Academics and athletics successful

The Pacific Coast Softball Conference Honor Roll was released earlier this month, and Portland State led the way with 15 athletes on the list.

“I don’t know many teams that, out of every person on their squad, every person gets honor roll,” head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk said. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

To be eligible for the list, an athlete had to earn a 3.0 or higher GPA for the 2011–12 academic year. PSU hasn’t had this many students make the honor roll since 2003. This is also the fourth straight year under Echo-Hawk that the Vikings have had 10 or more athletes qualify.

“It was extremely exciting—probably the most exciting thing that has happened for us,” Echo-Hawk said. “We have a lot of accolades on the field, but to have 15 out of 15 on the honor roll says a lot about what our program is designed to do and how much they take pride in what they do.”

Of the 12 schools in the PCSC, 10 of them had 10 or more athletes make the list for a total of 138 students.

Throughout the year, the softball coaches worked with their athletes to ensure they were on top of their game academically. With all the road trips, workouts and practices, it’s hard for the Vikings to make time for studying.

“We really emphasize how important it is to make sure that you get your degree,” Echo-Hawk said. “We try to be proactive with our athletes. We do progress reports and study hall. We do study hall on the road when we are traveling. If they are struggling we get them tutors.”

Last season wasn’t just an academic success for the Vikings: PSU’s softball team won the conference for the second time in a row. They also went to the NCAA tournament and beat Mississippi State before falling to BYU to end their season. Now Echo-Hawk and the Vikings are looking forward to building on their success next season.

“We still have our core group in our senior class,” Echo-Hawk said. “They are kind of our leaders academically and on the field. We also have a great freshman class coming in.”

Molding the incoming students is a major priority. Echo-Hawk and the other coaches specifically work with freshmen to try to get them into a routine they are comfortable with, one that allows them to be successful on and off the field.