Westmont Magazine Another Season of Sensational Warriors

By Jacob Norling

Volleyball

Following their GSAC Regular Season Championship, the Warriors traveled to Butte, Montana, for the NAIA Opening Round. They defeated the Montana Tech Orediggers to clinch their trip to the NAIA Final Site in Sioux City, Iowa, where they faced Midland, the third-ranked team in the nation, during pool play. The unranked Warriors beat Midland in four sets. But later in the tournament, Midland defeated Westmont in a one-set tiebreaker, ending the underdog Warriors’ season in pool play. Lexi Malone was named an NAIA Third Team All-American, and Phoebe Minch received an All-American honorable mention.

Women’s Soccer

After winning the GSAC Regular Season Championship for the fourth year in a row and the GSAC Tournament, the Warriors competed in the NAIA Opening Round. They defeated Lindsey Wilson (Kentucky) and Southeastern (Florida) to advance to the NAIA Final Site in Orange Beach, Alabama. Their season ended with a 2-1 loss to Aquinas. Reese Davidson and Taylie Scott both received NAIA All-American honorable mentions.

Swimming

Women’s swimming capped off another historic season in the NAIA, with the club posting its highest finish ever at the National Championships: eighth place. In the fourth year of the program, the first four-year seniors are graduating: Emma Leathers, Bailey Lemmon, Rian Lewandowski, Morgan Bienias and Gaby Rego. At the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference (PCSC) Championships in Monterey Park, the Warriors finished in eighth place, the highest among NAIA teams. The Warriors broke several records during the meet. Ella Chaisson placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke in a record time of 2:22.53, becoming the first Warrior to reach the podium at the PCSC Championships. The Warriors took six athletes to the NAIA National Championships in Columbus, Georgia. By the end of the first day, all six women had earned NAIA All-American status. Bienias, Chaisson, Lemmon, Daisy Marquardt, Emma Bustamante, and Olivia Garrison all represented the Warriors at nationals, and each came home a part of Westmont women’s swimming history.

Track & Field

Junior track star Zola Sokhela set the tone for his third season at Westmont in January when he broke the Warrior record in the 600-meter dash. He headlined Westmont’s trip to the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Brookings, South Dakota. He earned second place in the men’s mile with a time of 4:08.53 and then won the National Championship in the men’s 1000 with a record time of 2:25.42. Sokhela is now a four-time NAIA National Champion and an 11-time NAIA All-American. Other All-Americans include: Jack Vanden Heuvel, who finished in third place in the 1000; and the men’s 4x800 relay team, which finished eighth during the final race. Sokhela was named the 2023 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s NAIA Indoor Track & Field Men’s Athlete of the Year. Westmont’s 4x800 relay All-Americans were Adam King, Andres Leon, Ben Bodine and John Baker. Competing for the women at Indoor Nationals were Madden Hundley, Lily Sween, Abby Rumohr and Siena Keck.

Baseball

First-year head coach Tyler La Torre began his tenure at Westmont with a three-game series at Saint Katherine. The Warriors fell on opening day, then followed up the loss with a winning streak that cemented them as one of the most formidable NAIA ball clubs on the West Coast. In 2022, the Warriors followed their opening-day loss with a 17-game winning streak. In 2023, the club won 18 of its next 22 games. Leading the offensive push for the Warriors is senior Brady Renck, who was hitting over .400 through the first week of March. On the pitching side, senior Eric Oseguera posted an ERA of 2.37 in his first six starts. The first NAIA Top-25 poll on March 8 featured Westmont as the 18th-ranked team in the nation.

Men’s Basketball

The Warriors finished the regular season with a five-game winning streak, posting a 10-8 conference record. The club earned a berth in the conference tournament, and the NAIA announced Westmont as an at-large recipient in the 64-team National Tournament. As a 13-seed, Westmont traveled to Butte, Montana, for the first round of the NAIA National Tournament, where they lost 83-69. In his third season, Coach Landon Boucher took the Warriors to the National Tournament for the first time. Fifth-year senior Cade Roth represented Westmont on the All-GSAC team and became one of only 44 Warriors to reach the 1,000-point club. He finished his career at Westmont with 1,054 points, the 37th most in the college’s history.

Women’s Basketball

Westmont Women’s Basketball displayed its typical dominance during the regular season, winning 23 of 25 of their games to capture another GSAC Regular Season Championship. Fifth-year Stefanie Berberabe, who became the leading scorer ever with 1,752 points, ranks third in career points per game at 13.1 and first in field goals made (685). Her 601 career assists rank second, just 16 shy of the record held by Amber Stevens (2006-10). She also ranks second in steals at 325. Sydney Brown’s 849 career rebounds and her 7.9 boards per game is the third best of any Warrior. She finished fifth in career blocks (73) and fourth in career starts (106). She tallied 905 career points, 19th best. Berberabe’s historic regular season earned her a place on the All-GSAC team with teammates Brown and Laila Saenz. Following the end of the regular season, the Warriors hosted the first two rounds of the NAIA National Tournament. The two-seeded Warriors defeated No. 15 Antelope Valley by a score of 84-62 and bested Southern Oregon 63-49. With the wins, Westmont earned its third-consecutive trip to the NAIA Final Site in Sioux City, Iowa. The Warriors’ (25-4) season ended with a 68-57 loss to Marian (Indiana) in the Round of 16.

Tennis

Men’s tennis opened its GSAC season with great promise this spring, winning its first three conference matches against Saint Katherine, Arizona Christian and Ottowa University (Arizona). In the match with ACU, Ethan Ha broke a 3-3 tie with a match-clinching win on court 3 to give the club a court-rushing 4-3 victory over the Firestorm.

On the women’s side, reigning GSAC Coach of the Year Cade Pierson returned to the forefront, beginning her first season as the sole head coach of the program. While battling several tough NCAA opponents early in the season, the Warriors picked up their first win in their GSAC opener, defeating Arizona Christian 5-2 in Glendale.

Golf

Men’s and women’s golf hosted two meets in February, including the Spring Shootout at Rustic Canyon. With a team score of 304, the men — Brock Yurkovich, Danny Manginelli, Cooper Allen, Bryce Bowman, Peyton Hendricks, Noah Lodewky and Andy Knight — took home the first-place trophy. Elizabeth Oloteo led her teammates on the leaderboard at both Rustic Canyon and Olivas Links. At Rustic Canyon, Oloteo finished in a fifth-place tie with a one-round score of 84, and at Olivas Links she finished in an 11th-place tie with a two-round score of 153 (+9).