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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gonzaga’s Noetzel, Mckinney Named School’s Top Athletes

From Staff Reports

Peter Noetzel and Tracy McKinney have been named the Gonzaga University Bulldog Club male and female senior athletes of the year.

Noetzel, a four-year member of the Bulldogs crew, will graduate with a double major in criminal justice and math. He has a 3.79 grade-point average through the honors program.

McKinney, a four-year setter for the volleyball team, has a 3.3 GPA with a double major in physical education and psychology. She has been accepted into the masters program at Gonzaga beginning in the fall.

Noetzel is a member of the varsity 8 boat that has defeated Washington State and Stanford this season.

McKinney was a first-team All-West Coast Conference performer last fall after setting the WCC career assists record with 4,904. She started every match during her four-year career.

Baseball

The Inland Empire Association of the AAU will stage its first 14-and-under national qualifier at Central Valley High School June 16-18.

The Spokane Heat will be the host team in the eightteam competition that will qualify the top two teams for the National Championships Aug. 4-11 in Cocoa, Fla.

Info: Drew Brooks, (509) 994-8080, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.

Basketball

Gonzaga University women’s coach Kellee Knowles has signed two high school seniors and one junior college transfer to letters of intent.

Rebekah Sherfey, a 5-foot-7 guard from King’s High in Seattle, and Tennille Jeffries, a 5-11 forward from Snohomish (Wash.) High, are the preps. The transfer is Annette Steward, a 6-1 center from San Jacinto Junior College in Houston.

Sherfey, a four-year first-team All-Cascade League selection and its MVP as a junior and senior, averaged 19 points, four assists, four rebounds and four steals per game this season as the Knights finished eighth at the Washington State A Tournament.

Jeffries averaged 13.3 points and 6.7 rebounds for Snohomish, which finished 19-7 and won the WesCo title, and earned All-WesCo first-team honors.

Steward averaged 10.6 points and a team-leading 7.6 rebounds per game and shot 50 percent from the field.

The Spokane Stars U-13 team will travel to Amarillo, Texas, July 14-22 for the AAU National Championships after winning their age group in the 17th annual Inland Empire AAU Championships last weekend in Yakima.

Spokane, coached by Bill Ferguson, defeated Yakima 41-38 in the title game.

Team members: Courtney Ferguson, Colbert; Amy Fitch and Megan Yerxa, Ritzville; Jamie Rizzuto, Chattaroy; Courtney Phinney, Liberty Lake; Danyel Brown, Ephrata; Alyssa Erickson, Wilbur; Kendra Ferguson, Kelly McCaffery and Vanessa Shelton, all Spokane.

Bicycling

Mount Spokane will be the site of the first race in the Jeep/NORBA National Championship Series for mountain bikes May 18-21.

More than 1,500 amateur and professional riders are expected. There’ll be four events for all ages and ability levels on the still-snowy mountain, including free races for kids 12 and under May 20 at 2 p.m.

Events include cross country, downhill, dual slalom and a time trials.

“Last year, we hosted event five in the series and had problems keeping down the dust,” said race director Gino Lisiecki. “This year we have a whole new challenge with 10 feet of snow and ice at the peak.”

Lisiecki said because this is the kickoff event, “we expect more national interest,” and noted most of the world’s top riders are expected. The races are also expected to be taped for showing by ESPN and ESPN2.

Late registration will be taken May 16 and 17 at the Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol chalet before 6 p.m.

Info: Lisiecki, (509) 838-3707, or (509) 626-4170.

Football

University of Idaho head football coach Chris Tormey announced that veteran assistant Jim Senter has been named assistant head coach.

“He’s an outstanding coach, a great organizer and has been a tremendous asset to me during this transition period,” said Tormey.

Senter joined the Idaho staff in 1986.

He has been an assistant under three head coaches - Keith Gilbertson (1986-88), John L. Smith (1989-91, 1994) and now Tormey.

Senter left coaching in 1992 to become the athletic department’s regional coordinator for Vandal Boosters Inc. in Boise. He returned to the staff last season and helped mold a Vandals defense that led the nation in rushing defense.

He is handling defensive line duties this year as well as continuing in his role as academic and recruiting coordinator.

College scene

Todd Pence of Cheney won the Western Athletic Conference individual golf championship in a playoff while leading the Brigham Young University men to the title at Salt Lake City’s Winged Point Golf and Country Club Wednesday.

Pence birdied the 18th hole for a first-place tie. In a sudden-death playoff, he claimed the title with a firsthole birdie. His three-day scores were 70-67-72-209.

Jaimie Lee of Spokane (Ferris) a freshman at Notre Dame, was selected from a final pool of 96 athletes as one of 48 to play in the U.S. Olympic Festival volleyball competition July 21-24 in Boulder, Colo.

