Vandals’ Novikoff honored for his Good Works

University of Idaho junior lineman Tyrone Novikoff has been nominated to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. He is among 112 student-athletes nominated and the only Western Athletic Conference player.

Novikoff, from Curlew, Wash., was a member of a University of Idaho alternate spring break group that traveled to the hurricane battered gulf region to participate in a week-long clean-up/construction effort.

According to the official news release, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team represents the “best of the best” among more than 50,000 student-athletes participating in the sport at all four-year institutions. The 119 total 2010 nominees eclipses the 106 achieved last season, which demonstrates the continued growth of a platform that is widely recognized as the most prestigious community service award in college football.

Academics

For the ninth consecutive year, the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team was rewarded for its superior work in the classroom, as the Eagles earned a spot on the 2010 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Honor Roll.

Coach Wendy Schuller’s team compiled a cumulative grade-point average of 3.33, which ranks 22nd among all Division I programs. Eastern is just one of two schools in the nation to be honored on this list for nine straight seasons. The Sycamores of Indiana State also made the list for the ninth year in a row, with a team GPA of 3.51.

• Gonzaga University student-athletes once again stood out in the classroom as 158 Bulldogs were named to the 2010 West Coast Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll which recognizes student-athletes who maintain at least a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.

A record 892 WCC student-athletes representing 13 conference-sponsored sports were named to the Gold (3.75-4.0 GPA), Silver (3.50-3.74 GPA) and Bronze (3.0-3.49 GPA) categories. There were 854 honorees a year ago.

Gonzaga’s 158 honorees accounted for 17.7 percent of the total student-athletes honored, both conference-leading marks among the eight institutions comprising the WCC.

The Bulldogs had 11 student-athletes receiving Gold status, paced by the 3.97 GPA of men’s freshman tennis player Levi Guillermo (civil engineering), the 3.92 of junior men’s soccer player Colin Harrison (business administration), the 3.91 of sophomore women’s soccer player Elizabeth Sweeney (international relations) and the 3.90 of senior women’s basketball player Tiffanie Shives (communications). Gonzaga had 42 Silver recipients and 105 with Bronze accolades.

• The Eastern Washington University women’s volleyball team has earned the America Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for its triumphs in the classroom during the 2009-10 school year. This marks the eighth time in school history the Eagles have been honored with the award, and the first time since 2005.

The AVCA Team Academic Award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team GPA on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

Coach Miles Kydd’s team achieved a 3.44 cumulative GPA during the 2009-10 academic year, which was the second-highest GPA of all sports teams at EWU.

The Eagles also distinguished themselves in the Big Sky Conference, as 11 members were named to the 2009 BSC All-Academic team; the most for any volleyball squad in the league.

Track and field

Athletes from the Valley Athletics Club competed in the USATF Region 13 Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Seattle July 8-11. The following athletes qualified for the national meet:

Triple jump, Youth Boys: 1. Parker Bowden, 10.60m;

Triple jump, Intermediate Boys: 1. Mark Seely, 12.22m

Discus throw, 1.6kg, Intermediate Boys: 1. Shawn Buck, 37.99m

100-meter hurdles, Youth Boys: Parker Bowden, 16.11

Hammer throw, Intermediate Girls: 3. Katie Wardsworth, 28.44m;

Shot put 12 lb., Intermediate Boys: 3. Shawn Buck, 11.27m.

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