Rodgers, Bester earn track honors

Two athletes from the Spokane Speed Academy attained All-American status and captured silver medals at the USATF National Junior Olympic track championships held in late July in Jacksonville, Florida.

Anna Rodgers , 15, of Lewis and Clark, placed second in the 15-16 age long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 4 inches.

Briegan Bester, 17, of Central Valley, took second in the 17-18 1,500 meters with a time of 4:45.62.

Other highlights of area athletes at nationals were:

• Tony Pizzello, 15, of Shadle Park, set a personal best time of 22.8 in the 15-16 200.

• Anna Fomin, 16, of CV, set a personal best time of 24.80 in the 17-18 200.

• The sprint team of Rodgers, Maya LeBar and Sativa Rogers, of LC, and Alsatta Bakana of Cheney finished in the top 10 in the 15-16 400 relay. They posted 47.86 seconds to finish second in their heat but missed the finals.

• Pizzello, David McKinzy of LC and Peyton Putney and Charles Johnson III, both of Cheney, finished ninth in the 400 relay, one spot out of All-American status.

Other SSA athletes who went to nationals were: Brielle Crump (CV), Dominic Crenshaw (Ferris), Isaac Wicks (North Central) and Riley Fowler (Coeur d’Alene).

Swimming

Daniel Roy, 15, of Spokane finished 18th in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Junior National championships in San Antonio, Texas.

Roy, a sophomore-to-be at Gonzaga Prep, finished in a time of 2 minutes, 19.71 seconds. He ranks fifth overall in his age group.

Golf

A handful area boys and girls competed recently in the WJGA state championships held at Gold Mountain Golf Course in Bremerton.

In the boys 12-13 division, Nate Plaster of Spokane finished fifth with rounds of 82, 83 and 72 on the par-72 course. Will Reeves of Sandpoint was ninth (82, 84, 88).

In the girls 16-17 division, Kelly Hooper of Spokane took sixth with rounds of 83, 76 and 84.

Anna Davis of Chewelah won the girls 8-11 division with rounds of 81, 87 and 88.

• Brayden Mires (Greenacres Middle School) won the Idaho Junior state match play championship in Caldwell. Seeded second in the 9-12 division, Mires won his matches 5 and 4, 3 and 1 and 3 and 2.