Away at school: Contreras sets Everett CC record

YAKIMA, Wash. — EMMANUEL CONTRERAS (Davis), a freshman on the Everett Community College track team, set a school record in the 800 meters during the Ken Shannon Invitational. His 1:52.99 time bettered the 1:53.20 set by Doug Dalum in 1976.

RACHAEL JOHNSON (West Valley), a junior on the track team at Western Washington University, ran a seasonal-best 2:13.27 in the 800 meters last Saturday in the GNAC championships in Monmouth, Ore., placing second in the event. That time earned her a spot as a provisional national qualifier for the NCAA Div. II nationals. Johnson, an English major, has also been named a GNAC academic all-star with a 3.72 grade-point average.

JENESSA REID (West Valley), a freshman on the Bellevue Community College women’s tennis team, teamed with Vanessa Estes to place second in the No. 3 doubles competition in the recent NWAACC championships. Reid was a volleyball and tennis standout at West Valley.

RYAN VAN BEEK, (Riverside Christian), a junior on the Northwest Nazarene baseball team, made the All-GNAC second team as a second baseman. Van Beek batted .329 with six home runs and a conference-leading three triples. He scored 28 runs and drove in 33 while also leading GNAC middle infielders with 29 turned double plays. Van Beek was also a named to the conference’s academic all-star team with a 3.20 grade point average in business administration.

Bonny twins help WSU to rugby title

YAKIMA, Wash. — Sophomore twins ALEXIS and MEGAN BONNY (La Salle) helped the Washington State University women’s rugby team defeat Temple University 37-0 in Palo Alto, Calif., to win the USA Rugby national Division II championship last weekend.

It is the first national title for the Cougars, who ended the 2009-10 season with an undefeated record and were semifinalists last year.

WSU defeated No. 2 seed Norwich University 15-5 in the semifinals on Friday.

Megan Bonny was voted a second-team All-American.

TAFARA PULSE (Eisenhower), a two-time GNAC women’s soccer player of the year, was inducted into Seattle University’s athletic Hall of Fame recently.

Pulse, whose senior season at Seattle was in 2004, has been a center midfielder for the Seattle Sounders women’s team for five years. She was SU’s female student-athlete of the year in 2003-04 and 2004-05 and a soocer All-American in 2001

ERIN OLANDER (West Valley), a junior on Idaho State’s fastpitch team, is batting .273 with a home run, six doubles and 19 RBI for the Bengals. She has started 44 of ISU’s 45 games.

SANDRA MARTINEZ (Davis), a freshman at Oregon State, set a school record in the 10,000-meter run at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. Martinez took a minute and a half off her pervious best with a time of 35:27.82.

Also at the same distance in the same meet, CHELSEA VANDEBRAKE (Eisenhower), a junior at Washington State, clocked the school’s sixth-fastest time of 36:10.24.

PAUL DiPIETRO (Eisenhower), completed his college baseball career at Pacific Lutheran with a 3-0 record and 1.21 earned run average in 12 apparances.

Against NCAA Division I Seattle University, DiPietro pitched seven shutout innings without allowing a runner past second base. The Lutes finished 30-10 and were second in the Northwest Conference.

PATRICK BOAG (Eisenhower), a junior on the Western Washington men’s golf team, earned one of two individual berths in the NCAA Division II national tournament during recent Super Central-West Regional play at Palm Desert, Calif.

Boag carded a final round 73 and finished the tournament with a three-over par 219 at The Classic Club, a par 72, 7,100-yard layout. The national tournament is scheduled for Noblesville, Ind. later this month.

McNamee, CWU’s Russell honored

YAKIMA, Wash. — Former Ellensburg High standout Sarah McNamee, playing at Montana State Billings, shared GNAC newcomer of the year honors with Alaska Anchorage’s Kelsie Gourdin as part of the all-GNAC women’s basketball team that was announced Tuesday.

Central Washington sophomore Sophie Russell was named honorable mention.

Russell led the Wildcats in scoring with a 13.9 per-game average, and their third-leading rebounder (4.5 per game). She started all 26 games, and led the GNAC in minutes played (34.2).

In other honors, Seattle Pacific’s Daesha Henderson was named player of the year, Northwest Nazarene’s Heather Adams was freshman of the year, and Julie van Beek was coach of the year.

WOMEN’S ALL-GNAC TEAMS

Player of the Year: Daesha Henderson, Seattle Pacific.

Newcomer of the Year: (tie) Kelsie Gourdin, Alaska Anchorage and Sarah McNamee, Montana State Billings.

Freshman of the Year: Heather Adams, Northwest Nazarene

Coach of the Year: Julie van Beek, Seattle Pacific.

