Ten area athletes earn district academic honors

Six women with area ties and four men have been named to CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District teams in basketball.

The list includes the Bjorklund sisters from University High School, who made University Division teams. Jamie Bjorklund Schaefer, a senior at Gonzaga, is on the District 8 first team with a 3.95 grade-point average, and Angie Bjorklund, a sophomore at Tennessee, is on the District 4 second team at 3.79.

Eastern Washington sophomore Kyla Evans (3.96) also made the District 8 University Division first team, while Washington State senior Katie Appleton (3.41) and Tara Cronin (3.69), a Gonzaga Prep graduate who is a sophomore at Portland, were third-team selections.

On the College Division first team in District 8 is Dara Zack, a Saint Martin’s sophomore from U-Hi, with a 3.97 GPA.

The five-man University Division District 8 first team includes three from the area – Eastern Washington junior Benny Valentine (3.40) and Washington State senior teammates Daven Harmeling (3.54) and Taylor Rochestie (3.37).

On the District 8 College Division second team is Whitworth senior Nate Montgomery (3.58).

First-team selections are considered for Academic All-America honors.

Baseball

Bryan Peterson, a West Valley graduate who hit .277 in 38 games as a rookie in the short-season Gulf Coast League last summer, has been invited to early camp by the parent Boston Red Sox. Designed for major league and top minor league players, it starts Feb. 23 in Fort Myers, Fla.

Peterson, an outfielder selected in the 11th round of last June’s free-agent draft, appeared in 38 games in Fort Myers last summer, collecting 11 extra-base hits, including one home run, 24 RBIs and seven stolen bases in nine attempts.

•Banner Bank and the Spokane Indians have joined for the third annual Banner Bank Scholarship program that gives $500 in college scholarships to five area high school seniors.

Scholarships are awarded based on achievement in scholastics, leadership, character and community involvement. The program is open to any student who attends a high school in Spokane County.

Students interested in applying should contact their school scholarship coordinator or Sarah Travis at stravis @spokaneindiansbaseball.com.

College scene

Jeremy Templeton, senior point guard at Eastern Oregon from Ferris, became the school’s all-time assist leader in men’s basketball last weekend.

Templeton, who earlier this season became the all-time steals leader, had six assists in the Mountaineers’ ninth straight win, giving him 422 for his career. He has 104 assists and 43 steals this season.

•Chelsi Shaw, a senior at Puget Sound from Metaline Falls, came off the bench to score a team-leading 16 points as the Loggers won a fifth straight women’s basketball game last weekend, 69-57 over Linfield. It was her second-highest output of a season in which she is averaging 5.6 points a game. Her season high is 17.

•Hayley Hills, the Eastern Washington junior who was the Big Sky Conference player of the year, has received honorable mention on the CVU.com Stellar Spiker team selected by the Web site College Volleyball Update.

She averaged 4.56 kills per set, which led the conference and ranked eighth nationally. She was three times a CVU.com top performer of the week, once for a 30-kill performance in a 3-1 win over Idaho State – the only 30-kill four-game match in the country last season.

Sled dog racing

Spokane-area mushers claimed two firsts and a pair of seconds during the Cascade Quest Sled Dog Races last weekend at Lake Wenatchee near Leavenworth.

Mark Stamm of Riverside and Frank Caccavo of Deer Park went 1-2 in the featured six-dog, 75-mile stage race. Stamm won in 6 hours, 16 minutes, 6 seconds. Caccavo timed 6:38:38. Steve Duren of Spirit Lake was seventh.

Vicky Massey of Spirit Lake was second in the six-dog, 50-mile purebred stage race. Emily Clipson of Oldtown, Idaho, was first in the two- to six-dog, 24-mile sporting/recreation class race, winning by 3 minutes, 47 seconds.

Soccer

Two All-Greater Spokane League selections are among 11 recruits landed by Idaho women’s coach Pete Showler.

Nine signed letters of intent and two are invited walk-ons.

The signees include Lauren Layton, a 5-foot-6 defender from Mead who was the GSL Defensive MVP in 2008, and Keri Wirtz, a 5-8 forward from Shadle Park and first-team All-GSL. Both have also been instrumental in the success of the Spokane Shadow club team.

Other signees include Kristi Atkinson, a midfielder from San Clemente, Calif.; Megan Lopez, a midfielder/forward from Oceanside, Calif.; Amber Pimley, a midfielder from Camarillo, Calif.; and Chelsea Small, a forward from Solana Beach, Calif. Atkinson, Lopez and Small played on the highly successful San Diego Surf club team.

Canadians Jill Flockhart, a midfielder/forward from Salmon Arm, British Columbia; Christine Leathem, a defender from Surrey, B.C.; and Cassandra San, a defender/midfielder from Surrey, also signed. Leathem and San were on provincial champion club teams.

Invited walk-ons are Mackie Watt, a midfielder/defender from Lynden, Wash., and Caroline Towles, a goalkeeper from Shorecrest in Seattle.

Track and field

George Mathews of Hayden Lake, Idaho, broke the world record for the men’s 65-69 age-group indoor 20-pound weight throw for the second time in two weeks with an effort of 65 feet, 3 inches at the Vandal Indoor meet Friday night in Moscow, Idaho.

•Kelly Jacka, a sprinter who has 10 top-three finishes at the Washington State 4A meet her first three years at Bellarmine Prep in Federal Way, has signed a letter of intent to run for the Idaho women’s team, co-head coach Yogi Teevens announced.

Jacka led Bellarmine Prep to the 2008 state title as a junior when she scored a meet-high 24.5 points after helping lead the team to third-place finishes in 2006 and 2007.

She’ll complete her senior season this spring.

Jacka, who holds numerous school records, has personal bests of 11.91 seconds in the 100 meters, 24.36 in the 200 and 56.58 in the 400.

Wrestling

Eli Perez, a student at Eastern Washington University, won the gold medal in the heavyweight/super heavyweight division at the Washington State Folkstyle Tournament last weekend in Chehalis.

The first-place finish qualified him for nationals, the family reported.