The tennis world was in for another Roger Federer show at the Australian Open finals this past Saturday. On Jan. 28, the No. 2 world ranked Swiss rallied to defeat the No. 6 ranked Croatian, Marin Čilić, in five closely battled sets: 6-2, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. After weeks of anticipation, the championship was finally here — but for Federer, the tournament up until then looked like smooth sailing, having never lost a set. For part of the finals in particular, he looked to be the Federer of old, and in other parts looked to be old Federer. The first set was prime Federer, and was a quick and momentous one. To gain advantage, it only took a few rallies for the 36-year-old to score it at 3-0 before finishing off the set comfortably at 6-2. Viewers who might have switched stations assuming Federer would get the easy victory in another dominant performance had another thing coming. Čilić made it a game and pushed Federer like only few have. After some intense interchanging of leads, the 29-year old Čilić gained traction in the second set taking Federer to a long tie break and overcoming him, 7-6, to tie the match at 1-apiece. Then, Federer hit back in fed fashion dominating the third set, 6-3. He struggled, however, serving against Čilić in the fourth set. The tense back and forth action of the match continued including a very long rally of 18 shots before Čilić won three straight games to go up 6-3. Three games into the final set could have gone either way but Federer found his serve and stride en route to a 6-1 win and 20th Grand Slam title.
Record setting performances were produced yet again as Western’s track and field teams took to the University of Washington invitational to display such feats on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27. Numerous changes were made in the record books for Western track including three school records, and one change to the national Division II list for the mile run. Five NCAA provisional qualifying marks were also generated throughout the weekend. Western senior David Ribich finished third overall in the mile run and came to the finish in just under four minutes with a time of 3:58.88. That is second all-time in NCAA Division II history and the fastest time in 32 years for a Division II mile runner. In doing so, he was the 495th runner in U.S. history since 1957 to record a sub-4 minute mile finish. Right behind him was junior Dustin Nading, who ran in an earlier heat of the men’s mile and accomplished his personal best time of 4:04.5, also a NCAA provisional qualifying mark and second all-time in the GNAC.
Nading and Ribich, along with teammates AJ Holmberg and Aaron Whitaker ran the distance-medley-relay event the day before winning there and earning an automatic qualifying mark finishing just ahead of four Division I schools. Holmberg, Nading and Ribich were part of the historical distance medley relay at the 2017 Indoor Championships where they were crowned national champions. Adding more provisional qualifying marks were last year’s All-Americans for track in Olivia Woods and Suzanne Van De Grift. In the 800 meters, Woods and Van De Grift ran to 11 and 17th place finishes, respectively, earning times of 2:10.62 and 2:11.80. Woods and Van De Grift then coupled with Megan Rose and Kennedy Rufener in the DMR to finish in eighth place with a time of 11:48.58 — also a NCAA provisional qualifying mark and school record. Rufener, who ran individually in the cross country national championships in December, ran the 3,000 meters to a 9:56.05 time, another provisional qualifier mark to round out the multitude of Wolf achievements. The Wolves return to the University of Washington on February 10-11 to compete in the Husky classic/open.
The first game of the week on Thursday, Jan. 25, for the women’s team had a high amount of late tension, with the game needing five extra minutes to declare a winner. Northwest Nazarene pulled away from the Wolves in that game during the closing minutes to a final score of 72-67. The second game against the Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday, Jan. 27, concluded the Wolves’s four game homestand going down in the process, 79-67.
From the start of the battle with the Nazarene Nighthawks, three point shooting was hard to come by for the Wolves. The team shot 20.7 percent (6/29) from beyond the arc as they tried to maintain pace with the Nighthawks. The shooting from three-point was the main obstacle in capturing a win as the game came down to just a few shots going in the opposite direction of the Wolves. As the Wolves faced a 61-59 deficit with time winding down, junior Ali Nelke tied the game with just one second left to force overtime. The momentum did not carry over into the last five minutes as Nazarene edged out the Wolves in the final result. Offensively the team was led by forward Savannah Heugly with 18 points, and guard Shelby Snook with 14 points, both seniors on the team.
The Wolves came into the second game on Jan. 27 trying to halt Central Washington — extending their winning streak to four, and attempting to avoid a three-game losing skid.
The balanced attack from the Wildcats proved to be too much. Five of the Wildcats’s players scored in double figures, as the Wolves could not keep up the scoring pace. Early on the Wolves were facing a deficit — being outscored by seven points in each quarter of the first half, trailing 47-33.
After the Wolves cut the lead to nine at the end of the third quarter, the game continued to swing Central Washington’s way as it carried on late. The difference in bench points was a dominating factor in the game, with a 41-20 advantage in favor of the Wildcats.
With the streak of home games now being over, the Wolves sit at 8-10 overall on the season, with a 4-8 record against GNAC conference opponents. The team will resume action on Feb. 1, on the road against Western Washington. On Feb. 3, the Wolves take on Simon Fraser in Burnaby B.C.
