Central Washington names Malik Roberson defensive coordinator
Malik Roberson, a Spokane native who was a standout defensive lineman for two seasons at Central Washington and a former assistant coach at three NCAA Division I schools in the Pacific Northwest, has been hired as the defensive coordinator for CWU football, head coach Blaine Bennett announced.
Roberson, 40, an All-Greater Spokane League and All-State player at Lewis and Clark, from where he graduated in 1989, replaces Joe Lorig, who left CWU in January to take a coaching position at Arizona State.
“I am excited to have Malik join our staff,” Bennett said. “He has great experience from his time coaching at the Division I level, and … it’s nice to bring someone back into our program who has had success both here and elsewhere.”
Roberson spent the 2011 season as defensive line coach at Portland State of the Big Sky Conference. He coached at Eastern Washington from 2000-07 and at Washington State from 2008-10.
Roberson played defensive end at both CWU and WSU. He played for the Wildcats during the 1994 and 1995 seasons and was a member of the school’s NAIA Division II national championship team in 1995.
Basketball
The Spokane Sandpipers Black captured the championship in the elite division of the Spokane Stars 2012 Shootout last weekend at the Warehouse, defeating the Northwest Blazers Black of Spokane 51-40 in the title game.
Members of the Sandpipers: Hannah Caudill, Otiona Gildon, Oona Harrington, Mary Hoffman, Laura Stockton (all Gonzaga Prep); Brittney Johnson (Ferris); Delaney Junkermier, Ashlyn Lewey (both Mead); Cassie Shillam, Ashley Woods (both University). The Sandpipers are coached by Kerry Pickett and Mark Bowman.
In the all-star division, Tiger Basketball, a team made up of Lewis and Clark players, beat Northwest Express 54-45 in the title game.
Members of the Tiger Basketball team: Taylor Howlett, Joelle Tampien, Lindsey Lee, Sonja Kuhta, Kylie Richard, Emma Keenan, Michaela Kay, Janivea Bates, Jessica Albinson and Hanna Szendre. They’re coached by Kara Piippo.
Bowling
Nathan Rawley carried a hot hand all the way through the championship game to win the final Junior Bowlers Tournament of the season last Sunday at North Bowl.
Rawley, who sat either first or second all day, was the top qualifier going into the five-person finals and turned back Cody Hurley 237-200 in the finals. Jesse Covington was third, Tyler Sumpter fourth and Ryan Gately fifth.
The high-scoring day featured four- and five-game series scores of 932 and 1,154 for Covington and 911 and 1,111 for Rawley. Tony Werley had the day’s high game, a 289. Shelby Snyder was high for the girls with a 216.
The JBT season winds up with a fun tournament today at Valley Bowl.
• Covington carried the high season average, a 212, and compiled 189 points to lead the 2011-12 JBT All-Star team.
He was joined by Gately (145), Nik Gosselin (125), Hurley (124) and Taylor Gamble (112).
Kolette Foster had high season average for the girls, a 179.
College scene
Kyle Miller, an Eastern Oregon senior from Cheney, is one of 162 from Division II named a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete for women’s basketball.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be at least a junior and have a grade-point average of 3.5 or better. Miller has been on the school’s dean’s list each quarter she has attended EOU.
As Eastern Oregon finished its season in the national quarterfinals for the first time in school history, compiling a 25-9 record being ranked No. 11 nationally, Miller was named to the All-Cascade Conference team for a second straight season. She averaged 9.1 points per game, shooting 34 percent from 3-point range.
Miller had top-10 finishes in 13 statistical categories at EOU, including finishing No. 1 in career games played (122), career minutes played (3,423) and games in a season (34). She finished eighth in career points with 1,211 and seventh with 281 assists.
• Clark Phillips, a Gonzaga sophomore forward, is among the first players to commit to the Portland Timbers U-23 team for the 2012 Premier Development League soccer season.
Phillips, a native of Portland, led the Bulldogs in goals (four), assists (three) and points (15) as a freshman last fall and was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year.
Letters of intent
New Mexico Highlands women’s soccer: Allison Jordan, a two-time All-Greater Spokane League defender from Central Valley, helped lead the Bears to the GSL championship and to the State 4A quarterfinals. The three-year varsity letterman was team captain her senior year. She played club soccer for SSC Elite 93 of Spokane, the two-time Washington State Premier League champions. New Mexico Highlands is an NCAA Division II program that made the national tournament in 2010 and ranked 21st nationally in offense in 2011.
• Lewis-Clark State men’s basketball: Petar Joksimovic, a 6-foot-5 sophomore wing at North Idaho College from Coeur d’Alene.
• North Idaho College volleyball: Leeta Grap, a 6-foot middle hitter from Kamuela, Hawaii, the Big Island Player of the Year her junior and senior years.
Volleyball
Meagan Ganzer, a former Washington State player, led the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation professional league in points in her debut season with the Ponce Lions team.
Ganzer, a 6-foot-3 right-side hitter from Black Diamond, Wash., a 2011 All-Pac-12, and AVCA All-Pacific Region and All-America outside hitter, began playing professionally in January and dominated during the Puerto Rican regular season, compiling 425 points. Her team is playing in the postseason Quarterfinal Series A tournament, where she again leads her team in points.
Miscellany
The Kootenai County Vandal Boosters will honor longtime former University of Idaho athlete, coach and administrator Wayne Anderson at the Vandal Scramble golf tournament May 19 at Hayden Lake Country Club.
Anderson, a charter member of the Vandals Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007, played football and baseball for the Vandals, was the head coach in baseball and basketball, an assistant in football, and was an assistant athletic director.
The Vandal Scramble will begin with registration and a no-host lunch at 11 a.m. with golf from a shotgun start in a scramble format beginning at 1 p.m.
Info: Shelly Robson, shellyr@uidaho.edu or Randy Haddock, randyh@isu-haddock.com.
• Eastern Washington University announced that the Eagles’ 2010 Football Championship Subdivision national championship team is featured on the latest edition of the school’s Washington state license plates.
The new design includes the EWU Eagle logo with silhouettes of cheering fans in the background and the words National Champions inscribed in red on the bottom.
Twenty-eight dollars of each $30 specialized plate fee goes toward scholarships for EWU students. Approximately $250,000 has been raised for student scholarships through the EWU license plate program. Over the past year, 38 scholarships have been awarded because of the EWU collegiate plate.
The specialized plate is available through the Washington State Department of Licensing website at http://www.dol.wa.gov/ vehicleregistration/ spcollegiate.html.