10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Athletes of the Week (FOR THE WEEK OF JAN. 9-JAN. 14) SUMMER SPELL Seaside PAYTON WESTERHOLM Seaside Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian senior swimmer played a key role in Seaside’s 80-78 win over Astoria T Spell he Jan. took 12 in the Clatsop Splash dual meet at the Astoria Aquatic Center. seven seconds off her best time in the 500-yard freestyle, winning fter missing most of the football season with a broken leg, Westerholm A is making a (fi rst) name for himself on the basketball court in his sopho- more year. the event in 7 minutes, 13.15 seconds — nearly a full minute over the sec- ond-place swimmer. Spell — the daughter of Seaside coach Shane Spell — also swam the anchor leg on the winning 200-yard medley relay, took second behind teammate Maya McGill in the 200-yard freestyle, and swam the third leg on the winning 400-yard freestyle relay, which had to place fi rst in the event in order to win the team scoring. The son of Seaside coach Bill Westerholm, Payton has taken on an increased load in the scoring column, as he fi nished with 15 points in a Jan. 13 win at Knappa, and before that, he scored 19 points in a 93-62 win over St. Helens. Westerholm also had several assists in the victory over the Loggers, as he prepares for his future as a fl oor-leader for the Gulls, who will lose Jackson Januik and Hunter Thompson to graduation after this season. SPORTS IN BRIEF Walker, Hibbert lead Hornets past Trail Blazers HOMETOWN REPORT No indication rubber playfi elds cause cancer Charlotte stops fi ve-game slide Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. — Health offi cials in Washington state say there’s no indication synthetic turf playfi elds made of recycled rub- ber cause cancer in young people. The Department of Health issued a report Wednesday that said if the crumb-rubber fi elds did so, there would be a lot more ill soccer players in Washington. A University of Washington women’s soccer coach, Amy Grif- fi n, raised concerns after learning of several goalies who developed blood cancers. She eventually compiled a list of 53 soccer play- ers who had developed cancer since the mid-1990s. The review suggested soccer players actually get cancer less than the general population. Dr. Cathy Wasserman, a state epide- miologist, says if people are wor- ried about exposure to carcino- genic chemicals from the rubber pellets, they can wash their hands or shower after playing. Beckham top NFLer on Twitter Associated Press NEW YORK — Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr., had the most engagement on Twitter among NFL players this season, while Colin Kaepernick was only a surprising 49th. SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Boys Basketball — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 6 p.m.; Seaside at Scappoose, 6 p.m.; Warrenton at Clatskanie, 8 p.m.; Ilwaco at Willapa Valley, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 7:45 p.m.; Seaside at Scap- poose, 7:45 p.m.; Warrenton at Clats- kanie, 6 p.m. Swimming — Seaside at Tillamook, 4 p.m. Wrestling — Seaside at Astoria, 5:30 p.m.; Warrenton at League 4-Way, Willa- mina, 5 p.m. FRIDAY Boys Basketball — Knappa at Gas- ton, 8 p.m.; Jewell at C.S. Lewis, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball — Knappa at Gas- ton, 6 p.m.; Jewell at Seaside JV2, 6 p.m.; Raymond at Ilwaco, 7 p.m. Wrestling — Gary Seaney Tour- nament, Tillamook, TBA; Seaside at Nestucca, 5 p.m. SATURDAY Boys Basketball — Astoria at Sea- side, 6 p.m.; Raymond at Ilwaco, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball — Astoria at Sea- side, 7:45 p.m. Wrestling — Knappa at Gervais, TBA By STEVE REED Associated Press Indiana State University Astoria’s Taylor Christie is in her first year of swimming with the Indiana State Sycamores. Hunt jumps straight into basketball from volleyball By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian There wasn’t much of an off-sea- son for Chloee Hunt at the college level recently, as the former Astoria Lady Fisherman went straight from volleyball to basketball at Evergreen State College. Hunt is one of several local