EUGENE, Ore.  – The 2023-2024 year was a record-breaking year for many Beacons, who are highlighted and honored here for what they have done in single games, single seasons, and for some historic careers.
 
Leading the way were a trio of athletes who were all honored as the winners of the Athletic Communications Legacy Award after the year, showing the respect for what they did during their careers.
 
The Legacy Award is awarded each season to a student-athlete who over the course of their career has left a significant mark on Bushnell athletics as a Tri-Athlete first and foremost, and also through the lasting mark they leave in the record books. These three athletes all deserved the award this season.
 
HALLE NEUMANN
Halle Neumann had an incredible five-year career with the Bushnell indoor volleyball team, and was a leading member of the Bushnell Beach Volleyball team for the first three years of the program.  
 
Indoors, Neumann ended her career as Bushnell's all-time kills leader with 930. In the final game of her career, she broke the previous record which had stood for 11 years. On the Beach, Neumann finished her career as Bushnell's all-time wins leader with 22.
 
ASPEN SLIFKA
Aspen Slifka had an historic five-year career with the Beacons and similar to Neumann, she became Bushnell's all-time leading scorer in her final career game. She finished with 1843 points to break a mark that had stood for two years. Overall, she finished ranked in the top-two all-time in seven categories. She was just one three-pointer shy of that career record as well. This season she averaged 18.9 points per game to set a new single-season record and her 547 total points were the second-highest total ever.
 
Slifka was a five-time First-Team All-CCC selection with the Beacons, the first for Bushnell for a player from a team-sport without the opportunity for multiple honors in the same season.
 
STEVIE SCHLABACH
While Stevie Schlabach didn't set a Bushnell career scoring record like Neumann and Slifka, he was still able to put up the third-highest point total in the 65-year history of the Bushnell men's basketball team. Averaging over 16 points per game during his career, Schlabach used his vicious mid-range jumper and smooth three-point shooting stroke to score 2064 points. His three-point prowess set a new Bushnell standard as he shot 51.8% from the field to break a single-season record which had stood for 25 years.
 
Schlabach lands on the career scoring list behind two Bushnell Hall of Fame Inductees, Mat Sand and Jon Willis, became the first Beacon of the NAIA-era to score 2000, and scored the most points for a Beacon in the past 33 years.
 
A host of other records were set across many Bushnell teams throughout the season.
 
VOLLEYBALL
Junior Bella Parque set the tone for the Beacons early on as she broke a 12-year old single-match record on August 18 with 40 digs against Rocky Mountain College. She went on to eclipse the season record for digs-per-set as well, finishing with 5.15.
 
Volleyball also saw Bushnell's all-time coaching wins leader, Jason Corwin, break the 100-win plateau for his Bushnell career. He is 102-67 in six seasons with the Beacons. He also has 174 all-time coaching wins at the four-year level.
 
MEN'S SOCCER
The men's soccer team found the back of the net early and often in the fall 2023 season, setting new team records for goals (35), assists (28) and points (98). One of the biggest benefactors was Forward Omar Barajas. The freshman burst onto the scene with an eight-assist season, setting a new single-season and career record for the Beacons.
 
WOMEN'S SOCCER
The Beacons qualified for the post-season for the first time in seven years, and did so on the strength of a newly revamped defense, led by First-Team All-Conference defender Lexis Canyete-Asato, Second-Team All-CCC keeper Lexi Bates, and All-conference honorable mention midfielder Niamhie Taylor-Hughes, all three of whom were in their first season with the Beacons.
 
