SportsSection B lyndentribune.com•Wednesday,July1,2015

Sports Briefs•B3

Classifieds•B4

Obituaries•B7

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alumni

Hommes thriving at Montana St.

Recent Meridian grad will be making his third trip to the eventBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

STOCKTON, California — Jake Birnel, a recent graduate of Merid-ian High School and longtime rac-quetball extraordinaire, has already competed twice in the sport’s Ju-nior World Championships over the course of his young career. On Sunday, he earned a third trip to the event. Birnel, 17, won the 18-and-un-der boys’ doubles title at the National Junior Olympic Championships over the weekend in Stockton, California. The championship earned Birnel and his partner, Sam Breden-beck of Minnesota, a spot on the U.S. junior national team and qualified the duo for November’s world cham-pionships in Santo Domingo, Do-minican Republic. National team players will also be invited to the junior team training camp in August at the U.S. Olympic

Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Each time I’ve gone, it’s been an experience unlike anything I’ve ever done,” Birnel said of the world championships. “It’s always a lot of fun and a lot of great memories. I’m just so honored to be able to repre-sent the U.S. and be able to play a sport that I love.” Birnel and Bredenbeck cruised past much of the competition, finish-ing an undefeated 5-0 in the six-team round-robin tournament, sweeping each of their first four matches while outscoring opponents 120-42. However, the final match was tightly contested, as the Birnel duo fought back from a second-set defeat to earn a 15-13, 6-15, 11-9 victory and the world championships berth. Birnel also competed in the 18-and-under singles bracket, where he placed third. Birnel advanced to the semifinals before being ousted by his doubles partner, Bredenbeck, 15-14, 12-15, 11-6. “It was an awesome match,” Birnel said. “It was a lot of fun. He’s a great kid, so if I was going to lose to anybody, I’m glad it was to him. It was really competitive.”

Bredenbeck went on to win the singles title, while Birnel recovered for a 12-15, 15-12, 11-9 victory in the third-place match over Thomas Carter of Pennsylvania. This weekend marked Birnel’s 10th consecutive year competing in the national championships. With two parents who also play racquet-ball, Birnel grew up around the sport and developed an affinity for it, spending countless hours playing at the Bellingham Athletic Club. “I guess it was just natural for me that I’d end up on the court,” Birnel said. “And then I guess as soon as I started playing it, I loved it, so I never gave it up. “I’ve been there (at Bellingham Athletic Club) hundreds and hun-dreds of hours since I was young and I still go to this day — I’m in there al-most every day. I just love it.” Birnel, currently the top-ranked American in his age group and No. 39 in the nation overall, notched an-other significant racquetball accom-plishment just prior to the weekend’s national championships. On Friday, June 26, Birnel was

Former LC standout led MSU in scoring last season, ranked third in Big SkyBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

BOZEMAN, Montana — Many players are capable of the occasional big performance. The great ones, however, consistently play to that high level. That’s what separates Jasmine Hommes. The former Lynden Christian standout and current Montana State University star put up big numbers game in and game out last season as the junior averaged a team-leading 16.9 points per game, third-most in the Big Sky Conference. A 6-1 forward and second-team all-conference selection, Hommes scored at least 15 points in 20 of the Bobcats’ 30 games. She reached the 20-plus-point mark 11 times. And only twice did she score less than nine points.

“That’s what makes her excep-tional,” said Montana State head coach Tricia Binford of Hommes’ consistency. “She’s very reliable on the floor.” Hommes is also a force on the defensive end, where she tallied a team-high 28 blocked shots for the season. Yet whether she’s swatting an opponent’s shot or sinking a pivotal bucket, Hommes’ on-court tempera-ment — mirroring her steady play — remains even-keeled. Others may celebrate a big play or dwell on a bad one, but not Hommes. “It’s what makes her so consis-tent,” Binford said. “She doesn’t get too high or too low, and she plays hard all the time.” The quiet strength Hommes dis-plays on the court is emblematic of her life as a whole, one that’s rooted in faith and filled with perspective. “When you have kids like Jas-

