Oregon distance standout Becca Friday (Bellingham) has the ninth-fastest seed time for the women's 800 meters at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field National Championships.
Friday's time in the event is 4 minutes, 35.34 seconds, less than six seconds behind Colorado's Emma Coburn, who enters with the fastest time in the event at 5:29.86. Friday's time is just slightly behind teammate Anne Kesselring (4:35.33), who is seeded eighth.
The championships are being held this weekend at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
The preliminaries of the women's 800 are scheduled for 5:15 p.m. (PST) on Friday, March 8, with the finals to follow at 5:20 p.m. on Saturday, March 9.
The Ducks are the three-time defending national champions, but enter the meet ranked No. 4.
SMITH, HOVDE START SPRING STRONG
Linfield College junior golfer Alexandria Smith (Bellingham) took home medallist honors for the first time in her collegiate career on Sunday, March 3, starting the spring season strong at the Pacific Lutheran Invitational at Chambers Bay Golf Course.
Smith shot a 77 - the only sub-80 round of the day - when darkness limited the tournament to 16 holes.
Smith's Linfield senior teammate Brinn Hovde (Squalicum), finished 7 strokes back in second place on the course, considered one of the toughest in the Pacific Northwest.
"It was good for us to get that under our belts and know that it's only going to get easier from here on out," Hovde said in a press release. "We just felt good getting out there and getting to compete again."
NORTHWEST'S NAIA RUN ENDS IN FIRST ROUND
Junior forward Michael Greene (Squalicum) scored 14 points and hit three 3-pointers, but it wasn't enough, as the Northwest University men's basketball team lost 79-59 to Dordt College in the first round of the 2013 NAIA Division II National Championship Tournament on Thursday, March 7, at Point Lookout, Mo.
Dordt held the Eagles (22-11) to 36 percent shooting to end their season.
Greene got into some early foul trouble and was kept off the boards, as he recorded only three rebounds - five less than his season average.
BEAUMONT STARTING STRONG
George Fox University's Molly Beaumont (Bellingham) and Shaina Inn picked up a crucial win at No. 1 doubles to help the Bruins to a 6-3 Northwest Conference women's tennis win over Willamette University on Friday, March 1.
Beaumont and Inn are No. 11 in the NCAA Division III West Regional rankings.
Beaumont and Inn and Willamette's Denise Poltavski and Sabrina Gutierrez held serve through the first four games of their match. Twice the Bruins broke serve to go up 4-2 and 5-3 and were serving with a chance to go up three, only to have the Bearcats break back and tie it each time.
Leading 7-6, the Bruins finally nailed down the win when a volley by Inn down the middle split the Willamette players, who were at the net, for an 8-6 win.
A day later, Beaumont and Inn picked up another tough 9-7 victory over Pacific University's Synclaire Waldron and Rachel Mizuno to help George Fox to a 7-2 win.
Beaumont also picked up a singles win in that match over Waldron, who was forced to retire down 1-0.
DE BOER TURNS IN SOLID EFFORT
Montana's Kenzie De Boer (Lynden Christian) scored seven points, pulled down four rebounds and dished out two assists in a 58-55 victory over Montana State on Saturday, March 2.
De Boer leads the Lady Grizz with 14.1 points per game and is averaging 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and a team-high 1.9 steals per game.
Montana holds a half-game lead in the Big Sky standings with two games remaining in the regular season.
VOEUT EARNS HONOR
Alaska Fairbanks point guard Patrick Voeut (Squalicum, WCC) received honorable mention recognition on the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference team.
Voeut finished 18th in the GNAC with 11.8 points per game and led the league with 5.3 assists. He was third in steals (1.7), ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8) and 10th in free throw percentage (.828).
"Pat has been the leader on the court as the point guard," Nanooks coach Mick Durham, who was selected GNAC Coach of the Year, said in a press release. "We recruited him to be our point guard and he knew that the day he signed with us. It was a great opportunity for him and he really took advantage of it. He gets a lot of credit for being a leader on both ends of the court."
VANBROCKLIN NEARING END AT PORTLAND STATE
Portland State guard Courtney VanBrocklin (Mount Baker) will play her final home game of her college career on Saturday, when the Vikings host Idaho State.
VanBrocklin moved past the 1,000-career point plateau earlier this season and is leading the team with 14.7 points per game this year. She's also leading the team with 50 steals, 85 assists and is averaging 4.2 rebounds per game.
