Tuesday, April 3, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. – Welcoming a trio of female student-athletes and an athletic director, GNAC Insider returns tonight at 7 p.m. (Pacific), hosted by Rob Lowery. Northwest Nazarene juniors Cassidy Fifield and Kylie Orr talk Nighthawks’ softball while Western Washington sophomore Raquel Pellecer discusses her recent outdoor track and field success. Simon Fraser athletic director Theresa Hanson caps the program talking Clan athletics and the current remodeling project for Terry Fox Field.

Fifield and Orr have played a big part in the Nighthawks’ surge to the top half of the standings. Tied for second with Western Oregon at 7-5 in GNAC play, Northwest Nazarene has won seven of its last nine conference games. Fifield is sixth in the GNAC with a .387 batting average, seventh with 36 hits and is tied for third with 25 runs scored. Orr has been just as productive as the junior ranks sixth in the league with 38 hits and leads the conference with 28 runs batted in. The Nighthawks look to take sole possession of second place as they host the Wolves for a four-game series this weekend.

Pellecer is yet another athlete to come out of a Western Washington program known for producing great javelin throwers. In her most recent meet at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., Pellecer came away with an impressive second-place finish in the javelin with a mark of 157 feet, 2 inches. The reigning GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week, Pellecer’s mark is currently fourth in Division II this season, has an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark and is No. 9 on the GNAC All-Time List.

In her third year as Simon Fraser’s athletic director, Hanson has been a part of great athletic success and recent changes. Simon Fraser’s women’s basketball team won four of its final five regular-season games to clinch a GNAC Championships berth in March while its softball team sits in fourth place at 9-7. The Clan, who recently appointed Thomas Ford as head football coach in January, is also in the early stages of a $10 million stadium remodel for Terry Fox Field, scheduled for completion by 2020.