CCS athletes, team will be inducted in NWAACC hall

Community Colleges of Spokane will be well represented on the dais at the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Hall of Fame induction on May 31 in the Tri-Cities.

Paul Tikker, who has been a much-honored coach and instructor at CCS for more than 33 years; the school’s unbeaten 1968-69 football team; and five former football players – Dave Browning, Dave Komar, Rick Larsen, Art Berry and Tim Reese – will be inducted.

Tikker, who hasn’t strayed far from his Wilbur roots, started teaching and coaching at the school in 1979. During his coaching tenure, he was head coach in women’s basketball (three years, winning NWAACC Eastern Region titles in 1985-86 and ’86-87), men’s golf (20 years, dominating the Eastern Region and winning conference championships in 1999 and 2002) and women’s golf (11 years), a program he started in 1991-92, again dominating the Eastern Region and winning five NWAACC championships. He was NWAACC Coach of the Year 11 times in golf.

Tikker, who also was an assistant coach in football and men’s basketball, received an “Outstanding Faculty” award at CCS in 2001 and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.

The late Dwight Poole, who in 1967 inaugurated the football program on the school’s Fort Wright campus, took the Spartans, as the school was known, to an 8-0 record in just its second season, easily winning the conference championship and being ranked sixth nationally by JC Grid-Wire magazine. Poole was inducted into the NWAACC Hall of Fame in 1989.

Larsen and Reese, among the NWAACC Class of 2012, are among nine members of that team in the CCS Athletic Hall of Fame. Larsen was a two-time all-conference center for the Spartans who was named to the JC Grid-Wire All-America team following the 1968 season. Reese, from Riverside, was an all-conference defensive tackle in 1968 who was named the team’s Most Valuable Defensive Player.

Browning a defensive lineman from Liberty, starred at SFCC in 1974 and ’75, was the ’75 team’s Most Valuable Player who went on to a nine-year NFL career after being drafted in the second round by the Oakland Raiders following two outstanding seasons at Washington. Komar, a running back, was a member of the 1973 and ’74 teams and an NJCAA All-American in 1973. Berry, a quarterback from Gonzaga Prep, set several school passing records during the 1969 and ’70 seasons, including 1,406 yards and 16 touchdowns during his two seasons.

College scene

Alyssa Charlston, a sophomore on the Idaho women’s basketball team, was named a third-team Capital One Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Charlston has a 4.0 grade-point average majoring in broadcasting and digital media.

• Kelli Tikker, a senior from Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), and Kaylee Rector, a sophomore from Shadle Park, are among seven from Lewis-Clark State named to the Frontier Conference All-Academic team in volleyball.

It is the third straight year Tikker, who is majoring in kinesiology, has been selected. To be eligible, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore with a 3.0 GPA or better. Rector is majoring in pre-radiographic science.

• Idaho was recognized as a College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America team with a 3.26 GPA.

• Ashley Hutchinson, a Wyoming senior from Mead and Community Colleges of Spokane, won the 20-pound weight throw with a toss of 65 feet, 4 3/4 inches at the Robert Shine Invite in Laramie, Wyo., last weekend. It is No. 2 all time in school history, No. 5 all time in the Mountain West Conference and ranks 23rd in the NCAA this season.

Letters of intent

Ryan Gregory, a three-sport athlete at Gonzaga Prep and second-team All-Greater Spokane League selection in both football and basketball, signed a letter of intent to play football at Carroll College, the Helena school announced. His sport was misidentified in last Sunday’s Locally column.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Gregory, who led the GSL with six interceptions last fall, “was our No. 1 recruit on the board at the corner position,” Carroll coach Mike Van Diest told the Independent Record in Helena. As a receiver, Gregory averaged more than 28 yards a reception and scored four touchdowns. He also returned punts and kickoffs for the Bullpups and was a team captain in both football and basketball as a senior.

• Stillman College football: Josh Straughan, quarterback, Colton. The Washington 1B Player of the Year and first-team All-State passed for 3,569 yards and 41 touchdowns, completing 70 percent of his passes, as a senior. He had 10,407 yards and 114 TDs during his career. Stillman is an NCAA Division II school in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

• Community Colleges of Spokane men’s golf: Evan Omelia from England. Junior captain and men’s scratch team Player of the Year at West Herts Golf Club in 2011 after multiple top-five finishes and several rounds in the 60s.

Track and field

Hunter Wardian was 12th in the boys weight throw at 46 feet, 8 inches, the highest finish by a sophomore in the event, and best finish by a trio of Central Valley athletes at the National High School Indoor Championships in Pocatello.

Junior Katie Wadsworth placed 14th in the girls weight throw at 39-1 1/4 and senior Dakota Kliamovich was 15th at 38-5.