Local briefs: CCS will honor six teams with Hall of Fame spots

Six teams, including the first baseball and men’s cross country teams assembled at the school, have been selected for induction into the Community Colleges of Spokane Athletic Hall of Fame during ceremonies Oct. 30 in the Spokane Falls Student Union Building.

The 1965-66 Spokane Falls baseball team, coached by Jack Bafus, had just 13 players, 12 of them freshmen. The Spartans compiled a 31-6 record – the .838 winning percentage still the best in the history of the sport at the school – won the Eastern Region and placed second in the conference tournament, losing 9-8 in 12 innings to Everett in the title game. SFCC’s Bob Burrows was the tournament MVP.

Also slated for induction are the first three men’s cross country teams – from the 1967-68 school, 1969-70 and 1970-71 – and two back-to-back men’s track and field teams (1969-70 and ’70-71), all conference champions.

CCS Hall of Fame basketball coach Hank Coplen directed the ’67-68 cross country team to its title before Mike Keller took over the following year and continued to build the school’s cross country and track and field dynasty. Keller’s ’69-70 cross country team won the title with 20 points, its runners finishing second through sixth.

Lewis and Clark grad Phil Burkwist was instrumental in the ’69-70 and ’70-71 cross country and track and field titles, placing third in his first conference cross country meet, winning the next year and capturing 1- and 2-mile track titles during his two years at the school.

The hall of fame banquet will start with a no-host social at 6 p.m. Tickets for the dinner are $15 and can be reserved by contacting Brandy Sonderland at 533-4106 or BrandyS@ spokanefalls.edu.

Bicycling

Two Spokane riders won divisions of the Ring of Fire time trial race in Maupin, Ore., Sept. 11-12.

Bob Fisher of the Baddlands Cycling Team was the overall winner of the 24-hour solo time trial, riding 373 miles for a 28-mile margin over the second finisher.

Karen Armstrong of Emde Sports won the women’s 12-hour solo division, riding a course-record 199 miles for a 12-mile margin over the runner-up.

College scene

Finishing the 54-hole event with a pair of 1-over-par 73s, freshman Chessey Thomas, the St. George’s grad who played for Lewis and Clark, was the No. 3 scorer for the 12th-ranked Tennessee women’s golf team in its fifth-place finish in a tournament that ended Tuesday in Wolcott, Colo. Thomas tied for 24th overall.

Equestrian

Sydney Hyman, 12, of Spokane was awarded an American Morgan Horse Association Hunter Seat on the Flat Silver Medal Award during the C-Fair Charity Horse Show this summer in Monroe, Wash.

Hyman’s performance qualified her for the Gold Medal Finals at the 2010 Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show next weekend in Oklahoma City.

Miscellany

Pam Veltri, superintendent of the Medical Lake School District, has been selected to fill a vacancy on the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association executive board.

A native of Priest River who started her career in education as an elementary school teacher in Wallace, Veltri has been an administrator in the Medical Lake district for 14 years.

An advocate for interscholastic activities, she was a volunteer track and field coach and a cheerleading advisor during her time as an educator.