This past week was a pivotal one for the Wolves. With a ten game winning streak on the line, the team traveled up north to play two GNAC teams located in Alaska. On Jan. 25, the University of Alaska Fairbanks had the first attempt to face the Wolves, who started the week ranked sixth nationally. The Wolves dominated that match up in a 81-54 blowout. During the second road trip, against the University of Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 27, the two teams mostly traded baskets back and forth, but the 12-point lead established by the Wolves early on kept the game out of reach, 72-62.
The Wolves wasted no time jumping out to a lead on Fairbanks and held the lead the entire game, outpacing Fairbanks 16-6 in the first six minutes. The lead extended to 27 by the time the game was over. Senior guard Dustin Triano found a high amount of success off the bench this game, logging 25 minutes and scoring 13 points.
The second game of the week had the Wolves pitted against the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves. The team was lead by superb defensive play in the first half, holding the Seawolves to just 19 points on 6/22 shooting. Senior Tanner Omlid had an excellent all-around performance, scoring 22 points while adding seven rebounds and four assists. On the defensive side, Omlid also recorded three steals and two blocks in the victory.
This past week was beneficial for the team. The Wolves moved into the top spot of the GNAC standings with a 11-1 record in conference play. Western Washington had been undefeated against conference rivals, but saw that streak snap as they lost back to back games this week. These wins also move the Wolves up in the national standings, going from six to four, with an overall record of 19-1. This also comes after the fifth ranked Bellarmine University Knights dropped their second game of the season last week.
On Feb. 1, the team will be traveling to visit Montana State Billings in an attempt to extend the winning streak even higher and climb up national ranks.
Wolves’s baseball has caught the eye of GNAC coaches around the conference as the team to beat heading into the 2018 season. This comes as no surprise, as the team has garnered respect due to previous success. Over the past five years, the Wolves had captured the GNAC title three times, including last year’s conference championship.
This year’s team will look to continue dominating opponents with their deep pitching rotation, despite the absence of last season’s ace, Brady Miller, getting drafted to the MLB in June 2017. The Wolves will have four returning pitchers from last year’s squad, with seniors Jake Simmons and Cam Walker leading the way.
A big part of the team’s chances to retain the conference championship is the play of key returning seniors, catcher Justin Wakem, and infielders Jay Leverett and Nyles Nygaard. Wakem was able to garner First Team All-GNAC honors last year, as he posted the second highest batting average (.368) in the entire league.
Returning infielder Jay Leverett will be looking to build upon his First Team All-GNAC junior season as well, hopefully receiving similar recognition for his play in 2018. Nygaard, who was a crucial part of the team’s past success in 2017, led the team in hits (51).
The rest of the GNAC conference will make it difficult for the Wolves to repeat,
with three other teams in the conference receiving at least one first place vote in
the first preseason poll. The team will begin their journey to back to back league
titles starting on the road in California on Feb. 8, against Biola University.
The game of basketball has fallen into the hands of many greats. While it may have been passed on from athlete to athlete, there were few that took it to the highest standard. There were athletes, and then there was LeBron James, and Kevin Durant, who are now exceeding the game to an even higher echelon. It’s them above everyone else, but clearly, for them, there’s a superior, there’s one who’s fitter, there’s a better. Since his Akron, Ohio days, nobody had ever seen anybody like the former in “King James.” At 16 years old, he was already the ultimate basketball stud. He was fast, strong, had very high IQ basketball awareness for his age, and was imposing on the court. What is seen in James at age 33 now is the completion and maturation of the aforementioned. Convincingly, he took the basketball world to a new level. Passing others with three state championships. He then passed one of the greatest draft classes in 2003, his class; passed the MJ and Kobe eras; passed the many failed attempts at surpassing a championship-less legacy; and passed, to where he’s settled now, with three championships, multiple MVP’s and “best player” to his resume; passed, like a jump to the next paragraph. Then along came a spider, weaving his way about concurrently while James was developing his game until completion. Kevin “The Durantula” Durant, James’s rival in every sense of the competitive word, also went from being a high-school standout, to having little to no college experience before hitting the NBA. He too, was moving the game along and convincingly; winning league scoring titles, earning an MVP and planting his flag as one of the NBA’s best.
A collision course was inevitable — it was only a matter of time before the two met on the big scene. The 2012 finals, and the two then vets, followed much anticipation when their two respective teams in the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat met. But it was a tale of two journeys. James left Cleveland, a place he made his lair for years — abandoned for what many had claimed was an easier route to the top. He joined Miami an already stacked team with Dwyane Wade. Hate and scrutiny followed him. But perhaps wrongly so, as he executed a carefully crafted plan for the future. There he was able to fully develop as a player, finally reigning in an era of dominance, but this dominance was unlike the dominance of before. This was championship trophy dominance. After Miami/James defeated the Thunder/Durant in dominant fashion, four games to one and winning another championship in 2013, James returned to Cleveland two years later. This second run with Cleveland brought with him finals experience along with a blossomed repertoire of skill sets that helped win Cleveland’s first ever championship. It was James’s time. He was clearly the Jordan of this era. After numerous unsuccessful NBA finals restorations, Durant too jumped ship and onto a winning environment. The same scrutiny followed him into Golden State with the Warriors, his new grounds. But having left Russell Westbrook, who won the league MVP following Durant’s departure, he knew he had to follow in Golden States’ direction, since only few teams like the Warriors had what it took to beat James’s Cavs, having already beat them in the 2015 finals. The fit came synchronously while KD was finally hitting his stride. A 2017 finals bid between the Cavs and Warriors was set then, and the James versus Durant saga continued. Only this time around, a shift in momentum occurred as Durant would finally maneuver past his ringless legacy, and passed James, once the Warriors bested Cleveland, 4-1. The matchup happened again this past Christmas, with the Warriors again out gaining the Cavs. And again, the Warriors got the better on Martin Luther King Jr. day, sweeping the season series.
