SportsJanuary 14, 2015

area colleges

The Lewis-Clark State College women's basketball team dropped two places in the NAIA Division I Coaches' Top 25 polls, which were released Tuesday, checking in at No. 14 after last week's No. 12 ranking.

LCSC picked up 127 points, tying with Shawnee State (Portsmouth, Ohio), after splitting a pair of Frontier Conference games.

The Warriors are joined by three other Frontier Conference teams in this week's poll. Westminster slipped one spot to No. 5, while Montana State-Northern and Caroll were ranked No. 11 and No. 19, respectively.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Warriors jump to No. 19

After splitting a pair of road Frontier Conference games, the Lewis-Clark State men climbed to No. 19 in the NAIA Division I Coaches' Top 25 poll, earning their highest ranking since the 2012-13 season.

The Warriors are coming off an 80-76 win at Montana State-Northern, which followed a 79-73 defeat to Great Falls.

Frontier Conference foe Montana Western, on a 12-game win streak, moved up one spot to No. 9 after earning 181 points. The Bulldogs are the only other FC team currently ranked.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Cougars bring on two recruits

PULLMAN - Grace Hancock and Julia Reneau have each enrolled at Washington State for the 2015 spring semester and will compete in women's soccer for the Cougars next fall after both having played club soccer the past few years.

Coming to the Cougs from FC Nova in Boise, Hancock, the US Youth Soccer National Player of the in March of 2013, is a defender from Boise who led Boise High to a state title in 2013.

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Reneau is a goalkeeper from Mountain House, Calif. She graduated from Laurel Springs School in Ojai, Calif., and played her club soccer with the Pleasanton Rage.

TRACK AND FIELD

Idaho teams picked eighth

OGDEN, Utah - Both Idaho track and field teams were picked to finish eighth in the Big Sky Conference, which released its preseason coaches polls Tuesday.

The Vandal women received 61 points, while reigning champion Northern Arizona, was picked first with 141 points.

NAU also claimed the top spot in the men's poll with 11 first-place votes and 143 points.

AWARDS

Presley, Halliday up for honors

SEATTLE - Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday and women's basketball player Tia Presley were nominated for the 2015 Western Sports Star of the Year Awards, the Seattle Sports Commission announced recently.

Halliday, a redshirt-senior from Spokane, is nominated for the Male Sports Star of the Year Award while Presley, a senior guard, is nominated for the Female Sports Star of the Year Award.

Winners are announced during the 2015 Western Sports Star of the Year Awards on Jan. 21 at Benaroya Hall.

Female Sports Star of the Year nominees - SooBin Kim, Washington golf; Kim Little, Seattle Reign; Kelsey Plum, Washington basketball; Tia Presley, Washington State basketball; Lianna Sybelton, Washington volleyball; Stephanie Verdoia, Seattle soccer.

Male Sports Star of the year nominees - Clint Dempsey, Sounders FC; Connor Halliday, Washington State football; Obafemi Martins, Sounders FC; Kyle Seager, Mariners; Earl Thomas, Seahawks; Shaq Thompson, Washington football

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