Locally: Washington State Senate honors former Eastern Washington athletic director Bill Chaves
Former Eastern Washington University athletic director Bill Chaves was honored Thursday by the Washington Senate in Olympia with an adopted resolution.
Chaves, preparing for his new position at the University of North Dakota, wasn’t present when his accomplishments were read by Sen. Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville).
“Bill has done great things for Eastern and for the Eagle community,” Schoesler said. “We’re sad to see him go but are immensely grateful for the time he spent dedicated to Eastern athletics.”
Chaves was named EWU’s athletic director in August 2007 and served until Jan. 31 of this year. He was named national Athletic Director of the Year for the 2012-13 and 2015-16 school years.
Under Chaves, five EWU coaches were honored as Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. The football program qualified for seven playoff berths in 11 seasons, including a national title during the 2010 season, and the men’s basketball team made its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Bowling
Eleven area athletes, led by Samson Zepeda of North Central, who won the Division III Boys title, had top-five finishes in the individual portion of the High School Varsity Bowling Championships last weekend at Narrows Plaza Bowl in Tacoma.
Additionally, there were four from the area who made all-state teams based on their performance in the team event at the 53rd annual tournament sponsored by the Washington State Bowling Proprietors Association.
Zepeda, who had qualified second, won two matches in the stepladder finals, knocking off top qualifier Noah Cooper of Marysville-Pilchuck 152-145 for the title.
Four other NC bowlers had top-five finishes, three of them in Division III girls, led by Heidi Niederstadt, who placed second. Maria Blanco was fourth and Morgan Foxworth fifth. Alyssa Welton of Mt. Spokane was third in Division III Girls.
Karsten Gering of NC was fifth in Division II Girls.
Other top-five finishes from the area:
Division I Girls – Dinah Seymour, Shadle Park, third; Danielle Garcia, Moses Lake, fourth. Division II Boys – Milton Gomez, Moses Lake, fifth. Division II Girls – Maddy Garza, Moses Lake, third. Division III Boys – Anthony Bigsmoke, Shadle Park, fourth.
Seth Lamb, who helped lead Moses Lake to the Division I team championship, was named the division MVP with a 203 average and was joined on the all-state team by teammate Noah Torres (208) and Kaleb Ramelow of Valley-Spokane, who averaged 214.
Alex Holodnick of Shadle Park (201) was named to the Division III All-State team.
Madison Hilden of Mt. Spokane, who led the girls scoring in the team tournament with a 199 average, was named to the girls all-state team.
Valley No. 1 from Spokane finished fourth and Mt. Spokane was sixth behind champion Moses Lake in the Division I team event. Shadle Park was fourth, Rogers sixth and Valley No. 2 seventh behind champion Riverside (Mt. Vernon) in Division II.
College scene
Riley Lupfer, the Boise State sophomore from Lewis and Clark, collected her third Mountain West Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week award after averaging 19.0 points in leading the Broncos to a 2-0 week in games Feb. 11-17.
Lupfer scored 23 points, highlighted by seven 3-pointers, in a 63-55 win over Nevada and followed with 15 points and a career-high seven rebounds in a 58-47 win over Air Force. She averaged 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists while hitting 13 of 22 shots from the field, including 10 of 18 3-pointers.
- Former North Idaho standout Fuquan Niles, a Central Washington senior, was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for Week 25 following a performance highlighted by the fifth triple-double in league history. Niles had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocks in an 80-76 win over Concordia. It’s the first triple-double involving blocked shots, with his 10 tying Central and GNAC single-game records.
- Gonzaga junior Nevada Apollo was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week in women’s tennis after finishing 3-0 for the week. Apollo and playing partner Ashleigh Jacobs, a freshman, earned the Doubles Team of the Week honor.
- Idaho junior Enrique Marin was named Big Sky Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week for the third time this season after finishing at 1-under-par 215 at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate.
- Eastern Washington men’s tennis player Scott Paz earned his third Big Sky Conference Player of the Week award after the senior went undefeated in singles and doubles against Northern Colorado and North Dakota. The women’s award went to Idaho junior Marianna Petrei after she had straight-sets wins over North Dakota and Northern Colorado.
- Gonzaga’s Chandler Smith and Eastern Washington’s Delaney Hodgins were selected to the College Sports Information Directors of America first-team all-academic team for District 8 women’s basketball players. Smith has a grade-point average of 3.94 while pursuing a master’s in business administration. Hodgins, a health informatics technology and management major, has a GPA of 3.86. Idaho’s Mikayla Ferenz, an applied actuary science and finance major with a 4.0 GPA, was honored in District 7.
