Locally: Washington State’s Gardner Minshew, Taylor Mims earn Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal
Gardner Minshew II and Taylor Mims have been selected the Washington State recipients of the 2018-19 Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal.
The medal has been awarded annually since the 1960-61 academic year to each member school’s outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership. It was renamed in 2009 to honor Hansen, who retired that year after serving 26 years as conference commissioner.
Minshew, the Cougars’ football quarterback who received his bachelor’s degree in communication from East Carolina before transferring to WSU, finished fifth in 2018 Heisman Trophy voting and was selected in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He was named the 2018 Seattle Sports Star of the Year, was the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award recipient, the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and All-Pac-12 first-team QB after leading the NCAA in passing (367.6) while setting multiple conference and school records.
Mims, a sport management major, signed to play professional volleyball with CV Haris in Spain. A four-time All-Pac-12 honoree, she was a 2018 third-team AVCA All-American, AVCA Pacific North All-Region first team and VolleyballMag.com All-American third team.
She ranks among the top 10 in WSU program history in eight categories, including third-most total points (1,639), and was involved in numerous WSU community service activities as well as the Special Olympics and WSU Alive Session.
Basketball
Heidi Heintz, a first-team All-Greater Spokane League player and GSL scoring leader as a senior at Central Valley, has been named the new women’s assistant coach at Saint Mary’s.
The 2006 CV graduate was an assistant at Division II UC San Diego the last four years, helping the Tritons compile a 107-18 overall record in that span, including a 30-1 mark last season. Saint Mary’s is a Division I school in the West Coast Conference.
Before her time with the Tritons, Heintz spent a year as director of basketball operations and video coordinator with her alma mater, UC Davis. She spent the 2011-12 and ’12-13 seasons playing professionally in Europe.
Her accomplishments led to her receiving Thirty Under 30 recognition from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association in March, a program that recognizes 30 of the top women’s basketball coaches at all levels aged 30 or under.
College scene
Kelly Dopke of Idaho, Sophie Whittle of Gonzaga and Marissa Mount of Whitworth play different sports, but they have something in common: All are their school’s 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.
The record 585 athletes nominated from the three NCAA Divisions will be pared, first to the top 30 in each division, then to three finalists in each division from which the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be selected and announced Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.
Dopke was a four-year soccer and academic standout for the Vandals, the Big Sky Conference Defensive MVP and UI’s first soccer player to earn Google Cloud Academic All-America first-team honors. Whittle was GU’s first women’s tennis player to be named an ITA All-American and ranked No. 9 in singles and No. 17 in doubles. Mount was a two-sport All-American and two-time Academic All-American. She was also selected by the Northwest Conference as its nominee.
• Washington State senior Kyler Little from Lake City was named to the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-America Division I Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field first team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
It’s the second Academic All-America honor for Little, who has a 4.00 GPA, majoring in computer science and mathematics. He earned second-team honors a year ago.
This spring Little received two WSU senior awards, the Senior Excellence in Academics and Cougar Pride Academic Salute, which is awarded to a female and male who have maintained over a 3.00 cumulative GPA and displayed exceptional academic, athletic and personal qualities.
• Gonzaga’s Jordan McPhee, who graduated with a 4.0 GPA in business, was named to the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-America Division I Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field third team. McPhee, who is completing her MBA, leaves GU with three top-five program marks.
• Whitworth seniors Mount and Isabel Clark (Northwest Christian) have been named to the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-America Women’s Division III Cross Country/ Track & Field first team.
Mount, who graduated in May as a two-sport All-American with a 4.0 GPA in accounting, was on the third team in 2018. Clark, an Academic All-American for the first time, is a two-time Division III All-American in the heptathlon. She graduated with a degree in graphic design and a 3.96 GPA.
• Sixteen Eastern Washington and nine Idaho student-athletes in men’s and women’s outdoor track & field with area ties collected all-academic acclaim from the Big Sky Conference for spring quarter.
The Big Sky list also includes a half-dozen area athletes at Idaho State, Montana and Montana State.
EWU: Men’s outdoor track & field – Isaac Barville, so., University; Liam Bracken, fr., Republic; Grant Hannan, sr., Central Valley; Caleb Johnson, fr., Shadle Park; Carter Ledwith, fr., Lewis and Clark; Jack Sloan, so., U-Hi; Jacob Stripe, fr., Ferris.
Women’s outdoor track & field – *Dominique Butler, sr., LC; Emma Chapell, jr., LC; Mariah Cunningham, sr., CV; Chrissy Fitzgerald, so., Ferris; Gracie Ledwith, sr., LC; Hailey Leeking, fr., North Central; Maggie Nelson, jr., Liberty; Alyssa Oates, fr., Wilbur-Creston; Anna Sharpe, fr., Clarkston. – * fourth straight award.
