A Championship Legacy

By Sean Patterson

2023: Women’s Golf

After 12 straight years of qualifying for the NCAA Division III National Golf Championships – and coming up just short of winning it all each time – the George Fox women broke through to win the program’s first-ever national team title last May.

Coach MaryJo McCloskey’s squad won the fourth team championship in university history by coming through with one of the best back-nine rounds in program history on the tournament’s final day. Collectively, the Bruins’ four scoring players finished the final nine holes with a composite score of two-under, giving the team a final-round 304 score and a three-day total of 933 to win the event by five strokes over runner-up Washington University of St. Louis.

Liana Brown led the Bruins by finishing seventh individually, while teammates Alison Takamiya (ninth), Makensie Toole (13th), Avery Kageyama (tied for 25th) and Giselle Flint (77th) rounded out the lineup. Kiana Toole and Ainsley Carter joined their teammates on the trip and in the post-round celebration.

2018: Women’s Track and Field

In May of 2018, almost exactly five years prior to the women’s golf team hoisting their first championship trophy, the women’s track and field team did the same, earning a national co-championship, tying UMass Boston for top honors. Highlighting the meet was the 4x100 team of Sarah King, Kennedy Taube, Sara Turner and Lis Larsen, whose school-record-time of 45.55 seconds won the competition. King added a fourth-place finish in the 400 meters and a fifth in the 200; Dakota Buhler took third in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump; Stacy Kozlowski claimed third in the high jump; and Annie Wright was second in the heptathlon.

2009: Women’s Basketball

The 2008-09 women’s basketball team claimed the first NCAA DIII national championship for any women’s program at George Fox after compiling a perfect 32-0 overall record and a 16-0 mark against Northwest Conference opponents. Coached by Scott Rueck and led by senior Kristen (Shielee) Cromie, the Bruins defeated Washington-St. Lous 60-53 in the title game. Rueck was named the NCAA DIII National Coach of the Year, and Cromie was honored as the NCAA Tournament MVP. The Bruins outscored their opponents by an average of 19 points per game during the season and became the first women’s DIII basketball team west of the Rocky Mountains to win a title.

2004: Baseball

The university’s first NCAA national championship came in 2004, when the baseball team scored a 6-3 victory over top-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University in the championship game of the double-elimination national tournament, capping a 40-10 season. The Bruins rode the arm of pitcher Scott Hyde – later drafted by the New York Mets – in the finale. He was named a First-Team All-American, National Co-Pitcher of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the Division III Tournament. Head coach Pat Bailey was named the DIII National Coach of the Year, and shortstop David Peterson earned First-Team All-American recognition.