Locally: Area collegiate tennis players to compete in NCAA singles and doubles championships
High national rankings have earned Gonzaga and Washington State’s top women’s tennis players invitations to the 2019 NCAA singles and doubles championships May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
Seniors Sophie Whittle and Graciela Rosas will represent Gonzaga and sophomore Michaela Bayerlova, senior Tiffany Mylonas and freshman Hikaro Sato will carry the Cougars’ colors.
Whittle, the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, has a No. 8 national ranking and is seeded eighth in the 64-player singles field, earning her the first Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-America honor in GU history. She has won a school-record 29 matches with a 9-3 record against ranked opponents.
Whittle and Rosas are ranked No. 15 nationally and enter the 32-team doubles field with a 21-3 record, including wins over four ranked opponents.
Bayerlova, ranked No. 39, is back in the NCAA singles competition for a second straight year. As a freshman, she fell in the second round to the tournament’s eventual runner-up. Bayerlova has a 22-6 record.
Mylonas and Sato have a No. 22 national ranking and a 25-6 record, including 16-6 in dual matches at No. 1. They have gone 5-0, with three matches unfinished, in their last eight, all against top-50 opponents.
In the first round of the 64-team NCAA Division I women’s team tournament Friday, WSU, seeded No. 33, lost 4-3 to No. 19 Miami (Florida) in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to end its season.
Baseball
The Spokane Indians will hold an open mascot tryout on Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Avista Stadium. No experience is required. The tryout will consist of a sit-down, group interview and showcasing your skills in a mascot uniform.
Info: Darby Moore at dmoore@spokaneindians.com.
College scene
Madison Hovren’s senior basketball season at Army West Point ended on March 9, but the awards keep coming for the Central Valley graduate.
Hovren, who led the Patriot League in scoring (19.1) and rebounding (13.1), was named to the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association All-Met women’s first team for a third straight year and finished her career with six postseason awards between the MBWA and the Patriot League.
“Madison is one the most productive players I’ve coached during my 43-year career,” Army head coach Dave Magarity said. “Her numbers are remarkable considering her size (5-foot-11) primarily competing as a post player. She finishes her career as one of the all-time bests at Army West Point.”
• Chris Mogg, a Gonzaga junior who tied for third at the WCC Championships last weekend, was selected honorable mention on the All-WCC men’s golf team. He compiled a 73.96 scoring average in eight events in 2018-19.
• Gonzaga senior Tyler Munetake received his second All-WCC academic award in men’s golf after earning honorable mention as a sophomore, and four teammates were named honorable mention in 2019 with GPAs of 3.20 or better.
Junior Chris Moog and sophomores Holden Backes, Charlie Magruder and Matthew Ruel were honorable mention.
• Megan Billeter, a Western Washington sophomore from Mt. Spokane, was named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s golf all-conference second team. She had a stroke average of 80, which ranked ninth in the conference.
• Derrick Phelps, who spent only his senior season at Whitworth, was named the Northwest Conference men’s golf Player of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection. The Pirates also had second-team choices in men’s and women’s golf.
Phelps, who played his first two seasons at Community Colleges of Spokane and his junior year at Saint Martin’s, transferred to Whitworth when his former CCS coach, Scott Kramer, was named the Pirates’ coach. Phelps had top-three finishes in the NWC’s three major events, including second in the NWC Championships, and a 72.9 scoring average.
Junior teammate Reilly Hegarty is on the men’s second team, and sophomore Allie Slingsby is on the women’s second team.
• A come-from-behind victory in the decathlon coupled with top-three finishes in three individual events earned Whitworth junior Nicholas McGill the Men’s Outstanding Field Performer Award at the NWC Track & Field Championships.
A career-best 4 minutes, 43.32 seconds in the 1,500 meters capped McGill’s comeback in the decathlon, where he scored 6,524 points. He also captured the javelin with a career-best 205-7, placed second in the triple jump and third in the long jump.
• School-record performances earned two area athletes Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s track and field weekly honors.
Riley Sine, a Northwest University junior from Central Valley, collected his first outdoor track honor of the season following two indoors after he broke the Northwest record for 5,000 in a meet at Western Washington with an NAIA “B” standard time of 14:47.59.
Josh Brown, a College of Idaho senior from Colfax, earned the field award after hitting two NAIA “A” standards at the Boise State Border Clash. He won the hammer with a school-record 177-5 and added a second-place finish in the discus at 163-11, an “A” standard mark and personal record.
