Sports in brief: Cougs open 2010 at Oklahoma St.

College football: Washington State will open the 2010 season in Stillwater, Okla., Sept. 4, against Oklahoma State, which is coming off a 9-4, Cotton Bowl season, according to the Pac-10 schedule released Monday.

The Cougars, 1-11 in 2009, will end the season Dec. 4, when they host the Apple Cup in the final month of the year for the first time. It will be the last of six home contests.

In between, WSU will face eight other schools that played in bowl games this season.

There is no game designated to be played in Seattle’s Qwest Field, something the Cougars have done for the last eight seasons. However, athletics director Jim Sterk said Monday that “there are still ongoing discussions.”

Complete schedule/B4

Vince Grippi

Sterk will enter WWU shrine

College football: Jim Sterk, in his 10th year as Washington State athletics director, will be inducted into the Western Washington University Athletics Hall of Fame on Feb. 6.

“It’s a real honor,” Sterk said. He is one of four members of the Class of 2010.

Sterk graduated from WWU in 1980, earning four letters in football and one in basketball.

During the 1977 football season, he had a school-record 164 tackles. The team captain and MVP was a first-team NAIA District 1 all-star selection.

Top WHL team to visit Chiefs

Junior hockey: Fresh off of ending a season-high five game losing streak with a pair of one-goal wins on the road, the Spokane Chiefs try to end a four-game home losing streak against the top team in the Western Hockey League.

The Chiefs entertain Saskatoon tonight at 7 in the Arena. The Blades (28-7-1-3, 60 points) won 6-4 at Tri-City on Sunday to move a point ahead of the Americans.

The Chiefs, with a 2-1 win in Vancouver and 3-2 win in Seattle, have 49 points, fourth in the Western Conference.

Zag, Cougar on Wooden list

College basketball: Gonzaga senior Matt Bouldin and Washington State sophomore Klay Thompson are among 31 players on the John R. Wooden Award mid-season watch list.

Bouldin, the ninth Bulldog nominated for the award that goes to the college player of the year, leads Gonzaga in scoring and assists.

Thompson, one of two Pac-10 players on the list – the other is Washington senior Quincy Pondexter – is third in the nation in scoring at 24.3.