Bushnell allowed the fewest goals in school history at 19, for a collective Goals Against Average of 1.19. Bates, for her part, also set a new single-season record as she owned a 1.14 GAA, breaking a seven-year old school record.
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Outside of the incredible accomplishments of Schlabach, the Bushnell men's basketball team had a few other noteworthy accomplishments. It was the cleanest season of ball-handling the Beacons have ever seen as they set a record for the fewest turnovers allowed at 303, equaling less than ten per game. Another career record was also set by Kaden Sand, collecting 94 blocks.
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Libby Mathis made her mark on the Bushnell rebounding records in her penultimate season. The senior, who will return for a fifth-year as she begins her graduate studies, set single-season records with 12 double-doubles, 98 offensive rebounds, and 323 total rebounds. Already the career-record holder for offensive boards (242), she has collected 709 total boards and needs just 40 to pass Morgan McKinney for the all-time record.
 
Jason Corwin was the only Bushnell coach to hit the 100-wins milestone with the Beacons this season, but sixth-year coach Chad Meadors came close, finishing the year with 99. Already the women's basketball team's coaching wins leader, Meadors will look to become just the sixth coach across all sports to hit the century milestone.
 
ESPORTS
As the national runners-up in the ECAC Contenders Division, the Bushnell Rocket League team had an incredible season, breaking the wins record for any Bushnell Esports title with 19 victories. At one point, the team rattled off nine wins in a row while chasing the ECAC Contenders championship.
 
SOFTBALL
A host of records were tied or broken for the Bushnell softball team in 2024 during a slight resurgence that saw the Beacons equal their highest win total in nine years. A more powerful offense led to Bushnell being walked a record-tying 126 times by their opponents and saw the Beacons collect 13 sacrifice flies to earn that mark as well.
 
Senior Hannah Tennant did her part as she set a new career record with eight sacrifice flies over her two seasons. Tennant also made an incredible mark defensively as she ended her career on a streak of 495 errorless chances, including a perfect 2024 season. Her career .997 fielding percentage also set an all-time Bushnell standard.
 
Already the owner of Bushnell's single-game record for hits with five, senior Faith Wayman added another record with a four-walk game on April 5 against the University of Providence.
 
In the circle, Emily Cole had a strong year as she broke Bushnell single-season records with 153.1 innings pitched and 20 complete games.
 
BASEBALL
While the sample size is notably smaller, having just three years of existence, the Bushnell baseball team continued to rack up a multitude of single-season and single-game records. Most notably, senior Kyle Casperson twice collected the standard-setting five hits in a game and senior Daniel Furman did the task once. Albert Jennings posted a new record with a six-RBI game as well.
 
Casperson added a single-season record .396 batting average. Jordan Wilson broke records with 15 home runs, 46 RBI, and 70 hits while Cade Crist put his name at the top of the single-season list with 50 runs scored.
 
On the mound, relief pitcher Trevor Hammond recorded a record seven victories while Colby Knutzen set a new standard with eight saves. 
 
TRACK & FIELD
An impressive total of 14 school records were broken in track & field during the 2024 season. This included three new records for the women during the indoor season. Kaitlin Cook was the proud owner of two of those records (1000m and 3000m) while Marae Paggio made her mark in the one-mile race.
 
The men's distance team provided some records of their own, claiming new standards during the indoor season in the 4x800m and Distance Medley relays.
 
As celebrated in the No. 3 story of the year, the freshman duo of Jermaine Schexnayder and Kaleo Wellman claimed five new records between them in jumps events, while in the throws, Jonathan Paz Perez (Weight Throw, Hammer Throw) and Maxwell Al-Rubaie (Indoor Shot Put) also added their names to the record book.

Top-Ten Stories of 2023-2024

#10 - Will, Stout Join Bushnell Coaching Staff
#9 - Softball Knocks Off No. 10 Southern Oregon
#8 - Beacons Display Prowess in the Classroom
#7 - Women's Soccer Qualifies for Postseason
#6 - Women's Basketball Upsets No. 7 Lewis-Clark State
#5 - Beacons Serve as Champion of Character
#4 - Bushnell and GCF Launch Beach Volleyball Facility
#3 - Track & Field Sends Three to NAIA Championships
#2 - A Record-Breaking Year
#1 - Baseball Wins CCC Tournament