Fast Break

Hockey

Tokarski, Bowman make second team

Spokane Chiefs goalie Dustin Tokarski and forward Drayson Bowman (above) were named to the second team all-WHL Western Conference team, the league announced Wednesday.

Tokarski led the WHL with a 1.97 goals-against average, a .937 save percentage and was tied for the league lead with seven shutouts. The 19-year-old won 34 games this season.

Bowman, who scored a career-high 47 goals this year, was a second-team honoree for the second consecutive season. The 19-year-old from Littleton, Colo., also led the Chiefs in scoring for the second straight season with 83 points.

Volleyball

Annual PNQ back in Spokane

The annual Pacific Northwest Volleyball Qualifier for girls ages 12 to 18 starts Friday in Spokane.

Action runs through Sunday. It resumes the following weekend. Courts will be set up at the Spokane Convention Center (14 courts), and Eastern Washington University (15 courts).

More than 350 teams, including 37 from Spokane, will compete for a chance to qualify for the Junior Olympics in Florida.

Games start each day at 8 a.m. and admission is free.

Wrestling

Portland State drops wrestling

Portland State University says it is dropping its Division I wrestling program because of financial problems, academic deficiencies and a bad record.

Portland State says the academic problems jeopardize the school’s entire Division I athletic program.

Torre Chisholm, the school’s athletic director, called it a sad day as the school announced the decision. The school said it has been unable to duplicate its Division II success, with national championships in 1967, 1989 and 1990.

But since converting to Division I status in 1996, the team has finished last in the Pac-10 each of the past seven years and defeated just one Division I level opponent in the past three years.

Baseball

Boone requires heart surgery

Aaron Boone of the Houston Astros will have open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve.

Boone made the announcement from Kissimmee, Fla., saying he has known about his heart condition since college, but tests after his routine physical determined he needed surgery. It is not an emergency, but doctors indicated the procedure was needed.

He said doctors told him he could play baseball when he recovers, but he’s not sure whether he will return.