This rivalry may have tilted just a bit in Durant’s favor. He’s got the defending championship team to his arsenal that includes potential MVP nominee Stephen Curry, and has clearly outplayed James in their recent matchups. The head-head matchup says otherwise and says James is ahead in the win-loss matchup, 14-6. They’re close in points-per-game but James has a slight lead in rebounds. James’s also a better passer averaging three more assists than Durant. But Durant’s Warriors (37-10) are clearly better than the Cavs (28-18) right now. The NBA world has yet to see more of this matchup.
Two foes head into town on Jan. 25 and 27 to play the women’s basketball team. Enter first the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks who don a 12-3 overall record and 8-2 conference mark, both good for third place in the GNAC. Enter the Central Washington Wildcats who are in the middle of the pack of the GNAC, presenting a 10-8 overall mark while creating a 6-4 conference figure. Historically since entering the NCAA-DII era in 2000, Western’s been unable to gain advantage when facing these two opponents. The Nighthawks have produced a dark cloud over the Wolves via the 10-7 record through visits to the campus. And the head-head battle favors the Nighthawks overall at 23-12. To show for it this season, Northwest Nazarene has been an offensive juggernaut, sporting the highest points per game average in the GNAC at 79.7. The rain over Monmouth may remain if the Wolves can’t hone in on NNU’s field goal percentage, another league best at .448. And two markswomen from the perimeter for Northwest Nazarene are number one and two in the league. In that category, Avery Albrecht is shooting at 48-percent and while Mckenna Walker is making 46-percent of her attempts. In their past encounter on Dec. 30, Northwest Nazarene displayed this feat draining three-pointers throughout to get the blowout victory, 94-67. The previous Wolves’s confrontation with Central Washington on Dec. 19 also included difficulty. They dealt with the Cats’s full court press defense unsuccessfully and turnovers turned in a final score of 72-65 which made it eight straight games in favor of the ‘Cats. Central Washington looks to front that defense again as they lead the league with 3.8 blocked shots per game. Western has a few things in store to fight off their opponents. The 8-8 Wolves have a balanced offensive attack and get to the free throw line with efficiency, where they lead the GNAC in that shooting category. They also fare better playing at home at 6-3. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
After taking a long road trip to Alaska, the Wolves finally returned home on Jan. 16 to play the Concordia University Cavaliers and the Montana State-Billings Yellowjackets on Jan. 18. Coming into the game against the Cavaliers, both teams found themselves locked right in the middle of the GNAC conference standings, with the Wolves gaining a game on the Cavaliers in the 68-51 victory. But they got stung in the game against the Yellowjackets, 65-56, suffering their third home loss of the year. The first game was a back and forth affair until the end of the third quarter, with the Wolves clinging to a 43-40 lead. In the fourth, the team ran away with the game. This was lead by five minutes of superb defense that produced turnovers and forced missed shots on the Wolves’s end. Concordia only managed four points during that time frame. The defense helped the Wolves jump out to a seven point lead in the final five minutes, and by that point, there was no looking back. With the game barely out of reach as time was winding down, all the Wolves had to do was continue to knock down free throws. Junior guard, Sydney Azorr, had 7 of her 15 points in the last two minutes as the team poured on points late to ice the game. Over the course of the game, the Wolves shot 19 of 20 from the charity stripe, which comes as no surprise as they lead the entire conference in free throw shooting percentage. The Wolves versus the Yellowjackets was a race neck and neck heading into the fourth. This time it was the Wolves who started slow in the fourth, being held scoreless for the first 4:53 of the final period. The scoring drought proved to be too much to overcome as the Yellowjackets jumped out to an eight point lead and kept the game out of reach. Junior, Natalie DeLonge, lead the way for Western as she scored 16 points and hauled in six rebounds. Azorr was also able to find success, primarily on the glass were she grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. The past week of games brings the team’s record to 8-8 with another slate of home contests on the schedule for this week. On Thursday, Jan. 25, the team will be hosting Northwest Nazarene. Then, the Wolves will be looking to defeat Central Washington on Saturday, Jan 27. Both games will be at 7:00 p.m.
Last week on Jan. 18 and 20 was business as usual for the men’s team as they racked up another two victories against GNAC conference opponents. This brings their current winning streak to double digits, after the team cracked the top ten in national rankings earlier in the week.
On Thursday, Jan. 18, the Wolves ousted Central Washington Wildcats, 89-70. Then on Saturday, Jan. 20, they derailed Northwest Nazarene, 82-64.
