april 20, 2012

The year in sports

Fall
Football
For the first time in 20 years, the Lewis & Clark football team was the in the running for the Northwest Conference Football Champion title. The Pioneers ended regular season play 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the NWC. Although the squad had a rough match-up against the Linfield Wildcats, LC saw the Pios dig down deep to earn a record we havent seen in a long time. Highlights of the season include a 34-32 win over the Pacific Lutheran Lutes, a victory that marked the first time LC has defeated PLU since the 1989 season. The team earned their first ever West Regional ranking, earning a spot as the 10th best team in the west, according to NCAA Division III rankings. The Pio victory over the Puget Sound Loggers marked the first time since 1966 the team began the conference season with a 3-0 record. Head Coach Chris Sulages was named the D3football.com West Region Coach of the year. Various players also received acknowledgement including Shawn Evans (12) earning a spot on the D3football.com All-West Region First-Team, while Louis Baltazar (12) was named to the Third-Team. COMPILED BY FIONA CORNER
Sports Editor

The Pioneer Log Sports

19

Spring
Baseball
While not entirely done with their season, three games left this weekend all at home, the Pioneer baseball team have currently earned a 7-30 overall record and 4-17 in the NWC. Michael Ball (12) leads the team in runs scored with 28 and hits with 56. Andrew Traver (15) has a 28 RBIs, ten doubles, three triples and six homeruns.

Softball
This season has been the most successful for Head Coach Shawna Feldt in her three seasons at Lewis & Clark. Pioneer softball ended their season with a 5-33 overall record and 3-25 in the NWC.Ari Wilks (13) led the Pios with a .429 batting average while Jetaime Mullins (13) led the pack with 19 runs scored. Moriah Lane (15) hit seven home runs this season with Mullins following close behind with five.

Winter
Mens Basketball

PHOTO BY MAGGIE MCDERMUT

Womens Cross Country

Mens Golf and Womens Golf

The absence of a full team in the fall kept both the mens and womens teams from entering team scores in any of their matches, but the two mens golfers and the three womens persevered through the end of the fall season. Jack Matthews (13) earned a 159, the 24th spot at the NWC Fall Classic, while Giuseppe Baffaro (11) finished with a two-day total of 228. Rebecca Langer (12) finished the classic tied for 24th with a two-day total of 181. Alison Fankhauser (12) finished in 36th place with 195. Fiona Corner (12) did not finish the match. The spring season saw the addition of eight more players on the mens team, including three football student-athletes. At NWC Spring Classic the LC mens team finished in the ninth place with a total score of 736. Matthews led the Pios with a two-day score of 162, which placed him tied for 22nd. Langer and Fankhauser continue to hold down the womens team finishing the match tied for 30th and 35th respectively. Pioneer golf will end this weekend at the NWC Championship in Richland, Wash.

Womens cross country finished the season with its second consecutive Northwest Conference Championship after sitting atop the NWCall season. Illana Livstrom (13), who had the fastest time in the NWC all season, won the entire race, becoming the second ever NWC Conference Champion for the Pioneers. The win also earned Livstrom her second NWC First-Team honor. The victory earned Head Coach Keith Woodard his second NWC Womens Coach of the Year honor. The team also ranked 17th in the United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association rankings after their third place finish at the Womens Basketball Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn. The women finished the season named to the USTFCCA All-Academic list, which they earned by having a cumulative GPA of 3.10 The seventh nationally ranked womens basketball team or higher. The team was one of 187 teams to make the list. headed for the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. After taking down the Whitman Missionaries 69-64 as the number two in the NWC Tournament Semi-Final, they headed to the Newberg, Ore. to take on the number one seed George Fox for the NWC Championships. Despite the 85-69 loss, the Pios headed for the dance to take on Concordia (Texas). In their first ever NCAA Division III National Tournament win, the Pios took down the Tornados, 83-65. Despite their loss in the NCAA Tournament PHOTO COURTESY OF ILLANA LIVSTROM second round to the Bruins, Megan Spence (12) ended her Mens Cross Country career by scoring her 1000th point. Kristina Williams (13) also scored her 1000th point this season, along with Head Mens cross country earned a fourth place finish in the Coach Juli Fulks winning her 100th game. Spence and WilNWC Championship meet, led by Caleb Sturgill (12) liams were both named NWC Womens Basketball Athletes with a ninth place finish. Sturgill and Sam Smith (13) both of the Week during the season while Williams was named to earned all-conference honors, their top-14 finishes earned the D3hoops.com All-West Region Second-Team. them on a spot on the NWC second-team. The team also broke into the top 10 in the West Region after a solid showing at the Sundodger Invitational as announced by the United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association.

