Linfield University

Three members of the Linfield University baseball team (13-24, 8-16 NWC) were named honorable mentions on the 2023 All-Northwest Conference Baseball Team, released Friday. Junior shortstop Jake Hoskins, sophomore catcher Tyler Marr and first-year pitcher Casey Struckmeier all made their debuts on the All-Conference Team. Hoskins transferred to Linfield after two standout seasons at Linn-Benton Community College. Marr spent time at the junior varsity level as a freshman last year while Struckmeier was still enrolled at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Washington. Hoskins is one of just two players who appeared in every game for Linfield, starting in 36 of the Wildcats' 37 games. The Hillsboro native batted .301 with 46 hits, a team-leading 28 runs and 22 RBI. He finished tied for the team lead with six home runs. Catcher was the deepest position for Linfield heading into the season, but Marr separated himself from the rest to become the team's No. 1 option behind the plate. The Great Falls, Montana, product batted .343 with a .411 on-base percentage and a .455 slugging percentage. He led the 'Cats with 11 doubles and posted a .986 fielding percentage. Struckmeier appeared in 10 games and started in eight in his breakout first season in purple and cardinal. He won two games on the mound to go with 25 strikeouts and a 3.32 ERA. Struckmeier threw five or more innings five times, ending the season with a scoreless outing in 6 1/3 innings against Willamette on April 15 at Roy Helser Field. Read the full NWC release. More information on the Linfield baseball team is at: https://golinfieldwildcats.com/sports/baseball

Linfield University's softball team (41-4) continued its dominance on the diamond, by winning the Northwest Conference title April 23 and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships. On April 27, the Northwest Conference announced its 2023 All-NWC Softball team with nine Wildcat student-athletes making the list. Star players Katie Phillips and Tayah Kelley repeated as the NWC Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, becoming the first duo in conference history to accomplish the feat. Linfield had an all-conference selection at every position on the field, including five players who earned First Team All-NWC honors. Joining Phillips and Kelley were sophomore first baseman Kaili Saathoff, graduate student right fielder Baily Paul and sophomore center fielder Claire Seats. Earning Second Team All-NWC nods were sophomore catcher Ashley Sutton, sophomore second baseman Brynn Nelson, freshman third baseman Cydney Hess and graduate student shortstop Katrina Johns. In addition to the student-athlete honors, head coach Jackson Vaughan was named the NWC Coach of the Year for the 13th time in his illustrious 22-year head coaching career. Vaughan was selected by his peers as the Coach of the Year after leading Linfield to its fifth 40-win season and first since 2012, the year the Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Division III championship game. The 'Cats claimed the program's 18th NWC regular-season title with a near-perfect 27-1 record, matching the best conference mark in school history. The Wildcat softball team is currently ranked No. 4 in nation in the latest NFCA Top 25. Regionals for the NCAA Division III Championships take place May 18-20. The 'Cats await the NCAA Selection Show on May 15 to find out who and where they will be playing.

Linfield University led all Northwest Conference (NWC) institutions with a combined eight selections to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) 2022-23 Academic All-District Swimming Teams. The Wildcats are the only program in the NWC with four honorees on both the men's and women's teams. Pacific Lutheran boasted seven Academic All-District student-athletes, including four women and three men. Willamette saw six players earn honors while Whitworth had four to round out the NWC's 25 total selections. Representing the Linfield women both in the pool and in the classroom are seniors Alexis Matthiesen-Johnson (exercise science) and Kate Walkup (journalism and media studies), junior Emma Campbell (political science/mathematics) and sophomore Avery Campbell (undecided). Walkup won individual titles in the 400-yard IM and 200-yard backstroke at the NWC Championships, leading the Wildcat women to their first league championship in 30 years. Avery Campbell placed first in the 100 backstroke. Both Walkup and Campbell were named members of the All-NWC First Team. The men's side features seniors Nathan Herde (exercise science) and Casey Wong (computer science), junior Alex Landry (physics) and sophomore Gavin Smith (applied physics). Smith won the 1,650-yard freestyle at the NWC Championships on his way to earning a First Team nod on the All-NWC Team. The 2022-23 CSC Academic All-District Team recognizes student-athletes for their combined efforts in both athletics and academics. The honorees will advance to the Academic All-America ballot. Academic All-Americans will be announced by the CSC in late March.