mine, it makes our job extremely gratifying,” Binford said. “She’s such a tremendous person character-wise, she’s fun to coach and very ma-ture. “It’s really rare to get a student-athlete come in as a freshman know-ing who they are, what they stand for and be strongly committed to that. That’s made her a tremendous team-mate.” Hommes came to Division I Montana State on the heels of an il-lustrious basketball career at LC, where she led the Lyncs to a top-four finish in the state tournament in

each of her four years — a runner-up medal, a pair of third-place medals and a fourth-place medal. “I loved playing at LC,” Hom-mes said. “I wouldn’t have traded it for anything, I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else. The girls I got to play with were some of my best friends and I love going back and watching games.” Hommes also credits legendary head coach Curt De Haan, now re-tired, for his role in helping her grow. “De Haan had so many girls go through his program and play Divi-sion I,” Hommes said. “He knows

how to develop girls and he knows the game of basketball so well. I was happy that I got to have four years under him because he definitely developed me as a great basketball player, and I learned so much under him.” Hommes earned first-team all-state honors her sophomore and junior seasons at LC, but suffered a broken bone in her wrist during her senior year. That didn’t stop her, though, from averaging 16.5 points in 24 contests and earning an all-state honorable mention. And it didn’t keep Binford from

noticing Hommes’ talent. “She was probably one of the coaches that recruited me the hard-est,” Hommes said. “She was one the coaches that stuck with me, saw my potential and didn’t care about that I wasn’t (able to play) in some games. “She knew what I was capable of and I could tell from talking to her and (assistant coach) Amy Starr that they cared about me as a person.” Hommes ultimately decided on Montana State, which continued a family legacy — Jasmine has two

Former Lynden Christian standout Jasmine Hommes led Montana State in scoring last season as a junior with 16.9 points per game, third-most in the Big Sky Conference. The 6-1 forward was named to the all-conference second team.(Courtesyphoto/MontanaStateathletics)

Dynamite seasonFormer LC standout Jasmine

Hommes had a big junior season at Montana State:

•NamedtoAll-BigSkyConferencesecondteam

•LedMSUwith16.9ppg

•Scored20+points11times

•LedMSUwith28blocks

The Lynden Christian boys’ and girls’ teams each won their respective brackets in the Adidas Challenge, a tournament over the weekend hosted by LC. Adidas, which sponsored the tournament, will be rewarding the winning teams with new uniforms.(CameronVanTil/LyndenTribune)

Lynden Christian teams win tourney, new uniforms

racquetball

Birnel qualifies for junior world racquetball championships

SeeRacquetballonB2

SeeHommesonB2

B2 • Wednesday, July 1, 2015 • lyndentribune.com

Alumni updatesCheck back

throughout the summer for more updates on local athletes who are

playing collegiately.

aunts, Blythe (Hommes) Hintz and Brooke (Hommes) Svend-sen, who were first-team all-conference selections with the Bobcats. Hommes, an elementary education major, began her ca-reer at Montana State by com-ing off the bench, averaging 6.7 minutes and 2.5 points per game her freshman year while backing up a three-time all-conference senior. “When you come in as a freshman, you were probably one of the best on your high school team,” Hommes said. “But then you have to realize that when you come to a Di-vision I league, everybody on your team was the best on their high school team. So it’s high competition. “We had great upperclass-men posts that I could learn from and they took me under their wing. And I knew that once they left that next year, it would be a big spot to fill.” But she filled it well. Start-ing all 30 games as a sopho-more, Hommes averaged 13.7 points per game, earning an All-Big Sky honorable mention. “She really turned a cor-ner,” Binford said of the jump from freshman to sophomore year. “She got challenged every day as a freshman with really a talented post player ahead of her. And Jasmine was a great teammate, was really consis-tent in practice and had a really solid attitude. “But it was also because she worked really hard to get better. It really prepared her for an immediate impact.” Hommes spent long hours that offseason refining her post moves, working with Starr to become more proficient around the basket. Hommes entered the Montana State pro-gram very strong on the perim-eter, Binford said, and the sig-nificant gains in her post game have made her only that much more difficult to defend. Hommes also benefitted greatly from the college-level training. “High school’s hard,” Hommes said, “but it’s nothing

