Elite shines; Showcase set
Courtesy photo Jim Kinnard (Special Olympian), left, and Jared Meredith (Jim’s race coach and community support worker) finished the Missoula Half Marathon together on July 9. With a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, this was a personal record for Jim. Jared has completed a half marathon in 1:30 in the past, however this was his first race side-by-side with Jim. Jim attends Lake City High School and Jared attends Coeur d’Alene High, where they both run for their high school’s track and cross country teams.
Courtesy photo The Coeur d’Alene Little League 9-11 year-old all-star team defeated Hayden 2 games to 1 to win the Idaho District 1 championship and advance to the state playoffs July 28-30 at Croffoot Park in Hayden. In the front row from left are Kyle Seman, Zeb Blattstein and Avery Cherry; and back row from left, manager Sean Cherry, Zane Blattstein, Brady Hicks, AJ Currie, coach Jeffrey Smith, Austin DeBour, Jake Dannenberg, Braeden Newby, Sawyer Wilson, Cooper Smith, Cooper Erickson and coach Manny Azevedo.
Courtesy photo The Coeur d’Alene Little League 8-10 year-old all-star team defeated Hayden 2 games to 0 to win the Idaho District 1 championship, and advance to the state playoffs July 28-30 at Croffoot Park in Hayden. In the front row from left are Mark Holecek, Tanner Franklin, Owen Field, Declan McCahill, Cason Miller, Lars Bazler, Zach Bell, Travis Usdrowski, Kyle Johnson, Hudson Kramer, Owen Mangini and Tyler Voorhees; and back row from left, manager Robin Franklin, Thor Bazler and Tony Voorhees.
Courtesy photo The North Idaho Elite high school girls club basketball team finished the first half of the July college evaluation period posting a 9-2 record and bringing home two trophies. In the front row from left are Kate Sams, Bayley Brennan, Mady Simmelink, Rachel Schroeder and ball boy Jordan Carlson; and back row from left, Melody Kempton, Keara Simpson, Bella Murekatete and Quincy McDeid.
AAU BASKETBALL
The North Idaho Elite high school girls club basketball team finished the first half of the July college evaluation period posting a 9-2 record and bringing home two trophies.
The Elite went 4-1 at the End of the Trail National Showcase in Oregon City, Ore., July 5-8. They beat the Sacramento Sting Gold, 808 Basketball Club from Hawaii, Cal Stars Valley Select, and Salesian Force Elite from California to finish fifth. Their lone loss was to the Northwest Stars from Oregon who ended up finishing second to the Spokane Stars in the 104-team tournament.
The Elite then went 5-1 at the MSNM Northwest Championships in Centralia, Wash., July 10-13. They beat the Legacy Builders from Bothell, Wash., the Spokane Legacy Red, the Triple Threat Rising Stars from Seattle, the Spokane Sandpipers and WVBA Adidas Elite from Oregon before losing a hard-fought championship game to Sagebrush Hoops Black out of the Tri-Cities.
Melody Kempton from Post Falls High led the Elite in scoring averaging 14.2 points per game. Fellow high school teammate Bayley Brennan added 11.8 points per game while Genesis Prep Academy center Bella Murekatete scored 11.3 points per game.
The Elite heads to the Las Vegas Super Showcase July 23-25 and finishes up at the EOT Summer Swoosh Championships in Orange County, Calif., July 27-30.
Team members include Bayley Brennan and Melody Kempton from Post Falls, Keara Simpson from Lake City High, Bella Murekatete and Rachel Schroeder from Genesis Prep, Kate Sams and Mady Simmelink from Central Valley High in Spokane Valley and Quincy McDeid from North Central High in Spokane. The team is coached by North Idaho College women’s basketball coaches Chris and Carey Carlson.
Stars Showcase set: The 17th annual Summer Heat Showcase, an NCAA-certified women’s basketball event put on by the Spokane Stars, is scheduled for Sunday and Monday at the Warehouse Athletic Facility, 800 N. Hamilton in Spokane.
Dozens of colleges in the West are scheduled to send representatives to the event, said Ron Adams, president of the Spokane Stars and tournament director. As it is a showcase tourney, each team will play four predetermined games, with no bracket and no champion crowned.
A total of 21 teams are expected — eight in the Elite division, 13 in the All-Star division.
The Spokane Stars Blue, one of the teams in the Elite division, includes two rising sophomores from Post Falls High — twins Jacksen and Tyler McCliment-Call. The twins, who come off the bench for the Stars Blue, have attended the Stars camps for years; their mother, Regan, played for Adams when he was co-coach (with Jack Blair) at Central Valley High.
“Regan was a power player,” recalled Adams, who coaches the Spokane Stars Blue. “The twins are more finesse, real solid players, athletic, play hard.”
The Stars Blue is scheduled to play Pfahler Hoops of Montana on Sunday at 3:40 p.m. on the Jazz Court, and the Montana Elite at 6:20 p.m. on the Jazz Court.
On Monday, the Stars Blue is slated to face the Big Sky Swoosh at 12:30 p.m. on Court 3, and Team 406 of Montana at 3:40 on the Jazz Court.
The Jazz Court, one of the four courts used for the tourney, is from the former Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Admission is $10 for a day pass, $7 for students and seniors.
Schedules can be found at www.warehouseathletics.com
The Stars Blue are 29-2 for the spring/summer season, 13-0 in July. They are coming off three straight tournament championships — Best of the West in Yakima, the End of the Trail tourney in Oregon City, and the Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago.
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Information: 664-8176, Ext. 2019