Monday, January 19, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – Sydney Donaldson of Western Washington, Kevin Rima of Northwest Nazarene and Sango Niang of Simon Fraser have been selected GNAC Athletes of the Week for women’s and men’s basketball for the Week of Jan. 12-18.

Five track-and-field athletes – WWU’s Alex Donigian, Robert Peterson of Montana State Billings, Mikel Smith of Saint Martin’s, Lindsey Butterworth of Simon Fraser and Karolin Anders of Alaska Anchorage – also earned the weekly award.

Following is a recap of their accomplishments and a listing of honorable mention selections:

Women’s Basketball: Sydney Donaldson, Western Washington (F, 6-0, Sr., Edmonds, WA) scored 41 points, including a career-high 24, while shooting 73 percent from the field in home wins over Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s.  On Thursday Donaldson recorded a double-double with her 24 points and 10 rebounds in a 80-64 win against Western Oregon. On Saturday she scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half and blocked three shots in a 77-53 defeat of Saint Martin’s.  On the week Donaldson recorded 17 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals while also going 3-of-4 from the three-point line.

Honorable Mention – Jasmine Parker, Central Washington (F/C, 6-0, Jr., Spokane, WA); Annie DePuydt, Montana State Billings (G, 5-8, Sr., Saco, MT); Ellie Logan, Northwest Nazarene (G, 5-9, Fr., Fossil, OR); Erin Chambers, Simon Fraser (G/F, 6-1, Sr., Mission, BC); Liz Mills, Saint Martin’s (F, 5-11, Sr., Covington, WA); Aubree Callen, Seattle Pacific (G, 5-9, R-Sr., Jerome, ID); Sami Osborne, Western Oregon (G/F, 6-1, Fr., Eugene, OR).

Men’s Basketball:  Kevin Rima, Northwest Nazarene (F/C, 6-7, Sr., Fairbanks, AK -  Hutchison) and Sango Niang, Simon Fraser (G, 6-0, Sr., Paris, France – Chaffey CC) … Rima, who is averaging 12.2 points per game, scored 47 points and also had 19 rebounds to lead the Crusaders to their fourth and fifth wins in their last six games.  He had 18 points and 12 rebounds, recording his 13th career double-double, in a 107-103 victory against Simon Fraser Thursday.  On Saturday, he tallied 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a 80-73 conquest of Western Washington.  Rima, who made 18 of 25 field goal attempts and 11 of 13 foul shots, helped rally NNU from double-digit second-half deficits in both games … Niang scored 71 points, including 46 in a  104-95 loss Saturday at Central Washington.  That is the second highest single-game point total in GNAC history trailing only Western Washington’s Ryan Diggs who scored 47 in 2006.  Niang made 18 field goals equaling the GNAC single-game record set by Gerrit Eades of Saint Martin’s in 2002.  In two games, he made 27 of 46 field goal attempts and also had 11 assists.

Honorable Mention -  Joseph Stroud, Central Washington (F, 6-8, Jr., Seattle, WA – Highline CC); Jace Anderson, MSU Billing (G, 5-10, So., Whitewater, MT – Saco-Whitewater); Tyler Copp, Saint Martin’s (G, 6-0, So., Camas, WA – Union); Riley Stockton, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-4, Sr., Spokane, WA – Ferris); Jordan Wiley, Western Oregon (G, 6-6, Jr., McKenzie River, OR).

Men’s Track & Field: Track – Alex Donigian, Western Washington (Jr., Mission Viejo, CA – Northern Colorado) and Robert Peterson, Montana State Billings (Jr., Billings, MT - Skyview) …. Donigian set GNAC records in both the 60 meters and 200 meters at the University of Washington Indoor Preview, qualifying automatically for the NCAA Division II national meet in the latter event with a time of 6.72.  That time ranks second nationally.  In the 200 he ran a time of 21.67 erasing the longest standing GNAC record of 21.77 by Mike Hinshaw of  Western Oregon in 2002.  Donigian’s time ranks seventh In NCAA Division II … Peterson grabbed the national lead in the mile at the Montana State Open qualifying provisionally for the NCAA national meet with a time of 4:07.50 (converted from 4:16.80 for track size and altitude).  His time ranks second in GNAC history.  He also currently ranks second in the NCAA rankings in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:15.52.  Field – Mikel Smith, Saint Martin’s (Jr., Muskogee, OK) high jumped 7-0 ½ at UW becoming the first athlete in GNAC history to clear the seven-foot mark indoor or outdoor.  The previous GNAC indoor record was 6-10 ¼ by Brett Watson of Western Washington last year.

Honorable Mention - Payton Lewis, Northwest Nazarene (Fr., Nampa, ID – Nampa Christian); Cole Hoberg, Northwest Nazarene (So., Prairie City, OR); Frank Krause, Saint Martin’s (Sr., Onalaska, WA); Mario Lopez, Seattle Pacific (Fr., Chino, CA); Cody Warner, Western Oregon (Fr., Springfield, OR – Thurston); Kenny Klippel, Western Oregon (Fr., Scappoose, OR); Brett Watson, Western Washington (Sr., Ferndale, WA).

Women’s Track & Field:  Track – Lindsey Butterworth, Simon Fraser (Sr., North Vancouver, BC) took the early-season NCAA Division II national lead in the mile running a time of 4:44.80 at the University of Washington Indoor Preview.  Her time ranks second in GNAC history as only Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler (4:32.88 in 2010) has run faster.  Butterworth shaved 13.29 seconds off her previous career best of 4:58.09 accomplished  in 2013 before redshirting in 2014.  Field – Karolin Anders, Alaska Anchorage (Jr., Berlin, Germany) had three national qualifying and two GNAC All-Time Top 10 performances at the Ed Jacoby Invitational at Nampa.  Anders had PNQs of 3,791 points in the pentathlon, 5-7 ¾ in the high jump and 18-5 ¼ in the long jump. Her pentathlon score currently ranks third in Division II and her high jump mark ranks seventh.  Both her high jump and long jump performances rank sixth on the GNAC All-Time Top 10.

Honorable Mention - McKenna Emmert, Central Washington (So., Kelso, WA); Aimee Rodes, Northwest Nazarene (So., Puyallup, WA); Taylor VanValey, Northwest Nazarene (So., Brush Prairie, WA);  Lisa Petersen, Saint Martin’s (Jr., Missoula, MT – Lindbergh); Kirby Neale, Saint Martin’s (Jr., Coos Bay, OR – Marshfield); Lynelle Decker, Seattle Pacific (Jr., Vancouver, WA); Stephanie Stuckey, Western Oregon (Jr., Tacoma, WA – Wilson); Emmi Collier, Western Oregon (Jr., Warrenton, OR).