College Place grad wins men’s steeplechase; Pasco grad vying for women’s steeplechase Olympic berth

College Place High School graduate Kenneth Rooks ran away with the men’s 3000 meters steeplechase title this past weekend at the USA Olympics Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.

Rooks beat the field with a time of 8 minutes, 21.92 seconds, and the former BYU star-turned Nike professional is pretty likely headed to the Paris Summer Olympics — which run from July 26 through Aug. 11.

We say likely headed, in that no one in the steeplechase field — including Rooks — hit the Olympic-qualifying standard time of 8:15.0.

Now the wait begins to see what other nations’ runners hit with their times before it’s made official for Rooks.

There would have to be about 20 runners to qualify with a better time than Rooks, and that is highly unlikely to happen.

Meanwhile, Pasco High grad Marisa Howard finished second out of 30 competitors in the women’s 3000 meters steeplechase first round, which has the top 14 runners advancing to the finals on Thursday night.

Howard, 31, was better known at Pasco High by her maiden name of Marisa Vander Malle.

She is currently ranked 50th in the world in the steeplechase.

She lives in Boise with her husband and 2-year-old child, and she’s a school nurse.

She spent the buildup to the Trials working out at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Her time of 9 minutes, 26.38 seconds on Monday night is the fourth-best career performance for her.

She was among the leaders of her heat the entire race, sitting in third after 1,000 meters. She dropped back to fourth after 2,000 meters, before improving to second at the finish line tape.

Howard is no stranger to representing her country in international competition. In 2019, she placed second in the steeplechase running for the United States at the Pan Am Games in Peru, winning a silver medal.

She placed fourth in the same event in 2023 in the Pan Am Games.

Thursday’s night’s final in Eugene is set to start at 7:18 p.m.

Finally, Walla Walla High School grad Dash Sirmon just missed a U.S. Olympic Team roster spot in the men’s javelin final last Friday, placing fourth (one spot shy of a berth).

Sirmon, who just completed his sophomore season for the University of Nebraska men’s track and field team, tossed the javelin 252 feet even. That is the second-best throw in Sirmon’s career, and he’s just 20 years old.

Baseball

Southridge grad Jabari Simon, who will play next season for Everett Community College, was a member of the winning Team St. Helens at this past weekend’s All-State Baseball Series in Yakima.

The team went 2-0 to take the title.

The Washington State Baseball Coaches Association handed out a number of awards to both players and coaches from the Mid-Columbia region.

Richland’s Grant Richardson was named the Paton-Fouts Coach of the Year after his Bombers went 27-0 en route to winning the 4A state championship.

Richland third baseman/pitcher Chris Daniels was one of two players honored as High School Player of the Year for big schools. Daniels will play next season for New Mexico State.

Tri-Cities Prep’s Henry Douglas, a pitcher and outfielder, was a co-winner of the High School Player of the Year for small schools. Douglas will play baseball next season at Whitworth University.

Finally, Lindbergh coach Benny Benavides was one of four coaches inducted into the WSBCA’s Hall of Fame. Benavides has over 200 victories at Lindbergh in Renton. He is a graduate of Connell High School.

Hockey

There is a decent chance that a National Hockey League team could draft a Tri-City American on either Friday or Saturday in the NHL Draft in Las Vegas.

Two Americans — forward Max Curran and goalie Lukas Matecha — have been looked at by plenty of scouts this past season.

Curran, in fact, is ranked among the top 120 players by Faceoff.com, coming in at 117.

Curran is ranked 58th among all North American skaters; while Matecha is ranked third among all North American goalies.

The first round is on Friday in The Sphere in Vegas, while rounds 2 through 7 are on Saturday at the same site.

Boat racing

H1 Unlimited awarded the San Diego Bayfair event the right to host the Gold Cup this fall.

The race will be held Sept. 13-15, and it will be the final race of the season.

It also happens to be the 60th Bayfair race.

The H1 season opener is this coming weekend, with the Guntersville Lake Hydrofest on June 29-30.

Six unlimiteds are expected to race in the Alabama race: U-1 Beacon Electric with driver J. Michael Kelly; U-9 Beacon Plumbing with driver Corey Peabody; U-11 Miss Mercurys Coffee with driver Jamie Nilsen; U-27 Miss Apollo with driver Dave Villwock; U-40 Bucket List Racing with driver Dustin Echols; and U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate with driver Andrew Tate.

Villwock is coming out of retirement to drive the brand new U-27, which is Charley Wiggins’ rebuild after a flip in Seattle destroyed the boat.

Only the cockpit remains from the old boat, and Villwock (now 70) — who can be a whiz in getting boats ready to race — helped Wiggins with the rebuild.

The U-27’s sponsor, Apollo, is Tri-Cities based.

Apollo will also sponsor both the Columbia Cup, July 26-28, and Seafair the next week.

Couple a big rules changes this season include no more 80 mph minimum around the course as teams set up for the race. This will likely mean trolling while trying to jockey for Lane 1.

Also no more penalty laps in a race. Teams will be given a time penalty instead.

Golf

Junior Patrick Azevedo (Othello) was recently named to the Academic All-District team, as selected by the College Sports Communicators.

Azevedo just completed his junior season for the Wyoming men’s golf team, where he averaged 72.8 strokes over 13 events for the Cowboys.

He also carries a 4.0 grade point average while in pursuit in Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Herald.