CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Warner Pacific women’s basketball team and Bushnell University’s baseball teams were awarded the 2021-22 Cascade Collegiate Conference Les Schwab Teams of Character/Sportsmanship Award winners, announced Wednesday morning by the conference office.
The award, which recognizes one male and one female team, is voted on by the conference athletic directors after schools submit their nominations.
The Knights have consistently stayed engaged in the Portland community by participating in events at a local retirement home, hosting camps and open gyms on a weekly basis for local youth and orchestrating a “Hoopin for the Homeless” campaign. Over its senior weekend, WPU collected over 250 pairs of socks they then donated to a local homeless shelter.
WPU also welcomed Lexi De Los Reyes as its “Sixth Lady” for the eighth-consecutive season. Lexi is a young girl who has a brain tumor that has left her blind. She has had too many surgeries to count in her short lifetime, but is the most faithful fan of the Knights’ women’s basketball team. When Lexi is able to attend a WPU home game, she is announced with the starting lineup and sits the bench to cheer the girls on and has become an integral part of the team.
Many of the Knight women also serve as tutors, residential assistants, game management staff and various internships across campus.
Other women’s team nominees: Bushnell Softball, Eastern Oregon University Women’s Wrestling, Menlo College Women’s Wrestling, Northwest University Women’s Basketball, Oregon Tech Volleyball, and Southern Oregon University Softball.
In just its first year as a collegiate program, the Bushnell baseball team quickly established themselves as a team of strong character, gaining a reputation on campus as men of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.
The Beacons lived by a
“Getting Sticky” mentality that has created an unparalleled team environment that has a ripple effect among other Beacon teams and campus as a whole. Bushnell’s character-related focus includes a team rule to sit in the "Power T" in all of their classes (first two rows or directly in the middle of the class), small group Bible studies, and a team book club.
Bushnell also has been involved in numerous community service projects, including helping first-time collegiate students move into their dorm rooms. As part of Bushnell's "Embrace the Community Day" in the fall, the team worked for "Looking Glass," a local program for runaway and homeless teens. The Beacons also helped with a large painting and cleaning project at their New Roads School property, along with serving the community in-season by collecting over 400-pounds of food and non-perishable items for FOOD For Lane County – during their bye-week in the conference schedule.
The Beacons also had a unique opportunity for service with the Springfield High School baseball team through their shared facilities at the newly renovated Hamlin Sports Complex. The Bushnell players routinely hit alongside the high school players, giving pointers, feeding the pitching machine, and throwing soft toss.
Other men’s team nominees: Lewis-Clark State College Men’s Basketball, Menlo College Men’s Wrestling, Northwest University Men’s Track and Field, Oregon Tech Baseball, Southern Oregon University Men’s Soccer, Vanguard University Men’s Wrestling, and Warner Pacific University Men’s Soccer.