Locally: Brendan Haight wins season’s final Junior Bowlers Tour tournament
Brendan Haight saved his best for last, collecting his first Junior Bowlers Tour victory in the final tournament of the season last Sunday at Cheney Bowl.
After starting slowly, Haight finished with an 810 series in the match play portion of qualifying to grab the No. 2 seed behind Madison Hilden going into the five-person roll-offs.
Haight posted a 236-141 victory over Spencer Au, an 11-year-old in his first season of JBT who had qualified third for his first spot in the roll-offs, to set up a showdown against Hilden for the title. The consistency Hilden showed early left her in the finale, with Haight prevailing 201-184.
Au finished third, Wyatt Grunwald was fourth and Mason Georgeadis fifth.
Haight had high game (257) and high average (202) while Hilden led the girls with a 255 game and 201 average.
The fun tournament next Sunday at Valley Bowl will wrap up the JBT season.
• Kaleb Ramelow led the 2018-19 JBT All-Star Team with 181 points. Georgeadis (170), Hilden (157), Haight (134) and Blake English (116) rounded out the top five. Georgeadis had high season average, a 204, with Hilden leading the girls with a 201.
Baseball
Former Gonzaga pitcher Justin Vernia, who was named Rookie of the Year in the independent American Association in 2018, signed his first major league contract, joining the Arizona Diamondbacks in spring training.
Vernia, who had an 8-8 record at GU in 2016-17, compiled a 12-2 record with a 3.32 ERA for the Sioux City Explorers in the American Association last season. His wins tied for the league lead and he struck out 91 in 119 1/3 innings.
College scene
Madison Hovren finished a much-acclaimed women’s basketball career as Army West Point’s single-season record-holder in rebounds, a two-time Patriot League leader in scoring and rebounding and a two-time All-Patriot League first-team selection.
The senior from Central Valley, a first-team All-PL choice this season after she gathered a school-record 394 rebounds, is the second player in school history to reach 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career. She finished with 1,727 points and 1,092 rebounds. She led the league averaging 19.1 points and 13.1 rebounds this season.
A two-time Patriot League Player of the Week, she scored in double figures in the last 24 games and scored 20 or more points in the final six games. She had 23 double-doubles this season and an Army-record 56 for her career and earned 11 Patriot POW honors in her career. She was the Metro Basketball Writers POW three times this season and nine in her career.
• Two former Greater Spokane League standouts, Nevada senior Jade Redmon from Mead and Boise State junior Riley Lupfer from Lewis and Clark, were named to the Mountain West Conference 10-player all-conference team in women’s basketball.
It’s the first All-MWC honor for Redmon, who transferred after two seasons at Eastern Washington. She scored in double figures in all but one game, finishing with a career-high 25 points in a near-upset of top-seeded Boise State in the conference quarterfinals that led to her selection as the Wolf Pack student-athlete of the month for March.
Her 15.2 overall scoring average led the team and was fifth in the MWC. She finished her collegiate career with 1,258 points combined at EWU and Nevada.
It’s a repeat All-MWC honor for Lupfer, who was the coaches’ preseason choice for player of the year. After a record-breaking sophomore season, in which she hit 122 3-pointers, she was considered one of the most dangerous shooters in the conference and drew increased defensive attention.
Despite missing four games late in the season with a leg injury, she made 64 3-pointers, seventh best in the conference, and averaged 11.0 points, second best on the team.
• Three members of the Washington State women’s team, redshirt sophomore Jovana Subasic and seniors Maria Kostourkova and Alexys Swedlund, were honored when the Pac-12 All-Academic women’s basketball team was announced.
Subasic was named to the first team with a 3.98 GPA, Kostourkova (3.71) was on the second team and Swedlund (3.55) earned honorable mention.
• Brittney Johnson, a Carroll College senior from Ferris, and Cali Moscrip, a Lewis-Clark State senior from Lewiston and Spokane Falls CC, were named 2019 Daktronics-NAIA Division I women’s basketball scholar-athletes with GPAs of 3.5 or better.
• Whitworth senior Kyle Roach was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Men’s All-District second team after being a first-team choice as a junior when he was the 2018 West District Player of the Year and an NABC All-American.
Roach ranked first in the Northwest Conference this season in minutes played (905) and fourth in total points (511).
• Linnea Lindberg, a Washington State senior from Stockholm, Sweden, became the first Cougar in program history to win a national swimming title when she captured the 50-yard breaststroke in a school-record 28.01 seconds at the National Invitational Championships last weekend in Cleveland. WSU finished eighth out of 60 teams.
• Daniel Roy, a Stanford freshman from Gonzaga Prep, and Washington State sophomore Mackenzie Duarte qualified for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend in Austin, Texas.
Roy qualified in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke with a fourth-place finish in the Pac-12 Championships. Duarte qualified in the women’s 200 and 100 breaststroke.
• Morgan Weaver, who earned first-team All-Pac-12 and All-Region following a strong junior soccer season at Washington State, has been invited to play for the U.S. Women’s U-23 National Team in the four-team Thorns Spring Invitational that begins Sunday in Portland.
