Chiawana grad moves on after standout performance in Big Sky Conference
Southern Utah University’s football team had a rough season, going 0-8 in Big Sky Conference play and 1-10 overall.
But a bright spot was freshman cornerback Kobe Singleton, who finished the season as a third-team All-Big Sky Conference selection.
Singleton is a graduate of Chiawana High School, who also spent his first few years of high school playing for Tri-Cities Prep.
The younger brother of former Tri-Cities Fever standout Lionel Singleton, Kobe Singleton collected 22 total tackles, had three interceptions (one for a Pick-6), and 6 pass breakups.
His performance didn’t go unnoticed by just the Big Sky Conference. Singleton was also named to the HERO Sports FCS All-Freshman team.
And at the football team’s annual awards night, he was named SUU’s Newcomer of the Year.
But sometimes things can change.
After the season, SUU and head coach Demario Warren announced a mutual parting of the ways, and Singleton announced his entry into the NCAA transfer portal.
By Dec. 20, Singleton revealed on Twitter that he had agreed to play at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
Singleton — at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds — will have three years left to play for the Flames.
Liberty is currently an NCAA Division I independent school in football, and the Flames defeated Eastern Michigan 56-20 in the LendingTree Bowl last week.
Liberty is committed to joining Conference USA on July 1, 2023.
▪ Singleton wasn’t the only Mid-Columbian on the All-Big Sky Conference football team.
Kamiakin grad Wyatt Musser, a redshirt junior, was also named to the third team. Musser is a starting offensive lineman at Eastern Washington University.
College soccer
Two area athletes were named to the All-Big Sky Conference women’s soccer team recently.
Senior midfielder Sadie Newsom (Hanford) was named to the first team. Newsom helped lead Weber State to an 11-9 record, and she had two goals on 29 shots.
Making the second team was Eastern Washington University goalkeeper Kelsee Winston.
A senior who graduated from Hanford too, Winston had three shutouts for the 5-12 Eagles. She led the entire conference in saves with 116, which translates to 7.2 per game.
The second keeper in those stats had 97 total saves, and 6.3 per game.
College volleyball
Chiawana grad Ashtin Olin was named second-team All-Big Sky Conference last month.
Olin, a senior setter at Sacramento State (16-12 overall record), finished her career with 450 assists and 172 digs.
Prep basketball
The WIAA, the governing body of high school sports in the state of Washington, recently released its preliminary RPI (ratings percentage index) standings.
The index will help determine seedlings at the end of the season when playoffs come around.
But remember: it’s early, and the RPI is constantly changing after each night of play.
Here are the teams (as of Dec. 28) from our region that are ranked among the top 10 in their respective classifications:
▪ Pasco girls, No. 1 in 4A girls. The Bulldogs feature a number of four-year veterans who together have helped Pasco win by an average of 22 points per game.
The Bulldogs beat Richland 54-49 on Dec. 21.
▪ Hermiston girls, ranked No. 3 in 3A girls. Jay Ego’s Bulldogs are off to a 7-0 start.
▪ Richland’s boys are ranked No. 3 in the 4A boys standings. The Bombers are listed at 4-0, but in reality they are 6-2. They went 1-2 in a tournament in Utah at the beginning of December, and won by forfeit over Hermiston when the Bulldogs were hampered by Covid and couldn’t play.
▪ Todd Schumacher’s Columbia-Burbank boys are sitting at No. 6 in the 2B rankings.
The Coyotes are already almost to the halfway point of their regular season and sit with a 9-0 record. Not only are they winning, but they’re doing it impressively, winning by an average margin of 40 points a game.
▪ Warden’s girls are ranked No. 6 in 2B girls. The Cougars are off to a 7-0 start.
▪ In 1B boys, DeSales of Walla Walla is also ranked No. 6. The Irish sport a 6-1 record.
▪ Brian Meneely’s Kamiakin boys team is expected to vie for a state title, and the Braves are ranked No. 7 in the 4A RPI standings.
Kamiakin is currently 6-0, and that includes an 85-65 victory on Tuesday night at Central Valley. In that game, senior Tyler Bilodeau led the Braves with 29 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Nate Gray, Jr., added 18 points with four 3-point field goals; and Jacob Bilodeau came off the bench to add 10 points.
The Braves entered the fourth quarter trailing the Bears 61-59. But they finished the game on a 26-4 run.
▪ Mike Brown’s Chiawana girls are ranked No. 9 in the 4A RPI standings. The Riverhawks are off to a 5-1 start this season.
▪ Basketball is good out at Burbank. Joining the boys in the top 10, the Coyote girls are 8-1 and are ranked No. 9 in the 2B standings.
College cross country
Lewis-Clark State College’s Emily Adams (Waitsburg) placed 64th overall out of 340 competitors in the NAIA Women’s National Cross Country finals in Vancouver, Wash., in late November.
Adams ran the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 18.50 seconds.
College hockey
Ryanne Mix is playing in her final season at Castleton University in Vermont.
Mix hails from the Tri-Cities, but like most youngsters, she spent her high school years living elsewhere and playing hockey.
In her case, she played much of her youth with the Washington Wild, living with billets, and attending Juanita High School in Kirkland.
Now a senior at Castleton, Mix is a standout defender on a 5-5-2 team, with its next contest set for Jan. 4 against Saint Michael’s College.
She’s tied for third on the team with 8 points (2 goals, 6 assists). Mix is also second on the team in plus-minus ratio at plus-9, and second on the team in blocks with 15.