SAN MATEO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference announced on Thursday the WCC All-Academic Teams for each of their 15 sports, with the University of Portland having 80 athletes in total across 11 sports earning some form of recognition.
Of the 80 Pilots who earned All-WCC recognition, 17 of them made the first team across nine different sports. Among the University's athletic programs, women's soccer and women's rowing saw the most student-athletes make the All-Academic team, with three athletes each. Nedya Sawan, Olivia Dendinger and Aubrey Turner made it for women's soccer, while Maddie Olson, Megan Duifhuis and Lauren Poehlmann were selected for rowing. Six programs had more than one student-athlete make a team.
Along with the first team selections, 63 Pilots earned All-WCC honorable mention nods. Four different teams had at least 10 Pilots earn some form of all-academic recognition: women's soccer, women's rowing, women's cross country and baseball.
The WCC All-Academic teams consist of athletes student-athletes who excelled both athletically and academically. To be considered, a student-athlete must post a cummulative GPA of 3.20 or higher while being a significant contributor to their team. They also must be in at least their second year of school at their respective institutions.
Below is the full list of the University of Portland's All-WCC selections.
Men's Cross Country (7)
First Team: Leo Donlea, Stan Niesten
Honorable Mention: George Duggan, John Kavulich, Zak Kirk, Jacob Klemz, Cameron Thompson
Women's Cross Country (11)
First Team: Veerle Bakker, Anna Pataki
Honorable Mention: Ellee Becker, Lauren Block, Lacey Conner, Makenna Cowan, Ellie Erikson, Alexa Hague, Emma Jenkins, Grace Oswin, Grace Ritchie
Men's Soccer (6)
First Team: RJ Stretch
Honorable Mention: Jacob Babalai, Buba Fofanah, Christoforos Kourtis, Paul Odendahl, Greg Tracey
Women's Soccer (10)
First Team: Nedya Sawan, Aubrey Turner, Olivia Dendinger
Honorable Mention: Camille Ashe, Gabi Brummett, Emily Collier, Sophie French, Selma Licina, Hannah McCord, Taryn Ries
Volleyball (4)
Honorable Mention: Chelsey Harmon, Noelani Helm, Jiana Lawson, Grace Zilbert
Women's Basketball (6)
First Team: Maddie Muhlheim, Rose Pflug
Honorable Mention: Haylee Andrews, Alex Fowler, McKelle Meek, Emme Shearer
Baseball (12)
First Team: Ben Patacsil, Peter Allegro
Honorable Mention: Caleb Franzen, Brett Gillis, Jake Holcroft, Nich Klemp, Briley Knight, Henry Muench, Ty Saunders, Evan Scavotto, Gabe Skoro, Jake Tsukada
Rowing (10)
First Team: Maddie Olson, Lauren Poehlmann, Megan Duifhuis
Honorable Mention: Katie Bayford, Colleen Cushing, Emmalee Dolcini, Sage Iona, Lexi Turner, Lexa Wendl, Olivia Zilavy-Pailthorp
Beach Volleyball (3)
First Team: Sarah Strong
Honorable Mention: Noelani Helm, Grace Zilbert
Men's Tennis (5)
First Team: Eleftherios Neos
Honorable Mention: Nicklas Oberg, Sema Pankin, Nikolas Tvedt, Issa Yoshida
Women's Tennis (6)
Honorable Mention: Angela Schuster, Marija Elenova, Rimona Rouf, Neli Sunjic, Jana Tanevska, Iva Zelic
