Locally: Maggie Nelson, Joe Gauthier named Eastern Washington scholar athletes of the year
Maggie Nelson and Joe Gauthier of Eastern Washington and Avrie Fox and Timothy “Timo” Dohm of Idaho were named their school’s 2021-22 Scholar-Athletes of the Year by the Big Sky Conference.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have exhausted their athletic eligibility and/or be a member of the graduating class with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2, competed at least two years and been a letter winner.
Nelson, a 2016 graduate of Liberty High School in Spangle who transferred to Eastern after spending two years at Community Colleges of Spokane, earned her master’s degree in physical education.
The track & field standout was a four-time Big Sky All-Academic selection and holds school records in both the pentathlon (3,702 points) and heptathlon (5,173). She was the first Eagle to score more than 5,000 points in the heptathlon. She was also a 2021-22 West Regional qualifier in the javelin and ranks seventh in EWU history (158 feet, 8 inches).
Gauthier, a 2017 graduate of Hanford High School who earned his degree this spring in health and physical education, is also a four-time Big Sky All-Academic selection.
The standout sprinter earned eight All-Big Sky track & field honors for three first-place finishes, two runner-up finishes and three third-place finishes in conference outdoor and indoor championships. He holds the school record in the indoor 60m (6.68 seconds) and has top-five marks in the 100m and 200m and is a member of two school-record-setting relay teams.
Fox, the Idaho women’s soccer goalkeeper, is from Vista, California, and an All-Big Sky academic honoree.
In the spring of 2021, she started 17 matches, compiling a 9-6-2 record, 1.22 goals-against average with six shutouts and an 81.5 save percentage. She made four saves in the Vandals’ 2-1, double-overtime win over Eastern in the final regular-season match that earned Idaho a spot in the Big Sky tournament.
Dohm, a distance runner from Placentia, California, was a three-time Big Sky All-Academic selection in 2021-22 with a 3.87 GPA. He finished 65th in the 2021 Big Sky cross country championships.
Baseball
Cameron Hockett of Spokane, who plays for the Spokane Clash summer team, was selected for the second annual 11U Perfect Game Select Baseball Festival Aug. 5-7 in Marietta, Georgia. The Perfect Game release notes Hockett is a RHP who also play first, third and the outfield.
• The 509 Outlaws of Spokane are scheduled to play in the 12U Field of Dreams Tournament Aug. 3-9 in Cooperstown, New York. The team’s Instagram page shows it has compiled a 38-12 record. Steve Jeffries is the head coach.
• The Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen finished the season with a third-place finish in the Idaho AA State Tournament and a 34-11 record following a 12-0 loss to Idaho Falls in the semifinals last week in Nampa.
Basketball
The 2022-23 Eastern Washington University men’s roster was completed last week with the addition of Deon Stroud, a 6-foot-5 forward, who is transferring for his senior season after playing the last two years at Fresno State.
David Riley, the Eagles’ second-year head coach, said Stroud is the ninth newcomer joining six returning letter winners this fall.
Stroud, who hails from Fresno, played his freshman season (2019-20) at Texas-El Paso before returning home. In two seasons at Fresno State, he played in 51 games, averaging 8.4 ppg. He averaged 16 minutes in 28 games as a junior last season and scored a season-high 14 points three times, including in an 83-74 postseason win over Eastern in The Basketball Classic.
College scene
Four Whitworth Pirates were named to the 2022 Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Division III Academic Honor Roll with cumulative GPAs of 3.50 or greater. Honored were juniors Liliann Penfield (Mead), Madison Miller and Kylee Walker, and senior Madison Perry.
• The Gonzaga men’s golf team was named a Golf Coaches Association of America All-Academic Team, one of only 36 Division I programs to earn President’s Special Recognition for having a team GPA of 3.5 or better. It’s the sixth time GU has earned President’s Special Recognition.
• Idaho finished second and Eastern Washington sixth behind two-time champion Northern Arizona in the 2021-22 Big Sky Conference Presidents’ Cup competition. The award recognizes member schools’ success scholastically and athletically.
Golf
Jeff Gove, pro at The Idaho Club in Sandpoint, wound up second in the Pacific Northwest PGA’s Senior Oregon Open Invitational last week in Pendleton, losing a three-hole playoff to pro Ryan Malby of Kalispell, Montana, for the championship of the 20th annual event.
After matching 12-under-par 132s in the 36-hole tournament, both birdied the first playoff hole, pared the second and Malby birdied the third for the win.
Amateurs Nate Hair of Manito Golf & Country Club and Doug Potter of Hayden Lake Country Club were the next area finishers, figuring in a five-way tie for 13th at 2-under 142.
Shooting
The Spokane Junior Rifle Club’s Gold team received an at-large invitation to compete in the 2022 National 3-Position Air Rifle Junior Olympic Championships July 14 at Camp Perry, Ohio.
Team member also competed as individuals. Garret Pearsall (Mt. Spokane) placed 84th out of 209 competitors with a score of 578 out of 600. Others: Tanner Krebs (Glover MS), 576, 101st; Derek Phipps (Gonzaga Prep), 561, 170th; Sean Kegley (home school), 559, 173rd; and Ensley Breeden (Mountainside MS), 541, 201st.
The Gold team scored 2,339 out of 2,400 to place 38th among 40 teams. The champion scored 2,374.