U-Hi, CV Sending 75 To Regional

The final tally was 75 athletes from Central Valley and University’s boys and girls track teams who will participate in this weekend’s regional track meet at Richland.

The CV Bears have 23 boys participating in 14 events, including sophomore Will Beck who won the discus at 155-6, two feet farther than U-Hi’s Jason Wilson.

Another winner was 800 meter runner Rob Warnock, who was slowed this year by mononucleosis, and the 4x400 relay team.

Four CV 400 meter runners were among the league’s top eight finishers, but Warnock and fellow 800 meter qualifier John Foster join Ryan Strickland and Andy Whipple on the relay champions.

CV’s girls qualified 14 athletes plus relay runners in 12 events. Included are three high jumpers. Whitney Schmaljohn won the district 200 meters and Marcy MacPhee’s 45.7 300 hurdles second place puts her in state placing company. CV’s 4x400 relay team broke 4 minutes while finishing second.

University’s boys have 19 regional entrants in 13 events and the girls have 17 qualifiers in 11 events.

Included are three triple jumpers, champion Adrienne Wilson at 36-6-1/2, freshman Julie Schroeder, 35-2-1/4 and sophomore Jen Madsen 34-2-1/2.

Shot put champion Syd Perno was second in the discus. Heather Silvey was 400 meter runnerup.

Stress fracture sidelines hurler

University High softball pitcher Jamie Fox, missed the district playoffs with a stress fracture and the league champion Titans were beaten in the semifinals.

“I’ll be back this weekend,” Fox vowed while working out with a soft cast on her injured leg.

U-Hi and Central Valley play in the regional tournament at Franklin Park Friday and Saturday.

The Bears whipped U-Hi 9-2 a day after edging Gonzaga Prep 1-0 to qualify. They took advantage of wild pitches, sound bunting and poor Titan defensive decisions to rout their rival, said Titan coach Ken Van Sickle.

Originally Fox’s condition was diagnosed as muscular, said Van Sickle. But after pitching four games on successive days she was unable to walk and an MRI revealed the fracture.

Weather doesn’t faze Bears

Any advantage that Central Valley’s Greater Spokane League runnerup might have had in the GSL District baseball playoffs vanished with the weather.

But it didn’t matter.

The Bears are district champions following a pair of 4-2 victories, over Mead and Ferris on Tuesday.

Rain moved the game with Mead from Saturday to Tuesday and the site was changed from Seafirst Stadium to University High School.

Although Mead had several days to rest its pitching staff and led 2-1 in the seventh, the Bears rallied for the win. Then the team beat league champ Ferris by the same score.

Despite outhitting Mead 10 -4, University was eliminated 5-4 last Friday thanks to three unearned runs.

Titans’ hits included RBI singles by Brett Haiar and a run-scoring double by Steve Sander.

Back-to-back first-inning hits by the pair gave the Titans a 2-0 lead. But the team squandered its advantage with three errors in the first two innings. Haiar tied the score in the third and Chris Kreider put U-Hi in front with an RBI bunt in the fifth.

Pitcher Nick Spunich allowed only one base hit until Mead’s two-run fifth inning that ended U-Hi’s season.

Their finest hour

Valley Christian School’s track team last weekend tied for first place during Bi-County League boys meet and finished second in the girls meet.

The boys qualified 12 of 14 athletes and the girls advanced all 10 team members to this week’s Northeast B District meet at Whitworth College.

Included were five individual champions. Mike Dahl won the 800 and Dan Drozdov the 3,200. J.J. Gass’s 9-foot personal record won the discus at 139-5, two inches better than teammate Jay King. King was also shot put runnerup.

Jeremy Hayek’s 6-4 high jump and Matt Wright’s 20-9 long jump were the other winners.

Additionally, Wright was second in the 200, Aaron Asbury finished second in the high hurdles and triple jump and was third in the intermediate hurdles. The school’s 4x400 relay team was second.

All told, the Panthers had placers in 13 of 17 events.

In the girls meet, Carmen Evans and Teresa Dixon split the hurdles victories and Valley Christian’s 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams won titles.

Danielle Swift won the javelin and was second in shot put and discus. Anna Kopf won the 3,200 and was third in the 1,600 and Haley Bryan found a home in the 800 meters where she placed second.

Valley Christian girls placed in 10 events.

Upstart Scotties advance

Freeman’s surprising softball team went from a share of fourth place in the Northeast A League with a 6-8 record to second seed in this week’s District 7 tournament.

The Scotties beat Colfax in a loserout game, were beaten by league champion Kettle Falls but on Monday defeated regular season third-place finisher Deer Park 8-5 and second-place Newport 5-4.

Angela McCathern pitched the backto-back wins and had six hits during the twin bill.

With the wins, Freeman was scheduled to begin district play yesterday at Medical Lake against Frontier League third-place finisher East Valley.

West Valley was scheduled to play Deer Park, weather permitting.

, DataTimes