Tuesday, March 7, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. – With the NCAA Division II West Regional basketball tournaments just days away, GNAC Insider will get set for the tournaments as well as celebrate National Athletic Training Month on this week’s episode on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. (Pacific). The guests for this week’s show are Simon Fraser women’s basketball point guard Taylor Drynan, Western Washington men’s basketball guard Blake Fernandez and Saint Martin’s athletic trainer Alice Loebsack.

Drynan is the backup point guard for Simon Fraser, which will be in Anchorage, Alaska, this weekend competing in the NCAA West Regional for the first time since 2014. Drynan and senior Ellen Kett share the duties at point guard this year, where Kett has recorded a Division-II best 7.8 assists per game. The Clan is the No. 5 seed in the tournament and will play No. 4 UC San Diego, which was the CCAA regular season champion. The winner will face the winner of Alaska Anchorage and Hawaii Pacific in the semifinals.

Fernandez will be in La Jolla, Calif., with the Western Washington men’s basketball game this weekend against Chico State. The Vikings are the GNAC’s lone representative in the tournament, holding the No. 3 seed. Fernandez has played in 29 games this season and started in each of the last 14, recording 4.7 points per game and 72 assists, which ranks second on the team. Fernandez took over Western Washington’s starting guard position when Trey Drechsel had a foot injury. The Vikings are 12-2 this season with Fernandez in the starting lineup.

Loebsack is in her fifth year as the athletic trainer at Saint Martin’s. She is the assistant athletic director of sports medicine and wellness and the athletic department’s senior woman administrator. March is National Athletic Training Month and Loebsack is the primary athletic trainer for Saint Martin’s soccer programs as well as for the men’s basketball and softball teams. Loebsack will be one of the panelists at the GNAC’s annual Women in Sports career seminar, which will be held on April 8 in Portland, Ore.