Mount Hood

Wolves to host West Regional after picking of GNAC Championship Tourney victory

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

Nationally ranked number three, the Wolves travelled to Alaska this past weekend, from March 2-3, to take care of business. After a strong regular season performance, it wasn’t a surprise to see Western win the Men’s GNAC Basketball Championships. After the team collected two wins in the two nights, to secure a conference championship, the Wolves have put away 22 straight opponents.
Last Friday, March 2, the team was able to defeat Seattle Pacific in the second round of the GNAC Championships, 93-70. Seniors Tanner Omlid and Vince Boumann were highly efficient, combining for 40 points; Omlid lead the way with 23, Boumann — who collected tournament MVP honors, scored 17 points.
During the game on Saturday, March 3, against national tournament bound St. Martin’s, the team was able to secure their second GNAC Championship win in three years. In a defensive battle, the Wolves pulled away with a 65-55 win.
After the wins, the team was informed that they would be hosting the West Region Championship for the second time in three years.
Heading into the regional tournament, the Wolves earned the ability to play at home after receiving a number one seed. The team’s record currently stands at 29-1 as the postseason begins.
They will be looking to continue the winning streak through a possible three game stretch this following week. The first tournament game is March 9, at 7:30 p.m. against eighth seeded Point Loma.
If the team continues to progress throughout the weekend, they will play for an Elite 8 bid on March 12, Monday, at 7:00 p.m in the final regional game. All these games would be played at home.
In other team-related news, Omlid was announced as the GNAC Player of the Year after an impressive season; he averaged 13.6 points per game, finished first in steals and had the second most blocks in the conference.

Those who’d like to attend can purchase either a three-day tournament pass or a single ticket. Tournament passes are $30, while a single game ticket is $5 for students and $10 for seniors.
All games will also be streamed live on gnac.tv.

Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

Photo by: wouwolves.com

Outdoor track and field earns six titles at first meet

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

The outdoors were traversed by several Wolf athletes on March 3 in the Willamette Opener at Willamette University. The first of many outdoor track and field meets to come in the spring season, Western jumped ahead in the action by finishing first six times.
Runners got out quick in the women’s 400-meter, but it was sophomore Grayson Burke who got to the line first with a time of 59.25. The day also provided another first, as first-year Booy Rogers ran in her first collegiate meet for Western in the women’s 1500-meter, and earned herself a personal record of 5:14.93.
Another athlete who has joined the team this year is first-year Darian Wilson, who measured at 16-5 (5.00m) in the long jump, finishing second. Multiple athletes finished just shy of first place, as sophomores Moana Gianotti and Mariah Gronbach went second and third, respectively, in the women’s shot put.
The Wolves ran in packs in the cold sunshine, and were noteworthy in the short to middle distance races. Sophomore Devon Fortier and junior Codi Blodgett went one and two in the men’s 100 dash — both posting a time of 11:20 — and six teammates crossed the men’s 800 finish, in 1-5, and 7, with sophomore Curt Knott atop the list with a time of 1:55.80.
Moving up to the men’s 1500-meter, senior Josh Dempsey reached the line first in 3:50.81.
The men’s shot put also saw a pack of several Wolves together, going 1-4 in the event, with junior Brandon Bowen who bested the field after throwing for a measurement of 48-4 3/4.
Several Western Oregon track and field athletes will run in the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships from March 9-10, in Pittsburg, Kansas in an attempt to earn more top finishes and records.
Western returns to the outdoors at the Lewis & Clark College Spring Break Opener on March. 17 in Portland.


Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Can’t win them all, Wolves fall

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Perfection almost became a 4-0 record on March 3, but Western’s lacrosse club’s work toward that goal ended in a loss to the Central Washington Wildcats, 15-11.
The Wolves ran the table early, moving the score to 3-1, thanks to sophomore face off specialist Taylor Klus’s three solos. Klus closed the second quarter out making the score 6-4, and scored five of the teams six goals in the frame, but the course changed late in the second half.
Down 11-9 with 11:44 left in the fourth quarter, fatigue fell upon the Wolves and their fire fizzled out toward the end, as the Wildcats defense stifled Western’s play.
“I think the team chemistry was down this game, but this season’s different,” said junior defenseman Bryce Hinkle. “I’m excited to get back to practice and hopefully we’ll fine tune it, and get back to winning.”
Western will look to harness that momentum they had in the team’s first three wins — one of which was the dismantling of San Jose State. They’ll head up to face the Western Washington Vikings on Saturday, March. 10 at 6 p.m. in a divisional match up. After which, they’ll play their second game of the weekend against Seattle University on March 11 at 1 p.m.
The Wolves’s 3-1 record also holds as the best in the south division of the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse league. Its 83 goals is the highest output of any team in their conference, as well.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Wolves clinch GNAC regular season title as streak climbs to 20

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

For the third time in the last four years, the Wolves have won the GNAC regular season title.

On Feb. 22, Western took on Western Washington, the only team that stood in the way of a perfect season.

Many players understood how big the situation was, including senior forward Tanner Omlid,

“We’ve been waiting for Feb. 22 since Dec. 2.”

On Dec. 2, Western Washington handed the team their first loss of the season, 85-58.

