Sports – Page 81 – The Western Howl

By RACHEL SHELLEY
Sports Editor

The Lady Wolves, with a 4-2 record, have clinched a first place spot in conference, securing a spot in the D-II regional tournament at Stanford University hosted by USA Rugby.

During the first year with just four teams a part of the Cascade Collegiate Women’s Rugby Conference, the Wolves won their last game against Western Washington University in Bellingham by four points to clinch first place. The team carries nine seniors, four of which have one more year of athletic eligibility for next season. Annie Christiansen, Marissa Minato, Sophie Kaplan, Kelly Smith and Angelica Martinez will play in their last collegiate regional tournament this April.

“Winning these games is important,” said Applegate. “We do it for the alumni that didn’t make it to regionals. It allows us to pay them respect for keeping this team going when they didn’t have a coach, or a proper field to play on.”

The regional tournament is held on April 10-11 and is two rounds before nationals. The first round holds 32 teams, then cut to 16, then 8, before earning a spot at nationals. USA Rugby will be hosting the event in Stanford, Cali. and the team has been fundraising through carwashes, restaurant nights, donation letters, sponsorship and their GoFundMe website in hopes to travel together on a charter bus.

The Lady Wolves practice three times a day and condition once a week, at the start of spring the team will prepare for Regionals with five practices a week.

“The key factors to securing a spot in California were consistent hard work and a “never give-up” attitude,” said Minato. “This team has overcome adversity and come extremely close to post-season for the past two years and with many important seniors leaving, we knew this was the year to make a run at the national title. Our hard work and perseverance through facing both team and administrative issues has put us in this position and we intend to make the most of it.”

The team is coached by Mark Baldwin and Emily “Red” Brown. Baldwin has been with the team since their creation in 2004, bringing 29 years of playing experience.

He’s coached the team to a third place finish in the nation during the 2004-05 season and a fifth place finish in the nation during the 2006-07 season.

“Our coaching staff has been a big factor this season,” said Applegate. “Their knowledge and experience with women’s rugby has aided us to keep our head during games.”

The Lady Wolves are a club sport on campus in the Tier I category. This means they are a competitive club sport, competition with other Tier I club teams in the conference. They are a registered student club through Campus Recreation and are recognized by the Club Sports Council. They also must meet requirements such as, participating in at least five competitions against other teams guided by a similar structure and they must hold practice sessions at least twice a week. Club sports are run by the participants themselves including their coach selection, travel fundraising, scheduling, practices and development.

“As a club, we aren’t trying to necessarily prove anything, we just want to positively represent Western as best as possible and spread awareness of women’s rugby,” said Minato. “We understand that this opportunity is much bigger than ourselves and feel lucky to have been given the chance. This opportunity means everything to our club. Many of our girls have been a part of the team for three or more years, putting in countless hours of practice and have felt the disappointment of falling short, so this opportunity means a lot to us.”

The team will be competing at a tournament in Portland this upcoming weekend and then will be at the Cascade Tournament in Eugene the following weekend.

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Trio to compete at Nationals

By GUY PERRIN
Staff Writer

Brady Beagley, Badane Sultessa and Stephanie Stuckey will all travel to Birmingham, Ala. to compete at the D-II national indoor meet on Mar. 13-14. Beagley and Stuckey will both race the mile while Sultessa will compete in the 800.

Beagley is ranked 13th in the field of competitors with the third fastest time in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this season at 4:08:53. His time is also a school record, 0.46 faster than former Wolf Chris Reed who set the record during his 2011 season. Beagley will compete against 16 runners with the top 10 advancing to finals.

Sultessa, in his first season at Western, is ranked eighth with his second all-time school history time of 1:51.22. His time is also the second fastest time in GNAC history. A past GNAC track athlete of the week, Sultessa is racing his way to becoming just the third NCAA All-American in this event for Western. Also one of 16 runners in the preliminaries, Sultessa must finish in the top eight to advance to finals.

Stuckey enters the mile ranked 12th with a time of 4:56.18, a second all-time in school history mark, behind Selina Stanton, a former Wolf who set the record in 1988. Stuckey is one of 18 runners to compete in the preliminaries of the mile with the top 10 moving to the finals.

“Running at nationals is such a blessing,” Stuckey said. “I will be running with and against terrific competition and represent Western at a national level. I have been so overwhelmed with this journey to nationals because it happened so fast.

“I went from running in the slow heat at conference with no time for the mile and then national qualifying in a matter of days,” Stuckey said. “I am so thankful for this opportunity. It just goes to show where hard work can take you.”

Outdoor season starts with Willamette Opener

Western’s track team competed in their first outdoor meet of the season this past weekend, traveling to Salem to run on the campus of Willamette University Saturday, March 7. The men and women both took home victories, with the men’s team winning by 35 points and the women securing a 49-point victory.

