George Fox University junior Alyssa Turner was named the Northwest Conference Women’s Track Athlete of the Year as the Bruins claimed a second consecutive NWC championship over the weekend.
The Hudson’s Bay High School graduate earned All-NWC honors in four different running events Saturday. She won the 400-meter hurdles in 1 minute, 3.82 seconds, and ran the final leg of the 1,600 relay that beat Willamette by less than a second with a time of 3:56.99. She was also second in both the 400 meters (57.50 seconds) and the 100 hurdles (15.13).
Turner had already taken All-NWC honors on Apr. 9-10 by finishing third in the heptathlon.
Charity Arn finished fifth in the javelin and eighth in the 100 hurdles. The Woodland High School graduate was also second in the heptathlon at the conference mult-event championships.
George Fox, which last year snapped Willamette’s nine-year hold on the NWC title, posted a 207-173 margin of victory over the Bearcats this time.
Dixson garners NAIA national weekly honor
Concordia University junior Gabi Dixson has been named national women’s field athlete of the week by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, in addition to the same honor from the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
Dixson, a homeschool graduate who competed for Battle Ground High School, earned the honor after recording a monster throw in the discus at the Mount San Antonio College Relays last Friday in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Dixson’s throw of 179 feet, 1 inch (54.59 meters) was a personal record by 15 feet and a new season best by 17 feet. Dixson’s throw gives her the top throw in NAIA this spring by 22 feet.
She also holds the national lead in the shot put and is fourth in the hammer. Dixson placed as the third highest collegian in the field at the Mt. SAC Relays, which also featured professional and international competitors.
The national award marks the first time Dixson has been so honored this season, though she won the national award twice as a sophomore last season.
Limage named CCC athlete of week
Concordia University senior Junia Limage was named Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s track athlete of the week.
The Fort Vancouver High School graduate was honored by the conference for the second time this season.
Limage broke her own school record and beat her own NAIA-leading time in the 800 meters at the Mount San Antonio College Relays in Walnut Creek, Calif., with a time of 2 minutes, 8.29 seconds.
She leads NAIA-II by nearly three seconds, and has the two best meet times this spring. She ranks fourth in the 1,500, and has also qualified for nationals in the 400.
Gonzaga’s Thomas sets another record
Gonzaga University sophomore Emily Thomas broke her own school record in the 5,000 meters for the second time this season Friday at the Oregon Relays meet at Hayward Field in Eugene.
The Camas High School graduate placed fourth with a time of 16 minutes, 56.17 seconds. She had lowered her own record to 16:57.80 in March.
“Emily ran a gutty race,” Gonzaga coach Pat Tyson told gozags.com. “She went out hard and went through the first 1600 in 5:09. She went out with the lead pack, faded back a little and wasn’t that far behind the lead pack. She held together pretty well and she went for it.”
She also holds the Gonzaga record in the 10,000.
Linfield teams must wait for NCAA bids
After placing second in their respective Northwest Conference championships at home in McMinnville, Ore., last weekend, the Linfield College softball and women’s tennis teams are now hoping for at-large bids to NCAA Division III national competition.
Evergreen High School graduate Staci Doucette led the Wildcats with a .364 batting average in five games as the team went 3-2 in the conference tournament. Linfield lost two of three games against Pacific Lutheran, the last by a 3-0 count in the second championship game. Linfield forced the “if necessary” game when Doucette drove in two runs with a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 3-2 Linfield win.
Doucette and teammate Emilee Leap now share the school record with 190 career starts.
The NCAA-III playoff field is expected to be announced May 7. Linfield (38-5) is the defending national champion.
In the tennis tournament, Linfield fell 5-1 in the championship match to a Whitman team the Wildcats had beaten twice during an unbeaten NWC regular season.
Skyview High School graduate Abby Olbrich and Caroline Brigham fell 8-6 in their No. 1 doubles match. Olbrich’s won the first set of her No. 1 singles match, 6-4, and was trailing 5-3 in the second when play was ended because the Missionaries secured the title.
Linfield must wait to see if it receives an at-large bid to the national tournament. Team announcements are scheduled for May 7 with individual selections May 9.
Olbrich and Brigham will compete this weekend in the Ojai Tennis Tournament near San Diego.
Northwest athletes CCC All-Academic
La Center High School graduate Meagan Governor and Battle Ground High School graduate Lindsey Wessa were named to the Cascade Collegiate Conference All-Academic team for spring sports. Wessa was honored for the third year.
Honorees must be at least sophomores in academic standing, with a grade point average of at least 3.2.
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