Vote now for The News Tribune’s Boys Athlete of the Week (Feb. 16 to 21) — and more

Vote now for The News Tribune’s Boys Athlete of the Week for contests played between Feb. 16-21. Voting will remain open until noon Wednesday.

The poll is located below. You can read about all of the candidates and their accomplishments below.

Note: If you are not seeing the poll at the bottom of the story, try opening the story in a different browser, such as Chrome or Safari. Votes emailed will not be counted.

Want to nominate a South Sound high school athlete in the future? Email reporter Jon Manley ([email protected]) or Tyler Wicke ([email protected]) or send a direct message on Twitter/X (@manley_tnt or @WickeTyler) with the athlete’s first and last name, school, year, position and a stat line from game(s) during the past week. Nominations must be submitted by 5 p.m. Sunday.

Dakota Anderson, Orting wrestling — Freshman claimed the 2A 150 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Saturday.

Trevor Anderson, Orting wrestling — Junior defeated three-time state champion Steve Romero (Toppenish) in the 2A 126 state championship on Saturday, claiming his second Mat Classic title at the Tacoma Dome.

Quamari Costello, Puyallup basketball — Sophomore guard dropped team-high 18 points to guide the Vikings to the 4A District 3 title over Emerald Ridge, 61-52, on Saturday.

Arcadius Cruz, Orting wrestling — Sophomore claimed the 2A 120 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Saturday.

Brycen Dawley, Tahoma wrestling — Sophomore won the 4A 126 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Isac Deonigi, Tahoma wrestling — Senior claimed the 4A 157 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Wesley Fox, Capital wrestling — Junior captured the 3A 157 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Michael Fritz, Orting wrestling — Senior won his third state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Saturday, defeating Deer Park’s Emmitt Priddy for the 2A 165 title.

Hoyt Harshman, Sumner wrestling — Sophomore claimed the 4A 120 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Justus Holt, Lincoln basketball — Sophomore forward scored 15 points in win over Auburn Mountainview in 3A District 3/4 championship game on Saturday.

Farzad Karimi, Kent-Meridian wrestling — Senior claimed the 3A 106 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Owen Marshall, Tahoma wrestling — Junior won his second state title (4A 132) at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Michael Masini, Gig Harbor basketball — Senior forward finished his high-school career with a pair of double-doubles in the 3A District 3 tournament, becoming Gig Harbor’s all-time leading scorer. Masini dropped 30 points with 13 rebounds and four blocks in Tuesday’s loss to Auburn Mountainview, adding 21 points and 11 rebounds in Thursday’s loss to River Ridge.

Jamaize McGriff, Emerald Ridge basketball — Senior forward dropped game-high 24 points in 4A District 3 championship loss to Puyallup on Saturday.

Lazarus McEwen, Capital wrestling — Sophomore won his second state title (3A 113) at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

William Moran, Life Christian wrestling — Freshman claimed the 1A 157 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Saturday.

Will Nasinec, Puyallup basketball — Scored 14 points in win over Emerald Ridge in 4A District 3/4 championship game on Saturday.

Aydin Nuraddinov, Kent-Meridian wrestling — Senior won the 3A 165 state title at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Kolven Posey, Auburn Mountainview basketball — Scored a game-high 22 points in 3A District 3/4 semifinal win over Bellarmine Prep and 13 points in loss to Lincoln in Saturday’s championship game.

Nery Rivas, Orting wrestling — Sophomore won the 2A 113 state title at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday for his second Mat Classic title.

Davion Shareef-Dulaney, Lincoln basketball — Sophomore guard joined the 1,000-point career scoring club in Thursday’s district semifinal win over Enumclaw, adding 17 points in Saturday’s win over Auburn Mountainview in the 3A District 3/4 championship.

Mason Sonntag, Puyallup basketball — Scored 10 points in win over Emerald Ridge in 4A District 3/4 championship game on Saturday.

Nathaniel Trieu, Kennedy Catholic wrestling — Sophomore won his second state title (4A 113) at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

Kasey Williams, Lincoln basketball — Senior forward dropped team-high 18 points to lift Abes to the 3A District 3/4 title over Auburn Mountainview on Saturday.

Adrian Windsor, Silas wrestling — Sophomore won his second state title (3A 120) at Mat Classic XXXVII on Friday.

AFCON final referee joins FIFA development camp.

World Cup 2026: Jean-Jacques Ndala prepares

As part of preparations for the 2026 World Cup, Congolese international referee Jean-Jacques Ndala has been selected to take part in a training camp held in Doha, Qatar.

The referee of the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations final is among a select group of 15 officials gathered for this advanced camp. This program, launched by FIFA, aims to review and unify refereeing standards ahead of the global football showpiece set to kick off in June in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

With this, Jean-Jacques Ndala joins the ranks of the world's elite referees. Despite criticism over his handling of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Senegal and Morocco, the African Football Confederation cleared him of any refereeing errors.

Scheffler leads PGA Tour in overall scoring average, though he ranks 116th in Round 1 this season

When UCLA baseball has been at its best under John Savage, pitching and defense have been the Bruins' calling cards.

All is well in those areas through two weeks. UCLA pitchers struck out 35 in a three-game weekend sweep of Big 12 preseason favorite TCU and the Bruins are one of two teams in the nation yet to commit an error.

It's the national home run chart that prompts a double-take. Roch Cholowsky and Will Gasparino each have hit six and share the lead with Mississippi's Judd Utermark. The Bruins are tied for fourth in team homers with 17 in seven games and among 12 teams averaging at least two per game.

“Early in the season,” Savage said in a text to The Associated Press on Monday.

Savage is right about that, and no one is predicting the Bruins will continue on a pace that would end with them hitting 136 in a 56-game regular season.

But the early homer output is notable. Since 2015, the Bruins have had double-digit homers through seven games just one other season, and they've had two or less at this point in three seasons.

Cholowsky, the projected No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball amateur draft in July, went deep 23 times last season to become only the fourth UCLA player with 20 homers since the NCAA began toning down bats in 1999.

Gasparino is almost halfway to his total of 13 homers he hit at Texas last season, and five other players have one homer each.

The Bruins are well-positioned to surpass last year's 78 homers, which were the most since the 2000 team hit 117.

In the polls

UCLA (6-1) and LSU (8-0) remain the top two teams in the D1Baseball.com and Baseball America polls. Texas (7-0) is No. 3 by D1Baseball and Mississippi State (8-0) is No. 3 by Baseball America.

UCLA will get tested again this week when it faces Tennessee, Texas A&M and Mississippi State at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

Texas will go to Daikin Park in Houston to play a top-10 Coastal Carolina on Friday. Mississippi State plays Arizona State and Virginia Tech before facing the Bruins. LSU plays at home against Dartmouth and Northeastern.

Flashy series win

Kent State won its first series against a ranked opponent since 2012 by taking two of three at then-No. 13 Tennessee. The Flashes outscored the Volunteers 14-10 over the three games. Nick Guidas and Peyton Williams combined for 4 2/3 innings of one-hit shutout relief in a 2-1 win on Saturday and Evan Holewinski held the Vols scoreless over the final four innings in the series-clinching 9-5 win on Sunday.

Hitting for cycle

Texas and Arkansas had players hit for the cycle Saturday.

Aiden Robbins became the first Texas player in 11 years to do it, starting with an RBI single in the first inning against Michigan State, tripling in the third, doubling in the sixth and homering off the right-field foul pole in the eighth. C.J Hinojosa was the previous Texas player to do it, against Kansas on April 19, 2015.

Camden Kozeal of Arkansas homered in the first inning against Xavier, tripled in the third, singled in the seventh and doubled in the ninth. Dylan Leach was the previous Arkansas player to hit for the cycle, against Central Arkansas on April 5, 2022.

Cleanup spot

TCU has hit eight home runs this season, all of them solo shots. ... Mississippi has scored in the first inning in each of its eight games. ... Reliever Ernesto Lugo-Canchola, the 2025 Division II pitcher of the year for Northwest Nazarene (Idaho), retired the first 19 batters he faced as a Florida Gator before the 20th reached on a wild pitch on a strikeout. He has allowed no hits in 6 1/3 innings over three appearances. ... Virginia's AJ Garcia, against Monmouth on Friday, became the fourth player this season to homer three times in a game.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports