HAIL TO THE CATS
Lewiston Tribune
February 19, 2017
Lapwai powers its way to a third consecutive state championship with blowout of WPL rival Prairie
NAMPA - The unity that helped Lapwai's girls weather the bull's-eye plastered on their backs; the subdued celebration that accompanied a nearly 40-point win, all of it embodied in one embrace: a group hug.
That's how Lapwai - with the exception of Heewekse Wisdom briefly leaping into JoAndra Wilson's arms - celebrated its most recent basketball state title: with a below-the-radar game-ending moment that said, "Been there, done that." It was perfect - just the way the Wildcats have been against Idaho Class 1A Division I competition the past three years.
Lapwai broke loose Saturday at the Idaho Center to attain a rarefied feat: only the fourth threepeat in the past 20 years - at any level of girls' hoops in the state.
And after edging Prairie by a whisker the past two state title games, the defending champions finally scored a victory befitting a dynasty: with Lapwai's most lopsided girls' title in history.
The final score: Wildcats 79, Pirates 40.
Some history: Prairie (21-4) was the last team from Lapwai's (23-1) class to hand the Wildcats a loss - that coming in the 2014 state title game.
But on Saturday, Pirates coach Lori Mader made an honest admission: She felt the game slipping away in the second quarter.
"You knew," Mader said with a knowing look on her face, perhaps recalling Iris Domebo's bank shot from beyond the arc - the kind of bucket that signaled to Pirate fans: It was going to be a long morning.
For all this talk of dynasties, one could forget that Prairie actually led most of the first quarter - and that Lapwai only slipped into a three-point lead because of something that sounds straight out of folklore: a seemingly one-legged cager.
Before she limped to the locker room mid-game for a brief training session on her ankle, Koyama Young's back-to-back postups to end the first period did three things: gave the Wildcats the lead for good, calmed any nerves of "here we go again," and bought time for Lapwai's dormant 3-ball to come to life.
A catalogue of Lapwai's 3-point barrage in the second quarter by player goes as follows: Shiniah Holt with two; Amil Mitchell, Domebo and Young with one apiece.
The commonality between the first two of those threes: both were set up by forward Ione Chimburas - the first with a steal, the second by an extra pass she made after cutting to the hoop.
But you can point to other aspects of the contest which helped Lapwai suddenly seize a 37-16 lead
Besides Kylie Tidwell, who scored 13, no other Pirate reached double-figure points. And Prairie, during the game's deciding stretch in the second and third quarters, was held to just nine points as the Wildcats seized a 61-20 lead with a somewhat new formula: mixing in some zone.
Their 7-of-9 mark outside during the first two quarters is a big reason the Wildcats led by 21 at the half. You take those shots away, it's a tie game.
"Not a track meet," chanted an earlier State opponent.
Wrong: Of the 15 points Lapwai's Mitchell scored Saturday, around half came on the run.
Sprained ankle and all, Young still scored a game-high 24, bringing her average for the tournament to 22.
- Taking your foot off the gas - and still killing it:
The Wildcats, two minutes into the fourth, inserted all their reserves to throw Prairie a bone. But even those players continued to score, proving another point: Lapwai's reserves could probably start most anywhere else in the state.
"I think they'll go down as one of the best teams to play in the state tournament," Lapwai coach Eric Spencer said of his squad, which will return just three players: Mitchell, Wisdom and Raequel Domebo.
Asked if they'll be shooting for a four-peat next year, Mitchell laughed: "We'll try."
Asked what he thought proved the difference in the contest, Spencer had this to say: "I'm always known as a man-to-man coach ... but we threw (zone) at them today ..."
Continued Spencer: "This is the second time I pulled it out in the state tournament and it did well for us today."
NOTES - Lapwai, which now owns nine girls' titles, also won crowns in 1976, '89, '98, 2002, '09, '11, '15 and '16. ... Since the 1A classification split into two divisions in 2009, only schools representing the Whitepine League have played in the 1A D-I title game. ... Lapwai's previously most-lopsided title win came in 2011, when the Wildcats beat Clearwater Valley 61-24. ... Lapwai's lone loss this year came to 3A foe Timberlake, which repeated as champion at its level on Saturday. The Wildcats split with Tigers in two meetings this year. ... All four of Prairie's losses this year came to Lapwai.
PRAIRIE-COTTONWOOD (21-4)
Kylie Tidwell 6 0-1 13, Angela Wemhoff 2 0-0 5, Josie Peery 0 1-2 1, Jordyn Higgins 1 2-4 4, Chaye Uptmor 1 0-0 2, Leah Higgins 2 4-4 8, Kodie Tidwell 1 0-0 2, Theresa Wemhoff 0 0-2 0, Kristyna Krogh 0 0-0 0, Sydney Bruner 1 0-1 2, India Peery 1 0-0 3, Sarah Ross 0 0-0 0, Kendra Duclos 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 7-14 40.
Shiniah Holt 4 1-2 11, Heewekse Wisdom 0 0-0 0, Raequel Domebo 0 0-0 0, Iris Domebo 4 1-2 10, Ione Chimburas 3 0-0 6, Amil Mitchell 7 0-1 15, Koyama Young 10 2-2 24, JoAndra Wilson 0 0-0 0, Emoni Tannehill 1 0-0 3, Marque Wilson 1 0-0 2, Evelyn Bohnee 3 2-4 8. Totals 33 6-11 79.
Three-point goals - Ky.Tidwell, A.Wemhoff, I.Peery, Holt 2, I.Domebo, Mitchell, Young 2, Tannehill. Total fouls - Prairie 12, Lapwai 16. Fouled out - J.Peery.
March 5, 2017
Lewiston Tribune
March 4, 2017
By Michael-Shawn Dugar For the Tribune
NAMPA - As wild and entertaining as the conclusion to the game was, Grace's comeback win over defending-champion Ambrose really only increased the odds of what many had anticipated before the start of the state tournament.
Lapwai versus Prairie. For all the marbles.
The Wildcats (23-1) and Pirates (20-4) will meet for the fourth time this season at 10:30 a.m. PST today at the Idaho Center with the Class 1A Division I state boys' basketball championship on the line.
Lapwai, which cemented its spot in the tournament finale by defeating Grace on Friday night, has been the top team in the state all year long, and was undefeated until Prairie used a buzzer-beating steal-and-score to take the District II tournament title, 50-49, last week at the LCSC Activity Center.
So when the Grace Grizzlies eliminated the Ambrose Archers in a 55-49 thriller Thursday night, it made Lapwai's path to this revenge game that much easier.
For Prairie, which lost both regular-season meetings against the Wildcats prior to the district tournament, today is an opportunity to grab its third state trophy in four years, and fifth in school in history (1982, 2010, '14 and '15). It would also be a perfect ending to coach Kevin Chaffee's debut season.
The same can be said for first-year Lapwai coach Bob Sobotta Jr., who can bring home the school's ninth state title (Lapwai won in 1956, '84, '87, '88, '89, 2000, '02 and '06), and also add to his family's championship legacy. Bob played on the '84 team and his father, Bob Sr., on the '56 squad. Payton Sobotta, Bob's son, is a sophomore on this year's team.
No small feat: They left their mark on Lapwai hoops history
March 20, 2017
- By MATT BANEY OF THE TRIBUNE
Mar 16, 2017 Updated Mar 16, 2017
LAPWAI - At this point, it's a tall order for any Lapwai High basketball team to make a splash that resonates in the program's history. But the boys' and girls' teams may have done just that during the 2016-17 season.
Both clubs rolled through their schedule, dropping just one game apiece while being ranked No. 1 in their classification all season. And both teams hoisted the championship banner - the ninth crown for each program - at the state tournament in Nampa.
Still, the hoops standards at Lapwai are stratospherically high. This wasn't even the first time the Wildcats have brought home both basketball titles in the same season - they also pulled it off in 1989 and 2002.
Following a photo shoot with both teams this week at Lapwai's gleaming gym, seniors Ivory Miles-Williams, Bailey Peters, Iris Domebo and Koyama Young chatted with the Tribune about their favorite memories from the season, the pressure that comes with wearing the Wildcats' baby blues, their place in program history and a dream matchup between ... each other.
TRIBUNE: Both Lapwai teams won their ninth state titles. How much pressure is it to play out here with that kind of history?
IVORY MILES-WILLIAMS: It's kind of a little bit of pressure. Fans expect us to win every year, no matter who we play. If we're playing against a good team, they expect us to win. Sometimes our fans will get a little unruly against us - like our district championship game, they got a little pissed off because we lost. For us, we needed that loss because we were getting a little bit big-headed, and that's not a good thing going into a state tournament. That loss, it gave us motivation, it gave us that drive to kill every team, basically, when we were down there.
BAILEY PETERS: There's definitely some pressure, but we're always going to have our fans with us - they follow us everywhere, no matter where we go. It's good having those positive fans.
TRIBUNE: Bailey, you have a pretty good perspective on this. Did you play some at Kendrick?
TRIBUNE: So, playing at a different school and then coming here, what's the difference?
BP: It's way different. This is just a basketball community. There's higher standards, fans expect more out of you.
TRIBUNE: It's great to have that support, but that pressure, how do you deal with that? Is it hard to deal with the pressure?
IMW: Yes and no. A lot of us play AAU basketball, so we play against competition that's better than some in our league. It's not really that much pressure on us.
(Iris Domebo and Koyama Young join the conversation)
TRIBUNE: There's a lot of expectations out here, and is it hard to deal with that?
IRIS DOMEBO: I think they're really just proud of us no matter what, actually.
TRIBUNE: Do you feel pressure? More than other kids in the Whitepine League? Does it feel like more is expected of you than at other schools?
KOYAMA YOUNG: I kind of feel like it, because they know what we're capable of doing. We always have that target on our backs, so they expect us to do our best and win the state title.
TRIBUNE: For the girls, you won your third state title in a row, hardly lost any games in that time. Do any of the girls who used to play here come up and say, "Ah, we would have beat you guys."?
KY: I've never heard that.
TRIBUNE: There have been a lot of good teams that came before you. Where do you think you guys rank?
KY: We're at the top, for sure. To win three straight in a row, pretty obvious, I guess. Not trying to be all cocky ...
TRIBUNE: Guys, not to rain on your parade at all, but it could have easily been three in a row for you guys too. Of course, you're happy to have the one you got, but when you look back on it, are you going to be bummed at all you didn't get the other two?
IMW: Just happy we made it there. ... We could have ended up losing the first night or the second night, but it ended up being the third night. We brought home runner-up. We could have did better, but we lost by, what, five the first time and four the last time?
BP: It made it feel that much better, though, after losing those two years. But then I feel bad that we couldn't get it for our seniors the last two years. That was probably the hardest part for me.
TRIBUNE: Do you have any old-timers ever say to you, "Ah, you guys, we could have beat you back when we played"? Have you ever heard any of that?
IMW: The team that had the 81-0, they'd probably beat us for sure.
BP: Yeah, a lot of talent.
TRIBUNE: It seems like this whole thing at Lapwai kind of started with the team in the late '80s that won the 81 in a row. How often do you guys hear about that team?
IMW: You'll be traveling somewhere and say you're from Lapwai, and they'll say, "Oh, that's the team that had the 81-0." So that's how they know it by. We hear about it a lot.
BP: Ever since I came into this community, I've heard about it. Just going with Ivory and going to games, his grandpa would talk about it, tell stories about it.
TRIBUNE: In some ways, it's kind of unfair, but that's maybe the standard out here, and could any team ever duplicate that? You girls tried. I'd say you got kind of close. But it seems like that'll never be topped.
ID: We never know. It could happen, I honestly think so. If everybody wants it, then we can do it. I mean, they can do it now.
TRIBUNE: Any of the games in particular stand out, besides the title game?
IMW: Probably our Yakama or Ambrose games. Our Ambrose game was fun, because we got to get some revenge, even though it wasn't in the state championship game, but it was just fun for them to come up here and for us to beat them.
BP: I think it was really cool playing Yakama, too.
IMW: It was Bailey's first time playing against a Native team.
BP: I was the only white kid out there.
TRIBUNE: What was that like?
BP: It was awesome, dude. The fans were crazy. It was awesome.
TRIBUNE: And they came here?
IMW: It was the first time our gym, the whole thing was full, both sides, people were standing.
TRIBUNE: Was that like playing in one of the Indian tournaments?
IMW: Similar to that, but it was just playing in front of a big crowd - like the biggest crowd ever we've had.
ID: It was like Lapwai, but two Lapwais.
TRIBUNE: How are those Indian tournaments different than the high school games. Is it more laid-back or more intense?
ID: Laid-back and intense. It's not as organized as school basketball is. You kind of get to run a lot and do what you do ...
KY: It's more physical. Way more physical.
IMW: You get pick-up refs, and sometimes they don't call it, so you just play and not even worry about fouls.
TRIBUNE: Girls, is there a favorite memory that sticks out from your season?
ID: Oh, yeah, Timberlake.
TRIBUNE: The win or the loss?
TRIBUNE: Just the fact that they were playing at a pretty high level, is that what stood out about that?
ID: They played more intense. Teams that we play, we don't have much competition, but playing against them, it made us work. It was really fun to play against someone that ran the ball just like you did.
KY: It was kind of like what they said, it was like revenge, since we lost to them last year. It was pretty good, winning.
TRIBUNE: You've all played basketball here for the last time. Have you reflected on the fact you won't put the Lapwai uniform on again?
ID: It kind of makes me sad, just because I kind of felt like I was going to be in high school forever. It flew by really, really quick. I miss it already.
KY: Yeah, same thing that she said. It makes me really sad - I don't get to ever play in this gym again. Don't get to break records or win state titles anymore - it's just done.
TRIBUNE: Guys, have you thought about that?
IMW: I'm going to miss it. Probably miss the bus rides the most, because we have fun bus rides. Listen to music, jam out to music, pissing our bus driver off.
BP: Who is our assistant coach, too.
IMW: Josh (Leighton) is our driver, P.E. teacher, science teacher. He's everything.
BP: It kind of gave me goose bumps, actually, when you said that. I'm going to miss it - going to miss the great coaches, players, gonna miss a lot about it. Community.
TRIBUNE: Great guys, thanks a lot.
TRIBUNE PHOTOGRAPHER KYLE MILLS: One more question: Who would win the game between you two?
KY: Who's got more rings?
IMW: We actually played in eighth grade.
KY: That doesn't even count.
IMW: We played in eighth grade, because they basically were talking.
ID: It was eighth grade. We're seniors now.
BP: They were talking smack, and we had to beat them by like 40, give or take.
ID: We'll do it again. We should do it again!
TRIBUNE: Actually, where did everyone go?
KY: Yeah, we'd definitely win.
IMW: I guess they'd win. I guess.
Lapwai takes aim at playoffs
Lewiston Tribune
August 25, 2017
LAPWAI - Every year, Lapwai High's football team can bank on it.
"We do have a lot of team speed," said coach Josh Leighton.
That speed's a big reason the Wildcats feel like they're in the running for a third straight trip to the Idaho Class 1A Division I state playoffs, where Lapwai surely has a bone to pick. The Wildcats were bounced in the opening round last year, despite taking the area's top seed from a three-way Whitepine League co-championship.
The Wildcats' top two returners - at least in the accolades department - are wideout Kendall Leighton and defensive back Keith Kipp, both of whom have seen the program rise to new heights; they were on the roster when the Wildcats finished third in the state playoffs two seasons ago.
Leighton, who was first-team all-state in 2016 with around 900 yards receiving, this year won't just be limited to catching passes; Leighton could see some time at tailback, play defense (something he didn't have to do last year), and perhaps even throw the ball on some of the trick plays Lapwai's not afraid to run.
Kipp, second-team all-state as a coverage man, ran back a few punts last season for touchdowns, tallied a number of interceptions, and, not surprising for a player who always "attacks the ball at the highest point," in his coach's words, has made State three times as a high jumper.
Quarterback Payton Sobotta enters his first year starting under center, though he's surely been prepared for this; he was the scout team quarterback last year, facing one of the state's top defenses week in and week out.
Lapwai's defense was the key cog in the program breaking a long postseason hiatus in 2015, and helming that side of the ball this year will be a pair of linebackers, Tui Moliga and Pox Young. Both are juniors, and both, in Leighton's words, are fearless about "putting their nose in there."
They'll get their first chance to do just that tonight when they visit Council, before kicking off Whitepine League play the following week at Potlatch.
PREP ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NOMINEES- Kendall Leighton (Lapwai FB)
Prep Athlete of the Week Nominees
Edward Becker, Genesee football - Scored four touchdowns covering a total of 104 yards in Bulldogs' victory over Kendrick.
Peyton Broenneke and Brekken Mower, Moscow football - Quarterback and receiver connected on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally Bears to 21-14 win over Grangeville.
Maddie Haas, Lewiston girls' soccer - Notched a hat trick to lead Bengals to 6-1 victory in their season opener against Lakeland.
Jalen Kirk, Deary football - Rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns in Mustangs' 50-6 win over Potlatch.
Kendall Leighton, Lapwai football - Reeled in seven passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns in win over Glenns Ferry.
To vote for the Prep Athlete of the Week, go to www.lmtribune.com/sports/. The poll will remain open until Wednesday afternoon.
P1FCU Prep Athlete of the Week: Heewekse Wisdom
View video:
http://klewtv.com/sports/prep-athlete/p1fcu-prep-athlete-of-the-week-heewekse-wisdom
KLEW-TV
by Dyuce Woodson, September 28, 2017
LAPWAI, ID — This week’s P1FCU Prep Athlete of the Week comes from Lapwai.
She leads from on the court and in the classroom and has a tough name to spell.
"It's Heewekse Wisdom. H-E-E-W-E-K-S-E," Wisdom said. But, "I go by a nickname, wax."
Wax Wisdom is a senior at Lapwai High School.
She plays three sports for the Wildcats, volleyball, basketball and softball.
Volleyball is her first sport.
Coming into her senior year, she's emerged as leader, shining the brightest in the darkest times.
"I think it's better keeping up the team and keeping up the motivation to get to where we need to be, even when we're losing."
Not only is she a leader on the court, but one in the classroom as well.
On top of playing three sports, she has a 4.0 GPA.
"It's hard,” Wisdom said. “You have to be dedicated to your work and play sports. So, all-around it's hard. My balance is to do my work and get it done on time."
And getting that 4.0 has its added benefits.
"Last year, my auntie made a deal with me,” Wisdom said. “She said if I get straight as, last year and this year, she'll get me an Apple computer. Last year she was like, 'oh crap, she got straight as!'"
She's the oldest sibling.
All she's doing is setting the example for her younger siblings, again, leading the way.
"I'm just showing them anything is possible when they have hard work to school."
Her favorite subject is math and hopes to go to Washington State after high school.
We hope you enjoyed this week's P1FCU Prep Athlete of the Week.
If you would like to nominate an athlete, email me at dwoodson@klewtv.com.
Prep Athlete of the Week: Tui Moliga
Tui Moliga spent last season mastering the nuances of playing 8-man football, after having been an 11-man player. To help the Lapwai High standout transition, the Wildcat coaches used him only on defense last year.
Moliga instantly adapted on that end, becoming one of the team's stars on defense from his linebacker spot.
And this year, he's been asked to play on the offensive end as well. And has excelled at that, too.
Moliga rushed 39 times for 238 yards and five touchdowns against Clearwater Valley recently, which earned Moliga the Lewiston Tribune's Prep Athlete of the Week award, as voted upon by online readers.
"He had a really good game last week," Lapwai coach Josh Leighton said."He has durability, he works hard in the weight room and at practice and it carried over onto the field for him."
Leighton didn't even realize until after the game that Moliga had carried the ball 39 times.
"Just the way their defense is designed we ran a lot of inside stuff (against CV)," Leighton said. "So our game plan was to run the ball inside against them. And I didn't realize he had 39 carries until after the game."
Moliga is the team's leading tackler from his linebacker spot, and last week filled in at quarterback as an injury replacement.
"He just accepted the role," Leighton said. "Didn't ask why or how, just did his job and it was pretty cool."
Lapwai High football player Tui Moliga, who rushed for 238 yards in a win over Clearwater Valley, has been voted the latest Prep Athlete of the Week.
Here are the results of the voting: Moliga, 874; Makinzie Packwood and Taylen Wohl, Clarkston girls' soccer, 683; Booker Bush, Grangeville football, 280; Jayce Weinman, Deary football, 175; Isaac Stoner, Troy football, 100.
After Cats' title season, Sobotta, Miles-Williams claim top awards at WAA banquet; Troy volleyball named top team; Oakesdale's Lindgren wins female honors
Photo- Payton football
October 31, 2017
Prairie defensive linemen Jayce Huling sacks Lapwai quarterback Payton Sobotta during the first quarter of a Whitepine league game on Friday night in Lapwai
Tribune Pete Caster
Prairie overcame the initial loss of its starting quarterback, Spencer Schumacher, to a broken knuckle in his throwing hand. Lapwai surmounted the graduation of a large senior class that played a major role in putting the Wildcats back on the map.
So both prep football teams came a long way to arrive at this showdown for the Whitepine League's No. 2 seed in the state playoffs.
And both teams feature a bevy of talent at every position entering tonight's 7 p.m. kickoff in Lapwai.
There's the wideouts (Kendall Leighton for Lapwai, Hunter Chaffee for Prairie), running backs (Tui Moliga and Pox Young for the Wildcats, Caleb McWilliams and Jacob Stubbers for Prairie) and quarterbacks (Payton Sobotta for Lapwai, Damian Forsmann for Prairie).
The Pirates may even get back their original signal-caller; a doctor recently cleared Schumacher to play without a cast on his hand.
"We'll see what we're going to do with him," Prairie coach Ryan Hasselstrom said of Schumacher.
Regardless of who takes the snaps, both coaches agree upon what they think may prove the difference in this game.
"I think the ability to run the ball is going to be the difference in this week's game," Lapwai coach Josh Leighton said.
Some quick history on this matchup. Last year, Lapwai upset Prairie, forcing a three-way tie atop the conference and giving the Wildcats the league's top seed in the 1A Division I state playoffs.
The only way either one of these teams will again earn a share of the conference title in 2017 is if Clearwater Valley solves a riddle nobody else has come close to unraveling.
That would be how to give Genesee its first taste of defeat, something the Rams will attempt when they play host to the Bulldogs tonight at 7.
But it's worth noting: even if Genesee loses, it still has the WPL's top seed in the playoffs clinched.
PREP ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NOMINEES- Isaiah Strong (Pullman FB)
PREP ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NOMINEES
Owen Anderson and Spencer Schumacher, Prairie football - Combined for 9.5 tackles, 5.5 of them for a loss, to lead Pirates' defense in 54-6 playoff win over Wilder.
Carmen Gfeller, Colfax volleyball - Smashed 25 kills to lead Bulldogs to victory over Northwest Christian in Washington Class 2B District 7 title match
Colten Heath, Deary football - Had a hand in five of the Mustangs' six touchdowns in 46-16 playoff win over Salmon River.
Isaiah Strong, Pullman football - Caught what turned out to be the winning touchdown in overtime and also made two interceptions in 31-30 crossover win over Prosser.
Taylen Wohl, Clarkston girls' soccer - Scored deciding goal in shootout to lift Bantams over Ephrata and into the Washington 2A playoffs.
To vote for the Prep Athlete of the Week, go to www.lmtribune.com/sports/. The poll will remain open until Wednesday afternoon.
Heart & Hustle Tourney- Family Champs & MVP
IDAHO HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' MEDIA POLL
(First-place votes in parentheses; records are through Tuesday)
Others receiving votes: Genesee 3, Liberty Charter 1, Hagerman 1, Rimrock 1
IDAHO HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' MEDIA POLL
(First-place votes in parentheses; records are through Tuesday)
Others receiving votes: Horseshoe Bend, Oakley 5, Raft River 2, Challis 1.
Voters - Mark Nelke, Coeur d'Alene Press; Matt Harris, IdahoSports.com; Paul Kingsbury, IdahoSports.com; Fred Davis, Blackfoot Morning News; Michael Lycklama, Idaho Statesman; Victor Flores, Times-News; Brandon Walton, Idaho Press-Tribune; Luke O'Roark, Post Register; Michael Guise, Idaho State Journal.
Lapwai High School
School Info
Conference: Whitepine League 1AD1
Classification: 1A D1Lapwai High School Team Bio
Head Coach: Eric Spencer
Years as Head Coach: 4th Season
Previous Experience: 25 Years
Record Last Year: 23-1, State Champion
State Titles: '76, '89, '98, '02, '09, '11, '15, '16, '17
Assistant Coaches:
Tammy Church
Buck Walker
Returning Players:
Amil Mitchell, 12, G
Raquel Domebo, 11, G
Wax Wisdom, 12, F
Returning Players with Honors:
Amil Mitchell, All-League and All-State
Key Players lost from last year:
Iris Domebo
Koyama Young
Shiniah Holt
Ione Chimburus
JoAndra Wilson
Emoni Tannehill
Marque Wilson
Evelyn Bohnee
"We lost eight seniors, which was the majority of our three-peat championship run," -Coach Spencer.
Incoming impact players:
"It is very hard for me to name anyone specific, as we have so many new players that I believe will give us the opportunity to play deeper talent-wise and adjust to different team’s strengths this year. We are a very young team that will continue to grow and be stronger as the year progresses," -Coach Spencer
1AD1 Whitepine League
Written by: Sven Alskog
PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Prairie
2. Lapwai
3. Genesee
4. Troy
5. Kamiah
6. Potlatch
7. Clearwater Valley
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Angela Wemhoff, Senior, Prairie
Leah Higgins, Senior, Prairie
Josie Peery, Senior, Prairie
Amil Mitchell, Senior, Lapwai
Raquel Domebo, Junior, Lapwai
Courtney Burt, Senior, Genesee
Anna Druffel, Senior, Genesee
Emerson Parkins, Sophomore, Genesee
Jordyne Fredrickson, Junior, Troy
Lacey Kludt, Senior, Kamiah
Callie Ackerman, Senior, Potlatch
For the last ten years the 1AD1 classification of girls basketball in Idaho has been entirely dominated by the Whitepine League.
Since 2009 when the 1AD1 classification was formed for girls basketball, the league has had both representatives in each state championship game, including last season when Lapwai defeated Prairie 79-40.
The Wildcats will have to find a way to replace the immense productivity lost with the graduation of eight key players from a year ago, including leading scorer Koyama Young and defensive stalwart Iris Domebo.
Meanwhile Lapwai’s opponent in the title tilt, Prairie, has a quality core returning which looks primed to head right back into February as a favorite at state.
First Team All-State senior guard Angela Wemhoff highlights the returners, and she is joined by senior posts Leah Higgins, Sydney Bruner and Josie Peery, along with sophomore perimeter option India Peery to give defenses tough assignments on a nightly basis.
“We hope to play up-tempo, quick pace basketball,” said eighth year Prairie head coach Lori Mader. “[I am excited] about coaching kids that work hard and are willing to listen.”
While Lapwai did lose a lot from last season, it would not be wise to bet against a team that has played in every state championship game since 2013, not to mention the Wildcats are also three-time defending champs.
“I am mostly excited about how deep we are this year and the young talent we have. Once these young players discover their talents and learn the game of basketball at the varsity level they are going to be tough. I know we lost a lot great players and people are curious of how we will do. I see us being in the thick of things come playoff time and I also see us contending again at state in years to come with this young group,” said Lapwai head coach Eric Spencer.
A trio of players will lead the charge this season, with All-State guard Amil Mitchell joined by Raquel Domebo and Wax Wisdom as the impact returners from a year ago.
Part of the fun at any level of basketball is dealing with change, and that is something the Wildcats will have plenty of opportunities to do this season.
“We are so young and also very different in height and length than the three previous years. We are working on finding our identity and what we do well. That is the fun part and challenging part of being a high school coach. Every year I may have to change the way we play defensively and offensively by the talent pool I have to work with,” added Spencer.
Genesee and its fifth year head coach Brandon McIntosh are a team that could see a major spike in wins this season after what was an injury plagued 2016/2017 year.
McIntosh says he is excited to have players such as Anna Druffel, Courtney Burt, Regan Zenner and Emerson Parkins back at full strength.
One of the players for the Lady Bulldogs that could see a big increase in production is senior guard Virginia Monk.
“She will find herself on the floor more as she has improved leaps and bounds heading into this season,” added McIntosh.
For Genesee, quick players like Parkins, Zenner and Burt will help in a big way, especially on the defensive end.
On the other side of things when the Lady Bulldogs have the ball on offense, they will hope to improve upon their 33 points per game of a year ago, something they seem primed to be able to do.
With Druffel back from a broken arm, she is a player that could very likely lead the team in scoring, while role players like Kelsey Jensen, Kaylee Flodin and Brooklyn Mayer will be important pieces to the puzzle as well.
Multiple coaches from around the Whitepine mentioned Genesee as a team that could surprise some people.
“They return two All-Conference girls who missed last year due to injury and could be right in the middle of the conference chase,” said Kamiah head coach Nels Kludt.
With team chemistry at an all-time high, things are looking good for the ladies in blue this year.
“This has been the closest knit team in my five years,” added McIntosh.
Troy lost major production from last season, including dominant post presence Abbey Blum and primary ball-handler Emma Schetzle.
Jordyne Fredrickson and Katy Doumit are a couple of the returners from the state tournament team of a year ago.
“The returners are learning new roles and the team must continue to develop through adversity. It will be exciting to see how they come together as a team throughout this season,” said Troy head coach Aaron Dail.
While this may be a transition year for the Trojans, don’t expect the style of the team to change much.
“We are an aggressive pressure team man-to-man defensively. We hope to tire teams out with pressure. Offensively we hope to be patient and work for good shots. We must learn how to compete against higher competition to get where we want to be,” added Dail.
Kamiah is a tough defensive team that may struggle to score to a certain extent, but you can bet the Kubs will give it 100 percent effort each night.
“We have the majority of our players back from last year’s team, so our chemistry and experience should be strengths. We have two strong leaders back in Lacey Kludt and Chynna Wilcox, and have added some size in Makel Whitney, and athleticism in Irene Popp and Destiny Knight,” said Kamiah head coach Nels Kludt.
The Kubs will be another team that is aggressive on the defensive end.
“We run a motion offense and an aggressive man-to-man defense. Our kids are aggressive and work extremely hard. We need to be a better rebounding team on both ends of the floor, and improve our shooting to be more successful,” added Kludt.
Potlatch returns senior guard Callie Ackerman from a 12-win team of a year ago, but may have more of a tough time this season.
Clearwater Valley is in a similar boat, but could win some games and surprise people if they keep the game pace at their own speed.
Xavier Guillory- Player of the Game (12/5/2017)
Photos: A Big Win, A Big Loss (12/12/2017)
December 13, 2017
State-wide Media Polls (December 19-20, 2017)
Idaho Boys (12/19/17)
Class 1A Division I
Team (1st-place votes) W-L Pts Pvs
1. Lapwai (10) 7-1 50 1
2. Valley 6-1 34 2
3. Prairie 5-1 30 3
4. Horseshoe Bend 4-0 14 5
t-5. Challis 5-2 9 4
t-5. Potlatch 5-1 9 —
Others receiving votes: Liberty Charter 2, Grace 1, Raft River 1.
Idaho Girls (12/20/17)
Class 1A Division I
Team (1st-place votes) W-L Pts Pvs
1. Prairie (10) 11-0 50 1
2. Oakley 11-0 37 2
3. Lapwai 9-2 31 3
4. Shoshone 10-1 22 4
5. Genesee 8-4 4 -
Others receiving votes: Notus 3, Rimrock 2, Liberty Charter 1
State-wide Media Poll (January 16-17, 2018)
Girl's Basketball
Class 1A Division I
Team (1st-place votes) W-L Pts Pvs
1. Prairie (6) 15-1 42 1
2. Oakley (3) 15-0 37 2
3. Lapwai 13-3 28 3
4. Shoshone 13-2 18 4
5. Notus 12-2 7 5
Others receiving votes: Genesee 2, Liberty Charter 1
Boy's Basketball
Team (1st-place votes) W-L Pts Pvs
1. Lapwai (10) 12-2 50 1
t-2. Prairie 8-2 31 2
t-2. Valley 9-3 31 3
4. Horseshoe Bend 11-2 20 4
t-5. Potlatch 7-3 8 5
t-5. Grace 10-5 8 —
Others receiving votes: Liberty Charter 2.