gradu- ates now competing athletically at the next level — in Hunt’s case, in two sports. Shortly after wrapping up the vol- leyball season with the Geoducks, Hunt is now averaging 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 points per game (through 18 games) off the bench for the Chloee Hunt Evergreen basket- ball team, in 14.9 minutes per game. Most recently, Hunt had seven rebounds in a 65-54 win at Walla Walla Sunday. Earlier this season, Hunt hit a six- foot jump shot at the buzzer to help Evergreen beat Pacifi c Lutheran, 67-66. The Geoducks had to rally from a nine-point defi cit in the fi nal fi ve min- utes to win. “The play was run for Chloee, and Chloee completely did instincts,” said Evergreen coach Jen Schooler. “I wanted a lob but she saw her (defender) and she made an adjust- ment, and that’s all Chloee.” Evergreen is currently 4-14 over- all. The Geoducks made a coaching change after the season started, with Gil Rigell taking over for Schooler. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kemba Walker is focused on Charlotte’s record. He isn’t very interested in the All-Star game right now. Walker scored 23 points, and the Hornets stopped a fi ve-game slide with a 107-85 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. “We haven’t been doing a great job of winning consistently (so) the All-Star game is the last thing I’m going to think about right now,” Walker said. While Walker is brushing off talk about next month’s game in New Orleans, he is making a strong case for a spot on the East- ern Conference team. He is aver- aging 23 points and shooting 41.3 percent from 3-point range this season. Walker went 4 for 8 from behind the arc against Portland and 8 for 14 from the fi eld over- all. But he said he doesn’t think he has done enough this year to make the All-Star game for the fi rst time, citing the team’s 21-21 record. The Hornets snapped an eight- game streak of allowing at least 100 points. TIP-INS Lower Columbia College Seaside graduate Kaitlin Lewis is currently a starter for the Lower Co- lumbia College basketball team. The team lists just eight players on the current roster. A few other local graduates still involved in sports: ASTORIA Taylor Christie, Fr., Indiana St. swimming A freshman with the Sycamores, Christie continues her season this weekend, when Indiana State hosts Ball State and Eastern Illinois at Terre Haute. She has a season-best time of 1 minute, 10.78 seconds in the 100- meter breaststroke, set at the (Cin- cinnati) Bearcat Invitational in November. Jacob Hulti, Fr., Willamette swimming Derek Jarrett, Fr., South Puget Sound CC basketball Tawny Phillips, 1st year with the Blazer Dancers Jon Williams, Sr., Linfi eld swimming SEASIDE Kaitlin Lewis, Lower Columbia basketball Currently a starter for the Red Devils, Lewis went 3-for-3 from the fi eld and fi nished with seven points and four assists in a recent 92-42 win over Pierce College. Lower Columbia is 13-3 overall, 1-1 in conference. WARRENTON Mady Hanna, Warner-Pacifi c basketball It’s been an injury-pla gued season for the former Warrior. After overcoming an early-sea- son hand injury, Hanna recently suf- fered a serious knee injury, ending her season. From Hanna’s Facebook page: “It’s been a rough season for me but I’ll do my best to keep my head up. I will need surgery and I will let you all know the next step after I know more. Thanks for all your support.” Trail Blazers: Made all 11 free throws, but shot 8 of 31 from beyond the 3-point arc. Hornets: Bench outscored Portland’s reserves 44-22. . LOSING WAYS Damian Lillard scored 21 points and C.J. McCollum had 18 for Portland, which has lost three straight and 16 of 22 since Dec. 5. “As a group we have to let last year go,” Portland center Mason Plumlee said. “If it was the fi rst 10 games of the season we could talk about building on last year. This is a new team, this is a new group and we aren’t playing how we did last year so it’s a new season, new challenges. We have to make the most of this group and this team, and the situation we are in.” UP NEXT: BLAZERS • Portland Trail Blazers (18-26) at Philadelphia 76ers (14-26) • Friday, 4 p.m. TV: CSNW