Gonzaga soccer’s Giana Riley is named to the United States U20 Women’s National Youth Team

January 16 – From staff reports

Gonzaga University women’s soccer standout Giana Riley was named to the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team roster.

National team head coach Tracey Kevins has announced a roster of 24 players for the team’s first training camp from January 15 to 22 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

The camp marks the first steps towards the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia in September, which the US qualified for last June at the CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championship in the Dominican Republic.

Academics

Two fifth-year Washington State student-athletes, Iman Isanovic and Magda Jehláová, were named to the 2023 Academic All-America women’s volleyball teams, as announced by the College Sports Communicators (CSC).

Both student-athletes were voted to the Academic All-America third team this year, with Isanovic representing the only three-time CSC Academic All-America honoree after being named second and third teams in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Jehláová also was a second-team honoree in 2022, as the Euro tandem represented the only teammates on this year’s Division I Academic All-America teams to have each earned the award more than once in their careers.

Jehláová, a master’s student in Management, was the 2022 Pac-12 Women’s Volleyball Scholar Athlete of the Year. Jehláová was the second overall pick in the Professional Volleyball Federation’s (PVF) inaugural collegiate player draft in December and is the only five-time All-Pac-12 first team player in the history of the Conference of Champions.

Isanovic is a graduate student in political science.

Basketball

Gonzaga University has released its 2024 baseball schedule. The 50-game spring lineup includes 18 games at the Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field and eight games against teams that participated in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

The Zags will face 21 opponents in 2024, with 12 of them finishing in the Top 150 in the NCAA’s final 2023 RPI rankings.

Notably, GU’s second opponent, Vanderbilt, finished seventh in the final standings before hosting the Nashville Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

The full schedule can be found at gozags.com.

golf

Circling Raven Golf Club has improved 10 spots from last year’s rankings of “Top 200 US Resort Courses, 2024,” an annual compilation of America’s best places to play jointly published by Golfweek and USA TODAY.

The Gene Bates-designed layout climbed to No. 104 on this year’s list, which was recently unveiled. The Coeur d’Alene Resort was ranked #150.

Owned and operated by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe (and named for a pioneering tribal chief), Circling Raven covers more than 600 acres of ancestral homeland – nearly five times more acreage than the average area worldwide.

Indoor athletics

In their first action of 2024, the Gonzaga men’s and women’s track teams returned to The Podium for the Spokane Sports Showcase and set two program records.

Ellie Armbruster broke the first program record of the day in the 400 meters, improving her previous record with a time of 57.32, placing sixth. Armbruster came from behind to win her heat, and Bailee Carr posted the program’s second-best time of 1:00.18 in her GU 400m debut.

Willow Collins and Alicia Anderson led the way in the Zags’ 800-meter finish. Both would break the previous school record in the indoor 800 meters, but it was Collins (2:12.40) who narrowly edged past Anderson (2:12.48) to secure the record and a second-place finish overall.

To shoot

Tanner Krebs of the Spokane Junior Rifle Club won the junior state championship at the 2023 Washington State Indoor International Rifle Championships in November.

15-year-old Krebs, who competed in the junior category from 15 to 17 years old, had the highest score of three junior divisions with a score of 1,134 out of a possible 1,200 points.

Sean Kegley, 19, placed third overall and first in the Junior category, 18-21 years old, with a score of 1,105. Anna Pearsall, 20, came fifth overall and second in the Junior category with a score of 1,086.

Also in the top 10 overall for SJRC were Breeden Ensley, 14, seventh at 1,059, and Spencer Fitzpatrick, 17, 10th at 1,039.

Kaylee Geller, 14, placed third in the sub juniors (14 years and under) with a score of 975.

The match was a full-course match consisting of 40 shots in each of three positions (kneeling, prone, standing) shot indoors with small caliber (.22) rifles. Targets were hung at a distance of 15 yards and only metal sights were allowed.