• For a third time in April, Idaho junior Zachary Short was named the Big Sky Conference Male Field Athlete of the Week after the Big Sky leader dominated the shot put, winning at 60-9 1/4, and placing third in the discus at the Oregon State High Performance Meet in Corvallis, Oregon.
• Scout Cai of Colfax, a junior at Seattle Pacific, scored a career-high 5,034 points and placed second for a second straight year in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s heptathlon. The second 5,000-point mark of the season and third of her career topped her PR of 5,017 at last year’s GNAC meet.
• Gonzaga men distance runners made names for themselves the last two weekends.
Freshman James Mwaura set the school record for 5,000 at 13:45.17 at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, California, on Friday in only his third attempt at the distance. His previous PR was 13:57.05. Andrew Gardner set the school record at 13:52.03 earlier this season.
On April 27 at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Mason Villarma, Yacine Guermali, Scott Kopczynski and Brandon Pollard combined to run 16:45.89 to place fifth in the 4-x-1-mile relay. The Zags had been seeded 11th in the 13-team field. Wisconsin won in 16:39.82.
• CCS sophomore Austin Albertin established the top mark in the NWAC in the 400 hurdles when he clocked 54.35 at the WSU Cougar Invite last weekend and was named the conference Men’s Track & Field Athlete of the Week.
• Whitworth’s Drea Schwaier-Wolf claimed two top honors, 2019 Northwest Conference Softball Freshman of the Year and co-Pitcher of the Year, and landed a spot on the all-conference first team along with center fielder Kinsey McNaught, a three-time first-team choice. Schwaier-Wolf had a 19-4 record and 2.22 ERA
Six Pirates were named to the second team – senior third baseman Michelle Silva, a four-time All-NWC honoree; sophomore pitcher Madelyn Carlson; freshman catcher Maddy Thomas; sophomore first baseman Rheanne Lewis; sophomore shortstop Sara Gayer; and senior second baseman Desi Graham.
Sophomores Kaylie Lowery and Brynn Radke and senior Morgan Portlock received honorable mention.
• Central Washington senior Rachael Johnson from University and sophomore Katie Kastning from Lakeland of Rathdrum collected a couple of awards when the GNAC passed out softball honors.
Kastning was a unanimous first-team All-GNAC selection after being named to the second team in 2018 while Johnson was a second-team repeater. Both are outfielders.
Jolene House, a Montana State Billings junior outfielder from Mead, was honorable mention.
Johnson and Kastning were also named to the GNAC softball all-academic team with GPAs of 3.20 or better. It was the third straight honor for Johnson.
• Jaya Allen, a Dickinson (North Dakota) State sophomore from Shadle Park, was named to a first-team at-large position on the North Star Athletic Association softball all-conference teams.
Allen, in her first season at Dickinson after transferring from Yavapai (Arizona) College, had an 11-14 record with one save and a 2.95 ERA as a pitcher that ranked sixth in the NSAA. She struck out 182 in 175 1/3 innings, second most in the conference.
She was one of the Blue Hawks’ most dangerous hitters. Her .331 average was second on the team and her eight home runs and 39 RBIs led the team and were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the NAIA Division I conference.
• Haley Loffer, a College of Idaho freshman from Lake City, was the shortstop on the Cascade Collegiate Conference softball Gold Glove team. She had only six errors in 249 chances for a .976 fielding percentage. Loffer, who batted .356, also received honorable mention on the All-CCC team.
• Eastern Washington’s Madeline Lamoreaux was named Freshman of the Year, and Idaho senior Marianna Petrei was a first-team selection for a fourth straight year when Big Sky Conference postseason honors were passed out in women’s tennis.
Lamoreaux also was selected first-team All-Big Sky in singles and doubles with partner Rylee Braeden, who was also first-team doubles in 2018. Eagles sophomore Zoey Nelson, last year’s Freshman of the Year, was second team in both singles and doubles, the latter with freshman partner Louise Waite. Lamoreaux was 8-2 in Big Sky singles and 9-1 in doubles with Braeden.
Petrei and UI senior teammate Maria Tavares, a first-team singles repeater, were unanimous first-team singles choices and were first-team doubles repeaters. Sophomore teammates Laura Spataro and Marta Magalhaes were named to the second team in singles. Petrei was 10-0 in Big Sky play and remained unbeaten (40-0) in her career. Tavares was 38-2 in her career.
• Jeremy Field, an Eastern Washington senior, was named to the All-Big Sky Conference first team in men’s tennis singles after earning second-team honors as a junior. Field had a 12-7 overall record playing primarily at No. 1, including 7-3 against Big Sky opponents.
• Gonzaga placed four women and five men on WCC tennis all-academic teams with GPAs of 3.20 or higher.
