WELCOME TO LINFIELD UNIVERSITY
Scott Brosius
EVENT
Jamie Vasas
COMMUNICATIONS
Conner Jensen, Kelly Bird
STATISTICS
Kira Hawaaboo, Jordan Hayes
PUBLIC ADDRESS AND SCOREBOARD
Steve Oleson
VIDEO WEBCASTS
Eric Albios, Brian Kice, Joe Stuart
OFFICIAL SCORER
Leslie Benton
EVENT PROGRAM
Kelly Bird, Conner Jensen, Jake Downing, Felipe Unker
6 piilani hirahara
TED WILSON GYMNASIUM
Ted Wilson Gymnasium bears the name of the man who coached the Linfield basketball team to more championships than any individual in school history. Over 20 seasons, Wilson directed the Wildcats in over 500 games, compiling a 324-213 record. Riley Gymnasium was nicknamed the “House of Hustle” out of respect for Wilson’s high-scoring teams, which averaged a school-record 96.5 points a game during the 1977-78 season. The nickname remained when Wilson Gym replaced Riley Gym in 1989.
The numerous accomplishments of past championship teams and individuals from each of Linfield’s varsity sports programs now proudly encircle Wilson Gym’s court. Sixtysix banners now surround Wilson Gym’s playing surface and include every program with championship success. All team and individual national champions are recognized, as well as all national runners-up, both team and individual.
Additionally, a summary of every sport’s conference championship history is displayed, with some conference championship listings dating as far back as the 1930s.
The full-service facility contains locker rooms, offices and classrooms, a fully equipped athletic training room along with display areas that house the trophies and recognitions
of past Linfield teams and athletes.
In 1920, Riley Gym was built adjacent to historic Pioneer Hall at a cost of just over $25,000. Riley Gym served as the basketball home of the Wildcats for 67 seasons. A granddaddy of small college gyms, Riley played host to its first game in December, 1921, and its last game in February, 1989.
Linfield’s first on-campus basketball court was located on the north end of campus in the building now known as Newby Hall. The floor was miniature by today’s standards and there were no boundary lines. The surrounding walls prevented players from leaving the playing area. As a game was about to start, someone would check that all the doors were closed tight, the ball would be tipped off at center court, and it was every player for himself.
Up until 1907, Newby Hall, nicknamed the “Chem Shack,” was illuminated by candles with tin reflectors. In this era, many of the gyms the Wildcats played in were smaller and even more primitive than the one on the Linfield campus.
Around 1900, Linfield played its home basketball games in the old pavilion in the city park. Following practices and games, players had to heat their own shower water using a wood-burning boiler.
TED WILSON GYMNASIUM
PROUD PARTNER OF LINFIELD ATHLETICS
anela madarang-brandes | 1
5-2 | Junior | DS Waipahu, Hawaii
paige richards | 3
5-5 | Senior | DS/L Arlington, Washington
dannika goss | 2
5-9 | Freshman | S Tillamook, Oregon
PAIGE PA’ALUHI | 5
5-5 | Sophomore | DS/OH Mililani, Hawaii
camryn hirst | 12
5-10 | Sophomore | MB/RS Orinda, California
marina erosa | 8
5-9 | Senior | OH Wilmington, California
NORA MYRE | 11 5-8 | Sophomore | OH/MB Redmond, Washington
katelyn mawdsley | 13 5-10 | Sophomore | MB/RS Orinda, California
cam coughlin | 17
5-6 | Sophomore | RS/OH Bend, Oregon
JOURNEY DEPONTE | 4 5-7 | Sophomore | MB/RS Mililani, Hawaii
sydney downing | 7
5-5 | Junior | L/DS Sumner, Washington
Kanoe contreras | 14
5-5 | Freshman | S/DS Honolulu, Hawaii
Araeya watanabe | 16 5-7 | Junior | OH/RS Salem, Oregon
kaitlyn hough | 10 5-11 | Freshman | RS/OH St. John, Washington
Madison millard | 19
6-1 | Freshman | MB Kailua, Hawaii
Malia Haynes | 22
5-7 | Freshman | DS/L Richland, Washington
Greg HIll Certified Athletic Trainer
loke carter | 24
5-10 | Freshman | RS/MB Hilo, Hawaii
bella rodriguez | 18 5-6 | Sophomore | DS/L Keizer, Oregon
emma laurel| 26
5-7 | Freshman | DS/L Kailua, Hawaii
aiyana Henderson Assistant Coach
P’i’ilani hirahara | 6 5-7 | Sophomore | MB/RS Honolulu, Hawaii
kimiko sisson | 9
5-10 | Freshman | MB/RS Ewa Beach, Hawaii
margaritah banuelos | 15
5-6 | Sophomore | S Auburn, Washington
2024 LINFIELD WILDCATS
Back row (l to r): Kaitlyn Hough, Madi Millard, Kimiko Sisson, Marina Erosa. Third row: Katelyn Mawdsley, Cam Coughlin, Camryn Hirst, Nora Myre, Araeya Wantanabe, Loke Carter, Interim Head Coach Lacey Bell. Second row: Dannika Goss, Paige Richards, Journey DePonte, Margaritah Bañuelos, Emma Laurel, Bella Rodriguez. Front row: Sydney Downing, Malia Haynes, Kanoe Contreras, Anela Madarang-Brandes, Paige Pa’aluhi, Piilani Hirahara.
