As a true freshman, Coleman Nash was only able to compete in outdoor track in a 2020-2021 season that was condensed by COVID-19. In his first full year of being able to compete in both cross country and track, he dominated in each sport.
The sophomore distance runner from Littleton, Colorado, made it to nationals and earned All-America honors in both sports in 2021-22. In addition to being a standout athlete, he was a stellar student which led to him being named the 2021-22 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The recognition is awarded to a student-athlete that excels at a high level in their respective sports arena as well as in the classroom. Candidates for the award are nominated and voted upon by the GNAC’s athletic directors. The finance major was one of two male nominees for the award with a perfect 4.00 GPA.
“I am super stoked to receive an award that considered so many impressive student-athletes in such a great conference,” Nash said in a statement. “I hope to continue to live up to the expectation both academically and athletically for the next couple of years.”
He finished in 27th place at the cross-country nationals in fall 2021. This spring, Nash placed eighth in the 5,000 meters and 13th in the 10,000 meters at the outdoor nationals and first in both events at the GNAC regional tournaments.
Skiing standouts receive academic recognition
Nash wasn’t the only UAA student athlete to get recognized for academic excellence in the last week. Skiers JC Schoonmaker and Espen Persen were both named to the 2022 Academic All-America Men’s Division II At-Large Team.
It is an award selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America and it recognizes the nation’s top overall athletic and academic achievers. It includes athletes from beach volleyball, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, swimming & diving, skiing and tennis.
Schoonmaker is the 13th Seawolf in school history to earn first-team Academic All-America honors and Persen was a third-team honoree.
Men’s basketball adds JUCO sharpshooter
The UAA men’s basketball team continued to add to its 2022-2023 recruiting class Tuesday when head coach Rusty Osborne announced Dathan Satchell signed his National Letter of Intent to join the Seawolves.
He spent the last three seasons starring at the junior college level where he scored a combined 809 career points between his time at Casper College in Wyoming and Las Positas College in California.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound guard earned first-team All-Coast Conference North Division honors after a strong sophomore season at Las Positas in 2021-22 in which he averaged 13.8 points, shot 48% overall from the field, 43% from behind the arc and 86% on free throws.
“We are very excited to welcome Dathan to Seawolf Nation,” Osborne said in a statement. “He has been a part of winning programs at every level, and knows what it takes to be successful. Dathan is an elite shooter with the ability to stretch the floor and put up points quickly. This past year, he had three games with at least eight threes made. In addition, he is a very good ball handler and passer, which is essential to our offensive efficiency. Defensively, Dathan gives us a big, strong body and has a high defensive IQ.”
UAF men’s basketball adds a pair of signees
UAF added two members to the 2022-2023 recruiting class of their men’s basketball program in the last week with the signing announcements of Logan Stempniak and Bryan Nguyen by head coach Greg Sparling.
Stempniak hails from Covington, Washington, where he starred at the prep level and averaged double figures in both points (20.4) and rebounds (13.1) at Kentwood High. Nguyen signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the Nanooks after spending the last two seasons as a role player at San Jose City College in California.