5 Things You Need to Know: Feb. 23-29

Each week, schedules overlap between meets, games and matches that dot the calender for the 22 Lopes Division I athletic squads, often leaving a college sports fan missing out on plenty of highlights. With that in mind, GCULopes.com will give you the best fast reads each Tuesday, quick hits of what's coming up soon and the top nuggets you may have recently missed.

	This Will Be Fun to Watch Looking at last year's stats, it wasn't a stretch to think that Taylor Nowlin would be entertaining to watch in the circle in 2016. After just two weekends, she's been downright filthy at times, dominating the competition at an incredibly high level. To date, she owns a 1.36 ERA, allowing just seven earned runs in 36.0 innings pitched. In fact, she's only allowed a paltry 19 hits in that stretch. Twice already early in the season she's been unhittable, picking up no-hitters on each of the first two weekends. That's not even including the season opener when she combined on a no-hitter, one of four shutouts for the Lopes so far. Nowlin was tabbed the WAC Pitcher of the Week on Monday, an award Lopes fans and the rest of the WAC should get used to beside her name. Look for more from her this weekend when the Lopes host their second tournament of the season with five contests between Friday and Sunday.
	Young Guns Bring the Lumber The plan is always to get the best players on the field, but when you have so many young, new faces, it's hard to know what to expect. GCU softball coach Ann Pierson has had 12 games over the first 10 days of the season to evaluate her freshmen and there's plenty of positives to be found. Running down the stat sheet, rookie Shea Smith leads the team in runs (17), doubles (9) and slugging percentage (.833), and is second in at-bats (41), hits (21) and batting average (.500). Smith's nine doubles are the most in Division I entering the week, and her 0.75 doubles per game would rank No. 1 nationally if she were eligible. While Smith has been the epitome of versatility, fellow freshmen Jamilia Cosay and Madelyn Dowdle have been equally as impressive in the power categories. They are tied for the team lead with three home runs apiece and each has a slugging percentage over .670. Cosay also leads the team with 14 RBI in just 28 at-bats. Adjustment time is over, and they seem to be doing just fine so far.
	Prime-Time Performance After racing through six arms in a loss in Saturday's first game of a doubleheader against Gonzaga, coach Andy Stankiewicz needed someone to stem the tide on the mound. Enter Jake Repavich. The sophomore took the mound in a key situation and did his job. Actually, it was a little more dramatic than that as he went 7.0 innings allowing just three hits to set the table for relievers AJ Franks and Mick Vorhof. All they did in relief was hold the Bulldogs hitless as GCU rolled to a 3-0 victory and earned a series split. It was a job well done, but, like nearly every week, there's no time to rest on their laurels. The intensity kicks up a notch this week as the Lopes host the GCU Invitational, including Tennessee, Saint Mary's (Calif.) and Central Michigan. With four games in four days, Stankiewicz hopes to see more performances like Repavich's from last week.
	Aiming for the Podium The NCAA Championships are still two years away for the transitioning Lopes, but that does not mean they can't win titles this season. For the swimming and diving teams, it will have to come in the form of WAC crowns and they get their chance this week. Between Wednesday and Saturday, GCU will be competing for championships -- and favored in many cases -- in Houston. On the men's side, the Lopes were picked second by two votes, 34-32, behind Air Force in the pre-championship coaches poll. The women's team was picked to finish third. Both are surging toward the conference meet with momentum and numerous school record times under their belts as they each try to improve on last year's fourth-place finishes.
	Special Day in the Spotlight You know you've done something special when you're the one -- the only one -- chosen to represent the athletics department in the Grand Canyon University Hall of Fame. John Davis had to have known this day was coming at some point after the stellar career he posted while on campus. It was just a matter of time considering he was the most honored golfer in school history, earning first-team All-America honors twice and setting the school mark with 11 tournament victories. In fact, his mark is more than double that of second place in the record book. To say it was a special career is an understatement. A worthy representative for athletics, indeed.

Players Mentioned

Maddie Dowdle

AJ Franks

Taylor Nowlin

Jake Repavich

Shea Smith

Mick Vorhof

Grand Canyon University Athletics