In the field events, a trio of throwers took home victories and also hit NCAA D-II provisional marks with Amanda Short and Justin Larson winning the women’s and men’s javelin events and Emmi Collier in the shot put. Collier was the first among five Wolves that finished in the top five in the shot put and also took home the victory in the women’s hammer throw event.

In the men’s discus, Kenny Klippel and Jeremy Moore took first and second place with throws of 41.26 and 41.02 meters, respectively. In the men’s long jump, Cody Warner jumped 6.42 meters to claim victory.

In the track events, Warner placed first in two events, winning the 100 meter with a time of 10.68 seconds as well as the 200 in dominating fashion, clocking in at 21.51.

The women swept the podium in the 400-meter hurdles race as Audrey Hellesto, Sara Madden, and Felicia Covey finished 1-2-3 with times of 1:06.37, 1:07.99, and 1:09.21 respectively.

Stephanie Stuckey and Bailey Beeson finished first and second in the women’s 800, finishing in nearly identical times of 2:15.58 and 2:15.73, with a five-second personal best for Stuckey.

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EN ROUTE TO NFL

By HAUNANI TOMAS
Managing Editor

Showing all signs of discontentment with the Momiji menu, Tyrell Williams closes it. A firm believer in cooked-through foods, Williams settles on chicken katsu. The Salem native prefers burgers to sushi always, his favorite being McMenamin’s bacon cheeseburger for as long as he can remember.

Since the age of seven, Williams was running routes and dreaming of National Football League stardom. Countless drills, practices and circuits later, he is prepped for one of the biggest days of his life: pro day.

Formerly a Philadelphia Eagles fan, his new favorite team has become “whatever team signs me.” In his career at Western, he was named to the GNAC first team thrice, among being named player of the week an innumerable number of times – in addition to being a national track standout.

Distracting himself with smaller matters, Williams tastes the miso soup. His dislike for Japanese cuisine is confirmed. When his chicken katsu arrives, his reaction is anything but that of an empty-stomached man.

“That’s not gonna help me lose any weight,” says Williams. Worrying about shedding a few pounds before pro day is just one of many aspects that have consumed his attention.

When describing Williams, the term “committed to the game” is an understatement.

He is better described as hungry. Hungry for success, hungry to fulfill his dreams, and hungry for more. Always hungry for more. Hungry – all six feet and 200 pounds of him.

On football

“The first time I played football was in second grade; it was flag-football and I sprained my wrist. I pursued college football because I always had a dream of playing in the NFL. Obviously, college was the first step. Once I saw my brother get a scholarship for football, I knew that I wanted to follow his footsteps. If I weren’t playing football, I’d be playing basketball.”

On staying motivated

“My family has always been there, and I want to make sure I can take care of them for the rest of our lives and repay them for everything they’ve done for me. I look up to my dad and brother. They do everything the right way. They’ve always been there for me for everything. They’re great role models.”

On training

“I’ve been working out and doing circuits with [Cori] Metzgar, and I went to New Jersey for 16 days for [NFL Prep]. I did track for a couple of weeks. I’ve just been running routes with Trey [Shimabukuro] and [Oregon State quarterback Sean] Mannion. My shoulder surgery hasn’t really affected my training. I just wasn’t able to run for eight weeks after my surgery.”

On Pro Day

“I haven’t been sleeping well. I had a dream that I ran slow. I’m most excited for the chance to prove myself coming from a small school. I’ve always been a very competitive person. I always want to be great at whatever I do.”

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Bats come alive on the diamond

By GUY PERRIN
Staff Writer

The Western softball team hosted their first series of the young season on campus this past weekend as they took on the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene. The four game series began with a doubleheader on Friday, Mar. 6 and finished with another doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 7.

The series also marked the beginning of conference play for the Wolves.

On Friday, Northwest Nazarene took a quick two run lead in the first half of the second inning before the Wolves (7-11, 4-0 GNAC) responded with four runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead. Western then used two home runs by outfielder Emma Alfonso to run away with a 6-2 victory in the first game of the doubleheader.

Pitcher Alyson Boytz pitched a complete game, striking out seven batters to get the victory for Western. In Friday’s second game, the Crusaders once again jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead before Western broke out with seven runs in the third and fourth innings to blow the game open and take their second victory of the day, 8-3. The Wolves got another complete game effort from their pitching staff with Pitcher Lizzet Dominguez throwing 93 pitches to pick up the win.

“We had a week off from games and we really just changed our mindset and attitudes and relaxed,” said Botyz. “We took our preseason games and used them as learning experiences to grow from .Our biggest problem from preseason was not finishing our games. Conference was a fresh start and we really worked on competing all seven innings and finishing every inning and every game.”

