Richland’s Crowley named Gatorade Washington state girls soccer player of the year
Although she played her final prep season last fall, Richland High School senior Hayden Crowley was named the Gatorade Washington girls soccer state player of the year last week.
Crowley will play for the University of Washington this fall (joining grad student Summer Yates, a Chiawana grad).
Crowley, a forward, scored 25 goals and added 21 assists for the Bombers last fall. Richland went 21-1 and made it to the Class 4A state semifinals.
Crowley finished her Bombers’ career with 41 goals and 56 assists, and she carried a 3.85 grade point average during her high school years.
Crowley was one of four Tri-City athletes who were named Gatorade Washington athletes of the year.
Kamiakin’s Tyler Bilodeau was named state boys basketball player of the year, while Kamiakin’s Isaac Teeples was named boys high school cross country athlete of the year, and Kennewick’s Macy Marquardt was named the girls high school cross country athlete of the year.
Girls basketball
Chiawana girls basketball player Kaia Foster — who will be a sophomore this coming school year — has received an offer to play for Eastern Washington University.
Foster now has two offers in hand and she’s only 25 percent through her high school career. Fresno State — which got Richland senior Kylee Fox to verbally commit recently — has the other offer out to Foster.
Potpourri
Hermiston’s Andrew Guerrero will be playing men’s lacrosse this coming school year at Adams State University.
▪ Prosser’s Halle Wright, who recently graduated, was recently named the girls 2A state Senior Athlete of the Year by Scorebook Live Washington website.
Wright helped lead the Prosser girls basketball team to the 2A state tournament, and in May she won the 2A girls high jump title.
Wright will be attending Idaho State University this fall, where she’ll be playing for the women’s basketball team.
▪ Three area athletes were recently named to Scorebook Live Washington’s all-state baseball team: Utility player Danny Dickinson, a senior from Kennewick; utility player Payton Graham, a senior from Kamiakin; and Richland senior pitcher Joey Pearson.
▪ Two area athletes were named to Scorebook Live Washington’s all-state softball team — Othello junior middle infielder Camryn Alexander, who hit .667, with 10 home runs and 51 RBIs; and Walla Walla senior Tallulah Sickels, a utility player who was 17-2 with a 1.98 ERA, and a .438 batting average, with 12 homers and 35 RBIs.
▪ Lance Den Boer, the former standout basketball player at Sunnyside Christian and then later on at Central Washington University, has moved from his Kiona-Benton athletic director position to Zillah High School, where he will hold that same position beginning this fall for the Leopards.
College football
This fall, the three former Great Northwest Athletic Conference football teams — Central Washington University, Simon Fraser University, and Western Oregon University — will be joining the Lone Star Conference.
They’ll be joining seven teams in the LSC, based in Texas and New Mexico: Angelo State, Eastern New Mexico, Midwestern State, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas Permian Basin, West Texas A&M, Western New Mexico.
Central has four area athletes on its roster: freshman WR Aidan Canada (Kamiakin), redshirt sophomore DL Bridger Feldmann (Chiawana), redshirt senior DL Christian Penny (Chiawana), and redshirt freshman CB Jalen Webber (Chiawana).
Simon Fraser’s head coach is Mike Rigell, who is a former wide receiver for the Tri-Cities Fever indoor football team.
▪ Utah State linebacker AJ Vongphachanh (Chiawana) has been named to two pre-season All-Mountain West Conference football teams.
Vongphachanh — a senior who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 235 pounds — is on Phil Steele’s team as a third-team linebacker. He also made The Athlon Sports all-Mountain West Conference fourth team at linebacker.
Also on the Aggies’ roster is Hermiston grad Garrett Walchli, a sophomore wide receiver.
▪ Kamiakin defensive back Gabe Tahir has garnered a number of college football scholarship offers over the past year.
The latest comes from the University of Idaho.
High school football
Royal’s Derek Bergeson and Prosser’s Kaiden Rivera helped lead the East team to a 36-12 win over the West at the annual Earl Barden Classic football game on June 25 in Yakima.
It was the first time since 2019 that the all-star game for players from smaller schools was played.
Bergeson, who helped lead Royal to the 1A state football championship in the fall of 2021, starred at wide receiver and caught 7 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.
Bergeson was the Knights’ quarterback last season, but in Saturday’s game he caught a 24-yard TD pass from Rivera. Bergeson also scored on a 2-yard PAT conversion run for the East.
Rivera was 5 for 8 for 88 yards of passing.
Bergeson and Rivera were two of six players from the Mid-Columbia who played for the East.
Other all-stars included Royal’s Gunnar Anderson at wide receiver and defensive back; College Place’s Davis Fry at DB/WR; Connell’s Carson Riner at RB/DB; and Othello’s Zak Rocha at WR/DB.
The head coach of the East team was Royal’s Wiley Allred, while among the assistant coaches were Connell’s Wayne Riner and Royal’s Jeremy Scroggins.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