Seniors Sara Komer, with the only 4.0 GPA among the 12 players honored; Graciela Rosas; and Sophie Whittle made the women’s team with junior Kate Ketels on the honorable mention list.
Juniors Kyle Everly and Simon Homedes Dualde were on the men’s 12-man list, with sophomore Hunter Egger and juniors Sam Feit and Vincent Rettke receiving honorable mention.
• Gonzaga, Washington State, Eastern Washington and Idaho all received Annual Progress Rate Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA for maintaining perfect multiyear APR scores that rank among the top 10 percent in their sport.
Gonzaga led the way with a WCC-best 10 awards – in men’s and women’s basketball, cross country, track, golf and tennis. It is the sixth straight year GU has had at least 10 teams honored. Women’s golf has received the award all 14 years of the APR program.
WSU received awards in men’s and women’s golf. It is the fifth straight year women’s golf had a perfect four-year score.
EWU was honored in women’s basketball for a seventh straight year and in women’s tennis for a second straight year and fifth time overall.
Idaho was honored in women’s golf for a fifth straight year, and sixth time overall, and in women’s cross country for a second straight year.
• With a victory in the varsity eight race last Sunday at Wawawai Landing on the Snake River,
Washington State completed a five-race sweep of Gonzaga in women’s rowing and held on to the Fawley Cup for the third straight year and 25th time in 28 competitions all time.
Football
Idaho wide receiver David Ungerer was selected in the second round of the Canadian Football League Draft on Thursday, going to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with the 11th overall pick.
The Pullman High School graduate, who has Canadian residency, led Idaho receivers as a senior with 69 catches for 697 yards and four touchdowns. He also scored one rushing touchdown and returned a punt for a score. His 6.3 receptions per game ranked second in the Big Sky.
He was named All-Big Sky third team at receiver and honorable mention as a return specialist.
Ungerer played in 45 games for the Vandals, with his biggest production coming in the final 17 games of his career. He had 1,009 of his 1,252 receiving yards and all 12 of his touchdowns the last season and a half.
The fourth Vandal to be taken in the modern CFL draft and the third in the last five years will earn his degree this week before joining the Tiger-Cats for training camp. Hamilton’s preseason begins June 1.
• Ian Kolste, who completed a record-setting career at Whitworth in 2017 and joined the Pirates’ coaching staff in 2018, is taking a summer break from those responsibilities to resume his playing career in Bavaria, Germany.
Kolste will join the Kirchdorf Wildcats, members of the GFL1 league, the top division in European football. He will play quarterback while also coaching Kirchdorf’s lower-division teams and be involved in the offensive coordination for the Wildcats.
Whitworth’s all-time leader in five offensive categories, including total offense (10,467), passing yards (10,124) and touchdown passes (85) while compiling a 26-6 record as the Pirates’ starting QB, will return in the fall and rejoin the Pirates’ staff as wide receivers coach.
Letters of intent
Gonzaga volleyball – Rhea Jansen, libero/OH, Freeman; two-time All-NEA first team, two-time Washington Volleyball Coaches’ Association All-State 1A honorable mention.
WSU women’s basketball – Emma Nankervis, post, Mount Eliza, Australia.
Lewis-Clark State women’s basketball – Heidi Sellmann, forward, North Idaho College; All-NWAC Eastern Region second team.
Idaho men’s track/cross country – Gabriel Dinnel, Washougal, Washington.
Shooting
Kylie Delaney won the gold medal and led the Spokane Junior Rifle Club gold team to a silver medal at 2019 Washington State Junior Indoor Smallbore Rifle Championships.
Delaney, 17, who is homeschooled, shot 1,144 out of a possible 1,200 in the 3-position event to capture the state championship. Two teammates, Mason Maystrovich, 18, Northwest Christian, and Cassidy Wilson, 18, homeschooled, shot 1,120 and 1,119, respectively, to place seventh and eighth in the 66-shooter field.
SJRC Gold, which included those three and Taylor Christian, 17, Spokane Valley Tech, shot 4,494 out of 4,800 to place second among five teams. The state champion shot 4,504.
Miscellany
A record total of just more than $130,000 was raised April 27 at the 38th annual Orland Killin Scholarship Dinner at Eastern Washington University. Net proceeds benefit the areas of greatest need in the EWU athletic department, including scholarships for student-athletes.
The dinner, dance and auction is named in honor of Killin, who, along with his wife Bernice, helped create the event. Killin was a 1941-42 football letterman who served as a professor, faculty athletic representative and faculty president at Eastern.