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Allen, Jansma Get Trapper Awards
A pair of Northwest College athletes who will be continuing their playing careers at the NCAA Division I level were named athletes of the year at Northwest College on Wednesday night. Men’s basketball player Jeffrey Solarin and women’s soccer star Samhia Simao were recognized for standout careers for the Trappers.
Solarin has been a two-year mainstay on the court for the Trapper men’s basketball program. He led the team in scoring and rebounding as a sophomore and was also the team’s rebounding leader during his freshman campaign. He leaves Northwest College with career marks of 992 points and 559 rebounds combined between his two seasons.
This past season, Solarin was named the national junior college player of the week once and was named an All-American team honorable mention selection at the conclusion of the Trappers’ 22-11 basketball campaign. Solarin played an integral role in helping the Trappers advance to the Region IX tournament semifinals.
Solarin will reunite in the fall with former Northwest College men’s basketball coach Andy Ward as he continues his college career at Idaho State University. Solarin will also reunite with former Trapper teammate Chris Hansen. The tandem formed a formidable duo during its one season together in Powell.
Like Solarin, Simao’s two years at Northwest College were spent in a starting capacity for her team, the Trapper women’s soccer program. Simao finished her career with 40 goals scored in two seasons, establishing a school record that likely will remain on the books for a while.
Simao was a national junior college player of the week last fall for the Trappers, who came within one victory of the program’s first district tournament appearance. She was also honored at the conclusion of the regular season with second-team All American honors, making her the first player to receive national honors in the three-year history of the Trapper women’s soccer program.
Simao will attend Arkansas State University next season where she will continue her playing career with the Red Wolves out of the Sun Belt Conference.
The male and female Athlete of the Year awards were two of the night’s highlighted accolades. NWC also announced the names of the 2013 Trapper Award winners. The Trapper Awards are given annually to the male and female student-athletes judged to best demonstrate academic excellence, community citizenship, leadership and athletic performance.
This year’s winners were men’s soccer player Kory Jansma and women’s basketball player Kennedy Allen.
“With the Trapper award, it’s more than what they do on the field or court, it’s what they do academically and how they represent us out there in the community,” noted Trapper women’s basketball coach Janis Beal. “Both Kory and Kennedy do a great job of that. As Kennedy’s coach, I know I’m going to miss her immensely.”
Beal also noted that given the level of athletic success across the board at Northwest College this past year, the selection of just two students to honor was an extremely challenging one this time.
“This was one of the harder years because we had so many good kids and good athletes,” said Beal. “It was a very hard year to