Masters cycling coming to Cheney

Cheney has been selected as the site for the 2009 Washington State Masters Criterium Cycling Championships on June 27, the Spokane Regional Sports Commission and Emde Sports announced.

“I couldn’t be more excited for our city,” Cheney mayor Allan Gainer said.

Competitive cycling is no stranger to Cheney. In 1988, Cheney hosted the individual time trial event for the Olympic trials. In 1991, Cheney played host to the National Collegiate Road Cycling Championships.

The all-day event will be held on a 1-mile closed course that winds through downtown Cheney and the surrounding historic neighborhood. Masters and junior categories will compete and a kids’ race will also be featured.

According to Marla Emde of the Spokane Regional Sports Commission: “Cheney is the perfect setting. Not only do they have a history of hosting big cycling events, but Cheney’s historic downtown and scenic location will make for an exciting event. We have a great course selected.”

For more information, visit www.emdesports.com or www.spokanesports.org.

Baseball

A couple of All-Northeast A League players at Freeman have selected community colleges to continue their careers, Scotties coach Chad Ripke announced.

Catcher Jake Sullivan will cast his lot with Treasure Valley, and outfielder Beau Barnes has selected Grays Harbor, Ripke said.

College scene

Annie Brophy, a Notre Dame junior from Gonzaga Prep, was selected first-team All-Big East Conference in women’s golf for a third straight year after tying for ninth in the conference championship tournament with an 8-over-par 224. Brophy won the Big East tournament as a sophomore.

•Women’s basketball player Jami Schaefer walked off with a pair of awards while men’s basketball player Jeremy Pargo and baseball player Evan Wells were also honored at the Gonzaga University Bulldog Club senior athletes social last week that honored 57 senior student-athletes.

Schaefer, from University High, was named the senior female athlete of the year and the senior female scholar-athlete of the year. Pargo was named the senior male athlete of the year and Wells the senior male scholar-athlete of the year.

•Gonzaga senior second baseman Evan Wells was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA District VIII All-Academic first team in baseball with a 3.90 grade-point average in journalism.

•A couple of golfers from North Idaho who were named first-team All-NWAACC are the Community Colleges of Spokane scholar-athletes for April.

Chelsea Kenner, a sophomore from Post Falls, is the female choice. She has been a consistent top-10 finisher for the Sasquatch, winning two tournaments in sudden-death playoffs, and has a 3.3 GPA.

Kyler Gable, a freshman from Coeur d’Alene High, is the male selection. He recorded three tournament victories and a runner-up finish and was instrumental in CCS winning the NWAACC regular-season championship.

•Nine members of the Community Colleges of Spokane golf teams have been received All-Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges honors.

Six women were selected, four on the first team – Chelsea Kenner (Post Falls), Kelsey Harting (Chewelah), Katie Sorenson (Central Valley) and Darby Moberg (Freeman). Selected to the second team were Alyssa Osterback (Mt. Spokane) and Katie Nelson (Battleground, Wash.).

Men’s selections include Kyler Gable (Coeur d’Alene) on the first team and Jason Molner (Longview) and Taylor Porter (Coeur d’Alene) on the second.

•Two area athletes were among the 147 with GPAs of 3.0 or better who were feted at the scholar-athlete honors banquet at the University of Montana last week.

Alex Shaw, a freshman football player from Lewis and Clark, received a Ronald E. and Julia Blake Memorial Scholarship. Erik Stoll, a sophomore football player from Sandpoint, received the “Moose” Miller Football Scholarship and was also the male winner of the President’s Award. He had a two-semester GPA of 4.0 and has a 3.98 cumulative GPA in biology.

•Three area athletes were repeaters on Great Northwest Athletic Conference all-academic teams in track and field.

Anna Walters, a Seattle Pacific junior from North Central with a 3.75 GPA, and Ashley Morman, a junior from Bonners Ferry with a 3.93 GPA, were on the women’s team. Josh Grewe, a Northwest Nazarene senior from Northwest Christian, made the men’s team with a 3.32 GPA.

•The GNAC all-academic team in baseball included Michael McCanna, a Central Washington junior from Addy, Wash., with a 3.31 GPA; Travis Fox, a Western Oregon senior from Colville with a 3.43 GPA; and Andy Pottenger, a Northwest Nazarene senior from Lewiston with a 3.21 GPA.

Golf

Eastern Washington has signed three high school seniors for its women’s team, Eagles coach Mark Hughes announced.

Slated to join the Eagles in the fall are Morgan Lee from Great Falls, Mont.; Dana Stapleton, Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Jayme Carbon, Auburn, Wash.

Lee is a three-time Class AA all-state player whose second-round score of 69 in the 2008 tournament is a state record. She won the 2008 Great Falls city championship and played in several major junior tournaments.

Stapleton finished in the top 15 at her 4A state tournament in each of her four years and also has an extensive junior background.

Carbon has qualified for the Washington State 4A tournament each of her four years and was a Washington Junior Golf Association state qualifier in 2009.

•Rachel Fike, a senior at Lewiston High, has signed a letter of intent with Lewis-Clark State, Warriors coach Steve Tilden announced. A four-year letterwinner, she has consistently been one of Lewiston’s top scorers.

Soccer

Chelsea Jones, a 2008 graduate of Mt. Spokane, announced she will transfer from Seattle University to the University of Memphis for the 2009 fall season, Memphis women’s coach Brooks Monaghan announced.

Jones, an All-Greater Spokane League defender, will transfer as an academic sophomore, but will maintain full athletic eligibility because she redshirting at Seattle U during the 2008 season, Monaghan said.