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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cardinals take regional crown

Five North Idaho wrestlers took home regional titles and No. 6 NIC bested No. 5 Clackamas CC with a score of 95.5 points to win the Region 18 tournament Saturday at Highline CC in Des Moines, Wash.

The Cardinals will send eight wrestlers to the national tournament Feb 25-27 in Des Moines, Iowa. Earning automatic berths with their titles were Lakeland High grad Kyle McCrite (125 pounds), Stevie Vasquez (174), Celic Bell (184), Kamron Jackson (197) and Roger McCovey (285). Former Coeur d’Alene wrestler Jesse Nielsen also earned a bid to nationals by finishing second at 165 and Mackray Jones (149) and Joey Pierotti advanced with wild-card bids.

Softball

Alyssa Erickson picked up her second win in as many days with a complete-game, two-run effort and North Idaho (8-8, 5-3 Scenic West Athletic Conference) swept a doubleheader from Snow College (2-8, 0-4) for the second day in a row, beating the Badgers 5-2, 8-7 in St. George, Utah.

In the opener, NIC scored five runs in the third inning, highlighted by a two-run home run from Lauren Maloney. Snow started the second game with seven runs in the first, but the Cardinals rallied for three runs in the bottom of the frame and took the lead on a three-run homer by Shelby Gonzales in the fifth.

Track

Five Washington State athletes reached NCAA provisional qualifying marks at the Husky Classic in Seattle.

All-American Jeshua Anderson hit the mark, running the 400-meter dash in 47.24 seconds to finish second, setting a season best.

Kyle King finished 39th in the 5,000 meters for Eastern Washington, running 14:19.81 for the third-fastest time in school history to qualify for the Big Sky Conference Championships.

•Montana State runner and 2006 East Valley graduate Nick Atwood ran a NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the 3,000 at the Fleet Feet Invite in Bozeman on Friday. Atwood ran a season-best 8:15.24 for the top mark in the BSC.

Swimming

The Whitworth men and women both take leads into today’s final day at the Northwest Conference championships after having strong finishes in the second day at Federal Way, Wash. For the men, a third-place time of 7:17.45 in the 800-yard relay boosted them to a score of 501, ahead of Puget Sound (428).