EWU announces inductees for Hall
Basketball and the 1960s will be well represented this fall when the 15th induction of the Eastern Washington University Athletics Hall of Fame takes place Oct. 10 in Cheney.
Basketball scoring and rebounding machines Randy Buss (1969-72) and Kathleen Nygaard-Kaut (2000-04) will be honored, as well as a trio of athletes from the 1960s. They include football and track and field standout/contributor Dean Adams, baseball player/contributor Gary Glasgow and gymnast/contributor Randy Carruthers.
Also, the 1966 baseball team will be inducted on the 40th anniversary of that’s team’s Evergreen Conference and NAIA District 1 titles under the direction of Hall of Fame head coach Ed Chissus. Glasgow played on that squad.
Also, Ruth Van Kuren and her late husband Lawson Van Kuren will be recognized for their 40 years of involvement with track and field, including 30 years as Eastern officials. They will be the recipients of the Eastern Hall of Fame Service and Contribution Award.
Buss and Nygaard-Kaut combined for 2,865 points and 1,603 rebounds during their careers at Eastern. Buss was a NAIA All-American and set five school records, including a scoring average of 25.2 points per game in the 1971-72 season. He scored 1,399 points and had 849 rebounds in three seasons.
Nygaard was a three-time All-Big Sky Conference first-team selection (2002-04) and EWU’s first WBCA All-America finalist as an All-Region 7 selection in 2004. She was also selected twice as a member of the Big Sky Conference’s all-tournament team (2003-04), and earned Academic All-America second-team honors as a senior. She scored 1,466 points and had 754 rebounds in her four-year career.
Glasgow earned All-Evergreen Conference honors all four years he played at Eastern (1965-68) and earned honorable mention NAIA All-America accolades. He went on to be a Hall of Fame coach at his alma mater, Medical Lake High School.
The induction breakfast and ceremony will start at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 10 at the Pence Union Building. The public is invited to attend and the cost is $20 per person. Guests must register via a link that will be available later in July at goeags.com/hallfame/hallfame.
Inductees will also be honored at halftime of EWU’s football game against Cal Poly later that day (kickoff 1:05 p.m.), as well as Eastern’s volleyball game that evening against Portland State at 6.
IHSAA Hall of Fame
The Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) Hall of Fame annually honors individuals who have given many years of exemplary service to Idaho’s youth. Four such individuals will be inducted as the Hall of Fame Class of 2015.
Ben Allen (Twin Falls), John Billetz (Post Falls), Roslyn Brimhall (Malad) and Don Cotant (Pocatello) will be honored at ceremonies on Aug. 5 in Boise.
Billetz was a teacher, coach and athletic director who retired as the IHSAA executive director in 2014. Over his 38-year career, he was a member of the Idaho Association of Secondary Administrators, the President of the Fourth District Board of Control, a board member for the IHSAA as well as on several National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) committees. He was named the Fifth District Football Coach of the Year three times and the Fifth District Track and Field Coach of the Year once.
Among other awards to be presented, Gary Gemberling (Lewiston) will receive the Dick Fleischmann Memorial Award and Mike Sprenger (Moscow) will receive the Duane D. Wolfe Memorial Award.
Academic honors
The Eastern Washington University women’s golf program saw four of its student-athletes earn All-American Scholar honors from the Women’s Collegiate Golf Coaches Association (WCGA).
Senior Taylor Crandall and junior Maddie Dodge earned recognition for the second consecutive year while junior Brooklyn Kraakman and freshman Kimberlie Miyamoto were named to the list for the first time.
The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent in all of college athletics. The minimum cumulative GPA is 3.50, and those recognized also must have appeared in 50 percent of their team’s competitive rounds.
• Whitworth’s Chelsea Bayley was named to the WGCA All-American Scholar list.
Bayley earned second-team All-Northwest Conference honors this season with a scoring average of 80.5 in 19 total rounds.
Baseball
Lewis-Clark State baseball coach Jeremiah Robbins has received the 2015 ABCA/Diamond National Coach of the Year award for the NAIA.
Robbins, who was also named the NAIA/Baseball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year last month, led the Warriors to their 17th NAIA national championship, their first since 2008. In three seasons, Robbins has compiled a record of 138-36 and guided the Warriors to the World Series title game every year.
The Warriors finished the 2015 campaign with a 46-12 mark and won the NAIA West after going 24-4 in group play. They also ended the year ranked No. 1 in the final NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 poll.
Basketball
Madison Wright, a graduate of Gonzaga Prep who played last season for NCAA Division I member Southern Utah, will join the Seattle Pacific women’s basketball program for the 2015-16 season.
The addition was announced by head coach Julie Heisey and completes the roster for the year.
Wright, a 5-foot-10 guard who can play either of the backcourt positions, will be a sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining. After redshirting at Southern Utah in 2013-14, Wright saw regular action off the bench last season, playing in 23 of 28 games, with three starts. She averaged 2.4 points, 1.1 rebounds, and dished out 28 assists, with a 1.12 assist/turnover ratio.
Letters of intent
CC Spokane baseball coach Bobby Lee announced 16 players have signed 2015-16 letters of intent to play for the Sasquatch.
They are: Logan Kurucz, OF (Shadle Park); Ryan Byrd, P (Gonzaga Prep); Garrett Schmerer, INF (University); Zach Day, OF (Rogers); Austin Lee, P/IF (West Valley); Stephen Streltzoff, P (Mt. Spokane); Jared Smith, P/OF/C (University); Dominic Bonilla, C (Cheney); Jonathan Krupla, IF (Shadle Park); Ben Castro, P (Mead); Jordan Ross, IF (Lake City); Kadin Beller, C/OF (Stevensville, Montana); Austen Jones, P/IF (Genesee, Idaho); Cory Meyer, C (Highland, Idaho); Mitch Guiberson, P/IF (Highland, Idaho); Jason Mustappa, IF (Mt. Vernon, Washington).
Soccer
Brian Busch was named the coordinator of operations for the Washington State University women’s soccer team, head coach Todd Shulenberger announced.
Busch previously was an assistant coach at the Torrey Pines (California) High, guiding the program to nine consecutive division championships.
Softball
Kathleen Burns of Spokane, a softball umpire for more than four decades, has been named to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) softball rules committee and will begin a four-year term in June 2016.
Burns has been a Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules clinician for 25 years and has served as an umpire in chief at state high school tournaments the last 15 years.
One of the most decorated Spokane umpires, she was the NFHS Washington Official of the Year for softball in 1997 and 2000 and the Washington Officials Association Umpire of the Year in 1997, the only Spokane umpire to receive either award.
Among her other numerous local and national tributes, Burns has received the WOA Meritorious Service Award and is a member of the Inland Empire Softball Hall of Fame, a selection generated largely by the 11 Amateur Softball Association national tournaments in which she’s umpired.
Track and field
Gonzaga’s Brandon Pollard will represent the United States in the men’s 1,500 meters at the Pan American Junior Championships on July 31.
He is one of two runners that will compete for the United States in the event in Edmonton, Alberta.
Pollard, who will be a sophomore this upcoming year, placed fifth in the 1,500 last month at the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships in a time of 3 minutes, 59.47 seconds.
Pollard was named the first alternate, and after some scratches, has been added to the team.