Up early against the Wildcats, it was clear that Western was in control, as the defense held the Wildcats to just 29.4 percent shooting in the first half. On the offensive side of the ball, Senior Tanner Omlid started off at a blistering pace, scoring 17 points on 7/9 shooting in the first twenty minutes.
After holding a fifteen point advantage at the end of the first half, the Wolves continued to outpace Central Washington. Omlid’s hot start seemed to inspire key members off the bench on Thursday as the game went on. Junior guard, Demetrius Trammell, was lights out during the second half of play. He scored 14 points in 13 minutes while shooting perfectly from the field, including four three pointers.
After the win, the team moved to an overall record of 16-1 heading into Saturday’s game against the Nighthawks. The game plan for this matchup was to make life difficult for Nazarene guard Obi Megwa, who came into the game leading the conference in scoring (19.1 ppg). That is exactly what the Wolves defense did, forcing Megwa to shoot 8/21 from the field while limiting his impact on the result of the game. The team started off hot once again, this time capturing a 13 point lead at halftime, while bringing that lead up to 25 at one point in the second half. After scoring 18 points against Central Washington earlier in the week, senior JJ Chirnside scored another 18 off the bench against the Nighthawks to help capture the 82-64 win.
With these two solid wins, the Wolves may start to climb even higher in the national rankings when they are released on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The team will look to extend their streak to 12 this week against two Alaskan conference foes on the road when they take on the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks on Jan. 25. Their road trip finally concludes on Saturday, Jan. 27 against the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves.
A fierce Wolves team clawed their way to two wins this past week on Jan. 11 and 13. Improving their win-loss mark to 15-1 overall and 8-1 in GNAC play, they first played at Saint Martin’s, getting the decisive victory, 79-71. They maintained their successful week in Seattle defeating Seattle Pacific, 83-79. Marching in first were the Saints with a 10-4 record, ranked fourth overall in the GNAC. Leading the charge, was Saints’s guard Luke Chavez with 17.2 points per game while forward Tavian Henderson is shooting 78 percent on the season, a top mark in the GNAC. Senior forward Tanner Omlid led the Wolfpack, however, running the score up to a 41-30 lead after a 15-0 run early in the first half. The Saints came back in the second half and kept biting at the lead, cutting the margin to as low as three at one point. A 19-point, six-rebound, three-assist, two-block and two-steal stat line on the night by Omlid as well as 24 points in bench production kept the Saints at bay. In front of the Saints in the GNAC standings is the Seattle Pacific Falcon squad that landed on Jan. 13 sporting a 5.6 rebounding margin versus its opponents.
Omlid again was everywhere on the stat board. The second game was a mirror image of the first as the Wolves led by double-digits for most of the half and pinning the Falcons, 51-40. The Falcons were a different team, however, and managed to pull ahead, 79-78, with a minute remaining in the game.
Wolves forward JJ Chirnside came up big on the defensive end grabbing two clutch steals and a block in waning seconds. Omlid finished the night with 20 points.
The Wolves head back home, first in a red out night opposite Central Washington on Jan. 18 and an alumni night game against Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 20.
Who is Dustin Nading? In the flesh, “he’s a guy from Longview, Washington, currently running track and field, and studying exercise science at Western.” Here’s a runner, who in 2016 finished in either second or first for his team in five total meets. Then, in 2017, he was part of the Wolves’s indoor national championship team in distance-medley-relay. He’s also a student closing in on graduation with a goal of earning his doctorate degree in physical therapy, while looking towards a professional track and field career after Western. He’s a son who admires his father Jeff Nading the most, and a reading and video game enthusiast among other things. “Obviously one of my main interests aside from running in general, is following and watching sports, even when I’m not participating. But reading is something I care tons about. You know: new literature, old literature; fiction, non-fiction.” With allocation and timing being two important things in running, if there’s time for it, he’ll enjoy his leisures playing Fortnite, a video game. What is Fortnite? “So you start out by dropping into a map with 100 other people, you try to be the last one alive, and you get one life. It’s a pretty fun online game.”
The game has brought along with it a sort of bonding experience for Nading and many of his teammates who also play. “Most of my hobbies revolve around things you can build relationships in.” When not on the track or in the lounge, Nading’s in the lab applying science with athletic performance. A junior majoring in exercise science — his favorite course in the field? “Probably physiology of exercise. It really digs into what goes on when your doing different activities, aerobically or anaerobically,” he said. “A lot of times, you’ll go out and do a hard workout and you’ll feel this burning in your muscles, and you’re like ‘why does it hurt like that, why’s that happening?’ and a lot of what that class was was just getting to the cellular level and asking ‘How does your body respond to different kinds of exercises and why you feel the way you feel.’”
