Local briefs: CdA alum Caelyn Orlandi to coach at LC-State

Caelyn Orlandi has spent the last four years guiding the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team from the court. She’ll return to the Activity Center in Lewiston this winter helping lead the Warriors from the bench.

The two-time NAIA All-American from Coeur d’Alene High School has been hired as the Warriors’ assistant women’s basketball coach.

“We are really excited to have Caelyn join our coaching staff,” said head coach Brian Orr. “She brings a ton of real-life experience. … Her personal growth and success as a player are invaluable.

“The fact that she knows our system and expectations is a huge advantage and will enable her to make a quicker impact with the development of our players.”

The Frontier Conference Player of the Year earned first-team All-American honors in leading the Warriors to a 35-2 record this past season and runner-up finish in the NAIA national tournament. She led the NAIA in total assists (261), assists per game (7.05), and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.6:1) and broke the school record for assists in a season and career (634).

She collected an armload of honors on the court and in the classroom, starting with being named the Frontier Conference Freshman of the Year. She was a second-team All-American as a junior and earned both Frontier and NAIA Scholar-Athlete distinction her junior and senior years. She graduated in May with a degree in exercise science.

Orlandi replaces Aubree Henrie, who left after two years to take an assistant coaching position at Division I Utah Valley University.

“Everything seems to happen for a reason,” said Orr, “and even though coach Henrie’s departure came earlier than we had planned, Caelyn has actually been preparing to become a coach for the last four years and we feel fortunate she gets to start her career as a Warrior.”

College scene

Peyton Pelluer of Washington State and Kaden Elliss of Idaho have been named to the Wuerffel Trophy Watch List, the All Sports Association in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, announced.

Pelluer, a redshirt senior linebacker from Sammamish, Washington, was All-Pac-12 honorable mention last season after finishing fourth in the conference with a team-best 93 tackles and third on the team with 7.5 tackles-for-loss. He is a three-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection, twice on the first team, and has been involved with a number of community service projects.

Elliss, a junior linebacker from Salt Lake City, has been active in the community since joining the Vandals, visiting local schools and participating in UI’s student-athlete advisory committee among them. Elliss was second on the team with eight tackles-for-loss and five interceptions in 2016. He also led the team in forced fumbles and finished fifth on the team in total tackles.

Known as college football’s premier award for community service, it is named for 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel from the University of Florida and is awarded to the FBS player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement. There are 109 players named to the watch list.

Semifinalists will be announced Nov. 2 and finalists Nov. 22. Announcement of the 2017 recipient will come at the National Football Foundation press conference in New York City on Dec. 5.

—- Seven players from Gonzaga were named to all-star teams in five summer baseball leagues and Washington State had five selected to the West Coast League All-Star Game.

WSU outfielder Derek Chapman, who plays for Bend (Oregon), had a first-inning single and scored the first run in the South Division’s 5-2 win over the North in the WCL All-Star Game. The Cougars’ Collin Maier (Wenatchee) gave up a fourth-inning home run that proved the game-winner.

Dillon Plew (Yakima Valley), J.J. Hancock (Walla Walla) and Dugan Shirer (Wenatchee) of WSU and Gonzaga’s Ernie Yake (Bellingham) and Nick Nyquist (Walla Walla) also played in the game. Nyquist, who advanced to the second round in the home run derby, scored the North’s second run in the top of the seventh.

GU had four selected to the Alaska Baseball League all-star game – Jace VanDeBrake (Anchorage), Jake Vieth (Anchorage), Nick Brooks (Matsu) and Calvin LeBrun (Matsu). LeBrun is the Alaska League ERA leader at 2.52 and tied for first in wins with four. Brooks is tied for second in home runs with three and was selected for the league home run derby.

GU’s other all-star selections are Mac Lardner (San Luis Obispo) in the California Collegiate League and Trent Schulte (Onondaga, New York) in the Perfect Game League.

—- Brandon Gfeller, a Montana senior from Colfax, and 10 student-athletes from area Division I programs have been selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to its 2016-17 NABC Honors Court with grade-point averages of 3.2 or higher.

The other area selections by school:

Eastern Washington - Bogdan Bliznyuk, junior; Mario Soto, jr., and Julian Harrell, sr.

Gonzaga - Josh Perkins, jr.; Nigel Williams-Goss, sr.; Dustin Triano, sr.

Idaho - Chad Sherwood, sr.; Nate Sherwood, jr.; Jake Straughan (Colton), so.

Washington State - Josh Hawkinson, sr.

—- For the 16th time in program history, the Eastern Washington women’s basketball team earned a spot on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll.

Coach Wendy Schuller’s team had a 3.562 cumulative GPA that tied for 12th highest among NCAA Division I programs. Fifteen of EWU’s honors in the 22-year history of the award have come under Schuller.

—- The Gonzaga men’s golf team was named a Golf Coaches Association of America All-Academic Team for 2017 with a cumulative GPA of 3.42 for spring team.

GU is one of 187 NCAA Division I programs honored. Teams with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5 earn All-Academic Team awards while those 3.5 or higher received President’s Special Recognition status.

Track & field/cross country

CharLee Linton, a former Washington State distance standout from Shoreline, Washington, has joined the Cougars’ track & field/cross country coaching staff as an assistant coach for women’s distance runners.

Wayne Phipps, director of cross-country/track & field, said Linton, 23, replaces Allix Potratz-Lee, who left last month to pursue other interests after three seasons at WSU.

Linton, who graduated from WSU in May 2016 and served as a volunteer coach for the Cougars last year, walked on at WSU in 2012 before earning a scholarship for her junior and senior years.

She scored for the Cougars three consecutive years at the Pac-12 and NCAA West Region cross country championships. On the track indoors, Linton ran a school-record 16-minutes, 31.43-seconds in the 5,000 in 2016. Outdoors, she broke a 12-year-old school record in the 10,000 as a junior with a 34:03.69. She’s also on the school’s all-time top-10 lists in the 3,000 (eighth indoors) and 5,000 (seventh outdoors).