Covington prevails on Junior Bowlers Tour

Consistency paid dividends for Jesse Covington as he won the Junior Bowlers Tour stop at Sunset Lanes in Coeur d’Alene last Sunday.

Nik Gosselin set the pace early, hammering out a 277 game and 934 series for the first four games and following it with a 278-1,038 in the next four to take the top spot going into the five-person finals. Covington wasn’t far behind, rolling a 277 and 920 series to earn the No. 2 spot.

Ryan Gately, who had qualified fifth, opened the finals byfirst knocking off  Tyler Sumpter, who had vaulted from ninth to earn the fourth qualifying spot, and Casey Schierholz, who qualified third with his best showing in the JBTs with a 265 and 930 series. They finished fifth and fourth, respectively.

That sent Gately against Covington, who prevailed 255-243, relegating Gately to a third-place finish and earning Covington a shot at Gosselin.

Covington was equal to the task, staying hot for a 245-183 win over a suddely cool Gosselin.

High game for girls was Shelby Snyder’s 231.

Next JBT is the doubles at North Bowl on Dec. 15.

College scene

Cody Sorensen, redshirt sophomore defensive back at Idaho State from Ferris, has been named to the 2013 District 7 All-Academic team in football with a 3.90 grade-point average in mechanical engineering.

• Gonzaga senior Andrew Owenson and junior Clark Phillips have been named to the West Coast Conference All-Academic men’s soccer first team, while senior Ryan Caballero earned honorable mention.

Owenson, a 2011 honorable mention, has a 3.41 GPA in mechanical engineering. Phillips has a 3.48 in business, and Caballero a 3.20 in history. Both were honorable mention selections  last season.

• Lauren Joseph, a Gonzaga sophomore, has been named to the West Coast Conference women’s volleyball All-Academic team and redshirt sophomore Deanna Nielson was given honorable mention.

Joseph has a 3.76 GPA in mechanical engineering while Nielson maintains a 3.32 in electrical engineering. It is the first WCC academic honor for both.

• Four men and four women from Washington State were named to Pac-12 cross country All-Academic teams.

Ruby Roberts, a senior, was a women’s first-team selection with a 3.97 GPA in fine arts. Women receiving honorable mention were sophomores Emily Dwyer (3.85, undeclared major) and Abby Knight ( 3.24 undeclared), and redshirt senior Courtney Zalud of Mt. Spokane (3.25, accounting).

Sophomore Forrest Shaffer (3.55, undeclared) was named to the men’s second team. Men receiving honorable mention were junior Lee George (3.05, history), senior Andrew Gonzales (3.02, psychology) and junior Todd Wakefield (3.29, movement studies).

Golf

John Means, the University of Idaho head coach,  is one of six coaches who will be inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame at its  annual reception and awards banquet on Dec. 9.

“I am extremely honored and humbled,” said Means, who also has coached at Colorado State, Army, Minnesota and Wisconsin-Eau Claire. “This wouldn’t have been possible without great committed student-athletes and very supportive administrations.” 

Means’ coaching career began at the U.S. Military Academy, where his teams won 11 conference titles in 11 years. At Minnesota, in just three seasons, he led the Golden Gophers to the NCAA Championship tournament that started a run of eight successive NCAA appearances by the Golden Gophers and eight successive seasons ranked in the top 20. The 1999 team was ranked No. 1 in the nation and was host to the NCAA Championship.  Means left college golf in 2002 to start his own golf teaching center. He doubled as women’s coach at  Wisconsin-Eau Claire, leading the Blugolds to five NCAA tournaments. This past summer, Means was named Coach of the Century by the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Means previously served as GCAA president and on several GCAA and NCAA committees.

High school scene

Tanner Anderson of North Central won the boys 5k Chamionship Division race at the Nike Northwest Regional cross country championships last weekend in Boise with teammate Kai Wilmot placing fourth.

Anderson clocked 15 minutes, 19.4 seconds for nearly a 5-second victory. Wilmot timed 15:35. The State 3A champion NC boys, competing as North Spokane, placed second behind State 4A champion Gig Harbor.

In the 5k boys varsity race, Kyle Lerch of Cheney placed third in 16:29.3; Skylar Ovnicek of West Valley, competing for Millwood XC, was seventh in 16:51.5; and Kody Turner of Deer Park was eighth in 16:54.9, leading Stag Cross Country to a fifth-place team finish.

On the girls side, four runners from the area had top-20 finishes in the 5k varsity race – Mikhaela Woodward of Sandpoint, eighth in 19:53.8; Mariah Brenton of Cheney, 12th in 20:09.05; Reanna Risinger of North Central (North Spokane), 16th in 20:13.1; and Cyra Carlson of Gonzaga Prep (Bullpup Pride), 20th in 20:15.4. North Central was second and G-Prep fifth in the team competition.

• Makenzie Norman of Cheney placed second in the 100-yard freestyle and third in the 50 free at the state high school swimming championships last weekend in Federal Way.

Cheney’s Alexis Schmidt was seventh in the 100 butterfly as the 2A Blackhawks had a 13th-place team finish.