Trey Bryant, a sophomore guard on the Linfield University men's basketball team, was recognized as a First Team selection to the 2022-23 All-Northwest Conference Team, released Tuesday. During the season, the Springfield product knocked down 45.5 percent of his shots, ranking fourth in the NWC in scoring with 15.2 points per game while also ranking second with 6.8 rebounds per game. His 4.9 assists and 2.2 steals per game also finished in the top three of the conference rankings. Bryant scored in double figures 21 times in 25 games and put up 20 or more points on seven occasions. He registered six double-doubles, including his second career triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 12 assists against Willamette on Jan. 3. Although the 'Cats couldn't secure a spot in the NWC Tournament, Bryant finished the season strong with a career-high 30 points to go with 10 rebounds and six assists on the road against top-seeded Whitman on Feb. 18. He reached another milestone in a 15-rebound performance at Willamette on Jan. 31. Bryant's full bio is available at https://golinfieldwildcats.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/trey-bryant/16846.

Junior Sarah Forester has been a force so far for the Linfield University Wildcats in both No. 3 singles and doubles. On Monday, she was named the Northwest Conference Women's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week. Forester led Linfield to a 2-0 week in California. The 'Cats opened the road trip with a convincing 8-1 win at Whittier on Wednesday. Their match at Redlands on Saturday was canceled due to rain, but the 'Cats came back on Sunday to edge out Occidental by a score of 5-4. The Corvallis native went 2-0 in singles and won both of her doubles matches with teammate Alexis Garner. Against Whittier, Forester won No. 3 singles with a 7-6 tiebreaker, beating the Poets' Maci Davis by scores of 6-0 and 7-6. She and Garner took down Jasmine Saunders and Emily List, 8-6, in No. 3 doubles. It was a similar story for Forester against Occidental. She beat the Tigers' Alexis Matabuena, 6-1, 6-4, in No. 3 singles before she and Garner won No. 3 doubles over Emma Silber and Lillian Lin with a score of 8-5. Forester is 3-1 on the season in both singles and doubles. Her only losses came to Division I Portland State. The 'Cats (3-1) open the NWC portion of their schedule this weekend, hosting Willamette on Saturday before playing at George Fox on Sunday. Both matches will start at 10 a.m.

Linfield University seniors Paige LaFountain (exercise science), Kaylee Schow (mathematics) and Jordan Worthington (marketing/journalism and media studies) and junior Peyton Bergevin (elementary education) all earned selection to the 2022-23 College Sports Communicators (CSC) NCAA Division III Academic All-District Team, released Tuesday. A total of 15 women's basketball players representing four NWC institutions were honored. Linfield matched Whitworth and Willamette with its four selections. Pacific Lutheran rounded out the group with three honorees. The 2022-23 CSC Academic All-District Team recognizes student-athletes for their combined efforts in both athletics and academics. The honorees will advance to the Academic All-America ballot. Academic All-Americans will be announced by the CSC in March. Learn more at golinfieldwildcats.com.

The 18th annual D3football.com All-Region Teams have been announced, and seven players from the nationally-ranked Linfield Wildcats made the list. Highlighting the Wildcats with First Team All-Region 6 honors are graduate student center Matt Metcalf, senior offensive tackle Taylor Adams, sophomore returner Maclain Stoneking and junior linebacker Blake Rybar. Senior guard Julien Sears landed on the All-Region 6 Second Team while sophomore quarterback Blake Eaton and senior defensive tackle Chase Lydig were picked as third-teamers.

