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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane’s Parrish repeats as national champ at horse show

Stephanie Parrish of Spokane is a repeat national champion.

The 15-year-old honor student at Lewis and Clark High School won a second straight Purebred Arabian Sport Horse Show Hack division during the Arabian Sport Horse Nationals in Nampa, Idaho, two weeks ago.

Parrish, the youngest to win a national championship in the competition in which the median age is 40, captured her first title at age 14 last year in Lexington, Ky. She was the only youth rider in the finals both years.

“She is extraordinarily talented and it is very unusual to win these kinds of events at her age,” said her mother, Kathleen Sullivan.

Sullivan noted the LC sophomore “is a competitive equestrian with her eye on participating on the Olympic team some day. She has been training since the age of 6.”

Parrish, who has nine horses on which she competes in Dressage, Reining and Sport Horse Show Hack, rode just one at Nampa. She also finished third in Dressage.

Parrish also won titles in Dressage, Reining and Sport Horse Show Hack at the Pacific Northwest Regionals this year. In 2010, she won a Canadian National Championship in Youth Reining and was Reserve Champion in dressage. She also was U.S. Youth Reserve Champion in Reining in 2010.

Basketball

The Spokane-based Northwest Blazers Orange high school girls team finished its 2012 season by winning the MidSummer Nights Madness NCAA Certified Tournament in Seattle on Sept. 29-30.

The Orange won the highest (elite) division in the 50-team tournament by averaging more than 80 points per game while giving up only 35 points per game playing against some of the best club teams in Washington and Oregon.

The Northwest Blazers Heat lost in the finals of the All-Star bracket. Northwest Blazers Future, comprised of eighth- and ninth-graders, went 4-1 in the All-Star bracket.

• Registration is under way for the 2012 edition of the Greater Spokane Elks Lodge Youth Hoop Shoot free-throw competition, scheduled for Dec. 1 at the Valley Christian High School gymnasium, 10212 E. 9th in Spokane Valley.

The event is open to boys and girls ages 8-13 in the Greater Spokane area. Competition begins at the local school level with winners and runners-up eligible for the local lodge finals. Interested youngsters should contact their school officials for information.

Info: Doug Holland, 496-5847, or Elks Lodge No. 228, 926-2328.

Bowling

Cody Hurley, who led qualifying with a solid 916 four-game series to open the day but slipped to second going into the five-person finals, wound up on top at the Junior Bowlers Tour last Sunday at River City Lanes in Post Falls.

Hurley, after dispatching a red-hot Justin Oens, knocked off leading qualifier Nik Gosselin 186-184 in the championship match.

Oens, who had won his four qualifying matches to charge from ninth to fourth going into the finals, finished third. Korey Zeller was fourth and Bry Tillett fifth.

Gosselin had high game for the boys, a 289. Savahnnah Stocker led the girls with a 235.

The next JBT is Oct. 28 at Deer Park.

Jesse Covington and Alex Earle went from the No. 3 qualifying position to the championship of the Junior Bowlers Tour’s season-opening alumni tournament Sept. 23 at Valley Bowl.

Covington and Earle defeated the leading qualifiers, Colby Savage and Daniel Seifert, 367-345 in the title match.

Brandon Dixon and James McCold finished third, Ryan Gately and Wade Rees were fourth and Toby Mertens and Larry Harris fifth.

There were some solid scores – most by the adults. McCold and Rees had 299 games and Todd Dudley a 290, while Chris Grey put together a 1,022 four-game series.

For the JBT regulars, Gosselin had high game, a 279, and Nathan Rawley had an 862 series. Rebekah Hagreen led the girls with a 210 game.

College scene

Kristen Hansen, a Western Washington freshman from Mead, was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week for Sept. 16-22.  

Hansen shot a final-round 1-under-par 71, the third-lowest round of the tournament, to move up 24 places and tie for 13th at 152 in the Angelo State Concho River Classic. The Vikings finished seventh in a field of 13.

Stevie Gildehaus, a Willamette junior from University High, finished third in the Northwest Cross Country Classic at Lane (Ore.) Community College on Sept. 22 to lead the Bearcats to the women’s division title.

Gildehaus covered the 5K course in 19 minutes, 33 seconds. The top two finishers were from the University of Oregon Running Club.

• Junior football wide receiver Brandon Kaufman and sophomore soccer forward Cassie Black are the Eastern Washington athletic department Scholar-Athletes of the Month for September.

The award recognizes athletic and academic success.

Kaufman, who has a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average as a sociology and economics major, has four straight 100-yard receiving performances this season, with 24 catches for 559 yards and five touchdowns. He leads the Big Sky Conference and ranks second nationally in receiving yards at 138.5 per game.

Black, who has a 3.70 GPA in pre-medicine, has five goals, three of them winners, and two assists this season. Her winning goals rank second in the Big Sky.

Her 11 career goals rank second on Eastern’s all-time scoring list.

Golf

Today is the registration deadline for the Junior Golf Northwest Battle of the Border 2012 tournament at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course next Sunday with a shotgun start at 11 a.m. The cost is $89.

The field will be limited to 72.

Info: Shelly Christensen, (509) 255-6148, (208) 667-GOLF or www.juniorgolf northwest.com.