New-Look Legion Still Looking For Sponsors

Spokane’s new-look American Legion baseball program is still looking for sponsors, but it is very much a go, said past president and treasurer Tom Halvorson.

Legion baseball has been divided into AAA, AA and A leagues. The AAA is a new, elite level, with five teams drawing from a combination of schools.

The AA league is like the senior Legion teams of the past, one team per high school. A league teams are for 15- and 16-year olds.

Prospective players should contact their high school coaches for information about tryouts.

Lance Rickman has replaced Jerry Buckenberger as coach of the North Central-Shadle Park AAA team. Rickman played at Rogers, Community Colleges of Spokane and Whitworth.

For information on the program, contact the Legion office at 468-8284.

Baseball

Hitting instructor Charley Lau Jr., who works with several major league baseball players, will put on a free coaches clinic at Cavanaugh’s Inn at the Park on May 2 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Lau, son of the late major league coach, will work with baseball and softball coaches from Little League up.

Pre-registration is required. Call (800) 635-5894.

Basketball

Members of the San Francisco 49ers will be in Moses Lake next Saturday for a benefit exhibition basketball game against a team from Big Bend Community College.

Tickets, available at several locations in Moses Lake, Ephrata, Othello and Quincy, are $6.50. Gates open at 6 p.m. with the game at 7. Proceeds benefit the Grand Columbia Council of the Boy Scouts. Info: (509) 766-9198.

College scene

Nebraska junior Shelly Bartlett of Spokane (University High School) will enter the NCAA gymnastics championships beginning Thursday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as the Big Eight Conference’s No. 1 all-around performer.

Bartlett finished second in the Midwest Regional behind an athlete from Utah of the Western Athletic Conference with a Nebraska- and Big Eight-record-tying 39.375. She had a 9.775 in the vault, 9.875 in bar, 9.80 on the beam and 9.925 in floor exercise.

Nebraska placed third - in probably the toughest region in the country - behind Utah and Arizona and goes into nationals seeded eighth.

North Idaho College’s Tanya Kirk from Spokane (Central Valley) has been selected honorable mention national junior college All-American in basketball.

Kirk, a freshman forward who averaged 17 points per game, has signed with Eastern Washington.

Bob Guptill, sports information director at Central Washington for 15 years, is the 1996 winner of the Clarence “Ike” Pearson Award from the NAIA.

Guptill, a 1969 graduate of Colfax High School, is a former sports writer at The Spokesman-Review.

The Pearson award is presented annually by the NAIA to a sports information director who has contributed outstanding service to his or her institution and to the NAIA at the conference, region and national levels.

Will Cromer and Robert Barkley placed first to lead four members of the University of Idaho Swordplay who picked up top-three places at the Spokane Fencers Unlimited competition last weekend.

Cromer won in epee and Barkley in saber. Roman Ybarlucca and Persephone Thompson placed second and third in novice foil.

Ryan Fleming of Spokane (Mead), who wound up his collegiate hockey career at Michigan State this winter, received the Blue Line Club President’s Award as the Spartans’ top scholar-athlete.

Mischa Guenther of Spokane (St. George’s) ran a leg on the Tuft College’s women’s 1,600-meter relay team that was victorious in the school’s Jumbo Invitational on April 6.

Colorado College sophomore Shane Wittstruck of Spokane (Gonzaga Prep) had a season-best long jump of 17 feet, 10 inches at the Fort Hays, Kan., Relays.

Junior Matt Laughlin of Spokane and freshman Kari Mills of Rockford (Freeman High) are members of the Carroll College swimming team.

Golf

Pullman High’s Tim Ressa has signed a national letter of intent to play golf for Washington State this fall.

Ressa, who has a 2.5 handicap, last spring placed seventh in the Washington State AA tournament and during the summer had top-five places in two major Northwest junior tournaments.

Gymnastics

Northwest Gymnastics Academy of Spokane had two members of its young men’s team qualify for nationals and two others earn spots in the regional development team camp at the USA Gymnastics Region II championships last weekend in Portland.

Aaron Sheck, who placed sixth in the all-around in Level II Junior Elite, and Ryan Wellborn, seventh in the all-around in Level I Junior Elite with a third on the pommel horse, will compete in the nationals May 11-12 in Tulsa, Okla.

Kevin Olson, who won the Level V all-around title with a 39.2, posting firsts in the rings, vault and parallel bars and a second in the high bar, and Brian Velategui, ninth in the Level IV all-around with thirds in pommel horse and rings, will attend the regional development camp in Portland in August.

