Locally: Gonzaga tennis senior Katie Day named 2020 #WCCRepresent winner
Katie Day made an impact in the West Coast Conference. And the conference has rewarded the Gonzaga tennis senior, naming her its 2020 #WCCRepresent winner.
The conference’s sportsmanship campaign since 2009 recognizes efforts by individuals or teams that best represent the hashtag’s initiative to encourage sportsmanship and enhance the student-athlete experience.
The winner is selected by the league’s 10 Student Athletic Advisory Council groups.
The WCC release announcing Day’s award reads:
“As the Gonzaga health and wellness co-chair, Day was recognized for showing exceptional courage, composure and leadership when faced with her own health battle against non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“Despite the untimely end of her on-court competitive career, Day remained dedicated to assisting the entire Gonzaga student-athlete population access wellness programs. Once COVID-19 struck, Day organized SAAC resources to produce a video in support of those on the front lines of the fight.”
An Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar Athlete from Lake Oswego, Oregon, Day played both singles and doubles.
In a senior tribute on the Gonzaga athletic website, Day is quoted in part as saying, “There are so many things that I want to do, and being diagnosed with cancer has changed” a lot of that. She said she remains dedicated, however, to working toward earning a master’s degree in public health.
Women’s tennis head coach DJ Gurule said in part in the same tribute, while noting the last year has been challenging for Day, “her development, not only as a tennis player, but as a leader and teammate, has been astounding. She has contributed to our program on and off the court. I am constantly amazed at her perseverance and positive attitude.”
Basketball
Washington State women’s associate head coach Laurie Koehn, one of the most prolific shooters in NCAA women’s basketball history, will be inducted into the Kansas State University Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 4.
Koehn, who played for the Wildcats from 2001-05, still holds Big-12 Conference records for the most 3-point field goals in a career (392) and career free throw percentage (87.7%). Her career 3-point total was an NCAA record for nearly a decade and still ranks No. 10, and she ranks fifth on Kansas State’s all-time scoring list with 1,733 career points.
The native of Newton, Kansas, inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2018, was named All-Big 12 three times and was a two-time Academic All-American. She had an eight-year professional career, both in the WNBA and overseas.
At K-State, Koehn played under two current members of the WSU women’s staff. Cougars head coach Kamie Ethridge was an assistant there and WSU director of player personal Deb Patterson was head coach of the Wildcats.
College scene
The demise of Concordia University in Portland, which closed its doors at the end of the spring semester after 115 years, left athletes in 15 programs scrambling to continue their collegiate careers, including a half-dozen former Greater Spokane League standouts.
All six have hitched a ride elsewhere, joining programs from the Division I Pac-12 to the Division III Northwest Conference, with two remaining in the Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference that housed Concordia the last six years.
Dori Ames, GSL Defensive MVP and 4A All-State the last two seasons at Central Valley, had planned on starting her career in Portland this fall playing alongside her sister, Maggie Ames, also a former CV star.
“I was super excited,” Dori said of the prospect. “I loved the coaches and it was a chance to play with my sister again.”
But when that door closed, one Dori had her sights on since childhood suddenly opened.
“I had dreamed of going to the University of Washington. My dad played football there and my grandfather went there. We bleed purple,” she said.
But “the soccer staff wasn’t interested in me,” she said.
About the time Concordia announced it was ceasing operations, Washington had a major soccer change, including hiring Nicole Van Dyke as head coach.
“I got a call from the coach,” Dori said. “She was interested. She wanted me to come over.”
So Dorie went off to Seattle for a visit, and this fall she’ll enroll as a freshman and play soccer.
And now, she says again, “I’m super excited! It’s where I always wanted to go.”
Maggie, meanwhile, will head to Whitworth as a sophomore.
“It’s close to home,” she said, also noting “they have a good elementary education program, and that’s what I want to get into, and I know several of the players on the team.”
She had a goal and two assists at Concordia, starting four of the 16 matches in which she played as a freshman and compiling 731 minutes.
