Locally: Eastern Washington’s David Riley, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd named finalists for first-year coach of the year award

David Riley and Tommy Lloyd, who were employed as assistant basketball coaches in Spokane County a season ago, are among 15 national finalists for the Joe B. Hall Award that will recognize the top first-year coach in NCAA Division I in 2021-22.

Riley was promoted from associate head coach at Eastern Washington on March 25, 2021, and guided the program he reconstructed to its eighth straight winning season, an 18-16 record and eighth postseason appearance.

Lloyd, an assistant at Gonzaga for 22 years, was hired by Arizona on April 14, 2021, and took a revitalized program to the Pac-12 regular season and tournament championships, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a 33-4 record.

Riley, who just completed his 11th season in the Eastern program, said he made it a priority for the Eagles to have fun. He had to hire an entirely new staff and brought in 12 new players to restock the locker room following the departure of Shantay Legans for Portland after four seasons.

The Eagles responded. They earned a No. 6 seed into the Big Sky Conference tournament, won their tournament opener – a seventh victory in nine games – and accepted an invitation to The Basketball Classic. Eastern lost 83-74 at Fresno State.

Lloyd, who replaced the Wildcats’ 12-year head coach, Sean Miller, who was fired following an 11-14 season, had some remodeling to do to get the Wildcats back into the national conversation and win back a disillusioned fan base.

Pac-12 titles followed by the No. 1 seed in the South Region and advancement to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, where Arizona lost 72-60 to Houston, show he succeeded.

The award, which will be presented Saturday , is named for the late former longtime Kentucky assistant who had the challenge of replacing legendary Adolph Rupp. Under Hall, the Wildcats barely missed a beat. Hall died Jan. 15, 2022, at age 93.

College scene

Katy Ryan, a Washington State freshman from Lakeland of Rathdrum, is one of 38 players named last week to the 2022 U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Volleyball Team roster. The team will train June 19-25 in Anaheim, Calif.

An opposite hitter who has been a member of the USA Volleyball Women’s Indoor U20 National training team, Ryan is coming off a season in which she earned Pac-12 All-Freshman team honors after helping lead the Cougars into the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

She ended the season with 249 kills, averaging 2.18 per set, while hitting .326 with seven double-digit kill performances, 77 blocks and 48 digs.

• Daniel Roy of Spokane collected a fifth All-America award on Saturday when the Stanford senior from Gonzaga Prep placed eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke finals at the 2022 NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships in Atlanta.

Roy clocked a season-best 1 minute, 51.17 seconds, quicker than the 1:51.32 he swam in the morning preliminaries, in which he was also eighth. His PR is 1:51.07. Roy also swam the 100 breast and turned in a season-best time of 52.45 in the preliminaries and wound up 28th.

• All five Whitworth swimmers who competed in the 2022 NCAA Division III Championships in Indianapolis March 16-19 earned All-America honors. Senior Ryan Grady received four – one first team (fourth, men’s 200-yard breaststroke) and three seconds (tie for ninth, 200 individual medley; 11th, 100 breast; and 13th, 800 freestyle relay).

Freshman Zachary Washburn, senior Finn McClone and grad student Jake Goguen (Ferris), who joined Grady on the relay team, also earned second-team honors, as did freshman Emma Thompson (Mead) for her 16th-place finish in the women’s 100 backstroke.

• Washington State freshman Micaela De Mello was named Pac-12 women’s track athlete of the week after she broke the school record in the 100m hurdles on March 19 at the Baldy Castillo Invitational in Tempe, Arizona, clocking 13.08 seconds in winning the event.

The Brazilian’s time, the fastest in the NCAA this season and fourth-fastest in the world, broke Diana Pickler’s WSU record set in 2007 by 0.17 seconds.

• Ridge Lovett, a Nebraska sophomore from Post Falls, was runner-up at 149 pounds in the 2022 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships earlier this month in Detroit. Lovett lost 11-5 to Yianni Diakomihalis, a Cornell junior, in the finals to cap at 28-4 season.

Golf

Nick McCaslin of Kalispel Golf & Country Club and Gordon Corder of Manito Golf & Country Club led their teams to the top showing by area pros in the 2022 Pacific Northwest Pro-Assistant Championship March 21-22 at Inglewood Golf Club in Kenmore, Washington.

McCaslin and his assistant, Amy Eneroth (68-71), and Corder and assistant, Anton Rosen (72-67), were two of the three teams that tied for sixth at 139.

Corder also finished in a two-way tie for 10th at 141 (72-69) with assistant

Nick Onustack, and McCaslin and assistant Travis Huskisson were in a nine-way tie for 21st at 145 (72-73).

Head pro Mitch Runge and assistant John Cassidy of The Home Course in Dupont, Wash., used a birdie on the final hole for a 134 to win the event by a stroke.

• Colin McMahon, the head professional at The Creek at Qualchan since 2017, has been named director of golf at Circling Raven Golf Club in Worley, Idaho.

The Gonzaga University graduate, 2021 Inland Empire PGA Professional of the Year and 2021 Pacific Northwest PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year at Qualchan, replaces Dave Christensen, who retired after 30 years in the golf business.

Before arriving at Qualchan, McMahon, who turned 30 this month, was first assistant pro at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, California.

Circling Raven also announced that Kal Zaranec, who has been the first assistant superintendent at the club, has been appointed head superintendent.

Volleyball

Jon Haruguchi, who has spent the last six seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Northern Colorado, has been named Eastern Washington University’s eighth head volleyball coach, director of athletics Lynn Hickey announced last week.

He replaces Leslie Flores-Jones, who stepped down after four seasons to spend more time with her family.

Haruguchi “brings a wealth of experience and professionalism at the Division I level, along with great knowledge of the Big Sky Conference,” Hickey is quoted in the release announcing his hire. “He comes highly recommended for his expertise on the court, along with his great demeanor and culture-building with student-athletes.”

Hickey added that Haruguchi “oversaw recruiting at one of the top volleyball programs in our conference.”

He joined Northern Colorado as an assistant coach in 2016 after one year at Dartmouth College and was promoted to associate head coach in December of 2019. During his time, the Bears qualified for the Big Sky tournament each season and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2021, winning Big Sky regular-season and tournament titles both seasons.