Idaho: Men’s outdoor track & field – Josiah Anderson, jr., Logos of Moscow; Mack Baxter, jr., West Valley.
Women’s outdoor track & field – Josie Osika, so., Lake City; Anna Pecha, fr., Central Valley; Erica Pecha, fr., CV; Jordyn Raur, jr., WV; Hannah Reiman, so., CV; Kara Story, jr., Coeur d’Alene HS; Krista Story, jr., CdA HS.
Idaho State: Women’s outdoor track & field – Anna Gardom, jr., Timberlake.
Montana: Men’s outdoor track & field – Ben Cikutovich, fr., Mead.
Women’s outdoor track & field – Olivia Ellis, jr., Lewis and Clark.
Softball – Anne Mari Petrino, sr., Pullman.
Montana State: Men’s outdoor track & field – Alex Lewis, sr., Moscow.
Women’s golf – Kelly Hooper, jr., Gonzaga Prep.
• Rising Washington State senior Ivy Elling Quaintance was named to the Canadian U23 World Rowing Championship team for a second straight year and will race with the women’s four in Bradenton, Florida, July 24-28. Last season she captured gold with the women’s eight.
• The Washington State and Idaho women and Whitworth men and women have been named College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association (CSCAA) Scholar All-America teams for the spring 2019 semester with GPAs of 3.0 or higher for the semester.
In Division I, the WSU women had a combined 3.45 GPA, the seventh straight CSCAA All-America award for the Cougars and 17th in the 19 years of the award. Idaho’s women had a 3.59. In Division III, Whitworth’s men had a 3.26 and the women a 3.24.
• Eastern Washington student-athletes concluded spring quarter with a collective 3.36 GPA, marking the 36th straight quarter the Eagles have combined for a 3.0 average. All Eastern teams had at least a 3.01 GPA, led by women’s golf at 3.86. Thirty-eight Eagles had perfect 4.0 GPAs.
Hockey
Spokane Chiefs forward Jack Finley is one of 44 players invited to Hockey Canada’s U-18 camp July 26-30 in Calgary, Alberta, to compete for a spot on its 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup team.
Finley scored 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) as a 16-year-old rookie for the Chiefs during the 2018-19 campaign. He added eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 15 playoff games. From Kelowna, British Columbia, Finley was the Chiefs’ first-round (sixth overall) pick in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.
Letters of intent
Lewis-Clark State men’s basketball: Jake Albright, C, Clarkston/Walla Walla CC, led NWAC in blocked shots, averaged 16.7 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 2.1 bpg as sophomore at WWCC.
Rowing
Three former Washington State Cougars represented their countries at World Rowing Cup II in Poznan, Poland.
Nicole Hare (2013-15, ’17) was on the Canadian women’s eight that advanced to the A Final, finishing sixth. Lisa Roman (2010-12) was a member of one of the Canadian women’s pairs that finished second in the C Final, 14th overall. Ieva Adomaviciute (2015-16) of Lithuania finished second in the C Final of the women’s double sculls.
Softball
Three Spokane-area men’s teams all went 5-0 and captured championships at the 16th annual Montana Senior Games last weekend in Missoula that drew teams from four Northwest states, North Dakota, Arizona and Canada.
Spikes Bar/Dishman Dodge won the +70 division, Northwest Softball Club won the +60 gold and El Jay Oil prevailed in +50.
Spikes Bar/Dishman Dodge defeated the CanAm Bombers 17-14 in the +70 championship game after defeating the traveling all-star team comprised of players 75 and older 19-16 in pool play.
“We had to give them five runs (under a handicap format), which made both games close,” Spikes coach Ron Martin said. “They win most of their tournaments. They are amazing. You can never look by them.”
Northwest Softball outscored Third Generation from Great Falls 26-18 for the +60 title, and El Jay doubled up Kalispell 19-8 in the +50 championship game.
Spikes players: Buster Dickinson, Tom Crouch, Jerry Sepich, Carl Clark, Dwayne Phinney, Jim Hardenbrook, Ken Krogh, George Quiggle, Tom Adams, Grant Hodge, Cam Preston, Joe Harari and Connie Burnett.
Northwest players: Allen Arnold, Jim Pierce, Lee Libra, Jim Palombi, Doug Payne, Brian Williamson, Jerry Coulter, Greg Hart, Dick Stauffer, Marlon Harris, Matt Seeliger and Jack Parker.
El Jay players: Rich Vela, Carey Wells, Scott Spangler, Dave DeFelice, Derek Smith, Karl Lebret, Larry Lebret, Tri Vela and Johnny Walkington.
• Four members of the Spokane women’s senior softball community, Pam Hodaka, Terri Itami, Colleen Dewitt and LaDonna Schuster, helped the Seattle Wet Socks earn a silver medal in 65+ Division 2 at the National Senior Games last weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico.