Colfax’s Scout Cai finishes second in GNAC heptathlon

Scout Cai, a Seattle Pacific freshman from Colfax, turned four PRs in seven events into a second-place finish in the women’s heptathlon at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Multi-Events Championships last week in Nampa, Idaho.

Cai, who scored a personal-best 4,894 points behind the 5,032 of favored winner Karolin Anders of Alaska Anchorage, got off to a slow start, finishing 10th in the field of 16 in the first event, the 100-meter hurdles, but that didn’t deter her.

She followed with a career-best 5 feet, 6 inches to win the high jump and added another PR in the shot put (33-4) to finish the first day in second place overall. The next day, Cai opened with a personal-best long jump (17-1 ¾), nearly eight inches farther than she had gone, to place second, and threw in a 117-foot javelin toss for third place in the event and concluded with a PR 2:19.49 in the 800 (also third) to seal the silver.

Cai, who ranks 14th on the provisional list for the NCAA Championships, said she knew she had to make up for the hurdles. “I focused on the high jump, and that helped a lot. Going 17 feet in the long jump for the first time (was good), and in the 800, my goal was to get under 2:20.”

College scene

Bri King, who Community Colleges of Spokane coach Bruce Johnson said “had a tremendous two-year run with us,” was named the Northwest Athletic Conference Baden Player of the Year in women’s basketball.

The sophomore from North Central was earlier named the NWAC tournament MVP after scoring 31 points in a 76-73 championship-game win over Walla Walla following a 46-point outing in a quarterfinal victory. She was a two-time Eastern Region MVP.

“She carried us to two straight Eastern Region championships and the NWAC championship this year,” added Johnson, who was named the NWAC Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year for the fifth time after leading the Sasquatch to the school’s first title in 33 years.

• Two student-athletes each from Gonzaga and Whitworth and a couple of softball players from North Idaho who left the area to pursue their college education have been named to CoSIDA All-District teams and are eligible for selection to CoSida’s Academic All-America teams.

Gonzaga landed outfielders Sam Brown and Daniel Fredrickson on the NCAA Division I All-District 8 baseball team. Brown, a redshirt senior from Mill Creek, Washington, has a 3.61 GPA in physical education. Fredrickson is a redshirt sophomore from Woodinville, Washington, with a 3.81 GPA in mechanical engineering.

Joel Condreay, Whitworth’s junior shortstop from Renton, Washington, was named to the All-Region 8 Division III baseball team with a 3.95 GPA in accounting and finance. The Pirates’ Madi Perez, a senior pitcher from Fountain Valley, California, with a 3.95 GPA in psychology, was an All-District 8 Division III softball selection.

Vanessa Shippy, a senior catcher at Oklahoma State from Lake City with 3.94 GPA in marketing and finance, was named to the All-District 7 Division I softball team and Bekah Kastning, a senior outfielder at Hillsdale (Michigan) from Lakeland with a 3.52 GPA in exercise science, was selected to the All-District 4 Division II softball team.

• Lindsie Scholwinski capped a stellar two-year softball career at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, by earning a second straight All-Sun Conference first-team selection.

The senior from of Coeur d’Alene High School, who transferred from Spokane Falls Community College after leading the Sasquatch to an NWAC championship, had a 19-7 record (11-3 in conference) with a 1.37 ERA this season. She had 137 strikeouts in 162 1/3 innings.

• A couple of Eastern Washington small-school athletes collected athlete-of-the-week honors in the Cascade Collegiate Conference for the week ending April 30.

Katie Emerson, an Eastern Oregon sophomore from Almira/Coulee-Hartline, received women’s track honors after she was in on two NAIA “A” standard times at the Boise State Border Clash. She won the 400 hurdles in 1 minute, 3.12 seconds, the ninth-fastest in the nation this season, then ran the lead leg on the Mountaineers’ 4x400 relay team that clocked 3:54.52. That jumped them to No. 12 on the national list, an automatic qualifying tie for the national meet.

J.J. Robinson, a Lewis-Clark State senior first baseman from Colfax, was honored for a third straight week in baseball after he went 6 for 18 with three home runs, a double, six RBIs and four runs scored in three wins. He finished the regular season with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs.

