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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane skier 2nd in Cup event

Noah Wallace competes during World Cup slopestyle skiing finale in Switzerland. (Associated Press)
From Local And Wire Reports

Noah Wallace of Spokane placed second in the final World Cup slopestyle skiing event of the season last weekend in Silvaplana, Switzerland.

It was the first podium finish of the season for the 22-year-old and vaulted him into 13th in the final World Cup standings as the fifth-highest American.

“It still hasn’t sunk in that I made the podium yet, to be honest,” Wallace was quoted by U.S. Freeskiing. “But while it was happening, it was amazing. Just to be on the podium in a contest with that caliber of riding is unreal for me. Still so happy to have made it!”

Wallace attended Spokane Junior Academy, where he was introduced to snow sports in the fifth grade, and graduated from Upper Columbia Academy in Spangle.  When not traveling and competing, he resides in Spokane.

Basketball

Ryan Looney, a 1994 Central Valley High School graduate and men’s coach at Seattle Pacific, was named NCAA Division II West Region Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

It is the first regional honor for Looney, who guided the Falcons to a 26-6 record and Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season and league-tournament championships in his fifth season at SPU. The 1998 graduate of Eastern Oregon was the GNAC Coach of the Year for a second time. He also won the award in 2010.

He has a 118-34 record at SPU with NCAA Division II tournament appearances each season. Among the Falcons’ top players were senior Patrick Simon of Ephrata, a transfer from Washington State and a first-team All-West Region selection, and junior Riley Stockton from Ferris, an All-GNAC honorable mention selection.

Shooting

Randi Loudin of Post Falls High School placed ninth among 50 shooters to lead the Spokane Junior Rifle Team to a sixth-place finish in the U.S. Army National Air Rifle Championships Feb. 24-26 in Fort Benning, Ga.

Loudin compiled a score of 1,146 out of a possible 1,200 in the three-position event in which competitors get 40 shots from 10 meters in each of prone, kneeling and standing positions.

Mike Cooper of Mt. Spokane shot 1,118 to finish 31st; Katie Loudin, Post Falls, had 1,112 for 35th; and Maliya Hillman, Lewis and Clark, had 1,110 for 36th.

Out of 50 junior teams across the country that shot qualifying matches, SJRT was one of just 10 invited to Fort Benning.

Soccer

Alex Schisel, who was team manager last fall, has been named soccer coordinator of operations at Washington State, Cougars coach Steve Nugent announced. Schisel, a 2011 graduate of Pacific Lutheran who will earn his master’s degree in sport management from WSU in May, will be responsible for team travel, camps and game-day operations.

Softball

Kylene Hatton, a sophomore infielder/outfielder at North Idaho College, has signed a letter of commitment to play at NCAA Division II Texas A&M University-Commerce, which is recruiting for its inaugural season in 2015.

Hatton, of Simi Valley, Calif., has a .380 batting average with four home runs, five doubles, two triples, 25 RBIs and a .590 slugging percentage.

The assistant coach at A&M-Commerce is former Coeur d’Alene High School pitching standout Jenna DeLong, who has spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at University of Texas-Dallas. In a four-year pitching career at Drake, DeLong was a three-time first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection and the MVC Pitcher of the Year as a senior.