Weaver, who scored a career-high 13 goals for WSU last season, had an assist for the U-23 National Team that went 1-1-1 in the 2018 Thorns tournament.
• Idaho senior Enrique Marin and freshman Joel Veenstra shared Big Sky Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week honors after both shot 4-under 209s at the GCU Invitational last weekend to tie for 11th. It is the sixth weekly award of Marin’s career – and second this season – and the first for Veenstra.
• The previous week, Idaho senior Sophie Hausmann was the Big Sky Women’s Golfer of the Week for the second time this season and seventh of her career after she shot an even-par 216 in to tie for third at the BYU at Entrada Classic.
• Whitworth had two freshmen earn Northwest Conference athlete of the week honors for the week ending March 18.
Kayla Rambo was the women’s field athlete of the week after she had the second-longest discus throw in the nation, 142 feet, 6 inches, to win the event at the Buc Scoring Invite in Spokane.
Erica Lee was the women’s tennis selection after she won both her No. 1 singles matches in straight sets and teamed with Emma Jo Wiley to win a pair at No. 1 doubles as the Pirates swept road matches at Lewis & Clark and George Fox. It was Whitworth’s first win over LC since 2012.
Hannah Beach, a Pacific Lutheran sophomore stroke from Rosalia, was a member of the Lutes’ women’s varsity boat that won races against LC and Pacific in dominating fashion to be claim NWC women’s rowing weekly honors.
The week before, Whitworth junior right-hander Matthew Young was the NWC Baseball Pitcher of the Week after he came within two outs of throwing a no-hitter at Pacific. He allowed two hits and one run in the Pirates’ first complete game of the season, striking out eight.
• Kerry Pease of Cheney, a sophomore at Princeton, broke a 27-year-old mark to set the school record in the javelin with a throw of 157-6 in her first outdoor meet of the season at the University of North Florida Spring Break Invitational on Thursday.
Pease, the Ivy League runner-up in the javelin as a freshman, led the event from her first throw and uncorked the record-breaker on her last throw. The mark of 48.01 meters, nearly 3 meters farther than her previous best, is the seventh-best throw in Ivy League history and ranks 10th in the nation early in the outdoor season.
• Jenny Sapp, a Lewis-Clark State senior from Potlatch, Idaho, was Frontier Conference Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week after she won the 400-meter hurdles in a school-record 1 minute, 2.71 seconds and placed third in the 100 hurdles (15.45) at the Bucs Scoring Challenge at Whitworth.
• John Dressel from Mt. Spokane, a senior at Colorado, earned second-team All-America for an 11th-place finish in the men’s 5,000 meters at the 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. It was his seventh All-America honor and third in Indoors. He earned two first-team honors in 2017 (3,000 and 5,000) but missed the 2018 season with an injury.
Golf
Gordon Corder and Mark Wilkins of Manito Golf & Country Club tied for 13th at 4-under-par 140 for 36 holes, the best finish for area entries in the 2019 Pacific Northwest Pro-Assistant Championship last week at Seattle Golf Club.
Nick McCaslin and Travis Huskisson of Kalispel Golf & Country Club and Billy Bomar and Josh Grenier of Prairie Falls Golf were in a five-way tie for 29th at even-par 144.
Gymnastics
Dynamic Gymnastics and Northwest Gymnastics from Spokane brought home a combined total of 32 state titles from the Washington State Gymnastics Championships at two sites last weekend on the west side. A combined 23 of their athletes qualified for regionals April 12-14 in Corvallis, Oregon.
Both programs had multiple state champions.
Dynamic’s multiple winners:
Women: Tianmei Dwyer, 11, who attends Lincoln Heights, four titles in women’s Level 6 (all-around, vault, bars and beam); Rylin Zimmerman, 15, homeschooled, three in women’s Level 9 (all-around, beam and floor); Maren Forsnes, 14, homeschooled, two in women’s Level 7 (beam and floor).
Men: Kaysic Lundquist, 11, Finch, three in Level 7 (all-around, still rings, high bar); Tyjhai Phillips, 18, Shadle Park, two in Junior Development (floor, vault); Dakota Wolfe, 10, Shiloh Hills, two in Level 5 (all-around, still rings).
Charlize Hall, 10, Lincoln Heights, won three state titles in Level 6 for Northwest (all-around, uneven bars, tie for first in vault). Her teammate, Gracie Allen, 11, Summit, won her age-group all-around in Level 6. Northwest’s Alyssa Helbling, 15, University, qualified for regionals in Level 9.
Dynamic’s other state champions:
Women: Katarina Page, 13, Northwood, Level 7 vault; Emma Stutzke, 14, homeschooled, Level 8 vault; Jocelyn Thew, 16, St. George’s, Level 8 floor; Maggie Carstens, 16, Reardan, Level 9 beam; April Johnston, 16, Mt. Spokane, Level 9 vault.
