Kamiakin senior Tahir, MCC Defensive Player of the Year, commits to Boise State

Kamiakin senior Gabe Tahir, who was most recently named the Mid-Columbia Conference Defensive Player of the Year, announced on Twitter this week that he was committing to Boise State University.

Tahir, a defensive back, had numerous Division I scholarship offers.

But he chose Boise.

“The biggest reason for me picking Boise State was definitely the coaching and the coaches already at the program right now,” Tahir told Brandon Huffman of Cascadia Preps. “They’ve been great during the recruiting process for a long time and I just love what they have going on.”

Tahir said he felt at home right away when he took his first unofficial visit.

▪ Southridge senior Lucien Cone received his first football offer earlier this month, this one coming from College of Idaho.

Cone rushed for 1,478 yards this season for the Suns, and he had over 2,100 total offensive yards.

▪ Richland senior linebacker Kalani Steward, who was a first-team All-MCC selection this season, received his first college offer last week from Western Oregon University.

▪ Cascadia Preps, a website that covers Washington state high school football, named its top players of the year by classification last week.

Most classifications were dominated by western Washington schools.

But Class 1A was not. That is Royal’s domain.

Senior Dylan Allred, the quarterback and linebacker who helped lead the Knights to another 1A state title, was named the 1A Most Outstanding Player.

Teammate Kaleb Hernandez got the nod as 1A Defensive Player of the Year, while Wiley Allred was named Head Coach of the Year.

Jeremy Scroggins earned the Assistant Coach of the Year award.

Women’s basketball

Talia von Oelhoffen told me a few years ago that her goal was to play in the WNBA.

And it would not surprise me. The star basketball player was her team’s best player in high school, be that at Tri-Cities Prep her freshman and sophomore years, and her junior and senior seasons at Chiawana.

So on Sunday night at the Maui Classic, von Oelhoffen — who is a sophomore at Oregon State University — went nuts on the court in a 96-84 Beavers win over Nevada.

She shot 17 of 20 from the floor for a career-high 41 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished off 6 assists.

OSU is now 7-4 on the season.

Hockey

Tri-City Americans defenseman Lukas Dragicevic, who should be a high pick in next year’s NHL Draft, finished just before the Christmas break with another assist.

That gives him a 24-game point streak heading into the break, and that’s an Americans team record.

The Ams dropped two in Victoria this past weekend, losing 7-6 in a shootout on Friday, then dropping a 6-5 decision on Saturday.

The team sits in seventh place in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference standings with a 14-15-0-1 record — 29 points. But that’s also solidly in the playoffs if the season were to end today.

And something else good to note: Jake Luypen made his Americans debut on Saturday, scoring a goal and an assist on 5 shots.

Luypen was traded to the Ams in August by the Edmonton Oil Kings, who won the WHL title in 2021-22.

The 20-year-old forward scored 29 goals and 35 assists last season for Edmonton. He’s also the property of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, being selected in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL Draft.

Luypen, a forward, had been sidelined with a rotator cuff injury since the trade.

College football

▪ JP Zamora, the Chiawana grad who walked on at Washington State University, recently entered the transfer portal. The quarterback has received an offer to play for Kentucky Christian University, an NAIA school. Wherever Zamora goes, he’ll still have four years of eligibility left.

▪ Former Kennewick football star Josiah Barajas had a strong sophomore season with the Salt River Community College team in Arizona.

Barajas was an honorable mention selection in the Hohokam Junior College Athletic Conference at two positions — linebacker and long snapper.

Barajas played in 9 games, compiling 71 tackles (11 for loss). He also had 3 quarterback sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Barajas has received offers to play for Arizona Christian, Graceland University and Virginia University of Lynchburg.

Barajas’ Salt River teammate, Caleb Harvey, was named first-team all-conference at defensive back.

Harvey might be familiar to some Tri-City high school football fans. Although the sophomore graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland in 2021, he played at Hanford High School his junior season of 2019 as a wide receiver and defensive back.

Softball

Lauryn Bergevin, a senior at Walla Walla, has committed to playing softball at Northwest Nazarene University next year.

Bergevin was a first-team, all-MCC player at shortstop as a junior last spring for the Blue Devils.

Baseball

Peyton Rickard, a Kamiakin grad who plays baseball at Yakima Valley Community College, has signed to play in the Cascade Collegiate Summer League next year.

Rickard can play first base and the outfield.