As the quarter wanes, winter season teams are either hitting their stride or entering the critical moments to squeak into the postseason. Last year’s summer and fall sports, on the other hand, are reaping recognitions from last year before turning to face another season.
As the quarter wanes, winter season teams are either hitting their stride or entering the critical moments to squeak into the postseason. Last year’s summer and fall sports, on the other hand, are reaping recognitions from last year before turning to face another season.
Most recently, the Oregon Sports Awards recognized three Viking finalists from basketball and football. Head football coach Nigel Burton, football senior quarterback Connor Kavanaugh and women’s basketball guard Eryn Jones were finalists in their categories. Last year, women’s basketball point guard Clare Faucher was the only finalist.
Burton was picked out of a pool of 20 nominees for the Slats Gill Sportsperson of the Year award. He was also a national finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award. Burton recently came on to Portland State’s football program and improved its record by five wins this year.
Kavanaugh and Jones were advanced from a total of 64 nominees for the men’s and women’s versions of the Hayward award for outstanding athletes. Kavanaugh set a Big Sky rushing record with 1,060 yards on the season. Jones was a key player in the women’s basketball team winning the Big Sky Championship and was picked for the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year for 2011.
In all, 10 Portland State athletes and five coaches were nominated for the gala show, held the evening of Feb. 12 at the Tiger Woods Center at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton.
Football alums have been active in other areas as well. Kicker Zach Brown was picked as the best kicker in the country in the College Football Performance awards and was a consensus choice for the first team All-American team as chosen by national sports media outlets.
Lineman Dustin Waldron was chosen for the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. He’ll travel there later this month to work out in front of the NFL’s scouts for a chance at a top draft pick opportunity. Portland State’s Julius Thomas went to the combine last year and was selected in the fourth round by the Denver Broncos.
“Dustin is worthy of all the attention he’s getting,” offensive line coach Brad Davis said. “He’s flying out this weekend. It’ll be a week long process filled with interviews and workouts—different teams taking an interest in him and kind of poking and prodding and trying to see why or why not they should pay him a lot of money to keep playing football.”
The women’s soccer team, which was knocked out of the playoffs in the semifinals, nevertheless claimed the regular season championship, an improvement on their stellar 2010 season, in which they finished second. Soccer star Megan Martin won conference MVP honors and the Big Sky’s Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals in the season. She was the third Viking to win both awards.
The volleyball team couldn’t keep its string of championship trophies going, losing the Big Sky Championship to Northern Colorado. They made the playoffs for the 10th straight year.