Based on her performance at the Olympic Festival tryouts, Lee also received an invitation to qualify for the World University Games to be held in August in Japan, said Lee’s former Ferris coach, Stacey Ward.

Gonzaga senior setter Tracy McKinney is one of five women’s volleyball players who will be making their third straight appearance in the U.S. Olympic Festival.

Teams will be selected in a May 22 draft.

James Johnson of Spokane (St. George’s), a sophomore at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, set a New England Small College Athletic Conference and school record with a time of 31 minutes, 10.7 seconds in winning the 10,000-meter title at the league’s outdoor track and field championships last weekend.

Johnson, who helped Bowdoin to a fifth-place finish in the 11-school meet, it’s highest since 1986, met the provisional qualifying time for the NCAA Division III national championships.

“James was very smooth,” said Bowdoin coach Peter Slovenski, noting Johnson won by 34.7 seconds. “I think he can run well under 31 minutes this season.”

Todd Kinley of Spokane (Lewis and Clark) was the fifth leading hitter on the Wheaton College baseball team in Wheaton, Ill., with a .244 batting average.

Kinley, a first baseman/outfielder, had four doubles, one triple, one home run and 10 RBIs as the Crusaders went 6-27, setting a school record for losses.

Brett Lucas, a Central Washington senior from Spokane (North Central), who placed third at 150 pounds in the NAIA National Championships, was named both the most valuable and most inspirational Wildcats wrestler. He was 38-15, tying the school record for most wins in a season.

Swimming

Led by Rich Swaboda and Margaret Hair, four Coeur d’Alene swimmers made a strong showing in a five-state masters zone meet last weekend in Tualatin, Ore.

Swaboda set six Inland Empire masters records as he took four firsts and two seconds in the 25-29-year-old division. He won the 400 individual medley (4 minutes, 14.75 seconds), 200 backstroke (1:57.74), 50 back (25.28) and 100 IM (54.54). He was second in the 100 back (53.67) and 100 free (48.32).

Hair (40-49) took five firsts and one second while setting four IE records. She had firsts in the 50 free (28.21), 50 fly (31.56), 50 breaststroke (36.08), 100 free (1:01.46) and 100 IM (1:10.08) and was second in the 200 IM (2:35.2).

Cindy Clutter (35-39) collected three seconds, in the 50 fly (38.01), 50 breast (40.83) and 500 free (6:52.99).

Internationally ranked masters swimmer Dave Daboll had three firsts in breaststroke events - the 50 (33.01), 100 (1:12.83) and 200 (2:46.57) - and seconds in the 100 IM (1:10.97) and 200 IM (2:42.04).

Tae Kwan Do

Scott Kalman, 13, of Coeur d’Alene took second in free fighting in the blue belt male division at the Idaho state championships last weekend in McCall to qualify for the Junior Nationals July 6-9 in Los Angeles.

In the adult black belt division, heavyweight Dan Tilton of Coeur d’Alene took second in free fighting and third in forms to qualify for the 1996 Adult Nationals.

Two weeks ago, Todd Buchanan was second in the lightweight division (under 154 pounds) at the 1995 Adult Nationals in Houston, Texas.

All represent the Defense Art Center of Hayden Lake.

Tennis

Rachel Dive from Auckland, New Zealand, has signed a letter of intent to attend Idaho and play tennis for the Vandals, UI coach Greg South announced.

Dive, 576th in the world junior rankings, was ranked sixth in New Zealand in 1994 and is expected to move into the top four for 1995. She has won five of six national tournaments in 18-and-under juniors this season.

Volleyball

Michelle Babcock, a sophomore at Community Colleges of Spokane, is transferring to Western Montana College in Dillon to play volleyball. She earned all-conference honors at CCS.

Diane Pascua, a 5-10 middle blocker from Bear River High in Grass Valley, Calif., has signed a letter of intent to play for Gonzaga University this fall.

She was MVP of the Golden Empire League last fall as the Bruins claimed their third title in four years. She was also named the All-Metro Sacramento Player of the Year and had a .482 kill percentage, a .354 hitting efficiency and 62 blocks her senior season.

Fishing

Although it’s far short of the 43-pounder he caught a year ago, Jim Eversole’s 24.8-pound mackinaw has held on for five days as the largest fish caught in the Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club’s Spring K&K Challenge Derby.

For decades, rainbow trout have dominated the derby’s big-fish category. Eversole turned the lake’s fishing community on end last April when he hooked the monster 43-pound mack. The daze would only continue if he wins the lake’s most prestigious fishing tournament with a lake trout.

The leading rainbow in the derby is a 19.1-pounder caught Monday by Ed Rivers of Cocolalla. The event ends this evening.

Miscellany

Gonzaga University athletic trainer Heidi Peterson has been selected to serve as a volunteer trainer at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., July 28-Aug. 12. Peterson joined the GU athletic department last year after serving as an assistant trainer at Stanford.