State-wide Media Poll (Febuary 7 and Jan 31, 2018)
February 6, 2018
Class 1A Division I
Team (1st-place votes) W-L Pts Pvs
1. Lapwai (9) 17-3 45 1
2. Prairie 15-3 31 3
3. Valley 15-4 29 2
4. Grace 14-6 17 3
5. Horseshoe Bend 16-3 8 5
Others receiving votes: Ambrose 5.
January 31, 2018
Class 1A Division I
Team (1st-place votes) W-L Pts Pvs
1. Prairie (4) 19-1 36 1
2. Oakley (4) 20-0 35 2
3. Lapwai 16-4 25 3
4. Shoshone 17-3 14 4
5. Genesee 15-6 4 -
Others receiving votes: Notus 3, Liberty Charter 3
Honor Roll- Lapwai (Fall Semester 2017)
Lewiston Tribune
February 11, 2018
LAPWAI - Officials at Lapwai Middle-Senior High School have released their honor roll for fall semester 2017.
Students named to the list include:
JUNIORS: 3.5-3.9 gpa - Kendall Leighton, Payton Sobotta,
EIGHTH GRADE: 4.0 gpa - Grace Sobotta; 3.5-3.9 gpa - Titus Yearout.
Wildcats don't plan on pumping the breaks in '16
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Senior Ivory Miles-Williams looks to run from the pocket during a recent Lapwai practice.
Cameron Shawl
LAPWAI - After averaging nearly 60 points per game last year, and reaching the state semifinals, the only question for the Lapwai football team is: Can they keep up the pace?
They return plenty of speed. Back are receiving threat Ivory Miles-Williams, jack-of-all-trades Cameron Shawl and rising junior Keith Kipp.
In the games Lapwai won last season, Kipp, a safety, averaged three interceptions per game.
"So he's got really good instincts," Lapwai coach William Big Man said, "for watching the ball."
While Shawl played running back and wideout, he could also throw the ball, something the Wildcats did often enough for him to rack up seven passing scores to complement his 19 receiving touchdowns.
With the graduation of 3,000-yard passer Courage Lone Bear, Shawl will vie for the team's quarterback spot, along with Miles-Williams. Another contender to take snaps is Payton Sobotta, a sophomore.
"We'll definitely use more than one QB throughout the year," Big Man said.
While the team's signal-caller is up in the air, who delivers him the snaps isn't. Jamison Hopkins was a first-team center last year. And "we do a lot of things out of the shotgun," Big Man said, "so having the center be able to get the ball to the quarterback is essential."
Another key returner on the line for Lapwai is Jose Ortiz, who had seven sacks last season.
In their final game of the year, the Wildcats gave up 104 points, but "they put their heart and soul in," Big Man said of his team's run to the Idaho Class 1A Division I semifinals.
The team will open its season with a nonleague tilt against Council on Friday, and their goals haven't changed one bit from last season.
"Our goals are simple," Big Man said. "Just to have fun and win.
"Win, lose or draw, I just want the guys to have fun."
Wildcats at a glance
COACH — William Big Man (fourth year)
LAST YEAR’S RECORD — 7-3 overall, 4-2 Whitepine League.
KEY RETURNERS — Ivory Miles-Williams, WR/DE, sr.; Cameron Shawl, RB/WR/LB, sr.; Keith Kipp, S, jr.; Jose Ortiz, DT/OT, sr.; Jamison Hopkins, C, sr.
SCHEDULE
Game times 7 p.m. unless noted
Date Opponent
Aug. 26 Council
Sept. 2 Potlatch
Sept. 9 at Troy
Sept. 23 at Salmon River, 6 p.m. PDT
Sept. 30 Clearwater Valley
Oct. 7 Kamiah
Oct. 14 Genesee
Oct. 22 at Wallace, 2 p.m.
Oct. 28 at Prairie
Ken Griffey Jersey Retirement Ceremony, August 6, 2016
THEME SONG PLAYING- HIP HOP HOORAY!!
Seattle Mariner's 1st Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee (2016)
Miles-Williams named tops
Lewiston Tribune
November 22, 2016
Ivory Miles-Williams of Lapwai was named Player of the Year and the op offensive player Monday as the Whitepine League announced its all-star football selections.
The top defensive award was split between David Blum of Troy and Cole Allen of Genesee.
Curtis Blum was tabbed Coach of the Year.
Player of the Year - Ivory Miles-Williams, Lapwai.
Offensive Player of the Year - Miles-Williams.
Defensive Players of the Year - David Blum, Troy; Cole Allen, Genesee.
Coach of the Year - Curtis Blum, Troy.
First team - QB: Miles-Williams. RB: Lucas Wemhoff, Pra; Garrett Borth, Gen; Jonah Lay, Troy; Trey Pfefferkorn, CV. WR: Kendall Leighton, Lap; Edward Becker, Gen. OL: Jamison Hopkins, Lap; Allen; Brandzen Atkinson, Troy. DB: Keith Kipp Jr., Lap; Wemhoff; Carmeron Barnes, Troy. LB: Blum; Brandon Anderson, Pra; Keanon Wheeler, Lap. DL: Miles-Williams; Spencer Schumacher, Pra; Allen; Mitchell Sandquist, Troy.
Second team - QB: Schumacher. RB: Blum; Anderson; Wheeler. WR: Barnes; Hunter Chaffee, Pra. OL: Dillon Sperber, Gen Alex Poland, Wallace; Peyton Whipple, Kamiah. DB: Jaden Dimitroff, Wal; Chase Blazzard, Troy; Borth. LB: Kyle Moser, Gen; Caleb McWilliams, Pra; Becker. DL: Atkinson; Hayden Woods, Gen; Dancing Cloud Williams, Lap; Poland.
Honorable mention - QB: Blazzard. RB: Dimitroff; Zach Krieger, CV; Coy Stout, Gen. WR: Kipp Jr.; Tyrel Henry, Kam. OL: Cody Gludt, Troy; Jace Perrin, Pra; Woods. DB: Henry; Matt Farkas, Wal; Lay. LB: Kaleb Oatman, Kam; Hunter Holloway, Troy; Ben Kopf, Gen. DL: Jose Ortiz, Lap; Stout; Nicholas Powell, Troy; Tristen Dudley, Pot.
Lapwai Conundrum
Lewiston Tribune
February 15, 2017
The two-time defending state champion Wildcats are talented, balanced and experienced. For the teams that face them this week in Nampa, there may not be any answers against Lapwai
NAMPA - Even though the Lapwai girls' basketball team has won two consecutive state titles; even though the Wildcats have beaten opponents this year by an average of 45 points per game; even though the Wildcats' lone loss came two divisions up; even though every sign points to a threepeat, Lapwai coach Eric Spencer says hold on.
"We don't want to take anyone lightly," he said.
"I don't care if it's the No. 1 team in the state or someone rebuilding."
What about a team his squad's beaten by an average of 39 points this year?
Lapwai opens the Idaho Class 1A Division I state tournament today against a familiar opponent: Whitepine League foe Troy. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. PST at Nampa's Columbia High.
After Lapwai demolished second-ranked Prairie last week 70-37 in its most recent outing, that made it easy to begin asking a question: Can anyone in the Gem State stop the top-ranked Wildcats?
Some additional questions opposing coaches will muse over the next few days include the following:
- What do you do against a player like Koyama Young? The Lapwai guard can score just as adroitly from beyond the arc as off the dribble - and even has another trump card: she perhaps finishes best with her off-hand (her left).
- If you pack the lane to prevent point guard Shiniah Holt from driving and dishing, perhaps you'll slow down Young (17 ppg), Amil Mitchell (14 ppg) and Iris Domebo (14 ppg). But is it worth risking the outside barrage from Emoni Tannehill - who's been hitting 75 percent of her goals from beyond the arc the past five games?
- Do you double-team Domebo or Young? The Wildcats share the ball so well, they'll almost surely end up with a wide-open layin.
- Do you try to beat Lapwai's press with a baseball pass, knowing that Domebo is waiting like a free safety in the back of it - and that "she anticipates," Spencer said, "as well as any player in the state, at any level."
The Wildcats' anticipation of meeting Prairie in the state title game has a solid basis. The squads have met there the past three years, and last year, out of necessity, Lapwai unveiled a new wrinkle: The Wildcats played a zone, surprising even their own players.
"We pull it out when necessary," Spencer said of a defense which has killed two birds with one stone: mitigating foul trouble and staying healthy.
Spencer played forward in college, so he's got a soft spot for posts Ione Chimburas and JoAndra Wilson. Though perhaps there's no more underrated member of his team, Spencer believes, than Mitchell.
"She's kind of my hidden gem," Spencer said of perhaps Lapwai's most versatile player. "I'll play her at point, center, shooting guard ... (Mitchell's) a one-man wrecking crew."
Asked about any trouble keeping his players focused, when the competition has been so one-sided, Spencer had this to say: "We expect to win our third (consecutive state title) so we can keep this going. So we can start trying for a fourth."
Continued Spencer: "Some people think after this year, we'll have to start all over again. But we don't have to start all over again; we just have to keep playing hard to keep that streak going."
Lapwai makes it a threepeat
Lewiston Tribune
February 18, 2017
NAMPA -- The Lapwai girls' basketball team bagged its third straight state title, beating rival Prairie of Cottonwood 79-40 in the Idaho Class 1A Division I championship game at the Idaho Center on Saturday.
The Wildcats, who haven't lost to a 1A club since falling to Prairie in the 2014 title game, beat the Pirates in this contest for the third consecutive year.
Koyama Young led Lapwai with 24 points.
For more on this game, see Sunday's Tribune.
Wildcats ease their way past Oakley, earn shot at third straight title
Lewiston Tribune
February 18, 2017
NAMPA - Oakley was hanging within a basket of Lapwai midway through the second quarter, when the Wildcats - having solved the Hornets' press-breaker - solved their own conundrum: What to do with the ball on offense?
A 10-0 Wildcat run over four possessions answered that emphatically: get to the rim. Lapwai used that strategy to craft the result most everyone expected: a victory for the top-ranked team in Idaho's Class 1A Division I by the score of 50-34.
And that verdict, during the state semifinals at Columbia High, positioned Lapwai to attempt a rarefied feat - one only three other prep girls' basketball teams in the state, at any level, in the past 20 years have accomplished: a threepeat.
To set up this possible heist - one the Wildcats (22-1) will attempt to cash in on today when they face Prairie at 10:30 a.m. PST at the Idaho Center - Lapwai did the most un-Lapwai of things: It slowed down the pace.
Here's a quick recap of the game-altering two minutes from the semifinals: First, Lapwai forward Ione Chimburas scored on a low post seal; then, teammate Raequel Domebo - on a charity trip she earned with a cut to the rim - followed with two free throws; after that, Koyama Young got to the rack to score three the old-fashioned way following a floor-stretching trey by Shiniah Holt.
In what had been an offensive stalemate, that made it 31-18 Wildcats at the half - not a bad margin, considering that, several minutes earlier, it'd been a three-point game.
Young, with 26 points, accounted for over half of Lapwai's offense, a figure made all the more impressive by this: She was noticeably limping on a hurt ankle. Fellow Wildcat Amil Mitchell also didn't let a bum ankle prevent her from making key contributions throughout this contest - one which seemed like Lapwai's first even match from a team of its own phylum.
But despite scoring just a bucket in the first quarter off a takeaway - an unheard of figure in a Lapwai game - the Wildcats still found a way to finish with 29 points off takeaways: condensing their full-court trap in an attempt to take away the middle of the court.
That switch led to turnovers on Oakley's (20-3) first three possessions of the second quarter - a stretch where Hornets coach Matt Payton said he felt the momentum shift.
Said Payton: "Those untimely turnovers there in the second quarter, those kind of got them on a little run and (the Wildcats are) a team that if you give an inch, they take a mile "
Lapwai coach Eric Spencer explained the switch this way: "(Since) they'd come up with a kind of different way to get through our press we decided to make an adjustment with our back line, to make sure we were taking away the middle."
Added Spencer: "I said, 'They can pass backwards as much as they want, we'll 10-second count (Oakley).' And we did that a couple times and they just became very hesitant."
Shiniah Holt 1 0-0 3, Heewekse Wisdom 0 0-0 0, Raequel Domebo 0 3-4 3, Iris Domebo 3 0-0 6, Ione Chimburas 2 2-4 6, Amil Mitchell 3 0-0 6, Koyama Young 10 5-6 26, JoAndra Wilson 0 0-0 0, Marque Wilson 0 0-0 0, Evelyn Bohnee 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-14 50.
Talia Elquist 2 0-2 5, Jaclyn Wybenga 0 0-0 0, Brittany Hardy 4 3-4 11, Brynn Westover 0 0-1 0, Blakely Payton 1 0-2 2, Dixie Whittle 1 0-1 2, Makinlee Cranney 2 0-0 4, Rachael Mitton 5 0-0 10. Totals 15 3-10 34.
Three-point goals - Holt, Young, Elquist. Total fouls - Lapwai 12, Oakley 14. Fouled out - none.
Lewiston Tribune
February 17, 2017
Lapwai doesn't roar out of the gates but eventually serves up a slow-cooked blowout, beating Troy 66-25 in opening round at State
NAMPA - Lapwai forced 42 turnovers - 10 in the first four minutes, 27 by halftime.
And those takeaways helped the Wildcat girls' basketball team, despite a slow start, cruise past Troy 66-25 to put the two-time defending state champs right where they expected to be: two wins from a threepeat.
Koyama Young paced Lapwai (21-1) with 16 points, Ione Chimburas added 15 and the Wildcats, with their opening-round state tournament win, moved into a semifinal matchup with Oakley at 5:15 p.m. PST today, that game also at Columbia High.
Troy, now in the Idaho Class 1A Division I consolation bracket, will face Idaho City in an elimination game at 12:15 p.m. PST today, hoping to avoid an Achilles' heel that hurt the Trojans (20-6) on Thursday: missing free throws.
Lapwai, with Troy misfiring at the line, finished the opening half on an 8-1 run - in a matter of minutes nearly doubling the 10-point lead it had taken the Wildcats more than a quarter to build.
And after manufacturing a 27-11 intermission advantage, Lapwai opened the third on a 15-3 run that Young capped with a 3-pointer to set up the dagger a minute later: a JoAndra Wilson putback that, with 21 seconds remaining in the third, pushed Lapwai's lead to 30.
Lapwai coach Eric Spencer wasn't sure what it was - maybe the heat of the gym, he suggested, or the stage.
But the Wildcats, midway through the first, led only 7-1 against a club they had beaten by an average of 39 points in two meetings this year.
"I think we were pushing it a little too fast, a little too hard," said Spencer, whose team actually took its first double-digit lead doing just that.
And with the difference, with seven minutes remaining in the second, still hanging around 10, Chimburas showed what sets her apart from most centers: her speed, which led to back-to-back layins.
"We get her out running the floor and she can out-run most centers down the floor," Spencer said of Chimburas, a player who'd provide "a bonus" if she scored any points at all, Spencer said before the game.
In that case, call this a bonus: five of Lapwai's first nine points came from Chimburas, who accounted for a third of her team's first-half offense.
Troy was led by Emma Schetzle's 10 points, though the Trojans failed to break double digits in any quarter and finished the game shooting 26 percent.
"Yes, we turned the ball over, but we didn't give them a lot of fastbreak layins," Troy coach Aaron Dail said, taking credit, he believes, for Lapwai's slew of missed point-blank shots because of his team's refusal to give up on plays. "If we make some free throws and bunnies, it's a single-digit game at halftime."
Lapwai's Iris Domebo snatched 10 steals in the game and dropped six assists, "her typical unselfishness," Spencer said.
Katy Doumit 0 0-0 0, Sarah Fry 0 0-0 0, Emma Schetzle 4 2-4 10, Kiana Hoskins-Oakley 0 0-2 0, Abbey Blum 2 0-1 4, Kassidi Nelson 0 0-0 0, Taya Johnson 0 1-2 1, Jimmie Gilder 0 0-0 0, Blazie Gilder 1 0-0 3, Sammie Girard 2 0-0 4, Jordyne Fredrickson 1 1-2 3. Totals 10 4-11 25.
Shiniah Holt 1 5-6 7, Heewekse Wisdom 0 0-0 0, Raquel Domebo 0 1-1 1, Ione Chimburas 7 0-0 15, Amil Mitchell 2 0-0 5, Koyama Young 7 1-2 16, JoAndra Wilson 5 0-0 10, Emoni Tannehill 1 0-0 2, Marque Wilson 1 0-2 2, Evelyn Bohnee 1 2-2 4. Totals 27 9-13 66.
Three-point goals - B. Gilder, Chimburas, Young, Mitchell. Total fouls - Lapwai 15, Troy 11. Fouled out - none.
Lewiston Tribune
October 14, 2016
Peyton Pelluer is a 4th-generation Cougar football player who has also strengthened his ties to his Nez Perce heritage while at WSU
By DALE GRUMMERT of the Tribune
PULLMAN - No one who has ever played football for Washington State can boast of deeper Cougar roots than linebacker Peyton Pelluer, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather all played for the school. Growing up in Washington Husky country, Pelluer felt those roots all the more keenly.
But it's funny. By coming east to Washington State, he has richened his appreciation for a different set of family roots, even deeper ones. Centuries deep.
Pelluer had always known that he was connected on his maternal side to the Nez Perce Indian Tribe - that his grandmother, Wanda Dunn, grew up in Kamiah and still embraces her own connection to these roots. Intermittently, it's always been a part of Pelluer's life.
But playing football at WSU and living in Pullman, within 35 miles of his grandmother's home in Lewiston and within 50 miles of Nez Perce tribal headquarters in Lapwai, has given Pelluer more chances to explore that part of his heritage, at least when his busy schedule allows.
Hence, for example, a unique doubleheader last October: Pelluer made 10 tackles in a win at Pullman over Oregon State, then traveled with his family to attend a Nez Perce pow-wow at the Clearwater River Casino near Lapwai. It was one of many such events he has attended.
"Very enriching for me," he said this week. "I try to embrace that side as much as I can." The pow-wows are "fascinating, so beautiful, so rich in tradition."
Sometimes he'll spend the night at his grandmother's condo, relishing her Indian fry bread. Even if he's too exhausted from football to note the history in what his grandmother calls her "Indian room," the history is there: the woven baskets and bags, the moccasins, the images of Dunn's own grandmother, Hattie Enos, who taught her the Nez Perce language when she was young.
Dunn, 79, is half Nez Perce, which makes Peyton Pelluer one-eighth. At the moment, a one-quarter blood quantum is required for tribal membership, but the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee intermittently mulls a proposal to lower the standard to one-eighth.
That would definitely interest Pelluer, "but at the end of the day, it's still my heritage," he said this week. "I still like to embrace it, and I'm still part of the Nez Perce Tribe in spirit, I like to think. But especially my mom and my grandmother are definitely a part of that. I'll take that."
Wanda Dunn tells as many tribal members as she can about Peyton Pelluer's roots. One of them, Kub Ellenwood, has responded enthusiastically, giving Pelluer, among other things, a small Nez Perce medicine pouch in Cougar colors.
But the family spent so much time away from the region - even Dunn lived in the Seattle area for 44 years, working as an optician, before moving to Lewiston a decade ago - that tribal members, even the many Cougar fans among them, aren't necessarily aware of Pelluer's heritage.
"I did not know he was Nez Perce - I've been watching him play the last two years and he is a great athlete," said Dan Kane, a member of the tribal executive committee.
Pelluer shares with his grandmother a gentle, thoughtful demeanor, expressed in his case with a deep-voiced stoicism. He majors in history and secondary education, and when his football career is done he'll possibly teach and coach. He impresses his father, Scott, with his graciousness after losses, among other things, and he impresses coaches with his studiousness and curiosity.
"He's such a unique kid to coach, because he's just a wide-ranging human being," WSU linebackers coach Ken Wilson said. "It kind of keeps him grounded on the football field, because he has such interests outside."
Increasingly, his outside interests inform his football.
A 6-foot, 235-pound junior middle linebacker, he led WSU in tackles last year and is again at the top of the list as the Cougars (3-2, 2-0) head into a Pac-12 home game Saturday (7:30 p.m., ESPN) against UCLA. Like many football players, he tries to assume an alter ego on the field, and in his case he can place these efforts in the context of both his rich football background and his native heritage.
"I think of the Nez Perce and Chief Joseph as great warriors, and it's something I'd loved to have seen," Pelluer said. "I'm thankful to have that in my blood, even if it's just that little bit. Just that warrior blood, that warrior mind set."
With that in mind, after 20 years of buzz cuts, he grew his hair out this year. And wouldn't you know? It's copiously wavy - more Celtic warrior than Indian. But it gets the point across.
"I keep trying to tell him to cut off 3 or 4 inches, so they can actually see the name on his jersey," Scott Pelluer said.
Yet many Cougar fans are well aware of the Pelluer side of his roots, if only because of the rarity of a fourth-generation football player at any one school.
"That's incredible," WSU coach Mike Leach said. "Three is impressive enough. Four, you come close to exceeding the founding of the school."
Carl Gustafson, maternal grandfather of Scott Pelluer, started playing fullback for the Cougars in 1925, when the school was 35 years old. John (Arnie) Pelluer, father of Scott, was a Cougar end in the mid-1950s who drowned at 36 after going into diabetic shock while swimming. He was a track coach at Eastern Washington at the time, and the school still stages an annual track meet in his name, the Pelluer Invitational.
And Scott Pelluer was a standout Cougar linebacker from 1977 to '80, during which time he fell in love with a blond WSU cheerleader, Kim Dunn, daughter of Wanda. Their Greek Row romance has led to a marriage of more than three decades, and meanwhile Scott Pelluer played five years for the New Orleans Saints. One of his teammates was Archie Manning, and Peyton Pelluer is named after Archie's famous son.
When his playing days were done, Scott Pelluer launched a coaching career that eventually brought the family back to the Seattle area, where among other things it was easier to expose their four children to their native roots. Both parents and Peyton Pelleur all reminisce fondly of the family's periodic visits to a Nez Perce-themed Presbyterian church camp at Talmaks Campground near Craigmont, where the children slept in teepees and interacted with cousins more involved in the tribe.
Still, for Kim Pelluer and her youngest son especially, there was a distance between them and their heritage, perhaps all the greater because, unlike their siblings, neither one has especially native features.
Now some of the distance has been closed. One of Peyton Pelluer's older brothers, Cooper, played for the Huskies. The other Tyler, played for the Montana Grizzlies.
But the youngest brother, although recruited by numerous schools, committed to the Cougars after his junior year of high school. The two back stories of his roots - the three previous generations of WSU football players, and the numberless generations of Nez Perce - were too hard to ignore.
The LAPWAI FOOTBALL TEAM was eliminated from the playoffs last year after giving up 104 points, but after four shutouts this season, the Wildcats are clearly getting defensive
By BYRON EDELMAN of the Tribune Updated Oct 13, 2016
LAPWAI - Every great defense has a nickname: there was the New York Sack Exchange, the Steel Curtain, the Orange Crush, the Legion of Boom.
To have asked Lapwai to come up with a defensive calling card, even one season ago, might have drawn laughter.
After all: The Wildcats' football team gave up over 100 points in the 2015 state semifinals.
You can call Lapwai's defenders the "Savage Squad."
That's the nickname they came up with to recognize what the Wildcats have accomplished so far: shutout victories in four of their five wins.
Off to a 5-1 start, their defensive prowess has the Wildcats thinking of bigger fish than 2015's bronze trophy in the state playoffs.
"A state title," said linebacker Keanon Wheeler, when asked for his team's goals.
"One game at a time," interjected Lapwai's Ivory Miles-Williams. "Just one game at a time."
Every journey begins with a first step, and the Wildcats took theirs in their season opener, when they blanked Council 56-0. It was the first of back-to-back shutouts for the Whitepine League school to begin 2016. It was also Lapwai's first shutout since 2013's season opener, 27 games earlier.
"Number one thing that I noticed, and something I did not prepare for," said Potlatch coach Cliff Dudley, whose team fell 78-0 to the Wildcats a week after the Council game. "Those defensive backs, that team, they're disciplined.
"Before, you could always catch them slipping," Dudley added of Lapwai's secondary players. "But not this year."
"Good grief," Council coach Dan Shumway said of Lapwai's unexpected strength: its interior line.
"The kid's just mobile for his size," Shumway said of Lapwai's stout nose guard, Dancing Cloud Williams. "And good grief, the (Cameron) Shawl kid is athletic," Council's coach added of another key defensive player for the Wildcats.
Shawl went down in week three against Troy. But his injury, from which he's yet to return, has only added fuel to the fire of his team's desire to rebrand itself.
"We all have a reason to play," said Lapwai linebacker Tui Moliga. "We play for the ones above, or the ones not on the field, who can't do it."
"Tui Moliga, that kid is just all over the field," said Clearwater Valley coach Kolby Krieger. "Him and Miles (Williams), and Wheeler, those three guys, they're All-Whitepine League in my book."
Some numbers worth crunching: This season, Lapwai has ceded just nine points per game, a stark departure from the team that gave up 47 points per game the previous three years. And "obviously," said Kubs coach Nels Kludt, whose club and Krieger's both fell 52-0 to Lapwai the past two weeks, "they've put an emphasis on defense."
"It's never going to happen again," Miles-Williams said of his team letting an opponents' offense hit the century mark, how Lapwai's last season ended.
Despite getting doubled up in their 104-48 loss to Valley in last year's Idaho Class 1A Division I semifinals, the Wildcats "didn't have our heads down," said defensive end Jose Ortiz of his team's departure from the Kibbie Dome. "It was a really good experience," he said of his team's first postseason appearance in 16 years. "Because we knew next year, we weren't going to come out and get beat like that."
And they haven't, something Lapwai coach William Big Man credits to his club's offseason conditioning.
Lapwai assistant Josh Leighton thinks his team's defensive revival started even earlier, when the Wildcats made the semifinals for the first time in two decades and "got a taste of success."
One thing's for certain: The Wildcats, who will play host to Genesee at 7 on Friday, "are back," said Lapwai's former basketball coach, Rebecca Miles.
"It's really nice to see Lapwai have football back the way it was in the '70s and early '80s," said the mother of Ivory. "Performing at a high level - like we know we can."
Keanon Wheeler drew a nomination for Tribune Prep Athlete of the Week last week based on his 16 tackles, including 11 solo, and 64 rushing yards in Lapwai's 52-20 football win at Salmon River.
But he probably landed the actual award, in an online vote, for reasons that go beyond football.
In the last couple of years, Wheeler has put several setbacks behind him and emerged as a bright, science-minded student, a fully engaged summer employee in the fisheries field, and a leader in the high-school halls and classrooms as well as in the athletic arena. His impressed teachers were no doubt among the people who got behind him in the vote.
"I'm just amazed at where he is today," said Josh Nellesen, an assistant coach for the Lapwai football team and also a guidance counselor.
Wheeler hasn't solidified his college plans but he's hoping to get an opportunity to play football, and Nellesen can see him excelling in subjects like environmental science and biology.
At a school devoted to basketball, Wheeler has helped bolster the Wildcat football program, which improved to 4-1 on Friday night with a win over Clearwater Valley. A 6-foot, 175-pound linebacker, running back and special-teams player, he rarely comes off the field during games.
Readers can vote on the Prep Athlete of the Week atwww.lmtribune.com/sports. The candidates are listed on page 2B in today's section.
Cupboard's not bare for Lapwai
March 7, 2016
Cupboard's not bare for Lapwai
Wildcats lose key figures from state runner-up team, but have shown a knack for filling gaps
By Sean Kramer of the Tribune |
NAMPA - In the midst of the disappointing task of handing out runner-up medals to her individual players, Rebecca Miles added a qualifier to her presentation to Emmitt Taylor.
"A very special young man, Emmitt Taylor," the second-year coach said as an ode of appreciation to how Taylor saved the squad's ability to meet the lofty expectations the community sprung on the team.
He poured in a team-high 49 points in Lapwai's three contests at the Idaho Class 1A Division I boys' basketball tournament, including a 12-point effort in the Wildcats' 67-62 title game loss to Ambrose on Saturday.
The sophomore wing didn't just become a suitable sub when senior starters Courage Lone Bear and Imani Mitchell went down with football injuries. The 6-foot-4 wing became a leader and a go-to scorer, and probable leading scorer for next season.
"I give him a lot of props because he came in as a freshman last year on this court (the Idaho Center) a little shaky and got used to it, but the next year after that he was a starter and a leader on the team," senior teammate Imani Mitchell said. "That's hard to do. I give Emmitt a lot of props because he came through this game for me and Courage, he picked up a lot of slack."
Taylor and junior Ivory Miles-William seamlessly transitioned into the starting lineup as the Wildcats strolled unscathed to 22 straight wins and a trip to the state title tilt.
Some, even in Lapwai, doubted whether they could overcome the loss of a tempo-pushing guard in Mitchell and sizable shooting threat in Lone Bear.
"Start of the season a lot of people thought we were going to struggle, even some people at Lapwai started to think we were going to struggle and many people outside of Lapwai thought we were going to struggle because of guys we're losing, that weren't going to come back for a while," senior Tommy Miles-Williams said.
Lone Bear and Mitchell didn't find their starting spots waiting for them when they returned. Instead, Rebecca Miles found herself with the foundation of her team next year. Rather than returning every starter from a championship loss, as Lapwai did this year, the Wildcats lose four of the eight players who formed the core of the rotation.
Miles doesn't seem concerned.
"(Taylor) stepped in and not only filled the role, I think he was consistently my highest scorer all season. I felt in part, I could've done more to make sure he saw the ball," Miles said.
Ivory Miles-Williams should be a defensive and rebounding enforcer for the Wildcats next season. He led all Wildcats with 23 rebounds in the tournament.
"He just has God-given talent. I will say right now, he's way better than me," older brother Tommy said of Ivory. "He just plays amazing. We both play with heart, he just has a God-given talent. I love him for that."
Not to overlook a freshman, Payton Sobotta saw the floor often in critical moments when teammates found themselves in foul trouble.
Fellow freshman Kendall Leighton will look to find minutes in the backcourt next season. Senior-to-be Cameron Shawl should lead the way for a young backcourt as a shooting threat and distributor.
"I'm confident that our guard play next year will be way better than it was this year," Mitchell said. "They'll be back next year, faster."
March 5, 2016
Lewiston Tribune
March 5, 2016
n Kramer of the Tribune |
While no stranger to the Idaho Center, even Lapwai coach Rebecca Miles admits the moment may have caught up to her last season. Her trip to the state championship game last season was her first as a head coach, and ultimately ended with a second-place finish in a 54-50 loss to Prairie.
Now Miles and the Wildcats are getting a second chance at an elusive championship this morning against Ambrose.
"We talked about it all week if we can get there, it's great, take it all in, it's an accomplishment," Miles said. "But at the same time, know when you need to adjust. Don't get frustrated, it's not the end of the world."
The Wildcats are one win away from the program's ninth state championship. The school won boys' titles in 1956, '84, '87, '88, '89, 2000, '02 and '06.
Ambrose, last year's winner of the consolation bracket, earned its way to the Idaho Center with decisive wins over Genesee and Oakley. Lapwai earned its way back via blowout wins over Raft River and Grace. The Meridian-based Archers have never won a state championship.
"Last year, I would say we were a little iffy, we were a little new to the atmosphere," senior Tommy Miles-Williams said. "We're going to be used to the big Idaho Center, I think we'll do good."
Staying loose will be key to improving on last year's result, players and coach agree.
"We'll get them kind of secluded and together and a lot of them just put their headphones on and sit together and have their little quiet time," Miles said. "We'll get there early so they can adjust."
Congratulations! Chelsey- NAIA Marathon National Champion
KLEW-TV Prep Athlete of Week (Sequoia Swan)
By Matthew SizemoreFeb 12, 2015
CLARKSTON, WA - The Clarkston girl's basketball team has a sharpshooter who has mastered the art of the three-point shot. Though she has several fans coming to games to see how many points she might put up, they may not know that she eventually wants to be a detective.
