Monday, September 14, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – A successful weekend for Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams in the GNAC/PacWest Volleyball Crossover and a pair of standout individual performances lead the week two honor roll of the GNAC Players of the Week.

Western Washington’s Rachel Roeder was named the GNAC’s Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week after leading the No. 19 ranked Vikings to a 4-0 record in the tournament. Named to the All-Tournament Team, Roeder finished with 41 kills and a .347 hitting percentage in the four matches, led by a 12-kill effort in their opening sweep of Dixie State.

Alaska Anchorage libero/setter Kyla Militante-Amper received Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week honors after she helped lead the No. 14 Seawolves to a 4-0 mark in the Crossover. She finished with 65 digs in the four matches, which was led by a career-high 23 digs in the Seawolves’ four-set win over No. 20 Point Loma.

This week’s honor roll includes the first two-time selection of the season. Humboldt State’s Ja’Quan Gardner was named the Football Offensive Player of the Week after rolling up 225 rushing yards and three touchdowns in the Lumberjacks’ 62-41 non-conference win over No. 17 Azusa Pacific.

A total of 10 student-athletes were recognized in the second week of Player of the Week selections. Alaska Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene led the way with two selections each.

GNAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK SELECTIONS – WEEK 2

FOOTBALL
Offensive: Ja’Quan Gardner (Humboldt State, RB, 5-7, 190, So., Ceres, Calif. – Central Valley): Gardner earned his second straight GNAC Player of the Week selection by rushing for a career-high 225 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries, leading Humboldt State to a 62-41 road win over No. 17 Azusa Pacific. He had touchdown runs of eight, 22 and 51 yards while averaging 8.8 yards per carry. Also Nominated: DeJon Coleman (Dixie State).

Defensive: Danny Hankins (Western Oregon, DB, 5-11, 170, Jr., Portland, Ore. – Grant): Hankins finished with eight tackles and two pass break-ups in the Wolves’ home opener against Simon Fraser. He punctuated the game with a 99-yard interception return (one short of the GNAC record) for a touchdown with 1:02 left as the Wolves beat the Clan 31-14. Also Nominated: Drew Dubois (Humboldt State), Keanu Foki (Dixie State).

Special Teams: D.J. Morgan (Azusa Pacific, KR, 5-11, 180, Sr., Pacioma, Calif. – Univ. of Southern California): Morgan had four kick returns for the Cougars against Humboldt State on Saturday for a total of 141 yards (35.25 per return average), which included a long return of 41 yards.

MEN’S SOCCER
Offensive: Ricardo Palomino (Montana State Billings, F, 6-2, So., Puebla, Mexico – Northeastern State Univ.): Palomino was named the offensive most valuable player of the Rimrock Classic after scoring six goals in two matches. He scored four goals in the Yellowjackets’ 5-1 victory over South Dakota Mines on Sunday, two of which came in the first 10 minutes of the match. Palomino opened the tournament with two goals in the team’s 5-0 shutout of Carroll (Mont.). Also Nominated: Ian Adams (Seattle Pacific), Migel Bartolo (Mary), Abraham Placito (Northwest Nazarene).

Defensive: Ryan Foo (Northwest Nazarene, GK, 6-2, 176, Jr., San Jose, Calif. – Archbishop Mitty): Foo finished with 12 saves in two matches as the Crusaders split their road trip last week. He made four saves in NNU’s 3-1 win at BYU-Hawaii on Tuesday and then made eight saves, including one on a penalty kick, in a 1-0 loss on Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Also Nominated: Cody Guthrie (Concordia), Cody Lang (Seattle Pacific), Tom Saltwell (Montana State Billings), Mitch Taveira (Mary).

WOMEN’S SOCCER
Offensive: Laura Moore (Seattle Pacific, M, 5-3, Sr., Kent, Wash. – Kentwood): Moore finished with two goals and an assist in two matches. She netted the game-winning golden goal in the 109th minute of the Falcons’ 3-2 win over Cal State East Bay on Saturday. She also scored in the 28th minute of the match, giving SPU the 2-1 lead. Moore opened the week by assisting on the game-winner in the Falcons’ 1-0 shutout at Notre Dame de Namur. Also Nominated: Olivia Brock (Concordia), Dana Lubieniecki (Montana State Billings), Abby McFaul (Saint Martin’s), Whitney Lowe (Central Washington), Nicole Nsa (Northwest Nazarene).

Defensive: Daniele Ortiz (Northwest Nazarene, GK, 5-8, So., Sunnyvale, Calif. – Homestead): Ortiz finished with 24 saves and two shutouts in three matches. She made 11 saves in the Crusaders’ 2-0 shutout of San Francisco State on Monday. She then made five saves in their 3-2 loss at Holy Names on Thursday and eight stops in a 1-0 win at Dominican (Calif.) on Saturday. Also Nominated: Olivia Brock (Concordia), Kari Kastelic (Montana State Billings).

VOLLEYBALL
Offensive: Rachel Roeder (Western Washington, OH, 6-1, Sr., Sammamish, Wash. – Issaquah): Roeder was named to the GNAC/PacWest Crossover All-Tournament Team after leading the Vikings to a 4-0 record in the tournament, including wins over No. 20 Point Loma and No. 21 BYU-Hawaii. She finished with 41 kills and a .347 hitting percentage, topped by a 12-kill performance in their Thursday sweep of Dixie State. Roeder hit .409 (10-1-22) in Sunday’s win over Point Loma. Also Nominated: Madi Farrell (Northwest Nazarene), Sam Harthun (Alaska), Ashley Jibby (Concordia), Kaitlin Quirk (Central Washington), Julia Wabinga (Saint Martin’s), Katelynn Zanders (Alaska Anchorage).

Defensive: Kyla Militante-Amper (Alaska Anchorage, L/S. 5-3, Fr., Hillsboro, Ore. – Century): The freshman finished with 65 digs (4.33 digs per set) to help lead the Seawolves to a 4-0 record at the GNAC/PacWest Crossover. She had a career-high 23 digs in a four-set win over No. 20 Point Loma and added 18 digs and five assists in UAA’s five-set come-from-behind win over No. 21 BYU-Hawaii. Also Nominated: Meagen Olsen (Alaska), Linnea Phillips (Northwest Nazarene), Jenessa Taylor (Concordia).

CROSS COUNTRY
Men: Henry Cheseto (Alaska Anchorage, So., Kapenguria, Kenya – Kaptabuk Boys Secondary): Cheseto led Alaska Anchorage to their second perfect team score in as many weeks at the Hawaii Pacific Invitational. Cheseto won the 8,000-meter race in a time of 25:58.6 (average of 5:13 per mile), beating teammate Dominik Notz by one second. Cheseto led an Alaska Anchorage team that had the top six placers in the race. Also Nominated: Isaac Mitchell (Northwest Nazarene).

 Women: Rebecca Bassett (Simon Fraser, Jr., Nanaimo, B.C. – Nanaimo District): Bassett won a close race at Friday’s Ash Creek Invitational, beating Chico State’s Sadie Gastelum at the tape as she covered the 4,600-meter course in 16:28.1 (5:45 per mile average). Bassett led the Clan to a fourth place finish in the meet with 136 points. They were the top GNAC scoring team. Also Nominated: Dani Eggleston (Central Washington), Megan Fristoe (Concordia), Caroline Kurgat (Alaska Anchorage), Sierra Manzer (Northwest Nazarene).