CORVALLIS, Ore. – After stellar 2020-21 campaigns for their respective teams, Southern Oregon University’s Lauren Quirke and Lewis-Clark State College’s Damek Mitchell were named the Cascade Collegiate Conference Embrace Health-Santiam Hospital Athletes of the Year. The award is the CCC’s top athletic honor selected by the conference’s athletic directors.
Earlier this month, Quirke helped the Raiders claim their second-consecutive NAIA Softball Championship and was named the NAIA Player of the Year. She went 12-for-24 with eight RBIs as a hitter and 3-0 with a 2.62 ERA as a pitcher at the NAIA World Series. Quirke was also the CCC Player of the Year, a two-time All-American (NFCA and NAIA), NAIA All-Tournament selection, All-CCC first-teamer, CoSIDA NAIA Academic All-American, and the CCC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The senior infielder/pitcher from San Mateo, Calif., was a threat from all aspects of the game, ranking first in the NAIA in hits (101), second in RBIs (70), second in total bases (162), fifth in batting average (.488), and sixth in runs scored (64). She broke the CCC career batting average record (.470) and ranked first in the conference in win percentage (17-2, .895) and third in ERA (1.84).
Mitchell will leave LC State as one of the most decorated Warriors in program history after leading his team to the NAIA Men’s Basketball Championship game. He is a three-time NAIA All-American and was named to the first team for the first time in his career this year. Mitchell was also named the CCC Player of Year and was an All-National Tournament Team selection and an NABC All-American.
The senior guard from Bellingham, Wash., led LC State in assists (111) and steals (35) this season, while averaging 15 points per game. He grabbed six rebounds per game and shot 44.9 percent from the floor and 40.1 percent from three-point range, while making 81.8 percent of his free throws. Mitchell will leave his mark in the record books as the all-time leader in assists (595) and 3-pointer made (206). He is second in free throws made (309) and wins (104), third in scoring (1,395), tied for fifth in games played (123), sixth in rebounds (546), eighth in steals (141) and ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (.420).
Other female nominees included: College of Idaho’s Kaya Evans (Soccer), Eastern Oregon University’s Kiley McMurtrey (Volleyball), LC State’s Kiara Burlage (Basketball), Oregon Tech’s Sarah Abramson (Softball), Multnomah University’s Shiloh Nijjar
Other male nominees included: MSU-Northern’s Isaac Bartel (Wrestling), Bushnell University’s Jon Holzgang (Golf), EOU’s Max McCullough (Basketball), Oregon Tech’s Hunter Drops (Track/Field), Multnomah University’s Jonah Pemberton (Golf), Warner Pacific University’s Austin Wallace-Lister (Wrestling), SOU’s Joseph Dotson (Track/Field)
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