Locally: Central Valley grad and Stanford standout Lexie Hull a finalist for Senior CLASS Award
Lexie Hull has gone from candidate to finalist.
The Stanford guard from Central Valley High School is one 10 players named as finalists for the 2021-22 women’s basketball Senior CLASS Award.
In December, she was selected one of 30 candidates for the award that recognizes seniors or graduate-students who have notable achievements in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition.
Hull is pursuing an undergraduate degree in management science and engineering with a 3.92 GPA. She was a 2021 CoSIDA first team Academic All-American, a two-time Pac-12 academic honoree and a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District first-team selection.
On campus, she is a member of Stanford’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and on the court she has been instrumental to the Cardinal’s defending NCAA Division I champions, who have compiled a 91-13 record in her four years.
Coach Tara VanDerveer cited Hull’s “ability in the classroom and basketball IQ,” when the coach said:
“Lexie Hull is a player every coach in America wishes they had on their team. She is an ultimate worker and will do anything on and off the court to help her team succeed. She is committed to the team and does all the dirty work, diving for loose balls, making the defensive stop.”
• The Hull sisters from Stanford and Central Valley, seniors Lexie and Lacie, and Washington State sophomore Charlisse Leger-Walker, have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 first team.
It’s the third such honor for Lexie; the second for Lacie, who has a 3.89 undergraduate GPA in product design; and the first for Leger-Walker, with a 3.95 GPA in management. The Hulls are both in a graduate program. The first-team district honor comes with nomination to the CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot.
College scene
After three games in which Jacinta Buckley averaged 19.0 ppg and 11.7 rpg as Eastern Washington won two of three games, the sophomore from Lewis and Clark was named Big Sky Conference women’s basketball player of the week for the week of Feb. 7-14.
Buckley scored a career-high 25 points on Feb. 10 against Weber State, going 19 of 21 on free throws, including a stretch of 14 straight in the first two games, and added six steals and five assists. She has six double-doubles and is third in rebounding in the Big Sky (8.9 rpg), 11th in steals (1.40 spg) and 12th in scoring (12.7 ppg).
• Katy Ryan, a rising sophomore from Lakeland of Rathdrum, and senior Shea Rubright from Yakima, a transfer from Minnesota, will join Washington State volleyball coach Jen Greeny at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this coming weekend as part of open tryouts for the U.S. Women’s National Team and U.S. Collegiate National Teams.
Greeny, a 2021 co-Pac-12 Coach of the Year, will be part of the staff of coaches from around the country training the national team hopefuls Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Ryan, a 6-foot-5 opposite hitter, a Pac-12 All-Freshman team selection, has been a member of the USA Volleyball Women’s Indoor U20 National Training Team.
Rubright, a 6-5 middle blocker, helped lead the Gophers to the elite eight of the NCAA Tournament in the fall and No. 7 national ranking. She was a two-time Columbia Basin Big Nine Player of the Year and an Under Armour All-American at West Valley High School in Yakima.
USA Volleyball will announce team selections by the end of March.
• Led by senior Ryan Grady, Whitworth men and women won 10 individual championships and three relay titles at the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships Feb. 10-13 in Federal Way, Washington.
The Pirates set 10 NWC records and tied another and set three school records and one meet record en route to capturing a fourth straight men’s championship and a third-place finish by the women.
Grady, who won three individual titles and figured in two relay championships, all in record times, was named co-NWC Men’s Swimmer of the Year. Zachary Washburn, who won one individual and two relay titles, all in record times, was the NWC Men’s Freshman of the Year.
The Whitworth champions with records noted:
Men: Grady, 200y individual medley (NWC record), 100 breaststroke (meet record), 200 breast (NWC record), 400 freestyle relay (NWC record), 800 free relay (NWC record), 200 free relay (school relay record and 200 free individual school record set leading off 800 free relay). Washburn, 50 free (tied NWC record), 400 free relay, 800 free relay. Jake Goguen (Gr., Ferris), 100 free (NWC record, meet record, school record), 400 free relay; also school record in 200 free relay. Connor Florey, jr., 500 free, 1,650 free. Finn McClone, sr., 400 free relay, 800 free relay; also school record in 200 free relay.
Women: Emma Thompson, fr., Mead, 100 backstroke, 200 back, 800 free relay; also school record in 200 IM. Carly Hoff, jr., 100 free, 800 free relay. Isabella Hackney, sr. and Sarah Doncevic, NWC champions in 800 free relay.
• Grad student Sam Brixey tied Washington State’s 47-year-old men’s indoor 60m hurdles record Friday, Feb. 18, clocking 7.69 seconds in placing third at the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville, Ark.
On a University of Arkansas track widely considered the fastest indoor surface ever constructed, Brixey tied the mark set by Kip Ngeno in 1976 at Portland.
• Madigan Kelly, a Lewis-Clark State freshman from Lewiston, was the Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s indoor track athlete of the week for the week of Feb. 7-13 for her performance in the Whitworth Invitational at The Podium in Spokane.
Kelly wrapped up the regular season with an automatic-qualifying time as a member of the 4x400m relay (3:56.67), finished in the top five of both heats of the 60m hurdles (9.02) and was 18th in the 60m dash (8.10).
High school scene
Three boys and five girls from the Panhandle have been selected to play in the 19th Idaho Statewide High School Basketball All-Star games March 12 at North Idaho College.
Format for the game featuring seniors pits players from the Boise area (Metro) against players from the rest of the state (Region). The girls will play at 1 p.m. and the boys at 3. The event, sponsored by the Idaho Central Credit Union, will include 3-point shooting and slam-dunk competitions. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.
It will be broadcast on IdahoSports.com.
Panhandle boys: Cameren Cope, Coeur d’Alene; Bryce Henry, Lakeland; and Tristan Gentry-Nelson, St. Maries. Jack Sciortino, Post Falls, is an alternate. Zach Eastman, Lapwai, is the Region boys coach.
Panhandle girls: Skylar Burke, Coeur d’Alene; Hailey Cheney, Kellogg; Kendall Pickford, Lake City; Addie Kiefer, Lakeland; and Trinidie Nichols, Post Falls. Grace Nearing, Kellogg, is an alternate. Raimee Odum, Blackfoot, is the Region girls coach.
Softball
North Idaho ran into Florida too often in the Senior Softball USA Tournament of Champions Feb. 3-5 in Polk County, Fla., and wound up finishing second in the Major 65 Division.
The Coeur d’Alene-based team compiled a 3-3 record in the five-team division, the losses by a total of five runs to Florida. The championship game was 23-20.
North Idaho, which qualified for the tournament as the defending champion in the division, placed four players on the All-Tournament team: Paul Cooley, Marlin Harris, Ron Geffre and Bob Hull. Other team members: Lee Libera, Dennis Wolff, Wayne Becker, Tim Coles, Doug Gray, David Dutcher and Ray Hofstad.
The Stor Away Storage Yeahoos of Spokane Valley had a 3-3 record in the 65 AAA Division but did not place.