Locally: Former Lakeside standout Kate Reome entering Central Washington University Athletic Hall of Fame

Kate Reome, who followed two State 2A volleyball championships at Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) by leading Central Washington University to the best volleyball season in school history, has been selected for induction into the CWU Athletic Hall of Fame with the Class of 2020.

A two-time All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference selection, Reome was the 2004 GNAC Player of the Year and an NCAA Division II third-team All-American as a senior after leading the Wildcats to a 26-1 record.

Central was only the sixth school in D-II history to go through the regular season undefeated, losing its perfect record in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

The 5-foot-8 setter appeared in 103 matches during her four-year career, recording 4,780 assists and 1,045 digs. During that 2004 season, she led NCAA Division II in assists per set (14.25) and finished with a career-high 1,297 assists her senior season.

At Lakeside, Reome was co-MVP of the 2000 State 2A tournament with teammate Jen Barcus after they led the Eagles to a second straight state title.

Now Kate Ridnour, married to former NBA player Luke Ridnour and raising five sons in the Seattle area, she will be in a four-person class that will bring the CWU Hall of Fame in its 37th year to 200.

Joining her on the dias for induction ceremonies May 2 on the campus of the school in Ellensburg will be Mike Reilly (football, 2005-08), Lance Den Boer (men’s basketball, 2005-07) and Joe Sanford (wrestling, a 1978 national champion).

Den Boer was a State B Tournament regular in Spokane with Sunnyside Christian in the early 2000s.

Baseball

A memorial service for former New York Yankees great Don Larsen, the only man to pitch a perfect game in the World Series, is set for Feb. 1 at 11 a.m. at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., in Coeur d’Alene. Larsen died Jan. 1 in Coeur d’Alene.

The family obituary said a luncheon will follow in the church hall and friends and family are invited to a get-together entitled “Celebrating a Baseball Life” from 6-9 that night at Capone’s Pub and Grill, 9520 N. Government Way in Hayden, Idaho, hosted by the Eddie Gaedel Society.

In lieu of flowers, the obituary said contributions can be made to the Don Larsen Memorial Room at Schneidmiller Hospice House, 2290 West Prairie Ave., Coeur d’Alene 83815.

College scene

After a season that saw him take over kicking duties in the third game and go 12-of-12 on field goals, Eastern Washington’s Seth Harrison was named to the first team of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Freshman All-America team by Phil Steele Publications.

Sixth-year senior center Spencer Blackburn was named by Steele as a third-team selection on its overall FCS All-America team. Blackburn previously earned first-team All-America honors from the Associated Press and the American Football Coaches Association, and third team from STATS.

Idaho landed senior wide receiver Jeff Cotton on the Steele All-America fourth team and kick returner Nick Romano on the Freshman All-America second team and running back Aundre Carter on the third team.

Steele also made All-Big Sky Conference selections and Eastern and Idaho each had six players named.

Representing the Eagles were senior running back Antoine Custer Jr. and Blackburn on the first team; senior offensive tackles Chris Schlichting and Tristen Taylor on the second team; and junior quarterback Eric Barriere and Harrison on the third team.

Idaho had Cotton and junior linebacker Christian Elliss on the first team, sophomore linebacker Tre Walker, senior offensive lineman Noah Johnson and Romano on the second, and sophomore punt returner Cutrell Haywood on the third.

• Cotton, a third-team Associated Press All-American who caught 88 passes for 1,141 yards and seven touchdowns, has been selected to play in the Hula Bowl all-star game Jan. 26 in Honolulu.

• Blackburn and Eastern senior defensive back Dehonta Hayes were recognized on the 22nd annual Academic All-Star Team selected by the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Athletic Directors Association.

A 3.70 student, Blackburn has completed majors in economics and accounting. He was also was a member of the FCS ADA All-Star team in 2017. Hayes completed a major in communications studies before becoming a communication studies graduate student this past fall. He has a 3.80 GPA as an undergraduate and graduate student.

• Eastern Washington’s annual season-ending football awards banquet will be Feb. 29 at Showalter Auditorium on the EWU campus in Cheney. The cost is $15 a person in advance and $20 at the door. It begins with a social hour at 3 p.m., followed by the awards program at 4. Tickets may be purchased through a link at totalcamps.com /ewufootball/events.

