Sunday Locals: Boyce second-team All-American

Kris Boyce, a senior from Fruitvale, B.C., led three Eastern Washington players recognized when the American College Hockey Association passed out postseason awards.

Boyce, a forward who was second on the national- qualifying Eagles with 27 goals and 50 points, was named a second-team ACHA Division 2 All-American as well as being selected the West Region most valuable player and named to the All-West Region first team.

Freshman goalie Jason Greenwell from Spokane (Mt. Spokane) was also a first-team All-West selection, while senior defenseman Kevin Ogle from University Place, Wash., who played with the Spokane Braves, was a second-team choice. Greenwell had a 13-5 record and 2.95 goals-against average splitting time in the Eagles’ goal. Ogle had three goals and 24 assists, which were third on the team.

Boyce and Greenwell are the fourth and fifth Eagles to earn All-West accolades since 2006.

EWU, which finished with a 28-8-1-1 record, made it to the ACHA Division 2 national semifinals and ranked fourth in the final D-2 poll.

College scene

Fernando Mussolini, a sophomore at Eastern Washington, was named to the eight-man All-Big Sky Conference first team in men’s tennis.

Mussolini won five of eight singles matches during the conference season, including two wins against fellow first-team selections. He had an 11-11 season record.

• Four Idaho tennis players were named to All-Western Athletic Conference teams.

Marius Cirstea, a sophomore who compiled an 18-17 record in No. 1 singles, and senior Lachlan Reed, who had a 30-7 record, were named to the men’s first team in singles.

Freshman Victoria Lozano, who was 20-16, including 12-8 at No. 1 in the spring, was second-team All-WAC in both women’s singles and doubles, joined by sophomore Lauren Simpson in the latter. They teamed for a 22-10 record.

• Three Gonzaga tennis players earned honorable mention on All-West Coast Conference teams.

Senior Rika Mehndiratta was selected in singles for the third straight year and was joined in doubles by longtime partner senior Danielle Farmer after 10-win seasons in both.

Sophomore Levin Guillermo, who had his second straight 10-win season, this time after moving up to No. 1 full time, was a men’s honorable mention selection.

• Connor McCracken, a Lewis-Clark State senior who transferred from Whitworth after his freshman season, was named a co-player of the year in men’s golf by the Frontier Conference. It was his third straight player of the year honor.

The all-conference teams, based on conference tournament finishes, included LCSC juniors Jason Molner and Kyler Gable (Coeur d’Alene High and Community Colleges of Spokane) on the men’s first team and freshman Drew Reinland and junior Tyler Johnson (CdA High and CCS) on the second.

Reinland was named freshman of the year and the Warriors’ Paul Thompson coach of the year.

Senior Alana Norris and freshman Brooke Dagner of LCSC were second-team picks on the All-Frontier women’s team.

The LCSC men won the conference championship and the Warriors women were third.

• The Frontier’s All-Academic men’s golf team included McCracken, Kyler Nilsson (Lewiston) and Brad Tracy (Moses Lake) while Shanna Herman (Orofino) and Idah Whisenant (Lewiston) were on the women’s team.

Joshua Wittman of Lewiston, a University of Great Falls senior, also was on the men’s all-academic team.

• Tara Cronin, a Portland senior from Gonzaga Prep who has a 3.71 grade-point average in mechanical engineering, was named to the West Coast Conference All-Academic team in women’s basketball for a third consecutive year.

Gonzaga senior Claire Raap from Prosser, who has a 3.48 GPA in physical education, made the team for the first time.

• Seven athletes at Eastern Washington with area ties were named to Big Sky Conference All-Academic teams for the winter quarter.

To qualify, a student-athlete needs at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and to have played in at least half the team’s competitions.

Those honored, by sport:

Women’s basketball – Jordan Schoening, sophomore, Post Falls.

Men’s indoor track and field – Timothy Armstrong, senior, East Valley and CC Spokane; Drake da Ponte, so., Washington State; Warren Miller, freshman, St. John (St. John-Endicott); Kurt Williams, sr., CC Spokane.

Women’s indoor track and field – Stephanie Dye, Chatteroy (Riverside); Danielle Slaughter, sr., Shadle Park.

• Seven other area athletes at Big Sky schools received all-academic honors.