It’s all about figuring out the means to your end Nading explained. “So I think understanding things like that makes you not only a better athlete, or better academically, but makes you better at almost every other aspect of your life.” Back on the track, Nading put that and everything into view this past Saturday, on Jan. 13 at the indoor track preview in Washington, his home state. He ran the 3,000 meters finishing sixth overall and set a new GNAC record time of 8.11.67. That bettered teammate David Ribich’s 2017 mark by two seconds; Nading received the GNAC athlete of the week award afterwards. There he was also guided by several teammates in multiple events. Overall, the team broke five records. It’s been quite a year for Nading and the Wolves. They’re fresh off competing in the Cross Country Nationals back in December, where the men’s team finished 21st overall. And after winning indoors in 2017, the Wolves look to repeat in the current indoor event. Looking back on the indoor meet last year, he took time to reflect on his championship teammates. “Those are people,” speaking about seniors Ribich and Joshua Dempsey “who’ve made great athletic performances and people I respect immensely.” With sights always set on the track, he has a dynamic view of it. “There’s so many great athletes and role models to learn from. And one of the greatest things about it is is it’s so extensive. There’s a niche and place in the track world for almost everyone whether that’s running or watching which going back to the hobbies is something I enjoy because even when I’m not performing there’s always some performance you can learn from.” For Nading, these are things and people he emulates and applies to improve his own performance and athletic ability. “Every time I step on the line, I race for excellence. I’m representing my school but above all else, I’m representing my teammates and one thing going through my mind is I’m going to run to the best of my ability. I’m going to do all of the little things to get the big result in the end.” Passing the baton, Nading gave advice for young up and coming runners, advising them to, “Believe in your teammates, and invest early in the sport because the sport will invest in you and that goes from paying attention to performances, watching, to working on your technique, to putting in the time for working out and bettering yourself … but if you invest in the sport in every aspect, you will undoubtedly get a return more than would you have expected.” Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
It was on Jan. 5 through Jan. 7 in Pensacola, Florida, that the Wolves flag football club earned their shot at competing for a national flag football championship.
The result, however, went unfavorably for the team, unable to grab wins in pool play for tournament seeding. They entered play first against Tennessee Tech in a losing effort, 14-19, before their historic season concluded against Central Florida, 12-21. On the experience of playing at a large platform in Florida, a rarity for Western, junior quarterback Cody Chimienti viewed it as a learning tool, “I didn’t have super-high expectations being that none of us had ever been there before … but now that we’ve had a feel for the sort of competition there, we’re looking forward to returning.” In the same way that the Wolves competed against bigger schools with a larger crop of athletes in and around the Washington-Pullman area, so was the case in Florida. But if anything, the teams in Florida were larger. Teams like the previous ones, Rutgers University and Loyola-Marymount are all division one schools, and this tournament had more of them. Getting their first piece of the competition, Western struck with a rainbow pass for the beginning touchdown against Tennessee Tech. After trading scores, and with three minutes left in the second half, Tennessee scored the go-ahead touchdown to seal the game. Versus Central Florida, Western again jumped out early, scoring a touchdown on the first drive. After scoring again late in the second half on an 80-yard play, they couldn’t adjust to the unique attacking offense of UCF, going down.
“For our first time as a team,” said Chimienti, “for Western, going to Pullman and Florida, I think it was a pretty big accomplishment.” Speaking on the significance of the season and on the accomplishment, Chimienti spoke optimistically for the future commenting “I think it’s going to open doors for the future and potential athletes to want to come join us.”
The women’s basketball team traveled up to Alaska to play two conferences games on Jan. 11 & 13, securing their second road win of the season in the process.
On Thursday, the 11, the Wolves were up against the conference leading Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. The Wolves kept the game highly competitive to start, with the score being 23-17 at the end of the first quarter.
As the game went on though, the Seawolves proved why they are the sixth ranked team nationally. The Wolves surrendered a 23-9 second quarter, and were not able to get any momentum after, suffering a 85-53 loss.
Turnovers were a key issue in the game, as the Wolves coughed up the ball 24 times. Juniors Savannah Heugly–a forward and guard Kennedy Corrigan lead the team in points, with both topping double figures scoring 14 and 11.
The second game of the week was also played on the road, this time against the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Coming into the game, the Nanooks had struggled recently against conference opponents, losing all games against GNAC opponents.
The Wolves made sure that streak continued on Jan. 13, and picked up their second road win in the process. The play on the defensive end contributed a large part to the win, as the Wolves were able to grab 12 steals and hold Alaska-Fairbanks to 31.1 percent shooting.
Heugly was once again a key contributor. The junior scored 20 points, had 13 rebounds and stole the ball four times in the victory. Shelby Snook came in the game as a substitute to score 18 points, helping the team out score Fairbank’s bench by 16.
The game was in the paws of the Wolves for a large portion of the 74-54 victory. The Wolfpack hope to make something of a run in the next three games, all at home. Next on tab are the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets in a red out game. Tipoff is set for 5:15 p.m.
With conference play starting for most GNAC teams over winter break, this past week’s games on Jan. 4 and 6 were crucial for the Wolves. After winning their first conference game, the team went into a Jan. 4 game against the Simon Fraser Clan on a three game skid against conference foes.
Unfortunately, that slide continued against the Clan, as the Wolves lost 81-67.
The game had one major difference between the teams — free throws. Simon Fraser took 32 shots from the charity stripe, compared to just 13 for the Wolves. Overcoming that large disparity proved to be too much as the Clan capitalized on getting the Wolves in foul trouble.
Kennedy Corrigan lead the team with 16 points, shooting 6-11 from the field. The Wolves also were able to force Simon Fraser into 19 turnovers in the losing effort.
