State’s best golfers gather in Walla Walla next week for amateur championship
The Washington State Men’s Amateur is set for June 27-29 at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, and the field is pretty much set after five qualifiers were held around the state last week.
Included in those qualifiers was one at Canyon Lakes Golf Course in Kennewick, where eight players from the Mid-Columbia got through the qualifier and will play in the finals.
Among those were Kennewick’s Ken Wade, who won the Canyon Lakes qualifier by shooting a 70 (minus-2).
Richland’s Evan Johnson tied for second by shooting a 71 (minus-1).
Other area qualifiers are Othello’s Patrick Azevedo, Hanford High grad Gabe Cach, Kennewick’s Arnell Garza, Richland’s Logan Knaff, Prosser’s Saengjin Park, and Walla Walla’s Michael Wog II.
Three locals are on the alternate list for the final: Kennewick’s Ryan Anderson, Richland’s Carter Sheets, and Kennewick’s Loren Miller.
One area golfer, Richland’s Zach Bixler, is on the exempt list for being a past champion of the Washington State Amateur.
▪ CBC’s Clayton Whitby placed second overall last month at the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) men’s golf championships at AppleTree in Yakima.
Whitby, a sophomore from Chiawana, fired rounds of 72 and 71, for a total of 1-under-par 143.
Only North Idaho’s Josh McCartain (70-70–140, minus-4) was better.
In the women’s championship, CBC’s Makena Nyby (Chiawana) and Tatum York-Bement (Kamiakin) both finished among the top eight.
Nyby went 79 and 95 for a 30-over-par total of 174 to place seventh; York-Bement finished tied for eighth, going 88-88–176, 32 over par.
Bellevue College’s Sarah Lawrence won the tournament, with a 76-73–149 (5 over par).
Signings
St. Martin’s University in Lacey has added two local athletes to its baseball roster in Richland’s Charlie Johns and Kamiakin’s Jake Schumacher.
That gives the team five players from the Mid-Columbia area on its roster.
Already playing there is Brady Bean (Kamiakin), Carson Jones (Walla Walla) and Connor Mendez (Chiawana).
▪ Marin Mackey (Richland) was a two-year standout for the Bellevue College volleyball team. After signing a letter of intent, Mackey will play this fall for Southern Oregon University.
CBC infielder Ashlynn Nixon, a standout for the Hawks the past few seasons, will continue on with her college career after signing to play for the College of Idaho women’s softball team next year.
Soccer
Three teams from the 3 Rivers Soccer Club will be competing in the United State Youth Soccer Far West Regional Championships starting this week in Boise.
The 13U Black boys, 17U Black boys, and the 19U Black girls teams will all play three pool-play matches on June 23, 24 and 25, before bracket play begins.
The tournament runs through June 29, and the division champions advance to the Nationals in Orlando July 17-23.
Last year, the 3 Rivers girls team, coached by Jason Quintero, made it all the way to the semifinals last year in Orlando. The team placed third.
Hydroplanes
The H1 Unlimited hydroplane series got some good news-bad news this past week.
First, the good news. There will be eight unlimiteds at the season-opening race, the Southern Cup, in Guntersville, Ala., this coming weekend.
Those eight boats will be the U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank (with driver Dylan Runne); the U-3 Grigg’s presents Miss Ace Hardware (Jimmy King); the U-8 Beacon Electric (J. Michael Kelly); the U-9 Beacon Plumbing (Corey Peabody); U-11 Legend Yacht Transport (Jamie Nilsen); U-40 Bucket List Racing (Dustin Echols); U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate (Andrew Tate); and 440 Boitano Homes (Brent Hall).
Preliminary heat races will be held on Saturday and Sunday, and the Southern Cup final will be run at 3 p.m. Pacific time.
Now here’s the bad news: San Diego Bayfair officials announced Monday that they had to postpone their race (scheduled in September) until next year.
Rising production costs was the reason for not running. But race officials hoped to bring the race back in 2024.
It means that the H1 season is down to just four races, and the actual season runs six weeks, or 45 days, from testing on Friday in Alabama, to the APBA Gold Cup final in Seattle on Aug. 6.
Tri-Cities’ Columbia Cup race will be held July 28-30.
Baseball
The annual All-State High School Baseball Series takes place this coming weekend at Parker Field, pitting a number of seniors from around the state in four 8-inning games.
Games are set for 11:15 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday; and 10:15 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. Sunday.
Six area athletes will be playing in the series.
Kamiakin’s Cade Carter and Landon Welter, as well as College Place’s Jacob Courtney, will be playing for Team Adams.
Team Rainier’s roster will include AJ Hendrickson and Max Martin of Southridge, as well as Richland’s Jase Vopalensky.
Track and field
River View senior Cody Brown was the area’s top placer at the 2B state track and field meet Memorial Day weekend in Yakima.
Brown won the boys’ discus throw event, winning with a toss of 156 feet, 4 inches.
That was 8 feet, 3 inches farther than the next closest competitor.
Brown also placed fifth in the 110 hurdles final with a time of 16.35 seconds.
Brown’s Panthers teammate, Tim Goforth, placed second in the shot put with a mark of 46 feet, 5 inches.
Lind-Ritzville’s Hayden Melcher placed third in the 200 meters (22.75) and was fourth in the 100 (11.36).
River View’s Anthuan Beltran placed fifth in the 200 meters in 23.20 seconds.
As a team, River View placed seventh in the standings with 30 points.
St. George’s of Spokane took the team title with 52 points.
In the 2B girls meet, Aliyah Malone tied for third in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet even.
Malone also ran a leg of the third-place Panthers 4x100 relay team — along with teammates Anastasia Tyutyunnik, Abcde Rogers, and Marina Jimenez — that finished in 52.55 seconds.
Lind-Ritzville’s Myra Miller placed fifth in the discus with a toss of 108-7.
St. George’s also won the girls team title with a total of 118 points.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Herald.
