Top 10 finishes for 2 Tri-Cities high school golfers at WA state finals

Richland’s Kaedon Smith and Pasco’s Jake Raymond — both seniors — finished in the top 10 at the WIAA Class 4A boys state golf tournament last week at The Golf Club at Hawks Prairie in Lacey at the Links Course.

Smith finished seventh with a two-round total of 146 (74-72), while Raymond was ninth with a 147 (72-75).

Chiawana senior Joel Martinez placed 38th out of 114 total competitors, shooting 74 and 84 for a 158 total.

Ethan Schwab of Skyline-Issaquah took medalist honors with a 140, and Newport of Bellevue earned the team title.

3A girls

Hermiston’s Nadalie Cannell was this area’s highest placer at the state tourney at Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane.

A senior, Cannell was 12th out of 140 competitors with a 77-85–162.

Two Southridge seniors — Riley Brandt and Brooke Lawrence — also placed among the top 36.

Brandt finished 20th at 83-89–172, and Lawrence was 36th at 92-89–181.

Mountain View freshman Alyssa Rigby took medalist honors with a 141, while Bellevue earned the team title.

4A girls

Kamiakin had two golfers placed in the top 26 at the state tournament at Eagles Pride Golf Course in DuPont.

Avery Beck finished 20th with rounds of 83 and 88 for a 171 total; while Riley Larsen was 26th with a 91-84–175.

Jasmine Chen of Camas earned medalist honors with a 146, while Jackson of Everett won the team title.

3A boys

Walla Walla’s Cyrus Dumser and Nile Dumser finished 26th and 31st, respectively at the state tournament last Tuesday at Spokane’s Creek at Qualchan Golf Course.

Freshman Cyrus fired an 80-75 for 155 and 26th place out of 142 golfers.

Junior Nile was 31st with a 79-77–156.

Southridge junior Tieran Klovansky also tied for 31st, shooting rounds of 78 and 78 for 156.

Calvin Cakarnis of Renton’s Liberty High took the title with a 142, while Mercer Island won the team title.

Small-school golf roundup

At MeadowWood in Spokane, DeSales freshman Jake Warwick won the 1B boys state title with a 70-70–140. Ivan Spence of Liberty Christian School of Walla Walla was fifth (80-74–154), while DeSales junior Matthew Beck finished 12th (91-82–173). Summit Classical Christian won the team title. … Also at MeadowWood, Tri-Cities Prep junior Kennedy Douglas finished fifth in the 1B/2B girls state tournament. She had rounds of 91 and 82 for a 173 two-day total. Teammate Caroline Koskinen, a freshman, placed 13th (97-94–191); DeSales senior Tori Kimble (99-95–194) placed 14th. Wahkiakum sophomore Brenna Cathren placed first with a 156, while Freeman won the team title. … At the 2B boys tournament, at Riverside Golf Club in Chehalis, Othello senior Samson McDonald placed 10th out of 80 competitors by shooting an 83-73–156. Burlington-Edison junior Wyatt Brownell earned medalist honors with a 142 total, and Pullman took the team title. … In the 2B boys tournament and MeadowWood Golf Course at Liberty Lake, Tri-Cities Prep senior Jackson Kotlarz finished 12th out of 40 competitors. He shot an 84-78–162. Adna’s Trevin Salme had a 147 to earn medalist honors, and Orcas Island grabbed the team title. … In the 2A girls tournament at Tumwater Valley Golf Club, Othello senior Sami Shade (92-87–179) placed 20th out of 80 golfers. Prosser sophomore Bella Cha (91-92–183) finished 23rd; and Othello sophomore Eileen Garza (96-88–184) placed 25th. Mark Morris senior Jana Knapp earned medalist honors with a 151, while Mark Morris also earned the team title.

Hockey

The Spokane Chiefs made it to the Western Hockey League finals after beating Victoria in the Western Conference finals.

Victoria eliminated the Tri-City Americans in the first round of the WHL playoffs.

But the Chiefs’ playoff run ended when the Medicine Hat Tigers beat Spokane 4 games to 1 in the WHL Finals.

Medicine Hat is currently involved in the Memorial Cup as the lone WHL representative, where through games of Tuesday, May 27, the Tigers have gone 3-0 in pool play and have already qualified for Sunday’s Memorial Cup final.

▪ Forwards Jake Sloan and Brandon Whynott both completed their junior hockey careers this season with the Tri-City Americans.

But they will still be teammates. Both players are signed with Bowling Green University starting this fall.

Sloan, who was the Ams’ team captain, scored 29 goals and 44 assists this past season for Tri-City. Whynott had 26 goals and 34 assists for the Americans.

▪ Former Tri-City Americans goalie Nick Avakyan has signed a letter of intent to play for Clarkson University starting this fall.

Avakyan played for the Americans during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons before being traded to the Portland Winterhawks the following season.

This past season, Avakyan has spent time with three different teams in the North American Hockey League.

Football

Andy Thompson, a Walla Walla High School graduate, was recently hired at Stanford University’s assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator, and inside linebackers coach.

Thompson had been an assistant coach for Troy Taylor at Sacramento State for a few years, before Taylor left for Stanford to become head coach.

Thompson was named the new head coach at Sacramento State and led the program in 2023 and 2024, where he compiled an 11-14 record.

In the offseason, Taylor hired Thompson to join him at Stanford. But Taylor was fired by Stanford general manager Andrew Luck a few months ago.

Thompson, however, is staying on in his current positions.