The game on Jan. 6 brought much more excitement and was a landmark victory. The Wolves defeated the Western Washington Vikings for the first time since Feb. 23, 2008. The 18 game losing streak against the VIkings was snapped during the 54-50 victory.
Corrigan started off hitting a barrage of early three pointers, helping secure a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. The defense from the Wolves was a key factor in this victory, holding Hannah Stipanovich, the 11th highest scorer in the GNAC (13.1 ppg), to just four points.
With the game locked in at 48-48 in the final minute, the Vikings got out to a late two point lead with a layup with just 54 seconds left. In the last forty seconds, the Wolves were able to draw three late fouls against the Vikings. Junior Shelby Snook had two free throws with just 16 seconds lefts to put the Wolves up on top 52-50.
The Vikings had an opportunity to steal the victory or tie the game, but missed their golden opportunity to tie as Corrigan secured the rebound and was fouled immediately after.
Coming off a huge victory before winter break may lead to some momentum going into this week, as the team will be traveling up to Alaska. Thursday, Jan. 11, the team will be taking on GNAC conference leader Alaska Anchorage. They finish up the trip up north by playing against the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks on Saturday, Jan. 13.
The previous week’s games on Jan. 2 and 6 were big for the men’s basketball team, as the Wolves captured two outstanding wins. This brings the winning streak to six, helping contribute to a 13-1 overall record.
On Tuesday, Jan. 2, the Wolves drew their first win of the week against Concordia, 71-60. The team played great defense against the Cavaliers’s high scoring duo of Jarrett Gray and Christopher Edward, the 7th and 8th leading scorers in the GNAC conference. Coming in averaging over 33 points per game between the two, the Wolves held them to 20 points combined.
Seniors Malik Morgan and Vince Boumann lead the way for the Wolves, both contributing 17 points in the victory. Points came easy in the paint on Tuesday, with 40 of the 71 points coming from shots near the basket, as the Wolves continued to show they are one of the best teams in the GNAC.
On Saturday, Jan. 6, the Wolves took on the Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets, picking them apart in a 92-68 win.
From the opening tip, the offense was in tune, jumping out to a 46-28 lead in the first half. The Wolves had a balanced attacked the whole game, with six players scoring in double figures.
Three of those players, Demetrius Trammell, Janvier Alaby and JJ Chirnside, reached double figures while coming off the bench. Every player who saw the court on Saturday had points on the board for the Wolves, making it impossible for the Yellowjackets to keep pace.
The key stats for the Wolves in this game were the field goal percentages. Shooting 63.8 percent, the team simply had their way offensively while putting up 92 points. The defense was locked in as well, which forced the Yellowjackets to struggle from the three point line (6-25) while attempting to get back into the game.
Before this week, the Wolves were ranked 14th nationally in the NABC/Division II rankings, and could be on the rise after these two wins. As conference play moves on in the coming weeks, the Wolves are currently ranked second in conference record (5-1), number one in points per game (86.6) and number one in margin of victory (19.1).
The Wolves will be on the road this week, taking a trip to Washington to first play St. Martin’s on Thursday, Jan. 11. The team will then take on Seattle Pacific, who is currently on a three-game winning streak, on Saturday, Jan. 13.
With an 8-6 record, the Seattle Seahawks football season is in flux. With only a few weeks left until the playoffs, they lie in the flock of many other teams contending for the Super Bowl. Their season’s still in the air but as the phrase goes: any given Sunday, any team has a chance.
Up until this point for the ‘Hawks, it’s been any given play, any given athlete and any given will towards pushing them through to postseason play. But the season’s been anything but a given.
Quarterback Russell Wilson has been tasked with more to give from his shoulders this year. He has accounted for 82% of Seattle’s offense this season, a first in NFL history, which means he’s been passing and running for most of the teams plays.
Consider the next hypothetical miraculous play as a summation to the Seahawks’s season: After an opposing defensive lineman caught a stitching of Wilson’s jersey in efforts to tackle him down, the elusive Wilson would free from the grips of the 6-foot-4-inch 270-pound lineman, keeping the play alive. Before anyone on the field, in the stands or at home watching knew it, the “scramble drill” was in effect whereby Wilson then ran towards the sidelines evading more defenders, and finally threw a 30-yard dash across his body out towards receiver Doug Baldwin, who then snagged the ball for a first-down in tight coverage.
That pretty much sums up Seattle’s season so far. They’ve found ways to win, and at other unfortunate times, came up short.
For as long they’ve had success, it’s been through the heart of a player like Wilson and through such unbelievable plays. One could say Seattle’s had many other players like the MVP potential through his first six seasons. Many would argue defensive safety Earl Thomas being the heart and soul of the defense, as he has been for as many games he’s played. But he went down with a broken leg last year, which also helped break Seattle’s hopes at a second Super Bowl.
For a long while cornerback Richard Sherman was also the backbone of the defense. Now Sherman’s out for this season with a torn achilles. And many other key defensive ball-hawkers of the famed “legion of boom” defense have gone down with him. For most of the season and because of the injuries, Seattle’s also had play around a depleted running back crew, a few young and inexperienced offensive lineman whose main job is to protect Wilson and block for those ‘backs, and an ailing defense, the latter of which most successful teams have.
