McCoy wins women’s 1,500 free

A Medical Lake youth swimmer is making a name for herself.

Sakaiya McCoy, a junior at Medical Lake High School and a member of the Spokane Area Swimming club, won the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle at the Western Zone Senior Championships in Clovis, California.

McCoy won by 9 seconds with a time of 17 minutes, 12.02 seconds, setting a Western Zone Senior Championship meet record. The win qualifies McCoy for the Winter Junior National Championships, Dec. 11-14 in Federal Way, Washington.

McCoy qualified for the Western Zone meet by competing in various meets in the Inland Northwest and meeting the qualifying time of 19:36.29.

Golf

The Washington Junior Golf Association state championships were held last week at Manito Golf and Country Club.

Joe Baldeck of Clarkston took fourth in the boys 16-17 division, shooting rounds of 72, 74 and 70 on the par-71 layout. Blake Ellingsen of Spokane had a 72-71-79.

In the boys 14-15 division, Jack Reeves of Sandpoint took sixth with rounds of 74, 74, 76. Ryan Maine of Spokane was ninth (75-76-75).

Nate Plaster of Spokane won the boys 8-11 division, shooting 73, 71, 73 for a 1-over total.

In the girls 16-17 division, Sierra Kersten of Spokane took third firing rounds of 69, 70, 75 for a 2-under total. Kelly Hooper of Spokane was fifth (76-73-76).

• Alexander Cooke of Spokane took second in the boys 9-10 division at the Idaho Golf Association junior state tournament at Centennial Golf Course in Boise.

Cooke shot rounds of 47 and 43, finishing a stroke out of first. He was named the player of the year for his division.

Softball

The hitting of Lauren Taylor and pitching and hitting of Hannah Hustad were among the highlights for eight local players on a USA Athletes International team that finished sixth in the Tuscany Series in Arezzo, Italy.

Taylor, who will be a junior at Northwest Christian this fall, hit .600 and Hustad, a recent NWC graduate, had a 1-1 record, struck out 20 in 11 1/3 innings and hit a home run and drove in seven runs. Ferris grad Michele Strauss had a double and two RBIs in a tournament-opening 7-0 win over a team from the Netherlands and finished hitting .333. Taylor Wuesthoff (Lakeside) and Alexys Tibbetts (NWC) added offensive punch.

USAAI’s high school team, the second youngest team in an eight-team tournament that included teams from France, Italy and Czechoslovakia that were comprised mainly of players from their national teams, compiled a 2-3 record. In its last game, with the winner advancing to the third-place game, it lost 6-3 in the last inning to a college all-star team from the U.S.

“The kids competed hard and had a lot of fun,” said Jamie Stewart, the NWC coach and co-head coach of USAAI. “It was a great experience for the girls.”