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

Baseball coaches honor Wasem Sr.

From Local And Wire Reports

Jim Wasem Sr. has received a rare honor. The former Eastern Washington University coach became only the second college coach to enter the Washington State High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame when he was inducted last weekend in Seattle.

“It’s a great honor. I didn’t expect it,” said Wasem, who joined former Washington State coach Chuck “Bobo” Brayton in the high school shrine. Brayton was inducted with the third class in 1990.

Wasem, who coached at the high school level for five years in Illinois before beginning a college career in which he coached more than 900 games, spent his last nine years at EWU, compiling a 230-250-1 record. He retired following the 1990 season when the school dropped the sport. In January of 2014 he was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Wasem, who lives in Spokane, said “I did all my recruiting in the state, and in the Northwest, and we had some pretty darn good teams.” He has remained active, and in contact with high school coaches in the state, by staging player training clinics.

“I saw some of my old friends, and met a few young coaches that I hadn’t met,” he said of the induction luncheon. “It was outstanding.”

“I will wear that green sweater with pride,” he said of the apparel he received, and the latest addition to his wardrobe.

Basketball

Brittany Kennedy is playing a second season of professional basketball in Europe, this time with Forssan Aiku in Finland’s highest women’s league.

The former Greater Spokane League most valuable player for Lewis and Clark in 2007-08 played with the Saarlouis Royals in Germany’s top league last season. She averaged 24.9 minutes in 22 games, averaging 8.1 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 37.8 percent from the field.

In Finland, Kennedy will be reunited with former Florida Gulf Coast teammate Sarah Hansen, who will be playing her rookie pro season. Both signed with the same agent recently and will join their new team a month into the season. Kennedy, a 5-foot-7 guard, was the Atlantic Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year her senior season (2012-13) and Hansen was a two-time A-Sun Player of the Year.

College scene

Isaac Griffith, a Western Washington junior from Lewis and Clark, received U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division II West Region all-star honors for a second straight season by finishing 12th in the West Region Championships last weekend.

Madi Farrell, the Northwest Nazarene middle blocker from Lake City who received all-conference honorable mention, also was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in volleyball. She was the conference leader in hitting percentage at .332 and was seventh in blocks, averaging 0.99 per set.

Kjirsten Magnuson, a Loyola Marymount senior from Gonzaga Prep, set two school records during the three-day A3 Performance Invitational last weekend in Monterey, California.

Magnuson broke her own record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.11 seconds and erased the LMU 200 backstroke mark with a swim of 2 minutes, 1.99 seconds. The Coeur d’Alene resident has three individual school records and shares in two relay marks.

• Gonzaga University’s men’s and women’s soccer teams earned National Soccer Coaches Association of American Team Academic Awards.

The men were recognized for the 12th consecutive season with a 3.17 grade-point average for the 2013-14 school year.  The women received the award for the sixth consecutive season, posting a 3.43 GPA.

Letters of intent

Eastern Washington volleyball – Ka’iulani Ahuna, Keaukaha, Hawaii; Jessica Gilbert, Modesto, California; and Fernanda Machado Vido, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.