The Lewis & Clark College Department of PE & Athletics is preparing to welcome in a class of talented first-year student athletes. With more students committing to Lewis & Clark every day, the Pioneers already have 102 recruited student-athletes who have paid deposits to attend the school in the fall. This is over a 100% increase above the number of new student-athletes that arrived on Palatine Hill last fall. In addition to these 54 female and 48 male recruits, there are another 70 non-recruited students who will also be attending the College who have expressed an interest in participating in one of the Pioneers’ 19 varsity sports.

The incoming student-athletes have a very impressive academic and athletic profile and come from 28 different states and the District of Columbia. Among the 102 recruited athletes, there are eight valedictorians and thirteen with a 4.0 GPA. On average, this group is in the upper 20% of their class, has a grade point average of 3.6 and scored nearly 1280 on the SAT.

The student-athletes have collectively earned 47 first team all-league, 11 second team all-league, and 27 all-district honors. They also have 12 all-state designations, 11 conference MVP awards. 17 received scholar-athlete awards. In a leadership role, the incoming class has 43 terms as team captain and 25 team MVP’s among them.

The Pioneer tennis team once again finds their incoming class coming from diverse backgrounds. Alix Dixon, from Flathead High School in Kalispell, Mont., is a three-time state qualifier, placing 4th, 3rd, and 2nd in divisionals. Whitney DeBree from Ketchum, Idaho also qualified for state each of the last three years at Wood River High and has held a USTA ranking the last three years in Girls 18u. Amalia Nilsson from Stockholm, Sweeden comes to L&C from the American School in Tokyo, Japan. Nillson was a league champion and an all-star in the greater Tokyo area, finishing second in the Far East Tournament for high school players. For the men, Blake Riddell from Fort Worth, Texas is a USTA Tournament Winner for 16u and 18u singles. Dylan Arrieta-Joy attended high school at Loyola High in Los Angeles, but is transferring to L&C from Loyola University (Chicago). He was a USTA tournament finalist for the boy’s 16u. Sehome High’s Adam Roger, of Bellingham, Wash., won a USTA boy’s 18u tournament last summer.