Press Release courtesy of Pacific Athletics
Seven individuals and one team have been selected to the 2017-18 Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame.
As part of this special evening, the athletic department will honor this year’s Stagg Award recipients, as well as present the 2017-18 Pacific Tigers Student-Athletes of the Year Awards. The evening of celebration and recognition provides a unique opportunity for connecting Pacific’s heritage of outstanding athletic alumni and Hall of Famers with the current generation of exceptional student-athletes.
The biennial event will take place Saturday, April 28, 2018 in the Alex G. Spanos Center. A social hour, which includes a no-host bar, will begin at 6:00 p.m. Dinner and the awards program will follow at 7:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for the event by contacting Pam Nogare at 209-946-3945, Rebecca Scharmann via email at [email protected], or online. The price for tickets is $50.
Established in 1982, the Hall, which is made up of 243 individuals and 28 teams, welcomes Wendy Woolgar (women’s soccer), Natalie Dorr (women’s soccer), Kara Gormsen (women’s volleyball), Sarah Marshall (women’s swimming), Eddie Wisniewski (men’s water polo), Wendy Crain (field hockey), Adi Kramer (men’s tennis) along with the 2000 women’s volleyball team.
Following are brief biographical sketches of the 2017-18 Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame inductees:
Wendy Woolgar (1998)
Woolgar will be awarded posthumously after leading the Pacific women’s soccer team from 1995-1998. The three-time All-Big West First Team (1996, 1997, 1998) and 1997 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-West Region Third Team selection continues to top the women’s soccer all-time list with 115 points (1.46/gm) over her four year career with the Tigers. Her career assist total (39) ranks first and her career goal total (38) ranks second all-time, while her single-season marks rank among the top three in points, points per game, goals, and assists.
Natalie Dorr (1998)
Teammate of Woolgar, Natalie Dorr capped off her four-year career by earning the Big West Player of the Year award and All-Big West First Team honors as a result of helping the 1998 women’s soccer team to a 15-3-3 record, including an undefeated 7-0-2 in the Big West. That year she led the Tigers to a Big West regular-season Championship and a Conference Tournament title. Statistically, Dorr still tops the women’s single-season record book with 14 goals, 10 assists, 38 points and eight game-winning goals.
Kara Gormsen (2000)
Gormsen spent three seasons with the women’s volleyball team after transferring from Arizona State in 1998. During her tenure she averaged 12.72 assists and 2.56 digs per set. As a senior, she averaged 14.21 assists, which continues to rank No. 1 in the all-time single-season record book. Also in 2000, Gormsen was named Co-Big West Player of the Year and was selected to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America First Team after guiding her team to a second-straight Big West Title, which included records of 28-4, 15-1 in conference play.
Sarah Marshall (2004)
Marshall was a 12-time All-American swimmer for the Tigers from 2000-2004. In 2002 she finished top 16 in three individual events and three relay events. The following year, Marshall snagged a fifth place finish (54.13) in the 100 Backstroke, which is the highest finish by a University of the Pacific swimmer, and was 13th in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:57.95. At the conference level Marshall was a four-time 100 Back champion, two-time 200 Back champion, while also contributing to the four-time 400 Medley Relay and 200 Medley Relay Championship performances. As a sophomore (2002) she was tabbed the Big West Athlete of the Year after setting conference records, which still hold today, in the 100 Back (53.82) and the 200 Back (1:57.65). Academically, Marshall was named the Big West Scholar Athlete of the Year as a senior, completing her bachelors degree in Biology before going on to earn her BSN at John Hopkins University and her Master’s degree in Nursing at the University of San Francisco.
Eddie Wisniewski (2003)
Wisneiwski joins wife Sarah Marshall in this year’s induction class after completing a stellar four-year career with the men’s water polo team. The two-time All-America selection ranks 12th all-time with 152 career goals. As a senior, Wisniewski finished the season with a career-high 88 goals in 24 games, which also placed him second in the MPSF with 2.83 goals per game and third in total goals. That same year he totaled 13 steals and 10 assists. In his first year with the program he was second on the team with 32 goals. Succeeding even outside of the pool, Eddie received MPSF All-Academic honors in 2002 and 2003
Wendy Crain (1990)
Crain is just one of six field hockey players to earn All-America honors, earning the award as a junior in 1989. That same year the three-time Defensive Player of the Year was named the NorPac Player of the Year after setting a single-season record for defensive saves with 11. Crain as well as the women’s field hockey program were highlighted by their 1989 performance, setting a, then, program record for wins (9-6-1) and win percentage (.594) en route to the Tigers first-ever NCAA appearance.
Adi Kremer (1996)
Kremer put the Pacific men’s tennis program on the map for recruiting international talent. The right-hander from Isreal had the ability to compete with anyone in the country during the three years he played for the Tigers. After an outstanding freshman year, Kremer returned as sophomore in 1994 with a No. 55 national preseason ranking in singles. That same year he compiled a 19-5 record en route to earning his first of two All-Big West honors. Kremer was also outstanding in the classroom, maintaining a 3.75 GPA while pursuing a double major in Business and Computer Science. He currently serves as a volunteer coach for the Pacific men’s tennis team.
2000 Women’s Volleyball Team
The 2000 women’s volleyball team finished 28-4 overall with the help of 20-straight victories from Sept. 28-Dec. 2. In those 20 matches the Tigers allowed their opponents to just three set victories, outscoring their foes 60-3. With a 15-1 conference record the program snagged its second-consecutive Big West Title and advanced to their 18th regional in 20 years. Following victories in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, the 2000 squad finished at No. 8 in the final AVCA coaches poll. As a team the Tigers set several records, including single-season kills per game, digs per game and assists per game records. Gormsen will join fellow Hall of Famers Jennifer Joines, as well as All-Big West selections — Jamie Hamm, Danielle Shinn, Elaine Goeders and Courtney Miller — in the team’s induction.