- Six area athletes, three of them at Carroll College, were named to Frontier Conference All-Academic teams in cross country with GPAs of 3.0 or better. The men’s team includes John Cooney of Gonzaga Prep and Taylor Smith, University, both at Carroll, and Jonny Handel of Moscow at Lewis-Clark State. On the women’s team are Abby Hammermeister of Cheney at Carroll; Jamey Weisharr, Athol (Timberlake), at Lewis-Clark State; and Gabriela Gomez-Wint, Shadle Park, at Montana Western.
Markieth Brown Jr., an Everett freshman guard from Shadle Park, was named Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for Week 11 after he averaged 27.5 points on 51.3 percent shooting to help the Trojans to a pair of victories over North Region playoff contenders. He also had 11 assists, four rebounds, a steal and a block. “Markieth has been very consistent during league play with 10 straight games of 20 or more points,” Everett coach Mike Trautman said. “His ability to score from the 3-point arc, inside, and from the free-throw line makes him very difficult to defend.” The coach added that Brown “is an excellent student with an outstanding GPA,” noting “he works with local youth at the North Everett Boys and Girls Club helping kids with their basketball skills.”
Jaya Allen collected her second consecutive Softball Pitcher of the Week award in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. The freshman from Shadle Park pitched 13 shutout innings in three Yavapai victories, striking out 22 and walking just three. Allen ranks second in the ACCAC with 81 strikeouts in 54 innings, is tied for third with seven wins (7-1), and is ninth with a 2.20 ERA. She’s had nine starts in 13 games with five complete games for the 16-3 Roughriders.
Scout Cai was dominating on the first day of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships last weekend in Portland, scoring 28 points in three events, that led Seattle Pacific to a share of the women’s team title with Central Washington at 136 points. The sophomore from Colfax won a second straight pentathlon championship (3,610 points), captured her first pole vault title (12 feet, 4 3/4 inches) and finished second in the high jump (5-5). Her pole vault is 12th in Division II and is an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark.
Tyler Bourn, a Carroll College freshman from Gonzaga Prep, earned his first Frontier Conference Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week honor after he finished third in the high jump at the Big Sky Tuner in Bozeman, with a jump of 6-2 3/4.
Cailin Spencer, a Carroll sophomore from Mead, and Hunter Weitze, a Lewis-Clark State junior from Colfax, were named to Frontier Conference All-Academic women’s and men’s golf teams, respectively, with GPAs of 3.0 or above.
Hockey
Kailer Yamamoto of the Spokane Chiefs collected his 100th career goal in a 5-1 road win over Seattle last Sunday. The second of his two goals in the game was also his 16th of the season.
- Former Chiefs captain Jason Fram was honored as a Canada West First-team All-Star for the 2017-18 season. The standout defenseman picked up nine goals and 14 assists in 28 games for the University of Alberta Golden Bears, helping lead them to a conference-best 22-4-1-1 record. Fram served as the Chiefs’ captain for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, capping a five-year career in which he played 308 regular-season games, good for 10th in franchise history, and scored 187 points. He was the Chiefs’ 2015-16 Player of the Year.
Soccer
Gonzaga men’s coach Paul Meehan announced the signing of six student-athletes: Johan Garibay, goalkeeper, Stockton, California; Jack Rembe, center-midfielder, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chris Geanon, midfielder, Middleton, Wisconsin; Mark McEntosh, defender, Folsom, California; Demitrius Kigeya, forward, Madison, Wisconsin; and Frankie Ljucovic, midfielder, Lagrangeville, New York.
- Gonzaga senior midfielder Christo Michaelson signed a one-year deal with Reno 1868 FC of the United Soccer League. Michaelson scored 10 goals and added four assists in four years with Gonzaga.
Shooting
Cassidy Wilson and the Spokane Junior Rifle Club Gold team qualified for the Civilian Marksmanship Program National Championships June 24-26 at Camp Perry, Ohio, during the Washington State Junior Olympic 3-Position Air Rifle Championships on Feb. 11.
Wilson, 17, who is home-schooled, shot 590 out of a possible 600 to surpass the individual national qualifying score of 582 and finish second in the state competition. The state champion shot 595.
Three others from the SJRC had top-17 finishes, with their scores combined with Wilson’s for 2,318 out of a possible 2,400, surpassing the national qualifying minimum of 2,280 and placing them second in the state. The winning score was 2,332.
Behind Wilson’s 590 were Mason Maystrovich, 16, Northwest Christian, 10th, 580; Zach Pearsall, 16, home-schooled, 15th, 575; and Taylor Christian, 16, Spokane Valley Tech, 17th, 573.