The end-of-the-year accolades have begun to pour in for Whatcom’s best players and coaches and it’s no surprise that the Lummi Nation boys and girls cleaned up in the Class 1B awards.
The Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association announced its boys players and coaches of the year and state champion Lummi Nation was honored twice. Jerome Toby Jr. was named the Class 1B player of the year and Jerome Toby Sr. was named the coach of the year.
Tim Zylstra, who guided Lynden Christian to the state title, was named the Class 1A coach of the year. For a complete list of awards, click on WIBCA Awards.
The WIBCA also will have an all-star weekend for boys on Saturday, March 21, at Bellevue Community College with a unified game (10 a.m.), a futures game (11 a.m.), and all-star games featuring 1B vs. 2B (12:30 p.m.), 1A vs. 2A (2 p.m.), and 3A vs. 4A (3:30 p.m.).
Chosen to play were Toby and senior Chayce Waite-Kellar of Lummi Nation (Class 1B), and senior Spencer Adams of Lynden (2A).
Be sure to check out the Whatcom Hoops coverage of the John Clark Whatcom County Seniors Classic featuring the top seniors in boys and girls all-star games at Lynden High.
The Washington State Girls Basketball Coaches Association also announced its rosters for its Senior All-State Games being played Saturday, March 14, at King’s High School and three Whatcom seniors were honored.
Ailina Rabang of Lummi Nation was named the 1B player of the year, Payton Mills of Lynden was the 2A player of the year, Ella Fritts of Lynden Christian was the 1A player of the year. Rob Adams of Lynden was named the 2A coach of the year.
Rabang had 15 points, three 3-pointers, and 6 rebounds in the 1B’s 89-60 loss to the 2B. For all the awards and scoring, check out Girls All-State Awards.
Two Blackhawks — junior Landon LaFontaine and senior Brianna Metteba — represented Lummi Nation in the fifth annual Native American All-Star event on March 14.
There were all-star games and 3-point contests featuring players from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and California tribes. LaFontaine finished second in the 3-point contest.
VarsityWA, a website for Washington prep sports, named its all-state teams and included three Whatcom boys.
Toby was named the 1B player of the year, Lynden Christian juniors Dawson Hintz and Gunnar Dykstra were named to the Class 1A first team, and Zylstra was named the 1A coach of the year. For the complete list for all classifications, click on VarsityWA All-State Boys.
The Eli Sports Network also named its all-state tournament teams for each classification. Toby Jr. was named the MVP for the boys, Waite-Kellar was named to the first team, and junior Dyson Edwards was named to the second team. Toby Sr. earned the championship coach award.
For the girls, junior Jemma James, who led the Lady Blackhawks to a fourth-place finish at state, was named to the first team and coach David James was named the “top-effort coach” for guiding the eighth seed to the program’s third trophy and first since 2009.
For the complete list of Eli Sports Network awards click on 1B All-State.
