Locally: Liberty graduate Christine Denny, Ferris graduate Shamrock Campbell earn NAIA All-America honors at Carroll College
From staff and wire services
Christine Denny and Shamrock Campbell’s senior basketball seasons at Carroll College ended with the versatile Saints adding to their NAIA All-America hardware.
Denny, a 5-foot-9 guard/forward from Fairfield, who starred at Liberty HS, was named honorable mention for the 2021-22 season, her fourth All-America award and third HM to go with second-team honors in 2019-20.
She averaged 10.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and added 94 assists, 35 steals and 22 blocks this season. Denny finished her career as the program’s fourth all-time leading scorer.
The Saints women, whose roster includes four other players from area schools, were knocked out of the NAIA National Tournament in the Round of 16 and finished with a 27-8 record.
The others are starter Sienna Swannack, a senior from Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls; top reserve Jaidyn Lyman, sr., Mt. Spokane; and reserves Genesis Wilkinson, jr., East Valley; and Erica Nessan, jr., Mead.
Denny and Swannack were also named All-Frontier second team and Swannack was on the all-defensive team.
Campbell, the Saints’ do-everything point guard, was named third team on the 2021-22 NAIA Men’s All-America team. The Ferris HS graduate received honorable mention last season.
The school’s release noted Campbell “was a steady scorer, leader, and everything in between” this season that ended with the Saints advancing to the Round of 32 of the NAIA National Tournament and finishing with a 29-5 record. Besides Campbell, the Saints also include Jonny Hillman, a junior from Genesis Prep in Post Falls and an All-Frontier defensive team selection.
Campbell, first-team All-Frontier Conference and All-Frontier defensive team, led the Saints in minutes played for a fourth straight year (35.0), was the second-leading scorer (14.8), shot 50% from the field, and finished with an assist to turnover ratio of 86-to-30.
• Denny, Swannack, Nessan, Campbell and Hillman are among seven athletes with area ties to be named to Frontier Conference 2021-22 All-Academic teams in women’s and men’s basketball with GPAs of 3.25 over better.
Also: Rocky Mountain women: Kamryn Pitcher, jr., Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls. MSU-Northern men: Tanner McCliment-Call, sophomore, Post Falls/CCS.
College scene
Washington State infielder Jack Smith has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2022 NCAA Baseball Senior CLASS Award that honors athletes who excel on and off the field in four areas – community, classroom, character and competition.
In his fifth year, Smith has been on the Pac-12 academic honor roll three times, earned his bachelor’s degree in finance last spring and is working on his MBA. The Mercer Island, Washington, native was selected to the Cougars’ leadership council the past two years and has helped the baseball program work with the Whitman County Special Olympics and WSU ROAR program.
Smith has appeared in 140 games with 28 doubles and 73 runs. In 2020, he set career highs with a .311 batting average, 13 doubles, 28 RBIs, 35 runs scored and was among the national leaders with nine sacrifice bunts.
• After throwing six hitless innings and a career-high 13 strikeouts in a 13-0 win against Pacific on March 18, Gonzaga right-hander Gabriel Hughes was named West Coast Conference baseball pitcher of the week for the second time this season. It’s the third week in a row the Bulldogs received the award. Hughes’ fourth win helped GU sweep a three-game series.
• Brie Holecek, a Walla Walla Community College sophomore from East Valley, was named 2021-22 Northwest Athletic Conference East Region women’s basketball Most Valuable Player. The 5-foot-10 guard/forward led the team and finished second in the NWAC in scoring (17.6 ppg) and was second on the team with 33.8 minutes per game.
The Warriors lost to Clackamas 65-51 on March 20 in the quarterfinals of the NWAC Tournament. Holecek scored 14 points in that one.
• Jaron Williams, Community Colleges of Spokane’s sophomore guard, was the NWAC men’s basketball player of the week for the week of March 7-13. Williams had 30 points, five assists, seven rebounds and four steals in a 108-104 play-in win over Walla Walla to earn a spot in the NWAC Tournament. The Sasquatch (18-10) lost to Bellevue 65-60 in the quarterfinals.
• The Idaho men are predicted to finish third and the Vandals women fourth in Big Sky Conference coaches’ outdoor track and field polls. The Eastern Washington men are tabbed fifth and the women sixth. Northern Arizona is a unanimous favorite to win both titles.
• Whitworth earned Northwest Conference player-of-the-week awards in women’s golf and softball for the week of March 14-21.
Sophomore Brianna McNelly rallied from four strokes down after the first round to win the CLU Regals Invitational women’s golf tournament by three strokes on March 15 at Moorpark (California) Country Club. She followed an 82 with a 74, the best round of the tournament, for a 156 on what figures to be the toughest course the Pirates will likely play.
Senior first baseball Heather Menzer snagged NWC softball honors after she batted .538 with seven RBIs and five runs scored in the week. She had a home run and a triple among seven hits. She played errorless ball on 27 chances and was part of two double plays.
• North Idaho College freshman Kahlea Dumas from Post Falls was selected NWAC softball hitter of the week for the week of March 14-20 after she went 10 for 17 with two doubles, one triple, two home runs, nine RBIs and two stolen bases.
• Kristof Panke, a Lewis-Clark State freshman from Davenport, was named Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s golfer of the week for the week of March 14-20 after he led the Warriors to a fourth-place finish in a stacked field at the RMC Intercollegiate in Henderson, Nevada.
Panke matched par on the second day to finish the 36-hole tournament at 1-over-par 145 to tie for fifth place in the 65-golfer field.
Softball
The Spokane-based Northwest Yeahoos won all seven of their games – two in pool play, five in bracket play – to sweep to the championship of the 16-team, 60+ Silver Division of the Senior Softball USA Spring World Championships March 18-20 in Mesquite, Nevada.
The Yeahoos, who defeated Los Vatos, Arizona, 18-3 in the championship game, placed their top four hitters on the all-tournament team – Roger Williamson (.864), Kerry Pease (.842), Darren Taylor (.826) and Lee Libera (.792).
Other players: Wayne Dionne, Ray Gaines, Lynn Hargreaves, Mike Klemke, Al Martin, Doug Payne, Mike Reeder, Matt Seeliger, Brock Taylor.
Track & field
Hannah Russell of Port Perry, Ontario, will join the Idaho women in the fall as a graduate transfer from Xavier (Ohio). She will pursue a degree in environmental science.
During the 2020 indoor season, Russell set the Xavier school record in the 800m (2:10.46) and followed two weeks later by placing fifth in the event at the Big East Indoor Championships (2:12.84). She also is a member of three school record-holding relay teams (4x800 indoor and outdoor, and 4x1,500 outdoor).