The past 18 games going into Thursday showed that the Wolves quickly recovered and still have their sights set on a long postseason run.

From the start of the game, it was clear that the Vikings would not be able to be anywhere near

as successful this time around. With a lead as large as 29 in the second half, the Wolves dominated this revenge game, winning 89-73.

This game was a polar opposite to how the team played in December, and senior guard Demetrius Trammell was able to share his thoughts on beating Western Washington, “It’s a good feeling to get back at the only team that beat us this year. We wanted to get the

GNAC regular season championship outright,” he said.

As the season continues, the team will be playing a constant set of elimination playoff games, starting with the GNAC conference championship tournament beginning March 1 in Anchorage, Alaska. There the team will await to play a winner of a first round matchup, and play their first conference championship game on March 2.

“The team is the MVP every night,” said Omlid. “We’ve had five, seven or eight guys lead in scoring, five or six guys lead us in rebounding, or blocks and steals. Anybody at any moment can go off.”

On top of clinching the regular season conference title, the Wolves may move up in the national rankings. The no. 2 team in the country ended up losing this past week, leaving the opportunity for the team to leapfrog into the top three.

Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

Photo by: Amber Holland

Women’s team falls just short of conference championship

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

After losing two tightly contested games, 73-68 to Seattle Pacific and 73-66 to Saint Martin’s, on Feb. 22 and 24, the Wolves found themselves ninth in the conference standings as the season ended.

Coming into this week with impressive back-to-back wins, the Wolves had a chance of grabbing the sixth and final spot for the GNAC conference championships. With four teams fighting for the final remaining spot, the margin for error was minimal. After losing by five against Seattle Pacific, the team’s postseason chances were out of their hands. They needed to win their final game, and for other conference opponents to lose their remaining scheduled games on the last day of the season.

Saturday’s game against St. Martin’s was the last for the Wolves season and for five seniors on the team —  Jasmine Miller, Kennedy Corrigan, Shelby Snook, Savannah Heugly and Sydney Azorr are all leaving after this year.

The results of the game did not matter in terms of grabbing the last championship spot, as the Simon Fraser Clan was able to grab the final championship berth, finishing the season on a three-game winning streak. This season, the Wolves finished with a 11-15 overall record, going 7-13 against conference foes. That is a three-game improvement from the 2016-2017 campaign.

Next year, the team will be faced with the task of replacing a large number of minutes, with the previously mentioned seniors all leading the team in minutes played. Heugly, Snook and Azorr were huge contributors this year, all averaging double digits in points per game. The team will most likely rely on underclassmen such as first-year guard Keyonna Jones and sophomore forward Natalie DeLonge to play even bigger roles next season, after having both average over 15 minutes this year.

The final stretch of this season may have provided a large amount of experience heading into next season, as the team played with their backs against the walls for a large portion of the second half. Even though the team did not find a postseason berth, the Wolves found themselves in the mix in a jumbled conference and just narrowly missed the cut but will hope to build on the momentum generated at the end of the year for the 2018-2019 season.

Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

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Indoor track and field stretch toward the finish

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

The last rounds of NCAA final provisional qualifier marks, three in all, were picked up by Western’s track and field team on Feb. 24. Six personal records as well as a few changes to the school record books were also accomplished in the team’s visit to Dempsey Field in Seattle, Washington.
Two mile runners took advantage of the last chance qualifier as sophomore Justin Crosswhite and senior Nicole Maurmann reached provisional times. Crosswhite ran to a time of 4:08.79 in the men’s mile, while Maurmann finished the women’s mile with a 4:58.94 mark. Crosswhite’s run now places him fifth all-time among Western mile runners.
Senior Kennedy Rufener added more provisional qualifier times to her indoor season. After finishing first with a provisional qualifier in the 5k at Dempsey on Feb. 9, she returned to not only another provisional qualifier and win in the indoor 3k, but to a record breaking pace. Rufener broke her former school record with a new benchmark of 9:46.27.
Sprinting to the finish in the 200 meters, senior Aaron Whitaker took third for the men and attained a personal record of 22.49. And two more Wolves distanced the 200 as senior Sara Madden ran to her PR of 27.45 while first-year Michaela Yonkman passed the finish line in 27.7, also a PR.
Within the boundary that was the track, the field saw sophomore Mariah Gronbach weight throw to a career best of 16.72m (54.10ft), a measure that placed her second on the Wolf all-time list.
Ahead in track and field’s calendar is the Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker and the Willamette Opener, the first two outdoor events of the year, which will be ran from March 2-3.
The NCAA DII Indoor National Championships will be a week after, from March 10-11, and will take place in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Lacrosse and rugby get two big wins

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

The Wolves won big, then bigger, as Western’s men’s rugby and lacrosse teams outperformed their competition after picking up a few wins in the month of February. Rugby not only won, but trounced Oregon State, 41-12, on Feb. 17, while lacrosse jumped on San Jose State and put them down, 24-9, on Feb. 18.
Lacrosse added to the momentum with two more wins the following week, from Feb. 24-25, with another blowout victory versus Pacific Lutheran University, 30-7, and an 18-12 outcome against the University of Portland.
After many forfeits and weather postponements, rugby finally got their season back up and running. They faced a familiar foe as the Beavers defeated them back on Nov. 11, for the only Wolves loss on the season.

