Beacons Announce Inaugural Fall Recruiting Class
August 15, 2006 - A fall sports season has never existed before at Northwest Christian College, but that is all about to change. This Sunday, for the first time in the 116 year history of the school, soccer, volleyball and cross country athletes will arrive for training camp, leading up to the first games of the year, during the final week of August.
NCC has hosted men’s basketball since 1959 and will enter the ninth season of women’s softball next spring. After adding women’s basketball just two years ago, the Beacons will add five more teams as they begin the transition into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC).
The move to the NAIA and the Cascade Conference, which includes Southern Oregon, Oregon Tech and Corban College among its members, was spawned by a desire to both increase enrollment and increase the value of the intercollegiate athletic program at Northwest Christian. “There is something very special about the NAIA,” says Corey Anderson, Director of Athletics. “Competition at this level gives our student-athletes valuable opportunities for growth and development, both on the field of play and off.”
First-year head volleyball coach Dale Weigandt, a former coach at both Lane Community College and North Eugene HS, has signed eleven players for the 2006 campaign. They include area products Ashley Blanchfill (Marist HS), Tesa Greatwood (Sheldon HS), Meagan Hunts (Junction City HS) and Brooke Stribling (Marist HS), along with Melissa Bishop (Lebanon HS), Samantha Franklin (Pleasant Hill HS), Alexandria Jee (Gresham), Mercedes LeClaire (Mapleton), Charlie VanLoon (Yoncalla), Allyson Wattenberger (Redmond) and Elisha White (Burns).
The women’s soccer team, led by former Cottage Grove boys soccer coach Vern Stewart, brings in 15 recruits. Coming from near and far, five out-of-area athletes join a handful of existing NCC students and local women on the first women’s soccer team. Megan Eng and Bethany Howard, both from Philomath HS, come in along with Jenelle Fisher (Renton, WA), Tahnee Kent (Central Point) and Alyssa Price (Pleasant Hill). Samantha Stewart (Lane CC) and Dominique Wilson (Cottage Grove HS) also join the team, along with Shauna Marshall and Kristin Wilkens. Current NCC student Chris Arenz will be joined by three members of the Beacon Softball team; Staci Ermini, Lisa Martinez and Beth McAllister.
Head coach Chris Bolton has brought in 18 new athletes to the men’s soccer program, including five from Junction City, where he spent the past seven seasons as the varsity head coach at Junction City HS. His recruits include Jose Bustillos (Klamath Falls), Brandon Holland (Corning, CA), Donnie Hopkins (Prineville), Brian Hughes (Glendale, AZ), Tucker Keller (Eagle, ID), Steven Melgar (Dexter), Donald Truman (Tacoma, WA) and Cuyler Zeigler (Roseburg). Local signees include Greg Erickson (Lane CC), Chris Fish (Cottage Grove HS), Alejandro O’Brien (Springfield HS), Jamie Urenda (Cottage Grove HS) and current NCC student Chad Mart. From Junction City HS are Nathan Adams, Kevin Cross, Shawn DeBow and Brett McKinley, and junior Jordan Dufek (SWOCC).
Rounding out the inaugural fall sports recruiting class are nine cross country runners. First-year head coach Heike McNeil brings in five men and, currently, four women. The men include Jason Bell (Junction City HS) and Brandon Kundert (Lane CC), along with current Northwest Christian students Nathaniel Lubleiner, Daniel Norland and Shane Whitted. The women coming in will be Emily Baynes (Thurston HS) and Katie Gilbert (Lane CC) with Aimee Gillett and Tracy Lyle, both current NCC students.
The 2006 athletic season begins on Monday, August 21st when the women’s volleyball team hosts Cascade College in the season opener. The next day both soccer teams will kick it off with home scrimmages against Corban.