Let's head to Clarkston to meet this week's P1FCU "Prep Athlete of the Week," Sequoia Swan.
Sequoia Swam can hit a shot from all over the court, something she picked up from her mom.
"She was a three-point shooter when she was in high school too," said Swan.
She's also a baller in the classroom.
"Good, this first semester I ended up with one B," said Swan. "I was kind of mad about it but this semester I'll push harder."
The B was in French class, but one of the many A's she got was in her favorite class.
"Weight training definitely," said Swan.
She may only be a junior, but she's already laid out a potential plan for life.
"I might go down to Tucson, Arizona to go play basketball for a college, a community college down there cause I want to start small and maybe move on to a Division-One or Big East Conference," said Swan. "And I want to go into Criminal Justice."
One day we might be calling her Detective Swan.
"I want to be a police officer," said Swan. "I don't know why, that's something that I wanted to do since I was little."
Don't be surprised if you find Detective Swan with a whistle around her neck someday.
"Besides being a police officer, I want to be a basketball coach too," said Swan.
When not on the court or in the classroom, it's all family.
"I like to hang out with my mom," said Swan. "My mom and my little sister, yeah, we like to go bowling. Like to go to movies."
And that same movie buddy also happens to be one of her heroes.
"My mom definitely...yeah she's definitely one of my heroes," said Swan. "She's a person I definitely look up to, and Shonni Schimmel is definitely one of my heroes. She's amazing."
And we see the sharpshooter as a hero ourselves, as Clarkston High Junior, Sequoia Swan is this week's P1FCU "Prep Athlete of the Week."
"It's an honor, like really it's...cause I look up to people that have become Prep Athletes when I was little, and I've always wanted to be in those shoes," said Swan. "So it's awesome that I got selected as it. It's just a real honor."
We hope you enjoyed meeting Sequoia Swan this evening. Each week throughout the school year KLEW Sports and P1FCU team up to highlight a deserving athlete in the area. If you have someone you'd like to nominate, just go to KLEWTV.com, click on sports, and then Prep Athlete. Every Wednesday those athletes are showcased right here on KLEW-TV for their outstanding accomplishments.
NFC Champions 2014!!! Seattle Seahawks!!!
Leighton, Atkin run to NAIA titles
Leighton, Atkin run to NAIA titles
A year after narrowly failing to place, former Lapwai High star strides to victory in marathon
Posted: Sunday, May 25, 2014 12:00 am | Updated: 1:04 am, Sun May 25, 2014.
Leighton, Atkin run to NAIA titles Tribune The Lewiston Tribune |
GULF SHORES, Ala. - Chelsey Leighton had been training exclusively for this race for a calendar year, with no little carrots of incentive to goad her along and no reliable means of measuring her progress.
It didn't matter. With characteristic patience, the Lewis-Clark State senior from Lapwai emphatically ended a string of near-misses in her competitive running career Saturday, taking the lead in the 19th mile and winning the women's marathon at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Never mind placing - her unrealized goal of five years. Now she's a national champion.
"I still don't have the words to describe the feeling of winning," she said. "I said earlier to somebody that it doesn't feel real."
Sam Atkin later added to a banner
day for L-C by winning the men's 5,000-meter. The two titles doubled the number of NAIA indoor and outdoor track crowns the Warriors have collected since the program's inception.
Leighton's triumph came a year after she'd placed ninth in the NAIA marathon at Marian, Ind., extending a frustrating personal pattern by missing a medal and All-America status by one place.
With her cross country eligibility already expired, she'd been mulling the idea of forfeiting her final year of track. After that latest disappointment at Nationals, though, "I took a week off and was right back at it," she said Saturday. "This has been a whole year in the making."
Because of the demanding nature of marathon running, she competed in no other versions of the 26.2-mile event during the year, qualifying for Nationals by her time in a half-marathon, which was just the 18th best clocking this year in the NAIA.
For an entire year, in other words, she had her sights set on May 24.
"It was extremely tough," she said. "It was like every other week, I was not as motivated, because it was so far away before I'd actually get to compete in this event. The next week, my motivation was back and it would be like, 'Hey, get focused again.' It was kind of back and forth."
The wait was also nerve-racking, she said, "because it all boils down to one day and one race and how everything plays out. Just this one shot - that's all I get."
It's all she needed. Weathering the sticky Alabama humidity and refreshed by a cloud cover that appeared midway through the morning race, Leighton passed early leader Hannah Liebermann of SCAD Savannah with about 6 miles remaining and won handily in 3 hours, 2 minutes and 25.10 seconds. Liebermann was a distant second in 3:08:56.40.
"The game plan and how things actually went were as closely parallel as you can hope for," L-C coach Mike Collins said. "With the temperatures and the humidity being what they were, we wanted to make sure we were careful and cautious in the first half of the race and stayed under control. She did a real good job with that."
Leighton, a Nez Perce tribal member whose Lapwai High career had focused on sprinting rather than distance running, has dedicated her athletic pursuits to the memory of four children in her family's Lapwai neighborhood who have died during the past 17 years, including her younger brother Garrett.
All five of her surviving siblings, along with her parents, other relatives and a coterie of L-C teammates, rose early Saturday in Gulf Shores to watch her final college race, flocking from one aid station to the next to track her progress.
"Some of the girls I ran with, that were in that front little pack for a while, were jealous of my large cheering section," Leighton said. "It was good motivation, for sure."
She credited an aunt, Joyce McFarland, with helping her raise her self-expectations after the disappointing 2013 race.
"I don't know if it was jokingly or what, but she said something along the lines of, 'You always set your goal to be All-American or to be in the top eight. But why not win? Why not set the goal to be national champion?' So I was like, 'You know, that's what I'm going to do. The next time, my goal is to win.' I trained with that mind set."
Leighton became the second L-C woman to win the marathon, joining 2005 champion Tausha Kuzmic.
Atkin, an L-C sophomore from England who won an NAIA men's indoor title at 3,000 meters in March, made his move in the final 200 meters and claimed the 5,000 in 14:41.96, with DJ Flores of Eastern Oregon second in 14:44.07.
"He almost waited too long, and our other athletes, his parents, and I were starting to get pretty nervous," Collins said. "Two hundred meters isn't a lot of time to decide a 5,000-meter race, but it worked out for us."
Atkin said he had it all along.
"The end kind of snuck up on me," he said. "I was waiting for somebody to make the move, and after all I just decided to go," Atkin said. "It wasn't that fast of a race, so I knew I could pull off that last 200 to take the win. I know Coach would have wanted me to go a little earlier, but it just made it more fun to watch."
Prior to the race, Atkin and Collins thought the favorite was Southern Oregon's Eric Avila, who had beaten Atkin for the cross country national title in November.
The pair outlined two race plans, one in which Avila, who won the 1,500 championship earlier Saturday, was in contention and one where he wasn't. The latter turned out to be the case, as Avila finished well behind the leaders in 11th place.
"If Avila wasn't there with 1,200 meters to go, we just wanted Sam to make good decisions and choices, and he did that," Collins said. "He raced really smart. He kept looking over at me for advice, but I just told him to let it go and race the race. Even if everyone was fresh, I think he would have been very tough to beat today."
Atkin got a reprieve after false-starting to begin the race. It is customary in large track and field competitions for the winner of a race to accept the spent casing from the starter's pistol that begins the action.Atkin took home two shells on Saturday, one for the false start he caused and one for the win.
State Preview: Wildcats ready to tangle with defending champion
March 6, 2014
Lewiston Tribune
March 6, 2014
IDAHO 1A DIV. I: Wildcats ready to tangle with defending champion
Lapwai confident it can play with Butte County; Genesee braces for Notus
CALDWELL - The faces may be new, but the high-pressure defense, fastbreak offense and Carolina blue jerseys mean only one thing - the Lapwai Wildcats are back in the Treasure Valley.
Two years after surrendering a double-digit lead in the second half of the state title game and one year after falling short of the tournament altogether, the Wildcats will make their return to the Idaho Class 1A Division I tournament today with a mouthwatering matchup against Butte County at 5:15 p.m. PST today at Vallivue High in Caldwell.
"They play a similar style to us," Lapwai coach Josh Leighton said. "They like to push the ball. The difference is that they shoot a lot from the perimeter. They don't have strong inside play or presence because they're not very big.
"They're quick and play matchup zone. ... You give me time to get video and get a game plan together and I think our kids will be totally prepared for this game - because if you don't win this one, the others don't matter."
The Pirates, who are the defending state champions, enter with a record of 22-1 and were the top-ranked 1A Division I team in the final regular-season media poll.
Lapwai, which went 0-3 against Prairie of Cottonwood, is 19-0 against everyone else this season, and, as usual, has the horses to make a deep run through the tournament.
"They're pretty excited and they're pretty positive," Leighton said. "We got to look at some video and worked on them for a couple days lightly. The kids are excited. Their confidence is a little boosted after losing (to Prairie in the district title game) and after seeing what we've seen and the game plan."
Built around a regular rotation that consists of five seniors and four sophomores, the Wildcats have an almost even mix of youth and experience.
At the point, Lapwai is led by seniors Kevin Tannehill, O'Shae Perez and Redsky Chimburas while 6-foot-4 sophomores Tommy Williams and Savion Henry patrol the paint.
Nico Higheagle and Job Schimmel operate as guards while slashing sixth man Imani Mitchell provides some serious scoring punch off the bench.
"If you watch our scoring and rebounding, it really has been a team effort," Leighton said. "Throughout the season, they've picked up the slack for each other. They've got a real team concept going right now."
Perhaps the opposite of the Wildcats is the Whitepine League's third team in the 1A Division I tournament, the Genesee Bulldogs, who open with Notus at 2 p.m. PST today at Vallivue.
Expected to rely heavily on brothers Reggie and Beau Tilleman heading into this season, the Bulldogs have pretty much done that while getting nice, albeit inconsistent, shooting performances from the supporting cast along the way.
"There's potential there," Genesee coach Jeff Boyd said regarding his outside shooters. "We played a lot of ball in the summer, and the summer is the summer, but we beat a lot of really good teams and it was the same thing every time. Everyone knew what we were trying to do - it was pretty obvious. Three different guys would maybe make some shots, the floor would space and Reggie and Beau could make some plays."
And if the Bulldogs are going to make another title run, they'll need some production from either Connor Phillips, Reece Wayt, Rhett Stout or Ben Druffel in order to keep defenses from double- and triple-teaming the Tilleman boys.
Unlike previous years when the Bulldogs would have a State berth wrapped up before the end of the district tournament, this time Genesee was forced to take a circuitous route that featured a loser-out win over Troy and a State play-in victory over Lakeside of Plummer/Worley.
"I think they're grateful that they made it," Boyd said. "And I think that they have a chance. They'll have to play better than they have at times, but they've also shown that they can play in spurts.
"We're going to have to play four quarters, and if we do that, who knows what can happen?"
Of their seven losses this season, the 17-7 Bulldogs really don't have a loss to a bad team.
Three of the seven were to District II champion Prairie, two more were to District II runner-up Lapwai, another came to 1A Division II defending champion Salmon River and the seventh was to district tournament semifinalist Troy.
And of their wins, Genesee beat 2A defending champion Grangeville twice, 1A Division II District II champion Kendrick twice and Asotin twice.
"When we played Troy (in the loser-out game), the people that support us realized that maybe we needed a little help," Boyd said. "Our fans were really into it and I think the kids hooked their wagon to our people in the stands and it's probably going to take everybody, all the emotions we can drum up.
"I actually think we're pretty confident."
Congratulations Kendall & Payton (2nd), Glory & Grace (2nd), and Titus (3rd) for BAAD Trny results!
March 26, 2014
Congrats on Play In Your Moccasins-- Nico (1st) & Kendall, Payton, Xavier, & Sequoia (2nd)
Congratulations Imani on 3-1 record (5th place) at 32 team 3 Stripes AZ Spring Classic (Phoenix)!
One mouse, 1,102 runners (Chelsey 1st in women- Seaport River Run)
April 27, 2014
SEAPORT RIVER RUN: One mouse, 1,102 runners
Annual run includes one Minnie Mouse-clad participant among the runners and walkers
Tribune/Steve Hanks
One mouse, 1,102 runners
It’s a fast start for the front runners in the annual Seaport River Run in both the 6.2-mile and the 2.9-mile events Saturday morning in Clarkston. The 37th annual run drew 1,103 participants.
Tribune/Steve Hanks
One mouse, 1,102 runners
Participants in the 2.K run/walk of the Seaport River Run Wind their way up and onto Southway Bridge.
Posted: Sunday, April 27, 2014 12:00 am | Updated: 1:29 am, Sun Apr 27, 2014.
SEAPORT RIVER RUN: One mouse, 1,102 runners By Byron Edelman of the Tribune The Lewiston Tribune |
Venture into Michelle Bly's home and you'll witness a veritable Mickey Mouse cornucopia.
So it's perhaps no surprise the Lewiston resident arrived to the 37th Seaport River Run dressed as Mickey's significant other, Minnie Mouse.
On Saturday morning, the 46-year-old showed up to the starting line at Swallows Park wearing Disney's iconic mouse ears and sporting a polka-dotted dress.
She numbered among the 1,103 racers who completed the latest River Run, which proved to be anything but a Mickey Mouse operation.
"I saw Minnie Mouse, but that's probably gotta be it on costumes," said Lewis-Clark State track and cross country coach Mike Collins, who served as Seaport's timing coordinator. "I was probably doing less watching and more stressing than anything because of the chip timing."
For the first time, Seaport offered chip timing and 840 racers obliged. Among those who wore the chip was Jimmy Oribo, a former runner for Collins' Warriors.
The 25-year-old from Uganda won the 10K course with relative ease in 31 minutes and 5 seconds to claim medalist honors for the second straight year; his former teammate, Hayden Randall, now a junior at L-C, won the 5K in 14:20.
"I had one of my buddies pace me through the first mile and then drop out," Randall said. "I wanted to see what I could do and coach said it was the fastest time since the landslide."
(Randall was referring to a landslide below the Lewiston Elks Club in the late 1990s.)
Coming in third overall in the lengthier 6.2-mile race, the Warriors' Chelsey Leighton crossed the finish line in 37:08, well before any other female.
"Getting to race against guys was a nice challenge," said Leighton, a senior who was greeted down the final stretch by her mom, Dawn, ringing a loud cowbell.
Making an impressive 10K debut, Jenifer Junior High eighth-grader Joey Perez finished runner-up just over five minutes behind Oribo.
"This is a lot more intense and longer (than track)," Perez said of Saturday's race. "I didn't think I'd do that well."
"It was kind of fun to watch him run," Collins said of Perez, who he works with when he volunteers at Jenifer.
Unable to attend this year's event, 11-time Seaport champion Tim Gundy coached Asotin at a track meet in Ritzville on Saturday but sent his thoughts to one family in particular.
"I'm pulling for the Johnsons, especially Zander," Gundy said, referring to a family which does the run to honor a deceased family member.
Zander, now 9, lost his dad, Bryan, when he was 31/2. He's lived in Lewiston with his aunt and uncle, Shari and Chris Johnson - now his mom and dad - ever since.
"I will be excited to hear how they do," Gundy said.
"Definitely a very special Seaport for us," said Zander's adoptive father, Chris Johnson, who said his family received positive support from fellow racers who read their story in the Tribune.
One runner even told Zander's grandmother, Kathy Johnson, that she was running the race to honor their family.
"We're just really humbled," Shari Johnson said.
The Johnsons credit the Willow Center with helping them through the loss of Zander's dad, and proceeds from the race this year benefited the center for grieving children.
"It's a great honor that we are receiving the proceeds from this River Run," said the Willow Center's board chairman Angie Blewett, who ran in the race.
Continued Blewett: "Seeing all the families here who participate in the Willow Center, it is really great to be out here, knowing it's going toward a really great cause."
"This race isn't about awards," Collins said. "It's about being involved and supportive of the community."
The race also offered a delicious perk: beer at the end, often a staple at road races.
"I'm just out here representing the bearded guys and running to the keg," joked 38-year-old Ryan Higgins, who ran with his wife Robyn.
"I'm just wishing they would have had beer on mile 3 or 4," quipped 54-year-old Lewiston resident Eddy Champman, who has done the race on and off for the past 25 years. "The race hasn't changed at all, it always seems to be great weather."
To Kim and Jody Richardson, visiting the valley provided them succor from the weather in Princeton, Idaho.
"We love your warm weather," said Kim, 44, "and the flat track because we're from up north where it's cold and there's a lot of hills."
Boys' 17 and under - 1, Joey Perez (14), Lewiston, 36:25. 2, Jordan Starr (17), Clarkston, 40:02. 3, Julian Robinson (16), Lewiston, 43:16. 4, Sam Maxwell (15), 45:40. 5, Jared Strottman (14), Lewiston, 45:54. 6, Henry Hill (17), Lewiston, 47:24. 7, Blake Cleveland-Lyons (10), Lewiston, 56:00. 8, Tyler Rasmussen-Dewey (13), Lewiston, 59:40. 9, Jonah Goeckner (11), Clarkston, 1:13.55. 10, Quinn Witters (9), Lewiston, 1:16.48.
Men's 18-49 - 1, Jimmy Oribo (25), Lewiston, 31:05. 2, Nic Carey (23), 39:42. 3, Eric Sawyer (37), Moscow, 40:42. 4, Brian Johnson (29), Lewiston, 40:54. 5, Mitch Carey (21), 42:24. 6, Travis Schwenne (23), Genesee, 42:25. 7, Adam Klappenbach (40), Clarkston, 43:26. 8, Scott Seale (29), Lewiston, 44:28. 9, Robert Shapherd (38), Lewiston, 45:55. 10, Dan Evans (35), Clarkston, 47:18.
Men's 50 and over - 1, Brian Ringle (52), Lewiston, 42:36. 2, Leonard West (63), Moscow, 44:12. 3, Randy Cavanaugh (53), Lewiston, 45:44. 4, Dave Boyer (50), 46:08. 5, Nolan Noren (70), Juliaetta, 52:04. 6, Mike Spengler (63), Grangeville, 52:25. 6, Kenneth Maestas (54), Clarkston, 52:25. 7, Mark Crosbie (67), Missoula, 52:55. 8, Joe Eacker (59), Genesee, 54:11. 9, Don Greggain (56), Clarkston, 54:48. 10, Craig Ambroson (60), Asotin, 56:56.
Girls' 17 and under - 1, Kaitlyn Blume (12), Lewiston, 49:46. 2, Katie Hollenbeck (14), Culdesac, 54:25. 3, Aspen Witters (12), Lewiston, 54:26. 4, Anna Sobczyk (16), Genesee, 55:06. 5, Emily Branson (6), Nezperce, 56:50. 6, Morgan Jensen (13), Lewiston, 1:00.01. 7, Calista Hall (11), Lewiston, 1:09.55. 8, Jeyyonce Cuevaas (13), Juliaetta, 1:13.05. 9, Laurine Clemencot (16), Paylluip, 1:20.12. 10, Devyn Grant (8), Lewiston, 1:23.21.
Women's 18-49 - 1, Chelsey Leighton (23), Lapwai, 37:08, (Tribune omitted Chelsey)... 1, Megan Skinner (28), Pullman, 45:27. 2, Misty Debarbie (31), Lewiston, 46:04. 3, Allie Hubble (26), Spokane, 46:05. 4, Leah Swanson (42), Deary, 48:11. 5, Michelle Hill (40), Lewiston, 48:34. 6, Chantell Hannan (42), Kendrick, 48:47. 7, Hannah Binninger (41), Troy, 49:05. 8, Rebecca Parrill (31), Lewiston, 50:19. 9, Whitney Jacobs (34), Lewiston, 50:56. 10, Michele Keil (49), Lewiston 50:58.
Women's 50 and over - 1, Stephanie Hill (52), Lewiston, 50:31. 2, Debbie Hornbuckle (57), Moscow, 51:01. 3, Marci Stapleton (51), Nezperce, 53:03. 4, Kerri Sandairne (50), Clarkston, 53:29. 5, Eddy Chapman (54), Lewiston, 53:31. 6, Frankie Paffile (50), Lewiston, 55:54. 7, Karen Pell (56), Asotin, 57:22. 8, Peggy Miller (50), 58:00. 9, Kathy Roberts (52), Lewiston, 59:15. 10, Karla Petrie (50), Lewiston, 1:00.25.
Boys' 17 and under - 1, Ian Wendt (16), Moscow, 17:48. 2, Cole Allen (14), Lewiston, 21:04. 3, Matt Wolf (14), Pomeroy, 22:18. 4, Chase Kaschmitter (10), Cottonwood, 22:32. 5, Nick Frutos (17), Lewiston, 22:33. 6, Will Rhodes (13), Lewiston, 22:45. 7, Brett Baerlocher (15), Lewiston, 23:13. 8, Nick Grim (10), 23:18. 8, Wyatt Ross (10), 23:18. 9, Spencer Schumacher (13), Greencreek, 24:00. 8, 10, Dylan Schumacher (13), Cottonwood, 24:02.
Men's 18-49 - 1, Hayden Randall (21), Lewiston, 14:20. 2, Rey Celestino (21), 15:12. 3. Kage Sobotta (18), Clarkston, 17:20. 4, Tyler Wendt (22), Moscow, 18:52. 5, Patrick Donnellon (30), Lewiston, 20:29. 6, Jason Freeze (43), Lewiston, 20:46. 7, Sam Canner (32), Lewiston, 21:36. 8, Tim Watkins (44), Lewiston, 23:27. 9, Adam Myklebust (27), Lewiston, 24:03. 10, Adam Jelinek (38), Lewiston, 24:17.
Men's 50 and over - 1, Dale Wernicke (55), Kelso, 17:56. 2, Don Brigham (57), Clarkston, 22:38. 3, Stan Vannoy (61), Lewiston, 24:48. 4, Mark Hopson (53), Lewiston, 25:48. 5, Dale Christianson (62), Clarkston, 26:15. 6, Ron Schlader (61), Missoula, 27:03. 7, Kevin Kalbfleisch (54), Lewiston, 27:25. 8, Mike Ahlers (52), Lewiston, 27:41. 9, Bill Chandler (56), Lewiston, 29:52. 10, Thomas Callery (61), Lewiston, 30:51.
Girls' 17 and under - 1, Kilee Lemm (10), Clarkston, 24:42. 2, Jessica Vogel (14), Lewiston, 25:33. 3, Katie Perez (12), Lewiston, 26:05. 4, Julia Williams (12), Lewiston, 27:27. 5, Natalie Vogel (16), Lewiston, 27:40. 5, Ashley Dahl (12), Lewiston, 27:40. 6, Jordyn Higgins (12), Kamiah, 29:10. 7, Alissa Evans (11), Clarkston 30:01. 8, Nicole Rhodes (16), Lewiston, 31:17. 9, Ava Barker (12), Moscow, 31:18. 10, Anna Kaschmitter (11), Cottonwood, 31:19.
Women's 18-49 - 1, Shannon Miller (33), Colton, 22:16. 2, Bethany Canner (32), Lewiston, 23:18. 3, Kacy Myklebust (25), Lewiston, 24:05. 4, Lisa Domellon (31), Lewiston, 25:23. 5, Kari Vantine (33), Clarkston, 25:49. 6, Wesli Kalbfleisch (27), Lewiston, 27:24. 7, Jessica Moore (29), Grangeville, 27:25. 8, Colleen Gnitter (44), Lewiston, 27:27. 9, Shea Mason (25), Spokane, 27:29. 10, Sarah Walz (46), Peck, 27:36.
Women's 50 and over - 1, Vicki Poffenberger (57), Lewiston, 23:29. 2, Keri Lane (52), Clarkston, 25:53. 3, Sara Craig (52), Clarkston, 26:18. 4, Robin Hechtner (55), Lewiston, 27:57. 5, Lynne Beck (61), Clarkston, 28:56. 6, Debbie Hopson Taylor (55), 29:40. 7, Andena Hibbard (64), Lewiston, 29:48. 8, Tina Kalbfleisch (53), Lewiston, 30:23. 9, Lea Kiely (6), Lewiston, 30:40. 10, Bonnie Rice (51), Clarkston, 30:42.
Edelman may be contacted at bedelman@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2277.
KLEW-TV: Warriors academically honor student-athletes at luncheon (Chelsey)
Warriors academically honor student-athletes at luncheon
By Matthew Sizemore Published: Feb 13, 2014 at 3:07 PM PST
LEWISTON, ID - It's hard enough to play sports at the collegiate level, but maintaining a high grade point average takes an enormous amount of dedication.
And every student-athlete you see here has been able to keep a 3.0 GPA or higher while playing their respective sport as Lewis-Clark State College honored their high achieving athletes with a luncheon at the Red Lion on Wednesday afternoon.
Over 90 competitors from every sport the college has to offer came to receive an academic award as their coaches showed how proud they were by telling stories about individuals and cracking jokes. Congrats to all that were honored for making an example for all student-athletes in how hard work and dedication can pay off.
Wildcats know well the path to the state tournament
February 20, 2014
By Byron Edelman of the Tribune The Lewiston Tribune |
Since 1987, the Lapwai Wildcats have missed the girls' state basketball tournament only five times.
So it's perhaps no surprise they possess momentum as they head into their 14th straight state tournament this week, carrying an eight-game winning streak, all by 20 or more points.
Shooting for their seventh state title in girls' basketball, the Wildcats are led by coach Shawn Spencer, who skippered the team to four of its Idaho state crowns and has been the coach during the team's current streak of state appearances.
Last year, Spencer guided Lapwai to a runner-up trophy while coaching his daughter, Natahnee, who is now playing at Lewis-Clark State.
COMMENTARY: At state, one postgame gesture tells the story
February 25, 2014
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Memorable moments
Prairie coach Lori Mader (left) embraces injured Lapwai player Ione Chimburas during the medal presentation at the Idaho Center.
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Memorable moments
Members of the Prairie High girls’ basketball team, including coach Lori Mader, celebrate their victory over Lapwai in the title game of the Idaho 1A D-I tournament at Nampa. The ensuing trophy presentation would only richen the story, for both clubs.
COMMENTARY: At state, one postgame gesture tells the story
At State, one postgame gesture tells the story
By Byron Edelman of the Tribune The Lewiston Tribune |
It's been a tough winter for Lapwai High freshman girls' basketball player Ione Chimburas.
She tore her ACL and MCL during a mid-January game and had to watch as her Wildcat teammates carried on the torch.
But through it all, Chimburas has shown great character - doing everything she can to be there for her teammates.
That includes a gesture that transcended her team's heartbreaking loss in the state title game to Prairie this past weekend.
Watching her "sisters" on the Idaho Center court in Nampa, competing for the prize of being called the best club in the Gem State, Chimburas wanted badly to be on the floor with her fellow freshmen (with whom she had won AAU tournaments all over the country).
To honor Chimburas, her best friend on the freshman-laden Wildcats, fellow rookie Iris Domebo, wore a long-sleeve shirt on the court, since that's what Chimburas would have worn under her jersey, had she been healthy.
Chimburas, whose dad Carlo played at Lapwai when the school won a state record 81 consecutive games, injured her knee a little more than a month ago during a nonleague game against Lakeside. When it happened, she initially thought she'd "just popped (her) knee out and in," before realizing the severity. And the injury derailed the big plans she'd had entering her first year of high school basketball.
"I had so much planned for my freshman year with Iris," Chimburas said. "We planned so much together."
First and foremost, they were going to win a state title together, she said.
And after the Wildcats claimed this year's district title Feb. 10, that dream seemed closer than ever - though Chimburas knew she wouldn't get to be an active participant. Missing getting to play with her best friend, Domebo was the first to hug Chimburas on the sideline after the team's district title.
"I can't wait to play with you next year," Chimburas said Domebo told her. "You'll be back, stronger than ever."
That moment, Chimburas said, "meant the world to me. That meant so much."
Last weekend, the Wildcats entered the Idaho Class 1A Division I state tournament as the No. 1 ranked team - and breezed to the title round, where they met a Prairie squad they'd drubbed in the district tournament, the event's outcome seemingly a formality.
Chimburas resisted the urge to cry before the state title game Saturday at the Idaho Center, and during the game, she said she fought to hold her emotions in check because she said she wanted to be strong for her teammates.
But after her team's 56-40 loss in the title game, she couldn't hold back any longer.
"And everything came out," she remembered.
But that's not what this column is about. It's about what Chimburas was doing when the tears became streams.
After the teams had done their perfunctory postgame handshakes, and gone back to their respective sides of the court, Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer took the Idaho Center's microphone and congratulated Prairie. He then read off the names of his team members.
One by one, the Wildcats came up to the middle of the Idaho Center to receive their runner-up medals, then return to their side of the court.
But when her name was called, Chimburas didn't immediately go back to her team's side of the court.
She continued limping toward the Prairie sideline, where the Pirates stood in a line, and she shook each of their hands, not saying anything.
Some of the Pirates told her she'd be back the following year, others traded hugs with Chimburas - and a number of other Lapwai players followed her lead.
The genuine gesture by Chimburas meant a lot to Prairie coach Lori Mader, who said she thinks the world of Chimburas.
"They are such great leaders and they showed it yesterday," Mader said of Lapwai's freshmen, in particular Chimburas. "What great leadership. That just shows what classy kids they are and it was perfect.
"It's hard to hold your head high after losing a big game like that, and to me they were exemplary. And I'm just really proud of those Lapwai kids for starting the whole hand-shaking thing. ... It just makes you admire those kids even more."
So what moved Chimburas to shamble across the court one last time?
"My team was heartbroken," said Chimburas, who said she hurt most for her older teammates, "because that happened two years in a row now, that they made it to the state championship and lost.
"They gave it their all, so I knew I had to lift them back up and I had to show that there was still a chance next year, and that was the way I did it."
The road ahead won't be easy for Chimburas - she undergoes surgery Thursday, and faces a minimum nine months' recovery time, she said.
But when you talk with her mom, Iris Chimburas, the word misfortune never comes up. Instead, she considers her daughter's knee injury a blessing.
For one thing, it's brought her even closer to her teammates and her coach, nearly all of whom will be back next season - shooting for the title that has eluded them the past two years.
"When we went back (to the locker room), I was trying to be strong, but I couldn't anymore, so I just let it out," Ione Chimburas said of her emotions. "(Coach) said it was hard for him to see us cry and that he would do anything for us, and that he loved us.
"It meant everything. He's like my best friend. We've gotten so much closer this year, me and my coach. I've told him everything, and he's been there for me ever since that first day. It means a lot, that he's going to be there through rehab and surgery and that my team - they'll still be there for me. Because it's not going to be the best time of my life, but I've still got to be strong and fight through all of it."
No matter what happens next season, one thing's for certain: Chimburas will be a winner, both on and off the court.
"I told my husband, 'We've raised some pretty awesome kids.' And he said, 'I don't think we did anything. I just think they were born that way,' " Iris Chimburas said.
"They were born to take care of each other and their community and to be from Lapwai, that's a big honor. She plays for all the grandmothers, and all the elders and aunties and uncles. Everyone's family. Lapwai is one big family that you play for. You don't play for a trophy, you play for your people and we're just as proud of them, whether they came home with a trophy or not. A trophy's nice to look at, but it's their fight that we're most proud of."
Edelman may be contacted at bedelman@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2277.