First Team

Lindsay Brady, Sr., Northwest Nazarene; Amanda Dunbar, Jr., Western Washington; Daesha Henderson, Sr., Seattle Pacific; Nicci Miller, Sr., Alaska Anchorage; Jessica Summers, Sr., Western Washington; Katie Torland, Sr., Western Oregon.

Second Team

Willow Cabe, Sr., Western Washington; Tamar Gruwell, Sr., Alaska Anchorage; Megan Hoisington, Sr., Seattle Pacific; Kayla Ryan, Jr., Montana State Billings; Dara Zack, Jr., Saint Martin’s.

Honorable Mention

Kelsie Gourdin, Jr., Alaska Anchorage; Kristin Hein, Sr., Northwest Nazarene; Hanna Johansson, So., Alaska Anchorage; Janee Olds, Sr., Northwest Nazarene; Sophie Russell, So., Central Washington.

3/8/10 Away at School

YAKIMA, Wash. — TANA STICKNEY (East Valley), a senior at Eastern Oregon, was named to the Cascade Collegiate All-Conference team.
Stickney led the Mountaineers with 11.85 points and 6.23 rebounds per game, and reached double figures in scoring 17 times while scoring 20 or more twice, shooting 46 percent from the field. She also grabbed 10 or more rebounds on four separate occasions and, last year, was all-conference honorable mention.

MINHEE PARK (Highland), a senior at Boise State, shot a career-best 54-hole score of 223 to help the Broncos women’s golf team finish eighth in the Fresno State Lexus Classic.
Park’s total was 7 over par, and included rounds of 77, 74 and 72. She tied for 12th in the tournament’s individual competition.

KAYLA STANDISH (Ellensburg), a sophomore at Gonzaga, is the fifth-leading scorer (8.6 ppg) and top shot blocker (45 in 29 games) for the Bulldogs, who recently completed West Coast Conference play 14-0 and are 25-4 overall.
Playing in all 29 games, Standish averaged 16.3 minutes per game and 4.1 rebounds, the latter tying for third-highest on the squad.

CHRIS PYNCH (Riverside Christian), a sophomore point guard at the Community Colleges of Spokane, has been named to the NWAACC’s all-academic team. Pynch has compiled a 3.77 grade point average, and earlier was named to the all-Eastern Region second team.

JACK LOOFBURROW (Eisenhower), a sophomore at Whitworth, is averaging 8.3 points a game for the Pirates, who are 26-2 and ranked fourth heading into the NCAA Division III national tournament this week.

3 Wildcats on all-academic team

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Jon Clift, Noble’D Shelton and Sara Bergner of Central Washington were included on the GNAC’s academic all-conference team which was released Wednesday.

Clift, a senior from Spokane, has compiled a 3.20 grade point average in accounting. Shelton, a senior from Auburn, has a 3.29 GPA in business administration and Bergner, a senior from Bellingham, has a 3.25 GPA in business administration.

Also named to the women’s team was West Valley High graduate Katie Hawkins, a junior at Saint Martin’s. The English major has a 3.69 GPA.

2/24/10 Away at School

YAKIMA, Wash. — CASSIE ROBBINS (Eisenhower), a senior at Washington State, was named Most Improved Player on the Cougars’ volleyball team. A middle blocker, Robbins led WSU in blocking with a 1.21 average, fourth-best in the Pac-10. She helped Washington State return to the NCAA Tournament after a seven-year absence and was named All-Pac-10 honorable mention and Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention.

RACHEL HOTCHKO (Davis), a senior at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, swam NCAA provisional and school record times in the 100 butterfly during the Capital Athletic Conference championships earlier this month. Her winning time in the event was 56.63 seconds.

Hotchko also was second in the 100 free at 53.11 seconds, also an NCAA provisional time, was third in the 50 free at 24.75 and helped the Seahawks 200 free relay team to a third-place finish in 1:40.40 and the 400 free relay team to a fourth-place finish in 3:44.55.

She will compete in the NCAA Division III national championships March 17-20 in Minneapolis.

MATT PETERSON (Eisenhower), a sophomore at Whatcom Community College, scored a season-high 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Orcas to an 86-79 win over Bellevue. Peterson made 10 of 14 shots from the field and was 12 of 15 from the free throw line as the Orcas moved into second place in the NWAACC’s Northern Division.

BRETT BLANSHAN (Selah), a freshman at Washington State, placed second in the 200-meter dash at the University of Washington’s Husky Classic indoor track meet on Feb. 13. Blanshan clocked 22.09 in the 200. DANA WELLS (Riverside Christian), also a freshman at WSU, clocked 49.27 in the 400.