Other NGA regional placers and their top place or all-around finish: Stewart Renz, Level V, 7th all-around; Nick Antich, Level IV, 2nd floor ex, 2nd vault; Tyson Byers, Level IV, 7th floor ex; Beau DeWitt, Level I Junior Elite, 4th vault.

Rodeo

Spokane will get its first look at an all-bull-riding rodeo when Bull Bash ‘96 debuts at the Arena next weekend.

Friday’s performance is separate from Saturday’s. Both shows begin at 7:30 p.m. The two-day event features only bull riding, at least 50 rides a night.

According to event director Robbie Klima of Tacoma, each night 40 riders compete for $6,500. After each has one ride, the top 10 and ties participate in the finals. It is a National Bull Riding Association event.

Competitors are coming from throughout the Northwest, although no cowboys currently in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association top 15 are participating.

Tickets - $12 for adults and $10 for kids 12 and younger - are available through G&B Select-A-Seat locations.

Running

Barbara Bellows of Moscow, Idaho, set one of two records which were broken in the seventh annual WSU 100-kilometer relay and solo run last weekend.

Bellows, 41, the overall women’s winner, set the master women’s solo division record, covering the 100K (62 miles) in 10 hours, 15 minutes, 4 seconds. The old record was 11:24:04

The masters open team record was broken by Tri-State Masters, led by Archie George of Moscow, in 5:50:31. The old mark was 7:33:28.

The event drew 94 teams and 24 solo runners.

Tri-State Racing, led by David Ross of Lewiston, won the open team in 5:50:31. Dave Dutton, 39, Mount Vernon, Wash., was the overall male winner in 9:20:33.

Softball

Spokane softball players interested in competing for $100,000 in prize money can take the first step when the Coors Light World Series stages a regional qualifier tournament May 11-12 at Franklin Park.

The nationwide event is for C and D level men’s slowpitch teams and is run and sanctioned by the Amateur Softball Association.

This is the first time prize money has been officially awarded in softball, with $100,000 going to the winning team when the finals are staged at Coors Field in Denver.

Winner of the Spokane event will advance to Salem, Ore., where a $7,500 purse will be at stake, said local spokesman Bill Spinnell. Winner in Salem moves on to San Francisco, where $20,000 will be on the line.

For information on the local event contact Clarence Buckenberger, 924-6610, or Spokane ASA commissioner Fuzzy Buckenberger, 328-2131.

Swimming

Eight of the 24 members of Inland Empire Masters who competed turned in record-setting or first-place performances at the Northwest Zone Short Course Masters Swimming Championships last weekend in Federal Way, Wash.

The top performances: Duane Draves, 70-74-age group, two zone records, one IEM record, two other firsts; Carolyn Magee, 50-54, two zone records, two IEM records, two other firsts; Margaret Hair, 40-41, two IEM records; Elin Zander, 40-41, one IEM record.

Also, Rich Swoboda, 30-34, three IEM records; Jim Davies, 60-64, two IEM records; Vicki Marsh, 30-34, one IEM record; John Milton, 65-69, one IEM record. Dave Daboll won five events.

Volleyball

Former Gonzaga University standouts will come back to Martin Centre today for GU’s volleyball alumni game. Game time is 3 p.m. with free admission to the public. Four starters off the 1990 NCAA tournament team are expected, led by GU’s all-time kill leader and Spokane native Kelley (Cunningham) Spink, who currently plays for the San Jose Storm of the National Volleyball Association, a five-team professional league.

Joining her off the ‘90 team will be Momi Bowles, setter Erica Cordy and Tammy Pfeifle-Davisson. Also expected is Spokane native Wendy Wilson, who completed her senior season last fall.

Angela Overdorff, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter from East Valley, and Jennifer Clark, 6-foot middle blocker from Mead, are among nine North Idaho College volleyball recruits.

The others are Natalie Telford, 5-9, OH, Lake City of Coeur d’Alene; Brooke Fuller, 5-9, OH, Idaho Falls; Heather Lerandeau, 5-11, OH, Cottonwood, Idaho; Eileen Daniels, 6-0, OH, Emmett, Idaho; Anna King, 5-11, OH, Redmond, Wash.; Lori Coover, 5-10, setter, Kalama, Wash; Jenny Smethers, 6-2, MB, Boise.

, DataTimes