CBC Women Ride Nelson to NWAAC Crown (Sierra)
March 5, 2014
CBC Women Ride Nelson to NWAAC Crown
NWAAC: East All-Stars beat North All-Stars 64-58 (Sierra)
March 9, 2014
North All-Stars vs. East All-Stars
Date: 03/09/2014 Time: 10:19 Site: Pierce Gym Attendance: N
Visitors: East All-Stars |
|---|
| ## | Name | P | TFG | 2FG | 3 Pt | FT | PTS | ORB | DRB | TR | PF | FD | AST | AA | TO | BS | ST | MIN |
|---|
| 10 |
* Hailey Patti-BMCC |
|
2/8 |
2/2 |
0/6 |
0/0 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
20:03 |
| 10 |
Kelsey Yenny-CBCC |
|
1/9 |
1/4 |
0/5 |
1/2 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
19:57 |
| 13 |
* Shannon Bland-CBCC |
|
4/9 |
3/5 |
1/4 |
4/4 |
13 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
20:03 |
| 13 |
* Lindsay Loe-WV |
|
2/4 |
2/4 |
0/0 |
2/2 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
19:35 |
| 21 |
Amy DeLong-WWCC |
|
0/5 |
0/4 |
0/1 |
0/0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
19:12 |
| 21 |
* Jessica Sorenson-BigBend |
|
4/4 |
4/4 |
0/0 |
3/4 |
11 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
21:16 |
| 22 |
Cerissa Honena-TV |
|
0/0 |
0/0 |
0/0 |
0/0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
DNP |
| 23 |
Sierra Higheagle-CBCC |
|
1/9 |
1/2 |
0/7 |
3/7 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
19:57 |
| 23 |
MeShel Rad-WWCC |
|
2/7 |
2/6 |
0/1 |
2/4 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
19:57 |
| 24 |
* Morgan Freeman-SPOK |
|
4/9 |
4/9 |
0/0 |
2/2 |
10 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
19:35 |
| 31 |
Jessica Siler-WWCC |
|
3/6 |
3/6 |
0/0 |
0/0 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
20:25 |
| |
Team |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
5 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Totals |
|
23/70 | 22/46 | 1/24 | 17/25 | 64 | 18 | 34 | 52 | 14 |
0 |
15 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 12 |
200 |
| Total FG |
1st Half |
5/31 |
16.1% |
2nd Half |
18/39 |
46.2% |
Game |
23/70 |
32.9% |
|---|
| 3 PT FG |
1st Half |
0/13 |
0.00% |
2nd Half |
1/11 |
9.09% |
Game |
1/24 |
4.17% |
|---|
| Free Throws |
1st Half |
8/10 |
80.0% |
2nd Half |
9/15 |
60.0% |
Game |
17/25 |
68.0% |
|---|
|
Home: North All-Stars |
|---|
| ## | Name | P | TFG | 2FG | 3 Pt | FT | PTS | ORB | DRB | TR | PF | FD | AST | AA | TO | BS | ST | MIN |
|---|
| 5 |
* Airashay Rogers-BCC |
|
3/7 |
3/7 |
0/0 |
7/8 |
13 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
19:17 |
| 13 |
Leahi Lindsey-OLY |
|
3/8 |
1/4 |
2/4 |
0/0 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
20:43 |
| 21 |
Alisha Friberg-WHAT |
|
4/6 |
4/5 |
0/1 |
2/2 |
10 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
20:43 |
| 21 |
Alison Knowles-PENN |
|
0/4 |
0/0 |
0/4 |
0/0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
19:39 |
| 23 |
* Samantha Kelleigh-SV |
|
4/9 |
1/2 |
3/7 |
0/0 |
11 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
20:21 |
| 31 |
* Jasmine McEachin-EDM |
|
0/4 |
0/3 |
0/1 |
2/2 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
19:17 |
| 32 |
* Alexis Berrysmith-BCC |
|
1/5 |
1/5 |
0/0 |
1/2 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
20:21 |
| 33 |
Jori Hall-BCC |
|
2/5 |
2/4 |
0/1 |
0/0 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
19:39 |
| 40 |
Ashley Albertson-EV |
|
2/8 |
2/6 |
0/2 |
0/0 |
4 |
0 |
9 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
19:39 |
| 44 |
* Arie Boyd-SV |
|
1/6 |
0/1 |
1/5 |
0/0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
20:21 |
| |
Team |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
5 |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Totals |
|
20/62 | 14/37 | 6/25 | 12/14 | 58 | 9 | 32 | 41 | 20 |
0 |
12 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 9 |
200 |
| Total FG |
1st Half |
12/37 |
32.4% |
2nd Half |
8/25 |
32.0% |
Game |
20/62 |
32.3% |
|---|
| 3 PT FG |
1st Half |
4/15 |
26.7% |
2nd Half |
2/10 |
20.0% |
Game |
6/25 |
24.0% |
|---|
| Free Throws |
1st Half |
5/6 |
83.3% |
2nd Half |
7/8 |
87.5% |
Game |
12/14 |
85.7% |
|---|
|
| |
Eas | Nor |
|
Eas | Nor |
|
Eas | Nor |
| Free Throw Pts |
17 |
12 |
3Pt Points |
3 |
18 |
Pts/Possession |
0.80 |
0.69 |
| Pts off Turnovers |
28 |
9 |
2nd Chance Points |
11 |
6 |
Pts off Bench |
20 |
26 |
| Total Rebounds |
52 |
41 |
Team Rebounds |
8 |
6 |
Dead Ball Reb |
5 |
1 |
| Off Rebound % |
36.0 |
20.9 |
Def Rebound % |
79.1 |
64.0 |
Total Rebound % |
55.9 |
44.1 |
| 3Pt Efficiency |
-27.7 |
-1.2 |
Def. Stops |
57 |
48 |
Pts/Shot |
0.78 |
0.84 |
| Effective FG% |
33.6 |
37.1 |
FT Rate |
0.24 |
0.19 |
Points in Paint |
0 |
0 |
| Technical Fouls |
Eas |
None |
| |
Nor |
None |
| Officials |
Unknown |
|
| |
1st Half | 2nd Half | OT 1 | OT 2 | OT 3 | OT 4 | Total |
| East All-Stars |
18 |
46 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
64 |
|---|
| North All-Stars |
33 |
25 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
58 |
|---|
|
| Largest Lead |
Nor 33 Eas 17 (16 pts) |
Lead Changes |
3 |
|
|
Number of Ties |
1 |
|
|---|
| Longest Run |
Nor 12-0 Eas 14-0 |
|---|
| Comments: |
None |
|---|
Battle of the Border All-Star rosters announced (Nico)
March 18, 2014
Lewiston Tribune
March 18, 2014
Border rosters announced
The top high-school senior basketball players in southeastern Washington and central Idaho will take the hardwood one last time in the fourth annual Battle at the Border all-star game Wednesday at Clarkston's Kramer Gym.
The event will begin with the girls' game at 6 p.m., followed by the boys' contest. There will be 3-point contests for both genders, as well as a boys' dunk competition.
Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students and seniors.
Southeastern Washington coaches - Corey Baerlocher, Reece Jenkins (Colfax).
Southeastern Washington players - Jenna Moser (Colton), Brielle Whittaker (Asotin), Taylor Redman (Garfield-Palouse), Mattie Jo Johnson (Tekoa Oakesdale), Nicole Sheer (Colfax), Mackenzie Reddish (Rosaila), Torrie Koller (Pomeroy), Emily Jones (St. John-Endicott), Mackenzie Monahan (Pomeroy), Jackie Warner (Colton).
Central Idaho coaches - Ron Ireland (Kendrick), Lori Mader (Prairie).
Central Idaho players - Chantel Key (Grangeville), Kelsie Seitz (Nezperce), Aleesha Arnzen (Nezperce), Rayla Lohman (Lewiston), Carli Taylor (Kendrick), Paige Wells (Lewiston), Kyndahl Ulmer (Prairie), Nicole Wemhoff (Prairie), Sam Moser (Genesee), Abby Smith (Kendrick).
Southeastern Washington coaches - Seth Payne, Ben Aune (Colton).
Southeastern Washington players - DePaul Blunt (Clarkston), Jake Straughan (Colton), Kage Sobotta (Clarkston), Race Martin (Pullman), Jesse Lopez (Garfield Palouse), David Ungerer (Pullman), Riley Bott (Pomeroy), Craig Nelson (Rosalia), Cody LaMunyan (Pomeroy), Riley Roberts (LaCrosse-Washtucna), Dalton Patchen (Colton), AJ Miles (Pullman).
Central Idaho coaches - Aaron Dail (Moscow), Jeff Wright (Orofino)
Central Idaho players - Nico Higheagle (Lapwai), Cody Self (Troy), Jake Farmer (Clearwater Valley), Reggie Tillman (Genesee), Jared Higgins (Prairie), Josh Dame (Grangeville), Leighton Vander Esch (Salmon River), Michael Waters (Summit), Adam Gresch (Moscow), Nick Ellison (Moscow).
Washington sweeps all-star game (Nico)
March 20, 2014
Lewiston Tribune
March 20, 2014
Pullman's Race Martin bounced the ball high beyond the 3-point line, did a cartwheel and in one motion caught the ball and threw down a two-hand slam to claim the dunk contest at the fourth annual Battle of the Border All Star game Wednesday at Clarkston's Kramer Gym.
Washington swept the games, claiming the girls' contest 61-57 and the boys' game 98-91 in overtime.
Jenna Moser won the 3-point contest for the girls, while AJ Miles from Pullman won the boys' 3-point contest.
Southeastern Washington (61)
Jenna Moser (Colton) 4 7-8 17, Brielle Whittaker (Asotin) 0 2-2 2, Taylor Redman (Garfield-Palouse) 3 0-0 6, Nicole Sheer (Colfax) 1 0-0 3, Mackenzie Reddish (Rosaila) 4 3-4 12, Torrie Koller (Pomeroy) 2 2-2 6, Emily Jones (St. John-Endicott) 0 2-2 2, Mackenzie Monahan (Pomeroy) 2 0-0 4, Jackie Warner (Colton) 2 1-1 6, Miranda Beuke (Clarkston) 1 1-2 3. Totals 19 18-21 61.
Kelsie Seitz (Nezperce) 4 1-2 10, Aleesha Arnzen (Nezperce) 0 0-0 0, Rayla Lohman (Lewiston) 1 1-2 4, Carli Taylor (Kendrick) 0 0-0 0, Paige Wells (Lewiston) 0 0-0 0, Kyndahl Ulmer (Prairie) 3 10-15 17, Nicole Wemhoff (Prairie) 0 0-0 0, Sam Moser (Genesee) 1 1-2 3, Abby Smith (Kendrick) 9 3-3 23. Totals 18 16-24 57.
Three-point goals - Moser 2, Sheer, Redish, Warner, Seitz, Lohman, Ulmer, Smith 2
Southeastern Washington (98)
DePaul Blunt (Clarkston) 2 2-2 7, Kage Sobotta (Clarkston) 7 2-4 19, Race Martin (Pullman) 5 2-2 14, Ryan Adams (Clarkston) 2 0-0 4, David Ungerer (Pullman) 8 2-4 21, Riley Bott (Pomeroy) 1 0-2 2, Craig Nelson (Rosalia) 2 2-3 7, Cody LaMunyan (Pomeroy) 2 0-0 5, Dalton Patchen (Colton) 1 0-0 2, AJ Miles (Pullman) 6 0-0 17. Totals 36 10-17 98.
Nico Higheagle (Lapwai) 3 0-0 9, Cody Self (Troy) 1 1-2 3, Jake Farmer (Clearwater Valley) 3 1-1 7, Reggie Tillman (Genesee) 7 3-5 19, Jared Higgins (Prairie) 1 0-0 3, Josh Dame (Grangeville) 3 0-0 7, Leighton Vander Esch (Salmon River) 13 7-10 37, Michael Waters (Summit) 2 0-0 6. Totals 33 13-19 91.
Three-point goals - Blunt, Sobotta 3, Martin 2, Ungerer 3, Nelson, LaMunyan, Miles 5, Higheagle 3, Tilleman 2, Higgins, Dame, Vander Esch 4, Waters 2
Senior All-Stars play one more District 2 Prep All-Star game (Nico)
March 12, 2014
Senior All-Stars play one more District 2 Prep All-Star game
By Matthew Sizemore Published: Mar 13, 2014 at 7:52 AM PDT
LEWISTON, ID - State finals for prep basketball ended last weekend, but a couple players got a chance to play in one more game Wednesday night.
Booth Hall in Lewiston was the site for the District 2 Prep All-Star game, where senior all stars from several different Idaho schools came together for one last hurrah.
The girls began the action with an intense game,though intense might be a little too strong of a word as both teams seemed to be smiling most of the time and having fun. After a three-point shooting contest at halftime, it would be the south that got the win, 40-32.
The boys were up next and put on a shooting display for the crowd, as well as a three-point contest and dunk contest as well, and in this high scoring affair, it was the north that wins it, 73-68. Congrats to all seniors selected to this fun event!
Note: Cece Bohnee, Kevin Tannehill, and Nico Higheagle played for Lapwai. Nico scored 38 points (his team lost). Kevin won the 3-point contest.
Congratulations Kendall and Payton! Kamiah Tourney Champions!
March 15, 2014
Lapwai Boys beat Highland in OT to claim Kamiah Tourney Title
Team: Maceo Henry, Kendall Leighton, Nick Schimmel, Pox Pox Young, Kieran Garcia, Payton Sobotta, JJ Reuben
Texts from Angel & Dawn:
The boys won in OT. They had a good lead and blew it and were down by 6 with 2 min. Payton and Mick were big again with 3s and free trows. Payton hit the 3 to get them to OT. The game before he had 6 3s.... He got most outstanding player and All Star!
I made Grace & Glory sit in the same order each game today. We started to let them (other team) back (in game) & I noticed after half that Glory moved by Grace instead of 1 on each side of me. I said, "This Chick!" & had to have Grace tell her "What?" So I think my genius move had a lot to do w/ comeback! ;) KD (Kendall) played good D, got several assists, had 12 pts & kept his head in the game. Saw good leadership. I thought JJ as a big inside presence... But they pulled off a great WIN. A 3 sec call did help us out in OT when a Highland player hit a 3, negated the attempt, WHEW! I'm tired, long day in Kamiah.
Spokane Jr Chiefs U18 - State Champions
March 2, 2014
PNAHA State Champions
With a sweep of 5 games the Spokane Jr Chiefs U18 won the State Championship
With this win the team earned a spot in the USA Hockey Nationals in Wayne, New Jersey taking place April 2-6th.
Way to go JR CHIEFS!!!
LCSC's Leighton runs well but misses finals at nationals
March 7, 2014
Track & Field - Thu, Mar. 6, 2014 at 5:50 PM
GENEVA, Ohio – Lewis-Clark State College senior Chelsey Leighton had a personal-record time of 18:13.54, but it wasn't quite enough to qualify for the finals in the 5,000 meters on opening day of the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships on Thursday.
Leighton, who is from Lapwai, Idaho, had the 18th best time overall at the SPIRE Institute Track and Field Sports Complex. The top four runners in both heats plus the next four fastest times advance to the finals on Saturday.
LCSC head coach Mike Collins said Leighton was slowed due to the fact that she competed in a half marathon qualifier just last weekend where she qualified for outdoor nationals.
"It was an awesome effort, but just not enough recovery time to have the pop necessary to get to the final," said Collins. "Pretty proud of her. I always talk to them about how every championship race helps you get better for the next. Her first comment coming off the track was how this will help her in May."
Along with Leighton, LCSC has five athletes competing at nationals in Geneva. Friday and Saturday action will feature Kaytlyn Coleman in the weight throw and shot put, Rachel Cundy and Sam Atkin in the 3K, and Pauric McLaughlin in the mile.
Results: 5,000 Meters (pdf)
http://www.lcwarriors.com/article/2194.php
Snake River Half Marathon (Chelsey)
March 2, 2014
Chelsey finishes 36th (3rd place for women) and qualifies for NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the Marathon.
Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium, Gulf Shores, AL, May 22-24, 2014
Lapwai BB District Photos
February 27, 2014
Tribune/Steve Hanks
Camas Prairie Coup
Lapwai’s Imani Mitchell attempts to get his shot over the Prairie defense of Lucas Arnzen and Jake Bruner in the second quarter
Tribune/Steve Hanks
Camas Prairie Coup
Lapwai’s Imani Mitchell attempts to get his shot over the Prairie defense of Lucas Arnzen and Jake Bruner in the second quarter
Congratulations Payton! Boise Crash the BoardsTourney Champions!
February 23, 2014
Congratulations Titus! Spokane Shootout Spring Classic Champions!
February 23, 2014
Lapwai GBB State Semi-Final Photos
February 21, 2014
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Lapwai’s Koyama Young (left) and Shiniah Holt (right) put the defensive squeeze on Genesee’s Kayla Cornell. The Wildcats forced a turnover on this play and eventually cruised to a 52-31 win over the Bulldogs on Friday at Nampa.
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Lapwai's Evelyn Bohnee splits the Genesee defense of Brittney Burt (5), Kayla Cornell (2) and Holly Carter for a layup during fourth-quarter action Friday.
Idaho girls' basketball state tournament team previews
Lewiston Tribune
February 20, 2014
Class 1A Division I
State seed: District IV-V-VI runner-up
Coach: Jim Chamberlain, fourth season
Players to watch: G Kaylee Olson, jr.; G Brielle Sheppeard, jr.
Notes: The Vikings make their sixth postseason appearance in seven seasons. Challis graduated four from last year's 17-9 team which played in the state consolation game, but went 7-5 in conference action to wrap up the fourth seed for districts. The Vikings have won four of their last five, including an upset of No. 4 Grace in the district tournament second place game for an automatic berth to state. ... Challis's last trophy was in 2011 (third place).
State seed: District II third place (play-in winner)
Coach: Brandon McIntosh, first season
Players to watch: F Sam Moser; G Kaleigh Ranisate.
Notes: The Bulldogs are led by Moser, a feisty forward who refuses to lose. Whenever Genesee is in a drought, look for Moser to take over the game. Ranisate, a sophomore, is the team's leader in scoring at 17 points per game. Entering this year, the Bulldogs had won 22 games the past three years.
State seed: District IV-V-VI third place (play-in winner)
Coach: Kevin Smith, sixth season
Players to watch: F Mackenzie Windley, sr.; G Kate Skinner, sr.
Notes: The Grizzlies are back in the state tournament after fighting through a tough district bracket, eventually defeating Idaho City in a play-in game. ... Grace lost three district games during the regular season, two of them to undefeated Hagerman.
State seed: District IV-V-VI champion
Coach: Dana Bates, first season
Players to watch: G Larissa Knight, sr.; F Aly Sauer, sr.
Notes: Hagerman is the only team to make the girls state tournament with a perfect record. ... Knight is the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,238 points. She broke a 75-year-old scoring record set when girls basketball was played 3-on-3. ... Sauer is a double-double machine, using her 6-foot-4 frame to alter and block shots. She can also step out and hit a 3-pointer, causing matchup problems defensively. ... Point guard Hayley White is an effective distributor and would stand out on most teams, but could be one of the most underrated players in the tournament.
State seed: District II champion
Coach: Shawn Spencer, 17th season
Players to watch: G Iris Domebo; F Taylor Whitney
Notes: Domebo may be only a freshman, but she may just be the best player in the state at the 1A level. She can take over games for the Wildcats. Lapwai has tons of depth and its posts are underrated. Cyra Cunningham and Taylor Whitney may be as good as any pair of forwards in the state tournament.
State seed: District III champion
Coach: Brad Huter, fifth season
Players to watch: PG Alana Riley, so.; F Gabby Okamura, so.; G Jacylinn Parra, so.
Notes: Enters the state tournament on a 10-game winning streak. ... The Pirates' top four leading scorers are all sophomores. ... Point guard Alana Riley leads the sophomore group with 14.8 points and 4 steals per game. Gabby Okamura (4.8 ppg) tops the team in rebounds at 7 per game. And Jacylinn Para (4.5 ppg) averages 2.4 assists per game.
State seed: District II runner-up
Coach: Lori Mader, fourth season
Players to watch: F Kyndahl Ulmer; F Kayla Schumacher; G Nicole Wemhoff.
Notes: Prairie has made state four years in a row now. The Pirates' best player, Ulmer, won a title with Kamiah last year, and the Pirates have the depth to compete for a title this year. Their offense runs through their posts.
State seed: District III runner-up
Coach: Bobby Jean Colyer, first season
Players to watch: G Kyla Jewett, sr.; G/F Sami Bachman, sr.; G Desi Meyers, sr.
Notes: Qualified for the state tournament for the second year in a row. ... Went two-and-out at last year's tournament, and its last state tournament win came in 2006 when the Raiders finished fourth in the 16-team 1A tournament. ... Had a 10-game winning streak snapped in a 44-42 loss to Notus in the District III championship game. ... Two of its three losses came to Notus.
Her timiine on her sleeve
February 20, 2014
Her timiine on her sleeve
Lapwai freshman Iris Domebo has a lot to play for at state tournament
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Lapwai’s Iris Domebo pulls down a rebound during the district title game against Prairie. Domebo, one of seven freshmen on the Wildcats’ varsity squad this season, is hoping to help Lapwai bring back a trophy from this week’s state tournament in Nampa.
By Byron Edelman of the Tribune The Lewiston Tribune |
In the Nez Perce language, timiine - pronounced tee-men-ay - means heart.
And when Iris Domebo plays basketball, the Lapwai freshman personifies timiine.
"She plays with timiine," explained Iris' mom, Tonia Domebo, "because she plays for other people so that makes it more meaningful."
So who does Domebo play for?
She plays for her community - a sea of Carolina blue in the stands.
She competes to pay homage to her great-grandparents, Skip and Connie Skanen, and longtime Lapwai fan June Boyer - all of whom have died within the past few weeks.
And the 14-year-old also plays for her teammate, Ione Chimburas, who suffered a knee injury earlier this season.
Domebo honors Chimburas by wearing a long-sleeved Under Armour shirt on the court; that's what Chimburas would have worn if she was still on the court.
"We don't just play for ourselves," said Iris, the cousin of former Lapwai star Andrae Domebo and Lewiston and Oregon State standout Kiki Edwards-Teasley.
"We play for our family and our community," she said. "And we play for June Boyer, because she was a longtime Lapwai fan, and she had just recently passed away. It's really sad because she was there at all the games, and she'll be dearly missed."
Propelled by all that, the Wildcats find themselves in familiar territory: entering the Idaho Class 1A Division I state tournament for the 14th straight year as the division's top-ranked team - despite listing only one senior on their roster.
The Wildcats, who have won eight straight games (all by 20 or more points), will tip off their tournament today at 12:15 p.m. PST at Nampa's Columbia High, facing Challis.
After finishing runner-up last year, the Wildcats return boasting plenty of experience - a fact which seems slightly incongruent with their youth.
Despite listing seven freshmen on a 12-member roster, the Wildcats look like they've been at it for years - probably because they have.
Before entering middle school, the freshman class for Lapwai played AAU basketball for coach Chantal Ellenwood, a former Lapwai basketball player who employed many of the same pressure defensive schemes the Wildcats ran when she played for Spencer.
And whenever Ellenwood, a 2010 Wildcat grad, would run her players during practice, she'd remind them what they were working toward: a state title.
"They've been preparing for this since the sixth grade," said Ellenwood, who won a title herself with Lapwai in 2009. "When my girls get on the court, they just control the whole game. We've had a trap defense ever since I started (working with) them and they don't know how to give up. They never let their emotions get to them, they never let the crowd get to them. And they're very coachable."
Perhaps illustrating the growing process for this year's Wildcats, Lapwai opened its season with a 12-point loss to Grangeville, but finished the month of January with a 26-point triumph over the perennial 2A powerhouse Bulldogs.
"The first time we played them, we had jitters and were scared, but this time, we knew more about each other, so right when we got on that floor, it was battle time," said Domebo, who praised the Bulldogs for their speed and fight, respecting her foe without providing bulletin-board material for future meetings. In short, Domebo responded like a veteran.
"She's just a really mature kid for her age," Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer said of his team's leading scorer.
Spencer quickly pointed out that his rotation runs 10 deep and of those who see time on the court, five or six have led the team in scoring at some point this season.
"That's one of the factors (that contribute to Lapwai's success)," Spencer said of his team's balanced scoring. "The team is so deep, opponents can't focus on one or two people."
When you face Lapwai, you never know who will hurt you. In the post there's sophomore Taylor Whitney and junior Cyra Cunningham, both of whom played a key role in neutralizing Prairie's twin towers in the Wildcats' district title triumph last weekend.
And then there's the leadership of junior guards Marquel Shawl and Erin Ramsey, who have "really helped out these younger players, taken them under their wings," Spencer said.
And then there's the fabulous freshmen: Shiniah Holt, Domebo, Cherish Arthur, Chimburas, Koyama Young, Joandra Wilson and Evelyn Bohnee.
Those newcomers scored more than half of Lapwai's points in the district title tilt against Prairie, after which many Wildcats shed tears of joy.
"Everybody was crying, not like a sad cry, but a happy cry, like you've accomplished something that you worked so hard for," Domebo said.
Her team, she added, is playing to both honor the dead and the living.
"We're trying to get that banner for her (Boyer), and everybody in Lapwai," said Domebo, who is averaging 16 points per game in her first postseason. "We all love each other."
Congratulations Glory & Micaiah! Colton Tourney Champions!
February 16, 2014
Congratulations Devayne! Phoenix Hockey Invitational Champions!!
February 17, 2014
Headline: Nez Perce Youth's Team Wins Phoenix Hockey Tournament
Devayne Lewis, 17, traveled with his Spokane Jr. Chief U18 Midget Team to the Phoenix President's Day Hockey Invitational on February 14-17. They won the Midget U18AA tournament title with a 3-0 win over the North Delta Sundevils A1. Overall, they finished with a 4-1-1 record in their seven-team division.
The tournament featured 147 Teams in 20 divisions. There were 57 Canadian Teams and 90 US teams from 10 states. The Phoenix Invitational is the largest youth hockey tournament in the country held on President's Day weekend.
The Spokane Jr. Chief U18 Midgets have an overall 43-10-6 record for the 2013-14 season (September to April). They will return to prepare for the state tournament in Spokane on February 28 to March 2. Their goal is to qualify for the national tournament in Wayne, NJ, on April 2-6.
Devayne is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe and a senior at University High School in Spokane. He has been playing hockey since he was 6-years-old. His favorite NHL team is the Dallas Stars and his favorite player is Mike Modano. Devayne also participates in Lacrosse.
His parents, Joe and Kathy Lewis, and siblings, Kellen and Gabriella, traveled to Phoenix to support Devayne and his team. Devayne's grandparents are Jon and Rosa Yearout of Lapwai, the late Larry McFarland Sr., Etta Conner of Pendleton, OR, and the late Harry Lewis.
Chelsey and the Sunken Garden
May 23, 2013
An LCSC marathoner goes the distance for a neighborhood shadowed by grief
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Chelsey Leighton of Lewis-Clark State, a former sprinter in high school, will attempt the longest race in college sports, the marathon, in the NAIA national track meet this week. Leighton dedicates her running in part to the memory of four children from her Lapwai neighborhood who have died of varied causes over the past 16 years.
Tribune/Kyle Mills
Chelsey Leighton runs near the Lewiston levee as she prepares for NAIA Nationals this week in Indiana.
Posted: Thursday, May 23, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 12:30 am, Thu May 23, 2013.
LAPWAI - Chelsey Leighton stood at the edge of a vast, curious blanket of imperfectly green grass, adjacent to her family's back yard, and spoke of all the people and objects that her visitor couldn't possibly see. She began with the objects.
"Before I was born, there used to be a big fountain there," the collegiate distance runner said, pointing toward the middle of the block-long pseudo-park. "That got taken out, and now it's just a big patch of land to play in, I guess."
The Sunken Garden, as it's generally called, is an undulating, slightly concave expanse of green and brown, often speckled with dandelions and still scarred at the periphery by old projects to remove walkways or plumbing. Owned but largely unused by the Lapwai School District, it's too bare to be an official park and too oddly shaped to be an official athletic venue.
But to the children whose parents or grandparents have homes surrounding it - a close-knit, education-minded community of Nez Perce Tribal members such as the Leightons, the Picards, the Bisbees and the Kanes - the Sunken Garden has long been a giant backyard commonwealth, a place to play flashlight tag or football on summer evenings, or to run through the sprinklers when it's time for Josh Leighton to water.
It was Chelsey Leighton's first athletic training ground, before she expanded her range to include all the roads and hills between here and Lewiston. She runs for Lewis-Clark State College and is preparing for the longest race in college sports, the marathon event of the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week at Marion, Ind.
In accepting the challenge of that 26.2-mile race Saturday - her first marathon - she will, in part, be honoring her distinctive neighborhood, with its sense of community, its devotion to sports and, in recent years, its inescapable tinge of sadness.
The mere term, "Sunken Garden," in fact, brings tears to Leighton's eyes.
Over the last decade and a half, for reasons that bear no relation to one another, four children in the neighbhood have died, all boys between the ages of 7 and 15. Among them was one of Leighton's younger brothers, who was born with a severe genetic disorder and, by surviving to 71/2, furnished a vivid model of persistence to Leighton and her siblings.
A couple of decades ago, people say, you would often hear war whoops piercing the air from one end of the Garden to the other: loud, exuberant cries - from, say Quanah Picard to Mike Bisbee Jr. - that evoked their ancestors' fading traditions and might express anything from "Whassup?" to "Great game last night!"
These past few years, you don't hear the war whoops so often.
The most recent loss in the neighborhood came just five weeks ago, when 8-year-old Michael (BB) Bisbee III, the only son of Mike Jr. and Roberta Bisbee, died in what police called an accidental shooting.
Before that, an especially heavy toll was exacted on Bill and Lori Picard, who lost two children to separate car accidents. Quanah Picard, 15, and three of his cousins were killed in a wreck near Stites in 1997. Three years later, Skylin Picard, 8, was the lone fatality in an accident involving black ice on a shaded stretch of U.S. 95 near Culdesac.
For Josh and Dawn Leighton, the jolt was less sudden, the stages of grief more distended. The fourth of their seven children, Garrett, was born with a severe case of Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder of the connective tissue that can undermine the functions of the heart and lungs.
He endured numerous surgeries, including open-heart procedures and another to remove the lenses of his eyes. He was, because of his condition, tall for his age but heartbreakingly thin. He wore thick trifocal glasses and, 23 hours a day, a spinal brace.
Yet he was an integral member of the Sunken Garden scene, as active as his condition allowed. He even earned a measure of rez-ball cachet in this basketball-adoring town, with his doggedly practiced behind-the-back pass.
"When he was born, we were told he would probably make it 24 hours," said Josh Leighton, who has been the boys' basketball coach at Lapwai High for the better part of two decades. "He was an inspiration to everybody."
Chelsey Leighton was born 21 months before Garrett and was his closest playmate, in some ways a typical older sister but one whose initial perplexity over his syndrome - "Why is my little brother taller than me?" - gradually gave way to solicitousness and admiration.
"He was, I don't know if I would say quiet, but kept to himself," she said. "But once you got to know him, you'd see he had a spunk about him. He was always doing crazy things or he had crazy stories to tell."
Two years ago, Chelsey, to the surprise of her parents, became the first person in her family to get a tattoo: a permanent bracelet on her left wrist that bears Garrett's initials, GBL, and the phrase, "Always in my heart."
In describing Chelsey Leighton, friends and acquaintances use some of the same words that she uses about Garrett. She initially seems quiet, enigmatic, and later a certain spunk, an orneriness, becomes apparent, along with an unusual degree of resolve.
"I feel like I grew up faster than other people - just that experience and then, after his passing, having to help my little brothers through it," she said.
As the daughter of two basketball coaches (Dawn is a former Lapwai assistant) Chelsey naturally viewed that sport as her first athletic priority. She was known primarily as a board-tender, a slender, laconic 5-foot-5 forward who invested so much effort in carving out space under the basket that she became one of the Whitepine League's leading rebounders as a senior.
Somehow she juggled five sports during the course of a school year, not including cheerleading. Track was initially an afterthought, not quite worthy of the level of focus she brought to her primary loves. Lapwai track coach Tami Church, her exasperation now turned to amusement, recalls how Leighton during her freshman and sophomore years would show up for practice in dress boots with wedge heels.
"She'd run by in her boots and say, 'I hate to run,' " Church said.
She was a good sprinter but thought the 400-meter beyond her powers of endurance. Running the anchor leg on Lapwai's 4x400-meter relay team as a freshman in the state meet, she jogged the first 300 meters until her closest pursuer nearly pulled even, then dashed away for an easy victory.
Church looked at her and said, "Really, Chels?"
She was perhaps two years into her track and cross-country career at LCSC before she truly relinquished her basketball dreams, deciding finally to leave that sport to her closest friend and fellow Sunken Garden Kid, Annie Kane, who led the Warrior women's team in scoring this past season.