“As a team we’re extremely happy with the outcome. It’s always our biggest game because Oregon State has been our rivals for many years,” said junior back Dominic Akina. “It’s a good feeling beating a DI school, but we had to look at it as another game on our schedule.”
Whenever and against whoever, the team according to Akina, was just relieved to play in full contact again and it showed in the first five minutes of the game. The team created a turnover off a huge defensive play, transitioned that into offense, and off senior back Ryan King’s run, created a gap in the defense that allowed for Akina to score the first try.
Energized afterwards, the game became more physical with big hits throughout. What was supposed to deter the Wolves rather fed them momentum that transferred into try after try.

“Our forwards played really well, made huge stops, and caused game changing turnovers,” said Akina. “With those turnovers, our offense, forwards and backs, moved the ball very well. Our forwards created space for the backs to run the ball.”
With the win, Western’s club is now 5-1 on the season, and will wait a few weeks before playing their next game on March 17 against Southern Oregon University.
Lacrosse faced off with San Jose for their first game of the season on Feb. 18. The team thought it was going to be neck and neck and had a big week of preparation prior. But as they took the field, they became primed and ready. The Wolves rapidly put up four goals before the Spartans could initiate their offense and kept their foot down on the Spartans.
Juniors Andrew Barnett, an attackman, and Alex Eidler, a midfielder, were a common one-two punch in the first half as the duo connected on four goals to add to a first half score of 13-2. The game was over even as Western relentlessly scored more goals, but Western didn’t let loose and the scoring continued into their second game against Pacific Lutheran University.

Western leaped to a 14-1 lead and the Lutes were no match for the Wolves’s offense as they had many shots on goal and made most of them en route to a 30-7 victory. Barnett broke the school record for points (15) with eight goals and seven assists.
Barnett kept it going in the third game against Portland scoring two quick goals but Portland wasn’t the team they faced the day before as the game was tick for tack going into the third quarter at 9-8. But a 10-3 upheaval run by the Wolves ended affairs.
The 3-0 lacrosse team now looks forward to their next game against Central Washington which will be played on March 3. Face off begins at 3 p.m.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Photo by: Paul F. Davis

Wolves looking to sneak into last playoff spot

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

Six women’s basketball teams will be eligible for the GNAC conference championships at the end of the season that are to be played from March 1-3, and there’s only one spot available. The playoffs are now in sight for the Western Oregon women’s basketball team.

The reason the team is in this position right now is because of a strong showing last week. After squeaking out a 65-62 win against Concordia on Feb. 13, the team was able to generate newfound momentum. Facing a schedule filled with must-win situations, last Saturday’s game on Feb. 17 against GNAC championship qualifier Montana State Billings may have been the biggest win of the season. While trailing by seven at the start of the fourth quarter, with the season possibly on the line, the Wolves responded forcefully. Outscoring the Yellowjackets by 19 in the final 10 minutes, the team secured a 77-65 win.
Though the Wolves do have a shot at making the playoffs, they do not control their own destiny. A couple key games this week around the conference will be another deciding factor. Four teams are currently battling for the final spot with two games left. As it stands right now, if Western Washington wins both games next week, the three teams sitting one game back have zero shot of the final GNAC conference tournament.
The Wolves’s next game will be on the road against the Seattle Pacific Falcons on Feb. 22. After starting 16-3, the Falcons have hit a rough patch, going 3-3 in the month of February. On Feb. 24, the team finishes out the regular season against Saint Martin’s. This game may be the biggest one of the season. If everything falls correctly for the Wolves, the game against the Saints (3-15 conference record) will serve as a win or go home situation in their last chance to grab the 6th GNAC conference championship spot. With a conference record of 7-11, Western is currently trailing Western Washington by one game for the last conference tournament spot. With three other teams tied with the Wolves, the last few games will be crucial to earn a spot to play in the GNAC championships.Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

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Men’s team hopes to avenge early season loss

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

As the season starts to wind down, every game is bigger than the last one. This proves to be no exception this coming Thursday, Feb. 22, as it is a crucial game where the Wolves basketball team will be hosting Western Washington, the only team this season that has beaten the Wolves.
The Western Washington Vikings defeated the Wolves 85-58 back on Dec. 2. It was a game early in the season, and since then, the Wolves now have an 18-game win streak.
“We are a more focused and mature team now, and we are ready to take on WWU Thursday,” said senior forward Tanner Omlid. This game is another huge matchup, and the team is focused and prepared.
“Definitely treating this game a little different with them being the one team to beat us so far. With our competitiveness we have on the team, this is a huge game for us, just like any other game we’ve competed in this season, ” senior guard, Janvier Alaby said.
The two teams have ran away with top spots in the GNAC division. With two games left in the regular season, the Wolves can clinch the conference with a win on Thursday, Feb. 22.

