Lower Columbia College Athletics wins the 2022-2023 NWAC Presidents Cup
The Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) recently announced the winning schools for
the 2022-23 Presidents Cup for overall academic achievement. In the Dick McClain
Division (schools with six or fewer sports) Lower Columbia is the winner. The Cup
is given to the school which has the top achievement in criteria such as grade point
average (GPA), completion, and graduation rate. It’s the second consecutive Presidents
Cup awarded to Lower Columbia. The Devils won the Cup in 2019. Because of Covid-19
and all of the restrictions from the pandemic, the competition was suspended for three
years.
Linn Benton was the second place finisher in the Dick McClain Presidents Cup competition.
The Frank Bosone Division (for schools with seven or more sports) was won by Green
River College. McClain and Bosone are former Executive Directors of the NWAC.
In a testament to the overall winning mission for LCC, the Red Devils also won the
2022-23 Athletic Directors Cup for overall on field/court performance. The AD Cup
is given to the school that tallies the most points using division finishes and NWAC
championship finishes. The Devils won West Region titles in women’s soccer, volleyball,
men’s basketball, and baseball. The 2023 LCC baseball team won the NWAC championship.
All six Red Devil sports teams made the playoffs in 2022-23. The AD Cup was presented
to LCC at the NWAC Convention in Pasco last June.
Lower Columbia is the only school in NWAC history to win an Athletic Directors Cup
and a Presidents Cup in the same school year. And they have now done it twice.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of our student/athletes”, said Lower Columbia athletic
director Kirc Roland. “To win the two highest honors in a 35-school conference just
shows that our focus on academics and competition can go together.”
“The LCC administration sees the value of college athletics. They allow our coaches
to have a livable wage and then the coaches work extremely hard to find the best and
the brightest athletes”, said Roland.
The current NWAC Executive Director Marco Azurdia made the Presidents Cup announcements.
“LCC continues to show excellence on the field, on the court and also in the classroom.
For the NWAC, the Lower Columbia College Red Devils are a legitimate example of what
we strive to promote: that being a student and being an athlete are synonymous and
you can be successful at both.”
The Cup and banner presentation will be made at a future Lower Columbia home basketball
game, to be determined.