Many argue that, without a running game or key impactful players like those aforementioned, it would be insurmountable for the ‘Hawks to reach a plateau as high as the Super Bowl — playoffs even.
I’d argue: the New England Patriots. Out of the five championships won by the ‘Pats in the Tom Brady era, three of those championships are also included as three of the four worst Super Bowl-winning rushing performances ever. Brady’s rarely ever had a lethal rusher playing behind him.
The New Orleans Saints have also had successful seasons, around their lone 2010 championship, primarily provided by a pass heavy offense.
But what New England’s had is what Seattle could potentially have — a system where a passing and running game work in tandem. In other words, quick short throws and yards gained after the catch.
Seattle has shown glimpses of that system this year. With the defense struggling and not bringing the boom like in years past — a top five defense since 2012 — mostly due to injuries, they’ll have to rely a lot on that system. Added to it is an offensive line also struggling. And so it is that very scramble drill mentioned earlier that they’ve become accustomed to. With Wilson’s vital organs still intact, the team has managed and have worked around their weaknesses, and the scramble, from what it looks like, is something they’ll continue to use to their advantage. Seattle, and in particular Wilson, is fortunate to have something Brady doesn’t have. Brady’s never been a threat on the ground running with the ball, something Wilson clearly has had under his belt. With many disadvantages, Wilson, the scramble, along with his canon of an arm, and the rest of the ‘Hawks are all still viable assets. Seattle’s also fortunate to have a record that places them just outside of a wildcard position for the playoffs.
The question is, can the ‘Hawks successfully and consistently be pass oriented? How many more magic tricks does the boom have up their sleeve in time for the potential playoffs that’s soon ahead?
The Nov. 23 home game against Humboldt State showed plenty of change-of-pace action. With 11 lead changes and six ties, the Wolves managed to get the last basket near the rim, downing the Lumberjacks 64-62. The Wolves came in undefeated, and three games in have averaged 77 points, which is much attested to their balanced offense. When the ‘Jacks visited, a tightly knit back-and-forth game almost put their undefeated mark in jeopardy. This was evident in the first quarter when several lead changes ensued. The ‘Jacks looked to swing the momentum in their favor by presenting a three-point threat. The Wolves stood firm with a strong defense, a key factor late, to end the quarter down 13-12. Defense, along with hustle plays and scrappiness for every rebound, kept the game close. Then, it was the Wolves turn at the lead going into halftime up one, 25-24. Guard play from both teams was also a highlight, as senior Shelby Snook went head-to-head opposite Humboldt’s Tyla Turner. Snook made 7 out of 11 field goals totaling 15 points, while Turner shot 6 out of 20 totaling 14. As the teams continued to trade baskets into the fourth, it came down to the final seconds. With the score at 62, senior forward Savannah Heugly scored the go-ahead off a tightly contested lay-up attempt, putting the Wolves in front, 64-62. In waning moments, the Lumberjacks’s game-tying attempt was stuffed by Wolf senior guard Sydney Azorr’s clutch block that ended the game. Now at 4-0, the Wolves soon begin conference play where they’ll protect home court once again against Saint Martin’s on Nov. 30. Tip-off begins at 7 p.m.
A win on senior day, Nov. 11, capped the season on a high note. It was the first home win for the Wolves, putting them at a 3-8 overall record and 2-6 conference record. Despite an end to the season, two athletes earned first team all-GNAC honors, while six athletes earned second team honors.
Junior defensive linebacker Bo Highburger got his first team nod for the second straight season, while senior wideout Paul Revis went out with his fourth straight first team honor. Revis broke more than 20 Western NCAA DII-era school records on the season including 32 receiving touchdowns and 6,713 all-purpose yards. Highburger led the GNAC with 102 total tackles.
More records were broken during the season as senior quarterback Nick Duckworth tied a team record with six passing touchdowns versus Simon Fraser on Oct. 7. A total of 82 points in the same game set a Western DII-era school record. Volleyball: Western volleyball had a rough season but, like the football team, won their final game on senior night at home. Their record stood at an overall 7-20 with a 3-17 conference record by the end of the season.
Senior outside hitter Alisha Bettinson went on to receive an all-GNAC honorable mention. Bettinson broke the school record for kills on Nov. 2 against the Montana State YellowJackets and went on to surpass the 1,100 mark for kills. She is also the first wolf in the NCAA DII-era to have at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
The only other Wolf senior is Sydney Blankinship, who finished her stellar career at third with an all-time in attack percentage of .280 and in the top 10 for blocks and block assists.
Cross Country:
When women’s cross country debuted the season, senior Kennedy Rufener finished atop runners to win the individual championship on Sept. 2 in the Linfield Harrier Classic. In the GNAC championships, Rufener finished 37 seconds ahead of where she was the year prior. The team’s five runners who returned from last year also improved on their GNAC championship individual times in the race. Rufener closed well for the Wolves in the regionals, qualifying as an individual for the Nationals. In the national championships, Rufener finished 97 out of 247 runners.
