Locally: Bonners Ferry’s Emmaline Pinkerton named Idaho’s Spirit of Sport recipient
Emmaline Pinkerton has encountered more obstacles than a 400-meter hurdler on a cinder track as she has attempted to get her athletic career untracked at Bonners Ferry High School.
But she won’t be denied, and the Idaho High School Activities Association has taken notice and is rewarding her persistence by naming the sophomore its 2019 Spirit of Sport recipient.
At the end of her eighth-grade year, Emmaline came down with what was thought to be the stomach flu. She lost a lot of weight and ended up spending a week in the hospital. Numerous tests couldn’t pinpoint the problem and for six months she continued on a downward spiral.
In December 2017, doctors finally diagnosed her with gastroparesis, which is a paralyzation of the stomach. It required her to have a feeding tube and prohibited her from going to school full time and doing all the activities she loved.
Complaining and quitting weren’t options for the three-sport athlete. She continued to maintain a positive outlook and stayed involved any way she could. Instead of being a standout on the basketball team, she became the manager. She attended every practice and game that her health would allow.
In June 2018, she traveled to Seattle for a procedure that would finally lead her on the road to recovery.
Emmaline spent the 2018-19 school year working diligently to get back to doing what she loved. She played soccer in the fall and would unplug her feeding tube during practices and games and then plug it back in to replenish her system.
She worked hard during the basketball season to regain her strength and stamina to a level where she could contribute to her team. By the time track season rolled around, she was almost back to her old self - and always smiling.
The IHSAA will recognize her inspiration and determination on July 31 in Boise as a highlight of its hall of fame banquet.
Baseball
The Spokane Indians are accepting applications from families interested in hosting players during the 2019 season. You can find details and contact information at spokaneindians.com. Look for the link under Latest News.
College scene
Rachael Schlect, the 2018 Oaks Christian Academy graduate who had a dominant rookie season for the Point Loma Nazarene University volleyball team, was named the school’s Female Freshman of the Year.
A three-time All-Greater Spokane first-team selection and the 2016 MVP playing for University, Schlect finished third in the PacWest Conference with 3.25 kills per set, was in the top 10 in aces and had nine double-doubles. She was the PacWest Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-West second team.
• Four Washington State men and Eastern Washington’s Keshun McGee qualified for the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships Wednesday-Saturday in Austin, Texas, with their performances in the West Preliminaries last weekend in Sacramento, California.
WSU qualified senior hammer thrower Brock Eager, who was second in the West Preliminaries with a throw of 228 feet, 6 inches; high jumpers Peyton Fredrickson (7-1), a senior, and sophomore Mitch Jacobson (7- 1/4); and junior 110m hurdler Nick Johnson (13.91) from Gonzaga Prep.
McGee, a junior, qualified in the triple jump (52-43 /4) and long jump (25-13 /4).
• John Dressel, a Colorado senior from Mt. Spokane and two-time All-American, qualified for the 10,000 and 5,000 at the Division I championships in Austin. He finished ninth in the 10,000 at the West Preliminaries with a PR 29:00.98 and was a qualifying fourth in his heat in the 5,000 at 14:07.98.
• Whitworth seniors Izzy Clark and Marissa Mount doubled up on honors at the conclusion of their track and field careers. Both were NCAA Division III All-Americans on the track and were named to the Google Cloud Division III Academic All-District team and are eligible for All-America honors there, too.
Clark (Northwest Christian) collected her second D-III All-America award in the heptathlon with a fifth-place finish at the 2019 championships in Geneva, Ohio, while scoring 4,815 points after finishing sixth in the event in 2018. She graduated two weeks ago with a degree in graphic design and a 3.96 GPA.
Mount graduated as a two-sport All-American with a 4.0 GPA in accounting. She gained a second track honor with a third-place finish in the women’s steeplechase in Geneva, timing 10 minutes, 46.55 seconds, following a fourth-place finish in 2018 and cross country All-America honors last fall.
Two other Pirates earned NCAA Division III All-America awards for their performances in Geneva. Freshman Kayla Rambo was the national runner-up in the women’s javelin with a throw of 157-11 inches, and junior Nick McGill finished sixth in the men’s decathlon with 6,727 points.
• Three Washington State Cougars and Gonzaga’s Jordan McPhee have been named to 2019 Google Cloud All-Academic District 8 teams in outdoor track and field.
Kyler Little, a senior from Lake City, was named to the men’s first team with a 4.0 GPA in computer science and mathematics and McPhee, a graduate student, was named to the women’s first team with a 4.0 in business administration. Both are eligible for All-America honors.
WSU junior Stacia Bell (3.97) and senior Grace Victor (3.92) were named to the women’s second team.
Alex Lewis, a Montana State senior from Moscow, was named to the District 7 men’s first team with a 3.94 GPA.
• Scout Cai, a Seattle Pacific junior from Colfax, earned two All-America honors at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. She placed eighth in the women’s pole vault at 12-83 /4, after finishing seventh in the heptathlon with a PR 5,054 points.
• Carroll College juniors Abby Hammermeister from Cheney and John Cooney from Gonzaga Prep were named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes in outdoor track and field with GPAs of 3.5 or better.
• Delany Warren, a Lewis-Clark State sophomore from Mt. Spokane, and Warriors senior Jonny Handel from Logos of Moscow earned NAIA All-America honors for their performances at the 2019 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Warren earned her first All-America award after finishing eighth in the women’s discus with a throw of 141-9. She was the lone sophomore in the top eight. Handel also earned his first All-America honor by placing third in the 44-man marathon field, timing 2 hours, 41 minutes, 57.57 seconds.