Coming into the game, both teams stand out in key statistical categories compared to other conference foes. Both teams lead the league in scoring, point margin and field goal percentage. This game will be a great stepping stone to get over before a hopefully lengthy postseason run. The GNAC Championships is just around the corner, starting March 1. Afterwards, the NCAA Regionals will start to take place on March 8.
This past week saw the Wolves streak improve to 18 and received votes as the number one team in the nation this past week, but not without some worry. On Thursday, Feb. 15, the team withstood a huge second half performance by Northwest Nazarene, winning 70-67. This past Saturday, Feb. 17, Central Washington was dealt a 89-59 loss.
Due to his huge performances the week prior, senior guard Ali Faruq-Bey was named conference player of the week.
Faruq-Bey commented on the anticipated Viking match up, “I don’t think we’re going to treat this game any different than any conference game we’ve played, just … added emphasis because we don’t want a share of the conference title, we want it outright.”

The big matchup on Feb. 22 against Western Washington will be at home at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Feb. 24, the Wolves host Simon Fraser to cap their weekend, with tip off also being at 7 p.m.

Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

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Western earns three titles in championship

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Western’s track and field teams competed in multiple events in Nampa, Idaho on Feb. 16 and 17. The team raced in the GNAC championships, and totaled scores of 43, good for seventh place for the women’s team, and 91 for the men’s, good for third.
Seniors David Ribich and Kennedy Rufener led the pack in their performances. Ribich ran twice, splitting efforts between the 800-meter and mile run.
For Ribich’s first place finish times of 4:11.08 in the mile, and 1:50.83 for the 800, he got the attention of GNAC coaches, who awarded him the Track Athlete of the Meet honor, and Performance of the Meet for his 800-meter run. “The award from coaches was a surprise to me for I thought other guys on opposing teams had a fair chance at the award” said Ribich.
Also in that men’s mile, three runners — junior Dustin Nading, sophomore Justin Crosswhite and senior Parker Marson, ran to consecutive finishes, following Ribich’s first place finish.

“I was ecstatic about the results this weekend,” said Ribich. “We were in close competition for the overall team title and the focus and commitment to each other was visibly seen. Neal Cranston, just a freshman, made the final and competed like an upperclassman.” Cranston crossed the line in sixth place in the 800 final.
Rufener ran her fastest down the stretch of the 5k, which earned her the conference title and a provisional qualification for the Nationals. “I made sure to stay very comfortable during the race and not to get too excited and with about a mile left to go I made my move” said Rufener.
The women’s team overall nearly doubled their total from the 2017 GNAC championships and moved two positions from where they stood a year ago.
Rufener also spoke of the overall team performance and mentioned that the team wanted to score the most points they could in this last chance attempt to qualify for the Nationals. “Finishing two spots up from last year is an improvement and something to be happy about and I wish I had another indoor season to experience it again … Suzie (Van De Grift) ran great in the mile with a 2nd place finish and Olivia (Woods) and Megan (Rose) had great races in the 800 finishing 5 and 6.” Woods is a junior while Rose and Van De Grift are seniors.
Both men’s and women’s medley relay team’s finished second with times of 11:48.58 and 10:13.68, respectively.
The field roster helped rack up more points as well, as sophomore Alani Troutman completed his long jump in fourth with a measurement of 22-7 3/4 (6.90m) and added five more points to the men’s team’s total.
Sophomore Mariah Gronbach added three points to the women’s team’s total from her sixth place weight throw finish that measured 52-4 1/2 (15.96m).

Western will travel back up to the Dempsey field in Seattle, Washington, on Feb. 24, where they’ll visit the Seattle Pacific Falcons in a final qualifier meet.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Baseball can’t avoid three-game sweep

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

From Feb. 16-17, Western baseball traveled to California State University-Monterey Bay to compete over three games against the 6-0 Otters. In game one, the Wolves went down 3-13, and in games two and three, while close, also resulted in losses, 14-13 and 4-3 respectively.
From the get-go of the first inning in game one, the Otters activated their offense. The Otters managed to get the bases loaded a few times on the game. The first happened before senior catcher Hayden Duer, who leads the CSUMB squad with 12 runs batted in on the season, doubled to center field to run three of his teammates in.
A CSUMB home run in the next at-bat scored two that made it 5-0.
The only three Wolf scores of the game came in the second. The first score came from a double to right center, scoring one. But junior infielder Drey McInnis delivered the Wolves’s highlight home run, to score two more.
At 7-3 in the fourth, CSUMB loaded up the bases again to make it 10-3. Runners on base was a circumstance that the Wolves couldn’t evade as 11 Otter players were walked on the day.
Duer hit for seven RBI’s in four at-bats in the game, and included the last RBI to put finishing touches to a 13-3 win.
The next two games were much closer, and the second game included heavy action.
The first score was from a single up the middle by Western senior infielder Nyles Nygaard. But runners on bases continued to be a theme of the series, as CSUMB scored two off of consecutive walks to gain advantage, 2-1, to end the first inning.
In the fifth, Western got further behind, 5-1, and even further in the sixth, 8-2, the latter of which came off a Duer homer.
The lead plummeted to 13-5 before a miraculous come back from the Wolves ensued in the final inning. With one out away, the Wolves had runners on bases and in a sacrificial play, Nygaard flied out to centerfield to score one. Western followed again with more runners on bases and ran in eight of them to tie it up. The game tying and saving run came off a homer from senior infielder Justin Spinner, although senior Wolves’s pitcher Jay Leverett got caught stealing to end the inning. The Wolves had to prevent Monterey Bay from scoring to proceed to extras, but the Otters got one off a single after the bases loaded to end the game.
Both teams only scored in the third inning of the final game. Nygaard homered two that made it 3-0. But the Otters filled the bases again after which they tripled in their half of the inning to score it 4-3. Kept at bay for the rest of the game, Western only managed to get one hit and never got a chance to tie or grab the lead. Now at 0-7, Western looks to produce numbers in the win column where they’ll travel to Lewis & Clark college in Lewiston, Idaho, where they’ll play a three-game series from Feb 23-25. The Wolves will first hit the mound at 3 p.m.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Men’s team extends streak to 16

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

This past week was another showing of why the Wolves’s men’s basketball team is one of the premier groups across the country, as they picked up another two wins on Feb. 8 and 10 to add to their streak.

