Locally: Ferris graduate Katelyn Strauss named softball MVP of Mon-Dak Athletic Conference

Katelyn Strauss of Spokane, a freshman pitcher at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, has been named the 2022 Most Valuable Player in Mon-Dak (Montana-Dakota) Athletic Conference softball.

The Ferris High School graduate also was MVP of the NJCAA Region XIII championships last week after collecting two wins and a save as the Wildcats swept the regional for a spot in the national tournament Wednesday-Saturday in DeWitt, New York. She capped the tournament with her fifth no-hitter, striking out 16 in a 5-1 championship-game victory.

In three games in the regional, Strauss pitched 16 2/3 innings, getting 37 of the 50 outs she needed on strikeouts. She has a 20-5 record and three saves for the third-ranked, 37-10 Wildcats. Her 295 strikeouts – 13.44 per 7 innings – lead NJCAA Division III. Her 1.78 ERA ranks second, 153 2/3 innings are third and .132 opponents’ batting average is fourth.

College scene

Micaela De Mello has become the first woman in Washington State track and field program history to be named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.

The native of Palhoça, Brazil, lowered her program record by .10 in the prelims of the 100m hurdles at the Pac-12 Championships with a time of 13.07. She went on to place second in her first conference meet, dropping her program record again with a 13.03 in the final. The time is 16th best in the NCAA this spring.

De Mello burst onto the scene at WSU with top-five, all-time best times in the 60m hurdles in her second indoor race and in the first preliminary heats of the outdoor season. She broke a WSU freshman record that had stood since 1999 with a 13.28. The former Brazilian junior national champion and 100m hurdles record-holder was a two-time South American junior champion (U18 & U23).

• The area’s four Division I schools have combined to qualify 44 individuals in 49 events and one relay team for the 2022 NCAA Track & Field Championships West Preliminary Round Wednesday through Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.

Individuals with top-12 times or marks and the best 12 relay teams will qualify for the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Eugene, Oregon.

Washington State (20 individuals, one relay): Men: Zach Stallings (1,500), Colton Johnsen (steeplechase, 5,000), Jared McAlvey (400 hurdles), Kelvin Limo (steeplechase), Sam Griffith (steeplechase), Mitch Jacobson (high jump), Jacob Englar (pole vault), Ronald Grueso Mosqquera (shot put, discus), John Kolb (discus), Ben Chappell (hammer).

Women: Skyler Walton (100), Neema Kimtai (800), Mevin Jelagat (10,000), Micaela De Mello (100 hurdles), Caroline Jerotich (steeplechase), Pia Richards (steeplechase), Aislinn Overby (high jump), Anna Rodgers (long jump), Carolina Ulloa-Daza (hammer), Valentina Barrios Bornacelli (javelin), 4X100 relay (De Mello, Skyler Walton, Jasneet Nijjar, Elise Unruh-Thomas).

Gonzaga (7): Men: James Mwaura (10,000, 5,000), Evan Bates (5,000), Cooper Laird (steeplechase), Cullen McEachern (steeplechase). Women: Kristen Garcia (10,000), Elisabeth Danis (5,000), Alicia Anderson (1,500, 5,000).

Eastern Washington (5): Men: Alex Bishop (high jump), Bobby Say (triple jump). Women: Katrina Terry (pole vault), Vernice Keyes (hammer), Margaret Nelson (javelin).

Idaho (12): Men: Spencer Barrera (400), Lorenz Herrmann (800), Deyondre Davis (400 hurdles), Alex Ayers (400 hurdles), Joseph Ruddell (high jump), Zach Nunis (long jump), Grady Leonard (shot put, hammer), Cullen Williams (hammer), Nathyn Maller (javelin). Women: Maya Kobylanski (steeplechase), Katja Pattis (steeplechase), Hannah Ringel (shot put).

• Two former area high school standouts, Seattle Pacific sophomore Annika Esvelt from West Valley and Western Washington freshman Ila Davis from Lewis and Clark, will be competing in the 2022 NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships Thursday-Saturday in Allendale, Michigan. Esvelt will be in the 5,000 and 10,000 and Davis in the steeplechase.

• Esvelt, with a 4.0 GPA, is one of four from the area named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference 2021-22 Women’s Track & Field All-Academic Team.

She is joined by junior teammate Libby Michael (Deer Park), a repeater with a 3.94 GPA; Annika Briggs (Ferris), a Saint Martin’s sophomore and a repeater with a 3.64 GPA; and Central Washington sophomore Kelli Heim (Pullman), with a 3.73 GPA.

• Tyler Shea, a Northwest Nazarene junior from Northwest Christian HS with a 3.94 GPA, was named to the 2021-22 GNAC Men’s Track & Field All-Academic team for a third straight year.

• After a weekend in which he led No. 10 Gonzaga to a crucial West Coast Conference series sweep of Santa Clara with two home runs and seven RBI, catcher/DH Tyler Rando became the first Zag this season to be named WCC Player of the Week.

One of eight seniors honored before Sunday’s series finale, Rando batted .467 in the three games, coming up big twice. On Saturday, he ended the longest game in Patterson Baseball Complex history with a two-run, 15th-inning, walk-off homer. The next day, his two-run homer put the finishing touches on a 4-1 win in which he drove in three of the runs.

• Gonzaga sophomore starting pitcher Gabriel Hughes is one of 40 players named a semifinalist for the 2022 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Dick Howser Trophy that goes to the player judged to be the best in college baseball.

• Eastern Washington, coming off a 10-3 season in which it made it to the second round of the 2021 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, is one of five Big Sky Conference schools in the 2022 HERO Sports Preseason Top 25. The Eagles are ranked No. 18.

Joining them are Montana State (3rd), Montana (4th), Sacramento State (10th) and UC Davis (tie 25th), with Weber State receiving votes. North Dakota State is first, South Dakota State second.

• Washington State fifth-year senior Jessica Norris from New Zealand was named to the 2022 All-Pac-12 rowing team for a second straight season, the fifth Cougar to earn multiple honors, but the first in a decade.

Norris rowed for WSU’s First Varsity Eight in all six races this season, guiding the Cougars to a Fawley Cup win over Gonzaga, and victories against No. 12 Southern Cal and No. 19 Alabama. She was also instrumental in WSU ranking in the top 20 a majority of the season.

• Washington State won the Men’s Club championship at the 2022 Pac-12 Rowing Championships May 15 in Lowell, Oregon. The Cougars’ varsity eight and second varsity eight both had fifth-place finishes and the novice eight was third in scoring 40 points to defeat the two other club teams in the event, Oregon (17 points) and Colorado (12).

• Gonzaga is seeded 18th out of 22 teams in both the varsity eight (V8) and second varsity eight (2V8) in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Rowing Championships Friday-Sunday in Sarasota, Florida, and 20th in the varsity four (V4), the event’s rowing committee announced. In last year’s championships, Gonzaga finished 20th overall.