By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club honored South Salem’s Brezlyn Schwalm (Girls Basketball), Salem Academy’s Celia James (Girls Basketball), North Salem’s Maverick Huynh (Boys Basketball), North Salem’s Priscila Soto (Girls Wrestling) and South Salem’s Tko Westbrook (Boys Basketball) at January 17’s meeting.
Here’s the Press Release:
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from South Salem Girls Basketball, is Brezlyn Schwalm.
Brezlyn, a senior and team captain, plays wing for the Saxons who are 9-5 on the season. “Brez” has been on fire from three-point range. Against Caldera High School out of Bend she was 6-8 from beyond the arc and over the last four games she has been 18 for 30 – 60%!. Coach Lewis says, “Strong on offense, she has also stepped up on defense the last four games leading the team in steals. She is becoming a force on the court on both ends and someone that continues to lead our team as a captain.”
This is Brezlyn’s second AoTW honor for girls basketball.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from Salem Academy Girls Basketball, is Celia James.
Celia, a senior and team captain, plays guard for the Crusaders who are 12-2 on the season and 5-0 in the Tri-River Conference. In the 3 games since returning from the holiday break Celia is averaging 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 steals a game. Coach Imig says, “Celia is a fierce competitor who has been a big piece of our 5-0 start in league.”
A three-sport athlete, including soccer, basketball and track and field, Celia has been an AoTW three times for basketball as well as last season for track and field.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from North Salem Boys Basketball, is Maverick Huynh.
Maverick is a senior for the Vikings who are 8-6 on the season. Over the last two weeks Maverick has averaged 17 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals a game while shooting over 50% from the field. Maverick missed the game versus Newberg due to illness, but recovered enough to play against West Salem where he managed to score 11 with 3 assists in limited minutes.
Maverick is an IB Diploma candidate ranking first in his class and a two time all academic/all Central Valley Conference player.
This is Maverick’s first AoTW honor.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from North Salem Girls Wrestling, is Priscila Soto.
Priscila, a senior, is a team captain for the Vikings. She took first place at the Battle for the Capital, held at McKay last month. She received one bye and then pinned her way through the tourney, wrestling just over 4 minutes total in three matches!
From Coach Pickett: “Her athleticism makes her an exciting heavyweight to watch because she has clean leg attacks that make her look like a little wrestler. She came straight over from volleyball to the wrestling room and is our senior captain this year…We are excited to see her keep developing even though she is already a star…She will be chasing down a state title this year.”
This is Priscila’s first AoTW honor.
The Salem Sports and Breakfast Club Les Schwab Athlete of the Week, from South Salem Boys Basketball, is Tko Westbrook.
Tko, a junior, plays wing for the Saxons who are 8-5 on the season and 2-0 in Cental Valley Conference play. In the 68-63 win over 5A’s #1 Caldera he had 19 points, 8 boards, 5 assists, and 4 steals. To open CVC play versus Sprague, Tko’s final line was 29 pts, 8 rebs, and 7 assists. In two consecutive games, he averaged 24 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists.
Coach Ioane added, “We’ve asked Tko to embrace doing all the little things (rebounding, steals, assists, deflections, directing traffic, setting pace, etc.), knowing that he is very capable of scoring as well. It has been fun to watch him accept the challenge and be in the top two of almost every statistical category we have.”
This is Tko’s first AoTW recognition.