• Nine student-athletes from the area who are sophomores or above were selected to Cascade Collegiate Conference All-Academic teams for spring sports with grade-point averages of 3.2 or higher.

Those honored by school: College of Idaho – Dalton Strong, junior, Lakeland of Rathdrum, baseball. Corban – Naomi Harris, sophomore, Lewis and Clark, softball; David Yoppini, jr., Northwest Christian, baseball.

Eastern Oregon – Casci Carpenter, so., Moses Lake, track & field; Katie Emerson, so., Almira/Coulee-Hartline, T&F; Taylor Smith, senior, Chewelah, softball; Emily Wren, jr., Lewiston, T&F. Oregon Tech – Evan Johnson, sr., Lakeland of Rathdrum, baseball.

• Track and field athletes Samantha Baker and Jeremy VanAssche have been selected the Eastern Washington athletic department Scholar-Athletes of the Month for April.

Baker, a senior from Mead with a 3.82 GPA in exercise science, won the javelin at the 45th Pelluer Invitational with a toss 149 feet, 10 inches and placed second in the event at the Spokane Memorial Meet at 138-7 during April.

VanAssche, a junior from East Wenatchee with a 3.23 GPA in exercise science, won the 100 meters (10.70 seconds) in the Spokane Memorial Meet and was a member of the men’s 4x100 team that ran 41.29 in the Pelluer, the ninth-best time in school history. He also ran a 10.76 100 in placing fifth in the OSU High Performance Meet.

• Madison Kerr, a sophomore from Lewis and Clark, was in the bow seat for the Western Washington women’s varsity 4+ that was one of three Vikings boats to win a Division II title in the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Championships last weekend on Lake Natoma at Gold River, California. The sweep helped vault WWU to No. 1 in the NCAA Division II poll.

• Nicole Hare (rowing) and Josh Hawkinson (men’s basketball) received the Pac-12 Conference Tom Hansen Conference Medal at Washington State’s 35th annual senior athlete recognition luncheon last week.

Conference medal winners are chosen because they “reflect the greatest combination of performance and achievement in athletics, scholarship and leadership.” Hare and Hawkinson also received the Beulah M. Blankenship Outstanding Student-Athlete Award.

Pac-12 Conference Postgraduate Scholarship recipients were Matthew Swanson (men’s track & field) and Alexis Thode (soccer).

Other major awards : Cougar Pride Trophy (academic, athletic and personal qualities), Mihaela-Teodora Berindei (rowing) and Matthew Swanson (men’s track & field); Athletic Director’s Star Performer Award (commitment to academic improvement), Ivana Kmetovska (women’s basketball) and Riley Sorenson (football).

Steve Gleason Community Service and Leadership Award (citizenship skills and leadership qualities), Ian Markham (men’s track & field) and Nicolle Marlow (soccer); Student-Athletic Advisory Committee True Cougar Award (started as non-scholarship student-athlete), Kiana Davis (women’s track & field) and John Thompson (football).

Damien Ficek Athletic Training Award (in the name of a former WSU athletic trainer who lost his life in combat in Iraq in 2004, for overcoming physical and/or personal challenges), Anna Rosen (swimming) and Sorenson (football); Rob Oviatt Strength and Conditioning Award (commitment to training), Brittany Brooks (rowing) and Ike Iroegbu (men’s basketball); Cougar Athletics Leadership Award, Nick Mandell (men’s golf) and Lianna Simms (soccer).

• Victor Sanders and Nate Sherwood collected two awards each when Idaho honored its men’s basketball players last week.

Sanders, a junior from Portland, received the Ronald White Award as the Vandals’ most outstanding player and the George Green Award as the top playmaker.

Sherwood, a sophomore from Albany, Oregon, won the Kathy Clark Award for a second time (2015-16) for combined academic and athletic excellence and shared the Gus Johnson Award with Arkadiy Mkrtychyn, a junior from Portland, that goes to the top defender/rebounder.

Other recipients were: Brayon Blake, junior, Garfield of Seattle/North Idaho College, Jay Gano Award (most inspirational); Chad Sherwood, jr., Albany, Ore., and Jordan Scott, jr., Colorado Springs, Colo., Oz Thompson Award (sportsmanship, scholarship and leadership).