Huntington helps EWU to 7-2 league start

YAKIMA, Wash. — JESSICA HUNTINGTON (East Valley), a senior at Eastern Washington, leads the Big Sky Conference with a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio and has helped the Eagles to a 7-2 start in conference play (14-8 overall).

Huntington has started 75 of the 108 games she’s played at Eastern, and this season is averaging 6.3 points, a team-high 4.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds a game.

ZACH FRIEDRICH (Selah), a senior tight end on the Greenville (Ill.) College football team, was named to the NCAA Division III All-American third team. Friedrich, 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, is a three time All-Conference selection and also earned All-North Region honors this season.

Friedrich caught 42 passes for 697 yards and five touchdowns, as the Panthers went 7-2 and were the Upper Mid-West Athletic Conference Champions and hosted the Victory Bowl. He ended his collegiate career owning most of Greenville’s receiving records.

MATT PETERSON (Eisenhower), a sophomore at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, had a double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds in the Orcas’ win over Skagit Valley. Peterson played his freshman season at Skagit before sitting out last season and resuming his career at Whatcom.

Peterson followed that performance with 18 points and 10 boards in a win over Olympic College that improved Whatcom to 5-3 in league play.

KINZI POTEET (Grandview), a freshman at Boise State, scored a then- career-high 10 points in the Broncos’ recent 73-67 home win over Wyoming. Poteet made 4 of 5 field goals and scored all of her points in the first half.

In a later game at Louisiana Tech, Poteet totaled 11 points, six rebounds and one blocked shot in a 75-53 loss to the Lady Techsters.

CHRIS PYNCH (Riverside Christian), a sophomore at Spokane Community College, was named the school’s male scholar athlete of the month for December.

A starting point guard on the basketball team, Pynch has also compiled a 3.77 grade point average.

JORDAN STARR (Davis), a sophomore captain at Bellevue Community College, accounted for 27 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in recent wins over Everett and Edmonds.

Cadet Players Take the Next Step

Eisenhower trio make college football plans official ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — And to think there were so many questions, some uncomfortably pressing.

How would Seth Kline’s left knee hold up, especially under the strain of added pass coverage?

Can Ryan Watson handle a majority of the pass rush with Kline dropping into coverage more?

And who, exactly, is Joe Fuerst and what can he do?

 

Those heavy concerns drifted through the first days of Eisenhower’s football season last August, but on Wednesday afternoon in a crowded room filled with family and friends they were memories to smile and laugh about.

 

Kline, Watson and Fuerst — key contributors to the Cadets’ school-record 11 victories and trip to the state quarterfinals — sat side-by-side while signing letters of intent for colleges in three different states. Kline inked with Air Force, Watson with Eastern Oregon and Fuerst with Central Washington.

For Kline, this day was inevitable. The three-year standout linebacker built serious credentials and had an offer from Air Force before the season even started. The only two possible snags he addressed — the knee that was injured twice before held up just fine and he showed more versatility in pass coverage.

“They were happy with my progress,” Kline said of Air Force, where he commits five years of military service after college graduation. “They thought I was a little raw in pass coverage after my junior year, but I did a lot more of that last season. I’ll admit I missed blitzing all the time, but I enjoyed the complexity of the coverages.”

Watson excelled at defensive end, rising from CBBN Cascade honorable mention as a junior to unanimous first-team and co-MVP of the division. He may stay at that position at Eastern Oregon, an NAIA college, or move to outside linebacker.

“I could play either position,” said Watson, currently a double-digit scorer on the basketball team. “This spring and summer I want to get my speed up and get up to around 220 pounds. With basketball now I’m down to 205. I’m really looking forward to getting ready.”

Fuerst, who moved in from West Valley, had plenty of work to do on the recruiting trail and little time to do it. As a running back his junior numbers were modest at best.

But over 1,800 yards and 20 touchdowns at the 4A level can make a good impression.

“It all fell into place for me. I was very lucky,” said Fuerst, who averaged nearly seven yards a carry. “I had this year to prove myself and we had a great season. The timing was perfect.”

It was a fitting departing moment for the trio, which made a haul with Cascade Division awards. Fuerst and Watson shared the overall MVP honor and Kline was named defensive MVP.

“At the start of the season it was kind of hard to tell how good we’d be,” Kline said. “But it seemed like game by game we just got better and better.”

Stohr earns player of the week honors

YAKIMA, Wash. — JASMINE STOHR (La Salle) has been named the Frontier Conference’s player of the week twice this season, the most recent in mid-December after she earned MVP honors in leading Lewis-Clark State College to a 2-0 record at the Wells Fargo Tournament.

