New marks for PLNU athletics
Point Loma Nazarene University fans will notice a new look on the Sea Lions’ athletic website and in its logos and colors.
In 2013-14, PLNU begins its provisional year as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the final step of a three-year membership application process. To celebrate, PLNU partnered with Joe Bosack & Co., one of the most respected athletic graphic-design firms in the country, to create an image as unique as PLNU itself. The Bosack group is noted for delivering well-researched brand identities.
“We are thrilled to have marks that can be used with consistency throughout our athletic programs,” said athletic director Ethan Hamilton. “We also believe that we landed on marks that represent our un-iversity well and where we have genuine buy-in from our coaches and staff.”
Joe Bosack & Co., created a set of marks and logos for Point Loma Athletics that incorporate the school’s Christian tradition and illustrates its location to the Pacific Ocean, introducing the color of sunset gold. The sunset gold will ride alongside forest green as the official colors of the Sea Lions. These colors continue to make Point Loma a unique identity in the Pacific West Conference and San Diego. “We interviewed and researched a number of companies that help define your identity, and we couldn’t have been happier with where we landed with Joe Bosack and Co.,” said associate athletic director Russ Blunck. “Joe and David Haney were fantastic to work with and exceeded our initial expectations. They spent time on campus, meeting with us and a wide range of coaches, staff, faculty and students to research and develop what we think is a great identity for us.”
To accompany the launch, all the PLNU athletic fields — including Golden Gymnasium — have also been branded with the new Point Loma marks and the NCAA logo this summer. Fans and students will notice the new logos and the bright colors throughout the PLNU facilities. Also prominent now is the Nike Swoosh, as the Sea Lions enter into an agreement with the world’s No. 1 shoe company to become the official shoe and clothing sponsor of PLNU athletics. Fans will now have the chance to see the new Point Loma logos right alongside a bright sunset gold swoosh on the Sea Lions’ uniforms. “In addition to the excitement of launching our new brand, we have signed a three-year contract with Nike,” said Hamilton. “We truly believe this agreement will add credibility and quality for both our current and prospective student-athletes.”
Point Loma fans will also notice a new online presence for www.plnusealions.-com. The website has been redesigned to showcase the new marks, logos and colors but also with the goal of better featuring the student-athletes and the beautiful campus at PLNU.
The athletic department also released a series of three names in which it would prefer to be referenced. The athletic department will be referred to only as Point Loma, PLNU or the Sea Lions to better create and establish its image in San Diego, the PacWest Conference and the NCAA.
“This is the culmination of an 18-month process that has involved the collaborative efforts of several people on campus,” said Hamilton. “We believe this will be an identity that all students, faculty, staff and alumni can be proud of.”
Lundestad represents PLNU at World University Games
Oivind Lundestad has had a busy summer. The 6-foot-4 junior forward has been representing his home country of Norway in the World University Games in Kazan, Russia this month.
Lundestad played in all eight games for Norway, coming off the bench in each contest. He averaged nearly 12 minutes and 2.5 points per game. His top game came against China, when he connected on 3-of-6 longs from long range to post his tournament-high of nine points. He helped Norway finish 14th in the 24-team tournament with a 4-4 record. Russia won the World University Games by defeating Australia in the finals, finishing with a perfect 8-0 record.
The Universiade is a multi-sport event organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a combination of the words “university” and “olympiad.” The Universiade is often referred to in English as the World University Games or World Student Games; however, this latter term can also refer to competitions for sub-university grades students. Universiades are the second-largest sporting events in the world by participation, eclipsed only by Olympiads. More than 10,400 university athletes from 162 countries participated in 13 mandatory and 14 optional sports, making the 2013 Universiade the biggest ever in the history of the event. 152 Sea Lions named PacWest scholar-athletes The Point Loma Sea Lions placed 152 student-athletes on the Pacific West Conference All-Academic team for the 2012-13 academic year. Each PLNU team had at least three selections on the PacWest All-Academic squad, including the women’s track and field team, which led the Sea Lions with 33 award recipients.
Alaina Bird helped pace the team academically with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. She is one of only four seniors in the entire conference to register a perfect GPA. She was one of eight PLNU women track and field student-athletes to have a cumulative GPA over 3.85.
Meanwhile, the baseball team and the women’s soccer team came tied for second among PLNU teams with 20 academic all-conference selections. Andy Littlefield paces the baseball team with a 3.94 GPA, while Leah Porter and Nicole Craft are tied atop the women’s soccer team with a flawless 4.0 GPA.
A number of other teams also had 10 or more student-athletes selected to the team. This included the women’s cross country team with 15, men’s soccer with 12 and men’s track and field with 11. Other teams with all-academic selections included men’s basketball (five), women’s basketball (seven), men’s cross country (five), men’s golf (three), women’s golf (three), men’s tennis (four), women’s tennis (seven) and volleyball (seven).
Nineteen PLNU student-athletes received PacWest academic honors in more than one sport. This list included Lindsay Honea, Jake DeSaegher, Jacob Roth, Dylan Poorboy, Tristan Oliver-Mallory, Alaina Bird, Caitlin Brandt, Gina Erbacci, Sarah Feddersen, Heather Kastein, Jessica Lucas, Bailey Massenburg, Breelan Matranga, Ashley Matsen, Haili Matsukawa, Alisa Poplawski, Sally Rudi, Briana Swendener and Ashlee Szabo. As a whole, the PacWest Conference named more than 1,600 student-athletes to the All-Academic Team. Women’s volleyball led the way with 238 total selections.
To qualify for the PacWest All-Academic Team, student-athletes must have a 3.0 cumulative GPA at their university and participate in a conference-sponsored sport.