The 2011 national championship softball team will be the third Oregon Tech team honored, joining the 2004 and 2008 men’s basketball teams after coming off national championships in those seasons. Meanwhile, the Concordia women’s track & field team which captured the 2011 NAIA Outdoor National Championships will be the school’s first program represented at the prestigious event.

The George Pasero Award is one of many awards that will be presented at the 2011 Oregon Sports Awards. The OSA annually honors the state’s top athletes, coaches and teams. A statewide media panel voted on the various awards. Emmy award-winning sportscaster Ahmad Rashad will be the master of ceremonies, and numerous sports celebrities will present the various awards.

The 2011 Oregon Sports Awards are hosted by Nike and State partners JELD-WEN, the Portland Timbers and the Portland Trail Blazers; and by Champion partners Delta Air Lines, the Portland Winterhawks and SportsOne.

Oregon Tech’s Bryant Sentman (basketball, track and field), Jackie Imhof (softball) and Joseph Foster (basketball) joined CU’s Kayla Xavier as finalists for the Ad Rutschman Small-College Athlete of the Year Award which will also be handed out during the ceremony.

In 2011 Oregon Tech won the regular season championship after finishing with a 19-5 record in CCC action. The title gave the Owls the right to host the CCC conference tournament which the Owls also won. Oregon Tech then moved on to the 2011 NAIA national tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala. where the Owls made history. Tech, playing their finest softball of the year, rolled to its first-ever NAIA Softball National Championship with a 1-0 shutout of top-ranked California Baptist on May 25. The Owls went 42-13 overall and became the first team in the Cascade Collegiate Conference to win the national championship in the 31-year history of the event.

The 2011 Owl softball team members to be honored are; Amber Knight (Milton-Freewater,Ore.), Kayde Schaefer (Beaverton, Ore.), Sierra Patzke (Klamath Falls, Ore.) Elise Goodell (Klamath Falls, Ore.), Jackie Imhof (Portland, Ore.), Jess Plummer, (Eugene, Ore.), Andria Wheatley (Springfield, Ore.), Sara Coates (Salem, Ore.), Taylor Schmidt (Medford, Ore.), Danielle Sayres (Milwaukie, Ore.), Ashleigh Larson (Medford, Ore.), Ali Edwards (Klamath Falls, Ore.), Shauna Collins (Roseburg, Ore.), Bree Larson (Yamhill, Ore.), Janelle Cromie (Tualatin, Ore.), Brittany Cherry (Pasco, Wash.), Josie Campbell (Portola, Calif.), Chauntae Sublet (McMinnville, Ore.), assistant coaches Ryson Mauricio and Bill Fagan and Head Coach Greg Stewart.

The Cavaliers scored 86 total points at the NAIA outdoor national championships to outpace the runner-up squad from Oklahoma Baptist by more than 16 points.

Headlined by Xavier’s national championship in the shot put and the discus, the Cavaliers turned in 13 All-American performances. Placing second overall were Aria Nojima in the javelin, Emily Redmayne-Titley in the discus and Andria Scheese in the 1,500-meter run. Earning bronze at the championship meet were Gabriella Dixson in the shot put, Junia Limage in the 800 and Catherine Sims in the 400.

Other All-Americans for the Cavaliers included: Sharayah Kenady (5th, hammer throw); Lauren Moran (5th, steeplechase), Katherine Tripp (5th, shot put), Alice Taylor (6thm 5,000) and Dixson (6th, hammer throw). Dixson added another point for CU with an eighth-place result in the discus.

Additional championship points for Concordia came from Dominique Jacoy (7th, heptathlon), Eunice Makinde (8th, 100 hurdles) and Amanda Federici (8th, hammer throw).

In the final event of the meet, the 1,600-meter relay team consisting of Stephanie Persaud, Limage, Makinde and Sims took seventh place for the final two points of the tally.

Also representing the Cavaliers at nationals were Samantha Robert in the 10,000, Maggie Pesanti in the marathon and Kaley Jameson in the 400-meter relay.