Reardan 8th-grader All-America shooter

Bryce Purdy, a 13-year-old Reardan eighth-grader, was named to the National Sporting Clays 2009 Sub-Junior All-America team.

Competing in events throughout the U.S. – from the Northwest to Louisiana, Kentucky, Arizona and Texas – as a 12-year-old in 2008, Purdy compiled enough points to finish 27th out of 429 sub-junior clay target shooters in the country. The top 30 are named All-Americans.

Purdy is believed to be the first sub-junior from Washington to earn the honor.

College scene

Linse Vlahovich, a Central Washington senior from University High, was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball pitcher of the week after winning two starts the week of Feb. 16-22.

The 5-foot-10 right-hander allowed just one run in 10 innings and struck out 11 as the Wildcats swept a conference-opening four-game series from Saint Martin’s. Vlahovich has a 4-1 record and 2.39 earned-run average.

•Three area products, two of them at Gonzaga, were named to 10-person West Coast Conference All-Academic teams for winter quarter in basketball.

GU placed Jami Schaefer (University) on the women’s team with a 3.95 grade-point average and Josh Heytvelt (Clarkston) on the men’s team with a 3.50. Both are seniors.

Also on the women’s team is Portland sophomore Tara Cronin (Gonzaga Prep) with a 3.69 GPA.

Football

Nick Bellomy of East Valley, an All-Greater Spokane League and All-State running back, has signed a letter of intent with the Minot (N.D.) State Beavers, coach Paul Rudolph announced.

Bellomy, 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, led the GSL in rushing with 1,870 yards on 250 carries in 11 games for the state-qualifying Knights. He scored 17 touchdowns.

Hockey

The Coeur d’Alene Bantam A team won the Idaho championship in the 14-and-under division during the state tournament last weekend in Boise.

Coeur d’Alene capped a dominating performance by defeating the Boise Jr. Steelheads 5-1 in the title game. CdA outscored four foes 43-3.

•Three area players – Max Evans of Coeur d’Alene, Jordan Frazier of Fairchild AFB and Jacob Mullen of Spokane Valley – are members of the Yakima Hawks that won the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association State Tier II Bantam (14-and-under) championship in Spokane two weeks ago.

Yakima, which allowed just three goals in winning five games, will play in the Pacific Division Championships March 11-15 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Shooting

Amanda Furrer of Spokane finished third at the USA Shooting Rocky Mountain Championships and U.S. team trials two weeks ago at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to qualify for World Cup events in Pusan, South Korea, and Beijing.

Furrer, who shot 583, will represent the U.S. in 3-position small-bore rifle in Pusan and in both 3-position and air rifle in Beijing. The score also qualified her for the USA Junior Olympics April 3-9. She won the junior division gold medal in the 3-position event.

Volleyball

Gonzaga University women’s coach Dave Gantt rounded out his staff by elevating volunteer assistant Brynn Murphy to full-time status and promoting Abby Bennett to first assistant.

Murphy, who has helped the Bulldogs since the 2007 season, was a four-year starter at UCLA from 2001-04 and an undergraduate assistant for the Bruins during 2005.

Bennett has served as the second Bulldogs assistant the past three seasons.

Miscellany

Jeremy Wang, assistant ticket manager at Washington State since 2004, joins the Idaho athletics department as director of development/executive director of the Vandal Scholarship Fund, UI associate athletic director Tim Mooney announced.

Wang is a 2004 magna cum laude graduate of WSU’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communication and earned his MBA from WSU in 2007.

•Tickets are on sale for the 28th Eastern Washington University Orland Killin Dinner, Dance & Auction on April 25 at the EWU Sports and Recreation Center in Cheney.

This year’s event will be held in partnership with the Michael Roos Foundation, which held its own dinner, auction and poker tournament the past two years.

Roos, a football All-American at EWU as a senior in 2004 and an All-Pro tackle for the Tennessee Titans this past season, will be on hand.

Cost for a table of eight is $500 with individual tickets $75. More information and online ordering is available at www.goeags.com, or by calling 359-2463 or 1-800-648-7697.

The event includes silent and live auctions. Net proceeds benefit EWU athletics. The Roos Foundation supports local non-profit organizations, including the Eagle Athletic Association, Special Olympics in Washington and Boys and Girls Clubs of Spokane County.

The weekend includes the 22nd coaches’ golf tournament, the football team’s Red-White spring game and women’s soccer team’s alumnae game.