Athletics | 1/6/2009 7:38:31 PM
WOU winter MVP's honored at Wolves basketball game
MONMOUTH, Ore. – Most valuable players for Western Oregon University's four winter sports have been named and honored as the Marquis Spas Athletes of the Year. The MVP's were introduced inbetween the men's and women's final basketball games on Saturday at the Physical Education Building.
This marks the second year that Marquis Spas has sponsored the Athlete of the Year program. One person will be selected from each sport during the 2006-07 seasons to receive the award.
Junior forward Leada Berkey had one of the finest women's basketball seasons in WOU school history this year, averaging over 21 points a game and nine rebounds a contest. She ranked in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference top 10 in six categories, and scored 30 or more points in six different games.
Berkey has been in the top ten nationally all season long in scoring. She now has 1,071 career points and 579 rebounds in three seasons, both totals ranking in WOU's all-time top ten.
Berkey came to WOU after a storybook career at Amity High School, where she earned Oregon 2A Player of the Year honors in both basketball and volleyball. She was also a three-time state champion in the 400 meters on the track.
A three-year starter for WOU on the basketball court, Berkey is a physical education major off of it, who comes from a blended family of 19 brothers and sisters. Her parents are Noah and Mary Berkey.
Sophomore thrower Anthony Marin is the Marquis Spas Athlete of the Year among male indoor track and field athletes.
Marin, from McKay High School in Salem, won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title this winter in the weight throw, and then bettered his personal best with a school-record throw of 61-9 on Feb. 24 at the University of Washington. He topped the previous mark, which had stood for 12 years, by over a foot and a half.
Marin, who is also a two-year starter and all-conference selection on the Wolves football team at defensive tackle, also went to the NCAA national outdoor meet last spring in the hammer, finishing tenth.
A physical education major and a sports leadership minor, Marin's parents are Francis and Loni Marin of Salem.
Western Oregon senior center Jacob Mitchell is as steady on the court as he is off of it.
The Wolves leading scorer and rebounder this year is also an ESPN the Magazine all-region academic selection, carrying a 3.61 grade point average in his major of political science.
Mitchell arrived at WOU a year ago, via his hometown of Olympia, Wash. and after a stint at Pierce College. He averaged 18 points a game and 6.5 rebounds a contest this year, and listed second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in field goal percentage (.590). The 6-7, 235 pounder scored over 30 points in a game on three different occasions, including on Feb. 24 when he hit for 32 which included a buzzer-beating rebound basket in overtime to defeat Western Washington.
Last season, he averaged over 11 points and seven rebounds a game and shot 59 percent from the field.
After graduation, Mitchell plans to attend law school to study civil liberties. His mother, Denice Lambkins, is still the biggest influence in his life.
Senior high jumper Taryn Plypick is the female Marquis Spas Athlete of the Year for indoor track and field in 2007.
Plypick, from Sumner, Wash., had a best of 5-7 this year in the high jump, tied for the best indoor mark in WOU school history. She has qualified for the NCAA Division II national indoor championships in Boston, Mass, on March 9-10.
Plypick also played basketball for the Wolves during the 2005-06 season.
Prior to her arrival at WOU, Plypick was a two-time NWAACC champion in the high jump while at Highline Community College.
A physical education major, Plypick parents are Ron Plypick and Tammy Braun.
