Track & Field | 3/16/2012 12:17:00 PM

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Ashley Potter, the All-American from Western Oregon University, has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year and Ryan Hansen has been voted the Male Newcomer of the Year.

Potter becomes the first Western Oregon female student-athlete to capture the award in the nine-year history of the league. The senior from Springfield, Ore. (Thurston HS) placed second in the triple jump at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships with a conference mark of 40-8.25 (12.40m). That leap smashed the previous GNAC record by 8.75 inches and her own Western Oregon record by 13.25 inches.  In the conference meet, she won the triple jump with a meet-record mark of 39-7 and finished third in the long jump with a leap of 18-2.5.

Ryan Hansen claimed the Newcomer of the Year honor by being the only male from the conference to earn a place into the NCAA Division II championships. The sophomore from Dallas, Ore. earned his place into Nationals by running a time of 1:51.55 in the 800m at the Seattle Pacific Last Chance Meet. That time was the second fastest time in the history of the GNAC and Western Oregon. Hansen's converted time of 1:51.65 was just .16 seconds off the eight-year old GNAC record set by Paul Mach of Seattle Pacific in 2004. That time was also the 11th quickest in Division II this season.  He placed second at the GNAC Indoor Championships in the 800m and anchored WOU's 4x400 meter relay team that won the conference title in a meet record time of 3:18.60.

Western Oregon men's head coach Mike Johnson also picked the GNAC Men's Coach of the Year honors.  Johnson led Western Oregon to its fifth straight men's indoor team title and its sixth overall.  Johnson, a 1972 graduate of Eastern Washington, has now won a total of 12 GNAC Coach of the Year awards also winning for men's indoor in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011;  women's outdoor in 2004, 2005 and 2008 and men's outdoor in 2004, 2008 and 2011.