On Saturday, the day began with a close, hard-fought, 3-1 victory as the Crusaders and Wolves were deadlocked in a 1-1 tie for much of the opening innings. In the bottom of the fourth, third baseman Destiny Kuehl singled home two runs to give Western the lead they would never relinquish. Boytz threw 132 pitches in another complete game performance to star for the Wolves. In the final game of the series, the Wolves’ bats came alive in a 14-2, 5-inning thrashing of the visitors to complete the sweep. The Wolves had three players hit home runs, including their pitcher, Jourdan Williams, who also pitched four innings in relief for the victory.

“It was a team win,” said Kuehl. “It wasn’t just one person who won the game. Everyone came together and picked each other up because in our first game our hitting wasn’t doing so well, so our defense and pitching kept us in the game and in the second game when our defense made a few mistakes, our offense came together and scored.”

Softball swept Northwest Christian University in a doubleheader on Tuesday, Mar. 10 in Monmouth 2-0, and 10-4 improving to a seven game win streak concluding their non-division II games. Infielder Kelsie Gardner went a combined 4-for-7 with three runs scored, leading the Wolves offensively. Boytz also pitched her third straight complete game allowing just four hits in the opening game with a game-high five strikeouts.

The Wolves pick up with GNAC play this weekend, hosting Simon Fraser for a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 14 at 1 p.m. and then again on Mar. 15 at 12 p.m with Western Washington.

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Women’s basketball earns home split

Emilie Howey (32) looks to pass the ball to a teammate during their game against Western Washington University. PHOTO BY STEPHANIE BLAIR | Staff Photographer

By GUY PERRIN
 Staff Writer

The women’s basketball team returned home from a three-game road trip this past weekend to host Simon Fraser University and Western Washington University. The Wolves came away with a split as they defeated Simon Fraser 68-45 on Thursday but fell to Western Washington 81-48 on Saturday.

On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Wolves put together their best shooting performance of the season, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field, including a sizzling 68 percent in the second half to handle Simon Fraser 68-45. Led by forward Dana Goularte’s 15 points, the Wolves (6-15, 3-10 GNAC) were able to take advantage of the absence of Simon Fraser’s second leading scorer, Meg Wilson (13.4 ppg), and dominate down low, outscoring the Clan (12-10, 8-6 GNAC) 38-22 in points in the paint.

“Beating Simon Fraser gave us a confidence boost knowing that we can play with and beat any team in our conference,” said guard Jordan Mottershaw. “Our goals for the last few games are to execute all of the game plans and really focus on controlling everything we can control. If we do that, I know we can get a few more wins.”

Western opened the game with an 11-2 scoring run and never looked back en route to a commanding 33-15 halftime lead. The Wolves were able to add suffocating defense to their hot shooting as they held Simon Fraser to just 27 percent shooting as well as 20 percent from behind the 3-point line, which included a 1-11 performance in the first half.

“We played as a team,” Goularte said. “We offensively shared the ball well and defensively played team defense. We are concentrating on playing to our best ability as a team.”

On Saturday, Feb. 14, Western Oregon was unable to continue their hot shooting against the conference’s third best team, Western Washington, shooting just 39 percent from the field including 28 percent from behind the 3-point line to lose 81-48. The team’s leading scorer, Goularte once again led the team with 12 points and seven rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as Western Washington (17-7, 11-4 GNAC) shot nearly 50 percent from the field and went a perfect 10-10 at the free-throw line.

The Wolves (6-16, 3-11 GNAC) wore pink jerseys to support the Play4Kay breast cancer research foundation in honor of Kay Yow, the women’s basketball coach at NC State who died in 2009.

Western faces a daunting road trip next week as they travel to Billings, Mont. on Thursday, Feb. 19 to play Montana State-Billings before traveling to Seattle to play Seattle Pacific University on Saturday, Feb. 21.

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Track hits more NCAA qualifying times

By GUY PERRIN
 Staff Writer

The Western track team traveled to Seattle Feb. 13-15 to compete in a pair of meets in preparation for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships next week.

On Friday and Saturday, the Wolves competed in the Husky Classic, a prestigious meet that combines runners from across the country from both Divisions I and II and the Husky Open on Sunday.

During the Husky Classic, Brady Beagley and Sam Naffziger hit NCAA provisional qualifying times in the mile and 800-meter, respectively. Beagley posted a time of 4 minutes, 10.6 seconds to put him just seven seconds away from an automatic qualifying time while Naffziger’s time of 1:53.37 was just inside the provisional mark and was also good for a new personal best in the event.

“Going into the race I had a lot of confidence in myself, and I felt like I was ready to run fast,” said Naffziger. “I was also in a fast heat which definitely helped me run the time I did.”

