The Lutes opened 2024 with a bang! Ashley Akamine had a double-double, including a game sealing block as time expired, powering the PLU women's basketball team to its fifth straight victory with a 61-58 win over George Fox University inside Olson Gymnasium.
Late January, saw the Lutes land a pair of national awards with volleyball's Halle Hetzler and football's Nico Golla both earning College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American honors.
Mid February saw the Lutes make a splash in the pool at the 2024 NWC Championships in Federal Way. PLU's 400-yard medley relay team of Annika Eisele, Makenzie Chan-Orcutt, Jessica Ordaz, and Emma Gassman won the conference title in a school record time of 3:53.24.
The Lutes' success continued the next night with Ordaz winning the 100-yard butterfly for the second time in her career, earning an NCAA B Cut standard in the process.
The meet concludes with Ordaz, Sidney Chan-Orcutt, Riley Maher, and Emma Gassman winning the NWC crown in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
All told, 10 Lutes win all-conference honors between the men’s and women’s teams, including 23 total all-league honors while Head Coach Andrew Lum was named the NWC Women’s Swim Coach of the Year.
On February 17, PLU women’s hoops shatters a school record on senior night, drilling five three-pointers to set the record for threes in a season with 156. The mark eclipses the previous record of 154 that stood since the 1998-1999 campaign.
Meanwhile, men's basketball inked its fifth consecutive winning season under Head Coach Chad Murray, posting a 14-11 record. It's PLU's best run on the hardwood since 1994-1999.
Living a Lute core value of service, the Lutes give back to the community in February. PLU Athletics hosts its annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day, welcoming 35 children and 50 student-athletes to Olson Gymnasium while over the President's Day Weekend the NWC Champion women's soccer team volunteered at Rainier Adapted Sports' wheelchair basketball tournament.
Lute success wasn't just on the field. In late February women's soccer's Carmen Kiewert helped PLU’s DECA team win the 2024 Washington State DECA Competition in the fashion merchandising and marketing category to punch a ticket to the DECA National Championships.
The calendar turned to March and it was time for spring sports to take the limelight. Track & field had Keola Sanchez and Abi Caprye both earn USTFCCCA All-West Region honors at the conclusion of the indoor season. Sanchez was honored in the 60-meter dash and Caprye in the high jump.
On the links, Koen Solis won NWC Golfer of the Week on consecutive weeks. Solis earned his first career honor on March 5 after a dominating match play win over Puget Sound before doing it again the following week after tying for medalist honors at the UPS Invitational.
On the water, PLU women's rowing coxswain Louisa Compton guides the varsity four boat to a victory on American Lake during the annual Lamberth Cup regatta. The varsity four boat of Riah Hiel, Makayla Hall, and Ani Draper charged down the 2,000-meter course on American Lake in 8:55.3.
March saw Rowan Amann don a superhero cape and go coast-to-coast to save a life.
Amann donated lifesaving bone marrow through the Get in the Game Registry Drive. The senior became the organization’s 1,300th successful donor. His whirlwind week included hitting a double and had an RBI in California on March 22. After the road trip he went to Washington DC for the donation procedure and was back in the dugout the following weekend for a three-game home series against Whitman College.
Track & field had a big April, winning five conference titles at the 2024 NWC Championships.
Eva Wirth got things started, becoming the second Lute over the past four seasons to win the women's hammer throw before Owen Ladinig ended the night with a title in the men's 10,000-meters.
The following day saw Grady Lemma win both the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles while Koela Sanchez was second in the 100, clocking the fourth fastest time in program history.
Madison Downey won the triple jump NWC crown while Kyleigh Archer was runner-up. All told, 11 Lutes won All-Conference honors at the championship meet.
Late May saw Carson Olmstead and Alicia-Ellalynn Soliai punch tickets to NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Olmstead earned All-American honors in the javelin with a sixth place finish while Soliai was one of just two first-years to compete in the shot put.
Early September saw the PLU football team giving back to the community.
The Lutes volunteered at Tacoma's Community in Schools "Back to School" event while also adding a new teammate a few days later, signing Chase Grover to the team in a special draft day ceremony with Team IMPACT. Team IMPACT is a non-profit program that matches children facing serious or chronic illnesses with local college teams to form life long bonds.
October 27 saw Craig Johnson break the PLU all-time scoring record with a goal in PLU’s 8-0 thrashing of Lewis & Clark.
Johnson and teammate Trevor Thompson would battle back and forth all season. When the dust settled, Thompson owned school records for both goals and points while Johnson finishes as the record holder for assists and second all-time in both goals and points.
November 3rd saw the Lutes clinch two conference titles at home on East Field.
PLU men’s soccer clinched its second straight NWC title with a 4-0 win over George Fox. A few hours later, PLU women’s soccer secured its eighth straight league title getting the game winner from Bella Hanna in the 87th minute for the 2-1 win over the Bruins.
Nov. 16 saw PLU football pull away in the fourth quarter in a 34-21 win over Puget Sound to win The Trophy in the 100th meeting between the crosstown rivals.
PLU has won the last four meetings by a combined 144-38 scoreline as the Loggers have never won The Trophy since it was created prior to the 2021 fall season.
Kalen Davis-White had 13 tackles and an interception in the win, earning NWC Defensive Player of the Week honors and a spot on the prestigious D3football.com Team of the Week.
The NWC Champion men's and women's soccer teams dominate the end of season awards, combining for 14 All-Conference honors.
That includes winning six of the eight major NWC Awards. Trevor Thompson was the NWC Offensive Player of the Year while Cole Dobson earned Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second straight year.
Hannah Cecil was the NWC Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive fall with Bella Hanna securing NWC Defensive Player of the Year.
Men's soccer head coach John Yorke and women's soccer head coach Seth Spidahl were both tabbed the NWC Coaches of the Year.
2024 in Luteville by the Numbers
10 programs won Academic honors from national coaches associations
Lutes won 82 All-NWC honors
Lutes earned 47 CSC Academic All-District honors, including three Academic All-Americans
14 All-Region selections
2 All-Americans
58 Chi Alpha Sigma inductees