Mead’s Mattingly chooses Notre Dame

Football: It didn’t take long for Mead football standout Dan Mattingly to decide where he wanted to play in college.

Mattingly gave the University of Notre Dame an oral commitment on Tuesday after an unofficial visit to the South Bend, Ind., school.

“I loved everything about it – the campus, the facilities, the tradition,” Mattingly said. “I love Indiana.”

In an interview Monday with The Spokesman-Review, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound tight end/linebacker said he had narrowed the pool of schools to eight. He had taken an unofficial visit to Oregon and had similar trips scheduled to Oklahoma and Miami.

Mattingly will be a senior next year.

“I’m Catholic and come from a family of nine,” Mattingly said. “I always wanted to go there.”

Greg Lee

Gray, Durfey remain busy

Rodeo: While Cheney bareback rider Ryan Gray was collecting all his money in Reno, Nev., to gather momentum, Colbert tie-down roper Tyson Durfey was racing through Alberta. 

Durfey won the final go-round and placed third in the average at Wainwright and was fourth in High River, piling up almost $5,500 to push his season total in the PRCA standings to more than $20,000. 

Durfey is 26th in the standings heading into a critical week for those hoping to make the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. During the first week of July, 31 rodeos either begin or end, offering around $3.3 million in prize money. 

Gray, who earned more than $7,700 for winning the final go and tying for first in the average at Reno, vaulted to 18th place with a little less than $20,000.  

Dave Trimmer

World Harmony close to Spokane

Running: Partici- pants from the World Harmony Run are expected to reach Spokane’s Riverfront Park on Thursday morning as part of a worldwide event.

Weather permitting, the torch is expected to reach Spokane at about 9 a.m.

The 2012 World Harmony Run is a global relay that seeks to promote inter- national friendship and understanding. As a symbol of harmony, runners carry a flaming torch, passing it from hand to hand traveling through more than 100 nations.

Jim Allen