Linfield University earned a seat at the table in 2022 as juniors Angel Hernandez and Sid Kosaris were named to the All-Northwest Conference Men's Soccer Team, released Wednesday. Both players received the first all-conference honor of their careers. Hernandez spearheaded the Linfield backline on his way to being selected to the All-NWC Second Team. The Wildcats' leader on the attack, Kosaris was picked as an honorable mention. Linfield went 5-13-1 overall with a 4-9-1 record in NWC play to place sixth in the standings with 13 points, four points back of Whitworth for fifth place. The team's season was highlighted by three consecutive 1-0 shutouts against George Fox, Pacific and Whitman.

Emily Sullenger became the first women's wrestler in Linfield University history to qualify for the national championship tournament on Sunday, finishing as runner-up in the nine-team National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship Region V tournament hosted by Colorado Mesa University. Shortly thereafter, Ayana Medina became the second Wildcat to make nationals, coming from behind in a dramatic winner-take-all "true fourth place" match to claim her spot. The two Wildcats will represent Linfield at the NCWWC National Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 3-4.

Three student-athletes from Linfield University earned recognition on the All-Northwest Conference Women's Soccer Team, announced last week. Senior Laney Green leads the Linfield trio with a Second Team All-NWC nod while freshmen Janae Lewis and Bella Hanna were named honorable mentions. Green was selected as an honorable mention as a junior in 2021. Linfield went 5-8-7 overall with a 3-7-6 mark in NWC play. The Wildcats finished in sixth place with 15 points, four points back of the No. 5 spot in the NWC standings.

One of the biggest names in Linfield volleyball in the last decade, Raelynn Hammock finished her senior campaign as a Second Team All-Northwest Conference selection, released Monday. An honorable mention last season, Hammock is the first player in program history to earn second-team honors since libero Kayla Magbaleta in 2017. The outside hitter from Oakridge, Oregon, finished the season ranked No. 2 in the NWC with 325 kills and 3.69 kills per set. Her kills per set just cracked the Division III top 50. Hammock was also second in the conference with 383 points and 4.35 points per set while leading the league with 44 service aces, a mark that's tied for sixth in Linfield's single-season record book.

Linfield completed its second straight undefeated regular season in 2022. A perennial powerhouse in Division III football, the nationally-ranked Wildcats earned two major awards and 21 selections to the All-Northwest Conference Football Team, released Monday. After being named an honorable mention a year ago, junior linebacker Blake Rybar was named the NWC Defensive Player of the Year, marking the 17th time that a Linfield player has earned the award. Head coach Joseph Smith was voted on by his peers as the NWC Coach of the Year for the third straight season and the 12th time in his 16 years at the helm. Smith led Linfield to a 9-0 overall record and a 7-0 mark against conference opponents. It was the program's 21st unbeaten regular season. The Wildcats claimed their third straight NWC championship and will head to the NCAA Division III playoffs for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons. The 'Cats now have 38 NWC titles, including 31 won outright. Linfield's 21 all-conference selections are just one shy of the program's record of 22, set in 2021. Nine players repeated as first-teamers.

Linfield University ace Tayah Kelley was named the Northwest Conference Softball Pitcher Student-Athlete of the Week for the second time in as many weeks on Monday after throwing three complete games and striking out a combined 37 batters at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Georgia. With Kelley setting the tone in the circle, the Wildcats went 5-1 in the tournament and moved to 11-2 overall (3-0 NWC). She improved to 7-0 on the season with a NWC-leading 0.93 ERA and 62 strikeouts. She also leads the conference with two shutouts. The junior from Myrtle Creek, Oregon, opened the tournament by striking out a career-high 15 batters in Linfield's 11-1 win over West Region foe Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday, allowing one run on two hits. Her 15 K's surpassed her previous best mark of 12 and is tied for fourth in program history for strikeouts in a single game. Kelley claimed another 14 batters via strikeout while again allowing just one run in the Wildcats' 7-1 win on Saturday over Coe, which was among others receiving votes in the NFCA Preseason Poll. She came back on Sunday and fanned another eight batters in a 9-4 win over No. 8 Salisbury. Kelley was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts.