Men’s cross country was led by senior David Ribich most of the way but the team did enough to finish well in the GNAC championships by placing five finishers in the top 15 en route to a GNAC title. It was also the best finish in 10 years as the team finished as runner-ups in 2007. Ribich finished first again in the regionals and the team qualified to be in the Nationals thereafter. Ribich led most of the way in the national race but finished 30th in the end. The team finished at 21st. Ribich went on to receive all-American honors for his run.
Western Oregon went 2-0 over the weekend at the Thanksgiving Classic in California. The first game on Friday, Nov. 24, resulted in a 76-65 victory over Holy Names University. The second game on Saturday, Nov. 25, resulted in a 87-48 victory over Notre Dame de Namur. The Wolves had their worst shooting game of the season so far at 45 percent on Friday, while also having their best defensive effort of the year, holding the Hawks to 38 percent shooting from the field. The Wolves got off to a quick start, leading 17-9 off five points by senior Ali Farouq-Bey and four points from senior Janvier Alaby. The Wolves would not trail again for the rest of the game. Senior Tanner Omlid led the Wolves with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and senior Vince Boumann had 12 points. Seven players from Western each scored seven points or more in the victory. Saturday night showed more positive results for the Wolves offensively, as they torched the Argonauts with 53 percent from the field while holding them to 35 percent. Farouq-Bey put together his best game of the season, and finished with a season high of 19 points on 58 percent shooting from the field. The Wolves blew out the Argonauts 87-48 to improve to 6-0 on the season.
Join the club or jump on the bandwagon. Whichever it is, there’s a club worth joining in celebration. The Wolves’s flag football club has just won the regional championships, and now look to face the best of the best in the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Championships, held in Pensacola, Florida on Jan. 5 through 7. It was the regional championships, played from Oct. 27 to 29 at Washington State University, that punched their ticket. “No one thought of us as having a real team, so we came from nowhere,” said senior business major Matthew Cornish, captain of the club. Being that Western is a division II school for instance, coming from a small town, they were to be pitted in a competitive field that included clubs from a couple of division I schools, meaning schools that are bigger and from larger cities, whereby highly-skilled athletes are more likely, in number, to be accessible to those respective clubs.
For perspective, there were three clubs that were from Washington State and two clubs from Eastern Washington, both DI schools. Also competing were two Central Washington clubsand a club from Blue Mountain Community College of Oregon. Cornish, who has been playing flag football his whole life, said, “Me and my roommate right now played all over the west coast. And when we came (to Western intramural tournaments held by campus recreation) we won the fall and spring tournament championships going undefeated. That’s where I got the idea of trying the regionals after putting together a team to see how well we’d do. So I took a few players from there, and then I held tryouts.”
He recruited a new quarterback, gathered a few former Western football players and current rugby players to fill out the roster and created an all-star of a team to face the competition that loomed ahead of them.
Before anyone knew it, they went 3-0 in pool play. Then it was time to seed teams in the tournament via most points scored during pool play. When Cornish and the Wolves saw who was number one he said, “You know what, we should go against them and see how good we are.” That number one seed, a Washington State club, had put up a total score of 130 points against its opponents’s 20. That was, until the Wolves came howling. In the first round of the tourney, the Wolves put the bark to bite defeating one seed Washington State in double overtime by a score of 46-39. Then they played a Central Washington club, and beat them 28-6 to advance into the finals. In the title game, they were matched up against another Washington State team, beating them in overtime 21-20 and declared their regional title. According to Andy Main, the assistant director of intramural sports at Western who has around 15 years of experience with club and intramural sports, a win of this magnitude from a school like Western is “rare.”
“In the world of Campus Recreation this is a rather significant accomplishment. A school as small as WOU rarely wins these types of tournaments. It’s usually the bigger schools,” said Main. Cornish is also an intramural supervisor who works for campus recreation and is now investing much of his time and money to get the Wolves to Florida to likely then play even bigger schools, another rare occasion according to Main.
“This was the first time the school has ever put something like this together,” said Cornish. To be able to play in NIRSA, Cornish, while simultaneously getting the team in order, had another list of to-do’s stating, “I had to sign waivers from the school and waivers from NIRSA in order for us to get registered to play.” “I had to collect insurance information from everybody … I had to make sure everyone was enrolled with a minimum of six credits in order for them to participate in this tournament.”
Since club teams don’t get the same kind of funding compared to the football or basketball teams, a lot of the funding lands on club recreation and the athletes who coordinate teams. In other words, “some money can come from the incidental (fees) committee, where they can offer grants to club athletes like Cornish,” Main explained. But the other portion falls on the athletes like the Wolves flag football team, who won many battles to get there and are now hopeful it pays off.
“I’m focusing on doing what I can to help this team get to Florida,” Cornish said. “We have to do a bunch of fundraising in order to get to Florida. Most of the money we’ve got is half our budget used for airfare, which the school was able to provide their portion for, and the other half is for the rest (hotels, food etc.).” Part of such fundraising is provided through Cornish’s gofundme account online where he and the Wolves are grateful of any donation.
“If you were to donate money towards our cause it would mean a lot because coming from a small school we have a chance to compete with bigger schools and prove we have what it takes to be national champions. I appreciate anything that you can offer towards our trip,” said Cornish.
Simson Garcia | Sports Editor
