Locally: Washington State University’s Black Student-Athlete Association honored at inaugural Black Student-Athlete Summit Awards
From staff and news services
Washington State’s Black Student-Athlete Association was honored as Organization of the Year at the inaugural Black Student-Athlete Summit Awards ceremony May 23-25, hosted by Rice University in Houston.
Nine individuals represented WSU’s BSAA at the summit that promoted the theme “The Mental Health of the Black Student-Athlete.”
The award recognized the WSU student organization that demonstrated support for student-athletes in addition to making an impact on its campus and the larger community. Former soccer player Kelis Barton was honored as Athlete of the Year for modeling the BSAA Summit’s mission on the Pullman campus and for her leadership.
WSU women’s golfer Cami March, who spoke at a congressional hearing in the fall about the benefits of name, image and likeness, made a presentation at the summit, discussing “From Athletics to Tech,” encompassing her experience with NIL and work in the tech industry.
Barton and WSU student-athlete development coordinator Janelle Nguyen also made a presentation, titled “What Now?” that encouraged student-athletes and professional staff to establish organizations on their campuses for Black student-athletes.
College scene
Idaho senior Alex Ayers, a sprinter and hurdler from Lake City High, was named to the CoSIDA Division I Academic All-District 7 men’s track and field/cross country first team, with a perfect 4.0 GPA and advances to the Academic All‐America® ballot.
Named to NCAA Division II District 8 track and field/cross country All-Academic first teams were Tyler Shea, a Northwest Nazarene senior from Northwest Christian HS, who repeated on the men’s team with a 3.94 GPA, and Annika Esvelt, a Seattle Pacific sophomore from West Valley, with a 4.0 GPA. Both also are eligible for Academic All-America teams.
• Twelve area athletes at Eastern Washington, 14 at Idaho and two at Montana received Big Sky Conference winter all-academic recognition in men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s indoor track and field with GPAs of 3.2 or better.
Eastern: Women’s basketball: Jordyn Boesel, grad student, 3.5 GPA, Okanogan, Wash.; Andie Zylak, freshman, 3.36, Lewis and Clark. Men’s indoor t&f: Liam Bracken, junior, 3.81, Republic, Wash.; Noah Cherrington, fr., 3.63, Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls; Marcus Lemon, fr., 3.63, Shadle Park.
Women’s indoor t&f: Jenni Bissell, fr., 4.0, Central Valley; Mayah Eberhardt, fr., 3.63, Medical Lake; Faith Kennedy, sophomore, 4.0 , Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls; Samiah Kuntz, fr., 3.9, Lewis and Clark; Hayden McAuliff, so., 3.93, CV; Maggie Nelson, sr., 4.0 Liberty-Spangle; Lidiya Pankova, fr., 4.0, Rogers.
Idaho: Men’s basketball: Tanner Christensen, fr., University; Gabriel Quinnett, so., Moscow, Idaho. Women’s basketball: Louise Forsyth, grad transfer (GU); Allison Kirby, sr., Timberlake; Ashlyn Wallace, fr., Clarkston.
Men’s indoor t&f: Alexander Ayers, GS, Lake City; Spencer Barrera, jr,, Mt. Spokane; Grady Leonard, sr., Coeur d’Alene HS; Benjamin Shaw, sr., Riverside. Women’s indoor t&f: Julia Hayes, jr., Valley Christian; Anna Pecha, sr., Central Valley; Erica Pecha, sr., CV; Savannah Pratt, fr., CV; Jolene Whiteley, sr., Cheney.
Montana: Carmen Gfeller, RS jr., Colfax, women’s basketball (repeater); Matt Ward, so., Coeur d’Alene HS, men’s t&f.
• Whitworth student-athletes named to the school’s 2021-22 Northwest Conference All-Sportsmanship Team as selected by teammates and/or coaches for displaying good sportsmanship throughout the season:
Baseball, Riley Cissne, sophomore; men’s basketball, Liam Fitzgerald, senior; women’s basketball, Talia Brandner, sr.; men’s cross country, Matt Christianson (Cheney), grad student; women’s cross country, Ellie Shoop, sr.; football, Jacob Hogger, sr.; men’s golf, Caleb Belton, GS; women’s golf, Madeline Hahn, so.; lacrosse, Liliann Penfield (Mead), junior; men’s soccer, Cameron Gardner, so.
