BEAVERTON, Ore. – Linfield College’s Staci  Doucette was among the stars honored for outstanding athletic achievement at the 61st Oregon Sports Awards Sunday, Feb. 10, at the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike World Headquarters campus.

Doucette was the female recipient of the Ad  Rutschman Award, given annually to the top small-college athletes from Oregon and named in honor of Rutschman, the former Linfield football and baseball coach and athletic director. Doucette was also presented the Rutschman Award in 2011 and was a finalist for the same honor at the 2012 Oregon Sports Awards.

Former Linfield and current Oregon State assistant football coach Jay Locey presented the 20-inch tall trophy to Doucette, who said taking home the Rutschman Award for a second time in three years was “pretty cool.”

Doucette was selected to receive the award over fellow finalists Keisha Gordon, an All-America basketball player from George Fox University, and Junia Limage, a two-time NAIA track and field national champion at Concordia University of Portland.

“It’s a great honor to be considered alongside the other great athletes, but truly the Rutschman Award is more representative of the quality of our team and the accomplishments of our program.”

During four awe-inspiring seasons of softball at Linfield, Doucette set a pair of coveted Division III records with 73 home runs and 259 runs batted in. A major college talent, Doucette opted to attend Linfield and compete as a Division III student-athlete, rather than pursue several scholarship offers to play Division I softball.

“Coming to Linfield really was a blessing in disguise,” said Doucette, who graduated last May with a bachelor’s degree in history. “I’m very happy I chose Linfield and I’m equally happy I had the opportunity to play for a national championship.”

With Doucette in the lineup, Linfield won one NCAA crown (2011) and played in the national title game two other times (2010, 2012).

Doucette set a program record with 201 career starts from 2009 until 2012, during which time the Wildcats amassed 178 victories against just 23 defeats, won four Northwest Conference championships and three regional titles.

Her coach, Jackson  Vaughan, called Doucette “very deserving” and said winning the Rutschman Award a second time was perhaps in recognition of Doucette’s entire body of work, in addition to the milestones she produced during the 2012 season. “It’s almost a career award, representing not only the great season Staci enjoyed last year but also the remarkable career accomplishments she was able to achieve while at Linfield.”

Linfield student-athletes have been recipients of the Rutschman Award seven times since its inception in 2001. In addition to two-time winners Doucette and Brett  Elliott (2004, 2005), the list includes football All-Americans David  Russell (2002), Tyler  Matthews (2003) and Aaron  Boehme (2009).

Current Linfield football All-American Brynnan  Hyland, who led the nation in quarterback sacks while helping carry the Wildcats to an 11-1 record, was a finalist for the male Rutschman Award. That honor went instead to Southern Oregon University national champion wrestler Mitch Lofstedt.

Echoing Doucette, Hyland said he is simply representative of the caliber of student-athlete Linfield attracts.

“Linfield had a successful football program before I arrived and it will be strong long after I leave,” the junior international business major said. “I’m just a product of a great program. Linfield produces people who are strong individuals, not the other way around.”

Photo by John Lariviere/Portland Tribune