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

Longtime Ccs Coach To Quit At Year’s End

From Staff Reports

Jerry Skaife, an athletic department fixture at Community Colleges of Spokane for 21 years, announced he will retire at the end of the school year.

Skaife, recovered from a heart attack he suffered last April 30, will coach the Sasquatch women’s softball team this spring. He’s been the softball coach since 1985, taking the Sasquatch to conference championships in 1987, ‘88 and ‘90.

“He has positively affected the lives of countless students in both their academic and athletic pursuits,” said athletic director Maury Ray.

Skaife, who came to CCS as men’s basketball coach on the Spokane Falls campus, also was a women’s basketball assistant from 1980-85, helping CCS to three league titles.

A 1961 graduate of Rogers High School, he gained honors in basketball at every stop - high school, Columbia Basin College and University of Idaho. He also coached at Washtucna and in Medical Lake.

He and wife Janet plan to remain in Spokane.

Baseball

Spokane’s Senior American Legion program will have three new coaches in its second year.

Mike Kerr will coach the North Stars, Mike Kistler the Royals and Don O’Neil the Bandits. They’ll join returning coaches Lance Rickman of the Blue Devils and Robin Lund of the Valley Cannons when the program begins the end of May.

Kerr was an assistant with the Blue Devils last year after coaching at Taft College in California and West Valley High in Yakima. Kistler has coached in the Junior Legion program the last two years and at Lewis and Clark High School. O’Neil played in the Detroit Tigers organization last summer. He also has played and assisted at Whitworth.

Spokane’s Junior and A Legion programs have openings for coaches and sponsors.

Info: Dennis Thompson, (509) 624-5789.

Basketball

Ryan Smallfoot of Veradale won the boys 10- and 11-year-old division at the state finals of the Elks National Hoop Shoot free-throw competition last Sunday in Seattle.

Smallfoot, who made 19 of 25 free throws, advances to the regional finals next weekend at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore. Winners there qualify for the national finals.

Spokane also had two other top-three finishers. Kara Crisp was second in girls 8-9, losing in a shootout after the top three each made 17 of 25. Jill Oglesbee was third in girls 12-13, winning a shootout with 4 of 5 after making 15 of 25.

Here is a listing of area youth basketball tournaments through March. Most registration deadlines are two or three weeks before the tournament. Contact tournament officials for details.

March 7-9, Lewiston, Snake River AAU Shootout, boys grades 4-9, girls 9. Info: Jamie White, (208) 799-2273 or (208) 746-1156.

March 7-9, Post Falls, River City AAU Challenge, girls 6-8. Info: Lance Bridges, (208) 773-0539.

March 14-16, Spokane, Darryl Bean Memorial, girls 5-9 and high school A/B, AA/AAA. Info: Spokane AAU, (509) 624-2414 or (509) 838-3440.

March 14-16, Pullman, WSU Cougar Classic, boys 5-8. Info: Kevin Graffis, (509) 285-6822.

March 14-16, Yakima, AAU Inland Empire Boys Grade-Level Championships. Info: Paul Campbell (509) 453-2696.

March 14-16, North Spokane/ Riverside AAU Classic, boys 5-8, girls 5-8 (A and B schools only). Info: Daryl Triplett, (509) 238-6807.

March 14-16, Chewelah AAU Invitational, girls 5-high school. Info: John Polm, (509) 935-6315; Jack Gray, (509) 937-2165.

March 14-16, Kellogg AAU Tournament, girls 9/10, boys 9/10. Info: Brad Corkill, (208) 682-4502 or (208) 682-3253.

March 21-23, Spokane, Yakima, Wenatchee, Moscow/Lewiston, Girls National AAU Regionals. Info: Paul Campbell, (509) 453-2696.

March 21-23, Cheney, EWU Eagle Classic, boys 5-8. Info: Kevin Graffis, (509) 285-6822.

March 21-23, Pullman, WSU Cougar Classic, girls 5-8. Info: Kevin Graffis, (509) 285-6822.

March 21-23, North Spokane/ Riverside AAU Classic, boys 5-8. Info: Daryl Triplett, (509) 238-6807.