Women’s soccer: Gabriella Coprivnicar, sr.; softball, Haley Montoya, so., men’s swimming, Alex Henderson, sr; women’s swimming, Isabella Hackney, sr.; men’s tennis, Ethan Warring (Lewis and Clark), so.; women’s tennis, Meredith Bedford, so.; men’s track and field, Reed Hurst, sr.; women’s t&f, Abbie Jo Carlson, sr.; volleyball, Saylor Anderson, sr.
Two area athletes also were honored at their colleges: Jeff Friedman (Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls), jr., George Fox men’s soccer; Corey Hodder (Mt. Spokane), jr., Puget Sound men’s swimming.
• Gonzaga men’s tennis received its best ranking in school history (fifth) in the Northwest region in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Collegiate Division I spring rankings, and two Bulldogs’ singles players were ranked in the Top 20.
Arthus de la Bassetiere, who went undefeated in his freshman year, is 11th in the Northwest region, and sophomore Sasha Trkulja, who played No. 1 the whole season for GU, is 14th.
• The Big Sky Conference champion Idaho men were ranked eighth in the ITA Mountain Region for the 2022 spring season and Vandals sophomore Francisco Bascon was ranked 11th in the region in singles. He had a 14-3 dual record, including 12-3 at the No. 1 position.
• Gonzaga student-athletes, led by women’s tennis at 3.81, combined to post a 3.46 department-wide GPA for the spring 2022 semester, tying the third-best all-time mark. It’s the 13th consecutive semester above 3.30
Ninety student-athletes earned President’s List Honors (3.85 or higher) and 102 earned Dean’s List Honors (3.5-3.84). That’s 192 of the schools’ 325 student-athletes (59%) at 3.5 or higher. A record 51 posted perfect 4.0s for the semester.
Other leading efforts included men’s tennis, second overall, at 3.72; women’s soccer, 3.61; women’s track and cross country, which had 16 president’s list honorees and 12 on the dean’s list and a 3.53 team GPA; women’s rowing, 13 on the president’s list and 18 on the Dean’s List, the latter figure matched by baseball with 18 on the dean’s list.
Softball
Spokane teams earned a first and a second in the Senior Softball USA Rock ’N Reno Challenge Cup in Reno, Nevada, May 31-June 1.
The Stor A Way Storage Grey Sox won the championship in the 13-team, 65+ AAA Silver Division to qualify for the SSUSA Tournament of Champions in February in Lakeland, Florida. Brunette/Spikes was second in the 70/75+ AA bracket.
The Grey Sox, who went unbeaten in seven games, defeating Last Call from Sparks, Nevada, 15-13 for the championship, placed Jack Parker, John Springer, Doug Fredrickson, Donn Etherington and John Hollett on the all-tournament team. Parker led the team in batting with a .739 average and Springer led with 14 RBI.
Other team members: Ron Klawitter, Allen Arnold, Dan Griffith, Jerry Coulter, Ray Gaines, Randy Willis, Rob Green, Larry Arndt and Dave Leake.
Brunette/Spikes went 2-1 in pool play and wound up in what turned out to be a best-of-three series against East-West Aircraft Sales from Idaho for the championship. Brunette/Spikes won the first game 22-5, but dropped the next two, 20-18 and 22-11
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The team: Tom Adams, Steve Bergstrom, Gary Blake, Roger DeShaw, Steve Erenberg, Jim Hardenbrook, John Higgins, Ken Krogh, Mike Owen, Dwayne Phinney, Cam Preston, Reilly and Wayne Terry.
Miscellany
Ike Ukaegbu, who has spent the past seven years as senior associate athletics director for compliance at Texas Christian University, has been named a deputy director of athletics at Washington State University, director of athletics Pat Chun announced.
Throughout the 2020-21 academic year, Ukaegbu was one of 20 individuals who participated in the yearlong NCAA Pathway Program, which prepares senior-level athletic administrators to attain positions as directors of athletics or conference commissioners.
Prior to TCU, Ukaegbu spent one year as an associate athletics director for compliance at Virginia Commonwealth after spending two years as director of athletic compliance at Boise State. He also was in the compliance offices at Cal State Fullerton (2010-11), American University (2008-10) and Florida Atlantic (2007-08).