Ames’ teammate at Concordia, and also a former CV teammate, Kailyn LaBrosse, will remain in the GNAC and play at Northwest Nazarene. The forward/defender, a four-time first-team All-GSL selection and 4A All-State as a senior, started all 18 matches at Concordia as a freshman and her 1,348 minutes ranked No. 4 on the team.
Another CV product, Mady Simmelink, who earned 12 varsity letters for the Bears, will head to Pacific Lutheran as a sophomore to play basketball. She started 14 of the 21 games she played as a freshman at Concordia last season, averaging 3.3 ppg and 2.0 rpg.
She will be joined at PLU by junior Emily Zink, who played two seasons of volleyball at Concordia. The setter from Gonzaga Prep, who was 4A All-State and first-team All-GSL as a senior, averaged 3.91 assists and 1.55 digs in 58 sets last season.
Her Concordia volleyball teammate, former Ferris star Carly Cox, will remain in the GNAC and play at Western Oregon. As a freshman at Concordia, the defensive specialist/libero played 23 sets in nine matches with 33 digs.
• Eastern Washington landed three players and Idaho two on HERO Sports Preseason All-Big Sky Conference football team.
Quarterback Eric Barriere and offensive lineman Tristan Taylor, both seniors, and junior linebacker Chris Ojoh represented Eastern. Barriere had been selected to the second team and Ojoh to the third on HERO’s Football Championship Subdivision Preseason All-America teams.
Idaho placed linebackers Christian Elliss, a senior, and junior Tre Walker on the HERO Preseason All-Big Sky team.
• Zach Stocker of Spokane is among five Gonzaga men named Division I Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars with grade-point averages of 3.2 or above and stroke averages of 76.0 or under.
Stocker, a sophomore from Central Valley and Community Colleges of Spokane, had 3.70 GPA and stroke average of 73.64.
He was joined by senior Nick Nolan (3.42, 74.38), who earned the award for a second straight year, and juniors Matthew Ruel (3.64, 72.43), Holden Backes (3.90, 73.80) and Charlie Magruder (3.47, 74.63).
• Elizabeth Horner, a Pacific Lutheran sophomore from Mt. Spokane, received a 2020 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Division III Scholar Athlete Award with a GPA of 3.50 or higher.
• Five Eastern Washington student-athletes received special honors from their academic departments during virtual 2019-20 commencement ceremonies earlier this month.
The College of Business bestowed the Frances B. Huston Medallion on track and field standout Madison Doepker and recognized with honors Academic All-America basketball player Mason Peatling.
The College of Health Science and Public Health honored three Eagles. Tennis player Marta Heinen was recognized as the Outstanding Senior in the Recreation and Tourism Management department; track and field competitor Dominque Butler from Lewis and Clark earned the same honor from Health and Physical Science; and soccer player M’Kenna Hayes was named to the Dental Hygiene Honor Society.
Twenty graduating seniors receive the Huston medallion in the name of a former English professor and EWU benefactor for excellence in academics, leadership and service.
Doepker, who received her degree in professional accounting, was a three-time All-Big Sky performer in the javelin and hammer and was four times Big Sky All-Academic both indoors and outdoors.
Golf
Tom Carstens scored a hole-in-one on the 180-yard 14th hole at The Creek at Qualchan Golf Course on Saturday with an 8-iron.
• Dan Kaufman scored a hole-in-one on the 155-yard eighth hole at Esmeralda Golf Course with a 5-wood.
High school scene
The 2020 Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Coaches School is going virtual.
Five days of live video conferences July 20-24 will comprise the 24th annual school and fulfill WIAA coaches’ standards requirements for three years. The $40 fee will also offer access to all sessions on-demand through Sept. 18. The fee increases to $50 after July 19.
The WIAA release advertises more than 15 live presentations that will meet coaches’ standards requirements for continuing education in medical aspects, legal aspects and psycho/social foundations.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, there will be no hands-on training.
For more information, including the schedule, list of speakers and to register, visit wiaa.com/subcontent .aspx?SecID=367.
