Monday, April 8, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - Track and field athletes Rimar Christie of Northwest Nazarene, Braden Keller of Central Washington, Helen Crofts of Simon Fraser, Grace Morgan of Alaska Anchorage and Cheyanna Pinley of Western Washington have been selected GNAC Red Lion Athletes of the Week for the Week of Apr. 1-7.

Also earning the weekly Red Lion honor were softball players Madi Davis and Taylor Bakos of Saint Martin's, baseball players Brody Miller of Montana State Billings and Aaron Vaughan of Northwest Nazarene and golfer Clair Rachor of Western Washington.

Softball: Player – Madi Davis, Saint Martin’s (OF, 5-5, Sr., Bothell, WA), who came into the tournament hitting .298, had 11 hits in 23 at bats leading the Saints to a second-place finish in the Mizuno Tournament of Champions at Turlock, Calif.  Davis, who raised her season average 35 points  to .333, also drove in a team-best nine runs in earning all-tournament honors.  Among her hits were a double and a pair of triples.  Pitcher – Taylor Bakos, Saint Martin’s (5-4, Sr., Kennewick, WA) had three wins and a save as the Saints won six of seven games at Turlock.  Bakos, who joined Davis on the all-tournament team, allowed just 12 hits in 16 1/3 innings, posting a 1.71 earned run average.  Honorable Mention: Maikala Galusha, Central Washington; Heidy Wells, Central Washington; Cheyenne Best, Western Washington.

Baseball: Player – Brody Miller, Montana State Billings (2B, 5-9, 175, So., Missoula, MT – Sentinel) had 13 hits in 20 at bats, scored eight runs and drove in 10 as the Yellowjackets split a four-game series with first-place Western Oregon.   Miller, who struck out just once, hit two home runs.  He also handled 24 chances at second base (11 putouts, 13 assists) without committing an error.  Pitcher – Aaron Vaughan, Northwest Nazarene (5-10, 185, Jr., Tucson, AZ – Pusch Ridge Christian) tossed a six-hit complete game defeating Cal State Dominguez Hills 4-2.  Vaughan, who threw just 86 pitches in his win, walked one and fanned six.  Honorable Mention – Logan Parker, Northwest Nazarene; Mack Unruh, Montana State Billings; Tim Rausch, Western Oregon.

Men’s Track and Field:  Track –  Rimar Christie, Northwest Nazarene (Jr., St. Michael, Barbados) finished second in the 100 meters (10.88) and seventh in the 200 meters (21.99) in the Idaho Cup at Boise.  He also led the Crusaders to the ninth best 4x100 relay time in GNAC history.  NNU finished third in a time of 41.78, finishing ahead of Weber State and Idaho State.  Field – Braden Keller, Central Washington (Sr., Kelso, WA) won the javelin at the UPS Shotwell with an automatic national qualifying mark of 222-5.  That is the fourth longest in GNAC history.  Honorable Mention – Michael Luhr, MSU Billings; Anthony Montanez, MSU Billings.

Women’s Track and Field:  Track – Helen Crofts, Simon Fraser (Sr., Vancouver, BC – West Vancouver) and Grace Morgan, Alaska Anchorage (So., Salt Spring Island, BC – Gulf Island) ... Crofts led the Clan to a 59-56 dual meet win over UBC in the Achilles Cup at Burnaby.  She won the 400 meters in a provisional national qualifying time of 55.71.  She also won the 1500 (4:41.50) and tied for first in her first attempt this season in the high jump (1.55 - 5-1).  She capped off the meet leading the Clan to a victory in the 4x400 relay in a GNAC-season best time of 3:52.84 ... Morgan ran the GNAC’s fastest times this spring in the 100 (12.19) and 200 meters (25.01) at the Willamette Invitational finishing third in both events behind a pair of Portland State athletes. She also led the Seawolves to a school-record time of 47.50 in the 4x100 relay.  That time ranks fourth in GNAC history.  Field – Cheyanna Pinley, Western Washington (So., Bellingham, WA – Squalicum) won the pole vault at the UPS Shotwell Invitational with a GNAC season-best vault of 11-5 ¾.

Women’s Golf: Clair Rachor, Western Washington (Sr., Bellingham) shot rounds of 83 and 79 to finish 26^th in the Grand Canyon Invitational with a 36-hole score of 162.  She was the only GNAC golfer to finish in the Top 30 in the tournament and was one of two GNAC golfers to break 80.  Saint Martin’s Sarah Salvatori had a first-round 79.