Lewis-Clark State spring sports ready to swing, jump and run

In his 25th season as the helm of Lewis-Clark State track and field, Mike Collins, sitting next to senior triple jumper Sydnie Zywina at their Monday news conference, said this year’s Warrior track and field team is noticeably fun.

“They’re kind of like Syd (Zywina) — all smiles — and sometimes it’s like, ‘I wish you’d take this a little more seriously and get after it.’ But they do get after it,” Collins said. “On meet day, they’re pretty serious, they’re intense.”

LC State’s track and field and tennis teams are already underway while women’s golf returns to action at the end of February and the men hit the course in March.

Here is a look at each of LCSC’s spring sports. A preview of Warrior baseball can be found in Tuesday’s Tribune or at lmtribune.com/sports.

Track and field

Collins said he has found his team’s joyful atmosphere beneficial to his goal of producing All-Americans.

It’s a goal that shifted into focus several years ago when LC State lacked the depth to truly contend for conference titles.

This focus on all-conference and All-American recognition has led to Collins asking more athletes to participate in relays, which may detract from an athlete’s individual events.

“That relay could be an All-American relay too, which means four All-Americans instead of one or two,” Collins said. “So they do all the work. I just point and yell.”

LC State competed at the University of Idaho-hosted Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open in Moscow over the weekend.

The Warriors left Moscow with multiple national qualifying results and three Cascade Conference Athlete of the Week honors.

Among those honorees was Zywina of Orofino High School, who in a field full of NCAA Division I competition, was the only triple jumper to clear 39 feet, 5 inches.

And she did it surrounded by her Orofino family and friends.

“I’m sitting there at the triple jump pit, and it’s like, ‘Hey, coach Collins, where’s that blond-headed girl?’ I mean, everybody working the pits was from Orofino,” Collins said. “They’re all taking pictures, and there’s Orofino kids everywhere.”

Zywina said having a large number of hometown fans at the meet helped her perform well.

“Makes it so much better when I do perform good and they’re there,” she said. “Spirits are high.”

The Warriors continue their indoor season on Saturday at the Inland Northwest Invite in Spokane and compete in two more meets before the NAIA Indoor Nationals in Gainesville, Fla.

The outdoor season begins on March 11 at the Sam Adams Classic in Spokane and concludes with the conference championships from May 9-10 in Ashland, Ore., and the NAIA Outdoor Nationals May 21-23 in Marion, Ind.

Tennis

LC State tennis coach Kai Fong is in his 37th season in Lewiston.

The Warriors have 26 tennis players (13 men, 13 women) from 20 different countries.

Fong said that vast diversity came about less by design and more by necessity, as an increasing number of international recruits valued a chance to compete in the United States.

He also said that former players return to their communities and encourage other tennis players to consider LC.

For senior Heidi Moyo from Harare, Zimbabwe, college tennis at LC State grants her greater competition than her previous college.

Moyo said she appreciates that Fong focuses on the mental side of the game.

“Lots of mental training, which you don’t get in a lot of places,” Moyo said. “It’s usually just physical on-the-ball stuff, but here you really get to train your mind.”

Returning to the team this year as an assistant coach is Bonolo Arroyo Valenzuela, a former LCSC tennis player.

Fong said that Arroyo Valenzuela wanted to get to work as soon as she returned to Lewiston.

“We make the joke that she really sounds like Kai a lot now, like, when she’s talking to us at practice, we’re like, ‘Is this Bonolo or is this Kai talking?’” Moyo said. “She’s obviously now our coach, but at the same time she’s our friend. We love having her back.”

Golf

The Warrior golf teams return for the spring portion of the season after playing throughout the fall.

Zach Anderson, now in his late 20s, is in his third year as LCSC’s golf coach.

Anderson said that he has learned that setting specific statistical goals is not as helpful as the big-picture team goals of making Nationals.

It’s a goal that has come into greater focus in recent years, especially with the women’s team’s rapid rise.

The Warrior women enter the season as the No. 23-ranked NAIA team. It’s an impressive mark for a young team that lacks seniors. Dallis Shockey of Paul, Idaho, is the lone junior.

Anderson said that he has encouraged both the women’s and men’s teams to create their own goals in players-only meetings after practice.

Shockey said that one of her favorite team-created goals was that each individual had to say two positive things about their round before criticizing it.

“I think it really helped everyone control our emotions a little bit better and remember that it’s a team (effort),” Shockey said. “Your score might have not been the greatest, but you can also celebrate other people on your team that helped us.”

The men’s team also skews younger with just two seniors.

The women return to the course first on Feb. 24-25 at The Trailblazer event in Oklahoma City and the men play March 15-16 the Bandon Crossings Collegiate in Bushnell, Ore.

Anderson said he expects about 100 individual golfers at the LCSC-hosted Warrior Spring Classic on March 24-25 at Lewiston Golf and Country Club.

Golf is unique in that its fall season matters just as much as its spring season — a valuable aspect of the sport for senior Oscar Behle of Hjarup, Sweden.

“As an international student, I came here to play golf,” Behle said. “So to have two semesters with golf ... that’s the best way to do it.”

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.