Locally: Spokane bowlers shine at Washington State High School Varsity Bowling Championship tournament
Spokane competitors captured championships in three of the four divisions in the Eastern section of the weather-impacted 54th annual Washington State Bowling Proprietors’ Association Washington State High School Varsity Bowling Championship tournament last Sunday at Lilac Lanes.
Because of heavy snow last weekend that affected travel statewide, the WSBPA scrambled at the last minute to keep intact the second-longest running state high school bowling tournament in the country. It was split into east and west for the first time in its history, with the Eastern section in Spokane and the Western in Tacoma.
It went to the last ball in the 10th frame before Valley No. 1, comprised of students from West Valley and University, secured the Eastern Division I team title by edging Moses Lake 213-212 in a matchup of the top two teams.
Valley No. 1 – Brendan Haight (WV), Kaleb Ramelow (U-Hi), Alexandria Dudley (WV), Austin Yarnell (WV) and Brandan Furawaka (U-Hi) – compiled 38.5 points to 37 for Omak, which slipped past Moses Lake to finish second. Moses Lake edged Mt. Spokane 35.5-35 for third.
Eastmont won the Division II team title with 39 points ahead of Valley No. 2 (WV, U-Hi and Ferris), 34; Gonzaga Prep, 30; and Shadle Park, 17.
In the Eastern singles competition, Max Simonsen from Shadle Park edged Logan Stensgar of Omak by eight pins, 1,204-1,196, for the Division I title. Eli Storer of Mead was third with 1,107.
In Division II, Levi Martinez of Shadle won by 18 pins, 1,069-1,051, over Cody Kiger of North Central. Kelly Taylor of G-Prep was third with 1,047.
Dudley, who had no open frames in two days, was rewarded for her consistency, receiving Most Valuable Player honors in both the overall and girls categories in Division I. R.T. Grenier of Eastmont was Division II MVP.
Don Peek Inspirational team awards went to Omak in Division I and Shadle Park in Division II.
Other area scores:
Division I: Sampson Zepeda, NC, 1,062; Samuel Landron, NC, 1,009; Joel Myers, G-Prep, 1,008; Evan Inman, G-Prep, 948.
Division II: Nick Wendle, G-Prep, 960; Kayleigh Lewis, NC, 956; Monika Phipps, G-Prep, 930; Megan Gumm, SP, 902; Rachel Maguire, Rogers, 880; Makyla Olmos, NC, 852; Alyssa Welton, Mt. Spokane, 843; Clara Braunberger, G-Prep, 839; Kelsie DesJarlais, Cheney, 831; Matthew Thompson, G-Prep, 823.
Western team titles were won by Cascade/Mariner of Everett (Division I) and Marysville Pilchuck (Division II).
College scene
Jaya Allen made an impressive debut with the Dickinson State (North Dakota) softball team last weekend. In the first game of the season for the Blue Hawks, the Shadle Park graduate pitched a one-hit shutout, striking out 12 with one walk, in a 4-0 victory.
Before the weekend was over, the sophomore transfer from Yavapai (Arizona) College had figured in the outcome of all four Blue Hawk games with two wins, a save and a loss. In 18 innings, she struck out 22 with five walks, allowed 13 hits and four earned runs. At the plate, she went 6 for 13 with a double, two home runs and five RBI.
• Jared Christy, a senior at Whitworth from Ferris, received honorable mention when the All-Northwest Conference men’s basketball team was announced. He averaged 9.7 points and 8.9 rebounds, which ranks third in the NWC. Christy, who played his first two seasons at Pacific Lutheran, has career totals of 1,126 points and 949 rebounds.
• Idaho senior guard Mikayla Ferenz was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District women’s basketball first team for the third straight year with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Ferenz, a Google Cloud Academic All-American as a junior, is seventh in the nation with 2,235 career points.
• Seven athletes from area schools were named to 2018-19 Frontier Conference Academic All-Conference women’s and men’s basketball teams with GPAs of 3.0 or higher.
Women: Carroll: Christine Denny, jr., Liberty; Brittney Johnson, sr., Ferris; Molly McDermott, so., Gonzaga Prep. Lewis-Clark State: Cali Moscrip, sr., Lewiston/Spokane Falls.
Men: Carroll: Match Burnham, sr., Liberty. Lewis-Clark State: Trystan Bradley, so., Lewiston; Race Martin, sr., Pullman/Spokane Falls.
• Idaho senior Marianna Petrei, whose 6-0 record last weekend – 3-0 in both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles – helped the Vandals move into first place, was named the Big Sky Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week.
• Washington State and Gonzaga have teams and individuals in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I women’s rankings.
WSU entered the team rankings for the first time in 2019 at No. 15, the highest ranking in program history, and Cougars Michaela Bayerlova, a sophomore, is No. 35 and junior Melisa Ates is No. 106. They were Nos. 63 and 115, respectively, in the previous rankings.
Gonzaga is ranked for the first time in 2019 at No. 47 and senior Sophie Whittle is No. 4, slipping from the No. 1 spot following a loss to 97th-ranked Stacey Fung of Washington.