In retrospect, though, Leighton's transformation into a college track athlete, in the most extreme of events, makes sense to seemingly everyone.
"She's one of those people that has always been able to tolerate a lot of pain and intense training," Kane said. "That's just kind of her mentality. It's pretty amazing to see someone go from being a 400-meter runner to someone who runs 90 minutes a day. But that's totally Chelsey and her work ethic."
After lengthy runs, she sometimes lowers herself into the frigid waters of the Clearwater River and soaked there there in lieu of an ice bath. When her grandmother, Rosa Yearout, heard about the practice, she was delighted, remembering stories of her Nez Perce forebears undergoing the same austerities.
Mike Collins, the LCSC track and cross-country coach, also notes Leighton's diligence and says her transition from sprinting to distance running has been smooth.
"She has a technique with her running that's extremely efficient," he said. "She's lightweight, she doesn't waste any energy - she was never that typical former 400-meter runner with the high knee action who looks like a sprinter."
Even after she made a full commitment to track, though, she needed time to find her exact niche. She's an avowed goal-setter, determined to win NAIA All-America status in some realm. At the national cross country meet last November at Vancouver, Wash., she narrowly missed that goal by placing 31st instead of 30th. Family members say they're to blame, counting the runners in front of her incorrectly as they advised her along the course.
Over the next few weeks, she made an astonishing decision: to become the resident women's marathoner for the LCSC track team this spring. The NAIA is the only collegiate organization to offer the race, and of course it requires months of comprehensive training. The LCSC senior - actually, she's a junior in track eligibility, and has three semesters remaining to get her elementary-education degree - qualified for the national meet by recording the requisite time in a 13.1-mile race in March. She is ranked third in a field of 45 qualifiers.
In taking on these increasingly daunting challenges, Leighton, like most athletes, has trouble articulating her exact sources of motivation. But they all seem to lead back to the Sunken Garden, for her and for other athletes from the neighborhood.
She and Kane were classmates with Skylin Picard, to mention just one association, and the Sunken Garden Kids have increasingly developed a habit of honoring their late friends with, for example, the jersey numbers they choose. It can get a little complicated. The Bisbees' 14-year-old daughter, Micah LaQuann, is named after Quanah Picard and is now also dedicating her athletic endeavors to BB. Meanwhile, her role models are Kane and Chelsey Leighton.
Said Leighton, "After I lost my brother, I guess in the back of my mind that I was doing what he couldn't - just doing it for him. Our block is so close. I always hear from my neighbors about seeing me run and how proud they are of me. I guess I'm doing it for them, too."
The Sunken Garden lies at the south end of Lolo Street, which coils surreptitiously along a stretch of town south of the high school and just west of U.S. 95.
The school district mows the grass of the Sunken Garden, though somehow the task of watering has fallen to one of the district's teachers, Josh Leighton. In some ways, he and the other parents and grandparents of the neighborhood view the Garden the way they view one another - as a partner in the constant task of keeping their children out of harm's way.
"We wouldn't have to worry," said Dawn Leighton, an elementary-school teacher, "because all the parents would look out the windows and there were our kids. It was kind of a safe place."
Many people in the neighborhood talk about the fountain that once graced the center of the Garden, but few of them are old enough to have seen it operate.
Until 1948, according to school-district documents, the property was owned by the Nez Perce Tribe, which apparently viewed it more explicitly as a public park. Norm Bisbee, grandfather of Mike Jr., said the fountain was perhaps 12 feet in diameter, double-tiered and "worked beautifully - shot water straight up in the air."
There are even rumors, according to former school-district buildings supervisor Jim Hoisington, that the spouting water, in winter, was sometimes allowed to spill over and freeze: The Sunken Garden would become an ice-skating rink. That would explain, in any case, the shape of the park, which looks specifically contoured to hold water.
After an elementary-school fire created a need for more school space, Hoisington said, the school district negotiated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to acquire several patches of land and the buildings on them. For some reason, the Sunken Garden was part of that arrangement.
But the fountain, in ensuing years, fell into disuse. The concrete crumbled and was eventually removed in the 1960s.
As Bill Picard describes it, war whoops had almost endless applications in the heyday of the Sunken Garden Crew.
On hunting trips with his son Quanah and other boys, the whoop was a way of signaling to one another when a kill had been made. Later, during player introductions at football games, it became a distinctive cheer for particular players.
Last month, following the death of BB Bisbee, mourners gathered at the Pi Nee Waus Community Center in Lapwai for a memorial service, and among the eulogies was one by Bill Picard, who works in the tribe's education department and is a former girls' basketball coach at Lapwai and other schools. He recited a poem he had written that recalled BB's rambunctious spirit, and he imagined a gathering on a higher plane of the Sunken Garden Kids, including his own two sons.
He also told stories that evoked the camaraderie of the neighborhood, with its rituals and quirks, in both good times and bad.
"I miss those war whoops," he said.
The next day, the mourners climbed into cars for BB's funeral procession, and they took a deliberate detour to Lolo Street. When they passed the Bisbees' home, across from the Sunken Garden, a chorus of male voices filled the air with war whoops, again and again, all the way down Lolo Street and beyond.
To Mike and Roberta Bisbee, friendship with the Picards and the Leightons has never been more valuable.
"They're a great help, because they've gone through losing a child," Mike Bisbee said. "They're kind of the reason I make it every day."
On the morning of April 21, Chelsey Leighton sat in the Lewiston Orchards home of Dan and Tami Church, whose son Drew has been dating the LCSC runner since their sophomore year of high school. Tami Church was struck by how calm she looked, sitting there and removing lint from a garment. Perhaps she wasn't taking the Seaport River Run in Lewiston very seriously. The race, after all, was supposed to start in a hour.
The Churches left for a Spokane Shock game, and the next morning were stunned to read a newspaper article proclaiming Leighton the winner of the women's 10-kilometer segment of the Seaport, which drew more than 1,300 entries.
"It must be a misprint," Dan Church said.
Over in Lapwai, Bill Picard read the same newspaper account and, elated, woke his wife and recited the story to her.
"It was almost like my own daughter had won," he said. "Our community has become so close, because of Garrett and Quanah and Skylin and now BB. We're almost like a family, rather than neighbors."
A few days later, giving a visitor a tour of the neighborhood, Chelsey Leighton paused and tried to tease out the string of associations that the strange term, Sunken Garden, evokes for her.
It starts with a remarkable photograph. Taken in perhaps 1997 by her aunt Joyce McFarland, it shows Chelsey and Garrett, aged about 6 and 4, standing in their front yard on a sunny morning, probably Easter.
Garrett, ethereal-looking behind thick glasses, stands almost as tall as his older sister. Chelsey, in a purple dress, extends one arm around Garrett's shoulders while, with the other, displays a plate full, not of Easter eggs, but of dandelions. They're freshly picked from the Sunken Garden.
© 2013 The Lewiston Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Leighton takes 9th in NAIA marathon
May 26, 2013
Leighton takes 9th in NAIA marathon
LCSC runner falls just shy of All-America recognition; Atkin takes third in 5,000
Posted: Sunday, May 26, 2013 12:00 am
MARION, Ind. - After months of training and three hours of nonstop racing, Chelsey Leighton finished 12 seconds short of her goal.
But she's getting used to near-misses.
The Lewis-Clark State runner from Lapwai placed ninth in the women's marathon Saturday at the NAIA national track meet, making up ground in the final 6 miles but falling one place away from All-America status.
It was a familiar outcome for Leighton, who also missed All-America designation by one place at the NAIA cross-country meet last fall, after coming within one place of a podium finish in her only state cross-country meet for Lapwai High.
"There's some lesson I'm supposed to be learning from this," she said by phone, laughing. "Maybe I just haven't learned it yet."
For the Warrior men, Sam Atkin placed third in the 5,000-meter run, Hayden Randall was fourth in the steeplechase and Pauric McLaughlin was eighth in the 800.
Leighton, running in 10th place with 6 miles remaining in the 26.2-mile race, moved into ninth and whittled a 95-second gap between her and Kimberly Kent of Vanguard to 12 seconds over the last few miles.
"I was giving it everything I had, and my legs were just not going any faster," she said. "Over that last 6 miles, when I was trying to make up ground, that caught up to me."
She finished in ninth place with a time of 3 hours, 1 minute, 54.90 seconds. Kent was eighth in 3:01:42.40.
But Leighton was upbeat afterward.
"A little bit of disappointment again," she said, "but I'm happy with the race. I was happy just to be able to finish that close to my goal."
The winner was Monika Kalicinska of St. Gregory's in 2:50.52.70.
It was the first marathon for Leighton, who decided to specialize in that event in track after her disappointment in cross-country season. She was ranked third of 45 qualifiers, based on half-marathon times, and the first 13 miles went smoothly.
"I was very relaxed for half the race - I was sticking to my plan," she said. "In the second half, there was a group of girls that kind of got away from me. ... It was definitely a learning experience. If I had run one before, I might have known to go out a little faster with those girls, or start making my move earlier rather than the 20-mile mark."
Because of the high training demands of a marathon, Leighton entered in no other collegiate races this season, getting her only taste of competition while winning the women's 10-kilometer segment of the Seaport River Run last month.
"I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for this race," she said. "Right as the gun sounded I was kind of grinning from ear to ear - this is so much fun."
In cross country, Leighton's college eligibility has expired. She has one remaining year of track eligibility, and heading into this race she wasn't sure if she would take advantage of it.
Now she has decided she will.
"When I crossed the finish line, I think it was 12 seconds behind," she said, "my first thought was, 'OK, we're coming back next year.' "
Atkin, a freshman, had posted the top qualifying time in the men's 5,000 but settled for third in the final in 14:10.94, behind winner John Gilbertson of The Master's in 14:08.07 and Greg Montgomery of the College of Idhao in 14:09.24.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE RESULTS
800 - 8, Pauric McLaughlin
5000 - 3, Sam Atkin 14:10.94.
Steeplechase - 4, Hayden Randall 9:12.67.
1500 - 12, Kelsey Klettke 4:43.84.
Marathon - 9, Chelsey Leighton 3:01:54.90.
Discus - 20, Kaytlyn Coleman 127-2.
© 2013 The Lewiston Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
KLEW TV: Prep Athlete of the Week (Nico Higheagle)
October 17, 2013
In remembrance of grandfather keeps Higheagle playing football
By Matthew SizemorePublished: Oct 17, 2013 at 11:39 AM PST
LAPWAI, ID - Though it really should be anywhere you go, it seems that having a strong sense of family is extremely important in smaller towns and communities. Today we meet a young man whose sense of family knows no limits, and if it weren't for his love for his kin, he might not be helping his football team to a winning record. This week's P1FCU "Prep Athlete of The Week" is Lapwai High Senior, Nico Higheagle.
Nico Higheagle is a talented basketball player and track athlete that only played football when he was much younger. He came back his senior year for one reason.
"Well football I played all the way from the end of middle school then I didn't play this year," said Higheagle. "I just wanted to play because I wanted to play for my grandpa cause he got sick and he passed away."
Nico's grandfather sadly passed away on August 14th, and though he sports number one on game days, he wears 33 on the practice field for sentimental reasons.
"Number 33 is the day my grandpa was born and the day he died and you add those two numbers together and you get 33," said Higheagle.
And now that he's playing football again, he likes what his team is doing.
"Our team chemistry is pretty good," said Higheagle. "We just need to work on our defense. We got a lot of speed and talent but not really a lot of big guys to step up...just a lot of little fast guys."
Off the field, Nico is now more focused on his grades because of that important figure in his life.
"Pretty good, then again I probably want to get better grades for my grandpa too," said Higheagle. "We just got our report card and I had all A's and two B+'s and that's doing better than before."
And outside school and sports, it's just more sports!
"Usually I play basketball mostly during the weekends. really like to play basketball a lot," said Higheagle. "I'll just go to the Pi Nee Waus and play a lot cause they have an open gym."
And his expectations for the Lapwai basketball team this year are high!
"I'm expecting us to go down to state and win...the whole thing," said Higheagle.
He hopes to further his education past high school.
"I'd like to go to a J-C first like my sister then play a couple years of college basketball then try to go bigger," said Higheagle.
His first university choice would be Eastern Washington, but if it came down to being a Vandal or a Coug?
"I'd go to WSU because that's who my grandpa liked a lot, he loved the Cougs," said Higheagle. "He had home tickets for every home game and I used to go with him all the time."
And in case you couldn't guess who his hero's are, that honor will go to his family.
"Probably my grandparents and all my family and friends," said Higheagle. "Everyone who watches me and supports me."
And receiving this honor is big for him...he's following in his sister's footsteps and making mom proud.
"It means a lot because my sister got this before, and I always told my mom I was going to get prep athlete like that my senior year cause she got hers her senior year," said Higheagle.
Congratulations to this week's P1FCU "Prep Athlete of The Week" Lapwai High Senior Nico Higheagle. We hope you enjoyed meeting Nico Higheagle today. Each week throughout this school year KLEW sports and P1FCU team up to highlight a deserving athlete in the area. If you have someone you'd like to nominate, just go to klewtv.com, click on sports and then prep athlete. Every Wednesday those athletes are showcased right here on KLEW-TV for their outstanding accomplishments.
Chelsey 17th out of 26,406 overall Half Marathoners
October 21, 2013
(Also input Annie Kane and Kayla Williams to see her friend's results)
Nike Celebrates Female Athletes at 10th Anniversary Nike Women’s Marathon
30,000 women representing 54 countries and 50 U.S. states run the inspirational and innovative women’s 26.2 and 13.1-mile race.
Today 30,000 women continued the legacy of the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco, running the 10th-anniversary full- and half-marathon race. Florencia Borelli of Olivos, Argentina was the first to finish the half-marathon in 1:18:22. Emily Gordon of Los Angeles, California was the first marathoner to cross the finish line with a time of 2:51:44.
The Nike Women’s Marathon is the largest women’s race in the world, with more than a quarter of a million women who have registered to run in the last 10 years. The Nike Women’s Marathon benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to finding cures for blood cancers. With more than $143 million raised for LLS, the NWM is the largest, single fundraising platform for TNS/LLS.
The Nike Women’s Marathon began in 2004 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of legendary distance runner Joan Benoit Samuelson’s groundbreaking gold medal in the first women’s Olympic marathon at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. A rebel of her day, Benoit Samuelson has let her passion for running expand the boundaries of what was possible for women in sport, and has been a driving force for women in running for four decades.
“Nike has created an inspirational and innovative race experience for women who are driven to play by their own rules and push the boundaries—both in sport and life,” said Benoit Samuelson, who has attended the Nike Women’s Marathon and run the half marathon every year. “Since its inception, this marathon has attracted women from around the world, of all fitness levels and ages, who are running for many reasons. Whether they run to raise money and awareness for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or to simply reach the finish line for the first time, these women represent a global community that encourages all female athletes to train harder, run farther and reach their goals and dreams.”
Notable first-time half marathoners joining Benoit Samuelson this year included professional surfer Lakey Peterson, actresses Shay Mitchell and Jamie Chung, recording artists Melanie Fiona and K. Flay, and chalk artist Dana Tanamachi.
“For ten years the Nike Women's Marathon has offered women the opportunity to pursue their dreams through sport and benefit an important cause,” said Whitney Chapman, Nike VP/GM of Women’s in North America. “It’s our pinnacle women’s running experience, reflecting our commitment to champion the female athlete and provide her with the motivation and innovation to train for, run and celebrate her race.”
The Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco is the brand’s most seamless integration of digital with race experience to-date. The web-based We Run SF Training App available to runners once they registered connects to Facebook and allowed them to share their training miles and NTC app minutes with a customized training program that brings together the Nike+ Running, Nike Training Club and Nike+ Fuelband apps into one experience. The app also provided race day information and Share My Run capabilities to set personal messages that were sent to their friends as they reached certain points on the course. The app also gave women the ability to share their final race results and celebration photo. Fans and supporters could also watch runners via a live “Track My Run” course map feed at http://gonike.me/sf13trackmyrun.
The race begins in Union Square and runs along the San Francisco Bay with scenic views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, ushering runners down the Great Highway as they cross the finish line.
As runners finished their race, they received their commemorative 2013 Nike Women’s Marathon Tiffany & Co. Finisher’s Necklace. The 2013 NWMSF Tiffany & Co. Finisher’s Necklace features a triangle, which is the Ancient Greek symbol for the number 10 (and a nod to Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory).
Nike also created the Nike X Collection in celebration of the 10th anniversary, combining iconic women’s training, running and sportswear silhouettes. To present the collection, Nike partnered with Kate McCollough to collaboratively design a custom, one-of-a-kind X Collection showcase trunk. In the X Collection trunk, training and running essentials are transformed into a collection of desirable objects that every woman will covet.
The Nike Women’s Marathon also offers a variety of activities throughout the weekend celebrating the female athlete, including the Nike Expotique (“Expo” + “Boutique”) with athlete appearances and a range of female runners’ services, as well as displays featuring innovative Nike products for her and Nike+ services.
The Nike Women’s Marathon expanded to Washington, DC in 2013 with the inaugural Nike Women’s Half Marathon. The second-annual Nike Women’s Half Marathon in Washington, DC will be on April 27, 2014. Nike will announce the date for the Nike Women's Marathon San Francisco 2014 and registration plans later this year.
Leighton 2nd in age group
October 21, 2013
Leighton 2nd in age group
Posted: Monday, October 21, 2013 12:00 am
SAN FRANCISCO - Chelsey Leighton, the former Lapwai High sprinter who has become a college marathoner, placed second in the women's 20-24 age group Sunday in the shorter race of the Nike Women's Marathon and Half-Marathon.
Leighton placed 17th overall among women in the half-marathon, timed in 1 hour, 27.46 seconds. Last spring she placed ninth in the NAIA marathon for Lewis-Clark State.
Two of Leighton's former Lapwai High teammates, Annie Kane and Kayla Williams, also finished the San Francisco half-marathon.
Grandpa Tony-- Our Fan From On High! We dedicate this season to you.
Whitepine League D-I Boy's Basketball Season Preview
December 2, 2013
WHITEPINE LEAGUE D-I
Coach - Adam Uptmor (seventh year)
Last year's record - 15-11 overall, 6-6 Whitepine League Division I, 0-2 at Idaho Class 1A Division I state tournament
Returning letterwinners - Jake Farmer, sr., guard; Hahots Shebala, sr., guard.
Outlook - The Rams lost six seniors and return only two players (senior guards Farmer and Shebala) who saw serious varsity minutes from their state tournament team last year. The rest of the roster is inexperienced at the varsity level and will be counted on to quickly pick up the slack in both scoring and rebounding.
Coach - Jeff Boyd (fourth year)
Last year's record - 20-5 overall, 9-3 Whitepine League Division I, third place at Idaho Class 1A Division I state tournament
Returning letterwinners - Reggie Tilleman, sr., post; Beau Tilleman, jr., wing; Ben Druffel, sr., wing Rhett Stout, jr., wing
Outlook - Boyd and the Bulldogs will be more than content to see four starters from last year's squad, which took third at State, return to the court this winter. Led by brothers Reggie and Beau Tilleman, Genesee possesses good size, but the Bulldogs will reap the benefits of an athletic wing player in Ben Druffel as well. Though the Bulldogs don't possess the depth that aided them a year ago, it might not matter during league play, where Genesee should be able to cruise if things go smoothly. "I guess we had a real good summer, played lots of good competition and played very well," Boyd said. And by the time the state tournament approaches, the Bulldogs will hope to have their bench problems solved. "We need to work hard to develop some quality depth."
Coach - Ryan Ball (14th year)
Last year's record - 19-7 overall, 9-3 Whitepine League Division I, runner-up at Idaho Class 1A Division I state tournament
Returning letterwinners - Parker Whipple, soph., guard; Chris Pethtel, soph., forward.
Outlook - Following runner-up finishes in both the district and state title games a year ago, Kamiah lost nearly 90 percent of its scoring and rebounding and will be hard-pressed to find replacements. Gone are twins Eric and Kevin Hill, sharpshooter Reed York and 6-foot-10 post Matt Munch, and in their place is a young and ambitious team that may take a couple of lumps this season.
Coach - Josh Leighton Jr. (16th year)
Last year's record - 11-13 overall, 4-8 Whitepine League Division I
Returning letterwinners - Nico Higheagle. sr., guard/forward; Kevin Tannehill, sr., guard; O'shae Perez, sr., guard/forward; Redsky Chimburas, sr., guard; Tommy Williams, soph., center.
Outlook - Following a year in which the Wildcats failed to reach the state tournament, Lapwai seems to have positioned itself for another potential run. With five returning letterwinners and two new impact players, the Wildcats seem to have the personnel to push back to the top of the Whitepine League. Leading the charge for Lapwai will be seniors Higheagle, Tannehill, Perez and Chimburas and sophomore center Williams. Add to that group newcomers Imani Mitchell and 6-foot-3 forward Savion Henry and the Wildcats have a formidable team that can both stretch the floor with its shooters and bang inside with its big men.
Last year's record - 3-17 overall, 0-12 Whitepine League Division I
Outlook - The Loggers will look to improve on a season in which they failed to secure a league win.
Coach - Teel Bruner (seventh year)
Last year's record - 14-9 overall, 7-5 Whitepine League Division I
Outlook - Perhaps one of the deepest teams in the WPL, the Prairie Pirates will likely challenge for a league title one year after falling short of a state tournament berth.
Coach - Guy Wells (13th year)
Last year's record - 14-9 overall, 7-5 Whitepine League Division I
Returning letterwinners - Cody Self, sr., point guard; Gabe Wright, sr., post; Clint Sandquist, sr., post
Outlook - The biggest obstacle for these Trojans might be overcoming a tough loss in the state championship football game. But once Troy can do that, Wells will let his talented group of athletes do the rest. The Trojans return one of the state's tallest point guards in Self, and will eagerly await the debuts of Kellen Hoskins and Taylor Malm, football players who will try their luck on the hardwood this winter. Wells is confident his team should finish near the top of the league as long as it can "get out of football mode and get into basketball mode." Prairie, Genesee and Lapwai will likely be the Trojans' primary competitors
Congratulations Titus & Glory! Snake River Shootout Champions!
Congratulations Kendall, Payton, Grace, & Titus! Battle Basketball Champs!
Grace- Lil' Wildcats- undefeated in 4th grade girls
Kendall/Payton- LC Xpress- undefeated in 7th grade boys. Payton hits game winning 3 point basket at the buzzer!
Titus- Sweetwater Athletics- undefeataed in 5th grade boys (play up a grade). Titus wins game with 3-point play (basket + free throw) at end of game.
CHS Bantams cruise over the Deer Park Stags
January 8, 2014
KLEW-TV
By Matthew Sizemore Published: Jan 8, 2014 at 2:04 PM PST
CLARKSTON, WA - The entire L-C Valley was bouncing with excitement as both sides of the border played in some big basketball games Tuesday night.
The girls of Deer Park made the long trip south to Clarkston to take on the lady Bantams...and this one wasn't even fair.
First quarter, Clarkston's defense was on...Sequoia Swan with the steal and sweet pass over to Miranda Beuke for the easy lay in...Bantams start to go up big.
How about another assist from miss Swan...great pass to Santana Jose with the beautiful hook shot...lady Bantams continue to extend the lead.
Finally, great transition offense by the Bantams as Jaclyn Meyers throws the down court pass to Riley Denton...flies down the court, hits the layup, gets fouled, hits the and-one...and the lady Bantams would cruise over the Stags 64-38.
Chelsey qualifies for NAIA Indoor Nationals!
Three Warriors hit national qualifying marks at Idaho Open
Track & Field - Sat, Jan. 25, 2014
MOSCOW, Idaho – Lewis-Clark State College's Rachel Cundy, Chelsey Leighton, and Pauric McLaughlin each met national qualifying standards at Idaho Open track and field meet on Saturday.
Cundy and Leighton qualified for nationals in the 5,000 meter run with third and fourth-place finishes, respectively. Cundy, a sophomore from North Lakewood, Wash., ran the course in 18:10.17, while Leighton, a senior from Lapwai, Idaho, had a time of 18:18.24.
Mclaughlin, who qualified for nationals in the 800 meters on Friday, had a national qualifying and second-place time of 4:19.68 in the mile run on Saturday. The sophomore from Letterkenny, Ireland, also posted a second-place finish in the 800 with a time of 1:57.20.
A handful of other Warrior athletes competed on Saturday including Kaytlyn Coleman who took first out of 15 competitors in the weight throw (59-06.25, 18.14m), and was third of 12 in the shot put (43-08.00, 13.31m).
Congratulations Glory & Micaiah!! Troy Tourney Champions!!
Congratulations Glory & Grace! Battle Basketball 5th Grade Champions!
Seattle Seahawks- Super Bowl Champions!!
KLEW-TV: Lapwai Wildcat boys range gave the team another win
February 12, 2014
By Matthew Sizemore Published: Feb 13, 2014 at 2:33 PM PST
LAPWAI, ID - Basketball...it's almost over, which is going to make a lot of people upset.
But the good news is that there's a good chance you will be able to see the following team make it deep into the state tournament.
It's the Wildcat boys of Lapwai during their stylish introductions as they prepared to take on the Summit Academy Patriots...very cool intros there.
To the game, the range of Lapwai is what saved the Wildcats anytime they were down in this one...O'Shae Perez with the wide open three there.
But the Patriots had some range too, Michael Waters with the quick stop, hovers into the air...that's three for them.
Lapwai side, good passing followed by patience from Nico Higheagle for the easy lay in.
But Summit shows good transition down court, Matthew Schwartz throws down the beautiful bounce pass to Waters, lays it in and is fouled.
But other side, we once again see Higheagle dish to Lopez who drives inside, that's another two, and yet another win for Lapwai as they beat Summit Academy 60-54.
Congratulations Honor Roll Students!
Fall Semester 2013 Honor Roll Students (available info. on 3/16/14)
Clarkston High School: SOPHOMORES: 3.6-3.99 gpa - Sequoia Swan
Lapwai Middle School: SEVENTH GRADE: 3.25-3.99 gpa- Kendall Leighton, Payton Sobotta
Lincoln Middle School in Clarkston: EIGHTH GRADE: 3.6-3.99 gpa- Josephine Y. Swan
Lewis-Clark State College: President's List- LAPWAI: Chelsey M. Leighton
Washington State University: President's Honor Roll- LAPWAI: Shelby Royce Leighton
Spring Semester 2014 Honor Roll Students
Clarkston High School : SOPHOMORES: 3.6-3.99 gpa - Sequoia Swan.
Lincoln Middle School in Clarkston : EIGHTH GRADE: 3.2-3.5 gpa- Josephine Y. Swan.
Lapwai Middle and High schools : SEVENTH GRADE: 3.25-3.9 gpa - Kendall Leighton, Payton Sobotta.
Washington State University: Lapwai: Shelby Royce Leighton.
Lapwai GBB District Photos
Wildcats come of age
Lapwai High players Shiniah Holt (left) and JoAndra Wilson make life difficult for Kyndahl Ulmer as the Prairie Pirate attempts a shot. The Wildcats beat the Pirates 51-44 on Monday night in the title game of the 1A Division I District II girls’ basketball tournament at Lewis-Clark State College.
Wildcats come of age
Lapwai players Erin Ramsey (5), Marquel Shawl (10) and Iris Domebo (12) celebrate their victory with coach Shawn Spencer and assistant coach Rebecca Miles (right).
Evelyn Bohnee of Lapwai splits Clearwater Valley defenders Sarah Davis (12) and Savannah McHone for a basket in the fourth quarter Saturday night. The Wildcats throttled the Rams 61-24 in the 1A Division I District II girls’ prep basketball tournament at Lewis-Clark State.
Seattle Seahawks NFC West Champions 2013
Seattle Seahaws- NFC Champions- On to Super Bowl!
CBC December Player of the Month (Sierra Higheagle)
December 2012
Columbia Basin College website
Women's Basketball
Columbia Basin College women's basketball coach Cheryl Holden recently recognized freshman guard Sierra Higheagle for her contributions on and off the court for the month of December. For the month, Sierra averaged 14 points and 4 rebounds per game.
Sierra currently holds a 3.58 GPA .
Sierra hails from Clarkston High School. She brings a positive attitude and stellar work ethic to the women's basketball program. Coach Holden said "She's a hard worker and improving every day."
Shelby's Senior Night
February 1, 2013
WIAA ANNOUNCES WINTER ACADEMIC STATE CHAMPIONS (Sequoia)
February 8, 2013
WIAA Announces Winter Academic State Championships
2/8/2013
WIAA ANNOUNCES WINTER ACADEMIC STATE CHAMPIONS
RENTON, Wash. – The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, Dairy Farmers of Washington, and Les Schwab Tires are proud to announce the Academic State Champions for the winter sports season. The Scholastic Awards Program recognizes the team with the highest grade point average among all Washington high schools in their enrollment classification.
The Academic State Champions for winter include the following sports: Band, Bowling, Boys and Girls Basketball, Cheer, Choir, Dance/Drill, Drama, Forensics, Gymnastics, Orchestra, Boys Swimming and Diving and Boys and Girls Wrestling. The winning teams will be presented with a special plaque at the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires State Championships.
A complete list of the winning teams can be found by clicking HERE.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association exists to assist member schools in operating student programs that foster achievement, respect, equity, enthusiasm and excellence in a safe and organized environment.
