Locally: Spokane Jr. Chiefs to play in USA Hockey National Tournament for third time in five years

For the third time in five seasons, the Spokane Jr. Chiefs 14U-A1 team will play in the USA Hockey National Tournament.

The Spokane Americans Youth Hockey Association team qualified for the 2022 nationals by winning the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association (PNAHA) Tier II 14U state tournament on March 6 in Kennewick.

Nationals are March 31-April 4 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

In consecutive seasons, 2017-18 and 2018-19, Spokane won PNAHA state tournament to earn trips to nationals. Spokane last won a national title at the 14U level in 1988, capturing the USA Hockey Youth Tier II Bantam National Championship.

The Jr. Chiefs 14U-A1 team was the No. 1 seed in the state tournament off a 12-4 record during PNAHA league play, and came out of the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 3-1 record in a three-way tie for first place with the Sno-King Jr. Thunderbirds from Seattle and Tri-Cities Jr. Americans from Kennewick.

After rounds of tiebreakers, Spokane and Sno-Kings played for the state title and trip to Nationals. The Jr. Chiefs won 5-1.

Matt Thurston, a SAYHA and Spokane Braves alum who played in the 2010 16U AA nationals with the Jr. Chiefs, is in his second year of coaching the 14U-A1 team of 18 13-15-year-olds from Eastern Washington and North Idaho. They’ve compiled a 38-32-4 record, including 7-4 in PNAHA state tournaments with two top-two finishes, under Thurston.

The 14U team includes the first female to play on a Jr. Chiefs team at a national tournament. Raegan Mayberry, 13, is an eighth grader at Northwest Christian School.

A second female also played on the team during the season. Allison LeBret, 13, Highland Middle School, is dual-registered with the Sno-Kings 14U-A1 girls team and will play with them at nationals.

The other 14U-A1 Jr. Chiefs:

Hunter Bower, 14, Deer Park HS; Easton Delcampo, 14, Deer Park MS; Dreasyn Fields, 13, Sacajawea MS (Spokane); Eli Florko, 14, Mt. Spokane HS; Ben Humphreys, 14, Lewis and Clark HS; Parker Johnson, 13, Northwood MS; Kaylob Knopp, 15, Ridgeline HS; Ace McLeslie, 13, Sadie Halstead MS (Newport); Declan Miciak, 15, Mead HS; Landon Nagle, 13, River City MS (Post Fall); Josh Olsen, 13, Northwood MS; Will Pattison, 13, Highlands MS; Grayson Picicci, 14, Mead; Ben Race, 14, Northwood; Brayden Smith, 14, Continuous Curriculum School (Otis Orchards); Grayden Westbrook, 13, Sacajawea MS (Lewiston). (Olsen joined the team as backup goaltender after playing on the 14U-A2 Jr. Chiefs during the season.)

• The SAYHA Jr. Chiefs’ 10U-A2 Navy boys team placed second in the Bronze Division at the PNAHA State Festival.

Players: Jaxon Anderson, Charlie Bevan, Dean Damskov, Tynan Golembiewski, Jayce Hyatt, Kellen Kendall, Derrick Meyers, Bennett Montague, Jaxson Peone, Cash Sanford, Grady Smith and Henry Vieth. Coaches: Luke Damskov, Geoffrey Hyatt, Brent Golembiewski.

College scene

Ryan Grady started the 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming Championships in Indianapolis last week with a tie for ninth in the 200-yard individual medley and finished it with fourth place in the 200 breaststroke to lead the showing by Whitworth’s five-person delegation.

The senior qualified eighth for the 200 breast finals on the last day Saturday, putting him in an outside (eighth) lane. A fast start enabled him to hold on and claim fourth. He had tied for first in the consolation final of the 200 IM that produced the tie for ninth overall. He also placed 11th overall in the 100 breast after finishing third in the consolation final.

Freshman Emma Thompson (Mead), the Pirates’ only female entry, had her best showing in the 100 backstroke, placing 16th after finishing eighth in the consolation final. She was 25th in the 200 back and 28th in the 200 IM.

Freshman Zachary Washburn was 31st in the 100 free and 36th in the 50 free and grad student Jake Goguen (Ferris) was 37th in the 100 free. Senior Finn McClone joined his three male teammates for four relays – the 800 (12th), 400 (20th) and 200 (23rd) freestyle and 400 IM (20th).

• Washington State’s Chloe Larson capped her career at a second straight NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming Championships last weekend in Atlanta. She finished 45th in a field of 51 in the 100-yard freestyle and 49th in a field of 67 in the 50 free. Larson leaves holding school records in both events.

• Two women with area ties at Western Washington, junior Megan Billeter (Mt. Spokane) and freshman Ila Davis (Lewis and Clark), collected Great Northwest Athletic Conference athlete of the week honors for the week of March 7-13.

Billeter earned her third women’s golf weekly award of the 2021-22 season, and first of the spring, after she tied for seventh in the 100-player field at the Fujikura Invitational March 7-8 in Vista, California. Her 6-over-par 150 was highlighted by a tournament-leading eight birdies, six in a final round of par 72.

Davis received women’s track honors after she became the first athlete in Division II this season to hit an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 3,000m steeplechase. Running virtually alone, Davis won the event at the PLU Open, clocking 10 minutes, 54.62 seconds.

• Gonzaga sophomore Trystan Vrieling was the West Coast Conference baseball pitcher of the week for games played March 7-13 after he had two dominant starts during the week.

The right-hander had a career-high 13 strikeouts in the Zags’ 2-1 win in the series finale against No. 6 Oklahoma State on March 7 and held Long Beach State scoreless for a career-high eight innings in a no-decision on March 13. GU lost 1-0 in the bottom the ninth. Vrieling finished the week with 22 strikeouts in 13 shutout innings while allowing only five hits and four walks.

• Haley Loffer, a College of Idaho senior infielder from Lake City, was the Cascade Collegiate Conference softball player of the week for the week of March 7-13 after she hit .556 with five runs scored and six RBI during the Coyotes’ weekend sweep of Northwest University. Loffer had three extra-base hits, including a home run in the opener.

Soccer

Washington State has added a fourth transfer for the 2022 season, midfielder Jaiden McClellan, a two-year starter at San Jose State from Portland, Cougars coach Todd Shulengerger announced.

McClellan, who will have three years of eligibility, appeared in 27 matches with 24 starts. In the COVID-19 shortened 2021 spring season she started nine of 10 matches. She scored once as a freshman and added her second career goal and an assist as a sophomore.