With Northwest Conference competition done for many sports, the nominations of all-conference athletes have been announced, and Linfield earned several honors.

Tyler Morrill

Sports editor

Men’s golf

Tyler Nelson 

With the men’s golf team winning its first NWC title since 1964, it landed two players on the all-NWC honors list.

Junior Andrew Fitch and sophomore Tyler Nelson both earned this recognition as they helped lead the men’s team past Whitworth University to win the conference title. Whitworth had won the NWC title three straight years prior to the ’Cats knocking them off.

Fitch tied for second with an overall score of 145, and Nelson finished a stroke behind with 146, giving him fourth.

Head coach Greg Copeland was named the NWC Coach of the Year for his team’s success. This is Copeland’s first time winning the award in his seven years as the men’s golf coach.

“It really shows how well he has developed the program,” Fitch said. “It’s nice to see him get some credit for it.”

The team earned the NWC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III championship tournament. The ’Cats will head to Braselton, Ga., on May 13 to 16 to play the championship round at Chateau Elan Resort.

Women’s golf

The women’s golf team received one nomination after a third place finish in the NWC.

Freshman Brynn Hurdus got the nomination for the ’Cats. Hurdus shot a 166 to lead Linfield with a second place overall finish in the championship.

Track and field

Several Wildcat athletes came away with all-NWC honors. The men’s team couldn’t repeat last season’s NWC title, but it still competed well, earning second.

Senior Scott Vanassche was the most impressive athlete, taking first place in three events. Last year, he won the conference’s 100-meter dash and the 200 dash. This year, he was able to repeat both. He also added a 4×100 gold medal to his collection as he, junior Mat Strum, and sophomores Jeremy and Josh Lovell earned first with a time of 42.44 seconds.

Freshman Brooke Carstensen was the only top finisher for the women’s team, which finished fourth overall. Carstensen vaulted 11.75 feet to the first-place finish.

Linfield had 17 silver- and bronze-medal finishers. Josh Lovell accounted for four of those with second-place finishes in the 100 dash and high jump and third-place finishes in the long jump and men’s 4×400 relay team.

The women’s team was strongly represented in the discus throw as freshman Kaycee Hallstrom and junior Cecilia Speer finished second and third respectively.

Women’s tennis

The tennis teams had a good shot at earning a lot of recognition for their strong play all season. The women won their seventh straight NWC title, but only senior Kasey Kuenzli earned first team all-NWC honors.

Head coach Amy Dames-Smith won NWC Coach of the Year. This is her third time earning the award.

Two other players earned second-team recognition. Senior Kelli Sides and sophomore Sallie Katter were put on the ballot.

Men’s tennis

The men’s team also got a few nominations, though only junior Nick Ruess earned first-team all-conference.

“(Ruess) had a great season playing at number one for us and beat some quality players, so I am glad he earned first-team honors,” senior Wes Gabrielsen said. “He completely deserved it. And Kyle had such a solid season at number two singles, so he definitely deserved all-conference honors.”

The only senior on this year’s squad, Gabrielsen won the Sportsman of the Year Award.

Sophomore Kyle Anderson also earned second-team honors. Gabrielsen’s award is voted on by the coaches of the NWC for what conference tennis player had the most successful season while demonstrating sportsmanship.

“I feel honored to have received this award in my last season,” Gabrielsen said. “I am appreciative of the honor, and glad that I was able to enjoy the experience of college tennis over the last four years playing here with a great group of guys and coaches at Linfield College. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to end my career with.”

To finish out the spring’s all-conference nominations, softball and baseball will be announcing their all-conference squads sometime next week now that both conference seasons are over.