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Pair of GFU Bruins named to academic all-District VIII teams

George Fox University students recognized for athletic, academic abilities by ESPN The Magazine

• By: Frank Graham  
• Published: 11/4/2009 11:20:31 AM

   Two Bruins have been recognized recently for their athletic and academic abilities when Zach Sanders and Jenny McKenzie were voted to ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District teams.
   The awards were voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Zach Sanders, a key player for the Bruins over the past four seasons, has been named to the Academic All-District VIII men’s soccer college division first team.
   Sanders has compiled a grade-point average of 3.64 as an economics major at George Fox. He is joined on the academic all-district team by goalkeeper Tyler Hadzinsky of Chapman University, midfielders David Bakal of California-San Diego and Avery Neal of Pacific University, defenders Ben Coffey of University of Puget Sound, Stuart Gallant of Sonoma State, Bryan Olson of Whitworth University and Andy Wolverton of Seattle Pacific University; and forwards Travis Birrell of Pacific, Federico Cino of Cal State-Los Angeles, and Keith Kirsch of Whitworth.
   All first team selections are automatically nominated for academic all-America honors.
Sanders spent his first three seasons as as an oft-injured defender for the Bruins, appearing in 13 games as a freshman, six as a sophomore and 12 as a junior.
   Switched to midfielder this season to take advantage of his passing skills and finally fully healthy, the senior from Puyallup, Wash., responded with four goals on 12 shots and four assists for 12 points. He is second on the Bruins in assists, tied for second in points and tied for third in goals.
   His assists total is tied for 10th in the Northwest Conference, and he was honorable mention once for NWC men’s soccer offensive student-athlete of the week.
In a 10-0 win over Walla Walla, Sanders had the biggest game of his career with two goals and an assist.
   That followed a 4-0 win over Northwest Christian in which he had both a goal and an assist. He also assisted on the game-winning goal vs. Whitman in the Bruins’ latest outing, a 2-1 win over the Missionaries.
   Jenny McKinsey, the Bruins’ record-setting forward, was named to academic second team.
McKinsey, a senior from Spokane, has compiled a grade-point average of 3.54 while majoring in nursing. She spent her freshman year at Pacific Lutheran University before transferring to George Fox as a sophomore.
   In her three seasons with the Bruins she has scored 29 goals and passed out 20 assists for 78 career points, ranking first in assists and third in goals and points on the all-time George Fox lists.
   She was a second team all-Northwest Conference selection in both her freshman and sophomore seasons, and first team all-NWC last year.
   This fall, McKinsey ranks third in the conference in shots (59), fifth in assists (5, T), sixth in points (17), and seventh in goals (6, T). She scored two goals in a game twice, in the season opener against Corban College and in a conference win over Linfield College, and also had two assists in the Corban game.
   She had a career-high 18 shots in a win over Lewis & Clark College. She has been honorable mention for NWC soccer student-athlete of the week twice this season, and was named the Bruin Athletic Association women’s athlete of the Week for Aug. 29-Sept. 6.

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