Locally: Central Valley sophomore Sarah Nicholls qualifies for U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials

Sarah Nicholls, a sophomore at Central Valley, became the fourth area athlete to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials when she won the 100-meter breaststroke at the Western Speedo Senior Sectionals Championships last weekend in Federal Way, Washington.

Nicholls, who swims for the Coeur d’Alene Area Swim Team, clocked 1 minute, 11.9 seconds, .4 seconds better than the U.S. Olympic qualifying standard and the second-fastest time in the country for a 15-year-old in the event. She also lowered her Inland Empire record by 2.4 seconds as she became the first female in the 30-year history of the CAST to qualify for the Olympic Trials.

She will be joined in Omaha, Nebraska, in June at the Olympic Trials by Emma Schanz, a freshman at UCLA from Colville who swims for the Spokane Waves Aquatic Team, a beaststroke/backstroke specialist who is a multievent women’s qualifier; Taylor McCoy of Pullman, who swims for Gold Medal Swim Club, who qualified in the women’s 200 backstroke; and Daniel Roy of Gonzaga Prep, who swims for Spokane Area Swimming, the national 18-and-under champion in the men’s 200 breaststroke.

The top two in each event in Omaha will represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Bowling

Spokane-area bowlers won six age groups in scratch competition, including all five in the boys division, and qualified 46 to state from the Washington State U.S. Bowling Congress East Pepsi Sectionals last weekend at Zeppoz in Pullman.

The state finals are May 20-21 at Triangle Bowl in Longview. First-place winners there qualify for the Junior Gold Championships July 15-23 in Indianapolis.

The area East Sectional state qualifiers with scores; U8 and U10 bowled three games, U12, U15 and U20 bowled six. (Spokane unless otherwise noted):

Boys

U8 – *Spencer Au, 309; Caden Holodnick, 301.

U10 – *Andrew Strawn, 452; Thomas Egger (Liberty Lake), 424; Matthew Barnett (Moses Lake), 402; Cameron Rehkow, 397; Cameron Haight, 394.

U12 - *Kyle Groves, 1,030; Benjamin Holodnick, 993; Garrett Baumgartner (Valleyford), 864; Connor Knudsvig (Deer Park), 856; Caden Priebe (Veradale), 803; Dante Sellgren, 776; Dyllan Macomber (Moses Lake), 761.

U15 – *Alexander Holodnick, 1,302; Jerry Liu (Veradale), 975; Landon Rehkow, 940; Emric Scriven (Moses Lake), 923; Aaron Williams, 922.

U20 - *Dylan Allison, 1,448; Clint Norlen (Deer Park), 1,362; Noah Torres (Moses Lake), 1,315; Matthew Huit (Moscow, Idaho), 1,279; John Hilden (Newport), 1,262; Payton Owen (Moses Lake), 1,221; Alex Hollenbeck, 1,220; Austin Snegosky (Moses Lake), 1,211; Toby Mertens, 1,139; Anthony Huck, 1,112; Justin Spurlock, 1,100; Donovan Meadows, 1,085; Chance Mair (Moscow), 1,082; Douglas Wilson (Moscow), 1,073.

Girls

U8 – Jayla Pierce (Moses Lake), 349.

U10 – Gracie Ackerman, 270; Jaycee Liu (Veradale), 241.

U12 – Payton Dressler, 762.

U15 – Grace Remendowski (Medical Lake), 908; Jessica Hanson, 907; Abigail Boyer (Moscow), 889; Jori Pierce (Moses Lake), 977.

U20 – *Grace Martin (Liberty Lake), 1,174; Makayla Hoover, 1,072; Jaylynne Reed (Moscow), 1,034; Kimberley Mulder (Moses Lake), 1,021; Klarissa Ader, 1,000.

* - won age group.

College scene

Casey Schoenlein and McKenna Woodford, outside hitters at Washington State, have been selected to the U.S. Collegiate National Volleyball Team-Europe Tour for a two-tournament trip to Italy and Croatia this summer.

WSU is the only school with more than one player on the 12-player team and provides half a four-player Pac-12 contingent. Jordan Anderson, an outside hitter at UCLA, and Colorado setter Gabby Simpson were also selected.

Schoenlein, a sophomore from Bellevue, and Woodford, a freshman from Chandler, Arizona, and their U.S. teammates will compete against an Italian Federation team July 7-9 near Milan, Italy, to prepare them for the Global Challenge July 11-14 in Pula, Croatia.

