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

Cooper, Loudin earn top places in air rifle

From Local And Wire Reports

Mike Cooper from Mt. Spokane and Randi Loudin of Post Falls both claimed first-place finishes in Washington to lead the Spokane Junior Rifle Team’s Gold team to first place in the state team event during the 2014 NRA Open Air Rifle Championships.

The virtual three-position competition was held between March 27 and last Monday at sites around the country that drew 436 individuals and 83 teams. The Washington event was held March 29-30 in Vancouver. Competitors shoot 20 shots each standing, kneeling and prone with a possible high score of 654 individual and 2,616 team.

Cooper, 16, won the Precision Intermediate Junior class with a score of 601.7, which earned him 20th place nationally. Loudin, 17, won the Precision Junior class with a 587.9, finishing 35th nationally.

Cassidy Wilson, 13, from Riverside, who is home-schooled, had the highest national finish for the SJRT. She was third in the state in the Precision Sub Junior class at 587.3, good for eighth nationally.

Other SJRT results:

Precision Sub Junior – Taylor Christian, 12, Horizon Middle School, 577.0, fourth state, 15th national.

Precision Intermediate Junior – David Wright, 15, Spokane (home school), 599.6, third state, 23rd national; Aidan Maddox, 15, Mt. Spokane, 594.8, fourth state, 32nd national; Maliya Hillman, 14, Lewis and Clark, 582.2, seventh state, 62nd national.

Precision Junior – Madison Clark, 17, Genesis Prep of Post Falls, 566.2, third state, 54th national.

Team – SJRT Gold, 2,359.14, first state, 14th national (Loudin, Hillman, Wilson, Cooper); SJRT Silver, 2,337.6, fourth state, 22nd national (Maddox, Clark, Wright, Christian).

College scene

Six athletes from the area, who are sophomores or higher in standing, were selected to all-academic teams for spring sports by the Cascade Collegiate Conference with grade-point averages of 3.2 or higher.

Honored were:

Kelli Peckham (West Valley), Northwest University, sophomore, softball; Cassie Wendt (Ferris), Eastern Oregon, junior, softball; Kyle Croft (Valley Christian), Corban University, senior, track and field; Kadie Booth (Post Falls), Eastern Oregon, sr., track and field; Emma Kost (Mead), Eastern Oregon, so., track and field; Nicole Redd (Lewiston), Eastern Oregon, sr., track and field.

• Booth also collected a weekly award from the Cascade Conference, being named the Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week.

In the Albertson’s WAR VII meet, she won two of the four events in which she competed and was second in the other two. She won the 200 meters and anchored the 4x100 relay team to a school record, and was second in the 100 and led the 4x400 relay to a second-place result.

Kristen Hansen, a Western Washington sophomore from Mead, was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week for April 13-19 after tying for eighth at the Tarleton State University Doc Housewright Invitational.

Hansen shot a 1-over-par 73 in the weather-abbreviated tournament for her fourth top-10 finish of the season, earning her a third weekly honor of the season and fourth in her two-year career. She leads the GNAC with a 77.2 scoring average.

• Two Whitworth athletes were selected for Northwest Conference awards for the week of April 7-13:

Spencer Ansett, a junior from Ferris, was the Baseball Pitcher of the Week after he went 2-0 with a 0.56 earned-run average. He allowed one run and nine hits over 16 innings.

Julia Johnson, a senior infielder from Portland, was the Softball Player of the Week after she batted .417 in five games with three home runs and 10 RBIs. Her nine home runs are a single-season school record.

• Six Washington State athletes from the area were named to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track & Field All-Academic Scholar-Athlete teams.

Cougars honored:

Men – Andrew Kimpel, North Central, senior, 3.47 GPA; Matt Wardell, Post Falls, junior, 3.46; Sam Wardell, Post Falls, sophomore, 3.39; Grant Schultz, Davenport, jr., 3.31.

Women – Amanda Henderson, Pullman, so., 3.30; Kiah Condos, Central Valley, so., 3.07.

•The Idaho women’s tennis team earned a monthly ITA National Team Sportsmanship Award, being recognized out of a pool of more than 1,000 teams for exhibiting outstanding sportsmanship, character and ethical conduct.

Coach Jeff Beaman’s Vandals have been as high as No. 51 in the national rankings this season.

Letters of intent

Kinsey Pease of Cheney, who signed with Clark College in Vancouver, Wash., to participate in volleyball and track and field. As a junior, she was second-team All-Great Northern League in volleyball and placed sixth in the javelin in the State 2A meet. She was second-team All-GNL in the javelin as a sophomore and is also an honor-roll student.

Noah Ziemann of Cheney signed with Montana Western in Dillon to play football. He was a second-team All-Great Northern League defensive lineman and also is on the honor roll.

Tom Harvey of Mt. Spokane is the 2014 recipient of the Smith Orthodontics/Philip R. Smith Academic Champion Award.

The annual award is presented to an area wrestler with a strong academic performance who places the highest at the WIAA state championships.  Harvey finished second in 3A at 220 pounds for a second straight year. The $250 scholarship can be used by the recipient to further his academic and wrestling career as he sees fit.