WSU Athletes Make The Grade Academically

Fourteen student-athletes from Washington State University have been selected to Pacific-10 Conference All-Academic teams for fall sports. Football: First team - John Scukanec, senior offensive lineman, criminal justice major, 3.12 grade-point average. Honorable mention - Jason McEndoo, sophomore offensive guard, history, 3.12; Delmar Morais, redshirt freshman defensive tackle, communications and business, 3.03.

Volleyball: First team - Shannon Wyckoff, sophomore outside hitter, education, 3.40. Second team - Stephanie Papke, redshirt sophomore setter, exercise studies, 3.37.

Cross country: First team - George Loucaides, senior, exercise studies, 3.66; Kristin Liebich, sophomore, human nutrition/food science, 3.92. Second team - Marilyn Moberly, junior from Cheney, natural resource sciences, 4.00; Stacey Radowicz, veterinary medicine graduate school, 3.80. Third team - Sara Council, junior, human nutrition/food science, 3.17; Dana Pevovar, junior, biology, 3.07.

Soccer: First team - Colleen Loughlin, junior defender, biology and secondary education, 3.42; Jody Payne, redshirt junior forward, exercise science, 3.77. Second team - Shalli DeWitt, sophomore forward, physical therapy, 3.35.

Basketball

Spokane, which will stage two AAU national championships in 1996, also will be the site of the Inland Empire AAU national qualifying tournaments.

The qualifiers, held in Yakima for 20 years, will draw an estimated 150 boys and girls teams for 10-19-year-olds from Washington and parts of Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

The Darryl Bean Memorial girls tournament will be March 15-17 and the boys national qualifier March 22-24. Junior and senior high school gyms around the area will be used.

Tournament applications will be available after Jan. 15 at the Spokane Regional AAU office, 12505 E. Sprague. Info: (509) 927-9167.

The girls national 16 and 18 tournaments will be in Spokane in July.

The third annual River City Tournament, an AAU event for 6th, 7th and 8th grade boys, will be held Feb. 23-25 in Post Falls. Info: (208) 773-0539.

Bowling

Two members of the Pinspinners League at Valley Bowl just missed perfection.

Julie Twiss rolled a 299 game to highlight a 705 series two weeks after Joseph Descoteaux, a senior, rolled a 298 in a 768 series.

College scene

Three football players from the Spokane area made the Frontier Conference AllAcademic team.

Honored were John Van Gemert of Spokane, a Carroll College sophomore kicker, and two from Cheney at Montana Tech, senior center Steve Marsh and junior wide receiver Darby McKee. All maintain grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher.

Four players from Idaho and one from Washington State made American Volleyball Coaches Assocation All-Region teams.

The Vandals landed outside hitter Mindy Rice and middle blocker Brittany Van Haverbeke on the All-Northwest Region first team and setter Lynne Hyland and outside hitter Tzvetelina Yanchulova on the second.

WSU’s Sarah Silvernail, a middle blocker, was a second-team All-West pick.

Notre Dame’s Jaimie Lee, a sophomore outside hitter from Spokane (Ferris), is one of four Irish named to the AVCA All-District 1 team. Lee, who moved to the outside after playing middle blocker as a freshman, earlier was named to the All-Big East team.

Brian Larsen, a Dartmouth junior offensive lineman from Spokane (Ferris), has earned a couple of football honors.

He was named to the Division I All-New England team after earning honorable mention last year, and also was selected to the GTA/sports director’s All-District I University Division All-Academic team. A history/pre-med major, he has a 3.29 GPA.

Football

Chad Mathison, 12, of Spokane and Robert Clemens, 13, of Hayden Lake earned second-place finishes in the Seattle Seahawks team finals of the NFL Gatorade Punt, Pass & Kick competition.

Jordan Hasquet of Missoula won the 10-year-old division and Scott Wimer , 15, of Lewiston was fourth in his division.

Kick boxing

What is being billed as “Night of the Champions” will feature three title bouts on a card of a dozen or more fights Jan. 27 at West Central Community Center at 7 p.m. Admission is $15.

Among the titles at stake, according to a release from promoters Matt David, who owns Spokane Karate Center, and Marc Costello, an SKC instructor, will be the Idaho state middleweight and Washington state super-middle and light-heavyweight crowns.

Additionally, there will be a shootfighting bout, a brand gaining popularity on pay-per-view television that is decided by knockout or submission, and John Maddy, the Pacific Northwest featherweight Muy Thai champion, will appear on the card.

Info: 534-9633.

Marathon

Jennifer Clark of Hayden Lake placed 16th in the women’s division of the California International Marathon last Sunday in Sacramento.

Clark, winner of the 1995 Coeur d’Alene Marathon, finished in 2 hours, 51 minutes, just missing the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:50. The time was a personal best for Clark, among the top five American placers in Sacramento.

Skating

Spokane will have three representatives in the Pacific Coast Sectional figure skating championships Monday through Saturday in Burbank, Calif.

Meegan McDonald will skate in the junior ladies division, Johnnie Bevan in senior men and his brother, Eddie Bevan, in novice men.

They’ll be trying to qualify for spots in the nationals next month in San Jose, Calif.

The Spokane Stars and Stripes coed youth hockey team, as a fund-raiser for its trip to Europe in the spring, will hold a couple of public skating sessions at the Ice Palace in Riverfront Park.

The first is today, from 7:15-9:30 p.m. The second is Jan. 7, the same hours.

Proceeds from skate rentals will go toward the team’s expenses for the trip.

Skiing

The Schweitzer Alpine Racing School has a couple of programs on tap for youngsters interested in racing.

The first is a free day of instruction for 7-14-year-olds Dec. 16 at Schweitzer Mountain outside of Sandpoint. Info: Chuck Holcomb, (208) 263-4284.

The second is SARS’ annual Christmas camp, Dec. 27-31. Fees are: $125 (ages 5-7 and 6-14) and $300 (13-18). Info: Leslie Landwehr, (208) 765-4922 or Holcomb.

Weight lifting

Spokane entries carried away the team title, three outstanding lifter awards and six first-place trophies at the Snapple Great Northern Strength Extravaganza last weekend at the Red Lion Inn.

Spokane Power & Fitness Gym won the team title over Gold’s Gym in Salem, Ore., in the meet that attracted 111 lifters.

Jon Orr was first in super heavyweight with a state-record dead lift of 777 pounds to claim one outstanding wrestler award. Jason Bakos earned outstanding lifter honors in light weight open with a 628-pound dead lift.

In the dead lift masters division,

Mark Tharaldson won the 40-49-year-old, 198-pound title with a 501-1/2-pound lift and Rand Pratt was first in 40-49 242 pounds with a 440-pound lift.

Nancyt Strehlau won outstanding women’s honors for a 352-1/2 dead lift. Debbie Miller was first at 198-plus with a 308 dead lift.

Other outstanding lifters included Jill Carroll of Moses Lake in women’s bench press.

Miscellany

Cheney native Heidi Meili was voted Sea-Gal of the Year last week.

The 27-year-old Meili, a former Washington State University cheerleader and sister of Olympic Gold Medal shooter Launi Meili, works as a newswriter for KING-TV in Seattle.

The vote was made by the 32-member Sea-Gals dance troupe that entertains at all Seattle Seahawks home football games.

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