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Summer 2003 | Volume 26, Number 3 | Athletics | |
| Hughes Leads Roster of 2002–03
Athletic
Standouts; Women’s Crew Gains Attention IN A YEAR THAT will long be associated with the storybook women’s basketball season, that squad’s sparkplug guard, Kerie Hughes, reaped several major year-end awards. Hughes took home both the Seattle Pacific University Athlete of the Year and Falcon Award for Excellence from the annual Athletic Awards Banquet May 28. In addition, she was voted the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Female Athlete of the Year. The gritty point guard shrugged off injuries to help lead SPU to a record-setting season in which it won the GNAC crown with an undefeated record and ascended to the No. 1 ranking in NCAA Division II for five consecutive weeks. Hughes was voted the Conference Player of the Year after leading the team in assists and steals and finishing No. 2 in scoring. Hughes was among a group of four distinguished seniors who received the Falcon Award for Excellence, the highest honor given by Seattle Pacific for career achievement in athletics, academics and leadership. Also receiving the award from SPU President Philip Eaton were gymnast Rachael Anderson and track and field standouts Sarah Kraybill and Laura Widman. Kraybill became the University’s first Verizon Academic All-America selection in four years, capping a fantastic final season for the native of nearby Ballard. After finishing fourth in the NCAA Indoor Championships, Kraybill was third in the 800 meters at the outdoor national meet. Earlier, she claimed two GNAC titles (800 and 1500) and took second in the 400. She was voted the West Region Athlete of the Year. While Kraybill and Widman, a two-time All-American and recipient of a 2003 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, were mainstays in the SPU program, the tradition of excellence shows every sign of continuing. Danielle Ayers-Stamper, a freshman, was the GNAC Track Athlete of the Year and, along with men’s decathlete Chris Randolph, was chosen as Freshman of the Year. Ayers-Stamper won three events (100 hurdles, long jump and heptathlon) at the conference level, took second in the NCAA heptathlon and second in the USA Junior Championships. The latter earned her a spot on the U.S. team for the Pan Am Junior Championships in Barbados. The Falcons were unable to retain the conference women’s team title for the fourth year in a row, but Kraybill and Ayers-Stamper did help SPU finish tied for 16th nationally. Track and field has long been a strength of Seattle Pacific, and women’s rowing is rapidly gaining a national reputation as well. The Falcons’ varsity four and lightweight four crews each captured national titles in 2003, raising the program’s total to six in the last four years. The lightweights won the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia May 10, with the varsity four following suit the next day at the ECAC National Invitational Championships in Camden, New Jersey. SPU has won varsity four crowns in three of the last four seasons. The men’s varsity pair advanced to the semi-final round at Dad Vail. |
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 From the President Americans today are searching for a new tone for their lives. “We are talking here about another set of values — not the giddy sense of entitlement that emerges out of exuberant times,” says President Philip Eaton.
A Gift at Any Age Like Grandfather, Like
Grandson The Retiring Class of 2003 Still Exploring
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