Locally: WSU’s Connor Halliday, Tia Presley nominated for award
Connor Halliday and Tia Presley, two former Greater Spokane League standouts at Washington State University, have been nominated for 2015 MTR Western Sports Star of the Year Awards, the sponsoring Seattle Sports Commission announced.
Steve Gleason, the former Gonzaga Prep, WSU and New Orleans Saints football standout who is battling ALS, will be presented the Paul Allen Award that goes to an individual who has made a significant or compelling philanthropic contribution. Gleason’s Team Gleason works to raise awareness about ALS, an illness known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Halliday, the Cougars’ senior football quarterback from Ferris, is nominated for the Male Sports Star of the Year Award while Presley, a senior basketball guard from Gonzaga Prep, is one of six nominees for the female award.
Halliday closed a record-setting career earning All-Pac-12 honorable mention after leading the country in passing yards per game (430.3), total offense per game (415.8) and throwing for the second-most yards in the Pac-12 (3,873) and fourth-most touchdowns (32) in nine games before suffering a season-ending injury.
Presley produced one of the best seasons in WSU women’s basketball history during the 2013-14 campaign, earning All-Pac-12 honors and scoring 647 points (a 19.0 average), second-most points in a season in school history.
Other male nominees include two Seattle Sounders soccer players, Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins; Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners; Earl Thomas, Seattle Seahawks; and Shaq Thompson, Washington Huskies football.
The other female nominees are Soobin Kim, senior golfer; Kim Little, Seattle Reign soccer; Kelsey Plum, Huskies basketball; Lianna Sybeldon, Huskies volleyball; and Stephanie Verdoia, Seattle University soccer.
The 80th annual awards banquet will be Wednesday at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.
Bicycling
Registration for the CHAFE 150 Gran Fondo, a fund-raiser timed bike ride with three distances available for riders out of Sandpoint on June 20, begins at midnight on Wednesday online at www.CHAFE150.org. The first 100 to register receive a $10 discount and are entered into a drawing for gifts and prizes. Early registration runs through Feb. 11.
Riders can choose from 150-, 80- and 30-mile routes. Registration fees are $75 for the 150- and 80-mile rides and $45 for the 30-mile ride. Riders are also asked to raise an additional $50 in donations.
The eighth annual event, sponsored for a third year by the Sandpoint Rotary Club, raises funds for children in the Lake Pend Oreille School District within its Autism Spectrum. In seven years, more than $60,000 has been raised for the school district.
College scene
Cody Sorensen, a junior safety at Idaho State from Ferris, was named to the 17th annual Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association Academic All-Star Team.
Sorensen, one of two Bengals and eight Big Sky Conference players honored, has a 3.83 grade-point average in mechanical engineering. It is the first time any ISU player has been recognized by the FCS ADA. Sorensen also was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 team for the second year and is a three-time Big Sky All-Academic choice.
Shooting
Cassidy Wilson had a second- and a third-place overall result and Taylor Christian won the J3 age class to lead the showing by members of the Spokane Junior Rifle Team during a Washington state-level match and Junior Olympic qualifier last month at the Spokane Rifle Club indoor range.
Wilson, 14, who is home schooled, shot 550 out of a possible 600 to finish second in the state in A class and third overall for a bronze medal in smallbore (.22) rifle and 381 out of 400 to claim the silver in the state in J2 air rifle. The air rifle JO automatic qualifying score for Wilson’s J2 age group is 385.
Christian, 12, Horizon Middle School, won her age group in J3 air rifle with a score of 366 out of 400, just missing the automatic JO qualifying score of 370.
In men’s air rifle, Mason Maystrovich, 13, Northwest Christian Middle School, placed second in J3 with a 530 out of 600 and Aidan Maddox, 15, Riverpoint Academy, shot 553 for fourth in J2.
Other SJRT state smallbore placers were Hannah Freund, 12, Glover Middle School, third in D class (456) and Mary Maystrovich, 15, Northwest Christian, fifth in A class (544).
Randi Loudin, a SJRT member from Post Falls, shot in the Idaho state match. She placed third overall in J1 in both air (378) and smallbore (547). J1 qualifying scores are 390 in air and 575 in smallbore.
State champions and others shooting qualifying scores automatically qualify for the Junior Olympics in April in Colorado Springs, Colorado. No SJRT member qualified, but Wilson, Christian and Loudin are in position to receive invitations when the Junior Olympics fields are finalized. Wilson and Loudin competed last year.
In team competition, the SJRT Gold team – Wilson, Maliya Hillman, 16, Lewis and Clark, and Mike Cooper, 17, Mt. Spokane – placed fifth out of 18 teams with 1,119 out of 1,200 in air rifle. Joined by Maddox, it was fourth with a 2,155 out 2,400 in smallbore.
Soccer
Micheal Ramos, a senior All-American at Whitworth from University High School, has stayed busy following the conclusion of the collegiate season pursuing a professional career.
Ramos, who transferred to Whitworth from Seattle University for his senior season and led the Pirates with 14 goals and 12 assists, has participated in two invitation-only Major League Soccer combines the last month held by the Seattle Sounders and New York Red Bulls.
He was among 65 players at the Sounders combine and 30 at New York’s. Toronto FC of the MLS and the New York Cosmos and Indy Eleven of the North American Soccer League partnered with Seattle in its combine. New York City FC, an expansion MLS organization preparing for its inaugural season, was at the Red Bulls combine.
Ramos has also been invited to an assessment week at the end of January by the Sacramento Republic FC, a United Soccer League pro team, and has garnered interest from several other pro teams, Whitworth coach Morgan Cathey said.
• Grace Hancock, a defender/midfielder from Boise, and Julia Reneau, a goalkeeper from Mountain House, California, have enrolled at Washington State for the 2015 spring semester and will compete in women’s soccer for the Cougars in the fall.
Volleyball
Ashley Allen, a volunteer assistant at Gonzaga University since July, was promoted to a full-time staff position, Bulldogs head coach Dave Gantt announced.
Allen replaces Allen Allen (no relation), a Bulldogs assistant for six years, who resigned to spend more time with his family.
“At this point in our program growth and in her development, Ashley is a very nice fit for our program,” said Gantt.
Ashley Allen has coached, or assisted, at all levels of the game, including a high-level club program, high school, college and international. She’s spent time the last two summers with the Collegiate National Team under the USA Volleyball umbrella.