Spokane Youth Sports Awards: Glitz, glamor and honors for top athletes and their teams

The Oakesdale volleyball team arrived in a stretch Excursion limousine Monday evening for the fourth annual Spokane Youth Sports Awards.

Jacey Johnson, an outside hitter and one of two seniors on the team, was asked if the girls were picked up in Oakesdale.

“We don’t have any limos in Oakesdale,” Johnson said, noting her team took a short ride from River Park Square to the Martin Woldson Theater.

No matter how Johnson and company made the trek to Spokane, it was well worth it. Oakesdale, which captured a second straight State 1B championship last fall, was named the 1B/2B/1A female team of the year.

The Nighthawks, along with all the other nominees, were given red-carpet treatment for the awards ceremony modeled after ESPN’s popular ESPY awards. Johnson and her teammates were toting drinks from Dutch Bros. as they entered the Fox.

It was a night to celebrate the feats of various eastern Washington prep athletes and coaches and non-high school athletes.

SWX sports anchor Lindsay Joy and cameraman Jordan Caskey handled the walk-up interviews. SWX will televise the awards ceremony Saturday at 6 with repeated airings the following week.

Some people were wondering where co-master of ceremonies Sam Adams, SWX’s sports director, was hiding out as they arrived. Turns out Adams discovered about an hour before athletes started arriving that the tuxedo he took to work was wrinkled.

So Adams raced back home, broke out the iron and tidied up the tux. He made it back in plenty of time.

The St. George’s boys soccer team members were decked out in white dress shirts, colorful ties and black slacks. They were nominated in the 1B/2B/1A male team of the year along with Liberty football, which took second in State 2B, and the Deer Park boys cross country team, which won a title for a second straight year last fall.

Deer Park took home the see-through plaque.

The Mt. Spokane baseball team scheduled its season-ending banquet for Monday. When coach Alex Schuerman realized the conflict, the Wildcats pushed their awards night to Sunday.

Mt. Spokane learned a little something about rescheduling in the just-completed season. They saw six of their nine Greater Spokane League dates had to be played elsewhere because their field bounced back slowly from the overly wet winter and some damage.

No worries. All Mt. Spokane did was go undefeated in league and finish the regular season 20-0.

“It was sort of poetic,” Schuerman said of having to reschedule the team banquet.

Mt. Spokane was nominated along with Mead wrestling and Gonzaga Prep basketball in the 2A/3A/4A male team of the year. Mead received the honor. The Panthers went undefeated in league and placed third at state.

But Mt. Spokane baseball still received recognition through its coach. Schuerman was named coach of the year.

The Central Valley girls track team, which cruised to a league title and placed third at state, was nominated for 2A/3A/4A female team of the year. Also nominated were Mead volleyball (second in state) and Mt. Spokane volleyball (second in state).

CV coach Geoff Arte brought 73 girls and needed two yellow school buses to do so. His track budget paid for the $10 tickets for each athlete.

Arte made it a double awards night for his team. After the Youth Awards, they headed to the Red Lion Inn at the Park for their season-ending banquet. But after Arte foot the bill for the event at the Fox, the girls had to cover the cost of their dessert for the school awards.

Mead volleyball was named the 2A/3A/4A female team of the year.

Here were the other award winners: CV basketball standout Lexie Hull, top female athlete of the year; North Central’s Clai Quintanilla, top male athlete of the year; Akina Yamada (judo), top non-high school female athlete; and Daniel Roy (swimmer), top non-high school male athlete.

There were three recipients in the Against All Odds category. Rodrick (Jackson) Fisher of East Valley, Micah Henry of Northwest Christian and the Rogers co-ed cheer squad each were awarded $1,000 scholarships by The Fitz Memorial Basketball tournament.