Halle Wright, Prosser multi-sport MVP, is SBLive's Class 2A Senior Athlete of the Year
Welcome to a continuing tradition at SBLive Washington – honoring the WaFd Bank 2021-22 senior male and female athletes of the year for each classification.
Because the SBLive crew gets so immersed in specific sports seasons, it is nice to take a step back to pick a statewide honor from a broader perspective.
The criteria isn’t too expansive: The starting point is finding seniors who are all-league/all-state performers in two or more sports. Totality of career is also a factor. So is administrator/coach/fan recommendation.
Enjoy as we honor some of Washington’s top multi-sport senior athletes!
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Like many student-athletes across the country, Prosser's Halle Wright thought she was losing ground in COVID-19 quicksand.
Wright was a sophomore who wasn't quite reaching her potential ceiling. Motivation was drying up. Frustration was setting in.
"My mom was trying to find anything to get me going again," Wright said.
What was her next move? Training in a group 50 miles away with a future NBA Draft pick.
Wright joined Yakima-based 3D Triple Double Basketball Academy to build skills, strength and stamina with London Wilson, also the men's basketball coach at Yakima Valley College.
And during the COVID-19 lockout, the group of college-level players - Wright, La Salle's Trista Hull, Sunnyside's Paris Wilson (London's daughter) and MarJon Beauchamp, who is projected as high as the first round in next week's NBA Draft - met anywhere it could to work out.
They would get in speed work on available tracks, or run hills at parks to build up endurance before hitting the blacktop to get in basketball skill-building work, including scrimmaging.
Wilson recalled in the early days of the year-long training, Wright would go up against the Boise State University-bound Hull in individual drills and get pushed around.
"She was scared to death of Trista," Wilson said. "But that community of kids made her grow up. And in that COVID summer, she really took off."
Suddenly, she was putting strength on her sprouting frame. She even added 71/2 inches to her vertical jump, and by the end of it, the 6-foot teenager could dunk a golf ball.
"When she came back after COVID, me and my husband were like, 'Oh, man!'" said Sunny Wright, Halle's mother. "She was different. In games, she would be the one still standing after contact."
Eight months later in the COVID-shortened spring season, Wright rose about everybody in the 2A CWAC, and was named most valuable player in the league.
"I got my love back for basketball training with London," Halle Wright said. "It gave me so much confidence in myself, which I was lacking."
Added Prosser girls coach Kyler Bachofner: "She was night-and-day different. ... I'd never seen a kid progress that far in a short amount of time. The cream rose to the top fast."
Wright joined the Spokane-based Northwest Blazers club last summer, showed well on the AAU circuit and earned a scholarship to Idaho State University.
With her future locked up, a rejuvenated Wright went out for the Prosser girls track and field team this spring for the first time - and ended up winning a WIAA Class 2A title in the girls high jump.
"I started jumping higher," Wright said, "when I started thinking about (basketball) layups."
HALLE WRIGHT BIO
School: Prosser.
Sports: Volleyball, basketball, track and field.
Next step: Signed to play basketball at Idaho State University (D1) where she will also study nursing.
Senior-year highlights: Was named to the SBLive WA all-state first team in Class 2A, averaging 18.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.0 steals while shooting 46.4 percent from the floor in leading the Mustangs to a third-place finish at the state tournament in Yakima. Was voted to the 2A tournament first team (20.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg. 3.2 steals in five regional/state games). Was voted MVP of the WSGCA all-state senior game (22 points, 10 rebounds) in a win over the 1A squad. Also earned her third consecutive 2A CWAC first-team nod. ... In her first season of track and field, won the WIAA girls 2A state high jump title with a mark of 5-3. Shared 2A's top mark (5-4) in the high jump this spring with Sequim's Jolene Vaara. ... Voted to all-league first team in volleyball as a middle blocker. ... Was voted team most valuable player in all three sports at Prosser.
Career accomplishments: Earned all-2A CWAC first-team honors in girls basketball her final three seasons, including being named league MVP (20.0 ppg) in the COVID-shortened spring season in 2021. Finished with 1,269 points, ranking her No. 7 all-time in school history. ... Two-time first-team all-league selection in volleyball, and was member of 2A CWAC runner-up squad in 2018 as ninth grader that advanced to the state tournament. ... Twice was nominated as Yakima Herald-Republic's female athlete of the year. ... Member of Spokane-based Northwest Blazers club basketball program.
School/community achievements: 3.921 GPA, top 10 in her class; National Honor Society member for three years; earned Prosser Booster Club athletic scholarship and Blue Mountain Community Foundation/Merle Burnham-Caulkins scholarship; voted senior-class treasurer for 2021-22; Future Farmers of America (FFA) club member; founded "Adopt a Grandparent" project at nursing homes in Prosser, Wapato and Grandview through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; participated in college-course "Running Start" program through Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
