Pio Sports

Track and Field, Baseball, and more sports news.

Track and Field

For the third time in four years, the Lewis & Clark track team sent an athlete to the NCAA III National Track and Field Championships. This year, Amanda Phillips CAS ’08 qualified for the 1500-meter run. Phillips became the first female Pioneer to compete at the national championships in both cross country and track in the same season. At the championships, held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Phillips ran a strong preliminary heat to advance to the event finals. She finished 12th overall with a time of 4:43.88.

The Pioneers found success not just on the field but in the classroom as well. The USTFCCCA, the track/cross country coaches’ association, named the women’s track and field team an All-Academic team, based on its combined GPA of 3.326. Distance runner Tamma Carleton CAS ’09 and javelin athlete Roxanne Gilbride CAS ’09 both received individual distinctions from the USTFCCCA, earning spots on the All-Academic Track and Field team. Carleton was also honored with a spot on the prestigious ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VIII Track and Field/Cross Country Team. This award recognizes those who excel in both athletics and academics.

Baseball

The Pioneer baseball team ended its season by finishing off a series sweep of conference-rival Willamette. The victory over the Bearcats enabled the Pioneers to finish fifth in the Northwest Conference, the best conference finish by a Pioneer baseball team since 1996. Center-fielder Greg Williams BA ’07 ended his career with his second straight Second Team All-Northwest Conference designation.

Rise in Incoming Student-Athletes

This fall, more than 130 first-year student-athletes arrived at Lewis & Clark to participate in varsity sports–more than twice as many new student-athletes as last year. On average, these students were in the upper 16 percent of their class, had a GPA of 3.6, and scored 1909 on the SAT (three-score composite).

Athlete Award Winners

The annual athletics award winners were announced at the Student-Athlete Recognition Dessert, held April 26 in Pamplin Sports Center. Men’s basketball’s Thomas Tillery CAS ’08 was awarded the Joe Huston Athlete of the Year award, honoring the top athletic performance by a male athlete. Women’s basketball’s Crystal Castle CAS ’08 received the Lois Smithwick Award for outstanding performance by a female athlete.

This year, the Pioneer Athletics Club’s Scholar-Athlete Award, presented annually to the top male and female scholar-athletes based on combined academic and athletic achievement, received an update. The male award was renamed the Dell Smith Scholar-Athlete award, in honor of the former head of the Department of Physical Education and Athletics. The female award was renamed the Judy McMullen Scholar-Athlete Award after the former associate athletic director/senior woman administrator for the department. Both Smith and McMullen were present at the event for the surprise announcement. Football player Erik Gerwick BA ’07 and basketball player Sarah Moon BA ’07 were the recipients of the awards.