On Thursday, Feb. 8, Seattle Pacific was the next team tasked with the challenge of stopping the Wolves’s winning streak. Although the game was tied at halftime, the Wolves were able to capture a 95-81 victory.

During the first half, the Wolves received an offensive explosion from senior forward Tanner Omlid, who dropped 22 points in the opening 20 minutes. With Omlid shouldering the load in the first half, the Wolves started off the second half tied, 48-48.

Seattle Pacific showed that this game was not going to be easy in the first half, but the Wolves were able to make adjustments. During the first two quarters, both teams were shooting nearly 50 percent from the field.

The second half was a different story defensively, as the Wolves locked down and forced a 34.6 field goal percentage. Offensively, the team was lead by another outburst, this time by the hands of senior Ali Faruq-Bey. Scoring 17 points in the second half, Faruq-Bey was able to push his total to 25, and along with Omlid’s 32 points, the combo’s firepower proved too much to overcome.

During Saturday’s game against Saint Martin’s on Feb. 10, the Wolves were able to grab their 16th straight win. After jumping out to a 45-37 halftime lead, the lead extended to 25 just ten minutes later.

Saint Martins cut the deficit nearly in half as the game went on, but nothing close to what was needed to get the upset. Faruq-Bey had another high scoring game, this time netting 24 points.

On Thursday, Feb. 15, Western travels to Idaho to take on Northwest Nazarene.

And on Feb. 17, Central Washington will get a chance took take on the Wolves as their win streak looks to continue. Both games are set to begin at 7 p.m.

Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

Photo by: Paul F. Davis

Ribich and Rufener outrun school records

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Multiple Wolf track and field athletes set new personal bests and division marks at the Husky Classic at the University of Washington from Feb. 9 to Feb. 11. Seniors David Ribich and Kennedy Rufener finished first in their distances on Feb. 9 and 10, while three milers ran under times of 4:20 at the Husky Open on Feb. 11.

Sprinters and sophomores Devon Fortier and Grayson Burke got out quick in their heats. Fortier finished second in his heat of the men’s 60-meter dash with a time of 7.09, a season best. Burke won her heat in the women’s 400-meter, clocking in at 58.56, and recorded the fifth best time in Wolves’s history.
Moving to the 800-meter, junior Olivia Woods placed fourth with a time of 2:11.38, just shy of her personal best set two weeks prior.
The milers also ran two personal records as sophomore Justin Crosswhite and senior Parker Marson finished first and second, with times of 4:15.02 and 4:16.48.
While seniors Nicole Maurmann and Suzanne Van de Grift got out and ran in their mile run, Van De Grift barely missed the school record, but nabbed a provisional qualifying time of 4:48.95. Maurmann won her heat with a time of 5:04.40, also a personal record.
Going further to the men’s 3k, senior David Ribich broke not only the school mark by more than 20 seconds, but the all time Division-II mark by six seconds. Right behind him and also reordering the school record book were juniors Dustin Nading with 8:10.92 and Tyler Jones with 8:21.2.
Going just a bit further to the 5k, senior Kennedy Rufener took charge since the gun in her heat and earned a provisional qualifier mark while obliterating the school record with a time of 16:53.96. “I had to set the pace early … if I wanted to run around the time I was thinking that I would,” said Rufener.
Moving from track to field, first-year Nick Seiber achieved two personal records when he was measured at 14.40 meters in the shot put and 15.45 meters in the weight throw.
An accomplished personal record of 15.16 meters by sophomore Mariah Gronbach in the women’s weight throw placed her at eighth in school history.
Next stop for Wolves’s track and field are the GNAC championships that are to be ran from Feb.17-18 in Nampa, Idaho.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Wolves played to high standard while hosting Alaska conference foes

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

On Feb. 8, the women’s basketball team captured one of the largest wins of the season, dismantling the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks, 76-49.

During the first half, the team played airtight defense. The Nanooks were only allowed to score 21 points while shooting 25 percent. The Wolves not only made scoring the basketball difficult, the defense just made keeping the ball a challenge, forcing Alaska Fairbanks into 10 turnovers in the first half.

Offensively, the first half was lead by junior guard Kaylie Boschma, who scored 11 points in just 12 minutes off the bench, shooting 80 percent. The team went into the second half having a 37-21 lead, and the gap only increased.

The second half was much of the same, as the Wolves eventually pushed the lead to 34 with seven minutes left in the game. The Nanooks had no response, allowing six Wolves players to score eight or more points.

With a 76-49 win to their name, the team tried to ride that momentum on Feb. 8, while taking on GNAC conference leaders, Alaska Anchorage. The game ended in a 86-78 loss.