Men: Kaeden Bencich, 9, Cooper, Level 4 vault; Shade Bachman, 10, Arcadia (Deer Park), Level 4 parallel bars; Gavin DePue, 9, Finch, Level 5 floor; Nathan Koenig, 11, Level 5 all-around; Zakary Phothivongsa, 16, Rogers, Junior Development all-around; Ty Friedman, 15, Lakeside, Level 10 floor; Brody Lusk, 18, Mt. Spokane, Level 10 floor.
Dynamic’s regional qualifiers: Women: Level 8 – Megan Morrow, 13, Mountainside; Stutzke; Thew; Sami Zandt, 15, Mt. Spokane. Level 9 – Carstens, Johnston, Zimmerman. Men: Level 4 – Bachman, Quinn Maier, 9, Pioneer Private School. Level 5 – DePue; Wolfe; Koenig; Trandyn Lundquist, 8, Finch; Eden O’Neill, 10, Garfield; Peyton Bencich, 12, Cooper. Level 6 – Conner Barker, 13, Northwood; Level 7 – Lundquist. Junior Development – Phothivongsa, Phillips. Level 10 – Friedman; David Thew, 15, St. George’s; Keegan Eastep, 16, Ferris; Lusk.
Adana Harris, Melanie Bixby, Tracy Lundquist and Tabitha Ward coach the Dynamic women. Melissa Paulson, Holly Power and Missy Didier are the men’s coaches. Mike Armstrong coaches Northwest.
Hockey
Co-captains Ty Smith and Jared Anderson-Dolan picked up three of the major awards when the Spokane Chiefs passed out team awards for the 2018-19 season last weekend.
Smith, a 2018 first-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, was named the Chiefs’ Player of the Year, John “Hit Man” Hern Defenseman of the Year for a second straight season, and Ken Rebel Most Sportsmanlike Player.
Anderson-Dolan, a center and Los Angeles Kings prospect, was voted the Players’ Player by his teammates.
Other awards: center Adam Beckman, who has scored more points than any Chiefs rookie in nearly two decades, Rookie of the Year; left winger Riley Woods, team scoring leader; defenseman Nolan Reid, Humanitarian of the Year; and rookie center Jack Finley, Scholastic Player of the Year.
• Former Chiefs captain Jason Fram, who helped University of Alberta to the Western championship and runner-up finish in the University Cup, was named the 2018-19 U SPORTS Defenseman of the Year
A third-year student at Alberta, Fram was also named to the U SPORTS All-Canadian first team and to the University Cup tournament all-star team. Defending champion Alberta lost 4-2 to University of New Brunswick in the University Cup championship game.
• Sean McFarlane and Riley Bowles, former youth hockey players in Spokane who are now professional on-ice officials, have been selected to work the International Ice Hockey Federation U-18 World Championships April 18-28 in Sweden.
McFarlane is a referee in the East Coast and American hockey leagues, and Bowles is a linesman in the AHL. Both are former members of the Inland Empire Hockey Officials Association.
Halls of Fame
Former Seattle Seahawks fullback Mack Strong, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, will be the featured speaker at the 57th annual Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame’s North Idaho Sports Banquet on April 13 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.
The banquet will honor northern Idaho high school and college athletes from the 2018 spring and fall seasons and 2018-19 winter season, and four individuals who will be inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at idahoathletichalloffame.org.
Strong enjoyed a 15-year career with the Seahawks (1993-2007) and was first-team All-Pro in 2005. He made the Pro Bowl in 2005 and ’06 and helped the Seahawks to the 2005-06 NFC title. They lost to Pittsburgh that season in Super Bowl XL.
Strong, named to the Seahawks’ 35th anniversary team, lives in Pullman with his family, serves as director for the Pacific-West region with the NFL Legends Committee, and is an assistant coach with the Pullman High School football team.
• Lindsay Mann-King, a 2002 graduate of Colville High School, who was part of seven straight national championships in women’s rowing at Western Washington University, unprecedented in NCAA Divisions I and II, will be inducted into the school’s athletics hall of fame on May 18 in Bellingham.
Mann-King won three titles as a rower in the varsity eight from her sophomore season, 2005, through 2007, and four as an assistant coach from 2008-11 before the string ended with a runner-up finish in 2012. WWU was third her freshman season.
“I remember her being one of the toughest women we’ve had on the team,” WWU coach John Fuchs said.
Another of the inductees is Courtney Schneider, a WWU volleyball standout from 2004-07, who was an assistant coach at Idaho in 2008.
Soccer
Mackenzie German, who has been girls academy director and a staff coach at the Cook Inlet Soccer Club in Anchorage, Alaska, since March 2017, has been named an assistant coach at Eastern Washington, Eagles women’s head coach Chad Bodnar announced.
She joins second-year associate head coach Pete Showler on Bodnar’s staff.
A 2015 graduate of Texas-El Paso, where she played four seasons and was team captain, German played semi-professionally with FC Tucson in the WPSL for three seasons and served as team captain two of those years before launching her coaching career with the FC Tucson Youth Academy. She helped her team climb from a No. 32 ranking to No. 2.