• Washington State junior Ivy Elling Quaintance, who sits in the No. 7 seat on the varsity eight, was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference women’s rowing team.
• The Gonzaga and Washington State women and Gonzaga men wound up the season in the International Tennis Association’s final rankings.
GU was ranked No. 51 in the women’s team category led by senior Sophie Whittle, the first GU women’s tennis player to be named an ITA All-American and ranked No. 9 in singles and No. 17 in doubles with Graciela Rosas.
The WSU women were ranked No. 36 with Michaela Bayerlova No. 45 in singles and Hikaru Sato and Tiffany Mylonas No. 19 in doubles.
The GU men parlayed their best season into the school’s first-ever national ranking, No. 75.
• The Gonzaga men’s 2019-20 tennis recruiting class, with two individuals in the top 35, was ranked No. 24 in the Tennis Recruiting Network rankings. That’s second in the West Coast Conference behind Pepperdine’s No. 18 and third on the West Coast. USC is ranked No. 7.
• Washington State senior shortstop Andres Alvarez was named Pac-12 Conference All-Defensive Team honorable mention in baseball for a second time in his career. Also honored as a sophomore in 2017, he was third in the Pac-12 with 131 assists and participated in 24 double plays in 2019.
• Whitworth senior infielders Nicholas Nerud and Tyler Bailey have been named by the American Baseball Coaches Association to its 2019 ABCA/Rawlings All-West Region Teams.
Nerud, the Northwest Conference batting champion previously named second-team All-West Region by D3baseball.com, is on the second team. Bailey, a Mt. Spokane graduate who led the NWC in league play with a .411 batting average and was third with 37 RBIs, was on the third team.
• Naomi Harris, a Corban senior outfielder from Lewis and Clark, was named a 2019 Daktronics-NAIA Softball Scholar-Athlete with a GPA of 3.5 or better.
• After a freshman season at Eastern Washington that saw her named to the Big Sky Conference All-Tournament team, Jessica McDowell-White has been named the Basketball Queensland Female Player of the Year.
Before joining the Eagles, McDowell-White, from Brisbane, Australia, won a gold medal for the Under 21 Basketball Queensland Junior Basketball Competition where she represented the Southern Districts and was also a starting point guard for Queensland at the U-20 Australian Championships where she helped her team to a silver medal.
She also helped her team win back-to-back QBL Championships.
Cross country/track
Turlan Morlan, a Gonzaga Prep graduated who was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Freshman of the Year in cross country last fall, announced he is transferring from Central Washington to attend the University of Arizona.
Morlan was All-Greater Spokane League three times in cross country and a Footlocker All-American in 2017 following an eighth-place finish in the Footlocker West Regionals.
Hall of fame
Marcus Miller, who went from Gonzaga Prep to have an All-America football career at Carroll College from 2004-07, has been selected for induction into the school’s athletic hall of fame.
A kicker and defensive back on Carroll teams that won three national championships, Miller set records, including the NAIA career field-goal percentage mark at 82.9 percent (58 of 70). He was the 2005 kick scoring champion, making 67 of 69 PATs and 14 of 18 field goals for 109 points in 14 games.
He was a first-team All-American in 2005 and a three-time first-team All-Frontier Conference kicker as well as a second-team All-Frontier cornerback and helped the Saints win four conference championships.
The induction ceremony will take place during homecoming weekend on Sept. 21.
High school scene
Colton senior Jordan Moehrle was named the female recipient of the WIAA, Dairy Farmers of Washington and Les Schwab Tires’ seventh annual Smart Choices Scholarship.
Moehrle, who receives a $5,000 scholarship to the school of her choice, said she will attend the University of South Carolina to pursue a career in international trade law.
She has a 4.0 GPA and has been a part of four WIAA championship teams, three in 1B basketball (2016,’18 and ’19) and one in softball (2016), with a runner-up finish in softball as a senior. She has also earned all-league honors or better in each of her three sports, including All-State basketball first team in 2019 and All-State volleyball second team in 2017 and 2018.
The male recipient was Zach Victor of Federal Way.
Hockey
Spokane Chiefs forward Adam Beckman was one of 15 Western Hockey League players invited to last week’s 2019 NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo, New York, ahead of next month’s 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
The 18-year-old from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was ranked 34th among North American skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting draft rankings. Chiefs teammate Luke Toporowski, also an 18-year-old forward, ranked 100th among North American skaters, but was not invited to the combine.
• The Spokane Chiefs are asking fans to select the team’s 2018-19 Play of the Year. Voting is underway at spokanechiefs.com, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Letters of intent
Gonzaga baseball: Tyler Rando, C, San Jose, California/Mission (California) College, will be a junior; Alec Gomez, RHP, Eastlake HS (Sammamish, Washington)/Yakima Valley College, will be a junior; Cole Minato, INF, Huntington Beach (California) HS.
Miscellany
Clayton Malinich, a former graduate assistant, was hired as an assistant athletic trainer at the University of Idaho to complete the staff of recently promoted head trainer Chris Walsh.
Malinich, a 2018 Idaho graduate, returns after spending the past year as the athletic trainer for men’s basketball at Wagner College. He will work primarily with football while also having oversight of the swimming and diving program.
Walsh, in his sixth year with the Vandals’ sports medicine team, was promoted earlier this spring to fill the director position vacated with Barrie Steele’s retirement following 33 years as Idaho’s director of athletic training. Walsh oversees a staff of three full-time assistants, five graduate assistants and 15 student assistants.