The Wolves jumped to an early 23-19 first quarter lead, giving the 22-2 Seawolves troubles offensively and defensively. Only two starters scored for the Seawolves in the second half, as the Wolves were able to minimize the impact from key players. Heading into the second half, the team was hanging on to a 38-36 lead.

In the second half, the defense was not able to replicate the same amount of success. The Seawolves came out hot in the third quarter, erasing the deficit and jumping out to a four point lead heading into the fourth.

From there, the Wolves failed to recover and secure a lead, falling in the end by eight.

After playing well during both home games this past week, the team will look to do more of the same on the road.

On Feb. 17, the team will then be traveling to face off against the Montana State University Billings Yellow Jackets.

Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

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Wolves drop one, but prevail to three wins

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Western softball started the season on a positive note, winning three of four games at the West Texas A&M University on Feb. 9 and 11. They attached two wins versus Southwestern Oklahoma, 15-7 and 5-3, and split against the West Texas A&M Lady Buffs, 7-4 and 8-2.
Day one provided a sweep, with the first victim being the Southwestern Oklahoma Bulldogs. A left-field homer by junior catcher Nicole Miller brought in two to score, making it 3-0 in the third inning.
Up 3-1 at the bottom of the fifth, the Wolves continued to fill the scoreboard adding two more, one off an RBI single and one off a wild pitch by Oklahoma.
With the Wolves defense only allowing two more runs to finish the game, senior pitcher Lizzet Dominguez also completed the game, earning her a win to move her pitching campaign to 3-0.
The day’s sweep and wind gusts up to 20 mph, didn’t prevent the Wolves from opening the second game with the bases loaded against No. 13 ranked West Texas A&M. Western scored two from there, and continued their route at the top of the fourth, scoring five runs off of six hits, making it 7-0. The Lady Buffs loaded the bases in the fifth and managed to score one but the Wolves defense locked down minimizing the Buffs from ever getting too close in the upset. First-year Wolf pitcher Maddie McClelland earned the win before retiring in the fifth.
A rematch with Southwestern Oklahoma ended the day. Western’s 17 hits allowed for 15 total runs. At 4-3 in the fourth, a triple by first-year infielder Sydney Bowers strung in two runs to go up three.
The Bulldogs hit back in the next inning on a 3-run homer to tie.
But the back-and-forth action concluded after the Wolves scored nine straight to end the day.
Western faced off against the Lady Buffs for a second time the next day.
A different theme played out as the Buffs limited the Wolves to two runs by the sixth inning. Up 3-2 in that frame, a WTAM grand-slam and a single homer soon after ended the Wolves’s weekend.
Keeping with the road schedule, seven games at the Tucson Invitational await the Wolves. The games will be played from Feb. 16-18.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Photo by: wouwolves.com

A slow start for baseball at 0-4

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

The Wolves’s baseball action commenced as the team started out their 2018 season with four games. The Wolves were left 0-4 after three days of cross-conference play from Feb. 8-10 in Azusa, California. Having lost 8-1 to the Biola University Eagles to start, they followed that up with a three game slide against the Azusa Pacific University Cougars, 7-1, 4-3 and 7-6.   

The Wolves versus Eagle game on Feb. 8 was slow to begin as both teams were left scoreless after two innings.

But it was the Eagles who finally got things going in the third and kept it going from there. Western found themselves in a bevy of defensive mistakes that cost them three runs in the frame. The Wolves got familiar with Biola’s Colton Worthington, a senior infielder, who run batted in two to score, off a single up the middle, and then ran himself in off of junior outfielder Jerron Largusa’s RBI to make it 4-0.

After two innings, the score was 8-0 following Worthington’s score off a Largusa RBI.

The Wolves got their only score of the game from senior infielder Jay Leverett in the eighth, to avoid a shutout.

Western forwarded to a three game series with the Cougars on Feb. 9 that concluded on Feb. 10.

Azusa kicked things off in game one, home running to put up three in the first and looked to defend the homefield throughout the weekend. The adversarial Wolves fought back by scoring two, but a succession of two more homers from Azusa followed by two more runs tacked on by hit-by-pitches put the game in jeopardy for Western.

Western was serviced by three pitchers but couldn’t get by the Cougars’s offense, who locked in on the strike zone. Sophomore Wolf pitcher Connor McCord was dealt the loss following five innings while allowing two earned runs.

Game two switched gears and was tightly contested until extra innings. Both teams home-runned by the sixth, putting the score at 1-1. Azusa followed up with another homer propelling them up by two at the home-half.

Senior infielder Nyles Nygaard made sure the Wolves didn’t go quietly. He scored the first home-run, RBI singled in the seventh and then tied it up after scoring himself off a single from first-year outfielder Griffey Hall.   

After three more innings, the score was nil and the game went into extras. Going three and out in two extra innings, Western gave up a double to Azusa in the final frame.

Game three finished off the series in what was a game of five lead changes. With a bit of trickery in the first, the Wolves got the first run via an attempted steal from first to second base, which abled senior outfielder Jacob Martinez to score from third. After falling behind 4-2, the Wolves got back in front, 5-4, with back-to-back homers by Nygaard and junior catcher Jared McDonald.

