Wednesday, May 29, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - University of Alaska Anchorage javelin thrower Cody Parker and Seattle Pacific heptathlon athlete Ali Worthen have been selected the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively.

The awards are voted upon by the conference coaches.

Parker, a sophomore from Comox, B.C., had the second longest throw in NCAA Division II history in winning the NCAA national title Saturday at Pueblo, Colo. 

The UAA sophomore unleashed a throw of 255-10, falling just three inches shy of the Division II all-time record and breaking the previous GNAC mark by 21 ½ feet.

Worthen (Sr., Coos Bay, OR), meanwhile, completed a brilliant career, by winning the heptathlon at the NCAA national meet with a score of 5,340 points.

Earlier Worthen earned Outstanding Performer honors at the GNAC championships at Monmouth, scoring 42 points, the third highest total in meet history.  In the process she tied the GNAC record for most career points of 115 set by Bridget Johnson of Western Oregon between 2003 and 2006.

Worthen won four titles – the 100-meter hurdles (14.24), long jump (meet record 19-8), heptathlon (5,390) and 4x100 meter relay (meet-record 46.77) - and also finished third in the 200 meters (25.00) and high jump (5-5 ¾).

She also set GNAC career records for most individual wins (7), most individual and relay victories (10), most individual all-conference awards (12) and most individual and relay all-conference awards (15).

Also winning special awards were Franz Burghagen and Karolin Anders of Alaska Anchorage, Becki Duhamel of Central Washington and Shane Brooks of Western Oregon.

Burghagen (So., Berlin, Germany) and Duhamel (Jr., Wenatchee, WA) were voted the GNAC Male and Female Newcomers of the Year.  Burghagen finished third in the national meet in the javelin with a mark of 230-4 after winning the conference javelin title with a meet-record throw of 228-0.

Duhamel, a transfer from Lehigh, placed second in the hammer (168-0) and discus (137-7) and third in the shot put (42-0 ¾) in the conference meet and had GNAC All-Time Top 10 marks in the hammer (6th, 171-11) and shot (10th, 43-11 ¾).

Brooks and Anders were voted the GNAC Male and Female Freshman of the Year.  Brooks finished 12th in the national meet (198-11) and third in the conference meet (207-10) in the javelin.  His conference throw is the eighth best in GNAC history.

Anders (Berlin, Germany) finished fifth in the heptathlon in the national meet with 5000 points.  That score featured a mark of 5-7 ¾ in the high jump (the fifth best in GNAC history). 

In the conference meet she won the high jump (5-5 ¾) and also placed second in the heptathlon (5034) and fourth in the triple jump (38-3 ¼) and long jump (17-8 ¾).

PeeWee Halsell and Michael Friess, who guided Western Washington and Alaska Anchorage to GNAC team titles, respectively, were voted the GNAC Male Team and Female Team Coaches of the Year.

Halsell led the Vikings to their fourth GNAC Men’s Outdoor team in earning his fourth GNAC Outdoor Coach of the Year award and his 24th career award overall.  He also won the GNAC Men’s Outdoor award in 2005, 2010 and 2012. 

Friess led the Seawolves to their first GNAC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field title, earning the GNAC Outdoor Women’s Coach of the Year award for the first time.  He previously had earned Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honors twice (2008 and 2009).