near what you do in college. We train four hours a day mini-mum during the season and during the summer. And that’s every day. “I think just my physical ability on the floor has become more powerful and quicker. I’m in better shape and am men-tally stronger, which is huge.” Binford said the improved fitness has been a major factor in allowing her to achieve such consistency day to day. “Typically, freshmen aren’t in as great of shape,” Binford said. “I think her fitness im-proving over the last few years has really allowed her to be a high-level, elite athlete on floor, and to be able to repeat her performances and be con-sistent.” Following her breakout sophomore season, opposing teams began paying extra-close attention to Hommes, sending double-teams — and some-times triple-teams — her way. Yet she still managed to raise her scoring average by more than three points per game,

which, even while account-ing for an increase in minutes played, still quantifies as an in-crease in her scoring rate. “Everybody came after her,” Binford said of this past season. “It was pretty darn impressive for her to be able to continue putting up those numbers.” Naturally, her turnovers also went up last season due to the frequent double- and triple-teams, so limiting those this year will be the next step, Bin-ford said. As will be rebound-ing, an aspect of her game that really began to emerge at the tail-end of the season. Prior to the final two games, Hommes had grabbed double-digit rebounds once all season. However, she closed the year with two such per-formances, pulling down a season-high 13 rebounds in a victory over rival and league champion Montana — while scoring a season-high 25 points — and then tallying 11 rebounds in the season finale. “If her rebounding con-

tinues to explode like it did at the end of last season,” Binford said, “she can be one of the best players in the league.” She’s already one of the most consistent. And her quali-ties as a teammate are hard to top. “She’s one of those leaders that doesn’t say a lot of words,” Binford said. “But when she has something to say, teammates listen. We’re really challenging her to be more vocal because what she has to say has a lot of wisdom to it. “And she has earned the respect to be able to do that be-cause she’s been so consistent.” Day in and day out.

Hommes: Impressive consistency Continued from B1

Hommes had an illustrious career at LC, leading the Lyncs to four top-four finishes in the state tournament. She was twice named first-team all-state and earned an all-state honorable mention. (Caleb Breakey/Lynden Tribune)

Post 7 hosts Military All-Stars

The Bellingham Post 7 American Legion team beat the U.S. Military All-Stars, 4-2, on June 24 at Joe Martin Stadium. The game raised money for the Wounded Warrior Project. (Cameron Van Til/Lynden Tribune)

LYNDEN — Lynden Christian named Daniel Vander Kooi its new head high school baseball coach, athletic director Curt De Haan announced Tuesday. Vander Kooi replaces Desi Luna, who stepped down last month after six seasons at the helm. VanderKooi, an LC grad,

was the head coach at Nook-sack Valley from 2005 to 2010. He currently coaches middle school baseball, softball and girls’ basketball at LC. “Daniel comes highly recommended (and) is a man of integrity who fits the vision and mission of LC,” De Haan wrote in an email Tuesday.

named by USA Racquetball as one of two 2015 USA Rac-quetball Scholarship recipi-ents. The scholarship will provide Birnel — a 4.0 GPA high school student who took multiple Advanced Placement classes — with $1,000 to assist with his college education at the University of Washington, where he plans to enroll next fall as a pre-med major. “It’s a huge honor to be able to represent the sport and just be someone that they believe can really help grow the sport and represent what USA racquetball is all about,”

Birnel said. One way Birnel plans to aid the sport’s growth is by launching a club team at the University of Washington. “Hopefully one day that club could compete at the colle-giate nationals,” he said.

Lynden’s Scott qualifies for junior worlds Hollie Scott, a Lyn-den Christian junior-to-be, teamed with Lexi York of Or-egon to win the 18-and-under girls’ doubles title and qualify for the world championships. Scott also earned third place in the 16-and-under singles bracket.

Racquetball Continued from B1

LC names Vander Kooi new head baseball coach

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