Weddle headed to NCAA Championships
Student-athletes and coaches with connections to Yuma-area high schools and Arizona Western College are making an impact on their current teams around the country. Here's a few updates on some (but certainly not all) of these players:
• Katelyn Weddle (Kofa High School) set a pair of school and conference records with her wins in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke at the Mountain West Conference Championships Feb. 24-27 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Weddle's winning times were 1 minute, .65 hundredths of a second and 2:11.26, both ranking as the top 20 times in the nation this season. She will compete in both events at the NCAA Championships March 18-20 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
San Diego State finished third in the conference championships and ranks
No. 33 in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll, the highest ever in the program's history.
WRESTLING
• Gabe Miranda (Cibola H.S.) was fourth place in the 133-pound division in the Region 18 Tournament on Feb. 13 in Seattle and helped North Idaho win the team title, the school's 10th straight.
Miranda did not compete in the NJCAA National Tournament last weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, but his team finished in third place and placed five wrestlers on the All-American team. Also part of the North Idaho wrestling team this year was Kelvin Gastelum (Cibola H.S.).
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
• Phoenix College's Regina Brown (Kofa H.S.) was the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference's Division 2 Player of the Week for Feb. 15-21. She had 18 points, seven steals and five assists in a 73-68 loss to Scottsdale and 21 points and four assists in a loss to South Mountain.
Brown also had a 25-point performance against Eastern Arizona on Feb. 13 after missing the past five games.
The Bears finished the season 8-19 and 5-17 in conference play.
• Tanya Clark (AWC) had 17 points and 12 rebounds in her final game at Dixie State on Saturday to help the Red Storm beat Hawaii Pacific 99-80.
Clark averaged eight points and six rebounds per game this season and was second on the team in steals (61).
Dixie State (17-8 overall, 13-3 in the Pacific West Conference) won eight of its last nine games to finish second place in the conference.
• Yohanna Morton (AWC) is averaging 10 minutes per contest for Robert Morris University, which won the regular-season Northeast Conference championship but lost in the conference tournament semifinals 80-79 on Saturday to Saint Francis.
Robert Morris ended the regular season on 12-game win streak, with Morton pitching in six points and three steals in last week's 62-42 win against Mount St. Mary's. The win gave the Colonials a program record nine consecutive road wins, as well as new high marks for regular season wins and conference victories.
Robert Morris (23-8, 17-1 NEC) will accept an automatic bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament as the conference regular season champions.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
• Alonzo Brandon (AWC) continues to see consistent minutes for Portland State as the Vikings secured the final seed in the Big Sky Conference tournament on Feb. 26 against Idaho State.
Portland State (11-17, 6-9 conference) entered the game on a five-game losing streak. Brandon had two points in sevenminutes in the 98-63 win.
The Big Sky Conference tournament begins tonight with Portland State heading to Ogden, Utah to play regular season champ Weber State.
BASEBALL
• Alex Miranda (Cibola H.S.) is off to a solid start in his freshman season at Yavapai College.
Miranda had made six appearances on the mound for the Roughriders and thrown in 32-2/3 innings, second most on the team. He improved to 3-1 overall on the season on Tuesday against Eastern Arizona, allowing six hits and no earned runs in a 6-1 win.
Yavapai has won 14 of its past 15 games after losing five straight to No. 1 ranked College of Southern Nevada. The Roughriders (15-7 overall, 9-1 ACCAC) play South Mountain on Thursday.
• Giovanni Garcia (Kofa H.S., AWC) hit a game-tying solo home run in the eighth inning and a two-out RBI single in the ninth inning to left Arkansas State over Wisconsin-Milwaukee 6-5 on Feb. 26.
The win jumpstarted a four-game sweep of UW-Milwaukee over the next three days and give Arkansas State a 6-1 start to the season.
Garcia, a senior, has started all seven games and has seven hits, six RBI, five runs and two home runs. Arkansas State begins Sun Belt Conference play on March 12 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
• Sam Gatson (AWC) was named the Mountain West Conference's Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday for her performance in the UTEP Invitational.
The sophomore transfer at New Mexico University made four appearances in the weekend tournament and threw for 16-2/3 innings. In her only start of the week, she threw a complete game shutout against San Jose State, scattering six hits and striking out three in a 2-0 win for the Lobos.
Gatson got her first start and first win for New Mexico in a 9-0 win over Seattle on Feb. 21. She allowed three hits and one walk after missing the team's season-opening tournament with a sore shoulder.
New Mexico is 8-10 overall.
