October 11, 2009 in Sports

Balkenbush 2nd in World handball

Staff And News Service Reports
 

INW Hall of Fame

 Tickets remain for the Inland Northwest Hall of Fame luncheon, Tuesday at the Arena.

 Inductees for the every-other-year event are Coeur d’Alene college and professional football quarterback John Friesz, Community Colleges of Spokane volleyball coach Irene Matlock, small-school coaching legend Roy Graffis and contributor Jon Heimbigner, whose long involvement with Spokane area sporting events and organizations includes chairmanship of the Hall of Fame.

 New to the INW Scroll of Honor are nationally acclaimed volleyball official Dale Goodwin and retired Washington State University athletic administrator Marcia Saneholtz.

 Ticket cost is $30. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. with an induction ceremony, followed by a no-host reception with the luncheon slated for 11:45.

 The major sponsor is Rosauers Supermarkets.

 Contact Deana McClenny of the Spokane Regional Sports Commission at 742-9379 for reservations or www.spokanesports.org.

Jay Balkenbush of Spokane finished second in the men’s seniors master (40+) division of the World Handball Championships that ran through the weekend in Portland.

Balkenbush lost in the division finals to the national champion of Ireland, Ducksy Walsh, to finish the tournament with a 3-1 record.

Among other area competitors, Harry Robertson of Coeur d’Alene (men’s doubles 65+) and Don Murphy of Spokane (men’s singles-golden master 50+), made it to the quarterfinals.

College scene

Two University High School graduates, Kasey Jurich and Anthony Brown, are the Community Colleges of Spokane scholar-athletes of the month for September.

Jurich, a sophomore, earned female honors for her performance on the volleyball court. She leads the Sasquatch with 38 aces, has 166 kills and averages 2.8 digs a game. In the classroom, she has a 3.8 grade-point average.

Brown, a freshman cross country runner, has become the Sasquatch’s top men’s threat. In finishing 14th out of 314 runners in the Willamette Invitational, he covered 8,000 meters in 24 minutes, 39 seconds, third all time in the CCS record books.

•For the second time this season, Lindsay Bekken from Lewis and Clark, a freshman goalkeeper on the Westminster College women’s soccer team, is the Frontier Conference defensive player of the week. The latest honor came last week for her performance in a 2-1 win over Rocky Mountain. She has a 2-2-1 record with one shutout and a 0.82 goals-against average for the Griffins.

•Chris Shaw of Coeur d’Alene Charter, a junior at Puget Sound, collected his team-leading fourth goal of the season in the 11th minute last Sunday to give the Loggers a 1-0 win at George Fox.

•Tyler Nelson, a Linfield senior from Shadle Park, has been on a roll for the Wildcats’ men’s golf team. He made up a five-stroke deficit with a 3-under-par 69 on the final day to win the Whitworth Invitational last week at Spokane Country Club with a 36-hole total of 147. It was his fourth straight tournament victory.

Nelson also excels in the classroom. The 2009 Academic All-American has a 3.7 GPA.

•Annie Brophy, the Notre Dame senior from Gonzaga Prep, had the second-best 54-hole score of her Irish career, a 217, that earned her a tie for sixth in the Windy City Collegiate women’s golf tournament last weekend in Glenview, Ill. It included a 3-under 69 in the first round.

Wrestling

The first meeting of the Inland Empire Wrestling Officials Association will be Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m. at West Valley High School.

New officials meet at 6.

Anyone interested in joining the association that officiates middle school and high school wrestling should contact Rich Tschirgi, the assigning secretary, at spokanewrestling@q.com or by phone at 448-5734.

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