“Another huge factor that helped me is the people I train with; they bring it every day and push me to get faster. Having a provisional is great because all the hard work is paying off, but also motivates me to continue to work hard and get into the national meet,” Naffziger said.

Badane Sultessa, Aaron Whitaker, Josh Hanna, and Beagley competed in the distance medley relay, finishing third overall with a time of 9:59.24, just three seconds shy of first.

“Getting to compete in the Husky Classic was important to me because it gave me a chance to race in a really competitive atmosphere,” Whitaker said. “As for getting ready for conference, I think that keeping that same energy and intensity that we had at the Husky Classic will benefit us as we prepare
to go to conference this weekend.”

On Sunday during the Husky Open, Western runners began strong with Dustin Camarillo and Rihei Grothmann both posting personal bests in the 60m hurdles with times of 8.92 and 8.95 respectively.

There was a trio of seasonal bests in the 800m run as Josh Dempsey (1:56.68), Chris Stash (1:58.39), and Parker Marson (1:58.97) each came within five seconds of hitting the NCAA Division II national provisional qualifying time.

For the women, Laura Patrick ran a season best time of 26.82 in the 200m dash as well as a personal best time of 8.13 in the 60m dash to cap an impressive day.

“No matter if it’s conference or any time of year, a PR gives you confidence going into the next meet and raises the excitement level,” Patrick said. “As a team going into conference, I think the goal is to just get better. We have a lot to learn and a lot to improve on. Win or lose, we can walk away with something to make us better for the next time we step on the track. The goal is to come home with some victories, whether they are big or small.”

In the high jump, Cherise Kirkpatrick (1.53) and Sam Moore (1.48) finished third and fifth, respectively, while also posting new personal records. Suzy Van Der Grift took home first place in her heat of the 600m run with a new personal best time of 1:39.56 while Rachel Crawford narrowly missed out
on the provisional qualifying time for the 800m run, finishing third in her heat with a time of 2:20.43, just five seconds away from qualifying.

The Wolves are traveling to Nampa, Idaho to compete at the GNAC conference meet Feb. 20-21.

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Wolves fall in Alaska during three-game road trip

By GUY PERRIN
 Staff Writer

The women’s basketball team traveled far north this past weekend to take on the pair of Alaska schools. On Thursday, Feb. 5, the Wolves suffered a tough defeat at the hands of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, falling 60-47.

“The two losses in Alaska have made our team really motivated to get wins at home this week,” said guard Jordan Mottershaw. “We have to refocus and take care of our home court. We know from our last two games that we need to put more emphasis on rebounding.”

Western (5-14, 2-9 GNAC) started slowly and trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before battling back behind the duo of forward Dana Goularte and Mottershaw (11 points each) to cut the deficit to three points early in the second half.

The Wolves, however, would never get closer as the Nanooks (13-9, 5-7 GNAC) used a 20-point performance by Benissa Bulaya to pull away and secure the victory.

“We’re working on controlling what we can control and playing together,” said forward Sami Osborne. “We’re striving to finish these last few weeks off strong, fighting our way up for the sixth spot and working towards playing to our full potential as a team.”

On Saturday, Nov. 7, the Wolves faced one of the best teams in the country, No. 2 ranked Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves (22-1, 12-1 GNAC) flexed their muscles from the opening tip, jumping out to a 19-0 lead in the first six minutes of the game en route to a 77-51 victory.

Goularte and Mottershaw led Western (5-15, 2-10 GNAC) in scoring for the second straight game, scoring 10 points each while Osborne pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Alaska-Anchorage got a major boost from their bench as Sierra Afoa and Jenna Buchannon scored 15 and 14 points respectively in reserve.

“Anchorage is one of the best teams in the nation and I credit that to their work ethic and mental toughness,” said head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. “A takeaway from that game is that we have to do everything with a purpose: cut hard, set solid screens, make the extra pass, finish every play with a box out.

“It really is about how well we can execute the “little things” and also being mentally tough when faced with adversity. Basketball is a game of runs and we must focus on limiting our opponent’s runs and extending our own,” Howard-Carpenter said.

The Wolves return home to host Simon Fraser University on Thursday, Feb. 12 and Western Washington University on Saturday, Feb. 14 for the Play4Kay game to raise Breast Cancer Awareness.

Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

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WOU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all programs, activities and employment practices as required by Title IX, other applicable laws, and policies. Retaliation is prohibited by WOU.

Women’s rugby prepares for regionals in California

Trio to compete at Nationals

EN ROUTE TO NFL

Bats come alive on the diamond

Women’s basketball earns home split

Track hits more NCAA qualifying times

Wolves fall in Alaska during three-game road trip

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