Kennewick’s Marquardt commits to running at Boise State. Plus prep basketball
Kennewick High senior Macy Marquardt went out during the 3A girls race at the WIAA state cross country championships in Pasco last month and blew away the rest of the field for a dominating victory.
After the race, she made the understatement of the day when she said, “I’m thinking I might be able to I run in college.”
And she will be.
Marquardt has committed to running cross country and track next school year at Boise State University, according to the Runner WA website.
Meanwhile, Marquardt just keeps on running.
One week after winning the girls 3A state cross country title, Marquardt showed it was no fluke, as she won the Nike XC Regionals in Boise on Nov. 12 at Eagle Island State Park.
In the women’s 5,000 meters championship, Marquardt covered the course in 17 minutes, 27.80 seconds. She was the first of 150 runners to cross the finish line.
Meanwhile, Kamiakin senior Isaac Teeples placed second in the men’s 5,000-meter championship with a time of 15 minutes, 16.7 seconds.
Teeples was beaten out by Olympia’s Ethan Coleman — who lost to Teeples in the 3A boys state cross country race on Nov. 6 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. Coleman finished in 15:09.0.
Kamiakin’s Grayson Wilcott placed eighth overall with a 15:39.90 time. There were 191 runners in the boys race.
Tri-City Americans
What a great weekend it was for the Tri-City Americans.
On Friday, they beat Everett 7-5 at the Toyota Center, then followed that up with a 5-2 win over the same Silvertips team on Saturday.
In the first game, Sasha Mutala scored a hat trick, Lukas Dragicevic added two goals and an assist, and Peter Moravec had four assists.
In the second game, goalie Nick Avakyan stopped 34 shots, Samuel Huo had a goal and assist, and Mutala added a goal.
For his efforts of 5 points for the weekend (2 goals, 3 assists), defenseman Dragicevic was named the Western Hockey League Player of the Week, which ended Sunday.
That puts the Ams on a three-game winning streak — they beat Prince George 4-1 the previous weekend.
Before the weekend, the Americans drafted eight players in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft — including forward Jordan Gavin for the second overall pick.
A day later, Gavin signed a contract with Tri-City to become an affiliate player.
Gavin has been with the Delta Hockey Academy, playing for the 17 Prep squad. In 14 contests this season, he has compiled 58 points (24 goals, 34 assists).
Earlier in the week, the Ams also drafted Chiawana freshman Connor Ellingsen, a forward, in the WHL U.S. Priority Draft.
Ellingsen also played freshman football this fall at Chiawana.
Prep basketball
The team that’s favored in the Mid-Columbia boys basketball race this season is Kamiakin, led by Oregon State University-bound Tyler Bilodeau.
The Braves are also seeing their name at either No. 1 or 2 — depending on whose poll you look at — in Class 4A right now.
Kamiakin head coach Brian Meneely, when asked if there is a target on his team’s back because of the ranking, demurred.
“We don’t spend too much time talking about rankings within our program,” said Meneely. “We just talk about how we cant get wrapped up in what other people say about us — good or bad — on the internet.
“We also talk about trying to get better each week. The goal every year is to try and be playing our best basketball at the end. We understand the eastern region playoff bracket has a bunch of good teams in it, so not only is our league schedule going to be difficult, but the path to the Tacoma Dome is not easy.”
So for Meneely and his team, everyone is just concentrating on the one-game-at-a-time approach.
“We just hope to be healthy and playing well in February and have some fun along the way,” said Meneely. “I will say it’s really nice to be back and playing in packed gyms.”
▪ Boys game of the week had Richland pulling away from Chiawana for a 72-57 win on Friday in Richland.
Twazae Gladney, Kaden Bradshaw and Luke Westerfield combined on a 14-2 run in the third quarter to take control of the game for Earl Streufert’s Bombers.
But it was sophomore Josh Woodard who led Richland, scoring 28 points and adding 6 rebounds and three assists.
“Woodard definitely had his way with us,” said Chiawana coach Chad Herron.
Gladney added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Bradshaw had 11 points and eight boards.
Kade Smith led Chiawana with 20 points.
Westerfield, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, is the son of Amy (the girls varsity basketball coach) and Kirk Westerfield. Kirk, a Kiona-Benton High graduate, played football at Washington State University.
▪ After one week of Mid-Columbia Conference boys basketball play, Kamiakin and Richland are off to a 2-0 league start; Chiawana, Hanford and Hermiston are 1-1; Kennewick has yet to play an MCC game; Pasco and Southridge are 0-1; and Walla Walla is 0-2.
▪ MCC girls standings after the first week: Hermiston and Richland are both 2-0; Pasco and Kennewick are each 1-0; Chiawana and Kamiakin are both 1-1; and Southridge, Hanford and Walla Walla are all 0-2.
▪ Watched River View play host to Kittitas in boys basketball last week. The Panthers boys are off to an 0-6 start under head coach Tysen Stanley. But there is talent there. Stanley — who was the girls head coach last season for River View before becoming boys head coach this fall — has a pretty good 1-2 punch down low in two 6-foot-5 forwards.
In a 50-48 loss to Kittitas, senior Noah White had 16 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore Nate Clinton added 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Of their six losses, four of them are by three possessions or less.
College basketball
Emilee Maldonado (Sunnyside) scored a game-high 28 points on 9 of 17 shooting (4 for 7 from the 3-point line) and added 6 rebounds and 8 assists, as Providence University women’s basketball of Great Falls, Mont., defeated Our Lady of the Lake 80-73 on Nov. 19.