“We are very proud of Casey and McKenna for being selected to the U.S. Collegiate National team,” WSU coach Jen Greeny said. “The experience they will gain from competing internationally against some of the top players in Europe will prove valuable not only for themselves but for WSU volleyball as a whole.”

Jacob Wiley, a Lewis-Clark State junior from Newport, led three area athletes at Frontier Conference schools to earn NAIA Division I men’s basketball All-America honors.

Wiley, a 6-foot-6 forward who was the Frontier’s Player of the Year, was a men’s first-team selection. He led the Warriors in scoring (14.9 points per game) and rebounding (7.5) and had the fourth-best field-goal percentage in the conference at 60.4.

Match Burnham, a freshman at Carroll from Liberty, earned honorable mention on the men’s team as did Lewis-Clark State junior Doug McDaniel. Burnham was the Frontier Freshman of the Year, was No. 3 on the Saints in scoring at 13.0 points per game and seventh nationally in free throw percentage (.866).

Four area athletes were selected to NAIA Division I women’s basketball All-America teams, led by Coeur d’Alene High School graduates Erin Legel, a Great Falls senior, and Caelyn Orlandi, a Lewis-Clark State junior, who were named to the second-team.

Katie Estey, a Carroll senior from Central Valley, and Brittany Tackett, an L-C State sophomore from CdA High, were third-team choices.

Legel, an NAIA All-America honorable mention as a sophomore and junior, led the Argos scoring at 16.4 points per game; Orlandi led the Warriors in scoring with 13.1 points per game; Tackett was No. 2 at 11.7 and led the rebounding at 5.2; and Estey was No. 1 at Carroll in assists with 90 and No. 2 in scoring with an 11.6 average.

Estey and Orlandi are among five area athletes to earn Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards that go to juniors or above with grade-point averages of at least 3.5.

They were joined on the women’s Division I team by a trio from Lewis-Clark State – juniors Brooke Litalien (Post Falls) and Megan Risinger (Tigard, Oregon), and senior Hannah Byerly (Caldwell, Idaho). The women’s Division II team includes Nichole Osborne, an Eastern Oregon graduate student from Coulee City.

Austin McBroom and Venky Jois, Eastern Washington seniors, were named to National Basketball Coaches Association All-District 6 teams.

McBroom, who led the Big Sky Conference with a 21.0 scoring average, was named to the first team after playing his only season as an Eagle as a graduate transfer. Jois, the Eagles’ career scoring leader with 1,803 points in four seasons, was named to the second team after being a first-team pick as a junior.

They were the only area athletes selected.

Joseph Traverso, a senior at Washington State Tri-Cities, placed sixth at 174 pounds in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association Championships earlier this month in Kissimmee, Florida.

Traverso, one of only two of the seven Cougars to advance past the first day of the club sport event in which WSU won the Division II championship in 2015, earned All-America honors. He had a bye his first match, won his second, lost his third, won the next four and lost his last two, the match for fifth and sixth places in triple overtime.

Zach Volk, a 157-pound freshman, also qualified for the second day but lost a close decision in his first match of the day to be eliminated.

Also in the nationals: Robert Mendoza, senior, 149 pounds; Jerdon Helgeson, junior, 149; Bailey Poitra (Pullman), jr., 165; Jason Nicholson, jr., 174; and Xavier Henderson, jr., 235. Freshman Hunter Haney (133) qualified but could not compete because of an injury suffered in the Northwest Regionals the previous week.

Calder Brooks, a member of the Spokane Chiefs during the 2014-15 season, scored two goals to lead Saint Mary’s University of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to a 5-3 victory over the University of Saskatchewan for the bronze medal in the Canadian intercollegiate hockey championships last weekend in Halifax. Brooks was named one of the game’s stars.

Two other former Chiefs, Blake Gal and Steven Kuhn, play for St. Francis Xavier of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, which lost 3-1 to the University of New Brunswick in the Gold medal game.

There were a total of six former Chiefs on teams in the eight-school tournament.

Mark Seely, a Western Washington junior from Central Valley, ranks 17th in NCAA Division II in the triple jump with a season-best 47 feet, ¾ inches. It’s the sixth-best jump in school history.

Golf

Trevor Fox and Colin Carlson, the head pro and assistant, respectively, at The Golf Club at Black Rock in Coeur d’Alene, tied for 10th with a 6-under-par 136 (69-67) for the highest finish among area competitors in the Pacific Northwest PGA Pro-Assistant Championship last week at Tualatin, Oregon.

The team of Darren Black and Uriel Jimenez from Rainier Golf & Country Club in Seattle won with a 132.