Monday, January 18, 2016

PORTLAND, Ore. – GNAC Insider aired its 79th episode Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Pacific time. Appearing on the show was Simon Fraser wrestler and GNAC SAAC national representative Ryan Yewchin, Seattle Pacific multi Maliea Luquin and Central Washington guard Joey Roppo.

Yewchin is a senior wrestler for Simon Fraser and the GNAC’s national Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative. As the national SAAC representative for the GNAC, Yewchin leads the representatives across the conference and updates them on news and changes in SAAC nationally. Over the past week, he represented the conference at the 2016 NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas where he took part in numerous meetings to help improve collegiate athletics. The national SAAC committee received a vote during the business session for the first time. Yewchin spoke about the first NCAA Convention he attended, some of the legislative proposals that were talked about and how the convention will affect the GNAC.

Luquin is a senior multi-event competitor for the Seattle Pacific track and field team. She graduated from SPU with a degree in creative writing in 2013, but returned for graduate school with junior eligibility after a year away. She competed in the heptathlon as a junior, placing third at the GNAC Outdoor Championships with an NCAA provisional mark. In her first competition of 2016, Luqin recorded two indoor personal bests at the UW Indoor Preview. She reached 17-7 in the long jump and 26.94 in the 200 meters. She will continue to compete this season as she works towards her Master in Fine Arts degree for poetry. Luquin spoke about competing with Division I athletes at the UW Indoor Preview, returning to Seattle Pacific for her masters degree and competing in the heptathlon.

Roppo is a senior guard for the Central Washington men’s basketball team in his fifth overall year with the team. He ranks third on the team averaging 12.5 points per game while playing a team high 29.5 minutes per contest. The Wildcats are tied for fourth in the GNAC with a 5-3 conference record, 10-3 overall. They lead the conference in scoring (87.6 ppg) and blocks per game (4.9). Central Washington hosts Simon Fraser and rival Western Washington on Saturda. The game will air as the ROOT SPORTS GNAC Basketball Game of the Week at 6 p.m. The two teams play for the seventh straight season on ROOT SPORTS, with the last three contests decided in the final seconds. Roppo spoke about the previous ROOT SPORTS games against Western Washington, the rivalry with WWU and being in his fifth year in the program. 

GNAC Insider is hosted by Rob Lowery airing live at 7 p.m. Pacific every Tuesday and is produced by the conference office. All episodes become available as free podcasts via iTunes. To listen to archived episodes go to GNAC.TV.