The Cougars got a two run homer of their own to nudge ahead again but the Wolves resiliently fought back to tie it again and 6-6. But it was a home run by Azusa’s outfielder Sean Aspinall to end matters and get the sweep.

Martinez had a batting average of .417 in 16 at-bats in the four games while McDonald hit 6/16 in the contests.

Next up is two games at California State-Monterey Bay from Feb. 16-17. Opening pitch for the first game is set for 2 p.m.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Photo by: wouwolves.com

Wolves accelerate but couldn’t endure opponents

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Two early leads were unsustainable as the women’s basketball team lost two games on Feb. 1 against the Western Washington Vikings, 66-46 and Feb. 3 against the Simon Fraser Clan, 74-57.
The last time Western Oregon played Western Washington resulted in a winning effort from which the Wolves ended an 18-game losing streak to the Vikings. Free throws were the barometer that enabled the Wolves to barely edge out the Vikings.
This go-around found the Wolves in free throw struggles. As one of the best teams in the GNAC in that category, they shot 7/13 on the night. But a bigger woe was the 3-point shooting as the box score entailed 3/18 from beyond.
As the Wolves looked like the team from their earlier matchup, it was a tale of two different halves. They traded baskets with the Vikings and ended the first-quarter knotted at 16-16.
The Wolves kept it up in the second-quarter and had their biggest lead of six at 27-21 before the Vikings sailed back for the lead at 28-27.
Western was able to keep the Vikings to a low percentage in shooting; 3-point woes were also a problem for Washington.
But the second half was in high contrast compared to the first. The Wolves scored season-low totals in the back to back quarters including its lowest of nine in the third, as part of another team-low of 46 total points for a game on the season.
Washington meanwhile was starting to hit their marks in shooting, and got above 50 percent in the second half.
Overall the Wolves shot 30 percent on the game. In their last meeting, the team not only prevailed in stopping the previous 18-game losing streak but held senior forward Hannah Stipanovich, the top-10 scorer in the GNAC, to four points. In this second match up, she was able to score 17 points.
The Wolves got another early lead against SFU off a pair of three-pointers from senior guards Shelby Snook and Kennedy Corrigan, to establish a 12-6 lead in the first.
And as they were able to have their largest lead of the game at eight, the Clan soon battled back to retain the lead, 32-28, by halftime.
The last these two teams played, free-throws were a theme in the Wolves’s losing try.
The Clan got to the line plenty in that first meeting and continued to do so in the second game. But poor Wolf shooting from three-point carried on from their game in Washington as this time, they shot 3/19.
The second half also paled in comparison to the first as the Wolves couldn’t help matters with their shooting, going 30 percent in the half compared to the Clan’s 62 percent.
The Wolves continue their season and GNAC campaign on a five-game losing streak and hope to shake it off against a pair of Alaska teams on Feb. 8 and 10. The games are at home and both have a start time of 5:15 p.m.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Photo by: wouwolves.com

The low-down on the Olympic snow-down

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Get ready for takeoff when that snowboarder launches from that half-pipe. Brace for impact when that skier hits that gate. Then get your footing as soon as that ice skater gracefully lands that triple axle.
Feast your eyes — the Winter Olympics are back. Every four years, Olympians from a diverse range of sports race, jump, spin, land and cross the finish line in hopes of gold, silver and bronze glory.
Snowboarding, skiing, ice hockey and figure skating will once again be a few of the mainstays during the month of February. American gold medalists in past Olympics such as snowboarder Shaun White and skier Lindsey Vonn make their return. Canada, gold medal winners of the past two games in ice hockey, will once again deploy the puck.

Who to watch:
Two-time gold medalist and 18-time X Games medalist, White, will compete in his fourth Winter Olympics — in one of his signature events, the half-pipe. White didn’t medal in the 2014 Games but has emerged from a few spectacular performances this past year. 2010 Olympic gold medalist Vonn also makes her fourth Olympic appearance and will get a shot at her signature event in the super giant slalom. Vonn, a winner of 81 titles over 135 made podiums also returns after a long rehabilitation from a severe knee injury in 2013 that set her back and is one of the comeback stories to look forward to.
Mikaela Shiffrin, arguably the next Vonn, will race in similar skiing events and at 22 is already rivaling Vonn’s number with 59 total podiums, including her first gold in the slalom at the 2014 Games.

What to watch for:
This year around, 92 nations and their 2,952 athletes will take their talents to Pyeongchang, South Korea to compete in over 102 events in seven different sports. Out of the seven different sports are 15 different disciplines such as freestyle skiing and Alpine skiing or downhill skiing, the latter of which Vonn and Shiffrin compete.