• Two Idaho seniors collected Big Sky Conference indoor track and field weekly honors for their performances in the Vandal Open last weekend inside the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

Zack Short was the men’s field athlete of the week after he won the shot put at 62 feet, 10 inches, the best mark in the conference and 10th best in the nation this year.

Rechelle Meade won the long jump at 20-1, the best in the Big Sky and 10th in the nation this year, and placed second in the 60-meter dash (7.84 seconds) to be named women’s field athlete of the week.

• Gonzaga junior Aimee Piercy broke the school women’s 800 record, clocking 2 minutes, 15.78 second with a third-place finish in GU’s indoor track season opener at the Vandal Open last weekend. She also ran the second-fastest indoor mile time in program history, winning that event in 4:59.33.

• Eastern Washington senior Grant Shurtliff came within 10 points of the school record in winning the men’s heptathlon with 5,212 points at the Vandal Open. Freshman teammate Nyenuchi Okemgbo ran the third-best time in school history with a runner-up finish in the women’s 60 hurdles in 8.96 seconds.

• Whitworth senior Hannah Galbraith won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:02.32 for the Pirates’ only win and placed second in the 200 backstroke as the Pirates’ top scorer against Division I Seattle University and was named Northwest Conference Women’s Swimming Student-Athlete of the Week.

• Basketball produced Whitworth’s student-athletes of the month for December.

Courtney Gray, a senior from Northwest Christian, averaged 11.8 points and 10.3 rebounds to help the Pirates women to a 4-0 record in the month. That included games of 14 and 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in a 14-12 double-double in a win over Lewis-Clark State.

Men’s honors went to senior Ben College, who averaged 29.7 points in December, shooting 50% from the floor, 37.5% from 3-point range and 93.3% from the free-throw line. College scored a career-high 41 points in an 87-82 loss at No. 24 Wooster.

• Gonzaga’s men were ranked fourth and the women fifth in West Coast Conference tennis coaches’ preseason polls. Six-time defending men’s champion San Diego and seven-time reigning women’s champion Pepperdine were unanimous choices as favorites.

• Idaho athletics, led by women’s cross country with a program-record 3.86 GPA, tied a department record the first semester of 2019-20 with a 3.22 GPA. In all, 213 student-athletes finished the semester at or above 3.0, with 68 earning a perfect 4.0. Of 16 programs, 14 had GPAs of 3.0 or above and the other two improved on their previous semester scores.

Hockey

Spokane Chiefs Jack Finley and Bear Hughes are among the top 80 of 220 North American skaters and top 20 in the Western Hockey League in the NHL Central Scouting Services’ 2020 midterm rankings.

Finley, who had a B grade in the preliminary rankings and has become one of the Chiefs’ top face-off men, ranks 46th overall and 11th among WHL players in the midseason rankings. Finley’s 473 faceoff wins rank sixth in the WHL.

He won seven of 14 faceoffs and had one shot on goal for Team Red in a 5-3 loss to Team White in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game on Thursday in Hamilton, Ontario.

Hughes, a Post Falls product who had a C grade earlier, is 80th overall and 17th among WHL players. The 18-year-old rookie is in the top seven among WHL freshmen in points (32, tied fourth), goals (13, tied seventh), and assists (19, third).

Hughes was named by the Chiefs their WHL Academic Achiever for December for his accomplishments while juggling hockey with his education. He attends Immaculate Conception Academy in Post Falls.

Shooting

The Spokane Junior Rifle Club had two state champions and a runner-up finish in the 2019 Washington State USAS Junior Olympic Rifle Championships shot last month at the Spokane Rifle Club and in Vancouver and Seattle.

Kylie Delaney, 17, who attends Three Springs High School in Cheney, won the women’s individual state title, shooting 574 out of a possible 600 in the three-position event to qualify for the National Junior Olympics Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in April.

Taylor Christian, 18, Spokane Valley Tech, was women’s runner-up with a 565. She missed the automatic qualifying score but could receive an invitation to nationals.

SJRC had no automatic men’s qualifiers. Zachary Pearsall, 18, Mt. Spokane, placed fourth, shooting 557, and Ben Tafoya, 17, Gonzaga Prep, shot 546 for fifth.

They joined Delaney and Christian on SJRC’s state champion Gold team that shot a combined 2,242 out of a possible 2,400.