Area track athletes honored by SIDs

Several area athletes from local universities or with local ties were named Academic All-District 8 track and field athletes by the College Sports Information Directors of America. To be nominated athletes must be a significant contributor in their sports with at least at 3.30 grade-point average.

Selected in the University Division for the men’s first team were Paul Dittmer and Jonathan Marler of Idaho and Barry Leavitt of Washington State. Adam Leschber (Idaho) is on the second team. In District 7, Nick Atwood (Otis Orchards) of Montana State is a first-team selection. Cody Stelzer of Whitworth was chosen to the College Division first team.

In women’s track, Idaho’s Allix Lee-Painter (Moscow, Idaho) and Washington State’s Sara Trané were University Division first-team picks. Kristina Dahlgren and Christie Gordon of Idaho are on the second team. The College Division second team includes Whitworth’s JoAnne Mayer (Spokane), Tonya Turner (Spokane) and Kathryn Williams. Puget Sound’s Caitlin McGrane (Colville) was also chosen.

•The Lewis-Clark State College cross country teams led the way with 10 athletes honored on the Academic All-Frontier Conference teams, including Bonners Ferry sophomore Casey Hampton.

Basketball

Skagit Valley Community College women’s basketball player Ashley Grater (East Valley) was named the school’s athlete of the year, sharing the honor with soccer player Annaliese Frye.

Grater was a two-year starter on the Skagit Valley CC team that went a combined 46-9 and finished second in the 2009 NWAACC tournament. She was the team captain this year, was selected as the tournament MVP in the Pierce Christmas Tournament and participated in the sophomore All-Star game.

•The Spokane United AAU basketball team successfully defended their Best In The West championship in mid-May by defeating Hang Time 67-58 in the sixth-grade boys championship game in Yakima. United completed the season 37-0, including six tournament titles and the Spokane City AAU title.

The players were Austin Scally, Max Hess, Jalen Hicks, Garrett Hull, Malik Dixon, Jesse Sims, Lucky Orcutt and Jay Krant. The team was coached by Jim Orcutt and Greg Owens.

Baseball

Washington State University senior catcher Greg Lagreid is the recipient of the 2009 Toyo Tires Pacific-10 Conference Baseball Scholar-Athlete award.

Lagreid is a native of Edmonds, Wash. He batted .332 and led Washington State in doubles (13) and RBIs (42). He was a Pac-10 All-Academic first-team selection and received Pac-10 honorable mention for his accomplishments on the diamond.

Football

Defensive back Elliot Lindley of University High School has signed to play football at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont.

Golf

Shelly Cardenas will join Whitworth University as an assistant coach with primary responsibility for the women’s team. She is currently a teaching instructor at Pine Acres Par Three and Driving Range.

Two players joining the women’s team are Emily Guthrie of Snohomish, Wash., and Emily Travis of Spokane, who played for Lewis and Clark HS and was 24th at the State 4A tournament.

Also, six other players have confirmed their admission to Whitworth and will join the men’s program. They are Jared Descoteaux of Colbert’s Northwest Christian, who was medalist at the recent State 2B/1B golf tournament; Christian Boudreau of Beaverton, Ore.; Frank DeNoewer of Santa Ana, Calif.; Josh Kay of Salem, Ore., who will also be a kicker in football; Cameron White of Moses Lake, a transfer from Walla Walla Community College; and Chris Woo of Rowland Heights, Calif.

Rowing

Gonzaga University placed six athletes on the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association’s scholar-athletes list: seniors Martha Buttry, Jana Holcombe and Rachel Ross, and sophomores Emily Wilson, Hannah Winters and Therese Yrani.

•Washington State junior Erica Lewis was named to the all-Pacific-10 Conference team. She was a member of the Cougars’ varsity 8 boat that was ranked in the top 20 throughout the season.

Soccer

Spokane’s River City soccer club (U19 boys) and the Spokane Shadow (U19 girls) won the recent U.S. Youth Soccer Washington State Championship and qualified for the US Youth Soccer Region IV (West) Championships.

The teams will be among the more than 248 top U.S. Youth Soccer boys and girls teams from the 14 U.S. Youth Soccer state associations competing for the regional title June 15-21 at the U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV Championships at Lancaster National Soccer Center in Lancaster, Calif.

Regional winners of the under-19 brackets earn a berth to the 2009 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships to be played July 21-26, at Citizens Bank Field at Progin Park in Lancaster, Mass.

The River City team is coached by Tim Seely and the roster includes Johnny Bartich (Gonzaga Prep), Emmanuel Cortes (Ferris), Alec Cutter (Ferris), Ryan Ditzler (Spokane CC), Dustin Ferger (East Valley), Evan Frobe (University), Justin Gates (Gonzaga Prep), Nick Hamer (Mead), Ian Hartfield (Ferris), Andrew Keenan (Gonzaga), Mike Lewis (Mead), James Matern (Ferris), Michael Ramos (University), Thomas Tran (East Valley), Tyler Tran (East Valley), Mitch Weller (Gonzaga), and Ryan Wurz (Central Valley).

The Spokane Shadow head coach is Sean Bushey and the assistant is Kevin Moon. The roster with high school and/or college: Aubrey Bot (Gonzaga Prep/North Dakota State), Liz Boyden (Ferris/Idaho), Jaimey Etten (Mead/UNC Greensboro), Ali Fenter (Shadle Park/WSU), Abby Goss (University/Puget Sound), Averi Hallman (Mt. Spokane/Memphis), Stacey Hamer (Gonzaga Prep/Whitworth), Chelsea Jones (Mt. Spokane/Memphis), Lauren Layton (Mead/Idaho), Marissa Mykines (Mead/Illinois), Ceri Palk (Cheney), Tiarra Pittman (Mt. Spokane/WSU), Danielle Raczykowski (Ferris/Idaho), Lindsey Roberts (Richland/Boise State), Katy Sloyer (University/EWU), Kaitlyn Whitfield (Cheney) and Kristi Wirtz (Shadle Park/Idaho).

Tennis

University of Idaho director of tennis Jeff Beamon announced the signing of men’s player Abid Akbar, who won 24 junior and men’s events in his home country, Pakistan.

College scene

Whitworth University finished fourth in the final standings of the inaugural NCAA Division III Al Carius Men’s Program of the Year Award, honoring national success in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. Wisconsin-Oshkosh was the overall winner.

•Heather Jackson and Colby Crawford are the Community College of Spokane Scholar-Athletes for May. Jackson, a sophomore shortstop out of Shadle Park, was the leading hitter on the softball team that won the conference championship. Crawford, also a sophomore, hit .320 and had a 3.22 ERA this season for the Sasquatch baseball team.

•Whitworth women’s soccer player Penelope Crowe and swimmer Justin Brandler were named to the Northwest Conference Scholar-Athletes for excelling in the classroom, in athletic competition, and in the community. Each NWC school named one male and one female winner.