Sunday Locally: Gonzaga distance runner Shelby Mills earns All-America honorable mention

Shelby Mills of Gonzaga was named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Women’s All-America honorable mention list for her 17th-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2016 NCAA Championships in Eugene.

Mills, a red-shirt junior from Snohomish, Washington, who became the first Bulldog to run in the NCAA Outdoor Championships a year ago, finished ninth in her semifinal in 10 minutes, 12.81 seconds.

She had qualified for the national semifinals with a second-place finish in her heat at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Lawrence, Kansas, in 10:9.76. She had entered the West Preliminaries with the sixth-best time, 9:56.17.

Savannah Davison, a Washington State senior from Aberdeen, Washington, was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference team in women’s rowing.

Davison completed her final season at WSU rowing in the Varsity 8 boat for the second straight year and helping the Cougars to a 13th-place finish in Varsity 8 and a 12th overall team finish at the 2016 NCAA Championships.

Jeff Bohling, Brandon Bailey and Tyler Frost gave Gonzaga three players on American Baseball Coaches Association All-West Region teams for the first time since 2011.

Bohling, a junior from Bellevue, Washington, and the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, was a first-team selection. He started 57 games at third base, batting .298 and finishing in the top 10 in the WCC in four categories, including home runs (8), RBIs (50) and runs scored. He is GU’s first first-team All-West selection since 2012.

Bailey, a junior right-handed pitcher from Broomfield, Colorado, and Frost, a sophomore outfielder from Phoenix, Arizona, were voted to the all-region second team.

Bailey had a 10-3 record, 2.42 ERA and led the WCC with 125 strike outs. Frost made 55 starts, more than half in center field, and hit .309 with 24 extra-base hits, 49 RBIs and 35 runs scored.

• The Idaho women have been recognized as a Scholar All-America Team by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America with a combined grade-point average of 3.37. To be selected, a program must have achieved a GPA of 3.00 or higher over the spring semester.

Golf

Corey Prugh of Manito Golf & Country Club tied for 10th at 1-under-par 215 in the Oregon Open Invitational last week at Brasada Canyons in Powell Butte, Oregon, to lead the showing by area golfers. Prugh shot 70-75-70 in the 54-hole tournament.

David Nuhn from the University of Idaho course tied for 13th at 216. Top area amateur was Kyler Gable from Avondale, who tied for 10th among the amateurs and for 29th overall at 220.

High school scene

The Greater Spokane League, in conjunction with the National Electrical Contractors Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, announced the spring sports winners of the 15th annual NECA/IBEW GSL Award that go to a girl and boy from each school for demonstrating superior balance in academics, athletics and community involvement.

The winners by school:

Central Valley – JD Hauenstein, soccer; Brielle Crump, track and field. Ferris – Kaitlyn Caniglia, track and field; Curt McCune, soccer. Gonzaga Prep – Kelly Hooper, golf; Jack Coomes, soccer. Lewis and Clark – Maggie Ray, track and field; Ian Hash, track and field. Mead – Rayanna Smith, track and field; Koby Wilburn, soccer.

Mt. Spokane – Emily Stiles, track and field; Ross Morrison, golf. North Central – Casey Kiourkas, softball; Jamaal Edwards, track and field. Rogers – Zainabo Vita, tennis; Brayden Olson, baseball. Shadle Park – Mckenzie Wade, track and field; Carlin Douglas, soccer. University – Kylee Dickinson, track and field; Kyle Smithgall, tennis.

Shooting

Taylor Christian of the Spokane Junior Rifle Team won her age group in 3-Position Smallbore (0.22) during the Washington State Outdoor International Rifle Championships earlier this month in Tacoma.

Christian, 14, of Horizon Middle School, shot 1,095 out of a possible 1,200 to place seventh overall, fifth in Intermediate Junior and first in A Class. In International Smallbore Prone, she shot 560 out of 600 to place 14th overall, 10th in Intermediate Junior and fourth in D Class.

Christian was the only member of the SJRT at the match.

Softball

Marianna Furfaro, a valedictorian of the Rogers High School Class of 2016 with a 4.0 grade-point average, has been selected by the Inland Empire Softball Hall of Fame as the 14th recipient of its Doug “Pops” Bender Scholarship Award.

Furfaro has played four years of both fastpitch and slowpitch for coach Cris Coffield, who said she has done “a little bit of everything – she’s caught, played the outfield and been a designated player in fastpitch.” He noted “Marianna is a proven leader on and off the field” who younger players look up to.

And when she wasn’t on the softball field, Furfaro was involved “with meaningful activities in and outside of school,” Nancy Pemberton, the college and career specialist at Rogers, wrote to the IESHF. Pemberton noted, for instance, Furfaro was in Rogers’ Project Lead the Way for four years and worked with the National Guard Youth Council. She also volunteered in elementary school functions.

Furfaro and the 2016 inductees will be recognized at the Inland Empire Softball Hall of Fame’s 40th annual banquet on July 9 at the Shriners Event Center. The award carries $1,000 that Furfaro plans to use at Gonzaga University, where she has a full scholarship to study toward a career in pediatric psychology.

The IESHF Class of 2016 includes seven players: Bob Erickson (men’s modified, pitcher), Jennifer Tinkle (women’s modified and fastpitch, outfield), Annette Howland (women’s modified, first base), Tom Engdahl (men’s modified, catcher), Bill DeMaine (men’s modified, pitcher), Pete Zografos (men’s modified, first base/outfield) and Paul Nickerson (women’s fastpitch and modified, outfield).

Doug Bender and Dick Morrison have been chosen to receive the Hank Coplen Spotlite Award and the Strick’s Donuts men’s modified team will be recognized as Team of the Decade for the 1970s.

Katelynn English of Wenatchee and Kaylee Levien of North Central were recipients of the Spokane Girls Fastpitch Softball Association Summer Classic scholarships.

English, who plays for the North Central Washington Sun Devils, received a $1,500 scholarship, which she will use to attend Wenatchee Valley College. Levien, who plays for the Spokane Scream, received $1,000 and will attend Walla Walla Community College.