Principal: Eric Anderson
Athletic Director: Shannon Wilson
Coach: Debbie Sobotta
GPA: 3.762
Participants: 10
Clarkston Honor Roll (Sequoia)
February 10, 2013
The honor roll at Clarkston High School for the Fall 2012 semester has been announced. Those named to the list include:
SENIORS: 4.0 gpa - Corinne M. Cahill, Rachel M. Folsom, Daniel E. Fouste, Alexandra R. Gaswint, John P. Guillotte, Jackie R. Heimgartner, John D. Sharp, Shaun M. Smith, Raeann M. VanSickle, Roslyn L. VanSickle, Andrea R. Waller; 3.6 to 3.99 gpa - Jacob D. Aeling, Caleb D. Blunt, Jesse K. Chandler-Slocum, Christopher E. Cronican, Alisha J. DeLane, Anna M. Dolezal, Timothy C. Flock, Cameron T. Flynn, Austin W. Hansen, Corban W. Hay, Tanisha R. Hurless, Kelsey J. Kennedy, Kyle S. Krieg, Melanie Anne Y. Manangquil, Aaron M. Mangum, Kailee D. Poe, Kari A. Scharnhorst, Cedar J. Seubert, Miranda L. Stick, Anna Kate Thompson, Ashten R. Tippin, Alex Weber; 3.25 to 3.59 gpa - James E. Berg, Samuel A. Cattron, Zebulon E. Crutchfield, Robert J. DeVleming, Alexander B. Downs, Nichole M. Flerchinger, Julianne J. Gilbert, Blake C. Hamilton, Colton B. Jenkins, Maegan Kessler, Judi D. Key, Karley A. Laird, Kelsi M. Milton, Braydon J. Pearson, Jacob D. Robinson, Mckenna E. Swearingen, Caleb M. Taylor, Michael VanSoelen-Morse, Amanda R. Walker; JUNIORS: 4.0 gpa - Ryan S. Adams, Dana John T. Alstad, Emily M. Berreth, Meghan A. Christopherson, Alex D. Dimke, Kasie R. Henriod, Kimberly K. Henriod, Caleb J. Latella, Jordan J. Peters, Janey A. Reeves, Kierra F. Ryan, Zachary I. Stone; 3.6 to 3.99 gpa - Adriana M. Arnone, Michael J. Baldeck II, Andrew J. Barndt, Bronson G. Boardman, Kyle N. Briney, Justine A. Brume, Kristen L. Carey, Karli D. Charlton, Kayla L. Dice, Kelsey J. Dressen, Connor Eggleston, Andrea E. Fouste, Robert L. Frederiksen, Sidnee L. Grubb, Olivia R. Hagen, Emily J. Lahnum, Hannah I. Landkammer, Wesley R. Neisler, Breanne J. Norland, Jordan R. Starr, Bridger F. Winter; 3.25 to 3.59 gpa - Danae C. Adelsbach, Cheryl K. Berg, Miranda N. Beuke, DePaul J. Blunt, Evan R. Dagelen, Brock A. Ellibee, Sophia Fazzari, Catherine A. Flerchinger, Emily Q. Fry, Jacquelyn R. Garcia, Jordan D. Hamilton, Jerissa L. Ingram, Delaney B. Jones, Zoe Knopes, Amber M. Leavey, Samantha M. Moris, Derreck H. Nicholas, Kayla M. Nuxoll, Taylor N. Quiring, Taylor A. Sanders, Austin J. Whittaker; SOPHOMORES: 4.0 gpa - BreAnne Bailey, Sarah C. Bruns, Zachariah D. Bunce, Emily L. Cone, Hailey A. Denton, Sarah A. Eberle, Trevor J. Epler, Lindsey T. Heflin, Calab J. Johnson, Rebecca L. Johnston, Corey L. Knapp, Mellisa B. Maas, Marisa J. Morrow, Amy J. Nigro, Zachary R. Price, Paige J. Rohrbach, Bailee A. Wohl, Noelle M. Young; 3.6 to 3.99 gpa - Joseph E. Baldeck III, Rachel A. Belanger, Tanner B. Carton, Jennifer A. Conway, Lucy E. Downs, Brian M. Evans, Kiarra Haight, Sara E. Hale, Joseph King, Kaitlann McDonnell, Brooke Morrow, Jake Oldfield, Ruslan N. Shmidt, Christopher J. Slocum, Megan A. Snarr, Brittney E. Spencer, Allyson Taylor, Kunjie Wu, Victoria M. Zeimantz, Jessica P. Zimmer; 3.25 to 3.59 gpa - Alisha L. Bell, Jacob M. Cole, Cole R. Copeland, Kailey M. Druffel, Tristan T. Duman, Gabrielle Flock, Ian J. Guillotte, Garret J. Hansen, Jacqueline M. Hinkley, Brylee A. Hurless, Yuqi Liu, Ciara C. Marshall, Jared G. McCracken, Brady A. McKay, Dawson S. Peckenpaugh, Crystal L. Rasmussen, Colby L. Savage, Trevor B. Sperry, Mychael L. Tenwick; FRESHMEN: 4.0 gpa - Dylan C. Beeler, Jordan C. Bolen, Samantha J. Briney, Pierce L. Claassen, Charlie A. Dimke, Auston D. Dunkleberger, Teresa Eggleston, Addison R. Folsom, Courtney Klappenbach, Cody I. Lincoln, Jaclyn J. Meyers, Hannah L. Murray, Cassandra M. Offt, Savannah K. Simpson, Ethan A. Smith, Shawn A. Smith, Madison Wickens; 3.6 to 3.99 gpa - Megan C. Aliverti, Trevon L. Allen, Kylee J. Andrews, Sera E. Babino, Hailey R. Ball, Aidan T. Beeson, Tanner N. Benton, Keaton T. Brenner, Allysyn M. Brown, Carly L. Cahill, Zachary W. Campbell-Ball, Breanna N. Dikeman, Adrianna A. Duman, Brieanna L. Dumond, Leah R. Edens, Susan P. Fleming, Jeremy M. Fleshman, Tanner D. Gratz, Blake R. Hansen, Shelby L. Hill, Ashley M. Kingsborough, Olivia R. Lane, Rebekah F. Latella, Taylor J. Leavey, Mikalah Marbach, Christopher T. Mingo, Jonathan M. Morrow, Evan A. Nelson, Brooklyn Nissen, Tyler S. Pitner, Brittany A. Poole, Blake Rimmelspacher, Courtney L. Rose, Kaylee N. Rosgen, Noel L. Savolainen, Autumn R. Scheuermann, Levi O. Silleman, Kayla S. Snyder, Dana L. Sotomish, Ethan B. Sparkman, Sequoia Swan, Taylor E. Torrisi, Ethan M. Ulrich, Jacob Weber, Patrick D. West; 3.25 to 3.59 gpa - Carlos Barajas Morfin, Kalie D. Brown, Christian D. Carlin, Noah T. Clark, Shyla G. Cox, Raelea A. Dixon, Crescent E. Ebel, Tonia E. Garcia-Ruiz, Jeremiah P. Graham, Shailynn K. Green, Montana E. Henry, McKayla J. Holton, Kyle R. Jones, Joshua M. Lane, Bryton LejaMeyer, Brendon J. Martin, Ryan Morbeck, Shaylynn C. Preusser, Deshaun M. Sutton, Ellie S. Terherst, Zachary A. Thivierge, Brendelyn M. Thueson, Noah A. Ward, Kylie Weeks.
Warrior Athletic Association Academic Awards (Annie, Chelsey)
February 12, 2013
February 12
WAA ACADEMIC AWARDS LUNCH - The Lewis-Clark State College Warrior Athletic Association will honor 103 student-athletes who earned a 3.0 grade point average or better during the fall 2012 semester at the Academic Awards Lunch on Feb. 12 at the Red Lion Hotel.
Women's basketball: Annie Kane, Lapwai
Women's Cross Country: Chelsey Leighton, Lapwai
Lapwai Honor Roll (Shelby)
Lewiston Tribune
February 17, 2013
Officials at the Lapwai School District have released the honor roll for the fall 2012 semester as follows:
Seniors: 4.0 gpa - Shelby Leighton, Natahnee Spencer, Shawnee Stacy, Destiny Woodward. 3.0-3.9 gpa - Riston Bullock, Wyatt Calkins, Elizabeth Fernandez, Jessica Fernandez, Solo Greene, Olivia Herrera, Tequis Penney, Ashley Paul, Marcus Turner. Juniors: 4.0 gpa - Lydia Skahan, Michael Skinner, Josilin Peters. 3.0-3.9 gpa - Aaron Alfrey, Stephanie Baptiste, Cecelia Bohnee, Natasha Calkins, Graysen Cash, Lily Dotson, Jonae Scabbyrobe, Shelby Scwab, Christopher Spann, Kevin Tannehill. Sophomores: 4.0 gpa - Erin Ramsey. 3.0-3.9 gpa - Paige Bullock, Cissa Burnett, Cyra Cunningham, Danielle Gallegos, Mykel Johnson, Andrew Moody, Laquita Reuben, Marquel Shawl, Judah Swift, Daren Strom, Marie Woodward. Freshman: 3.0-3.9 gpa - Christina Calkins, Raneisha Erevia, Savion Henry, Kaylee McCormack, Imani Mitchell, Jonathan Pierce, Desiree Reynolds, Betsy Spaulding, Lorena Teegan Tucker, Taylor Whitney, Tommy Williams. Eighth Grade 4.0 gpa - Evelyn Bohnee, Iris Domebo. 3.0-3.9 gpa - Cherish Arthur, Cobi Bisbee, Jessica Calkins, Landry Cash, Camielle Chapman, Ione Chimburas, Kori Gallegos, Ted George, Lenae Gilbert, Shiniah Holt, Britnee Lussoro, Ethan Miles, Bailey Peters, Rebecca Pierce, Shareya Scott, Cameron Shawl, Kiara Smith, Emoni Tannehill, Ryan Terry, Keanon Wheeler, JoAndra Wilson, Ivory Williams, Ko-Yama Young. Seventh Grade: 4.0 gpa - Sierra Hayhurst, Anteia McCollum. 3.0-3.9 gpa - Terri Jo Calfrobe, Hattie Covers Up, Dante Henry, Robert Lesh, Matua Maratita, Bluestarr McNeal, Amil Mitchell, Madison Stillman, Emmitt Taylor, Sonia VanWoerkom, Heewekse Wisdom.
Sixteen Warriors named to Academic All-Conference Team (Chelsey)
February 19, 2013
LCSC Website
2/19/2013
Frontier Conference commissioner Kent Paulson has announced that the Lewis-Clark State College cross country programs had 16 athletes named to the academic all-conference teams. The Warrior women led the league with 11 runners receiving honors, while the men had five qualify for the recognition.
To be eligible for the academic teams, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore in standing, maintain a 3.0 GPA, and be enrolled at school the previous two semesters.
LCSC runners named to the women’s team were seniors Kelsey Klettke, Chelsey Leighton, and Amanda Palmer; juniors Ashley Barnes, AnnieKate Olson, and LaDawn Vinson; and sophomores Sophie Bush, Katie and Nicole Dillavou, Hannah Maus, and Alyssa Rapovy.
Members of the men’s team honored included senior Dave Marks, juniors Nick Pierson and Hayden Randall, and sophomores Sam Atkin and Jacob Wimpenny.
The combined total of 16 academic all-conference selections led all Frontier schools.
District 7 2A All conference- Sequoia Swan (Clarkston)
February 21, 2013
Greyhounds do well on GNL's postseason awards
It's been that kind of year for the Pullman Greyhounds.
While the girls' team was recently knocked out in the regional round, the boys' team stayed alive with a win Wednesday, and was also rewarded the same day with a Great Northern League MVP award for standout senior Corey Langerveld. Pullman sophomore Emily Drake was also named GNL MVP among girls.
Race Martin was a first-team GNL player for the Pullman boys' team, while Dakota Wickard, a senior, was first team among girls.
The representatives from Pullman and Clarkston are below.
MVP - Corey Langerveld, sr., Pullman
First team - Langerveld, sr., Pullman, Race Martin, jr. Pullman
Second team - Kage Sobotta, jr., Clarkston; DePaul Blunt, jr, Clarkston; Trevor Sperry, soph., Clarkston
District 7 2A All conference - Kage Sobotta, jr. Clarkston; CJ Johnson, soph, Clarkston; Langerveld, sr., Pullman; Martin, jr., Pullman, David Ungerer, jr., Pullman
Coach of the year - Craig Brantner
MVP - Emily Drake, soph., Pullman
First team - Drake, soph., Pullman; Dakota Wickard, sr., Pullman
Second team - Jaclyn Meyers, fr, Clarkston; Anna Guo, sr., Pullman
District 7 2A All conference - Sequoia Swan, fr, Clarkston; Wickard, sr. Pullman; Drake, soph., Pullman
Coach of the year - Juston Pollestad
Another stretch run for Annie Kane
Tribune/Kyle Mills
After three seasons of obscurity, Annie Kane has emerged as the leading scorer for the Lewis-Clark State women’s basketball team. The guard from Lapwai will play her last two regular-season games on the road this week, starting with today’s contest at Montana Western.
Guard from Lapwai has finally found a major role with the L-C women
By Byron Edelman of the TribuneThe Lewiston Tribune | February 22, 2013
"How ironic, right?" asked Annie Kane.
The lone senior on this year's Lewis-Clark State women's basketball team had just been asked about her Nez Perce name, Inteetah, which means "All by myself."
Which is fitting since "I am the lone senior.
"But it's been kind of tough being the lone senior."
"When the seniors were here the previous year, they kind of had this big group and this camaraderie," Kane said. "They were together. And then you have me, who's all by myself, so it's kind of a different situation.
Indeed: After playing solely a reserve role her first three years at L-C, this year, Kane has shattered the glass ceiling.
"In my 12 years, nobody has played more minutes (in a season) than Annie Kane," L-C coach Brian Orr said of the Lapwai product, who's averaged 33.8 minutes per game, remarkable considering she averaged just 14 minutes last season.
"If you look at just conference stats, she's leading the conference in scoring - and usually, when you get into conference play, those stats usually drop," Orr said of Kane, who ranks third in the conference in shooting percentage (44 percent) and fourth in scoring (14.11 points per game).
Those numbers are increasingly eye-catching when you realize she'd averaged just 2.3 points per game last season.
"For those minutes," Orr said, "we know she's had to be patient."
To understand Kane's college journey, you need look no further than a race her sophomore year of high school track.
"I was definitely the underdog in that race," Kane recalled of the state championship 800 meters, in which she trailed entering the final turn.
With every other runner ahead of her coming into the final 200 meters, Kane realized: "I've got to make a move. If I don't make a move, this isn't going to happen for me."
So she laid all the marbles on the table: the runner who hadn't even run a top-5 state time during the season boldly initiated her kick "way earlier than a normal person does," Kane remembered.
And to her surprise, "no one came with me."
In a way, that race - which Kane won - is a metaphor for her time at L-C.
If her college basketball career were a race, her first three college years would be those initial 600 meters, where she trailed the pack from her freshman to her junior years. That's when she averaged negligible minutes and knew her job when she entered games: not to turn the ball over.
But entering her senior year, with four senior starters graduating, Kane knew there was a chance to finally emerge from the shadows.
Which she did in her team's sixth game of the season, with L-C's slated starter at point guard still struggling to return from an injury.
After starting the season with an 0-for-2 shooting performance in her first game, then averaging 3.8 points during the season's first five games, Kane erupted for 22 points.
She remembers two things: first, was her revelation about her senior year: That I can live up to my potential.
She also remembers her coach's reaction: surprise.
"I would like people to know, being here for four years hasn't been easy," Kane said when asked what she's learned from playing college basketball. "It's been a tough battle, and the only reason I'm here is because I'm persistent.
"The biggest thing I learned is to not stop working hard," added Kane, who signed to play for L-C five days after leading Lapwai's girls' basketball team to the state title her senior year.
For the Wildcats, Kane had been a four-year starter, but her first three years as a Warrior saw Kane battle through a litany of health issues, including plantar fasciitis, and play behind an underclassman.
While her time on the court waned, one thing never wavered: her commitment to academics. That remained as strong as it had been in high school, where she had received just one B.
"In a college course," she made sure to emphasize.
As the Warriors piled up accolades on the court last season, Kane quietly became an academic All-American her junior year.
But the physical therapy major's toughest education might have been on the basketball court.
When Kane first arrived at L-C, she was surprised to realize "we have 50 offensive sets.
"One of the biggest things for me coming from Lapwai - I don't know if you've ever seen Lapwai play or not - but it's a very fast-paced transition, press the entire game (style)," Kane said. "That's the type of play we had at Lapwai: No plays," she said, before correcting herself. "Well, we had a few plays. But they were very secondary to our transition offense.
"I struggled with that, so coach Orr, he would literally scream at me every day, he would give me a grade on how well I did memorizing the plays."
Annie, you have a C today!
Annie, you have a B-plus!
She said Orr was hard on her.
"He knew if he attached a grade, it would drive me nuts, and it did - it got to me every single day. ... Eventually it all worked out, and he was the reason for that."
For this story, there are too many vignettes about Kane to fit in - how some boys wouldn't play her in elementary because "they were leery of getting beat by a girl," her dad Dan said; how she was the first Lapwai Wildcat to use ice to assuage her knees, which have required cortisone shots to get through this season; how she would ask Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer to open the gym for her before school, he recalled.
But while Kane's always been a fierce competitor on the court, one thing most those interviewed for this story remarked about was Kane's kindness off the court.
"She just has the most delightful personality," said one of Kane's Warrior athletic sponsors, Colleen Mahoney, who vividly remembers first meeting Kane at a Warrior athletic function.
"You don't have to take a girl, so I said, 'You know, I think we've done it for 20 years. I think we won't do it this year maybe,' " Mahoney said. "So I told Brian Orr, 'I think this year we'll just go to the games and the functions.'
"And as I was standing there, I met this darling girl named Annie Kane. So I introduced her to my husband and said, 'I changed my mind. We're going to sponsor Annie.' "
Mahoney instantly fell in love with Kane's "cooperative spirit."
"She's nice to the other team," Mahoney said incredulously. "And sometimes, I could just go smack some of those girls on the other team."
During high school, Kane's dad said it wasn't uncommon for Annie's coach to search for her after games.
Where's Annie? he would ask.
And "she would be sitting with the competition quite often," Dan Kane said.
Given her cooperative spirit, it's perhaps predictable Kane's two most dramatic stories on the court involve her helping a teammate.
Story 1: Playing against Kendrick her freshman year, with a snowstorm blowing outside, Spencer drew up the game's final play to go to Kane.
"Because it was a pretty good shooting night for me, I knew I was going to be hounded," Kane said, "so I was like, 'There's no way I'm going to be able to get this shot off.' They're in my face, they're grabbing my jersey, so I was like, 'We need to get this shot to Chelsey (Leighton).' "
Kane drove and kicked to Leighton, a fellow freshman, who hit the shot.
Story 2: In the Warriors' most recent game, L-C led by one with 26 seconds left, when Kane backed down her defender to the right elbow, then kicked the ball to Loree Hill. Hill nailed a 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game and the Warriors held on to win.
"That (play) actually reminds me quite a bit (of the previous game-winner)," Kane said.
Ultimately, how many more game-deciding plays Kane gets in her L-C career will likely depend upon one thing: how L-C fares tonight.
With a win at Montana Western, a team L-C defeated by nine points earlier this year, the Warriors would cement their ticket to the Frontier Conference tournament, an event they've won five years straight.
With Kane's reputation as a closer, it'll be hard to count the Warriors out.
"We've got a tough trip ahead of us," said Kane. "We've got to win one of those two games in order to make the tournament; the pressure's on.
"It's either make a move now, or we're out."
Which means Kane knows just what to do.
Congratulations Annie, Chelsey, Sequoia, & Shelby on Academic Honor Roll honors for 1st Semester!
Congratulations Sequoia on Winter WA 2A GBB Academic State Championship!
Congratulations Sierra for selection as CBC's Women's Basketball's December Player of Month!
NWAACC 2012-13 Women's Basketball All-Stars
Basketball News
2012-13 Women's Basketball All-Stars
The 2012-13 Women's All-Star teams
Print Version
|
NORTHERN REGION
Co-Most Valuable Players
Taylor Larson, Peninsula
Laken McClelland, Skagit Valley
First Team
Sophia Baetz, Skagit Valley
Demarea Caples, Bellevue
Erin Feeney, Everett
Erika Locker, Whatcom
Bree Park, Whatcom
Second Team
Ashley Albertson, Everett
Cambie Edwards, Whatcom
Jesse Ellis, Peninsula
Jori Hall, Bellevue
Airashay Rogers, Bellevue
Jasmine Yarde, Peninsula
Freshman of the Year
Jori Hall, Bellevue
Defensive Player of the Year
Karli Brakes, Peninsula
All-Defensive Team
Ashley Albertson, Everett
Jesse Ellis, Peninsula
Jori Hall, Bellevue
Samantha Kelleigh, Skagit Valley
Erika Locker, Whatcom
Co-Coaches of the Year
Jeremy Eggers &
Angela Jensen, Bellevue
Steve Epperson, Skagit Valley
EASTERN REGION
Most Valuable Player
Michelle Seitz, Walla Walla
First Team
Hailey Felgenhauer, Walla Walla
Riley Holsinger, Spokane
Kim Pickett, Blue Mountain
Angelique Williams, Yakima Valley
Alli Winters, Big Bend
Second Team
Caitlin Duncan, Walla Walla
Hannah Depew, Columbia Basin
Sammi Jo Blodgett, Yakima Valley
Dani Bray, Wenatchee Valley
Sierra Higheagle, Columbia Basin
Freshman of the Year
Riley Holsinger, Spokane
Co-Defensive Players of the Year
Sierra Zollinger, Big Bend
Felicia Kolb, Wenatchee Valley
All-Defensive Team
Michelle Seitz, Walla Walla
Hannah Depew, Columbia Basin
Amelia Cook, Spokane
Chantel Dixon, Yakima Valley
Breeana Wilson, Spokane
Alicia Jones, Columbia Basin
Coach of the Year
Bobbi Hazeltine, Walla Walla
WESTERN REGION
Most Valuable Player
Kristen Schoenherr, Centralia
First Team
Anngelina Sanchez, Tacoma
Dominique Johnson, Clark
Carli Elwin, Pierce
Italia Mengarelli, Centralia
Arneshia Smith, Lower Columbia
Second Team
Toni Doroha, Clark
Bobbi Britt, Grays Harbor
Shanae Sauls, Centralia
Taybra Teeters, Lower Columbia
Keana Magalei, Highline
Freshman of the Year
Kristen Schoenherr, Centralia
Defensive Player of the Year
Shanae Sauls, Centralia
All-Defensive Team
Arneshia Smith, Lower Columbia
Carli Elwin, Pierce
Anngelina Sanchez, Tacoma
Nicole Smith, Highline
Ashlie Nguyen, Clark
Coach of the Year
Shane Schutz, Centralia
SOUTHERN REGION
Most Valuable Player
Jenny Johnson, Clackamas
First Team
Quynne Eharis, SW Oregon
Megan Shields, Lane
Ashleigh Anderson, Clackamas
Kersey Wilcox, Lane
Jordan Klebaum, Chemeketa
Hayley Reynolds, Umpqua
Second Team
Laci Effenberger, Clackamas
Hannah Frederick, Chemeketa
Madeline Kiplinger, Linn-Benton
Jordan Wilcox, Lane
Jazmin Bembry, SW Oregon
Freshman of the Year
Laci Effenberger, Clackamas
Defensive Player of the Year
Megan Shields, Lane
All-Defensive Team
Quynne Eharis, SW Oregon
Ashleigh Anderson, Clackamas
Hannah Frederick, Chemeketa
Simone Thompson, Lane
Kiara Berry, Portland
Coaches of the Year
Jim Martineau & Kayla Steen, Clackamas
|
B-ball Award Winners! Shelby (KLEW Prep Athlete), Sierra (Conf), & Sequoia (Conf)! See Headlines!
Congrats Lapwai's Rielly, Kody, & Natahnee: 2012 1A Div. I Boys & Girls All-Idaho Basketball Team
March 25, 2012
Idaho Statesman
Published: March 25, 2012
2012-03-25T05:58:19Z
Rachel Roberts
Genesee's Sam Druffel
Steve Hanks — Lewiston Tribune
FIRST TEAM
Player of the year: Sam Druffel (senior guard), Genesee Bulldogs
Why he is Player of the Year: Druffel led the Bulldogs to an unbeaten regular season and a spot in the state semifinals. The 6-foot-2 guard, who also was a first-teamer in 2011, averaged 20.1 points and 4 rebounds while contributing a team-leading 76 steals with 15 blocked shots.
Coach’s comment: “I knew he was a good player, but he’s an even better kid. The basketball in his future is there, but the future is bright for him in a whole lot of other places, too,” Genesee coach Jeff Boyd said.
What others are saying: “Without a doubt, Sam is the best player at the 1A level in Idaho. He is an excellent shooter and attacks well off the dribble,” Clearwater Valley coach Adam Uptmor said.
What’s next: Druffel plans to play basketball in college, but has not decided on a destination.
Rielly Leighton, Lapwai Wildcats: The 6-2 senior captain contributed 14 ppg, 8 rpg and 2.2 apg for the state runner-up Wildcats. “A slasher to the basket, great defender, a matchup nightmare,” Glenns Ferry coach Nate Jones said of the guard/forward.
Kody Orton, Lapwai Wildcats: After averaging 10.6 ppg, 9 rpg and 2 apg during the regular season, the 6-2 senior guard/forward increased his scoring (14 ppg) and assist (3 apg) output at the state tournament. “Led us offensively and defensively,” Lapwai coach Josh Leighton said.
Chris Popoca, Glenns Ferry Pilots: The Pilots rode the 5-11 senior guard to the state title, where Popoca averaged 16.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 3.6 apg. “A fearless competitor with the ball in his hands. A great long-range shooter. Plays way bigger than his size,” Glenns Ferry coach Nate Jones said.
Jake Squires, Clearwater Valley Rams: The White Pine League’s Defensive Player of the Year led the Rams back to state with averages of 16 ppg, 7 rpg and 3 apg. “Probably the most athletic kid in our division from top to bottom,” Notus coach Tony Haddock said of the 6-2 senior post.
SECOND TEAM
Hayden Clason, Notus Pirates, 6-5, Senior, Forward
Dominic Hulsey, Liberty Charter Patriots, 6-6, Junior, Post
Wilder Jones, Glenns Ferry Pilots, 6-1, Senior, Forward
Colter Lowe, Horseshoe Bend Mustangs, 6-1, Senior, Guard
Garrett Sant, Shoshone Indians, 6-0, Junior, Forward
2012 1A Division I Girls All-Idaho Basketball Team
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/25/2049451/2012-1a-division-i-girls-all-idaho.html#storylink=cpy
Prairie's MeShel Rad
Joe Jaszewski — The Associated Press
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/25/2049451/2012-1a-division-i-girls-all-idaho.html#storylink=cpy
By Rachel Roberts — rroberts@idahostatesman.com
FIRST TEAM
Player of the year: MeShel Rad (senior forward), Prairie Pirates
Why she is Player of the Year: The 5-11 Rad averaged 12.3 points and 15 rebounds during the regular season, but improved to 16 points and 20 rebounds in three state tournament games as the Pirates won their first state title since 1997.
Coach’s comment: “MeShel brings so much energy and athleticism to our program that it makes it hard to contain her scoring as well as on the boards. We will miss her leadership both on and off the floor as well as her ability to make the big shots,” Prairie coach Lori Mader said.
What others are saying: “Rad is an animal on the boards. She is always around the ball, has great footwork inside and never stops playing,” Glenns Ferry coach Kelli McHone said.
What’s next: Rad has committed to play basketball for Walla Walla Community College.
Nicole Knott, Troy Trojans: In the Trojans’ run to a state runner-up finish, the 5-7 senior guard averaged 14.7 ppg, 12.7 rpg and 3 spg in three state tournament games. “Never-ending energy. Runs down players all the time,” Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer said.
Karli McHone, Glenns Ferry Pilots: The Snake River Conference Player of the Year averaged 17.8 ppg, 3.5 apg and shot 82 percent from the line as the Pilots advanced to state for the first time in 16 years. “Great player in all phases of the game,” Glenns Ferry coach Kelli McHone said.
Makayla Schaeffer, Prairie Pirates: The 5-9 senior guard averaged 8.6 ppg and 3.3 spg, but was especially valued for her defensive skills. “Makayla is one of the best defenders in the league and was the heart and soul of setting up our press break,” Prairie coach Lori Mader said.
Natahnee Spencer, Lapwai Wildcats: The two-time player of the year improved her averages for the third straight year, finishing her junior campaign at 26 ppg, 7 rpg, 5 apg, 4 spg and 2 bpg. “Faced double- and triple-team defenses most of the year,” Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer said.
SECOND TEAM
Stephanie Lloyd, Grace Grizzlies, 5-6, Junior, Guard
Jasmine Parra, Notus Pirates, 5-6, Senior, Guard
Katelyn Phillips, Genesee Bulldogs, 5-5, Senior, Guard
Megan Sigler, Prairie Pirates, 5-2, Senior, Guard
Alivia Wachsmuth, Liberty Charter Patriots, 5-5, Junior, Guard
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/25/2049451/2012-1a-division-i-girls-all-idaho.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/25/2049451/2012-1a-division-i-girls-all-idaho.html#storylink=cpy
COACH'S CORNER: A passion unmatched. Talent was only part of the reason for Lapwai's 81-game win...
December 19, 2012
COMMENTARY COACH'S CORNER: A passion unmatched
Talent was only part of the reason for Lapwai's 81-game win streak
Tribune/Jeff Taylor
A passion unmatched
Lapwai’s Paris Leighton drives to the basket against the Lewiston Bengals. The Wildcats’ 81-game winning streak came to an end in this game at Lewiston’s Booth Hall on Dec. 16, 1989.
A passion unmatched
Bruce Crossfield
Posted: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 12:50 am, Wed Dec 19, 2012.
COACH'S CORNER: A passion unmatchedBy Bruce Crossfield for the TribuneThe Lewiston Tribune |
In the 1982 hit song "The Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, the second stanza lyrics are as follows:
So many times it happens too fast,
You change your passion for glory.
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past,
You must fight just to keep them alive.
To me this encapsulated the reason for the Lapwai High boys' basketball team's success (three state championships and an 81-game win streak) between 1986 and '89. Our players had an unbridled passion for the game of basketball, and they didn't let trophies, records, headlines and past achievements diminish that passion. They played with a zest and love for the game that far exceeded their accomplishments.
They also held tightly to the dreams that they had growing up - to be a LAPWAI WILDCAT basketball player - and they knew what that meant. They'd seen it and heard of it from the preceding generations of players and coaches. And then all the successes of the past, the seeds planted and nurtured, came to full fruition in those magical three years.
People have asked what the ingredients were for that kind of success. Besides the passion and youthful dreams the ingredients were: talent, a unique fast-break system, talent, a "buy-in" to defense, talent, a school-wide discipline plan, and talent.
Taking nothing away from the skills of our opponents, but I doubt you'd find many people that would argue that through the whole 9-12 program Lapwai didn't have more basketball talent than the schools we played. But as most coaches and observers can attest, you can't win without talent, but having talent is no guarantee of success.
I believe that my main contribution to the success of Lapwai basketball was a unique fast-break system that fit our players perfectly. I learned this system from Ted Wilson, the legendary coach at Linfield College. His style placed an emphasis on discipline, conditioning, ballhandling and passing acumen. To my delight we had the players with those skills honed from years of playing the game.
We also had a "buy-in" to the importance of defense. My predecessor, Darryl Moulton, paved the way in this regard, making my job that much easier. We set a goal of keeping our opponents shooting percentage below 35 percent each game. When we failed to make this goal our players were genuinely disappointed. It forced them to work hard each possession, since the difference between success and failure was often just one shot.
There are two instances that stand out in my mind that reveal traits instrumental in our success. The first one happened during the first week of practice and involved Greg Jose. Greg was a senior and was recognized as our marquee player that year. He had a large number of JC's and small colleges interested in him, as well as a couple of Division I schools.
I've forgotten a lot of things, but I remember this as if it were yesterday: Greg came to my office to tell me he had gotten a 15-minute detention (his first detention ever) and would have to be about 10 minutes late for practice. The fact that he would be 10 minutes late brought tears to his eyes, it pained him so. Truth is, if any player could ever afford to miss 10 minutes of practice, it was Greg Jose. (It later got cleared up - there was a misunderstanding and Greg ended up on time for practice.)
But what struck me was the fact that "our best player" was so committed to practice and to his team that the idea of missing even a minute caused him to cry. What kind of possibilities exist for a team when your best player is your most committed and conscientious? Talk about a coach's dream come true! Greg and Gem Leighton led that team of Robert Blair, Aaron Miles, Littlefoot Ellenwood, Ryan Jain, Mike Sobotta, Tony Higheagle Jr., Dominic Arthur and Nelson Allen to a 26-0 record. They averaged 85 points a game.
In discussing that team, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Gem Leighton was the best defender I've ever coached. How many coaches can look at their opponents and say, "Who do I want to shut out tonight?" I was able to do that, every game. Gem was that good.
The other instance happened after the second undefeated season, at a team picture. The players were in uniform and we had all the trophies and banners (league, district and state championships) for the last two years (not to mention a 50-game win streak) on display. As the photographer was shooting the pictures everyone was so serious that he finally said, "Come on guys, smile, look at all you've won," and Littlefoot Ellenwood, the heart and soul of the team, said, "We've got one more, we're not done yet," and that was that.
What kind of coach wouldn't love that kind of unrelenting focus and commitment to a purpose?
I'm now coaching high school volleyball, and one of the biggest challenges is, when we get up two sets to none, to keep them focused on going out just as strong in the third set - that we really haven't done anything yet - and here are these guys with two state titles saying we haven't done anything yet!
The 1987-88 team was unique and overcame a lot. We averaged a little over 82 points per game yet no starter averaged over 12 ppg. Our leading scorer, Raphael Guillory (13 ppg) came off the bench for most of the season. In fact, our bench averaged 35 ppg! We won a lot of games by 6-10 points that year - usually if you play enough games like that, the percentages will catch up to you, but we had players that thrived when the pressure was the greatest. Besides Ellenwood and Guillory, that team featured Jesse Leighton, Mike Sobotta, Aaron Miles, Emmit Taylor, Paris Leighton, Paul Eke, Erik Holt and Dion Gordon.
True to his word, Littlefoot led that '88-'89 team to an undefeated regular season, which included a special five-minute segment on ABC's "Good Morning America." Again, these guys brushed aside the publicity and played with the passion and focus necessary to keep on winning. We beat Fruitland in the state title tilt 78-76, a game that was described as a "classic" by the media in attendance.
As fate would have it, not only was that final game for the state title, but it was our 76th consecutive win, breaking the old record of 75 set by Teton High from 1976 to '78. In a show of class, true to his word, the Teton coach, Lester Wade, was there to congratulate us after the record-breaking victory. That team was comprised of Ellenwood, Guillory, the Leighton brothers, Jess Arthur, Winfred Perez, Carlo Chimburas, Virgil Holt, Albert Penny and Alexio Domebo.
