NWAC Announces 2025 Baden Fall Athletes of the Year

The NWAC has announced its recepients for the 2025 Fall Baden Athlete of the Year awards for men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, and volleyball.

The winners are Spokane's Alex Wright for men's cross country, Southwestern Oregon's Taylor Dickey for women's cross country, Columbia Basin's David Ochoa for men's soccer, Tacoma's Laura Corr for women's soccer, and Treasure Valley's Katelyn Markley for volleyball.

Alex Wright • Spokane • Men's Cross Country

Wright continued Spokane's run with not only their third team title, but also the third-straight individual title as he took medalist honors at the 2025 NWAC Men's Cross Country Championship. Wright won the 8,000-meter race in a time of 25:23.3 and ran neck and neck with Lane's Andrew Rush and Treasure Valley's Brayden Lamanna, but pulled away over the last 1,000 meters to win by just under 10 seconds. Wright's win also extends Spokane's streak of medalists to three in a row as he follows Luke Hurd (2023) and Gilbert Langat (2024).

Spokane's top-five runners all finished within the top-8 while all 10 competitors finished in the top-20 out of the 84-man field. 



Taylor Dickey • Southwestern Oregon • Women's Cross Country

Dickey took home medalist honors at the 2025 NWAC Women's Cross Country Championship with a time of 22:47.6, winning the race by just over 15 seconds. She led Southwestern Oregon to a historic first-ever team championship. The Lakers finished with 45 total team points, besting two-time defending champions Spokane who had 53. Dickey went 1-2 with teammate Lydia Montes De Oca. Dickey finished third overall at the Southern Region Championships as well as the Lakers also took first there. 



David Ochoa • Columbia Basin • Men's Soccer

Ochoa was the top goal scorer in the NWAC this season with 20 goals, also leading the NWAC with 46 points as he added six assists. The sophomore also led the conference with 71 shots and had three game-winning goals. She added five assists as she was one of the most difficult forwards for teams to defend this year. 

Ochoa led CBC to the final of the 2025 NWAC Men's Soccer Championship where they eventually finished second after a 1-0 loss to Highline in overtime. Ochoa had an assist in Columbia Basin's 2-0 win over Tacoma in the semifinal. He had five multi-goal games including three hat tricks, with a season-best four goals against Treasure Valley on Oct. 18.



Laura Corr • Tacoma • Women's Soccer

Corr was a dominant force in leading Tacoma back to the NWAC Final Four as she paced the conference in goals (18), points (41) and shots (81). Corr helped the Titans enjoy their best season since 2019 when they also reached the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, Corr was instrumental with a goal and an assist to lead TCC over Umpqua 6-0.

On the season, Corr had five multi-goal games including a big three goal, one assist game against Pierce on Oct. 22. She had another hat trick back on Sep. 20 against Lower Columbia.



Katelyn Markley • Treasure Valley • Volleyball

Markley had an incredible overall season, culminating in the 2025 NWAC Volleyball Championship, the first one in program history. Markley was one of the best all-around players, but she was a dominant hitter as she ranked second in total kills (464) and kills per set (3.80). Playing all six rotations, Markley also ranked 14th overall in digs with 461 and was 18th in service aces with 44.

Markley was also named the NWAC Tournament Most Valuable Player for leading the Chukars to the title. In six total postseason matches, Markley had 84 kills, 3.82 kills per set, 94 digs, seven aces and four blocks.

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