later in the game, and she also passed Jessica Young for most 3-pointers made in a season later in the month against Juniata.

The senior guard scored in double figures in each of Goucher’s seven games in February, going over the 20-point barrier four times. Huff averaged 19.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game overall in her final month, hitting over 40 percent of her 3-point attempts.

“There were quite a few games down the stretch where Sharnell was just phenomenal,” head coach Didi Cotton said. “She played consistently throughout, despite being the first person on the scouting report for our opponents. She shot a really good percentage for us and rebounded the ball extremely well.”

The selections of Richter and Huff as February’s Gophers of the Month were made by the school’s sports information staff. Richter, who was also recognized for his performances in November, becomes the first repeat winner of the award. Alex Noble (Clinton, Md./Surrattsville) from the men’s basketball team was also considered for this month’s honor.