Western Washington University distance runner Sarah Porter was named the 2010-11 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.
The award was voted upon by the athletic directors at the GNAC’s institutions.
The Hockinson High School graduate was a four-time All-America during the 2010-11 school year, bringing her career total to a school-record 12. She earned All-America honors in three sports for the third consecutive year.
Porter also earned USTFCCCA West Region female athlete of the year honors in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. She also swept the GNAC athlete of the year award in all three sports, winning it outright in cross country and sharing it with Helen Croft of Simon Fraser in both indoor and outdoor track and field.
At last month’s NCAA Division II National Outdoor Track and Field Championship meet, Porter won the 10,000 meters in a meet-record time of 33 minutes, 17.39 seconds, the fourth fastest in NCAA II history, and placed second in the 5,000 in a time of 16:23.08.
Her national 10,000 time was both a school and conference record and automatically qualified her for another trip to USA Championships in late June. Last year, she became the school’s first athlete to compete in that meet.
Earlier this spring, Porter was the GNAC 10,000-meter champion for the second time after winning the 5,000 at the conference indoor meet. She went on to place third in the 5,000 at the indoor nationals in March with a time of 16:44.04.
Last fall, Porter was runner-up at the NCAA II cross country championships for the second year in a row after earning regional all-star honors for the fourth time by winning both the GNAC and regional individual titles.
Porter broke four school outdoor records this past spring, setting marks in the 1,500, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000. She also finished with school indoor records in the mile, 3,000 and 5,000.
Wiser presented PSU softball awards
Senior shortstop Arielle Wiser capped her career by being named the 2011 Portland State Most Valuable Player and Best Defensive Player at the Vikings’ season-ending banquet Saturday.
The Battle Ground High School graduate was a first team Pacific Coast Softball Conference All-Mountain Division pick after hitting .415 with 15 RBI and 16 runs scored in 20 league games.
She hit a career-best .343 and also setting career highs with 37 runs scored and 30 RBI. The “rock” of the team according to coach Tobin Echo-Hawk, Wiser started 221 of 222 games in her career at shortstop and leaves PSU with a .304 career batting average.
Defensively, the school said, Wiser will go down as one of the slickest fielding shortstops ever to play at Portland State.
Portland State finished the year 34-18 and won the PCSC Mountain Division with a 16-4 record. They swept the best-of-three PCSC Championship Series from Coastal Division champion Loyola Marymount and advanced to the NCAA Seattle Regional.
Pike, Dixson garner academic honors
Seattle Pacific University senior Jennifer Pike and Concordia University sophomore Gabi Dixson were named to the District VIII Academic All-District second team for track and field and cross country by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
District VIII includes the West Coast. Dixson, a Battle Ground High School standout, and Pike, from Skyview, were honored in the College Division for schools other than NCAA Division I. All-District winners are selected by college sports information directors within each district.
Dixson earned her fourth and fifth career All-America honor of her young career least week by placing third overall in the shot put and sixth in the hammer throw at the NAIA Championships. Dixson added an eighth-place result in the discus to single-handedly score 10 points to help Concordia its first ever team national championship in any sport.
During the indoor season, Dixson placed sixth overall in the weight throw at the NAIA Championships. A school record holder in the indoor weight and in the hammer throw, Dixson scored 28 points with two titles and a second-place performance at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships to help CU to its fifth straight team crown.
Pike concluded her stellar career at NCAA Division II SPU at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships in May. She placed fourth with a career-high total of 4,535 points in the heptathlon.
A biology major with a 3.71 GPA, she won the final two of the seven events, taking the javelin and the 800 meters. Pike also took second in the GNAC indoor pentathlon in February. She was a national champion and an All-American, having run a leg on the NCAA title-winning indoor distance medley relay in March 2010.
Clark honors go to Lane, Mueller
Two All-America athletes have been named the Clark College Student Athletes of the Month for May, the school announced Tuesday.
Tyler Lane and Katarina Mueller were honored for their accomplishments on Clark’s track and field teams.
Mueller, a Clark freshman and Mountain View High School graduate, is an All-American in the 10-kilometer run, and placed second in that event at the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) championships with a time of 40 minutes, 10 seconds. The next day, she placed fifth in the 5,000 meters in 19:12. Track and field head coach Amber Moore said, “Kat is a hard working, dedicated athlete who has shown great improvement from high school.”
A member of the Clark’s NWAACC champiopnship women’s cross country team, Mueller is expected to compete in both cross country and track next year.
Lane, a Clark sophomore and Skyview High School graduate, is the two-time high jump NWAACC champion and an All-American in the event. He cleared better than 6-foot-7 in both 2010 and 2011.
“Tyler’s hard work and dedication to the track and field team helped the Penguins by scoring points throughout the season in the high jump, long jump, decathlon, 4×100 and javelin,” Moore said.
The coach said Lane “will return to Clark next season to help coach the jumps while taking his redshirt year before he transfers to continue his education.”
Lane previously earned Student Athlete of the Month honors in April 2010.
College Notebook will return in the fall.