• Ross Gilbert, a North Idaho College freshman from Bozeman, Montana, was the Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week for a second straight week after winning a second tournament in a row to lead the Cardinals to a first-place finish and the regular-season title.

Gilbert shot 134 in rounds at Liberty Lake and MeadowWood in the Bigfoot league match for his third victory of the season, a six-stroke margin.

• Women’s golfers set the pace for 14 area Division I teams that received Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA for their multiyear Academic Progress Rate scores for the years 2012-13 through 2015-16 that ranked in the top 10 percent nationally in their sports.

Gonzaga, Washington State and Idaho women’s golfers were honored along with 10 other GU teams and Eastern Washington women’s basketball.

WSU women’s golf, the only Cougars team with a perfect four-year score of 1,000; Idaho women’s golf, honored for the fifth time; and EWU women’s basketball, honored for a fifth straight year with a perfect score of 1,000, are the only teams from those schools recognized.

The GU women have been honored in each of the 12 years of the APR program, one of just 93 teams nationally to be honored every year. Joining them were baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s track, men’s golf, men’s soccer and women’s tennis.

GU men’s basketball was the only Final Four team recognized and one of just 13 in the 68-team field. Women’s basketball was one of just 15 of the 64 teams in that NCAA field. With 73.3 percent of its teams recognized, Gonzaga ranked second nationally to Holy Cross’ 75 percent.

• Guzal Yusupova, a freshman from Uzbekistan, was named MVP, and Melisa Ates and Aneta Miksovska were double recipients when Washington State honored its women’s tennis players last week.

Ates, a freshman from Turkey, received the newcomer of the year and strength and conditioning awards, while team captain Miksovska, a sophomore from the Czech Republic, won both the academic excellence and the coaches awards.

High school scene

Northwest Christian and St. George’s were double recipients at the 2B level when the WIAA Spring Team Academic State Champions were crowned.

Northwest Christian captured state titles in softball with a 3.68 GPA and boys track and field (3.65). St. George’s won in boys (3.605) and girls (3.784) tennis.

Other area state champions: Freeman, 1A baseball, 3.753; Liberty, 2B baseball, 3.72; Almira/Coulee-Hartline, 1B baseball, 3.707; Selkirk, 1B softball, 3.656; Wilbur-Creston, 2B boys golf, 3.706; St. John-Endicott, 1B boys track & field, 3.68; Davenport, 2B girls track & field, 3.843; Odessa-Harrington, 1B girls tennis, 3.532.

The awards are sponsored by the WIAA, Dairy Farmers of Washington and Les Schwab Tires.

Letters of intent

Gonzaga volleyball – Julia Talarico, DS, Chandler, Arizona; Gretchen Rudel, OH, Naperville, Illinois; Mary Grace Marzo, S, LaGrange Park, Ill.; Claire Barbe, opposite, Sacramento, California.

Idaho volleyball – Alycia Wodke, OH/libero, Eugene, Oregon/College of Southern Idaho.

Gonzaga baseball – Jon Fisher, C, Victor, Idaho; Gabe Togia, C, Federal Way, Washington.

Community Colleges of Spokane women’s basketball – Shania Graham, G, Republic, State 1B Player of the Year, 1st team All-State, 1st team All-NE 1B League; Rose Mongoyak, C, Barrow, Alaska.

Shooting

Cassidy Wilson led the showing by four members of the Spokane Junior Rifle Club at 2017 National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships last month at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Wilson, 16, who is home schooled, shot 1,107 out of a possible 1,200 to place 17th in the J2 class in the women’s 50-meter smallbore 3-position competition. She was 50th overall in a field of 66.

Taylor Christian, 15, Spokane Valley Tech, shot 798.9 out of a possible 872 for 28th in J2 and Maliya Hillman, 18, Lewis and Clark, shot 791.4 for 80th in J1 in the women’s 10-meter air rifle standing event. Christian was 95th overall and Hillman 132nd in the field of 180.

Mason Maystrovich, 16, Northwest Christian, was 49th in J2 and 117th overall after shooting 1,170.8 out of 1,308 in the men’s 10-meter air rifle standing event that had 77 competitors.