PACIFIC COAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE / APR. 24, 2017
Palomar's Dunckel, MiraCosta beach duo share honor.
The Pacific Coast Athletic Conference has selected Palomar College's Brie Dunckel and MiraCosta beach volleyball duo Claire Kinder and Chloe Tripp as Women's Athletes of the Week honors for April 17-23.
Dunckel, Palomar's sophomore second baseman out of Valley Center High School and the 2016 PCAC Player of the Year, went 8-for-15 with a home run, triple, double, 5 singles, 4 RBIs and 7 runs scored during the week as the Comets clinched their 34th conference championship. Dunckel, Palomar's leadoff hitter, also was 3-for-3 on stolen bases.
Dunckel went 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and 2 runs scored in the Comets' 11-0 win over Imperial Valley. She homered to lead off the bottom of the first inning and wound up 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk as Palomar advanced to 15-0 in the PCAC and clinched the conference championship by beating San Diego Mesa 8-0. Finally, in a non-conference doubleheader split with College of the Canyons (13-4 win, 9-5 loss), she went 4-for-8 with a triple, 2 RBIs, 4 runs scored, 3 steals and 2 walks.
Dunckel is batting .459 for the season with 6 doubles, 7 triples, 1 homer, 24 RBIs and 27 steals on 27 attempts. She's hitting .449 in conference games.
Kinder, a freshman from Arcata High School in Humboldt, and Tripp, a freshman from McKinleyville (CA) High School, finished an unbeaten 4's season and were key to securing an undefeated (12-0) PCAC beach championship for MiraCosta.
For the week, Kinder and Tripp went undefeated as they swept in victories over Palomar 5-0 and El Camino College 4-1.
The Spartans went 14-0 in conference, were undefeated against community college opponents and are 18-2 overall with their only losses to 4-year college opponents.
Honorable mention for the week was awarded to Hallie Santana (Palomar track & field), Grossmont beach volleyball duo Makena Wilson and Felicia Marshall, Michelle Jacob (Palomar swimming), Melanie Ibarra (Imperial Valley softball) and Angelina Guthro (Southwestern softball).
Santana, a sophomore from Valley Center High School, helped lead the Comets to their second straight conference track & field championship with three first places as the PCAC championship meet at Mesa College's Merrill Douglas Stadium. Santana won the 200-meter dash, ran the second leg on the Comets' championship 4x100 relay team and led off Palomar's winning 4x400 relay team. Her performance helped the Comets win the meet with 236 points compared to 161 points for runner-up Mesa.
Wilson, a sophomore from Bonita Vista High School, and Marshall, a freshman from Layton Christian High in Layton, Utah, swept against both San Diego Mesa and Rio Hondo as the defending state champion Griffins concluded their beach conference season.
Jacob, a sophomore from La Costa Canyon High School, set two meet records as Palomar's team finished in second place to champion Mesa in the PCAC finals at the Comets' Wallace Memorial Pool. Jacob and previous Athlete of the Week winners Anna Stahlak of Mesa (Feb. 27) and Emma Thomas of Palomar (Feb. 13) combined to break seven meet records and shared conference Women's Swimmer of the Year honors. (An individual is allowed to be named PCAC Athlete of the Week only once in her season of sport).
Ibarra, IVC's freshman centerfielder and leadoff hitter out of Calexico High School, raised her batting average to .374 by going 6-for-8 in two games. Ibarra went 5-for-6 with a double, an RBI and 2 runs scored in the Arabs' 5-2 victory over San Bernardino Valley. And she was 1-for-2 with a steal and a walk in their loss to conference champion Palomar.
Guthro, a freshman utility player for Southwestern who is a Valhalla High product, was 5-for-7 for the week. She went 2-for-3 in a 10-2 loss to Santa Ana, went 2-for-2 in a 3-2 win over Pasadena City College and was 1-for-2 in a 9-1 victory over College of the Desert.
http://www.paccoastconf.com/aotwMenu.htm