Locally: Cougar volleyball, football athletes named to 2022 College Sports Communicators Division I Academic All-District teams

From staff and news services

Three members of the Washington State women’s volleyball team and two on the Cougars’ football team were named to 2022 College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Division I Academic All-District teams with GPAs of 3.50 or higher.

Honors in volleyball went to senior Magda Jehlarova, junior Logann Golden and sophomore Katy Ryan (Lakeland of Rathdrum). It’s the second award for Jehlarova. Sophomore Andrew Edson and redshirt sophomore Kyle Thornton from football received the academic award.

Whitworth landed four players from volleyball and eight from football on CSC Division III all-district teams.

From volleyball: seniors Joelle Forbes, Maddie Lee (Mead) and Eva Millan (Clarkston) and sophomore Cassidy Franklin. Football: seniors Mason Bertelli, Matthew Fiesta, BJ Mullin , Derrick Platt, Atticus Templeton and Jet Uechi, and juniors Isaac Fields and Dillon Kuk.

All are eligible for CSC Academic All-America teams that will be selected in early December.

• Eastern Washington junior Sage Brustad and sophomore Alyssa Radke were named to the All-Big Sky Conference second team in volleyball.

Brustrad, who led the Eagles in several categories, was third in the conference in aces (42) and fourth in kills (3.33 per set). Radke ranked 10th in kills per set (3.20).

• Ashley Kaufman, a Central Washington junior outside hitter from Lake City, was named to the 2022 AVCA Division II All-West Region first team. She had a team-high 321 kills, 35 aces, 288 digs and 36 block assists.

• East Region champion North Idaho College wound up fourth in the NWAC volleyball championship tournament that wound up Nov. 20 in Lakewood, Washington.

The Cardinals (27-6) lost in four sets to Bellevue in the third-place match following a five-set loss to tournament runner-up Columbia Basin in the semifinals. Linn-Benton won a second straight championship with a five-set win over CBC.

NIC sophomore Abigail Neff (Lakeland of Rathdrum), who had 38 assists and 15 digs in the third-place match, was named to the all-tournament first team. Freshman Jessica Stires (Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls), who hit .429 with 17 kills in the third-place match, was on the second team.

• Gonzaga salvaged a couple of school records from its losing volleyball season. The 6-23 Bulldogs broke the single-season mark for service aces in the rally era with 179, capped by six in a season-ending four-set loss at Loyola Marymount on Nov. 22.

Senior Kennedy Croff broke the career record for aces in the rally era with 108. She had 27 her final year.

Baseball

Zac Veen, selected the Northwest League MVP and top MLB prospect with the Spokane Indians in 2022, was named the Arizona Fall League Offensive Player of the Year after hitting .333 with an .889 OPS and 16 stolen bases.

The Colorado Rockies’ outfield prospect, promoted from Spokane to Double-A Hartford, Connecticut, in early August, was joined by three Indians teammates on the High-A NWL All-Star team: first baseman Colin Simpson, second baseman Eddy Diaz and shortstop Julio Carreras.

Shooting

Open class entries from Spokane claimed the top three spots in the Spokane Junior Rifle Club’s ninth annual Bill Havercroft Small-bore Prone Match late last month at the Spokane Rifle Club honoring the longtime SJRC coach.

Roger McRoberts shot 3,194 out of a possible 3,200 to place first, followed by Mark George (3,190) and Ken Freund (3,174). Tanner Krebs, 14, Shadle Park, was fourth overall (3,156) and the junior winner. Garrett Pearsall, 17, Mt. Spokane (3,155) and Anna Pearsall, 19, an EWU graduate (3,153), were the second and third juniors.

Softball

The Spokane Softball Umpires Association played catch-up at its recent banquet, passing out 2021 awards from the coronavirus-canceled year-end get-together as well as the 2022 season.

Bob Francis (2021), a 10-year umpire who has been an association assigner for eight years, and Bryan Raschka (2022), a 16-year umpire with state high school championships and USA Softball national tournaments on his resumè, received the association’s top honor, the Campbell-Stewart Award, for “longevity, excellence and service to umpiring in the Spokane area.”

Other award winners: Umpire of the year adult: Carl Durr (2021), Raschka (2022). Umpire of the year youth: Dave Berghammer (2021), Rich Hobson (2022). Most improved: Ashley Finn (2021), Shaun Pedersen (2022). Rookie of the year: Stanley Calder (2021), Bradley Rehwaldt (2022). Presidential Pride: Mike McCaskill (2021), Chuck Stewart (2022). Home Run: Angie Vulcano (2021), Bobby Kuck (2022).

• Mike’s Bar & Grill of Spokane Valley won the 60AA Division at the 2023 Senior Softball USA Winter World Championships Nov. 18-20 in Phoenix to qualify for the 2024 Tournament of Champions in Lakeland, Florida.

After splitting two pool-play games, Mike’s went 4-0 in bracket play to win the nine-team division.

Jack Parker, Jerry Coulter, Tim Wheatley, Randy Searcy and Chris Roe made the all-tournament team. Other team members: Ron Klawitter, Dan Griffith, Allen Arnold, Mike Kosoff, Mike Lang, Kevin Oldenburg, Larry Arndt, Rich Orrison and Norb Barthel. Steve Goodman is the coach.

Miscellany

Connie Hurlbut, who has served as a senior associate commissioner of the West Coast Conference since 2017, was appointed by the president’s council a second time to fill in as the WCC’s interim commissioner beginning Thursday.

Hurlbut previously served as interim commissioner prior to the appointment of Gloria Nevarez in April 2018. This time she takes over for Nevarez, who left to become commissioner of the Mountain West Conference.