The junior averaged 19.5 points during the tournament for the host Warriors, who are 14-2 and ranked 11th in the NAIA Division I top 25.

Stohr is averaging a team-high 14.9 points per game this season.

CLAIRE FAUCHER (Eisenhower), a senior at Portland State, became the Vikings’ and Big Sky Conference career assist leader in a recent games.

Faucher’s five assists in a game last month against Oregon State boosted her career total to 699, tops at PSU, and she also scored a team-high 22 points. In more recent game against Gonzaga, Faucher scored a career-high 30 points in a 64-57 loss.

Last Saturday in PSU’s Big Sky Conference opener, Faucher totaled 12 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and four steals in a 95-86 win over Sacramento State. Her first three assists in that game made her the Big Sky  career leader.

MARCUS RANCE (Davis) completed his redshirt junior season as a wide receiver at Stanford, and is scheduled to complete his bachelor’s degree this spring. He will begin work toward a Master’s degree, according to his father, Greg Rance.

KAYLA STANDISH (Ellensburg), a sophomore at Gonzaga, had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in an 88-52 win over UC Santa Barbara.

Standish was 5 for 8 from the field, including 1 for 2 from 3-point range, had three offensive rebounds and also produced a steal in 20 minutes of reserve play.

BRANDEN JOHNSON (Eisenhower), a senior at Montana State, scored 10 of his 15 points in the first five minutes of the second half as the Bobcats beat UC Santa Barbara 76-64.

Johnson started by converting a four-point play, then added two 3-pointers to give MSU a double-digit lead.

TANA STICKNEY (East Valley), a senior at Eastern Oregon, had 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Mountaineers won 63-51 at 14th-ranked Concordia in Portland.

CHELSEA VANDEBRAKE (Eisenhower) graduated Summa Cum Laude from Washington State last month after competing on the Cougars’ cross country and track and field teams. VanDeBrake compiled a 3.95 grade point average to complete a bachelor’s degree in English.

She plans to pursue a master’s degree in literacy education while using her last two years of indoor track eligibility, and hopes to teach English and coach track and cross country afterward.

JESSICA HUNTINGTON (East Valley), a senior at Eastern Washington, scored 10 points and added three assists in the Eagles’ 87-61 loss to Gonzaga.

DANIEL DAVIDSON (Eisenhower), a junior at Whitman College, scored 19 points in an 89-87 loss to nationally ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater in a recent game in Spokane.

Away at school: Ex-Ike basketball stars excel at college level

Members of the 2005-06 Eisenhower girls basketball team that won a school-record 29 games and took fourth place in the Class 4A state tournament, the highest finish ever for the Cadets, continue to shine in their college endeavors.

While the basketball exploits of Portland’s Laiken Dollente and Claire Faucher of Portland State were documented in Monday’s edition of the Herald-Republic, here’s what the three other starters from that record-setting team have been up to:

ALLI KROUS, a senior at Maine, recently completed her final season with the Black Bears soccer team.

A part-time starter for Maine, the midfielder/forward was named to the America East Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll and was named a Maine Scholar-Athlete Rising Star.

After two seasons playing soccer at Walla Walla Community College, Krous also turned out for the Black Bears track and field team. She was third in the javelin at the America East Conference meet and fourth at the New England Championships meet, where she set a personal record with a throw of 135 feet, 7 inches (41.33 meters).

Krous was selected to the all-conference team.

*******

MARIANNE LOMBARDI was voted a captain for the University off Nevada basketball team.

The 6-foot-1 senior forward is averaging 4.4 points for the Wolfpack, which is 5-4 this season.

Her 82.3 percent free-throw shooting ranks third on the team, as do her 4.6 rebounds per game.

*******

CASSIE ROBBINS wrapped up a stellar volleyball career at Washington State, helping the Cougars qualify for the NCAA tournament this fall for the 10th time in program history.

A 6-foot-3 middle blocker, she earned honorable mention all-Pac-10 Conference recognition this season, averaging 1.24 blocks per set, which was fourth-best in the conference and 40th nationally.

Robbins’ career totals for solo blocks (49), block assists (299) and total blocks (348) all rank 10th in WSU all-time standings.

*******
TANA STICKNEY (East Valley) leads Eastern Oregon in scoring this season at 11.5 points per game. The 5-foot-11 senior forward scored a season-high 25 points in a 62-53 victory against Whitman late last month.

She also is second in rebounding for the Mountaineers, averaging six rebounds per contest.

SASHA VALDEZ (Selah), a sophomore for EOU, is averaging 1.2 points per game.

Next Page »