Pio Sports

Baseball

In Tom Flynn’s first year as head baseball coach, the Pioneers ended the 2011 season with a 5-32 overall record. Lewis & Clark earned three Northwest Conference wins, beating Whitman College, Whitworth University, and George Fox University. Lewis & Clark is now looking ahead to the upcoming season with the largest incoming group of baseball players in years. Flynn and his staff have added 17 new players to the 2012 team, which will help fill two key areas in which the Pioneers have wanted more depth—pitching and catching.

Softball

For the first time since 2004, Lewis & Clark’s softball team, led by head coach Shawna Feldt, finished the season with eight wins. Arguably, Lewis & Clark’s most exciting win came near the end of the season, when they pulled out an impressive 14-11 victory against George Fox University. Junior shortstop Caroline DeVincenzi was recognized for her hard work on the field by being named to the Northwest Conference All-Conference Second Team. DeVincenzi finished the season with a .391 batting average, which led the Pioneers and resulted in her 11th-place ranking in the NWC. Seniors Jamie Moon and Michaela Satter along with junior Caitlin Relyea earned Honorable Mention in the NWC All-Conference.

Tennis

Head coach Gundars Tilmanis ended his 20- year coaching career at Lewis & Clark with the 2011 season. Before his departure, he had the honor of presenting the Pioneer Athletic Club (PAC) Senior Career Award to senior captain Amalia Nilsson, the first tennis player to be selected for the honor. Nilsson capped off an outstanding career with her fourth Northwest Conference All- Conference First-Team honor, while Tilmanis was named the NWC Women’s Coach of the Year.

Senior George Allen earned a NWC All-Conference Second-Team honor for the men’s team after being the squad’s No. 1 singles player all season.

Golf

At the Northwest Championship, hosted by Whitman College, senior Har Rai Khalsa shot his way to an All-Conference honor. Khalsa is the first Pioneer golfer to earn an NWC All-Conference award for either men’s or women’s golf in several years. Khalsa finished the championship in 6th place, while first-year Mark Spathas finished 20th.

Crew

Lewis & Clark’s crew team, with nearly 50 athletes competing, had a banner season this spring. The Pioneer men’s team successfully defended their Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference Championships team win and for the first time ever took the Varsity Eight and Varsity Four titles as well. The Men’s Varsity Four went on to finish fourth at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Championships, the best-ever finish for a Lewis & Clark varsity crew in that event.

The Pioneer women’s team faced tough conference competition but moved up one place in the NCRC standings with a fifthplace finish in the team competition. The Women’s Varsity Eight also placed fifth at the WIRA championships, matching their best finish at that event. The women’s team finished the season ranked first in the West Coast Division III team standings. Lewis & Clark seniors Andrew Wood and Helen Burkart were honored as NCRC All-Conference and senior Ruthie Ditzler was named Pocock Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Second-Team All-American for the second time in her Lewis & Clark career.

Track

In head coach David Fix’s final season, the Pioneers earned five Northwest Conference All-Conference First-Team finishes. Senior Cheyenne Feliz earned the team’s only Northwest Conference Championship, earning a first-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.31. Emily Thomas also earned a first-team All-Conference honor along with senior Amy Madden, who picked up two All-Conference finishes.

On the men’s side, junior Kevin Carpenter finished the 100-meter dash in second place for the squad’s only All-Conference finish. At Lewis & Clark’s year-end Student- Athlete Dessert, Carpenter was honored with the Dan Jones Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year award for his contributions as a member of both the track and football teams.