Youth sports notebook: Valley Flash athletes shine at USATF Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships

From staff reports

Five All-America awards for top-eight finishes and 13 other placings in the top 26 highlighted the results for 19 competitors aged 10-18 on three area teams who competed in the USATF Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, July 26-Aug. 1 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Valley Flash produced all the All-America honors. Twelve-year-olds Adalyn Depew and Winston Schroder collected two each and Maddilyn Miner, 15, one.

Depew (Evergreen Middle School) was seventh in the 3,000 meters with a personal record and eighth in the 1,500. Schroder (Centennial MS) placed second in the javelin with a PR and sixth in the discus. Miner (University HS) was eighth in the hammer throw with a PR. All-America awards go to the top eight finishers.

Teagan Enser, 12 (Sacajawea MS), led Spokane Mercury Athletic with 11th-place finishes in both the girls 11-12 800 with a PR and 1,500.

Leading the showing for the first-year North Idaho Blaze were Lola Baine, 12 (Woodland MS), 22nd in the long jump and 26th in the high jump, and Wyatt Matous, 10 (Ramsey Elementary), 24th in the 1,500 (with a PR).

Other Valley Flash: Chase Bates, 12 (Deer Park MS), 23rd 3,000 (PR), 31st 1,500 (PR), 34th 800 (PR); Rowan Henry, 11 (St. Mary’s), 21st 3,000, 22nd 1,500 (PR); Gavin Ahumada, 13 (Horizon MS), 25th 3,000, 60th 1,500 (PR); Rosko Schroder, 13 (West Valley HS), 21st javelin, 36th shot put; Winston Schroder, 19th shot put; Cassidy Haddad, 17 (Central Valley HS), 26th 400 hurdles, 52nd 100 hurdles; Miner, 13th 2,000 steeplechase, 50th discus.

Other Spokane Mercury: McKinley Whitmore, 11 (Odyssey), 55th girls 1,500, 60th 800 (PR); Parker Whitmore, 15 (Lewis and Clark), 33rd boys 3,000, 56th 1,500 (PR), 67th 800 (PR).

Other North Idaho Blaze: William Callahan, 18 (Coeur d’Alene HS), 24th boys 3,000, 45th 1,500 (PR); Terrance Edwards, 17 (Lakeland HS), 35th boys 400 (PR), 122nd 200; Michael Bell, 15 (Classical Christian Academy), boys 112th 200, 116th 100; Christian Young, 14 (Canfield MS), 74th boys 100, 64th 200; Josh Yeager, 14 (Timberlake HS), boys 73rd 800; Maricela Nelson, 14 (CdA HS), 55th girls 200, 63rd 100; Matous, 39th 800, 41st long jump.

Basketball

Eastern Washington Elite’s 16U boys team capped a 33-game, six-tournament, spring and summer schedule by knocking off an unbeaten team to capture its fifth championship and wrap up a 32-1 tour.

EW defeated a 46-0 Indiana Elite team 66-63 in overtime for the championship of the Platinum Division of the Bigfoot Las Vegas Classic. EW had previously won titles in Boise, Centralia, Washington, and Phoenix in the spring and Los Angeles in the summer with a runner-up finish in a second L.A. tournament.

The players: Kolton Mitchell, Blake Buchanon, both Lake City HS; Kruz Wheeler, Ferris; Boen Phelps, Freeman; Maverick Sanders, Chapel Smith, both Mt. Spokane; Carter Verret, Gonzaga Prep; Tennessee Rainwater, Davenport. Coaches: Mike Hamilton, Ryan Peplinski.

Softball

Spokane Diamonds went 6-2 in finishing fourth in the USA Softball 16U B Western National Championship in Medford, Oregon, both losses in close games to the team that finished second.

Diamonds won their first bracket game after going 2-0 in pool play before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Basin Bandits of Lakeview, Oregon. The Spokane team won three in a row in the losers’ bracket before again running into the Bandits and losing 4-3.

The tournament capped a 29-9 season for the Diamonds that included a fourth-place finish in the USA Softball of Idaho State Tournament. Five of its nine losses were by one run.

The team: Abbie Amend, P, 1B, OF, Freeman HS; Kate Banks, P, 1B, Lewiston HS; Brooklyn Dryden, SS, C, Deer Park HS; Avery Erickson, 3B, OF, Mt. Spokane HS; Layne Lathrop, OF, Deer Park HS; Dixie Sefton, 2B, OF, Freeman HS; Alyssa Sosky, CF, Reardan HS; Bree Waldron, C, OF, Riverside HS; Morgan Williams, OF, Lewiston HS; Natalie Singer, OF, INF, University HS; Kynlea Toner, OF, INF, Riverside HS; Allison Lapano, OF, Riverside HS. Coaches: Tom Sefton, Andy Waldron.