Two complete-game shutouts and a combined 15 strikeouts later, Tayah Kelley from Linfield University was named the Northwest Conference Softball Pitcher Student-Athlete of the Week on Monday. The junior from Myrtle Creek, Oregon, moved to 4-0 on the season and improved her earned run average to 0.29 as the Wildcats took all three games against Willamette. She didn't walk a single batter in her two outings. Kelley tossed seven innings in a 4-0 win over the Bearcats on Friday, allowing just two hits while striking out eight. She went the distance again in a five-inning 8-0 rout of the Bearcats on Saturday, allowing three hits and claiming seven more victims via strikeout. The 'Cats are 6-1 on the season and 3-0 in NWC play, their only blemish coming in a 12-8 loss at Whittier on Feb. 19. Kelley leads the NWC with two shutouts and has allowed two runs, one earned, in her four starts. She has struck out 25 batters on the season while walking eight.

Linfield's big three of Dempsey Roggenbuck, Max Lommen and Aaron Baune has spearheaded the Wildcats to a share of the Northwest Conference regular-season title for the second straight season. It's no surprise that all three seniors were named to the 2022 All-NWC Men's Basketball Team. Roggenbuck was named to the All-NWC First Team for the second straight season, having also earned the honor in 2020. He earned second-team honors as a sophomore in 2019 and was an honorable mention and the NWC Freshman of the Year in 2018. First-time honorees on the All-Conference Team, Lommen landed on the second team while Baune was picked as an honorable mention. Roggenbuck becomes just the sixth player in program history to earn an All-Conference selection four times. He's the 18th player to earn multiple first-team nods in the program's 110-year history.

Gillyan Landis, a freshman forward from Yakima, Washington, made an immediate impact in her collegiate debut at Linfield University. She represents the Wildcats as an honorable mention on the 2022 All-Northwest Conference Women's Basketball Team. Landis started in all 24 games for the Wildcats. She led the 'Cats with 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game to go with a 44.4 field goal percentage, all of which rank in the NWC's top 20. She led the NWC with 32 blocked shots and finished the season with 19 assists and 17 steals. Landis scored in double figures 12 times in her freshman campaign. Her season high came in a 22-point performance against Trinity (Texas) on Nov. 19. She also scored 20 points against Chapman on Nov. 13 and 21 points against Pacific on Feb. 8. Landis grabbed 10 rebounds against Trinity to complete the first double-double of her career. She pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds against Lewis & Clark on Jan. 28.

For the second time in as many seasons, the Linfield Wildcats men's basketball team is regular season champions of the Northwest Conference. It is the first time Linfield has claimed consecutive NWC championships since 1978, when the Wildcats won three straight league titles under the legendary coach Ted Wilson. Winning 99-85 over the Willamette Bearcats (6-18, 3-13) on Senior Night on Saturday, Linfield clinched a share of the NWC title with an 18-6 overall record and a 13-3 mark in conference play, becoming co-champions with the Whitworth Pirates (20-4, 13-3) and the Pacific Lutheran Lutes (18-7, 13-3). Owning the tiebreakers over the Pirates and Lutes, the Wildcats will be the number one seed in the Northwest Conference tournament, hosting the four-seed Whitman Blues (11-13, 9-7) on Thursday Feb. 24 in the first round of the Northwest Conference tournament.

The men's and women's swimming teams wrapped up their 2021-22 season with Northwest Conference championships in three relays and three individual events. The Wildcat men placed third overall and the women's placed fourth at the NWC Championships. The nine-team, four-day event was hosted by Willamette University and staged at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. Aside from bringing a hardware haul back to McMinnville, four Wildcats are now waiting to see if they will receive invitations to the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, March 16-19, in Indianapolis.

Linfield University's cheer and stunt team took ninth place in their first year at a national competition. The team traveled to Florida the second week of January to participate in the 2022 UCA & UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship. Linfield competed in the small co-ed division and was the only Division III school - and only school from Oregon - to compete in that field. The Wildcats performed the "On With Linfield" fight song, followed by a cheer, then ended with a "timeout" style routine. Linfield's cheer and stunt team started off its competitive season with the virtual UCA College Game Day Kick-Off in November, placing first in the small coed division for sideline and timeout performances and third in the fight song category.