Locally: Area lacrosse athletes compete in State All-Star Game in Tukwila

From staff and news services

Eight of the 13 players who earned All-Greater Spokane League lacrosse first-team recognition played in the State All-Star Game on Saturday in Tukwila, Washington.

Spokane was represented by attacker Carter Vaillancort, sophomore, Gonzaga Prep; midfielders Luke Bollinger, senior, Central Valley; Hudson Buth, junior, Mt. Spokane; and Max Meyer, sr., Lewis and Clark; face off Christian Preti, so., G-Prep; defensive midfielder Jesse Weiland, jr., Mt. Spokane; long stick midfielder Jackson Crocker, jr., G-Prep; and defender Jake Sparber, jr., Mt. Spokane.

The Region 6 team, which includes Spokane, defeated the Region 4 all-stars 10-4.

Also on the All-GSL first team are attackers Nathan Jones and Bo Sterling, both seniors at Mead; defenders Jack Condon, jr., G-Prep, and Riley Phillips, sr., CV; and goalie Rylan Holt, sr., G-Prep.

College scene

Cassidy Wilson of Deer Park, who graduated from Riverside High School and is a former member of the Spokane Junior Rifle Team, has transferred to Morehead State in Kentucky after shooting for Alaska Fairbanks for three years.

Morehead announced that Wilson, who will be a senior academically with two years of eligibility, is the first transfer into the program under current coach Alan Joseph.

Wilson, a two-time Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Scholastic All-American (2020, 2021), competed in the Civilian Marksmanship Program 3-Position Air Rifle National Championships and USA Shooting Junior Olympic 3-Position National Championships five times, winning the silver medal at the latter in 2018.

• Taylor Christian, a University of Memphis sophomore from Spokane Valley Tech, who is “aging out” of the Spokane Junior Rifle Team, turned in some of her better performances late in the collegiate season for the 16th-ranked Tigers.

Christian had her best showing of the season against No. 4 Ole Miss in mid-February, shooting 583 small-bore, 590 air rifle and 1,173 aggregate. Two weeks later, at the Great American Rifle Conference Championships at West Point, she posted the team’s second-best score in small-bore, finishing 26th with a 581. She also shot 585 air rifle and 1,166 aggregate.

• Nadia Cooper, Washington State’s rising junior goalkeeper, played the last 37 minutes for the U.S. U-20 women’s national soccer team in 3-0 shutout over Costa Rica in a friendly match last week in Chula Vista, California.

It was the first of two U.S. shutouts against Costa Rica in friendlies as the sides are preparing for the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica Aug. 10-28. The U.S. won the second 5-0. Cooper is one three goalies and 23 players in the U.S. camp training for the World Cup.

• Katelyn Strauss of Spokane and her North Dakota State College of Science teammates wound up fourth in the NJCAA Division III Softball World Series last week in DeWitt, New York, losing 8-4 to Brookdale, New York, in the third-place game.

Strauss was the starting pitcher, but worked just one-plus inning, walking six and striking out three. Only one of the five runs she gave up was earned. She finished the season with a 21-7 record.

The Wildcats (39-12), went 2-2 in the tournament. They won their opener, in which Strauss didn’t play, 7-1, but lost 1-0 in an eight-inning pitchers’ duel in the second game. Strauss pitched a two-hitter, striking out 18; the Corning, New York, pitcher threw a no-hitter, facing just 26 batters, two more than minimum. Strauss then pitched a three-hitter with seven strikeouts in an 8-0, six-winning win in the third game.

• North Idaho landed eight players on Northwest Athletic Conference All-Eastern Region softball teams, including freshmen Abbey Brooks (pitcher) and Addison Ribordy (outfield) and sophomore Taryn Vanderwiel (infield) on the first team, and Community Colleges of Spokane placed two.

NIC also had sophomore Taya Escalante (infield) and freshmen Hattie Imbler-Bremner (pitcher), Lexy Orien (catcher), Kahlea Dumas of Post Falls (outfield) and Reiss Mcintryre (utility) on the second team. CCS sophomore Makayla Reid (infield) was also on the second team.

• The Gonzaga women’s rowing team finished 18th overall at the NCAA Championships last week in Sarasota, Florida. All three Bulldogs boats raced the final day, with the first varsity 8 and first varsity 4 in C Finals, earning 18th-place finishes, and the second varsity 8 in the D Final, placing 19th.

• For a 17th consecutive semester, Idaho student-athletes posted a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater, compiling a 3.32 in the spring 2022 semester, with 241 (76%) student-athletes earning a 3.0 GPA or better.

There were 78 student-athletes who achieved a perfect 4.0 and 13 of the 14 programs had a 3.0 or higher. Women’s soccer, with a program-record 3.70, and women’s cross country (3.76) led the way. Football also had a program record with a 3.06 GPA.

• The Montana State men, who did not finish outside the top three in any sport, and the Northern Arizona women, who won six championships, are 2021-22 Big Sky Conference All-Sports Trophy winners.

The Idaho men were fifth, the Eastern men seventh, the Vandals women tied for fourth and the Eagles women were eighth.

Soccer

Head coach Todd Shulenberger added two transfers with Pac-12 experience to his 2022 Washington State women’s team – Aaliyah Bluett, a speedy, offensive-minded attacker who played her freshman season at Oregon State, and defensive-minded midfielder Jenna Studer, who played two years at Arizona.

Bluett appeared in nine games for the Beavers, collecting one goal and one assist. The goal was the first goal in the program’s historic first road win over perennial power Stanford. Studer played in 27 matches in two seasons, starting 18 (13 as a sophomore). She played 1,056 minutes in 2021 despite missing three early games.

Shooting

The Spokane Junior Rifle Team had three top-10 finishers at the virtual 2022 Washington State Air Rifle Championship that wound up last month.

Derek Phipps, 17, who attends Gonzaga Prep, placed sixth overall in the three-part match that included competition in standing and 3-position. He scored 941 out of a possible 1,000. The match winner shot 976.

Anna Pearsall, 18, Eastern Washington University, was eighth at 927 and Ben Tafoya, 18, Spokane Falls CC, finished 10th at 925. SJRT had 15 of the 32 competitors.

Miscellany

• Sean Harris, a 2013 graduate of Washington State University, where he was a decathlete in the men’s track and field program from 2008-13, has been hired by the West Coast Conference as associate commissioner for championships and sport administration.

Harris, who served the past nine years at the Pac-12 Conference, where he was most recently assistant commissioner for sports management and championships, will oversee operations for all championship events and serve as a sport administrator for several sports.

• Lynsey Winkler, who has been a student success advisor at Eastern Washington University for nearly nine months, has been named the senior athletic academic advisor for the athletic department.

Winkler, who has an extensive collegiate soccer and coaching background that she has transferred into positions in collegiate academics, assisted more than over 280 students in her previous position at Eastern with academic development plans to help them progress toward graduation. She has a bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and a master’s from University of Missouri.