WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Nine Whitman College student athletes are the latest recipients of athletic achievement awards given annually by the athletic department.
Each spring, the Whitman Department of Sports Studies, Recreation, and Athletics (SSRA) staff presents one male and one female from each class with Most Outstanding Performer awards. The 2007-08 winners were announced Monday, along with a number of other awards, at the annutal Whitman Athletics Banquet in the Reid Campus Center.
Soccer players Kristen Berndt and Andy Huntington are the senior class winners this spring. The senior awards are given in honor of the late Max Seachris, a baseball coach and athletic director, and Lee Coleman, a retired swim coach and an early champion of women's intercollegiate athletics.
Two athletes, Chris Faidley (basketball) and Stephen Phillips (soccer), share this year's male award for the junior class, which is given in memory of former tennis and basketball coach Bob Burgess. Katie Oost (tennis) took home the women's junior class award, which is named in honor of former women's tennis coach Jayne McCarthy.
Other winners of Most Outstanding Performer awards this year are sophomores Devon Spika (Nordic skiing) and Matt Solomon (tennis), and first-year athletes Jenele Peterson (basketball) and Chris Bailey (tennis).
More information about the winners follows:
Kristen Berndt, a graduate of Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, Wash., capped a superlative college career last fall by leading the women's soccer team in scoring for a fourth consecutive season. As a senior forward, she finished third in the Northwest Conference scoring race despite playing limited minutes early in the season due to chronic knee injuries. She finished her career with 44 goals and 14 assists, the highest scoring numbers at Whitman in more than two decades.
Berndt was named to the All-NWC First Team for a third consecutive season. She also earned NCAA Div. III All-West Region honors for the second time in two seasons. She twice earned NWC Offensive Player of the Week honors in each of her last two seasons. A year ago, Berndt won the junior class Outstanding Performer award after a season in which she was named to the first-ever All-American Team chosed by the D3Kicks.com website.
Andy Huntington, a graduate of Seattle's Garfield High School, made the All-NWC First Team as a senior forward, bouncing back from a concussion that slowed his junior season. He had eight goals and five assists last fall, which placed him fifth in the conference scoring race. Highlights of his senior season included three game-winning goals against conference foes and a 40-yard scoring strike against Willamette University.
Huntington led Whitman in scoring as both a freshman and sophomore. He earned All-NWC Second-Team recognition for his first season, and he received his first Outstanding Performer award as a sophomore.
Katie Oost, a graduate of North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Wash., helped anchor a young women's tennis team while earning All-NWC Second-Team honors. She had a stellar season at No. 4 and No. 5 singles with a 15-3 record in conference play. She also played doubles with three different teammates, winning 16 of 19 NWC matches.
Oost was a key contributor as the women's team placed third at the season-ending NWC championship tournament. She won two of three matches in singles and shared in victories in all three of her doubles matches.
Stephen Phillips, a graduate of Waterford School in Sandy, Utah, was named to the All-NWC First Team after leading the men's soccer team in scoring for a second consecutive season. His 12 goals and three assists made him the second-leading scorer in the conference.
Phillips, a midfielder and team captain, earned NWC Offensive Player of the Week honors in early September after scoring three goals that sparked two season-opening victories. Three of his four game-winning goals this season came against NWC opponents. His most dramatic goal of the year came with just 90 seconds left in overtime to lift Whitman to a 2-1 victory over Pacific University.
Chris Faidley, a graduate of King's High School in Seattle, was named to the All-NWC Second Team for men's basketball after leading the conference in scoring at 22.4 points per game. He also ranked among the NWC leaders in assists, rebounds, and free throw and 3-point shooting accuracy. He was the first Whitman player in nearly two decades to score more than 500 points in a season.
By season's end, Faidley had moved into 10th place on Whitman's all-time career scoring list. He picked up his first Outstanding Performer award after a sophomore season in which he finished third in the conference scoring race.
Devon Spika, a graduate of Denmark's Copenhagen International School, was the only NCAA Division III Nordic skier from the western U.S. to qualify last winter for the NCAA National Skiing Championships, which is dominated by skiers from Division I and Division II schools. She placed 33rd in her two events at nationals. Earlier in the season, she placed ninth in the 5-kilometer freestyle at the NCAA West Regional Championships.
Matt Solomon, a graduate of St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, was named NWC Player of the Year after leading the men's tennis team that to an NWC championship and a perfect 18-0 conference record. Whitman also qualified for the NCAA Div. III national championship tournament for a second straight year. Last fall, he earned ITA All-American honors by winning the Pacific Northwest titles in singles and doubles.
Both Spika and Solomon earned their first Outstanding Performer awards last year following their first college seasons.
Jenele Peterson, a graduate of South High School in Torrance, Calif., was the only first-year player to earn All-NWC recognition (Honorable Mention) after averaging 9.9 points for the women's basketball team this past winter. As a 5-foot-7 guard, she was fourth in the NWC in field goal percentage (51.4 percent) and second in 3-point shooting (44.7 percent).
Chris Bailey, a graduate of Mercer Island (Wash.) High School, made the All-NWC Second Team as the men's tennis team posted an 18-0 conference record while winning its first title since 2000. Bouncing among the first four spots in the singles line-up, Bailey compiled an 18-7 record on the season, which included a 13-0 mark against conference opponents.
Dave Holden, Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
(509) 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu