Several Bengals earn honors as winter sports season rolls into spring

POCATELLO — A pair of Idaho State track and field athletes with deep ties to eastern Idaho are among the Bengals to earn recent honors.

Kamber Scott, a Rockland native and Rockland High School graduate, and Sunny Gunn, from Pocatello and a graduate of Pocatello High School, have been named co-recipients of the Jackie Poulson Memorial Scholarship, according to a news release from the ISU track and field team.

The scholarship was founded in honor of Jackie Poulson, a former ISU athlete and coach, and is meant to commemorate Poulson’s resilience, perseverance and excellence in track and field.

Gunn, a senior, set the ISU record with an indoor mile time of 4:02.28, which he posted at the Husky Classic. The time was good enough for 23rd out of 90 runners, less than four seconds behind the winner.

He has also posted top-10 times this season, in ISU history, in the 3,000-meter, 5,000-meter and 1,500-meter this season, after sustaining an achilles injury last season.

Scott, a junior, holds top-10 marks in ISU women’s history in the mile and 3,000-meter, all after walking on to the team two years ago. Since joining the Bengal track and field team, Scott has made marked improvements. Over the last year alone, Scott has improved her personal best mile time from 5:31 to 4:57.

basketball

Two ISU women and one man have received All-Conference individual honors.

Kacey Spink and Tasia Jordan led the Bengals to a 19-11 record (12-6 in conference) and fourth-place finish in the Big Sky Conference, and have been honored for their individual performances.

Spink was named a First-Team All-Conference performer, as well as a member of the Big Sky All-Defensive team. The senior averaged 9.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.3 steals per game.

Jordan joins Spink on the All-Conference First-Team squad. The graduate student scored a team-leading 15.3 points per contest, to go with 5.1 rebounds.

Sophomore center Evan Otten earned the men’s team’s lone individual honor, being named to the Big Sky All-Defensive team. Otten led the league in blocks last season with 66 (2.2 per game) and repeated that performance this year, with a Big Sky-leading 58 (1.8) blocks.

softball

The Bengals played their first homestand of the season last week, hosting Southern Utah and Maine. After a snow-out in their home opener, ISU went 5-0, outscoring their opponents 45 to 11.

ISU was led by sophomore Kira Day, who finished the week with a .462 batting average (6-for-13) with two home runs, seven RBIs and five runs scored. She has been named the Big Sky Conference softball Player of the Week, and is among the team leaders in average (.386), home runs (8), RBIs (27) and slugging percentage (1.045) through 26 games this season.

Senior Riley Wickum was one of the Bengal pitchers who shut down Maine and Southern Utah last week, and has been named the Big Sky Conference softball Pitcher of the Week.

Wickum appeared in two games last week, working 8 scoreless innings, including a 5-inning complete game shutout, while allowing six hits and three walks, and striking out six.

On the season, she is 3-2 with a 3.69 ERA in 10 games (five starts).

The Bengals return to Pocatello and Direct Communications Field at Miller Ranch Stadium on Monday, when they host Utah State.