Athletics News

Women’s Athletics Makes History

In preparing for the 50th season of women’s athletics at John Brown University next year, all three women’s programs (soccer, volleyball and basketball) qualified for the NAIA National Championships – the first time in university history.

Volleyball Breaks Through

Bolstered by the program’s seventh 20-win season under head coach Ken Carver, the Golden Eagle volleyball program was welcomed to the NAIA National Championships for the first time in the team’s 49-year history. JBU posted a pair of victories over tournament-qualifying teams Ottawa University and eventual Elite Eight contestant

Columbia College. In Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) play, JBU finished with a 14-6 record, highlighted by pushing then-undefeated Southwestern Assemblies of God University (29-0) to five sets. JBU then advanced to the SAC tournament semifinal round for the sixth time in nine seasons.

Armed with a 22-9 record, the Golden Eagles were selected to take on the nation’s No. 14 team, Bellevue University, in the NAIA National Championships Opening Round. JBU pushed the host Bruins to the brink twice before falling in straight sets, keeping the nation’s 12th-most-efficient offense largely at bay in the Golden Eagles’ first-ever showing at the national tournament. 05

Women’s Soccer Makes it a Three-Peat

Women’s soccer captured the program’s third consecutive and fifth overall SAC tournament crown and qualified for its ninth appearance in the NAIA National Championships.

Under head coach Kathleen Paulsen, Ph.D., the Golden Eagles have either appeared in the SAC tournament championships or qualified for the NAIA National Championships every year and have achieved both elite positions in six of Paulsen’s 10 seasons.

After defeating University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma 2-0 to win an SAC tournament championship match in Chickasha, JBU went to Williamsburg, Kentucky, to face Indiana Wesleyan University in the first round of the national tournament. Despite outshooting IWU by an 11-1 margin in the second half (19-9) overall, the Golden Eagles fell by a 3-0 final. The Golden Eagles finished the season 15-5-0, hitting 15 wins for the fifth time in the last seven seasons.

Women’s Basketball Earns Largest Upset in Big Dance

The JBU women’s basketball team was extended one of 26 at-large berths to qualify for its sixth-ever NAIA National Championships appearance – all under head coach Jeff Soderquist. Headlined by the SAC’s Player of the Year runner-up, Tarrah Stephens, the Golden Eagles hit the 20-win plateau for just the seventh time in program history.

The Golden Eagles began the season 6-0 in nonconference play and used an upset of No. 21 Texas Wesleyan University to jump-start a six-game winning streak in the second semester that saw JBU win 10 of its final 15 games of the regular season. With JBU returning to the national tournament for the first time in six seasons, the Golden Eagles were faced with taking on the nation’s No. 9 team, Loyola University, on its home court in New Orleans. JBU was up to the task, recording the first round’s largest upset with a 68-65 win over the Wolf Pack – ending Loyola’s 43-game home winning streak.

With the new format of all 236 NAIA institutions in one division, the Golden Eagles finished in the top 15% of all women’s basketball programs. 06

Hope Abounds in Women’s Cross Country

For the third consecutive season, a Golden Eagle won the Sooner Athletic Championship meet, this time captured by freshman Hope Ahnfeldt, a winning streak begun by SAC Champion Allika Pearson ’22.

Ahnfeldt, a three-time SAC Runner of the Week selection, turned in a time of 18:44, winning by a wide 12 seconds and set a new program record as the fastest time ever by a Golden Eagle freshman at the SAC Championships. While Hope won the meet, more JBU history was made when senior Emerson Turner crossed the finish line in 19:46 (6th place), qualifying a second female runner for the NAIA National Championship meet for the first time ever. Joining the tandem as All-Conference runners (top 15 in the meet) was freshman Liz Vazquez

– marking the first time JBU had produced three All-Conference finishes at the SAC meet.

Ahnfeldt went on to run a 5,000-meter time of 18:20 at the NAIA National Championships meet to finish in 47th place out of 326 runners. 07

Standout Seasons Produce All-America Accolades

Entering the spring sports season, JBU has already produced seven All-America student-athletes, led by second-teamer Tarrah Stephens (women’s basketball) and third-teamer Aubrey Mendez ’23 (women’s soccer). Lauren Cloud ’23 (volleyball), Savanna Riney (volleyball), Lauren Walter (women’s soccer), Ryan Winingham (women’s soccer) and Jacob Zamarron (men’s soccer) were all named All-America honorable mentions.

JBU Women’s Athletics

Celebrates 50 years in October

The Golden Eagles will celebrate 50 years of women’s athletics at JBU during Homecoming 2023. All former female student-athletes are welcomed to join a reception on Friday, Oct. 6 before the volleyball match at 6 p.m. inside Bill George Arena. The following morning, all former female student-athletes in attendance will be recognized before the women’s soccer match at 11 a.m. at Alumni Field.