We won the first five games the next season to run "the streak" to 81, before facing the Lewiston Bengals on their home court. Awhile back in his regular column, Nick Menegas wrote about that game as he described "swagger," and I appreciate how complimentary he was to me and our team.
The atmosphere before that game was unlike anything I've ever experienced. "Electric" is a good word, but even that doesn't really suffice. Lapwai and Lewiston hadn't meet for quite a few years before that (anyone remember when?), and haven't met since (23 years this December). People debate who put more on the line that night: Lapwai, with its 81-game win streak, or Lewiston, an A-1 school facing the ignominy of losing to a small A-3 club.
Either way, I admire and appreciate that Dick Richel and Lewiston were willing to do that, because basketball fans at that time were richer for it. What a classic and memorable high school sports event it was, truly a "historic" game by any measure. What better stage to see a streak end than Booth Hall before an overflow crowd?
I'll never forget the five unforgettable years I was privileged to coach basketball in Lapwai. The people were great to me and my family. I wouldn't trade those years for anything. I will always take with me the pride of the Nez Perce Nation and the passion of the Lapwai community. Thank you!
Crossfield coached the Lapwai boys' basketball team to a 114-16 record from 1986-91. He is now a physical-education teacher at Pomeroy, and coaches the Pomeroy High volleyball team. He can be contacted at bcrossfield@psd.wednet.edu.
Congrats Chelsey on FCC All-Academic Honors! See Headlines for Article
"Three paths, one goal" newspaper article- Clarkston Regional Game 2/25/12 (See Headlines)
Three paths, one goal
Click Here To Download
Lewiston Tribune
February 25, 2012
PHOTOS CAPTION: Sierra Higheagle (TOP), Jamie Weisner (CENTER) and KC McConnell (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD) have led the Clarkston High girls’ basketball team to a 21-1 record and the No. 1 ranking in Washington’s Class 2A. The Bantams will play a winner-to-State, loser-out regional game tonight at Cheney.
Three Paths, One Goal
By Jed Maynes of the Tribune
The players of Clarkston's girls' basketball team keep journals. In those journals is a sequence of stair steps - steps toward their ultimate goal: State.
Those steps can also represent the unparalleled success the Bantams have had in becoming the Washington Class 2A No. 1 overall team - likely Clarkston's first-ever No. 1 ranking. Those steps represent a team that has - most importantly - had everything fall into place at just the right time.
A McDonald's All-American nominee, an unexpected transfer and a four-year starter claiming her place in Clarkston history. Of the seven seniors playing under coach Scott Thompson, three tend to light up the stat book. A Bantam "Big Three" of sorts.
Those three combined are averaging 38.3 points, 19 rebounds and five assists per game. A three-headed monster sure to give any of the Bantams' postseason opponents fits.
Clarkston will try to secure a spot in the state tournament tonight when it takes on Wapato at 7:45 p.m. at Cheney in a 2A regional game. The winner will advance to State; the loser will be done.
The game is a chance at redemption for the Bantams after they left last year's tournament with a bad taste in their mouths.
"The way last year ended - a two-point loss to Ephrata in this same game - has really been a motivation for us," Thompson said. "... We've talked about the loss to Ephrata at least every two weeks."
A step at a time, they've risen again, this time with a 21-1 record. Their only loss came to Lewiston - Idaho's 5A state champion.
Yet three years ago, three of Clarkston's players were in three different places. Fate would have it that they would come together at just the right time ...
Four years in the making
KC McConnell grew up with the toughest competition possible: her older brother Dustin.
"Just growing up I've always been around athletics," McConnell said. "Especially competing against my brother, I had to work pretty hard to try to beat him. I got pretty competitive from him. I learned to lose pretty early."
Now, McConnell is learning how to win. She has set three school records in her career.
"I never really set my eyes on records or anything," McConnell said. "... It is nice to see my hard work paying off."
"She is probably the best all-around player I've ever had when you talk about being coachable on the floor and off the floor," Thompson said. "She's a coach's dream."
Despite playing guard the last three seasons, McConnell - who has narrowed her college choices to Whitworth and Lewis-Clark State - has been a key rebounder and an overall dominating presence on the floor.
"... Rebounding is wanting to get the ball; it's not always not about being the tallest," McConnell said. "... I couldn't control how tall I was (growing up)."
Four years of high school basketball but no state titles. In that four-year stretch, McConnell had never topped Lewiston in the annual games between the interstate rivals. The Bantams finally claimed revenge and McConnell had her first victory over Lewiston at this year's Golden Throne game.
"It feels good to win," McConnell said with a grin.
Perhaps her luck will change in the state tournament as well ...
For the family
When Clarkston's Senior Night arrived, it was fairly easy to spot Sierra Higheagle's family in the stands. They had made shirts - a lot of shirts.
"There was so much of my family there," the senior guard said. "... It would be really different without (my family) there. I feel like without them (at my games) I would be alone."
Understandable, considering that Higheagle transferred from Lapwai to Clarkston just this year.
"It was hard at first, but it was a good change for me," Higheagle said. "I needed this change."
The Bantams welcomed the change as well, despite some slumping stats from the slashing scorer.
"Her offense has been a work in progress - she came from a different system," Thompson said. "As the season goes along, she's gotten better and better and better."
In the final three regular-season games, Higheagle averaged 18.5 points per outing.
"I wish it would've happened earlier for me," Higheagle said. "Your game just comes to you. ... It finally just came to me." And not a moment too soon.
Now, Higheagle hoops it up for her family. The loss to Ephrata is something she hears about, but her driving force continues to be those family members showing up in droves.
"I do it for my family," Higheagle said. "... You have to do it for all those little girls that watch you."
For the win
While Higheagle and McConnell were leading their teams in Lapwai and Clarkston, respectively, a blip on the basketball radar began to appear in eastern Washington: Jamie Weisner. Perhaps you've heard of her.
The senior guard started playing in Spokane in the third grade and then moved to Walla Walla. In the summer of 2010, her father, Darcy, was hired as the superintendent of the Clarkston School District, and Jamie enrolled at CHS as a junior.
In two seasons with the Bantams, she has set four school records.
Despite all of the hype surrounding the McDonald's All-American nominee, she could care less about accolades. Weisner knows she is talented. But she also knows this: She just wants to win.
"I don't like it at all," Weisner said about her spotlight. "I guess it's a big honor, but I don't like being called out in front of everyone. I don't play basketball for all the glory or anything. I do it to win games."
Weisner finds herself in the gym as often as some people find themselves sleeping in their beds.
"The more time you spend at something, the more you get passionate about it," Weisner said. "I'm just passionate about it. I've grown up in the gym."
She will take her talents to Oregon State's basketball program this fall where she enters as ESPN's No. 41 overall player in the class of 2012.
"You could not give (Jamie) enough credit," Thompson said. "You've watched the games. ... She makes it easy to give her that type of credit. I've never met a player with so much talent and yet zero ego."
No ego. Just talent and determination. At 21 points per game, Weisner is the Bantams' touchstone.
And one for all
With Weisner transferring two years ago and Higheagle joining the squad this year, two crucial building blocks were provided for a sensational season, along with mainstay McConnell.
But it's not just the big three. It's Ashley Meyers - the only absent player in Clarkston's lone loss. It's Caleigh Hines - a 3-point sharpshooter. It's the entire Bantam squad - hungry for Clarkston's first title.
"We want to win; we have to win," Higheagle said. "I don't feel like it's revenge; we're just (at the tournament) to play."
"A state championship is our goal and that's what we want to rise to," Weisner said. "We've had a great season so far, but we're not finished yet."
With seven seniors in tow, with the steps cemented, with the stakes raised and with their eyes on the prize, the Bantams will take the court tonight.
"No matter what happens, we're gonna fight to the death," Thompson said. "We want to get to State so bad; we're not looking past anybody."
Wildcats armed with experience, new-look offense
Lewiston Tribune
August 26, 2011
LAPWAI - They have a big roster and a fair bit of experience. They also have a well-traveled coach who has installed an exotic offense.
So who knows what to expect from the Lapwai Wildcats this fall. But their opponents would certainly be wise not to overlook them.
Lapwai is under the guidance of Daryl Stavros, a 55-year-old who has coached throughout the Idaho and Washington prep ranks, and who also spent time on the staffs at Eastern Washington and Whitworth.
Stavros was most recently an assistant at Mossyrock High in western Washington. He came to Lapwai for two jobs - the pastor position at Lapwai Assembly of God Church and the Wildcats' football coach gig.
Stavros' Wildcats will run a spread offense, with the quarterback always in the shotgun and multiple receivers in the formation. While it's similar to the scheme that has become so popular in college football in recent years, Stavros' offense is his own creation.
"Nobody really runs this kind of offense," he said. "It's a little bit of Lake City, it's a little bit of the Oregon Ducks, it's a little bit of Mississippi State, it's a little bit of my own stuff.
"We really like it; if I called it anything, I'd probably say it's a sexy offense," Stavros added. "It's wide, it's spread, it's open. It's a big-play offense. At any time, we can break it for the big one."
And Lapwai has veteran players who could potentially make the offense explosive. A trio of seniors - quarterback Ronnie Johnson, running back Ty Hillman and wide receiver Rielly Leighton - look to be the top playmakers, with senior Jared Aubertin and junior Tequis Penney leading the linemen.
The Wildcats also have plenty of youngsters among their 31 players. Stavros said that particular attention needs to be paid to the rookies - who won't be treated as "tackling dummies," the coach said.
"My philosophy with football is that you treat each kid with respect and you try to maximize each kid's ability and talent," he said. "... I'm a motivator - I believe in motivating kids. And you do that by paying attention to each of them individually and motivating them individually."
Lapwai recently played in a four-team jamboree at Wallace, and Stavros judged that his team won the event. So perhaps the Wildcats have sufficiently ingested their newfangled offense.
In order to get a feel for the Whitepine League, Stavros has watched game film and talked to those in the know. He's discovered that it might be "the toughest league in the whole state."
And where does Lapwai fit in?
"If our guys really want it bad enough - if they've got the passion and desire - we're going to be extremely difficult to beat," Stavros said. "If they bring that to the table - which we're working on hard - we're going to be competitive."
The Wildcats open the season tonight at home against Genesee. The game has been moved to 8 p.m. to dodge the hot temperatures predicted today.
Congrats Sierra! Prep Athlete of the Week!
Will post video when it becomes availabe on KLEW TV.com
Wepcu'x! Semester Honor Roll Students!
Lapwai High School:
4.0 Arika Reuben
3.5-3.99 Rielly Leighton, Shelby Leighton
3.0-3.49 Nico Higheagle
Clarkston High School:
3.6-3.99 Sierra Higheagle
-Lewiston Tribune, February 19, 2012
Congrats! Sierra & Winter! District Champs!
Thirteen Warriors earn cross country FC academic honors
2/2/2012
The Lewis-Clark State College cross country programs had 13 runners named to the academic all-conference teams, released by Frontier Conference officials on Thursday. The Warrior women led the conference with 10 athletes receiving honors, while the men had three qualify for the recognition.
To be eligible for the all-conference academic teams, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore in standing, maintain a 3.0 GPA, and participate in half of their team’s meets.
LC runners named to the women’s team were seniors Kelsey Klettke, Amanda Palmer, Madison Randall, Francis Rojas, and Stephanie Shuel; juniors Chelsey Leighton and Whitlee Young; and sophomores Ashley Barnes, AnnieKate Olson, and LaDawn Vinson.
Out of eight Frontier Conference schools, the Lewis-Clark State women’s team was the only team to have more than seven student-athletes earn the award.
Warriors to make the men’s team were juniors Sean Hagan and Dave Marks, and sophomore Taylor Galusha.
Congratulations Chelsey on a Fantastic National Championship Finish!
VANCOUVER, Wash. – The Lewis-Clark State College men’s cross country program enjoyed its best finish ever at the NAIA Cross Country National Championship by placing fourth, while the women’s team also had one of its strongest meets of the season and placed 11th at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site on Saturday.
(For article on LCSC men's results go to: http://www.lcsc.edu/athletics/XC/2011/Press_Releases/viewNews.asp?ID=1422)
The LCSC women nearly tied their best finish in program history at the race. LCSC’s 2004 squad place ninth at the meet, which until Saturday was the best finish by either Warrior squad at nationals.
Junior Chelsey Leighton of Lapwai was LCSC’s top finisher in 48th place overall (38th among scoring runners) in 18:53 over the 5-kilometer course, while freshman Sophie Bush was 59th in 18:59. The pair has been the team’s top two runners all season. Amanda Palmer (19:32), Madison Randall (19:38) and Francis Rojas (19:50) rounded out the scoring finishers for the Warriors.
“We went into the meet ranked 14th and I thought if we finished there it would be an extremely good outcome,” Collins said. “To finish 11th, I was very surprised. I know we’re all very excited,”
LCSC finished with 353 points, 23 behind 10th place The Master’s, which finished at 320. For the second straight season, however, LCSC finished ahead of Frontier Conference rival Carroll at the meet after finishing second to the Saints at the conference meet. Carroll finished 13th with 406 points.
“Yes, one of our goals was to beat Carroll again,” Collins said. “It’s a good rivalry and the girls are excited.”
Collins said the women’s race was much slower because it was held after the men’s race, so the course was torn up and muddy. Still, he wanted the team to follow the same race strategy and get out strong early.
“We didn’t even come close to that,” Collins said. “We were probably at 90 to 110 a half-mile into the race, which left a lot of catching up to do. But tough conditions are kind of our team personality. The girls were able to work their way up and ran well. We beat some good teams today. I was more than a little surprised.”
Collins said there’s a lot to be excited about with the two teams. The men’s team did not have a senior among its seven runners at nationals, but did have two sophomore and three freshmen. The women’s team did have three seniors, but returns a strong nucleus next year as well.
The Warriors also finished third in the combined team category, which combines the two team scores for an overall score. Cal State San Marcos was first in the combined team, following by University of British Columbia. Friends was third at 571, while LCSC was fourth at 581.
“This is my 15th year as coach and this probably was the most exciting national meet for me, not just because of the results, but what these teams accomplished and how they accomplished it,” he said. “They really worked hard as a team and did it as a team. I’m really excited for them.”
WOMEN
Team scores – 1, Cal St. San Marcos 82. 2, Azusa Pacific 91. 3, British Columbia 171. 4, Northwest Christian 172. 5, Friends 192. 6, Olivet Nazarene 206. 7, College of Idaho 216. 8, Concordia 232. 9, Roberts Wesleyan 311. 10, The Master’s 320. 11, Lewis-Clark State 353.
Overall winner – Osbie Burru, Grang View, 17:15.
LCSC – 23, Chelsey Leighton 18:53. 44, Sophie Bush 18:59. 77, Amanda Palmer 19:32. 97, Madison Randall 19:38. 107, Francis Rojas 19:50. 124, Whitlee Young 19:54. 138, Stephanie Shuel 20:08.
Chelsey! Frontier Conference Cross Country- All-Conference Team
Oribo, Collins officially tabbed with conference honors
11/11/2011
Frontier Conference commissioner Kent Paulson officially announced the league's cross country award winners on Friday. Lewis-Clark State College’s Mike Collins was named the Men’s Coach of the Year, Jimmy Oribo claimed the Men’s Runner of the Year Award, and eight Warriors were named to the all-conference teams.
These awards were actually determined a week ago as the honors are based on the results of the conference championships, held last Friday in Billings, Mont. The individual medalists earn Runner of the Year awards and the coach of the winning team claims the Coach of the Year Award.
Collins, now in his 15th season at the helm, led the Warrior men to their fifth straight conference title this year. His team was ranked No. 7 in the final regular-season NAIA poll, and will look to make a push at the national meet held in Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 19.
Oribo, a junior from Kampala, Uganda, ran away with the men’s title as he finished the 8-kilometer course in 25:16, more than 15 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
The top ten finishers at the championship meets comprise the men’s and women’s all-conference squads.
Joining Oribo on the men’s all-conference team were teammates Sam Atkin (who finished third), Cody Glad (fourth), Cody Larson (seventh), and Dave Marks (ninth).
On the women’s side, three Warriors earned a spot on the all-conference team including Sophie Bush (second), Chelsey Leighton (third), and Amanda Palmer (eighth).
Carroll College head coach Matt Morris was named the women’s Coach of the Year, and Carroll’s Rhianna Grossman, a sophomore from Couer d’Alene, Idaho, was named the female Runner of the Year.
The complete list of all-conference team members is listed below, in the order they finished at the championship meet.
2011 Men’s Cross Country All-Conference
Jimmy Oribo, Jr, Lewis-Clark State College; Kampala, Uganda
Cesar Mireles, Sr, Rocky Mountain College; Bakersfield, Calif.
Sam Atkin, Fr, Lewis-Clark State College; Lincolnshire, England
Cody Glad, Fr, Lewis-Clark State College; Kearns, Utah
Shane Donaldson, Sr, University of Great Falls; Thompson Falls, Mont.
Rigoberto Jimenez, Sr, University of Great Falls; Royal City, Wash.
Cody Larson, Fr, Lewis-Clark State College; Boise, Idaho
Noah Kiprono, Jr, Rocky Mountain College; Nairobi, Kenya
Dave Marks, Jr, Lewis-Clark State College; Lake Oswego, Ore.
Oliver Lange, So, Westminster College; Pleasanton, Calif.
2011 Women’s Cross Country All-Conference
Rhianna Grossman, So, Carroll College; Couer d’Alene, Idaho
Sophie Bush, Fr, Lewis-Clark State College; Newport, Wash.
Chelsey Leighton, Jr, Lewis-Clark State College; Lapwai, Idaho
Jamie Greene, Sr, Carroll College; Sandy, Utah
Katie Gilboy, Sr, Carroll College; Helena, Mont.
Megan Beam, So, Rocky Mountain College; Billings, Mont.
Mackenzie O’Dore, Fr, Rocky Mountain College; Joliet, Mont.
Amanda Palmer, Jr, Lewis-Clark State College; Weiser, Idaho
Allie Reynolds, Fr, Carroll College; Seattle, Wash.
Shannah Burke, Jr, Carroll College; Frenchtown, Mont.
WPL Football Awards
Lapwai:
Rielly Leighton- 1st Team- Receiver, Hon. Mention- Defensive Line
Ronnie Johnson- 2nd Team- Running Back
Ronald Williamson- Hon. Mention- Linebacker
Lewiston Tribune
November 8, 2011
Austin Hall of Kendrick was the Whitepine League Player of the Year while his coach, Davey Steele, was the WPL Coach of the Year in football.
Stephen Brent of Potlatch was Offensive Player of the Year while Kaiden Hoskins of Troy was the Defensive Player of the Year.
Troy led the way with seven players on the All-WPL first.
Player of the Year - Austin Hall, Kendrick
Offensive Player of the Year - Stephen Brent, Potlatch
Defensive Player of the Year - Kaiden Hoskins, Troy
Coach of the Year - Davey Steele, Kendrick
OFFENSE
Quarterback - First team: Austin Hall, Kendrick; Second team: Sam Druffel, Genesee; Hon. Mention: Drew Magallon, Potlatch.
Running back - First team: Kaiden Hoskins, Troy; Stephen Brent, Potlatch; Nate Illi, Troy; Justin Schmidt, Prairie; Second team: Jarod Boyle, Kendrick; Blake Warner, Kendrick; RONNIE JOHNSON, LAPWAI; Hon. mention: Austin Reed, Clearwater Valley; Garrett Jones, Genesee; Mitch Wemhoff, Lewis County.
Receiver - First team: RIELLY LEIGHTON, LAPWAI; Reggie Tilleman, Genesee; Second team: Sawyer Wahl, Lewis County; Kirk Nelson, Troy; Hon. mention: Kole Hardin, Kendrick; Ryan Kneale, Genesee.
Offensive line - First team: Matt Brown, Kendrick, Josh Roeper, Prairie; Steven Gram, Troy; Second team: Chris Collins, Potlatch; Ryan Bailey, Deary; Lawson Jared, Timberline; Hon. mention: Jason Borth, Genesee, Tyler Burke, Kendrick; Gavin Butterfield, Potlatch.
DEFENSE
Defensive back - First team: Nate Illi, Troy; Stephen Brent, Potlatch; Second team: Ryan Kneale, Genesee; Laine Pratt, Clearwater Valley; Hon. mention: Jonathon Riggers, Lewis County; Kirk Nelson, Troy.
Linebacker - First team: Kaiden Hoskins, Troy; Phillip Burkhart, Potlatch; Justin Schmidt, Prairie; Second team: Austin Hall, Kendrick; Tyler Burke, Kendrick; Jack Hermann, Genesee; Sawyer Wahl, Lewis County; Hon. mention: Mitch Wemhoff, Lewis County; Tim Frei, Prairie, RONALD WILLIAMSON, LAPWAI.
Defensive lineman - First team: Josh Roeper, Prairie; Brady Griffin, Troy; Steven Gram, Troy; Austin Guier, Deary; Gavin Butterfield, Potlatch; Second team: Reggie Tilleman, Genesee; Mark Amos, Potlatch; Ryan Bailey, Deary; Garrett Schmidt, Prairie; Mitch Renfrow, Genesee; Hon. mention: Lawson Jared, Timberline; RIELLY LEIGHTON, LAPWAI; Dylan Scott, Kendrick; Blake Warner, Kendrick; Grant Yenney, Troy.
We are the Champions! Boys & Girl's Club Soccer! Glory & Titus Rock!
Field set for high school holiday hoops tourney at NIC
COEUR d'ALENE - The North Idaho College athletic department has announced the field for the fourth annual Coeur d'Alene INN-vitational holiday basketball classic Dec. 27-29 at Christianson Gym.
The girls tournament features: Coeur d'Alene, Lake City, Post Falls, Lapwai, Davis (Yakima), Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.), Federal Way (Wash.) and Redmond (Ore.)
Boys teams include: Coeur d'Alene, Lake City, Post Falls, Chiawana (Pasco, Wash.), Prairie (Vancouver, Wash.), Redmond, Davis and Foster (Tukwila, Wash.).
Both will be a true tournament format, with a winner crowned in both divisions.
Coeur d'Alene beat Federal Way in last year's girls championship game. This will be the first year a boys champion will be crowned.
Information: 769-3348
COEUR d'ALENE INN-VITATIONAL
HOLIDAY CLASSIC
at North Idaho College
Tuesday, Dec. 27
Game 1 - Davis vs. Lapwai, 9 a.m. (girls)
Game 2 - Chiawana vs. Lake City, 10:30 (boys)
Game 3 - Federal Way vs. Post Falls, noon (girls)
Game 4 - Prairie vs. Post Falls, 1:30 p.m. (boys)
Game 5 - Redmond vs. Lake City, 3 (girls)
Game 6 - Davis vs. Redmond, 4:30 (boys)
Game 7 - Skyline vs. Coeur d'Alene, 6 (girls)
Game 8 - Foster vs. Coeur d'Alene, 7:30 (boys)
Wednesday, Dec. 28
Game 9 - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3, 9 a.m. (girls)
Game 10 - Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 4, 10:30 (boys)
Game 11 - Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7, noon (girls)
Game 12 - Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8, 1:30 p.m. (boys)
Game 13 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 3, 3 (girls semifinal)
Game 14 - Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4, 4:30 (boys semifinal)
Game 15 - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, 6 (girls semifinal)
Game 16 - Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 8, 7:30 (boys semifinal)
Thursday, Dec. 29
Game 17 - Loser Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11, 9 a.m. (girls seventh-eighth place game)
Game 18 - Loser Game 10 vs. Loser Game 12, 10:30 (boys seventh-eight place game)
Game 19 - Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11, noon (girls consolation championship)
Game 20 - Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 12, 1:30 p.m. (boys consolation championship)
Game 21 - Loser Game 13 vs. Loser Game 15, 3 (girls third-place game)
Game 22 - Loser Game 14 vs. Loser Game 16, 4:30 (boys third place game)
Game 23 - Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 6 (girls championship)
Game 24 - Winner Game 14 vs. Winner Game 16, 7:30 (boys championship)
LCSC women's cross country team is headed to nationals
11/7/2011
The Lewis-Clark State College women’s cross country team has received an at-large bid and will be one of 32 teams at the 2011 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championship, officials from the NAIA announced on Monday.
The Warriors were ranked No. 16 in the final national poll and received one of eight at-large berths.
The women’s field features 22 conference/independent/unaffiliated group champions, one conference/independent/unaffiliated group runner-up and eight at-large selections. Concordia received a host berth to the event. There are also 105 individual qualifiers.
Cal State San Marcos will take a run at winning its third-straight women’s national title, while two-time runner-up Biola (Calif.) eyes a shot at taking home the banner for the first time in program history. LCSC will be looking to improve on its 18th-place finish of last season.
The Warrior women will be joining the No. 7-ranked Lewis-Clark State men’s team. The Warrior men won the Frontier Conference title last weekend and received an automatic bid to the championship.
With both Warrior programs headed to nationals, LCSC is now the only NAIA school to send both teams to the national meeting in each of the past six seasons. This year stands as the women’s 11th straight trip, and the men’s 10th.
Southern Oregon is aiming for a second title on the men’s side, but the field is wide open and the LCSC men look poised to push themselves near the top.
The men’s field consists of 21 conference/independent/unaffiliated group champions, one conference/independent/unaffiliated group runner-up and nine at-large selections. Concordia (Ore.) received a host berth to the event. There are also 100 individual qualifiers.
The 56th annual men’s and 32nd annual women’s event will take place at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 19. The men’s 8K championship race will start at 10:30 a.m. PST, followed by the women’s 5K run at 11:45 a.m.
Soccer Championship Saturday! Glory & Titus Team's Undefeated So Far!
Chelsey Places 3rd at Conference Championship; Qualifies for Nationals!
11/4/11
BILLINGS, Mont. – The Lewis-Clark State College men’s cross country team and Jimmy Oribo ran away with titles at the Frontier Conference championships on Friday. The Warrior women came close, but had to settle for second-place as they fell just 11 points short of Carroll College.
The women had three runners place in the top 10 on Friday but were still unable to close the gap with 10th-ranked Carroll. The Saints finished at 33, while LCSC came in at 44, and Rocky Mountain finished third at 74.
“Second place isn’t what our goal was, but I thought we ran relatively well.”
Carroll’s Rhianna Grossman took the title and the female Runner of the Year honors with a time of 18:33. LCSC’s Sophie Bush and Chelsey Leighton followed in second and third with times of 18:53 and 18:58, respectively. Amanda Palmer finished ninth for the Warriors in 19:24.
“Grossman is a very talented runner and deserved to win,” Collins said. “With this being Sophie’s first year running cross country—give her another year and she’ll win this race.”
Regardless of whether the team receives an at-large bid or not, Bush and Leighton both qualified for nationals based on their individual performances.
The races on Friday were delayed for an hour because of frost on the course.
LCSC women's cross country team is headed to nationals
11/7/2011
The Lewis-Clark State College women’s cross country team has received an at-large bid and will be one of 32 teams at the 2011 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championship, officials from the NAIA announced on Monday.
The Warriors were ranked No. 16 in the final national poll and received one of eight at-large berths.
The women’s field features 22 conference/independent/unaffiliated group champions, one conference/independent/unaffiliated group runner-up and eight at-large selections. Concordia received a host berth to the event. There are also 105 individual qualifiers.
Cal State San Marcos will take a run at winning its third-straight women’s national title, while two-time runner-up Biola (Calif.) eyes a shot at taking home the banner for the first time in program history. LCSC will be looking to improve on its 18th-place finish of last season.
The Warrior women will be joining the No. 7-ranked Lewis-Clark State men’s team. The Warrior men won the Frontier Conference title last weekend and received an automatic bid to the championship.
With both Warrior programs headed to nationals, LCSC is now the only NAIA school to send both teams to the national meeting in each of the past six seasons. This year stands as the women’s 11th straight trip, and the men’s 10th.
Southern Oregon is aiming for a second title on the men’s side, but the field is wide open and the LCSC men look poised to push themselves near the top.
The men’s field consists of 21 conference/independent/unaffiliated group champions, one conference/independent/unaffiliated group runner-up and nine at-large selections. Concordia (Ore.) received a host berth to the event. There are also 100 individual qualifiers.
The 56th annual men’s and 32nd annual women’s event will take place at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 19. The men’s 8K championship race will start at 10:30 a.m. PST, followed by the women’s 5K run at 11:45 a.m.
KLEW-TV: Damien Minkey, Lapwai, Prep Athlete 12/17/08
KLEW-TV: Annie Kane, Lapwai, Prep Athlete 12/24/08
High School Standings- 1/30/09
high school basketball standings
Friday, January 30, 2009
BOYS
IDAHO
CLASS 1A
WHITEPINE LEAGUE
League Overall
Team W L W L
Genesee 8 0 17 0
Prairie 7 0 12 3
Lapwai 6 2 10 7
Nezperce 6 2 6 9
Summit 3 1 12 8
Timberline 4 5 11 6
Troy 3 4 8 7
Kendrick 3 4 6 7
Clearwater Valley 2 5 5 12
Deary 1 6 4 10
Culdesac 1 7 4 13
Highland 0 8 0 15
GIRLS
IDAHO
CLASS 4A/5A
INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE
League Overall
Team W L W L
Coeur d'Alene 10 0 19 0
Post Falls 7 2 13 5
Lewiston 5 4 13 5
Lake City 5 5 11 6
Moscow 1 8 3 13
Sandpoint 0 9 2 17
CLASS 1A
WHITEPINE LEAGUE
League Overall
Team W L W L
Lapwai 7 0 15 3
Summit 3 0 16 2
Clearwater Valley 6 2 14 5
Genesee 6 2 10 8
Kendrick 5 3 11 7
Prairie 5 3 11 7
Lewis County 2 6 7 12
Troy 2 6 5 13
Timberline 1 6 6 10
Culdesac 0 8 3 15
Idaho Girl's Basketball Media Poll- 1/21/09
Girls Basketball Media Poll
January 21, 2009
1AD1
1. Challis (6) 17-1 46
2. Lapwai (4) 15-3 44
3. Clearwater Valley 14-5 24
4. Rimrock 14-5 14
5. Lakeside 10-2 11
Others receiving votes: Cascade 6, Tri-Valley 4, Raft River 1.
Voters
Greg Lee, Spokesman-Review
Mark Nelke, Coeur d'Alene Press
Paul Kingsbury, Idahosports.com
Ryan Howe, Times-News
Jesse Zentz, Idaho Statesman
Zach Kyle, Post Register
Will Love, Idaho Press-Tribune
Jim Browitt, Lewiston Tribune
Tim Flagstad, Pocatello Journal
Ryan Collingwood, Blackfoot Morning News
Districts Heat Up (Lapwai Girls KLEW Feature)
Idaho 1A All-State Team
1A Girls All-Idaho Basketball Team
Idaho Statesman
03/29/09
FIRST TEAM
Player of the year: Lacey Jones, Garden Valley Wolverines
Why she is Player of the Year: The four-year starter at guard led the 1A D-II consolation champions in points (22.5), rebounds (12.1), steals (5.8) and assists (2.6).
Coach's comment: "Lacey had to figure out how to score with a double- and sometimes triple-team defense," Garden Valley coach Paula Tucker-Boyd said. "She played through some incredibly difficult situations at state and proved herself to be a tough competitor on both ends of the floor."
What others are saying: "A great athlete, competitor and leader," Rockland coach Vern Nelson said. "She can do it all on the floor."
***
Teenie Kent, Richfield Tigers
The 5-4 junior guard averaged 17.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 4.3 spg and 3.1 apg per game. She is 74-5 in three seasons at Richfield.
Jesse Dill, Dietrich Blue Devils
Also a first-team selection in 2008, the 5-11 senior forward/center averaged a double-double (18 ppg and 10 rpg).
Morgan Jo Wolff, Kendrick Tigers
The 2008 second-teamer and 5-7 senior guard/forward averaged 22 ppg, 4.2 apg, 3.4 rpg and 2.2 spg for the 1A D-I consolation champs.
