College Place grad wins NCAA Track and Field title + CBC coach added to NW hall of fame
College Place graduate Kenneth Rooks became an NCAA champion last week when the Brigham Young University junior won the men’s 3000 meter steeplechase.
Running at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas, Rooks had coasted into Friday’s finals by placing third in the steeplechase semifinals last Wednesday.
With temperatures hitting the low 90s and with high humidity, Rooks stayed with heavily-favored Duncan Hamilton of Montana State through most of the race.
It wasn’t until the second-to-last water jump that Rooks finally made his move, passing Hamilton on that water jump and then kicking it into high gear to pull away for the win.
Rooks, who also becomes an NCAA All-American in the event for the third consecutive year, finished the event in 8 minutes, 26.17 seconds.
Hamilton finished second in 8:31.18.
In other events involving Mid-Columbia athletes, Nebraska’s Dash Sirmon (Walla Walla) placed 13th in the men’s javelin. The true freshman finished with a throw of 230 feet, 4 inches.
That makes him a second-team NCAA All-American.
Meanwhile, BYU’s Ashton Riner (Connell) placed 16th in the women’s javelin throw with a toss of 167-4.
Riner, who won the NCAA title in the event in 2022, was named second-team All-American.
▪ Austin Albertin (Kennewick) and Johan Correa (Kennewick) had strong seasons for the Central Washington University men’s track and field team this spring.
Albertin had the Wildcats’ top men’s 400 hurdles time with 53.05 seconds. He also ran a leg on CWU’s top 4x100 relay team with a time of 42.54 second.
Meanwhile, Correa was the team’s top 400 meters runner at 49.44 seconds, and the best 800 meters runner at 1:50.78.
Together, Correa and Albertin teamed on the top men’s 4x400 relay team, with a time of 3:17.78.
▪ Two Chiawana grads placed second and fourth respectively recently in the men’s 400-meter hurdles at the Mountain West Conference outdoor track and field championships.
Cameron Breier, who competes for the Air Force Academy, placed second in the event with a time of 51.34 seconds.
Germain Barnes, running for Colorado State University, finished fourth in 52.22 seconds.
College baseball
Logan Mercado, a junior at the University of Oregon, had a good weekend in the Ducks’ Super Regional in Eugene.
Unfortunately for Oregon, visiting Oral Roberts took the series 2 games to 1 to advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Mercado, a Tri-Cities Prep grad, had two outings as a reliever for the Ducks in the weekend series.
In a 9-8 win Friday over ORU — in which Oregon trailed 8-0 at one point, rallied and won in the bottom of the ninth — the right-handed Mercado pitched three innings of shutout relief, striking out five batters and surrendering just one hit and three walks.
The Ducks would lose on both Saturday and Sunday. But in Sunday’s 11-6 loss, Mercado had three more strong innings of relief work.
He fanned three batters, gave up just two hits, one earned run, and one walk.
▪ Peyton Rickard (Kamiakin) and Matthew Sauve (Grandview) had good freshman seasons this spring for the Yakima Valley College baseball team.
Rickard hit .305 (36 for 118) and had seven doubles. Sauve had 52 hits, scored 27 runs and drove in 22 more.
The pair, along with Everett Community College outfielder Isaac Hoag (Chiawana), are playing for the Cascade Collegiate League’s Showcase team this summer around the Northwest.
▪ Tristan Garland (Connell) had a strong junior season this spring playing baseball for the College of Idaho.
He hit .330 (60 for 182) for the team, which finished the season with a 31-18 record.
Garland also scored 52 runs, had 11 doubles and stole 4 bases.
Teammate Kirby Robertson (Richland, CBC) hit .271 (26 for 96), had six home runs and 30 RBIs.
▪ Daniel Charron (Chiawana) and Brayde Hirai (Chiawana, Walla Walla CC) were CWU’s top two pitchers this spring.
Charron was 3-4 with a 6.93 earned run average. He struck out 37 batters in 61 innings pitched.
Hirai ended his college career going 4-6 with a 4.74 ERA. He fanned 30 batters in 68.1 innings of work.
NWAC Hall of Fame
Congratulations goes out to Columbia Basin College’s Scott Rogers, who was inducted into the Northwest Athletic Conference Hall of Fame on June 1st in Pasco.
Rogers earned his induction as CBC’s baseball coach from 1997 to 2008.
Rogers has been the Hawks’ athletic director since then.
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame was CBC’s 2001 baseball team; as well as Chad Bodnar.
Bodnar, a Pasco High graduate, was the head coach of both the men’s and women’s soccer programs at Walla Walla Community College from 2003 to 2013. Bodnar passed away unexpectedly a few years ago.
Bodnar’s 2009 WWCC women’s team also was inducted into the Hall of Fame last week.
Ice hockey
Former Tri-City Americans forward Nick Bowman scored a goal and had seven assists this past season while playing for the University of Ottawa men’s ice hockey team, which finished with a 13-13 record.
Football offers
Carson Condie of Southridge announced he’s received a football scholarship offer to play in 2024 for Carroll College in Montana.
World Series of Poker
I’m keeping track of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, which started in May and runs through the summer with almost 100 events — including the main event.
Umatilla’s Jaime Madrigal placed high in the $1,000 Mystery Millions No Limit Hold Em tournament recently, finishing 13th among over 2,000 competitors. That earned Madrigal $60,910 in winnings.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