When to watch:
The competitions kick off on Feb. 8 and ends on Feb. 25. While the opening ceremony sets the stage on Feb. 9, the actual events will begin as early as Feb. 7 as Alpine skiing and curling start things off at 8 p.m. pacific.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Photo by: Chicago tribune

Softball opens season at 3-2

Simson Garcia | Sports Editor

Wolves softball is back again on the diamond. The 2017 GNAC championship contenders emerge once again and have another season to look forward to. In January they were picked in the preseason coaches poll to finish third in the conference. From Feb. 2-4, they returned to the turf in the Desert Stinger invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada, to open their first five games of the season.
The Wolves started things off right on their first day of competition on Feb. 2 in two games against Eastern New Mexico, 7-2, and Sonoma State, 4-3. Things flipped and the Wolves fell twice on Feb. 3 versus Concordia-Irvine, 12-0, and Cal-State San Bernardino 11-8. Finally, the Wolves went up against Notre Dame de Namur sealing the weekend off correctly in a win, 13-6.
Batters were surely up against New Mexico and so was the ball. Home runs set the tone for the Wolves in the second and third innings to go up 3-1. If it wasn’t homers, it was hard slugging as first-year outfielder Ayanjmna Arceneaux run batted in junior infielder Jenna Kelly off double to right-center field to a score of 4-1 in the fourth. Then in the fifth, Arceneaux helped again by scoring on a single from first-year utility player Tyler Creach to put the game away.
The offensive momentum transferred onto the defense as junior pitcher Haley Fabian threw a complete game earning a win in the process and striking out nine players.
The later game against Sonoma State saw the Wolves down early 3-0 by the fourth inning. Unable to get things going with a mere two hits, the fifth had the Wolves revive their wounds after an Arceneaux single to left that ran in senior outfielder Zoe Clark. After a single rounded Arceneaux to third, she advanced home on a Sonoma error to further ensure the deficit at 3-2.
Inning six came around and so did the Wolves. The Wolves got their fourth homer of the day from freshman catcher Mariah Deleon to win the game. Senior pitcher Lizzet Dominguez got the start and win by throwing a complete game and allowed only three hits in the comeback.
An opportunity to stay undefeated closed the next day. No openings for a score were present against Concordia as the Wolves went hitless. A pop-up or walk was all the Wolves could conjure up and in all, nine batters struck out. The Eagles, who were just lurking on the outside of the top-25 Division II preseason poll offed the Wolves’s defense scoring 12 unanswered in the last three innings to shutout the Wolves.
In the fourth game against Cal-State San Bernardino, the Wolves continued their struggles giving up five early runs. Three more runs extended the Coyote lead by the top of the fourth. Down 9-3 in the bottom of the sixth, back-to-back singles to center field via the Wolves scored two. But Cal-State outpaced the Wolves stretching the lead to 11-5 in the seventh and final inning. A make-or-break situation for the Wolves in the bottom half had them RBI three but a ground out and strikeout ended hopes. Fabian played her second complete game, with her first loss of the season.
The Wolves faced off against Notre Dame de Namur for their fifth and final game where the Argonauts pushed out to a 3-0 lead early. But the bottom of the second was in the Wolves’s favor as eight batters in total locked in and the resulting home-run by junior infielder Ryann Huffman scored two to grab the lead at 4-3. After scoring two more, the Argonauts knotted the game at 6-6. But a 5-0 Wolf run in the sixth established a comfortable lead and the win. Dominguez completed the game with her second win of the invitational to put her at 2-0.
The 3-2 Wolves will now look ahead as they’ll play six more games from Feb. 9-11 in the West Texas A&M Lady Buff.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Photo by: wouwolves.com

Keeping it going: men’s team extends win streak to 14

Morgan Swaim | Staff Writer

As the regular season winds down, every game becomes more important for the men’s basketball team. Luckily, this past week’s two victories on Jan. 30 versus Concordia, 86-72, and Feb. 1 against Montana State-Billings, 71-60, showed that the Wolves are one of the teams to beat across the nation.

The Wolves grabbed the first victory at home despite Concordia’s best efforts. In that first game, junior guard Riley Hawken, who played at Concordia during his first year of college, was able to get hot against his former team. Scoring 11 points in 16 minutes, Hawken’s offense helped the team jump out to a 45-31 lead at halftime.
Throughout the second half, the Wolves were trying to break the game open even further. At one point the lead was 20, but the Cavaliers were able to keep the game from becoming a blowout due to the effort of senior forward Christopher Edward, who scored 33 points in an attempt to upset the Wolves.
The key to maintaining a large second-half lead was strong bench play. Senior guard Demetrius Trammell had another great game as a reserve, shooting 4/5 from the 3-point line and scoring 14 points in the second half alone.

The second game was on the road where four players reached double figures on the offensive side of the ball in the comeback.The first half provided some adversity for the Wolves, as they found themselves staring at an eight point deficit going into the final 20 minutes. Trailing 42-34, the team came out in the second half on a mission.
The Yellowjackets were only allowed to score 18 points, shooting only 22 percent. The Wolves were locked in with their winning streak on the line, and outscored Montana State Billings 37-18 in the second half to keep the streak alive at 14.

Next week, the Wolves will have back to back home games. On Thursday, Feb. 8, the Seattle Pacific Falcons make a visit. The game will take place at 7:30 p.m. The first matchup of the year was extremely tight, as the Wolves won 83-79, one of their closest games of the year.
On Saturday, Feb. 10, the St. Martin’s University Saints will also make an arrival to Monmouth. The Saints have a winning streak of their own right now currently at seven. With St. Martin’s sitting at third place in the GNAC conference this game will be one to watch, as it is one of the key matchups left in the GNAC conference-regular season.
Contact the author at mswaim16@wou.edu

Photo by: Paul F. Davis

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