Sellers helps team thrive

GLENDALE — The following are updates on area athletes in college.

Nathan Sellers (Crescenta Valley High, 2006) Junior, Adams State College men’s cross-country: While the former Falcons and Glendale Community College standout has more than his share of individual and team success in his past local endeavors, Sellers has become a crucial part in the Grizzlies’ bid for a third consecutive NCAA Division II national title.

Adams dominated the field on Saturday at Wayne State College in Nebraska, scoring 29 points to second-place Western State’s 58, to win the Division II Central Regional.

Sellers was the Grizzlies No. 4 runner across the line with a seventh-place finish in the 10,000-meter race in a time of 31 minutes 22.57 seconds.

Adams had the No. 3 finisher and the Nos. 5 through 10 finishers.

Fresh off winning another Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference crown, Adams cruised to victory at the Central Regional en route to defending its national title, which will come Dec. 4 in Kentucky.

Nick Posthuma (St. Francis High, 2007) junior forward, Cal State Fullerton’s men’s soccer: Posthuma was named to the 2010 All-Big West Men’s Soccer First Team.

He was one of just three Cal State Fullerton players to receive all-conference recognition.

In 19 games played during Fullerton’s 7-12-2 season, Posthuma led his team with nine goals and 19 points.

Rian Younker (St. Francis High, 2009) sophomore nose guard, Cal Lutheran University football: A successful season came to a first-round end on Saturday when Cal Lutheran was defeated by Linfield of Oregon on the road, 42-26, in the opening round of the NCAA Division III playoff game.

Younker, the team’s starting nose guard, tallied four tackles, but the defense relinquished four touchdowns to Linfield running back Simon Lamson.

The Kingsmen ended the season at 8-2, as the team won only its second outright Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in program history, but still came away searching for its first-ever NCAA playoff win.

Younker finished the season having played in all 10 games, recording 35 tackles with 5.5 for a loss and 3.5 sacks. He also had a team-best four fumble recoveries.

Carter was joined on the squad by fellow St. Francis High graduates Darryl Carter, a fullback, offensive linemen John Schachtner and Nick Sabatella and linebacker Chris Cabrera.

Carter also started on Saturday, as he did the duration of the season, but tallied just one catch for negative-four yards. Schactner played on the line and Cabrera got in, as he did for most of his freshman season, on special teams.

Samantha Orlandini (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2008) junior setter, Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball: In her final match of the season, Orlandini notched a double-double with 42 assists and 10 digs in the Matadors’ 20-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-23 Big West Conference loss to Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.

CSUN ended its season at 13-19, 5-11 in the Big West Conference.

Orlandini played in 31 of CSUN’s 32 matches, starting 28.

She led her team with 1,009 assists, an average of 9.43 per set. Orlandini also led the team with 24 service aces. In addition, she had 212 digs, 61 blocks and 90 kills.

Joe Franco (St. Francis High, 2009) sophomore defender, Cal State Northridge men’s soccer: Franco and the Matadors concluded a disappointing season on Nov. 6 with a 2-0 loss to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The loss concluded CSUN’s season at 3-14-2 overall, 2-7-1 in the Big West Conference.

Franco, whose only point was an assist on Nov. 3 in an upset win over UC Irvine, was one of only two Matadors on the year to play in all 19 matches. He started all 19, as well.

Frances Boukidis (Crescenta Valley, 2010) freshman forward/midfielder, Northern Illinois women’s soccer: Last season’s Pacific League Player of the Year and an All-Area and All-CIF standout, Boukidis recently wrapped up her first season as a Husky.

Boukidis played in all 18 of her team’s games, starting in 12, and notching two goals and an assist. Northern Illinois finished the season at 9-8-1 overall, 5-5-1 in the Mid American Conference. The season came to a close on Oct. 31, when the Huskies lost to MAC co-champion Central Michigan, 2-1, in the conference tournament’s first round.

Amir Moore (St. Francis, 2008) sophomore midfielder/forward, Guilford College men’s soccer: Moore recently concluded his second collegiate soccer season, playing in 13 of his team’s 19 games, starting twice and scoring two goals.

His first goal of the season came in Guilford’s 3-1 victory against Washington and Lee University on Oct. 2. He also scored the game-winner in a 2-1 win over Hampden-Sydney College on Oct. 13.

The Quakers finished the season at 10-6-3 and 6-3-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Guilford posted its most successful season since 2003 in terms of victories.