March 21-23, Chewelah AAU Invitational, boys 5-high school. Info: (509) 935-8472.

March 28-30, Lewiston, Snake River AAU Shootout, girls 5-11, boys 9-11. Info: Jamie White, (208) 799-2273 or (208) 746-1156.

AAU Washington will conduct its seventh annual statewide spring league for girls in grades 5 through high school varsity from March 15-June 14.

Info: (206) 670-8877.

College scene

Coeur d’Alene High graduate Johnna Evans, a junior gymnast at Boise State, has been honored as a Big West Conference scholar athlete.

Evans, who has a 3.83 grade-point average, is the defending Big West all-around and vault champion.

Kole Clauson, a Lakeland HS graduate and University of Wisconsin freshman wrestler, improved his record to 12-9 with a 17-6 major decision over a Penn State veteran with an 18-3 record.

Crew

Gonzaga University director of rowing Dan Gehn finished fourth in the master’s age group at the Crash B Sprints World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston last Sunday.

Gehn, the 1994 masters champion, finished 9 seconds behind the winner of the 30-39 age group.

Gehn’s time was 19th overall in the open division comprised of more than than 1,000 rowers.

Skiing

Justin Wadsworth of Bend, Ore., the 1987 winner of the Spokane Langlauf ski race as an 18-year-old, was the first American finisher at the men’s 30-kilometer freestyle cross country race that opened the World Nordic Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway last week.

Soccer

WSU has added five players to its women’s soccer program. Four are high school seniors who have signed letters of intent.

The fifth is Denise Cook, a midfielder from Tacoma who transferred from the University of Kansas for the spring semester.

Joining the Cougars next fall will be Deka DeWitt, a forward from Auburn, Wash., and sister of current Cougar Shalli DeWitt; Kerie Baker, a marking back from Borah of Boise and a former Parade All-American; Rebecca Faulkner, a 5-foot-9 goalkeeper from Brentwood, Calif.,; and Karli Silveira, a 25-goal scorer from Campbell, Calif.

Softball

The first Super Draft Tournament, with divisions for men and women, will be held March 15 at Quad Park in Post Falls.

Players will be drafted onto teams on March 14 at Steve’s Sports Dugout in Post Falls. The tournament is open to players of all levels of ability. Everyone will play.

Entry fee is $25. Players will receive T-shirts.

Info: Brett Nearing, (208) 664-4233; Mike Olsen, (509) 328-8724.

Virgil Harstad, a former national champion pitcher, will be the clinician when Northside Sports Association and Diamond Basics of Kent, Wash., conduct a girls fastpitch clinic March 1 at Colbert Elementary School. It begins at 9 a.m.

Cost is $20. The clinic is for beginning-, intermediate- and advanced-level pitchers.

Info: Warren Ziegler, (509) 489-1501 or (509) 489-1884.

Volleyball

Gonzaga University signed its first volleyball recruit for the 1997 season under first-year head coach Eva Windlin-Jansen. Jo Dockstader, who lettered four years at Pasco High and was a two-time first-team All-Big Nine Conference middle hitter, will join the Bulldogs this fall.

Miscellany

Gonzaga University has hired Melissa Freigang as academic coordinator and appointed Heidi Peterson senior women’s administrator, athletic director Dan Fitzgerald announced.

Freigang replaces Chrissy (Laca) Van Tol, who held the dual position of academic coordinator/senior women’s administrator. Peterson has been an athletic trainer at Gonzaga since June 1994. Van Tol accepted a job at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore.

Freigang, a three-time gymnastics All-American at Utah before graduating in 1995, will oversee academic eligibility and monitor the academic progress of Gonzaga’s 200-plus student-athletes.

Peterson is in her second stint at Gonzaga. Among her new duties will be representing the university at West Coast Conference meetings.

Spokane Youth Sports Association is recruiting umpires for softball and baseball and referees for soccer for its spring-summer seasons.

Training will offered in each sport. Softball and baseball coaches also are needed. Info: (509) 536-1800.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo