Prep notebook: Local teams headline ‘The Fitz’ this weekend at Ferris

The 2019 Dan Fitzgerald Memorial Basketball Tournament is Friday and Saturday at Ferris.

This year’s ninth edition features some talented boys and girls basketball teams from the area and across the West.

Local boys teams participating include last season’s State 3A runner-up Mt. Spokane, led by Boise State-bound junior all-league forward Tyson Degenhart, and the host Ferris Saxons.

On the girls side, Central Valley and University represent a competitive Greater Spokane League 4A race this season.

St. Ignatius (California) brings its boys and girls teams, while the Beaverton (Oregon) girls and West Valley (Yakima) boys fill out the brackets.

The tournament, held yearly in Spokane, honors the memory of Dan Fitzgerald, the legendary basketball coach at Gonzaga University, Santa Clara University and Archbishop Mitty High School in California.

He was active with local charities, including the Spokane Gospel Mission Outreach, Boys and Girls Club of Spokane, and local youth sports organizations among others.

The net proceeds of the tournament go to deserving charities selected by the Fitzgerald family every year.

In addition, each student-athlete participant spends volunteer hours at a local charity giving back to the community in the tradition of Dan and Darleen Fitzgerald.

To date “The Fitz” has raised over $100,000 to benefit charities that the Fitzgerald family supports.

Foot Locker cross country participants

Cross country runners from the Spokane area, as well as the region’s top distance runners, will compete in the Foot Locker West Regional Cross Country Championships at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California, on Saturday.

Runners from 11 other western states will race to qualify for the national championships held in San Diego on Dec. 14.

For more than 20 years the Lilac Bloomsday Association has donated the airfare, transportation and lodging so that Spokane’s fastest 32 boys and girls may compete at this prestigious high school race.

This year’s participants:

Girls: Aayianna Fuller (University), Allie Andrews (West Valley), Nicole Bissell (Central Valley), Madelynn Buckley (Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls), Bridget Burns (Lewis and Clark), Lindsey Butler (LC), Jenni Bissell (CV), Alice Groze (LC), Matise Mulch (Lakeside), Tate Nelson (LC), Alanna Parker (Mead), Alexis Parker (Mead), Sarah Pecha (CV), Kylee Shakespeare (CV), Audrey Thronson (LC) and Annalise Toillion (Ferris).

Boys: Jacob Easton (U-Hi), Jonas Bears (Gonzaga Prep), Nathan Carter (North Central), Sam Anderson (GP), Bas Holland (Cheney), Tyler Hunter (CV), Caleb Kartchner (CV), Daniel Lee (Rogers), Caleb Lloyd (Mead), Danny Maxwell (LC), Isaac Morris (NC), Patrick North (LC), AJ Paulson (Mead), Leif Swanson (NC), Alex Wright (CV) and Lukas Brown (Mt. Spokane).

All-league volleyball correction

In Thursday’s paper, we used the 2018 list instead of the current for the Central Idaho League volleyball team. Here is this year’s CIL all-league team:

MVP: Trinity Teel, sr., Orofino. First team: Makenzie Hammond, jr. (St. Maries); Jayden Martin, jr. (StM); Kirsten Miller, jr. (StM); Brigid Hill, sr. (Orofino); JaKaili Norman, sr. (Grangeville); Zoe Lutz, jr. (Grangeville).