Hockey
Two Spokane Chiefs forwards, Western Hockey League scoring champion and Player of the Year Adam Beckman and his center during the 2019-20 season, Jack Finley, have been named to Canada’s National Junior Team summer development camp roster.
They’re among 26 forwards and 41 players who will participate in a virtual camp July 27-31 to prepare for the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship scheduled for Dec. 26, 2020 to Jan. 5, 2021 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
Officials said the camp will include player development sessions and education seminars.
Canada is the defending champion.
Finley, an 18-year-old from Kelowna, British, Columbia, the Chiefs’ first-round draft pick in the 2017 WHL bantam draft, won 53.4% of his faceoffs and picked up 38 assists, helping Beckman, a Minnesota Wild prospect, to a WHL-leading 48 goals and 107 points.
The 19-year-old Beckman, a left wing, was Spokane’s fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft.
• Chiefs owner and managing partner Bobby Brett was re-elected to a two-year term on the executive committee of the WHL Board of Governors during its annual general meeting last week in Calgary, Alberta.
Brett Sutter of Red Deer was also re-elected to the board, where he and Brett will rejoin holdovers Ron Toigo of Vancouver and Gord Broda of Prince Albert.
Bruce Hamilton, who played on the 1979-80 senior amateur Spokane Flyers and is owner of the Kelowna Rockets, was re-elected to another two-year term as chairman of the board of governors, a position he’s held since 2008. He was also chairman from 1998-2004.
Letters of intent
Pacific Lutheran women’s basketball: Dakota Chastain, PF, North Central, two-year team captain, led Indians in scoring and assists as a senior.
Seattle Pacific women’s basketball: Hailey Marlow, PG, West Valley, three-time All-Great Northern League first team, 2020 2A All-State honorable mention.
Northwest Nazarene women’s soccer: Alexis VanHorne, D, Cheney, All-GNL, four-year varsity starter; Yacine Bitibale, F, Ferris, 4A All-State honorable mention, second-team All-GSL, third in GSL in goals.
Central Washington women’s soccer: Kat Smith, D, Cheney, second-team All-GNL.
Miscellany
Eastern Washington University is adding a new spin to the annual athletic department and Eagle Athletic Fund fundraiser. The auction portion of the 39th annual Orland Killin Dinner, Dance and Auction is going online.
The live event, which normally includes dinner and dancing, was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Auction items will go live for bidding online Wednesday at noon and will conclude Friday at 8 p.m. Friday’s program begins at 6 p.m., and will include a live auction.
Special guests will include director of athletics Lynn Hickey, Eastern head coaches and student-athletes.
Registration is free, but you must register in advance at: ewu.schoolauction.net/killin2020/homepages/show.
Net proceeds benefit areas of greatest need within Eastern athletics.
In 2019, a record total of just over $130,000 was raised.
• Sarah Adams, deputy athletic director/senior woman administrator at EWU, is among 20 senior-level administrators nationwide selected to participate in the NCAA Pathway Program that is designed to prepare them for positions as directors of athletics or conference commissioners.
Adams, who joined the Eastern staff in October of 2018 after a long tenure at fellow Big Sky Conference member Northern Colorado, was promoted to deputy athletic director in December of 2019.
Recently, she was appointed by the Big Sky president’s council along with Eastern A.D. Lynn Hickey to be co-chairs of the joint athletic council.
• Matt Martin is returning to the University of Idaho as associate athletic director for special projects with his primary responsibilities dealing with the new Idaho Central Credit Union Arena that is set to open in the fall of 2021.
Martin, who will oversee the completion of funding for the $51 million project, spent nearly a year in 2015 working with Idaho Vandals Sports Properties on campus and two years total working for Learfield/IMG College, Idaho athletics’ corporate sponsorship partner.
A native of La Crosse, Washington, he was a captain on the 2010 Eastern Washington team that won the Football Championship Subdivision national championship and got his professional start in the EWU athletic department from 2011-13.
He has worked in fundraising at Winthrop University and University of South Dakota.
Martin spent the 2019-20 school year as athletic director at Division II Concordia University in Portland, which ceased operations following the spring semester.