Southridge grad wins WA junior golf championship + CBC signs 1st Esports athete
Southridge High grad Jillian Hui put an exclamation point on her youth golf career last week when she won the Washington Junior Golf Association State Tournament for girls ages 16-18 in Moses Lake.
Hui fired a three-round total of 217 (rounds of 76, 72 and 69) for a 1-over-par total at the Moses Lake Golf Club.
Just to make sure no one got close to her on the final day of the tournament, Hui (who signed to play for the Boise State University women’s golf team) made three birdies on the back nine: the 10th, 11th and 15th holes.
In the boys 16-18 division, Richland’s Kaedon Smith finished tied for fourth, while Davis Sheets of Richland tied for 15th.
Smith shot rounds of 70, 71 and 72 for a 3-under par total of 213.
Sheets was 70-75-74–219, plus-3 for 219.
James Bordeaux of University Place won the title with a 7-under-par 209 (67-71-71).
Kennewick’s Tommy Vonghalath placed fourth in the boys 12-13 division, scoring a 5-over-par 221 (74-76-71); while Walla Walla’s Cyrus Dumser was fifth with a 9-over-par 225 (77-75-73).
Mukilteo’s Tristan Kim won the division title with a 1-over-par 217 (75-71-71).
Esports
CBC signed its first e-sports athlete recently in Kamiakin grad Tyce Rogers.
“It feels really cool to help start and build this program, and I couldn’t be more excited,” Rogers said in a CBC news release.
CBC started the program last year by including an e-sports room in its new Student Recreation Center. The Hawks will begin competition this coming fall quarter, establishing a Rocket League team.
College football
It’s going to be fun to watch Chiawana grad AJ Vongphachanh play his final season of college football this fall for BYU, which has joined the Big 12.
Vongphachanh has been a standout for much of his career at Utah State, but he decided to enter the transfer portal this spring.
It didn’t take long for BYU to dive in on him, and the Cougars expect him to be a big part of their linebacking corps.
New BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill told the Deseret newspaper last week that the coaching staff just loves him.
“He was one of the guys when he went into the portal (we contacted first),” Hill told the newspaper. “I loved him when he was a freshman, when he was a sophomore, at Utah State. As soon as he went into the portal, he was a guy I knew I wanted just because I had seen him play so many times. He adds a really smart, intelligent, savvy football player to our group. So he’s a good addition to what we are doing.”
Girls basketball
Each week seems to bring more good news for Chiawana junior Malia Ruud.
Last week, the girls basketball standout received a re-affirmation from the new Idaho women’s basketball coaching staff that the Vandals still want her to play for them; a scholarship offer from the University of Hawaii; and a notification from Team Samoa that it wants her to play for it in the fall.
That latter piece of news: it’s the 2023 17U Samoan National Team, which will play in the FIBA Oceania Championship from Oct. 2-7 in Papa New Guinea.
Boys basketball
Hermiston senior forward Grant Olsen has received his first offer to play college basketball next year. Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., wants Olsen — who led the Mid-Columbia Conference boys in scoring last season with an average of 23.2 points a game — to play for the Boxers.
College volleyball
Walla Walla High School grad Noelani Helm has transferred from University of Portland to Boise State University to play her final season of eligibility for the Broncos volleyball team.
Helm is a graduate student at BSU.
She was named all-conference in the West Coast Conference last fall.
College soccer
The Columbia Basin College men’s soccer team is preparing to defend its NWAC title beginning in a few weeks, and the Hawks have reloaded its roster with local talent.
Here’s who CBC has signed: Saul Beltran (Pasco), Santiago Chavez (Kennewick), Erik Licona (Sunnyside), Eric Martinez (Grandview), David Ochoa (Sunnyside), Jorge Perez (Grandview), and Jefferson Vilcapoma (Sunnyside).
▪ Montevallo University, an NAIA school in Alabama, has two Tri-Citians on its women’s soccer team this fall.
Avery Campbell is a senior from Hanford High, while Kaeri Ward (a Kamiakin grad) is a grad student this season.
Hockey
The Tri-City Americans made a trade last week, picking up forward Brandon Whynott from the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in the 2024 draft.
Whynott provides depth for the Americans’ front line, and he’s played in 141 games in his Western Hockey League career for Calgary.
He has scored 12 goals and 35 assists for the Hitmen.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
