The 2011 Rainier High School graduate had one of the more decorated sports careers for the Mountaineers. A three-sport athlete, she was a league MVP in basketball, a state champion in track and field, and an all-league volleyball player. When high school came to an end, so did sports. At least, she thought. She enrolled at Washington State University with no plans of playing varsity sports; she wanted to simply be a student
She played intramural basketball, but as time wore on, she wanted more.
“I missed the game and everything about it,” Schoenherr said.
Her competitive spark was what led Schoenherr to a last-minute decision: Just weeks before heading back to Pullman for her sophomore year, she withdrew from WSU and enrolled at Centralia College to be reunited with basketball – and also with her former AAU coach, Shane Schutz, whom Schoenherr contacted about joining the team over the summer.
“If there’s an open door, it’s meant to be,” Schoenherr said. “I’m really grateful.”
So far, Schoenherr hasn’t disappointed. The 5-foot-9 starting forward ranks 10th in scoring (16.8 points) and seventh in rebounds (8.7) in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges. Centralia has won eight games in a row and is in first place in the West region at 8-0 and 15-3 overall.
Other players on the team with local ties are Kyahri Adams (River Ridge) and Shanae Sauls (Black Hills).
“I was hoping I would be around a good group of girls, and I am,” Schoenherr said. “I love getting better, and I love each day we get better as a team.”
Other colleges are starting to take notice, and some of the region’s four-year programs have been in contact. And because Schoenherr is a sophomore academically with freshman eligibility, the likelihood is this will be her one and only season with the Trailblazers..
YELM GRADUATE HYDER EARNS WEEKLY HONOR
Yelm High School graduate Dylan Hyder, a sophomore wrestler at the Air Force Academy, was named the Western Wrestling Conference’s co-wrestler of the week on Jan. 22 after his performance in dual meets against Stanford, Menlo and Cal Poly. It’s the first conference wrestler of the week award of Hyder’s career.
Hyder, a two-time state champion while at Yelm, helped the Falcons go 3-0 for the week and went undefeated in his three matches at 133 pounds, including a 4-3 victory over Cal Poly’s Devon Lotito, who was then ranked 20th in the nation by InterMat.
Hyder is 9-2 in dual matches and 15-10 overall this season for Air Force, which is ranked 24th nationally.
SMU SOFTBALL TEAM PICKED SECOND IN GNAC
After one of the biggest win-loss turnarounds in all of NCAA Division II last season, the Saint Martin’s University softball team has been picked to finish second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in the conference’s preseason coaches poll.
The Saints received three first-place votes, with Montana State-Billings picked to repeat as conference champion.
SMU’s 33-18-1 overall record in 2012 was the best in the history of the program, which started in 1992, and followed a season in which the Saints went 9-31. SMU returns eight letterwinners, including its pitching duo of Sam Munger and Taylor Bakos, who were the conference’s freshman of the year and newcomer of the year, respectively, last spring.
ROAD WARRIORS
Men’s and women’s basketball teams from SMU and The Evergreen State College are on the road this weekend. The SMU men open up the second half of GNAC play Saturday at Western Oregon, a team the Saints defeated, 71-59, at Marcus Pavilion on Jan. 5; the women are at Seattle Pacific on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Montana State-Billings on Saturday (6 p.m. PST). The Evergreen men and women are in Portland, at Warner Pacific on Friday and Concordia on Saturday.
Meg Wochnick: 360-754-5473 mwochnick@theolympian.com theolympian.com/southsoundsports @megwochnick
