Locally: Gonzaga basketball players earn recognition on court, in classroom
In the classroom as on the court, three Gonzaga University basketball players continue to be recognized.
Nigel Williams-Goss, Przemek Karnowski and Kiara Kudron received their latest honors from the Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association for their scholastic achievements.
Williams-Goss was named the D-I AAA ADA Men’s Scholar Athlete of the Year while Karnowski was selected to the men’s scholar-athlete team and Kudron to the women’s scholar-athlete team when the 15th annual selections were announced last week.
Williams-Goss, a redshirt junior from Happy Valley, Oregon, with a 3.85 grade-point average, was a first-team Academic All-American and received the Elite 90 award for having the highest GPA of anyone participating in the Final Four. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology during the season and is working on his master’s degree in organizational leadership.
On the court, the transfer from the University of Washington collected an armload of awards, including second-team Associated Press All-American and West Coast Conference Player of the Year after leading the Zags in scoring (16.8 points per game) assists (4.7) and steals (1.7) while adding six rebounds per game.
Karnowski, a fifth-year senior from Turan, Poland, with a 3.43 GPA while working on his masters of business administration, was named to the Senior CLASS Award first team and was on the WCC All-Academic first team for a second straight season.
A two-time All-WCC first-team selection, Karnowski completed his career as the winningest player in NCAA Division I history with 137 wins in the 152 games in which he played. He shot 58.6 percent from the field and averaged 12.2 points and 5.8 rebounds this season.
Kudron, a redshirt senior from New Boston, Michigan, who is completing her master’s degree in organizational leadership after graduating last spring with a degree in physical education, was first-team WCC All-Academic with a 3.95 GPA after earning honorable mention WCC All-Academic as a junior.
She was first-team All-WCC and All-WCC Tournament after a season in which she led the Bulldogs in scoring eight times, in assists 11 times and in rebounding 19 times. Her 51-percent shooting was third in the conference. She ranks 10th in all-time rebounding at GU with 651.
“Student-athletes invest so much time and energy to stay ahead in their studies, while giving their best in competition,” said Troy Austin, president of the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association and athletics director at Longwood University. “It says a lot about a young person when they can perform at a high level in both areas.”
The men’s postgraduate scholarship recipient was Nate Kratch of Santa Clara, the only other athlete from the Pacific Coast on either men’s or women’s team.
College scene
Anandae Clark has gone out on top … literally.
The Eastern Washington senior from Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls concluded her indoor track career as the 2017 Big Sky Conference indoor pole vault champion, the effort earning her the EWU athletic department Female Scholar-Athlete of the Month for March. Male honors went to tennis player Robert Dula.
Clark, who has a 3.97 GPA in biology (pre-medicine), cleared 13 feet, 7 inches, a mark that ranks third all time in the conference and second all time at EWU. It was her first championship and the third all-conference performance of her career.
Dula, a business administration (finance) major with a 3.68 GPA from Rijeka, Croatia, went 4-1 in singles and 3-2 in doubles in March. He led the Eagles to a 4-3 win against previous Big Sky champion Weber State and was the only Eagle to get a win against Boise State.
Josh Hawkinson, the Washington State senior from Shoreline, Washington, finished with six points and six rebounds for the West All-Stars in a 121-90 loss to the East All-Stars on March 31 at the 2017 Reese’s Division I College All-Star Basketball Game at University of Phoenix Stadium during the Final Four.
Hawkinson, who started at center, had four of his six points and four of his six rebounds in the second half. He was 3 of 8 from the field and added one assist. The only other Pac-12 player in the game, UCLA’s Bryce Alford, had eight points, five rebounds and two assists.
Madi Perez and Tessa Matthews gave Whitworth a sweep of the Northwest Conference student-athlete of the week awards in softball for the week of Mark 27-April 2, and the Pirates’ Sarah Martinez was selected in track.
Perez, a senior from Fountain Valley, California, claimed pitching honors after going 6-0 with one save, a 0.88 ERA in 40 innings with 17 strikeouts and eight walks, while pitching two 1-0 shutouts and a five-inning no-hitter as the Pirates went 10-0 in the seven-day period.
Matthews, a senior shortstop from Olympia, earned the player award after batting .469 (15 for 32) during that span, driving in 11 runs, scoring six, with five multihit games and two- and three-RBI games. She also made just two errors in 41 defensive chances
Martinez, a junior from Ruidoso, New Mexico, won the 400 hurdles at the Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma with a meet-record 1 minute, 2.53 seconds, a time that leads the NWC and ranks fourth in NCAA Division III. She also was fifth in the 100 hurdles (16.00).
Maggie Nelson, a Community Colleges of Spokane freshman, was the Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Track & Field Athlete of the Week after a strong performance in her first heptathlon in the Sam Adams Classic March 23-24 and a 20-second PR in the 800 meters.
Idaho sophomore Marianna Petrei from Italy collected her third Big Sky Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week honor for the week of March 29-April 3 after she ran her league career record at No. 1 singles to 16-0 with a two-set win over Sacramento State’s four-time player of the week and fellow 2016 All-Big Sky selection Ana Loaiza Esquivias.
Eight former area high school athletes were named to 2016-17 Frontier Conference All-Academic teams in basketball with grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher.
The men’s team included Match Burnham, a Carroll College sophomore from Liberty, and Tyler Higbie, a Lewis-Clark State senior from Coeur d’Alene High School and North Idaho College.
On the women’s team were three each from Carroll and L-C State. From Carroll, Sara Chalich, a junior from CdA High; Oona Harrington, a sophomore from Gonzaga Prep; and Brittney Johnson, a junior from Ferris. From L-C State, Brooke Litalien, a senior from Post Falls; Caelyn Orlandi, a senior form CdA High; and Natahnee Spencer, a junior from Lapwai.
For a 29th straight quarter, the Eastern Washington athletic department posted a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. The winter quarter GPA of 3.44 is the second highest during that span.
Women’s cross country had the highest GPA of 12 sports, a 3.88. Forty-seven percent of EWU’s student-athletes had a GPA of 3.5 or higher and 18 had perfect 4.0s.
High school scene
Todd Gilkey of St. Maries and Ted Reynolds, formerly of Bonners Ferry, were honored as Athletic Directors of the Year by the Idaho Athletic Administration Association at its annual state conference last week.
Gilkey received the award for the 2A classification and Reynolds, now head athletic director at Middleton, was honored in 4A.
Letters of intent
Idaho women’s track and field – Jocie Osika, weight throws, Lake City, state qualifier in shot and discus, district discus champion; Hana Tyndall, hurdles and sprints, Coquitlam, British Columbia.
Shooting
Cassidy Wilson claimed the silver medal in the National Rifle Association-sanctioned 2017 Washington State Junior Indoor Smallbore Rifle Championships last month to lead the showing by members of the Spokane Junior Rifle Club.
Wilson, 16, who is home-schooled, shot 1,142 out of a possible 1,200 in the three-position event, missing the gold medal by one point.
Wilson also led SJRC Gold to second place in the team event. Maliya Hillman, 18, Lewis and Clark; David Wright, 18, Riverpoint Academy; and Mary Maystrovich, 17, Northwest Christian, SJRC’s next three finishers in the individual competition (12th, 13th, and 14th, respectively), also were on the gold team that shot 4,472. The winning score was 4,530 out of 4,800.