SPOKANE, WA — Linfield College used a strong finish in virtually every spring sport to overtake University of Puget Sound and win the McIlroy-Lewis All-Sports trophy. The Wildcats win the trophy for the first time.
Linfield won only one NWC title in the spring, women’s golf, but finished second in four other sports to accumulate 119 points this spring and total 242 points for the year.
Defending champion Pacific Lutheran finished second with 231 points. The Lutes won four NWC titles this spring to make a strong run from fifth place in the standings after the winter season. PLU won NWC titles in both men’s and women’s tennis, softball and men’s golf.
Puget Sound, which led after both the fall and winter seasons, tied Willamette University for third place in the standings. Puget Sound’s top finish was a runner-up place in men’s golf. Willamette won the NWC baseball title. Both schools finished with 222 points.
Whitworth, which was second in the standings after the winter season, fell to fifth place with 208 points. The Pirates won both track and field titles, but did not score any points in men’s or women’s golf, sports the school does not sponsor.
George Fox and Whitman tied for sixth place with 123 points, while Lewis & Clark finished eighth with 119 points. Pacific tallied 74 points.
The Northwest Conference All-Sports Trophy recognizes athletic excellence among Northwest Conference institutions across all fields of competition. It is named in honor of John Lewis, the baseball coach (1947-72), basketball coach (1947-67) and athletics director (1952-72) at Willamette University; and Jane McIlroy, Linfield College’s women’s athletics director and physical education professor from 1950-82 who also coached field hockey (1952-81), basketball, volleyball, softball and tennis.
Pacific Lutheran had won the trophy every year but once since its inception in 1986. Willamette won the award in 1994.
| School | wxc | mxc | wsoc | msoc | vb | fb | wsw | msw | wbb | mbb | bb | sb | wtn | mtn | wg | mg | wtf | mtf | total |
| Linfield | 4 | 4 | 12 | 18 | 15 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 242 |
| Pacific Lutheran | 12 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 14 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 231 |
| Puget Sound | 8 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 11 | 12 | 5 | 14 | 12 | 12 | -- | 16 | 8 | 8 | 222 |
| Willamette | 18 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 222 |
| Whitworth | 14 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 8 | -- | -- | 18 | 18 | 208 |
| George Fox | 10 | 10 | 14 | 6 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | 18 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 4 | 4 | -- | -- | 12 | 10 | 123 |
| Whitman | 16 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 10 | -- | 8 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 8 | -- | 14 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 123 |
| Lewis & Clark | 6 | 16 | -- | -- | 4 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 16 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 119 |
| Pacific | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 8 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 74 |
key: wxc = women's cross country; mxc = men's cross-country; wsoc = women's soccer; msoc = men's soccer; vb = volleyball; fb = football; wsw = women's swimming; msw = men's swimming; wbb = women's basketball; mbb = men's basketball; bb = baseball; sb = softball; wtn = women's tennis; mtn = men's tennis; wg = women's golf; mg = men's golf; wtf = women's track & field; mtf = men's track & field.