Westmont has landed a spot in the top-ten in the first release of the 2007-08 standings of the NAIA U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup Standings. The Director’s Cup awards points to an institution based on how each sport finishes at a national level.

“This is encouraging to me and a tribute to the good work that was done in the fall, both by our coaches and by our student-athletes,” said Westmont Athletic Director Dave Wolf. “We want to be in the top ten annually in the Director’s Cup ranking. From that vantage point, we have hit a mark that we want to hit. I know that staying there is a challenge, but my hope is that this will serve as a motivator for our entire staff to keep aiming for that.”

Westmont will begin live video broadcasts of all home basketball games on Saturday, December 1. Westmont will host the Hawks of San Diego Christian in a men’s and women’s doubleheader. The women’s broadcast begins at 5:15 p.m. (PST) and the men’s starts at approximately 7:15 p.m.

Senior Heather Brown and sophomore Kevin Kihlstrom will serve as broadcast announcers. Brown, a member of Westmont’s women’s soccer team, is a communication studies major who is pursuing a career in sports broadcasting. A native of Huntington Beach, Brown completed an internship with Fox Sports this past summer.

Kihlstrom, also a communication studies major, has served for the past two years as an announcer at Westmont sporting events. A local product, Kihlstrom attended Laguna Blanca School before beginning his collegiate career at Westmont. Kihlstrom is also working toward a career in sports broadcasting.

The 29 pay-per-view broadcasts are available at http://www.westmont.edu/warriortv. The cost is $6.50 per game. Season packages are also available.

Westmont freshman forward Dan Rasp scored 15 points and pulled down seven rebounds, but the Warriors (2-2, 0-2) suffered a 53-71 loss at #8 Azusa Pacific (5-3, 0-2) on Tuesday. Westmont shot just 33.9% from the floor (19 of 56) and 18.2% from beyond the arc (4 of 22).

The Warriors kept it close in the first half, trailing by just four points (27-23) with two minutes remaining. But the Cougars began pulling away early in the second half and by the midway point had produced an 18 point advantage (51-33). Westmont scored nine of the next 11 points to cut the deficit to 53-42 with just less than eight minutes to play, but that was as close as the Warriors would get.

Westmont women’s basketball (2-2, 0-2) suffered their second Golden State Athletic Conference loss of the season, falling to #16 Azusa Pacific (4-1, 2-0) by a score of 63-69 on Tuesday in Azusa.

The first half saw seven lead changes and eight ties with neither team gaining more than a five point advantage. The Warriors connected on 12 of 13 free throw attempts in the opening frame but struggled from the field, making just nine of 26 attempts (34.6%).

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Westmont women’s basketball (2-1, 0-1) suffered a disappointing 68-71 loss at California Baptist on Tuesday in what was the opening game of the Golden State Athletic Conference for both teams. Sophomore post player Alisha Heglund, and sophomore guards Amber Stevens and Jessica Case each recorded 14 points while junior forward Annie Johnson added another 12 for the Warriors.

With the scored tied at two points for each team, Westmont put on a 6-0 run with two buckets by Heglund and a third by senior forward Stephanie Anderson. But California Baptist responded with three baskets of their own to tie the game at eight points apiece with six minute expired from the game clock.

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Westmont men’s basketball had a rough start to the Golden State Athletic Conference on Tuesday night. The Warriors (2-1, 0-1) traveled to Riverside to take on California Baptist (3-0, 1-0) where they lost 86-61.

Freshman forward Dan Rasp led the Warriors in scoring with 13 points, making five of six shots from the floor and three of four from the free throw line. Rasp also had three rebounds. Junior Nasa Sete scored 12 points for Westmont and added had four rebounds and three assists.

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Senior Johnny Alcaraz of Santa Barbara and sophomore Dillon Barna of Phoenix, Arizona have been named to the All-Golden State Athletic Conference team for their contributions to Westmont men’s soccer in 2007.

“It goes without saying that the attacking pieces we had in our team were built around Johnny,” said head coach Dave Wolf. “The same is true of the defending pieces – they were built around Dillon. So these two players were really the critical cornerstones for the attack and defense respectively.”

Alcaraz scored 11 goals and added five assists to lead the Warriors this season with 27 points (two points for a goal, one point for an assist). Alcaraz has led the Warriors in both goals and points each of his three years at Westmont. Alcaraz’ 1.59 points per game and 0.65 goals per game was fifth best in the GSAC this season.

Senior Malinda Reese has named both the Golden State Athletic Conference and NAIA Region II Libero of the Year. The San Carlos resident, who holds a firm grasp on every defensive record at Westmont, was previously named the NAIA National Libero of the Week and has been recognized as a GSAC Scholar-Athlete.

“I’ve told other coaches that Malinda is the best defensive player I’ve ever had on a team in all the year’s I’ve coached – men’s or women’s,” said head coach Jim Smoot whose career includes serving as the head coach of the men’s programs at Hawaii, Ohio State and Loyola Marymount. “On top of that, she is a great scholar-athlete and a great team member and team captain.”

Reese averaged exactly eight digs per game (824 digs in 103 games), 2.3 digs per game better than Leslie Windham of The Master’s College who finished second among the conference statistical leaders. Reese’s nearest rival in the region was Christa Hewett of Menlo who averaged 7.1 digs per game. Nationally, Reese finished third in digs per game.