Mens basketball ended the season with a 14-12 overall record, 9-7 in the NWC ranked four in the conference. Defeated by the Whitworth Pirates, ranked 10th nationally, the Pios saw season high scoring for Marcus Wells (12) in the Northwest Conference mens semifinals. The final home game of the season left the seniors with a victory against Puget Sound 79-72. James Hollins (13) finished the year ranked sixth in the NWC in points per game and eighth in rebounds per game. Ross Erickson (13) finished off strong earning the fourth place spot in rebounds per game and eighth in the NWC in field goal percentage.

Mens and Womens Tennis

Mens tennis ended regular season play ranked seventh in the NWC finishing with a 2-10 overall record and 3-11 in conference play. Olivier Groot (15) was named NWC Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week after winning his fifth consecutive singles match. Womens tennis saw the end of regular season play with a 3-9 overall record and a 3-10 finish in the NWC.

Mens and Womens Track & Field

Corinne Innes (12) broke a school record in the Steeplechase at the Linfield Invitational, the last meet before the NWC Championships, taking it back from Emily Fagan (14), with a time of 11:37.17. Fagan was close behind her, finishing in second place with a time of 11:42.82. Emily Thomas (13) set a personal best in the 800m finishing in fifth place with a time of 2:23.36. Thomas has set seven personal bests in seven races this season, while setting four school records. At the Pacific Luau, the womens 4x400 relay team won their event with a season best time of 4:15.69. Glenna Andrews (15) threw a season best shot put with a distance of 35-01.7, while Raul Millan (13) earned a first place finish in the hammer throw with a distance of 153-0.

Volleyball
Volleyball finished the season with a 13-13 overall record, 9-7 in the NWC ending the in fourth place spot in conference. Highlights include a victory against Pacific Lutheran, ranked 22 nationally. The win was the Pioneers first over the Lutes since the 2005 season. The Pios also cruised past Puget Sound at 19 in an all-around team effort in three straight sets.

PHOTO BY KATE GARVEY

Mens and Womens Swimming

Four Pioneers competed in the finals of the NWC Championships. Katy Yeh (14) finished in eighth place in the 400 Individual Medley. Monica Castro (15) and Kayla Ernewein (13) earned sixth and seventh place respectively while Noah Callaghan (15) finished seventh in the mens 200 freestyle. Callaghans time of 1:59.82 broke a 34 yearold record by one second. The womens team earned a sixth place finish at the NWC Championships while the men finished eighth.

Mens and Womens Crew

The mens varsity eight took a solid win at the Covered Bridge Regatta, overtaking Humboldt State. The varsity four finished with a strong second place finish just behind the boat from Oregon State. The womens crew team placed well in the novice four, finish in third, while the womens varsity four finished in fourth. Crew heads to the NCRC Championships at Dexter Lake in Lowell, Ore. tomorrow.

Soccer
Finishing the season 3-15-2 overall and 2-13-1 in the NWC, the womens soccer team earned the ninth place spot in NWC rankings. Sarah Breninger (14) and Andi Glaeser (14) led the team in goals with three each. Goalkeeper Geena Fong (15) earned 66 saves for the Pios while Elise Delgado (13) earned 45.