PORT ANGELES — Soccer players Aubrey Briscoe, Misty Kaiwi and Mark Cottrell, and basketball players Karli Brakes, Olivia Henderson and TreShawn King-Dunbar were honored as winners of Peninsula College’s annual athletic awards, announced at the Board of Trustees awards event earlier this week.
The athletic department honors one athlete from each of the school’s four teams who exemplifies leadership, sportsmanship, citizenship, academic achievement and athletic ability.
The Wally Sigmar Award for soccer went to Briscoe and Cottrell.
Briscoe, of Juneau, Alaska, was playing junior varsity soccer when coach Kanyon Anderson saw something in her that her high school head coach didn’t — and she turned out to be quite a success story at Peninsula, earning a starting role her freshman year, and then leading the Pirates to their first-ever women’s sports championship last fall when Peninsula won the NWAACC women’s soccer title.
Briscoe was named to the West Region All-Conference Team and the NWAACC All-Academic Team, and has earned a scholarship to play at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont., in the fall.
Cottrell, of Victoria, is a freshman at Peninsula and, at age 25, a natural leader for the men’s soccer team.
As a starting defender, he helped the Pirates win their second NWAACC championship last fall.
The West Region All-Conference standout also has been instrumental in Peninsula’s community efforts as an outstanding coach and role model for the Pirate Soccer Academy and other youth soccer clinics.
Basketball honorees
The Art Feiro Award for basketball went to Brakes and King-Dunbar.
Breaks, of Juneau, Alaska, led the entire NWAACC in assists, averaging six per game, and was named the North Region Defensive Player of the Year.
In her two years at Peninsula, the hard-working Brakes helped the Pirates to back-to-back NWAACC Tournament appearances.
She earned a scholarship to play at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., next fall.
King-Dunbar, a freshman out of Anchorage, Alaska, is a strong leader for the men’s basketball team.
Earlier this year, he was nominated by a faculty member and selected as the Peninsula College January Student of the Month.
On the court, King-Dunbar helped the Pirates to a top-12 finish at the NWAACC Tournament.
Peninsula’s other two athletic awards are from the McMullen family endowment and are specifically to support two returning female athletes each year who have overcome challenges through hard work and dedication to be successful in their sport.
The 2012-13 Annie McMullen Award goes to Kaiwi, a freshman soccer player from Kapoli, Hawaii, and Henderson, a freshman basketball player from Juneau.
“We have 90 athletes in our program, and were blessed with truly outstanding young men and women this year, so these six truly represent the ‘character, competition, community’ mantra that the NWAACC and Peninsula College are all about,” Pirates athletic director Rick Ross said.
“It’s especially sad for all of us to see Aubrey and Karli leave, but we’re thrilled for them that they have the opportunity to play at the next level — and on scholarship.
“The other four award winners are all coming back, so the program is in good hands for the future.”