Your future, our focus
BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
A year that saw success at the junior college athletics level had the Northwest College athletic programs enjoy as much success off the field, with five teams being named to the NJCAA Academic Teams of the Year and 32 individuals earning NJCAA All-Academic honors.
“It’s awesome and it shows what our coaches are doing with their focus of being a student first,” Northwest Athletic Director Brian Erickson said. “It fits with our mission of being student centered … It goes to the coaches and the students for putting the focus into it.”
Leading the way in overall GPA for Trapper teams was the women’s soccer program, finishing with a 3.61 average for the 2022-23 school year.
Teams need to finish with at least a 3.0 to be named to the Academic Teams of the Year.
The Trapper women’s soccer team finished eighth in the nation among women’s soccer teams, and was top in Region IX.
Katelynn Campbell was the top individual on the team named to the first team after finishing with a 4.0 for the year.
Second team included Abigail Allen, Tymberlynn Crippen and Tess Mattson as all three maintained between a 3.80-3.99 GPA.
Third team had Aubrey Cooper, Lakacee Lipp, Peyton Roswadovski, Amrey Willoughby and Autumn Wilson — maintaining between a 3.60-3.79 GPA.
Just behind the women’s team was the men’s program, finishing with a 3.49 for the year.
That was good for fourth in the nation among men’s soccer teams and was at the top for Region IX.
The Trapper men’s soccer team listed Fernando Bonfim and Marco Marin Castillo as first team honorees.
Erik Braga, Pedro Deon, Artur Kataoka, Edwin Martin Talero, John Joe Mullane and Sebastian Reyes were all named to the second team.
Inigo Bezunartea Chavarria, Ricardo Da Silva, Benjamin Lachaize, Ethan Murray and Paulo Victor Gomes were all on the third team.
Ranking third among Northwest teams was the volleyball team, finishing with a 3.46 GPA which was 43rd in the nation for volleyball and fifth among Region IX teams.
Kamri Hutchings was named to the second team alongside Ellie Thomas as the only two players on the team to earn individual honors.
Just behind volleyball was the women’s basketball team, finishing with a cumulative 3.4 as a team to finish 34th among women’s basketball teams and third among Region IX teams.
Top individuals for the team included Ashly Botz and Natalyah Nead on the first team; Darla Hernandez and Anna Knight on the second team while Tyne Killip and Jimena Montoro-Cabezas were named to the third team.
The final team recognized was the men’s basketball team, with a 3.08 GPA for the year to finish 35th in the nation amongst men’s basketball teams and the only team in Region IX.
David Ayala was the lone Trapper named to the second team, while Brash Emery was named to the third team.
Erickson said that finishing with high GPAs helps reward the students through higher paying academic scholarships at the college than in years past, and attracts more student athletes in the future due to success in academics.
“If you ask any of the coaches about recruiting the first thing they are going to say is high character … then the next thing would be, can you get it done in the classroom then they start looking at athletics,” Erickson said.
He is hopeful the programs will continue to keep success off the court as well as on, with the fall sports seasons already underway at Northwest College.