Annie Kane, Lapwai Wildcats
The 5-7 senior guard averaged 14.3 ppg in the postseason and guided Lapwai to its first state championship since 2002.
SECOND TEAM
Chelsey Leighton, Lapwai, 5-6, senior, forward
Michelle Kent, Richfield, 5-7, senior, guard
Kristen Garlie, Challis, 6-0, senior, post
Sally Hansen, Raft River (Malta), 5-8, senior, guard
Alexis Pickering, Clearwater Valley (Kooskia), 5-10, senior, forward.
District II All-Star Basketball Game
Lewiston Tribune
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Bengals lead South to all-star victory
Few players are as familiar with Booth Hall as Kiki Edwards-Teasley and Megan Mills. And it showed Wednesday night.
The Lewiston seniors combined for 39 points to lead the South to a 94-92 triumph in the girls' session of the District II prep basketball all-star game.
In the boys' game, the North claimed an 83-77 victory behind 14 points from Timberline's Andrew Blain.
Blain also won the boys' 3-point contest while Teasley, a 6-foot-2 forward, won the girls' long-range shootout.
Lewiston's Peter Gregg claimed the dunk contest title.
GIRLS
NORTH (92)
Kayla Dau (Culdesac) 6, Nikki Long (Genesee) 4, Morgan Jo Wolff (Kendrick) 15, Myriah Deeds (Kendrick) 8, Annie Kane (Lapwai) 12, Chelsey Leighton (Lapwai) 8, Andrea Ramsey (Lapwai) 5, Timena Shebala (Moscow) 5, Kalli Patton (Orofino) 2, Jamie Haddock (Potlatch) 12, Kayla Hodges (Timberline) 3, Hannah Iverson (Troy) 9.
SOUTH (94)
Alexis Pickering (Clearwater Valley) 4, Janae Palmer (Clearwater Valley) 6, Shiann Dreadfulwater (Grangeville) 13, Tiffany Lytle (Kamiah) 2, Shelby Cash (Kamiah) 13, Kiki Edwards-Teasley 20, Megan Mills (Lewiston) 19, Niki Thomason (Lewis County) 4, Kaleigh Carpenter (Lewis County) 0, Kaylee Uhlenkott (Prairie) 7, Jennifer Enneking (Prairie) 4, Kim Frei (Summit) 1.
BOYS
NORTH (83)
Bradley Layes (Culdesac) 5, Derek Brown (Deary) 3, Beau Dahmen (Genesee) 11, Daniel Carlson (Genesee) 11, Ben Warner (Kendrick) 3, Blake Boyle (Kendrick) 7, Steven Weber (Lapwai) 6, Nathan Struhs (Orofino) 2, Justin Heustis (Potlatch) 2, Kaden Jared (Timberline) 8, Andrew Blain (Timberline) 14, Dalton Dimmick (Troy) 11.
SOUTH (77)
Colton Summerfelt (Clearwater Valley) 4, Arrow Campbell (Clearwater Valley) 8, Nels Solberg (Grangeville) 4, Cody Boltz (Highland) 6, Asa Welch (Kamiah) 3, Ryan Young (Lewiston) 10, Ryan Strong (Lewiston) 16, Peter Gregg (Lewiston) 9, Gavin Zenner (Nezperce) 8, Tyler Forsmann (Prairie) 7, Kyle Daly (Prairie) 1, Dustin Lustig (Summit) 0.
Quote on Lapwai girls: Colfax girls state championship
Lewiston Tribune
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Partial from article on Colfax girl's state basketball championship
Perhaps the Bulldogs encountered such little turbulence during State because they knew they had already passed their stiffest test. On Jan. 26, Colfax battled Lapwai, which ultimately won the Idaho Class 1A Division I state title. The Bulldogs rallied from a 14-point deficit in that game to claim a 68-63 triumph.
None of their competition at State, it turns out, was in Lapwai's class.
Note: Colfax pounded Napavine 56-35 on Saturday at Spokane Arena to claim the Washington Class 2B girls' basketball state championship
No senior-itis for this bunch
No senior-itis for this bunch
Wildcat leaders cap a consistent four-year run in fitting style
Lewiston Tribune
Monday, February 23, 2009
NAMPA - From the time she first donned the blue and white uniform, Annie Kane has been a fixture in the Lapwai lineup.
But as the final minutes of her high school career ticked away, the senior guard was not on the floor. And that was just fine with her.
Kane spent the last moments of the Class 1A Division I championship game on the bench, exchanging high-fives and hugs with teammates. At long last, she and her classmates had their title.
The 55-44 decision over Clearwater Valley on Saturday at the Idaho Center was the perfect ending to a successful run for Kane and six other Lapwai seniors.
"I think it means four years of hard work and four years of just trying to get to this point," Kane said. "And we finally reached our goal. It means everything."
Added Ronni Orton, another Lapwai senior: "Four years, that is all I can say. Four years we have been waiting for this."
Few Idaho girls' basketball programs can match Lapwai's consistency. This was the Wildcats' ninth consecutive appearance in the state tournament.
But Lapwai hadn't won a crown since 2002, despite fielding squads the last few years that appeared to be legitimate contenders.
Since Kane and her cohorts entered the program, the Wildcats have gone 86-21. Ten of those wins have come in the state tournament.
But the group's best State finish prior to this season was a fifth-place result in 2008.
"We knew the feeling, how it feels to lose at a state tournament," Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer said. "You don't get the championship if you lose. That stuck with us and we told the girls to remember that feeling."
The Wildcats displayed razor-sharp focus this season. They went 22-3, dropping just one game to an Idaho school.
The Wildcats finished Whitepine League play unbeaten and claimed their third straight District II tournament championship along the way.
Their most dominant run, however, came during State. The Cats' average margin of victory during the three-day event was nearly 17 points per game.
"We set our mind on this and we worked toward it the whole year," Kane said. "When you get disappointed for three years, you have to get it the fourth year - you only have one more shot."
The Lapwai seniors certainly made the most of theirs.
See photo in Photo Album:
By Matt Breach Of The Tribune
Lapwai's Chelsey Leighton, Katherine Samuels and Annie Kane celebrate on the bench as the final second click off the clock.
Lapwai frosh display composure of veterans
Lewiston Tribune
Sunday, February 22, 2009
NAMPA - With her final State experience winding down, Ronni Orton couldn't help but grow nostalgic. Her thoughts eventually drifted back to her freshman year.
Orton missed that season with a knee injury and watched from the sidelines. Nevertheless, the enormity of the state tournament made quite an impression on her.
"I remember coming here and watching my classmates and they were shaking," said Orton, now a Lapwai senior. They were like, 'Oh god, oh god, this is it; we're at State.' "
That is why Orton was so impressed with freshmen Latisha Phillips and Sierra Higheagle on Saturday.
The rookie reserves made key contributions in Lapwai's 55-44 victory over Clearwater Valley in the Idaho Class 1A Division I title game.
"Those girls were amazing," Orton said. "We're so proud of them."
Phillips, a 5-foot-7 forward, played nearly 20 minutes, tallying eight points on 4-of-6 shooting. She also corralled eight rebounds and blocked a shot.
Higheagle, a 5-9 forward, notched seven points in 111/2 minutes of action.
"I had that MVP feeling," Phillips said. "I think we all had it."
More importantly, neither Phillips nor Higheagle was overwhelmed by playing in the cavernous Idaho Center. Instead, they performed like savvy veterans on the biggest stage.
"I remember looking at this place as a little kid, and thinking, 'Wow,' " Higheagle said. "It looked way bigger back then."
The freshmen, along with the other reserves, were instrumental in Lapwai snagging its first state title since 2002. The Wildcats' bench outscored the CV backups 25-7.
Even more will be required of Phillips and Higheagle next season since the Wildcats have to replace seven seniors.
"With us losing as many seniors as we are, they are going to have to step up big," Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer said. "And now they have the experience and that's good for them. It was a big step for them."
DISTRICT II STILL TOPS - By claiming its first state championship as a 1A school, Lapwai added to District II's impressive tally of small-school crowns.
The district has now won 15 titles since 1977, more than any other district in Idaho. District III is second with eight.
Troy is the leader among District II schools with five titles. Highland has four while Kendrick and Genesee have won three and two, respectively.
See photo in Photo Album:
Kyle Mills / Lewiston Tribune
Lapwai’s Latisha Phillips comes down with a rebound in front of Clearwater Valley’s Mikel Harrington.
Wildcats eye new level of validation
CLASS 1A DIVISION I: Wildcats eye new level of validation
CV, Kendrick also in mix in trimmed-down tourney
Lewiston Tribune
Thursday, February 19, 2009
NAMPA - Few teams in Idaho, regardless of classification, have been as consistent this decade as Lapwai.
But since dropping a classification, that steadiness has not resulted in the ultimate prize, a glaring fact not lost on the Wildcats.
"A championship is the one thing these girls haven't brought home," Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer said. "We kind of have some unfinished business."
The Wildcats begin their quest for a crown today, when they open the Idaho Class 1A Division I girls' basketball state tournament against Sho-Ban. Tipoff is set for 5:15 p.m. PST at Nampa's Columbia High.
Joining Lapwai at State is Kendrick and Clearwater Valley. The Tigers will battle Raft River at 12:15 p.m. PST while the Rams will take on Rimrock at 2 p.m.
LAPWAI vs. SHO-BAN - Any team in the tournament will be hard-pressed to match Lapwai's postseason experience. The Wildcats are making their ninth consecutive appearance at State.
But the Cats have not won a title since 2002, when they beat Prairie in overtime in the 2A final. And since switching classifications following the '04 season, they've never advanced to the championship round of the 1A event.
Their best 1A showing came four years ago, when they took third.
"We know that we are pretty loaded with seniors who have been fortunate to go to State every year," Spencer. "But they've never been able to bring home a championship."
The Wildcats, whose roster includes seven seniors, enter this year's tournament 19-3. They went undefeated in Whitepine League action and are the top seed out of District II.
One thing that may prove beneficial in Lapwai's title hunt is the format of the tournament. Instead of a four-day, 16-team tourney, there are only eight teams competing over a three-day period.
The change occurred because Idaho has split 1A schools into two divisions based on enrollment.
"A four-day tournament, that is a really tough thing to do," Spencer said. "Now your team won't be as tired, but you still have to play the games against some pretty tough teams every night."
Lapwai's first test will come against Sho-Ban. The Fort Hall school is 15-10 and making its first State appearance since 2000, when it won the championship.
The Chiefs, like Lapwai, prefer a quick pace. Their roster is loaded with small, speedy guards, the best of whom is 5-foot-2 Shayann Johnson. The junior is averaging nearly 23 points per game in postseason play.
Samantha Bear, a 5-4 senior, and Jill Graves, a 5-1 junior, also average double figures.
Lapwai will counter with Annie Kane. The savvy senior, who is committed to Lewis-Clark State, averaged 18 points per game during the district tournament.
"She is one of the leaders on the team and a lot of stuff goes through her," Spencer said. "She is what I would call the spark plug of the team. If she starts hitting on all cylinders, other players tend to follow her."
If the Wildcats win their opener, they'll likely encounter Challis in the semifinals. The Vikings, who competed at the 2A level last year, are 22-1 and might be the class of the field.
"I know they are a pretty tough team," Spencer said. "But we probably have one of the most experienced teams at State. We've been there and we know we have to take care of business."
CLEARWATER VALLEY vs. RIMROCK - Unlike Lapwai, the Rams haven't been on this stage in a while. This is their first State appearance since 1996, when they won the A-3 consolation title.
"I am nervous because I don't know what to expect, I have no idea," CV senior Janae Palmer said. "I'm really excited just to have that experience, and we'll see how we do."
The Rams, the second seed from District II, appear to be at least a year ahead of schedule. Despite a lineup that includes seven underclassmen, the Rams are 16-6.
The only seniors on the squad are Palmer, a 5-foot-4 guard, and Alexis Pickering, a 5-10 forward. They have combined for nearly 29 points per game during postseason play.
"They have absolutely stepped up to the plate in all aspects," CV coach Krisi Pratt said. "They are go-to girls when you need them to be go-to girls."
Rimrock is back in the tournament after a one-year absence. The Raiders, who won consecutive state titles in 2003-04, are 17-5.
With three players 5-10 or taller, the District III school could present some challenges for the Rams, whose tallest option is Pickering. Rimrock's top post player is Anna Cantrell, a junior who averages 11.6 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.
To negate the Raiders' size, the Rams will probably try to create a fast-paced affair. Their press has been effective this season and lightning-quick point guard Jade Gutzman is nearly impossible to contain.
Should the Rams prevail in their opener, they might meet Whitepine League foe Kendrick in the semifinals. The Rams went 2-0 against the Tigers this season.
"We really don't have very many expectations," Pickering said. "We want a banner, we want to go for the gold. But other people are going to be like, 'Who's Clearwater Valley?' So hopefully we can show them."
KENDRICK vs. RAFT RIVER - Depending on the night, Kendrick has either looked like a cellar dweller or a legitimate contender.
Recently, it has been the latter. And that's why the Tigers are in the state tournament for the eighth time in nine years.
Following a middling regular season, the Tigers' inconsistent play continued in the district tournament. But when their season was on the line, they responded with surprising results, winning two elimination games by an average of 24 points.
The Tigers, who placed third last year, enter today's game with a 15-8 record. They are searching for their first state title since 2002.
When the Tigers have excelled this season, their three stars, Morgan Jo Wolff, Myriah Deeds and Hannah Smith, have been the primary catalysts. For example, the trio has combined for nearly 45 points per game during the postseason.
Wolff, a 5-foot-8 guard, has been on a tear of late. In Kendrick's last two games, the senior scored 24 and 32 points, respectively.
Deeds, meanwhile, has steadily improved as the season has progressed. The powerful 6-foot-3 forward could pose some matchup problems for smaller teams.
Raft River is making its fourth straight appearance at State. The Malta club, 17-6 this season, lost to Genesee in last year's championship game.
The Trojans are paced by Sally Hansen, a senior guard who has scored more than 1,000 points in her career.
Lapwai Crowned Champion (KLEW-TV Feature)
1AD1
1. Challis (6) 18-1 42
2. Lapwai (3) 16-3 39
3. Clearwater Valley 14-5 20
4. Rimrock 15-5 17
5. Lakeside 11-2 9
Others receiving votes: Cascade 7, Raft River 1.
Fatherly influence
Kiki Edwards-Teasley is part of a unique extended family that includes two men who answer to Dad
By Matt Baney Of The Tribune
Friday, February 6, 2009
When the Lewiston High girls' basketball team honored its seniors prior to a recent home game, one thing was obvious: Kiki Edwards-Teasley's family is roughly the size of a small army.
When her teammates' names were announced, two or three or four relatives joined each of them on the court to exchange hugs and bouquets of flowers. Then came Kiki's turn, and about 20 people emerged from the wings to take part in the celebration.
Her family is so vast, in fact, that she has two dads.
The 6-foot-2 Bengal post is the biological daughter of James Edwards, who was known for his majestic fadeaway jumper during an NBA career that stretched from 1977-96. And she is the stepdaughter of Howard Teasley, an LHS football standout in the late 1980s who is married to Kiki's mother, Shannon Teasley.
But Kiki objects to any distinctions drawn between her two dads. During the ceremony that night at Booth Hall, both men escorted her onto the court, and the public address announcer read a speech she had written that included praise and thanks for "my daddies."
"I just feel it's a blessing from God that I'm blessed with two dads and a wonderful family," Kiki said during an interview this week. "That's how I look at it."
It's certainly an unconventional arrangement. Edwards resides in his hometown of Seattle, where he settled upon retiring from the NBA, while Kiki lives in Lewiston with Howard, Shannon and her 12-year-old brother, Lewonne Teasley.
Yet they've found a way to make it work. When Edwards comes to Lewiston to watch Kiki play, he calls Howard and tells him to start cooking the salmon. When Howard and family journey to Seattle, he calls Edwards and tells him to fire up the ribs. Lewonne even calls Edwards "Dad named James."
"We're all one family," Edwards said via telephone. "Everyone gets along well. It's just an amazing situation."
For Kiki, she's never known any other way. Howard and Shannon began dating about 15 years ago, when she was a toddler.
"I'm so honored and blessed that our children don't know that it's any different," Shannon said, "and they're kind of shocked to know that outside, it's a different world. They didn't really realize it. God is good."
Kiki and her Lewiston teammates dive into the postseason tonight, facing Post Falls in the Idaho Class 5A District I-II tournament at Coeur d'Alene. The Bengals (13-6) are trying to reach the state tournament for the first time since 1989.
Despite Kiki's lineage, she wasn't pushed into basketball. At one time, Shannon even hoped her daughter wouldn't play, because of the high expectations she would likely face.
When Kiki started at the Boys and Girls Club level, Shannon remembers being relieved when her daughter dribbled the ball off her feet. "I was like, 'Oh, thank you, Lord. This isn't going to happen.' "
But Kiki didn't quit. Her parents insisted that she raise her own funds for 3-on-3 tournaments and AAU events, and she complied, often relying on the generosity of her huge extended family.
Eventually, it became clear that Kiki was a basketball player. Over the years, her dads have been there to provide pointers, even joining forces to coach her Spokane Hoopfest squad.
Edwards, who has tutored big men for the Seattle SuperSonics (when they were in town) and the University of Washington, does his best to coach Kiki from long distance. He calls her and tells her to study specific aspects of televised games. And they trade calls and text messages after Kiki and the Bengals play.
The 7-foot-1 Edwards spent time with eight NBA teams - most notably the Detroit Piston clubs that captured championships in 1989 and '90. When Kiki sees clips of her dad, it seems "kind of surreal, but it's really cool."
As for his trademark shot, Edwards doesn't expect his daughter to use it.
"They don't like the young kids shooting the fadeaway jump shot like I used to do. They want them to go toward the hole."
Kiki, who averages 11 points per game, intends to play basketball in college next year, but isn't sure what school she will attend. She wants to study sports medicine.
And when she moves into that phase of her life, she will no doubt rely on the support and guidance of her two dads.
For Howard and James, theirs is a relationship that few people will ever experience. But when they got to know each other, "it was just like automatic click," James said. "It was just like we had been best friends for a long time."
"We respected each other right away," Howard said. "We just knew that we would be in each other's lives forever."
Notes - Even though Lewiston and Lake City both finished 5-5 in Inland Empire League play, the Bengals earned the higher district seed (third) by virtue of a coin flip. That gave them a first-round matchup with Post Falls rather than top-seeded and unbeaten Coeur d'Alene, the defending 5A state champion. The winners and losers of tonight's games (Coeur d'Alene and Lake City play at 7:30) will meet Tuesday at the site of the higher seed, with the winners-bracket matchup determining the district champion. The eventual second-place finisher in the double-elimination tournament will square off against a District III (Boise area) team in an interdistrict playoff that determines another State berth.
SEE PHOTO TO THIS STORY IN PHOTO ALBUM
CAPTION: Kyle Mills / Lewiston Tribune
For Kiki Edwards-Teasley, two dads are better than one. The Lewiston High post was joined by her two fathers, Howard Teasley (left) and former NBA player James Edwards during the Bengals’ senior night last week.
Girls Districts: Whitepine teams begin quest for 21/2 playoff spots
Lewiston Tribune
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The state's reclassification has made the margin for error slightly narrower for Whitepine League teams vying for a State berth in the Idaho Class 1A Division I District II tournament, which begins a two-week run tonight at the Lewis-Clark State College Activity Center.
Whereas the 1A state tournament had been a 16-team event, the split of the classification into two divisions prompted the Idaho High School Activities Association to go with two eight-team tourneys. So the Whitepine League's eight Division I teams will play for 21/2 berths - two outright invitations and a spot in an interdistrict playoff - instead of the three that used to be available. (Division II schools Culdesac and Summit have 11/2 berths within their grasp).
The third-place Division I district team will face the District I (northern Idaho) champion for the other State berth on Feb. 14.
If regular-season results are an accurate indicator, five Whitepine League teams seem to be in contention for a state bid. And the most likely candidate appears to be Lapwai (16-3) which went unbeaten in WPL play and last week pulled off a notable 63-61 upset of Grangeville, ending the defending 2A state champion's 31-game winning streak. Kendrick played the Wildcats closer that any Whitepine team, losing to them by 14 and 10 points.
Kendrick (11-7) and Lapwai finished third and fourth, respectively, in last year's state tournament, while Genesee won the championship. The Bulldogs (10-8) again look like a viable contender for a State berth, boasting the WPL's second-best mark, which it shares with Clearwater Valley of Kooskia (14-5). Prairie of Cottonwood (11-7) is the other WPL affiliate with a winning league record.
The district tournament opens this evening with two games, Lapwai vs. Timberline of Weippe-Pierce (6-10) at 6:15 p.m. and Prairie vs. Kendrick at 7:45.
The first round concludes Wednesday, with Genesee facing Lewis County of Nezperce (8-12) and Clearwater Valley taking on Troy (5-13).
Play continues on Friday, and the championship and third-place games are on tap Feb. 12
The state tournament will take place at Nampa's Columbia High beginning Feb. 19.
Featured Athletes Slide Show
KLEW-TV: Wildcats Win League Opener
Tribune Article on Jack, 2/17/92
LAPWAI'S 'IN YOUR FACE' MAN YEAROUT PROVIDES DEFENSIVE SPARK FOR TOP SEED WILDCATS
Bob Barrows
Monday, February 17, 1992
LAPWAI Year in and year out, the Lapwai Wildcats play their crowd-pleasing up-tempo game of basketball, pushing the ball up the court like runners involved in a 40-yard dash.
But not to be overlooked is the defensive aspect of the Wildcats' game, which has fallen in the capable hands of senior Jack Yearout, who has been the ''in your face'' man.
When the Wildcats, undefeated at 19-0 and ranked second in the state's Class A-3 poll, open play in the District I-II Class A-3 tournament play tonight at 8 against Grangeville, it's almost certain that the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Yearout will be assigned to guard the Bulldogs' leading scorer, Mike Schumacher.
While Yearout's offense can't be ignored, it's what he does when opponents have the ball that has first-year Lapwai coach Josh Leighton whistling a happy tune.
''Jack Yearout plays great defense and gets in the best scorer's face,'' Leighton said. ''He usually gets that assignment and brings a nice little addition to what we already have.''
The reason Leighton uses the term ''addition'' is that Yearout had to sit out the first six games of the basketball season after having broke his tibula, the small bone just above the ankle, during the latter part of the 1991 football season.
A part-time starter as a sophomore and a full-time starter last year, Yearout was determined to put his football injury behind him and get back on the court for one final basketball fling. ''I was kind of down because I knew I would miss the first half of the (basketball) season,'' Yearout said. ''But I was pretty sure I would come back. After all, this is my senior year. I told myself I was going to come back.''
And come back Yearout did, playing in the Wildcats' last 13 games and averaging 9.0 points after posting a 11.9 average in 26 games as a junior.
''What is nice is that Jack adds another dimension to our game,'' Leighton said. ''Not only does he play great defense, but he runs the floor real hard and can play inside or out. With his height, he can be a little deceptive.''
An honor student, Yearout is also president of the Lapwai High student body, and his schedule doesn't leave him much time for goofing around.
''I'm a busy person, but I like it that way,'' Yearout said. ''I don't have to worry about what to do. I've always got something to do.''
Ten days ago in a nailbiter at a packed Kamiah High gym, Yearout did something important by coming up with the big interception in the final minute to preserve a 62-59 triumph.
In Yearout's freshman year at Lapwai, he played on the junior varsity team and got to know several of the Wildcat varsity players as they went on to win a third straight state championship in 1989. But as a varsity player himself, Lapwai has twice placed sixth at state.
''I liked the way Greg Jose and Robert Blair played the game and also the way Gem Leighton played defense,'' Yearout said. ''Leighton would always guard the toughest player.''
Nowadays, that's the same assignment Yearout carries out almost as if it's an obsession.
''I like the challenge because it's kind of a personal challenge,'' Yearout said. ''Having a shot at stopping a guy makes it all worth while.''
But stepping right into the starting lineup after snapping a bone in the foot wasn't for Yearout, who has known only one way to play the game hard and sometimes with reckless abandon.
''When I first started to play in January, the foot still felt weak,'' Yearout said. ''But it's a lot better now. I'm still continuing to get my mobility back, and it's starting to feel a lot better.''
Broken bones are nothing new to him.
''When I was younger, I broke a lot of bones,'' Yearout said. ''I broke my arm four times, cracked some ribs and broke my leg. It's happened to me mostly in athletics, but sometimes when I was clowning around. I think those things are in the past.''
For now, Yearout hopes only good things are in the future for he and the Wildcats.
Tribune Article on Abe, 11/12/95
Wildcats tear into Kimberly; Hewett-Yearout combination leads Lapwai to 40-0 victory, into A-3 finals
Lynn Solomon
Sunday, November 12, 1995
MOSCOW Some friends complete one another's sentences. Rafe Hewett and Abe Yearout prefer to complete one another's passes.
Hewett and Yearout, both seniors for the Lapwai Wildcats, connected on three touchdown passes Saturday, powering the Wildcats past the Kimberly Bulldogs 40-0 in Idaho A-3 semifinal action at the Kibbie Dome.
With the win, the unbeaten Wildcats advance to next weekend's Idaho A-3 state championship game against ----- Friday night at 8:15 p.m. at Holt Arena in Pocatello.
Saturday, the Hewett-to-Yearout connection was responsible for 22 of the Wildcats 40 points, with touchdown passes of 29, 22 and 23 yards and three hookups for two-point conversions.
Lapwai coach Tim Sperber says the closeness between the two players isn't an illusion.
"They're very good friends. The first two months of practice, they're out there after school every night," Sperber said. "We'd end at 6 and they'd end at 6:30. They don't stop. They're together all the time."
"We work out all the time," a beaming Yearout said Saturday. "He's my best friend. Rafe has a great arm. All I have to do is catch it."
Saturday, Yearout did catch it. For the afternoon, he had six receptions for 150 yards. Hewett went 11-for-20 for 223 yards and one interception.
Their three touchdown strikes all came in the first half, boosting the Wildcats to a 24-0 halftime cushion.
But the death knell didn't truly sound for the Bulldogs until early in the third quarter, when Kimberly suffered an exceptional run of miscues and lousy luck.
On the opening kickoff of the second half, the kick glanced off a Bulldog player and Lapwai recovered the live ball at the Kimberly 37. The Bulldogs held Lapwai, but went three-and-out on their next possession.
Lapwai got the ball back, and some ill-timed Kimberly penalties helped the Wildcats march down to the 1-yard line, where Hewett dove in to score and put Lapwai up 32-0.
On the next kickoff, the ball once again glanced off a Kimberly player and the Wildcats once again recovered, this time on the Kimberly 35. Four snaps later Thomas Gregory scored, Lapwai was up 40-0 and the game was as good as finished.
In addition to the Hewett-to-Yearout fireworks on offense, on defense the Wildcats solved Kimberly's Luke Mickelson. Mickelson, who had five touchdowns and more than 200 yards last week against Grangeville, ended up with just 73 yards Saturday, and it was easy to figure out why. He spent much of the game with three or four Wildcat defenders all over him.
"I think we're one of the first teams to show more than four guys on the line of scrimmage," Sperber said. "We stuck five, six, seven, eight guys on the line of scrimmage. That's been our key all year."
"Lapwai came out and beat us off the football, defensively and offensively," said Kimberly coach Kirby Bright. "That's where the game was won.
"Luke's a great football player, but at that running back spot, he's got to rely on those guys up front and that's where we lost the football game."
Kimberly ends the season with an 8-3 record.
Lapwai 40, Kimberly 0
Kimberly00000
Lapwai81616040
Lapwai Abe Yearout 29 pass from Rafe Hewett (Hewett run).
Lapwai Abe Yearout 22 pass from Rrafe Hewett (Yearout pass from Hewett)
Lapwai Abe Yearout 23 pass from Rafe Hewett (THomas Gregory run).
Lapwai Rafe Hewett 1 run (Abe Yearout pass from Rafe Hewett).
Lapwai Thomas Gregory 1 run (Jim Alfrey pass from Rafe Hewett).
Tribune Article on Joslyn, 2/12/01
Hoping to go out in style; After hitting some rough spots, Lapwai rededicates itself, led by its two seniors
Matt Baney
Monday, February 12, 2001
LAPWAI -- While trying to keep both feet cemented in the here and now, all involved with the Lapwai girls' basketball team will admit that, yes, it's hard not to dream about the glorious seasons that are almost certain to come. A roster of players this talented and young can probably bank on seeing even brighter days.
So where does that leave Joslyn Leighton and Sarah Campbell, the team's only seniors? Are the precocious Wildcats shoving the old-timers out the door so the party can really heat up?
Hardly.
"All the other girls look up to the older girls, so I feel like we have to kind of lead the way," Leighton said. "We have to set an example."
At times this season, Leighton and Campbell's mature approach was much more valuable than rebounding might or 3-point touch. The Wildcats' season nearly unraveled midway through, as in-house bickering became commonplace.
The low point -- it eventually became the turning point -- arrived in early January when Prairie, the Central Idaho League's top dog, lambasted Lapwai by 19 points in Cottonwood. After a defeat like that, would it have been surprising to see the Wildcats coast through the rest of this season?
But following that stomach-turning setback, Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer called a team meeting. Before it was over, every Wildcat coach and player "made a verbal commitment to the team and to each other," Spencer said.
Bingo -- Lapwai's ills were suddenly cured. The newly dedicated Wildcats rolled through their next eight contests, including the Class A-3 District I-II title game against Prairie. Lapwai, 18-4, rallied to defeat the formerly unbeaten Pirates, earning the Wildcats a spot in the Idaho state Class A-3 tourney for the first time since 1998.
In the first round, Lapwai will take on Valley of Hazelton Thursday at 2:15 p.m. PST at Middleton High School.
"It's been great," said Spencer of his team's about-face. "It's just such a great atmosphere when you walk into practice and everybody is excited to be there. There's great energy now. As a coach, that's what you always dream of."
Coaches also dream of having players like Campbell and Leighton. While both of them can play -- more on that later -- it's their willingness to sacrifice for the team that makes them stand out.
When it comes to her duties, Campbell echoed Leighton's earlier words: "My role is to set an example. I'm not one of the best players, but I always try to work as hard as I can. That's my contribution."
Carving out a varsity spot has been a long road for Campbell. The 5-foot-7 post split time between the JV and varsity teams last season, and now comes off the bench.
While she's undersized for a post -- that's the story for the Wildcats' entire squad -- Campbell does provide needed help on the boards. She combines textbook box-out technique with a never-take-a-break effort, Spencer said.
"She's probably out hardest worker," he said. "She gives it 100 percent every time she get to play. And at practices, it's also 100 percent."
As for Leighton, no other Lapwai player has seen as many varsity games (this is her third year on that level). So in the pressure-cooker that is the state tournament, the 5-foot-7 wing would be the last Wildcat to lose focus.
Leighton has range beyond the 3-point circle and is sturdy enough to slash to the bucket. She also a student of the game; her parents are Josh and Dawn Leighton, coaches of Lapwai's boys' basketball club. Apparently, she has heard plenty of lectures on defense.
"I just like being able to stop someone," Leighton said. "Scoring is nice, but it's defense that wins games."
This will be the first state tourney for all the Wildcats, even Leighton and Campbell. After going undefeated and winning the state title in 1998, Lapwai stayed home the next two seasons -- a long drought for any team from this town.
Spencer, whose first season on the bench came in 1998, pointed out the differences between this club and that undefeated juggernaut.
"That team could win games on talent alone," he said. "This team doesn't really depend on a few really good players; every night, it's someone different. Since I've been here, this is our hardest-working team."
That, of course, brings us back to Leighton and Campbell. They've toiled longer for a shot at a state crown than most Lapwai players have to, but now they have their chance. Come Saturday, will it be Leighton, Campbell and the Wildcats hoisting a trophy over their heads in the exuberant din of the Idaho Center?
"Yeah, I've had that dream," Leighton said.
"Winning a state title at the end of our senior year would be awesome," Campbell said. "I can't think of a better way to go out."
Bob Sobotta's first year coaching the Lapwai boys' basketball team - and Ivory Miles-Williams' last year playing for it - could hardly have seen more success.
