10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017
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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