The athletes by sport:

Women’s basketball – Katie Baker, so., Montana (Lake City); Lyndi Seidensticker, sr., Montana State (Lewis and Clark); Jenna Galloway, sr., Northern Arizona (Ferris).

Women’s indoor track and field – Madeline Fuchs, so., Montana State (University); Shae Carson, fr., Portland State (Coeur d’Alene).

Men’s track and field – Alex Shaw, junior, Montana (Lewis and Clark); Nickolas Atwood, sr., Montana State (East Valley).

• Idaho honored its female athletes in five sports at the school’s annual Idaho Women’s Sports Banquet last week in the University Inn Best Western in Moscow.

In addition to passing out team awards and recognizing the seniors on each team, Idaho’s female student-athletes were lauded as a whole for having a combined 3.3 cumulative GPA.

Award winners by sport:

Basketball – Emily Doran, senior, Kathy Clark Scholar-Athlete Award.

Golf – Junior Teo Poplawski, most improved; junior Kayla Mortellaro, lowest scoring average and Kathy Clark Scholar-Athlete Award.

Swimming and diving – Freshman Lyndsey Williams, Vandal Zone Award, which recognizes excellence in academics, athletics and character; Staci Stratton, Kathy Clark Scholar-Athlete Award.

Tennis – Senior Yvette Ly, most inspirational; senior Natalie Kirch, most improved; freshman Victoria Lozano, most valuable player; junior Molly Knox, Kathy Clark Scholar-Athlete Award.

Volleyball –Sophomore Julia Church and junior Cassie Hamilton shared most inspirational; freshman Allison Walker, MVP; senior Kelsey Taylor, Kathy Clark Scholar-Athlete Award.

• Two players from Spokane, Keshia Rumberger (Mead) and Brianne Elizabethe Damitio (who graduated from Rogers in 2006 after transferring from Central Valley her senior year) are on the Western Washington team that is in Pittsburgh this weekend playing for the USA Rugby Division II women’s college national championship.

WWU, which beat 2010 national champion Washington State twice during the regular season, is in the final four with Radcliffe, Notre Dame and Stonehill.

Western, ranked No. 1 on the Pacific Coast, defeated George Washington 20-12 in overtime in the quarterfinals the weekend before Easter in San Diego.

Cross country

Jacob Wimpenny, a Post Falls senior voted the most inspirational by his Trojans teammates, has signed a letter of intent to run at Lewis-Clark State College, Warriors coach Mike Collins has announced.

Wimpenny is the second member of the Trojans’ state-qualifying team to sign with the Warriors, joining Keaton Trom.

Wimpenny has a GPA above 3.50, Collins noted.

Soccer

Bailey Hewitt from Clark Fork, who transferred from Oregon State this spring, is among three forward recruits slated to join the Idaho women’s team in the fall, coach Pete Showler announced.

Joining Hewitt are Morgan Sullivan from Pasco, who is transferring from Clarke University and will be a junior, and freshman Morgan Porter from Nathan Hale in Seattle.

Hewitt, a sophomore, was a four-sport standout in high school. She played soccer at neighboring Sandpoint because Clark Fork didn’t offer the sport and scored 33 goals in two seasons, following an All-Inland Empire League season as a junior by being named the IEL most valuable player as a senior.

Sullivan was a first-team all-conference selection at Clarke, leading the Dubuque, Iowa, school with 12 goals, four of them game winners, and 30 points.

Porter was a 2010 first-team All-Metro Sound Division honoree after posting 11 goals and 19 assists.

Track and field

The University of Idaho completed a coaching reorganization last week with the hiring of assistant Jason Graham to oversee the Vandals’ jumpers, vaulters and multi-athletes.

Graham, a 1994 Idaho graduate and former Vandals athlete, becomes a full-time staff member after years of serving as a volunteer with the program working mostly with the pole vaulters.

Splash U-17 of Spokane won a bid to represent the Evergreen Region at the national tournament in Atlanta June 29-July 2.

Team members: Sarah Batterton and Devyn Russell, Northwest Christian; Sam Block, Central Valley; Jonnie Dorr, Madison Underwood, Hannah Zalopany and Tayor Ellingson, all Mead; Sam Hill, North Central; Mercedes Montoya, Lewis and Clark; Ixchelle Oleson, Mt Spokane. Eva Windlin-Jansen is the head coach.