LINFIELD WILDCATS
LEWIS & CLARK PIONEERS
LINFIELD VERSUS LEWIS & CLARK
match breakdown
14 kanoe contreras
THE RECORDS
Heading into the final three matches of the season, the Wildcats (5-15, 2-11 NWC) sit at eighth place in the Northwest Conference standings and look toward tonight’s matchup with Lewis & Clark (0-18, 0-11 NWC). The Pioneers sit one spot below the ‘Cats in the standings. Earlier this season, Linfield traveled to Portland and swept the Pioneers 3-0.
LINFIELD AT A GLANCE
Nora Myre ranks fourth in the Northwest Conference with 2.85 kills per set. The emergence of Araeya Watanabe has risen up the conference leaderboard to rank seventh with 2.73 kills per set. Paige Richards remains a steady pres-ence on the back line, tallying 192 digs on the season to bolster the Linfield defense. Madison Millard has been making a name for herself during her freshman campaign with 46 blocks.
LEWIS & CLARK AT A GLANCE
Bethany Ballesteros captains the defense with 195 digs in her final season while Kelsie Nakashima adds 131. Offensively, Annika Traxler threatens with 163 kills at a .097 clip. Ella Ruark is the other Pioneer with triple figure kills at 101. Traxler has also proven to be dangerous from the back line with a team high 27 service aces, good for tenth place in the NWC.
SERIES HISTORY
Linfield dominates the all-time series against the Pioneers 46-16. The Wildcats are 5-1 over the last six and boast a 24-6 home record in Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE
vollEYball STANDINGS
18 bella rodriguez
LINFIELD’S WILDCAT TURNS 100
First called “Wildcats” in 1924, Linfield teams have always been known for their scrapiness
It has been a century since Linfield athletic teams were first called “Wildcats.”
According to historical accounts, as competitive athletics grew in popularity and prominence during the 1920s, the student body voted in 1924 that the athletic mascot would be known as a “Wildcat” because Linfield was “a small school with a lot of fight and scratch.”
Before the 1924 vote, spectators at Linfield sports events cheered for the “Baptists,” owing to the school’s early heritage, or the “Cardinal and Purple,” a reference to the school colors.
The current Linfield athletic logo, showing a scowling Wildcat wearing a jauntily cocked sailor’s cap, first became a visual fixture on the sides of the football team’s helmets in 1963 under Hall of Fame coach Paul Durham.
Regarded as one of the most influential coaches in school history, Durham directed the Wildcats from 1948 to 1967. In 20 seasons, Durham rolled up a career record of 122-51-10 while leading Linfield to seven conference titles and two appearances in the NAIA championship game.
Though that version of the Wildcat logo underwent only minor cosmetic changes over the next six decades, the basic logo from the 1960s remains the recognizable symbol of all Linfield varsity athletic teams today and by extension, it has come to represent many periphery segments of campus life, too.
Linfield teams also sport one of the most unique color schemes in all of college athletics. The college adopted the current colors of Cardinal (Red) and Purple in 1917.
A Heritage of Confident Service
Macy & Son is in the business of helping people and meeting the individual needs of McMinnville area families for five generations.
WINTER SPORTS
With the calendar set to turn the page to November, winter sports are soon to be underway at Linfield.
Competition in men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming, and men’s and women’s wrestling get rolling even before the fall sports seasons are completed.
Here’s a glance at the Wildcats’ upcoming home event schedules during November and December.
DATE EVENT
Dec. 7 Wrestling Cal Poly Humboldt Noon
Dec. 7
LINFIELD IN THE NEWS
English major Emma Bare’s winning entry in the Frederic Fadner Critical Essay Contest will be published in an annual journal
Linfield University student Emma Bare ’25 earned international recognition from the Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society for a critical essay that she submitted for publication.
The English major from Camas, Wash., is the recipient of the Frederic Fadner Critical Essay Award. Her winning entry –“Interrogating Torture and Surveillance in J.M. Coetzee’s ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’ in a Post-9/11 Space” – applies a post-structural lens to the portrayl of torture and surveillance in the novel.
The Frederic Fadner Critical Essay Award honors the best critical essays submitted to the Sigma Tau Delta Review. As the award winner, Bare received a $500 prize. In addition, her essay will be published in the 2025 edition of the annual journal.
“I woke up and I looked at my phone and I saw something from them, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” she said. “And I looked at the first word it said, congratulations. I re-read it,
I think, like, five times. Even still, I’ll look at it again, just to make sure I’m not losing my mind.”
Originally, Bare wrote the essay for an assignment in her postcolonial literature class during her sophomore year. The next year, she took a critical methods class, in which students revise an old paper they were proud of and apply a critical lens to it. This is where the award-winning paper was born.
Bare submitted the essay to the Sigma Tau Delta Review in April and learned of the award in August.
Sigma Tau Delta is an international English honors society with over 770 chapters internationally. The organization focuses on high achievement in literature on college campuses. Students can submit original works to The Sigma Tau Delta Rectangle, which focuses on creative writing, or the Sigma Tau Delta Review, which Bare submitted to that focuses on critical essays.
Bare currently serves as chapter president of Sigma Tau Delta on the McMinnville campus.
EMMA BARE
