Locally: East Valley standout Logan Hofstee gives Gatorade grant to Girls on the Run of Spokane County

From staff reports

Gatorade Washington Cross Country Player of the Year Logan Hofstee of East Valley High has awarded Girls on the Run of Spokane County a grant worth $1,000.

Gatorade provides each of its state Gatorade Player of the Year recipients with the grant to award to a social impact partner.

“The Gatorade Player of the Year award highlights student-athletes who set an example both on and off the field,” said Kara Darling, assistant marketing manager for Gatorade Player of the Year. “The grants give these athletes a chance to donate to organizations, like Girls on the Run of Spokane County, that positively impacts the youth in their own communities.”

Girls on the Run inspires girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.

All 610 state Gatorade Player of the Year recipients are awarded a grant to donate to a social impact partner of their choosing.

Each player of the year can also submit a video about why their organization is deserving of one of 12 spotlight grants, which awards an additional $10,000 to the organization.

To date, player of the year winners’ grants have totaled more than $4.9 million across more than 1,900 organizations.

College football

Danny McDonald has joined the Eastern Washington staff as special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach, the school announced. It’s his second stint in Cheney as he spent the 2018-20 seasons at Eastern in an offensive quality control role.

“Bringing Danny back to Cheney in a full-time capacity is great for us,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said. “He will bring knowledge from multiple stops in his coaching journey and be our main voice in our special teams space.”

McDonald, who played wide receiver at Washington State from 2012-13 before spending two seasons as a student assistant in Pullman, was a defensive quality control coach under WSU head coach Jake Dickert last season.

Spokane Velocity FC

Spokane Velocity FC will appear on CBS Sports Network national television on Sept. 4 when the club plays Union Omaha FC at 6 p.m. on ONE Spokane Stadium.

USL League One on Tuesday announced the renewal of its contract with ESPN. Between CBS, ESPN, ESPN+ and local network partnerships soon to be announced, fans will have access to view every Velocity home and away match this season.

Women’s college basketball

Zalissa Sanfo has been named the Northwest Conference Rookie of the Year, and Kimberly Dewey was named to the All-NWC second team, the conference announced on Feb. 22.

Sanfo is the second Pirate to win rookie of the year; the first was Camy Aguinaldo in 2018.

The center led the conference in rebounds (10.8) and blocks (2.8), ranking 11th in all of Division III with 73 blocks. Sanfo was also Whitworth’s second-highest scorer with 9.9 points per game.

She started all 25 games and averaged 30.7 minutes per game.

Dewey earned her first all-conference selection, posting 16.8 points per game, second in the conference, only behind Korin Baker (the two-time NWC Player of the Year). Dewey shot 37% from the field on 15 shots per game, 31% from 3-point range, 85% from the free-throw line while adding 5.6 rebounds per game and 2.2 assists per game.

Whitworth finished 9-16 and 6-10 in the NWC, tied for fifth with two schools.

Tennis

Eastern Washington’s Kelly Arends earned Big Sky women’s tennis co-player of the week for the week ending Feb. 21. Arends went 2-0 in singles to earn the award. She shares the honor with Portland State’s Momoko Yoshimura.

Arends played at the No. 6 spot against Montana’s Shivika Agrawal, winning in two sets (6-4, 6-3). The win helped propel Eastern to a 5-2 match win over Montana in Missoula.

Shooting

The Spokane Junior Rifle Club Gold Team took second place at the 2024 Civilian Marksmanship Program State Championships in Spokane on Feb. 10, automatically qualifying for a spot at nationals with a score of 2,281.

Tanner Krebs, Ensley Breeden, Jack Burns and Spencer Fitzpatrick made up the Gold team.

Krebs finished fourth in the individual competition with a score of 580. Breeden was fifth with 579 points out of a possible 600.

The CMP National Championships will be held July 8-10 at Camp Perry, Ohio.