Your future, our focus
BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
Five Northwest College teams and 43 individuals were named to the NJCAA All-Academic Teams for the 2023-24 season, capping off a successful academic year for the Trappers.
“It exemplifies the true meaning of student-athlete,” Northwest Athletic Director Brian Erickson said. “Our coaches recruit these kids to compete and be an athlete; on the other end of it the student part is just as important.”
Leading the way was the volleyball team, which finished 24th in the country and tied for the second best GPA in Region IX with a 3.64.
Individual All-Academic teams are broken down into three teams, first team being 4.0 GPA, second team being 3.8-3.99 GPA and the third team being 3.6-3.79 GPA.
First team recipients for the volleyball team included Kamryn Jenkins, Brooke Larsen and Taylor Wilson.
Second team included five players: DanniKa Barfuss, Elsa Clark, Trinity Frank, Kamri Hutchings and Sierra Kilts.
The third team for volleyball was Tilli Danczyk and Ellie Thomas.
The second highest placing team for Northwest in the respective sport was women’s soccer, placing 30th as a team with a 3.42 GPA, fourth among Region IX teams.
First team recipients for women’s soccer included Katelynn Campbell and Autumn Wilson.
Second team recipients were Anina Gut, Amy Price and Pressly Taylor.
Third team included Abigail Allen, Abby Derbyshire, Tessa Hyland, Lakace Lipp, Riley Noles, Summer Lily-Robinson and Miranda Williams.
Just behind the women’s soccer team was the men’s soccer team, which placed 32nd among men’s soccer teams with a 3.26 GPA, second in Region IX.
First team recipients were Fernando Bonfim and Daniel Gargallo Saavedra.
Artur Kataoka and Marten Soder were named to the second team.
Third team included Juan Carmona, Ricardo Farias da Silva, Pedro Lucas Morais Deon, Marco Marin Castillo and Bridger Meyer.
Just behind overall as a team in the standings but with the second best team GPA at Northwest was women’s basketball, which finished 34th with a 3.43 GPA, tied for fifth in Region IX.
Bianca Silva and Selen Ucak were the two first team recipients for the women’s basketball team.
Second team included Isabella Gurie, Jai’La Porter and Brayli Reimer.
Third team recipients were Tyne Killip and Anna Knight.
The final team recipient was men’s basketball which placed 37th overall with a 3.09 GPA, as the Trappers were the only Region IX team to make the list.
“It shows a lot what all the focus is for our coaches,” Erickson said. “Hats off to our coaches for pushing that, but to our student-athletes for getting it done.”
Individually, Isaiah Halverson was the lone Trapper to make the first team.
No players made the second team, but Carter Clark and Drew Larson were named to the third team.
Robbie Ortega and Jesse Thornton were also Third Team All-Academic for the Trapper wrestling team.
Erickson said overall there were 11 NJCAA Academic All-Americans for the men, 21 academic All-Region for the men, and then 27 NJCAA Academic All-Americans for the women and 34 academic All-Region recipients for the women at Northwest.
“When our coaches are recruiting and they bring potential recruits and their parents, you have numbers like that you can show them,” Erickson said. “It eases the mind of parents and shows that they’re not just focused on them as an athlete.”
He said that the coaches are continuing to make academics a priority at Northwest, with this being the second straight year that the Trappers have had five teams named to the NJCAA Academic Teams.