At college March 26, 2026
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 2 hours, 49 minutes AGO
Kristine Schmidt
Oregon Tech softball
The junior from Coeur d'Alene High and North Idaho College was named Cascade Collegiate Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season. Schmidt helped lead the Owls (27-3, 11-1 CCC), ranked No. 1 in NAIA, to a series sweep over University of British Columbia at Stilwell Stadium in Klamath Falls, Ore. She struck out 19 batters in 17 innings, allowing just six hits and one earned run for a 0.41 ERA and a 0.59 WHIP. Her weekend was highlighted by a career high 11 strikeouts in game one. Schmidt is 12-0 with a 1.04 ERA, with 96 strikeouts in 80.2 innings.
Katie (Baker) Faulkner
Pepperdine women's basketball
The Waves' second-year head coach, who starred at Lake City High and graduated from Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, gave birth to her third child on Feb. 2, and returned to the sidelines 10 days later. Faulkner has guided Pepperdine (21-12) into the quarterfinals of the Women's NIT, where the Waves play at South Dakota (24-9) tonight (5 p.m., ESPN+). Pepperdine, 8-22 in Faulkner's first season, is in the postseason for the first time since 2019, when the Waves won two games in the WNIT. On March 19, Pepperdine opened the WNIT with a win over UC Davis in the program's first postseason game ever in Malibu.
Blake Buchanan
Iowa State men's basketball
The junior from Lake City High was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team. Student-athletes must have a 3.5 cumulative GPA and the proper athletic accomplishments to make the ballot. Buchanan has started 35 of the 36 games he has appeared in, averaging 8.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 blocked shots and 0.8 steals per game. Only three other Cyclones have averaged those numbers in a season going back to 1996-97 and none since Deonte Burton in 2016-17. No. 6 Iowa State faces No. 23 Tennessee on Friday night (7:10 p.m. PDT, TBS) in Chicago in the Sweet 16 of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Luke West
Lewis-Clark State College golf
The junior from Coeur d'Alene High finished tied for sixth with an even-par 216 (73-70-73) on Tuesday, as the Warrior men won their second straight tournament, the Simpson Spring Invitational in Redding, Calif.