• Eastern Washington senior Dominique Butler (Lewis and Clark) set school and personal records in finishing in sixth in the pentathlon at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships Friday. She scored 3,597 points, breaking her previous record of 3,549.
• Scout Cai from Colfax and J.T. Konrad from Mt. Spokane won events at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships last weekend in Nampa, Idaho, helping their schools to team titles.
Cai, a junior at Seattle Pacific, had a meet-record 3,815 points in the pentathlon as the Falcons won the women’s championship. Konrad, a senior, went 15 feet, 8 1/4 inches in the pole vault as Western Washington captured the men’s title.
• A couple of Cascade Collegiate Conference athlete-of-the-week honors went to area athletes.
Riley Sine, a Northwest University junior from Central Valley, earned his second weekly award of the indoor track season after winning the mile run at the Multnomah University Last Chance Open, prevailing in a field of 13 with a time of 4 minutes, 26.43 seconds.
A.J. Davis, a Lewis-Clark State sophomore infielder from Clarkston, captured baseball honors after he led the No. 5 Warriors with six hits and four runs while driving in five in four games while going 6 for 16.
• Track and field athletes Izzy Clark and Nick McGill were selected the Whitworth Student-Athletes of the Month for January.
Clark, a senior from Northwest Christian, set two school records in January, lowering the 60-meter hurdles mark to 9.24 seconds at the WSU Indoor Open and raising the pentathlon record to 3,261 at the Cougar Indoor.
McGill, a junior, began January by winning the heptathlon against Division I competitors and closed the month by setting a school heptathlon record with 4,829 points at the Cougar Indoor.
• Junior Marissa Mount and the Whitworth women and men have been named 2018 United States Track & Field & Cross Country Coaches Association Division III Cross Country All-Academic recipients.
The Whitworth women had the fifth-highest GPA of teams earning All-Academic recognition, a 3.78, and the men had a 3.46. Mount, who was second among 125 runners at the West Regional, led a list 10 Northwest Conference women honored.
• Whitworth, which begins its inaugural women’s lacrosse season in the Northwest Conference under coach Noelle Brouilliard, was picked to finish last in the in the coaches’ preseason poll. Three-time defending champion George Fox edged Whitman as the choice to repeat.
Hockey
Former Spokane Chiefs captain Jason Fram has been named a Canada West first-team all-star following a stellar season with the University of Alberta. Fram played 308 career regular-season games for Spokane from 2011-16, serving as team captain in his final two years.
The defenseman from Vancouver, B.C., played 28 games with the Golden Bears, leading all CWUAA defenseman in goals (nine), assists (21) and points (30). UA took a 13-game winning streak into the playoffs that began last week.
Softball
Two masters teams from Spokane captured gold and silver medals at the Senior Softball USA Tournament of Champions last weekend in Lakeland, Florida.
Northwest Softball Club Underdogs went unbeaten in six games to win the 60+ AAA Division, defeating Playmakers from Wisconsin 19-4 in the championship game.
“That was our best game,” said coach Allen Arnold, whose team batted .709 and placed five players on the all-tournament team. It had defeated Playmakers 18-12 in the semifinals.
Arnold, who batted .789; Jim Palombi (.739); Doug Payne (.739); Brian Williamson (.667) and Joe Young (.476) were on the all-tournament team. Jim Pierce was named the team MVP after batting a team-leading .833. Other team members: Dan Griffith, Ron Klawitter, Mike Allen, Jerry Coulter, Lee Libera, Dick Stauffer and Jack Parker.
The Grey Sox were forced to settle for the silver medal in the AA 65+ Silver Division. They lost 22-12 to Robinson Furniture of Delaware in what was to have been the first game of a best-of-three championship series. But rain washed out the remainder of the schedule and Robinson was declared the division champion.
“That was our worst game; our hitting was horrible,” said Klawitter, the Grey Sox coach, who also played on the Underdogs, as did Griffith.
Griffith was among four Grey Sox players named to the all-tournament team along with Tom Crouch, who led the team with a .769 batting average, Cam Preston and Jim Hardenbrook. Tim Wheatley represented the team in the all-star game. Other team members: Dwayne Phinney, John Higgins, Tom Adams, Steve Bergstrom, Mark Reilly and Dan Loughlin.
Volleyball
Former Washington State standout Casey Schoenlein, who spent the 2018 season as a student coach for the Cougars, has signed a professional contract with the Manila-based Sta. Lucia Realtors of the Philippine SuperLiga.
The team is in the first round of the Philippine SuperLiga Grand Prix.
The opposite from Bellevue was a dominant force with the Cougars, helping lead WSU to back-to-back NCAA Championship Tournament appearances in 2016 and 2017, and was selected those years to play for two U.S. Collegiate National Teams.
She is one of four players in WSU history to earn Pac-12 All-Academic first team and All-Pac-12 first team or honorable mention honors for her performance on the floor.