Mount Hood

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

Photo by: wouwolves.com

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

Photo by: wouwolves.com

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

Photo by: wouwolves.com

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

Photo by: wouwolves.com

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

Photo by: wouwolves.com

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

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