Junior guard Megan Fate, of Long Beach, California, has been named to the All-Golden State Athletic Women’s Basketball Team.

At 17.5 points per game, Fate is the conference’s third most prolific scorer and has set the Westmont team record for points in a single season at 490. Other team offensive records set by Fate this year include scoring average, field goals made (157), field goals attempted (379), free throws made (100) and free throws attempted (132).

“Megan has been outstanding all year long as a play maker,” noted Head Coach Chris Schultz. “Her creativity with the ball allows her to make plays that leave you shaking your head. There was a three-week stretch run in which Megan carried us offensively. During that run she was playing as well as any player in the conference.”

Westmont Men’s Basketball’s two senior co-captains, Kyle Bechler and Matt Burkholder, have been named to the 2005 Men’s Basketball All-Golden State Athletic Conference team.

“There are twelve players named to the All-GSAC team and eleven teams in the conference,” said Head Coach John Moore. “To have two players chosen from Westmont is a real testament to these two men and to the program as a whole. These awards were well deserved.”

Bechler, a 6-1 guard from Glendora, California, has sunk a school record 94 three-point field goals this season out of 204 attempts. His 46.1% success rate is third best in the GSAC this year. Fourth best in the conference in free throw percentage, Bechler has made 71 of 84 attempts (84.5%).

Westmont Women’s Soccer player Katie Schick has been honored as the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The award is given to one athlete from each area school for excellence in both the classroom and in athletic competition.

Schick, a junior defender from Irvine, California, has started every game of her collegiate career which is all the more remarkable considering her participation on Westmont’s NAIA National Championship teams in 2002 and 2003. Selected to the 2004, Women’s Soccer All-GSAC Team, Schick has proven to be a formidable foe to opposing offenses.

The life of a collegiate athlete is filled with academic deadlines and athletic demands. Because so much is asked of them, student-athletes tend to live narrowly focused lives. As a result, it is easy for athletes to lose perspective. The pressures of tests and papers, in addition to training schedules and travel for competition, can become a burden and lead to an athlete losing sight of the privilege he or she enjoys of pursuing an education while representing their school in the field of athletic competition.

The Warriors concluded regular season play in the very tough Golden State Athletic Conference with an 87-58 loss at #5 Point Loma Nazarene. The GSAC claims three of the top five ranked teams (#2 Vanguard, #3 The Master’s) along with the NAIA’s number 15 team (Azusa Pacific).

The Sea Lions (27-3, 6-3), who took an early lead and built on it throughout the game, shot 48.5% from the field compared to Westmont’s 32.4%. Senior point guard Ciara Carl led the Sea Lions with 22 points while senior guard Jessica Mercado added 18.

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Westmont Men’s Basketball earned their 20th win in the final regular season game of the year by defeating Point Loma Nazarene 64-60. The Warriors finished regular season GSAC play in fifth place with a record of 13-7. Westmont will have to wait until the rest of the GSAC finishes conference play on Tuesday to learn who their first round opponent will be in the GSAC Tournament.

Down 14-13 with 11:30 on the first half clock, Westmont went on a 14-4 run which included two three-point buckets by freshman Josh Ware. The Sea Lion’s Ryan Hatch (20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) and Tim Kruge (13 points, 16 rebounds) responded with four points each in an 8-0 run to cut the Warrior lead to two (27-25) with 3:44 to play before intermission. Westmont junior Ryan Wassell hit two three points to help Westmont close out the half with a 36-30 advantage.

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Garet Hill pitched six inning of no-hit baseball for Biola and three relief picthers kept the Warriors hitless in the first game of a double header in La Mirada today. Biola (6-2-1, 3-0) swept both games winning the first 9-0 and the second 3-0.

Starting pitcher John White (0-2) took the loss for the Warriors, giving up five runs on five hits in three and one-third hours of work.

Biola scored in the first inning off an RBI single by Chris Weems which scored Richard Fixsen from second. The Eagles added three more in the second on a home run to right by catcher Andy Kroeker.

[game 1 box scores] [game 2 box scores]

After 10 days off for both teams due to the rain, the Westmont and Biola baseball teams were finally able to take the field for a game. #19 Biola (4-2-1, 1-0) defeated the visiting Warriors by a score of 6-2. Reid Hamblet (1-1) picked up the win for the Eagles while John Evans (0-1) took the loss for Westmont. Evans pitched five innings giving up four runs, two of which were earned. He allowed seven hits while striking out one and did not give up a walk.

Evans retired the first seven batters he faced and the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third. With one out, Eagle second baseman Anthony Manuel hit a single through the left-hand side to give Biola their first baserunner of the game. Center fielder Blake Whiteman followed with a single up the middle allowing Manuel to take third. Left fielder Richard Fixsen hit the first pitch he saw into center field for an RBI single. Evans retired the next to batters to get out of the inning without further damage.

[box scores]