Tuesday, January 23, 2018
PORTLAND, Ore. – With the winter season in full swing, GNAC Insider discussed hoops along with track and field Tuesday night at 7 p.m., Pacific, hosted by Rob Lowery. This week’s guests featured Concordia women’s track and field senior thrower Christina MacDonald, Western Washington men’s basketball senior forward Deandre Dickson and Northwest Nazarene head women’s basketball coach Steve Steele.
For the second consecutive week, MacDonald was named the GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week after she smashed the GNAC record in the weight throw. A week after tying the record, MacDonald won the event at Saturday’s Bronco Invite with a mark of 61 feet, 8.25 inches, eclipsing the former record set by Western Oregon’s Kristin Helper in 2004 by over three feet. The mark ranks MacDonald eighth in Division II this season. She also finished third in the shot put, bettering her career-best with a mark of 47 feet, 11.75 inches. The Cavaliers are back in action this weekend at the Univ. of Washington Preview in Seattle.
One of the best big men in Division II this season, Dickson leads a Vikings’ team that has yet to fall in league play (15-3, 10-0 GNAC). The senior is third on the team with 14.3 points per game, seventh in the GNAC with 6.9 rebounds per game and second in the league with 2.8 offensive rebounds per game. Earlier this month, Dickson was named to the Bevo Francis Award Top-100 Watch List, recognizing the top men’s basketball players across NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA divisions. Western Washington looks to remain undefeated in conference action as it takes on Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin’s inside Carver Gymnasium this week.
In his second year at Northwest Nazarene, Steele hopes to bring the Nighthawks to its third straight GNAC Championships tournament. A vital factor to the Nighthawks’ success this season has been its offensive efficiency, as they lead the GNAC with 79.7 points per game and boast the league’s highest field goal percentage (.448) and three-point field goal percentage (.336). Defense has also been a pillar for NNU, as it has limited opponents to a league-best 28.6 percent from beyond the arc and is second in the GNAC with 11.1 steals per game. The Nighthawks look to extend its win streak with a trip to Western Oregon on Thursday before taking on Concordia on Saturday.