Whyte joins Cougars’ staff
Angela Whyte, a former University of Idaho standout and assistant coach and two-time Canadian Olympian, has been named a track and field assistant at Washington State.
Wayne Phipps, the Cougars’ director of cross country/track & field, said Whyte will assist with coaching the hurdles, sprints and jumps.
“Angela is a very personable and very humble person for a world-class athlete. She’s done nearly all events and she can coach just about all events,” Phipps said.
Whyte, 34, was a member of Team Canada at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, finishing sixth in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2004 Games. She has consistently ranked among the world’s top 100-meter hurdlers and has won silver and bronze medals at the Pan Am Games. She is currently training for the 2015 World Championships this August in Beijing, and for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Whyte was a four-time NCAA All-American and five-time Big West champion for Idaho while setting 13 school records and was inducted in the Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. Whyte was an assistant coach at Idaho for six years.
Bowling
The season-ending Junior Bowlers Tour fun tournament last Sunday at Valley Bowl was serious business for a handful of lower-average regulars who saved their best for last when paired for the day with some of the higher-average bowlers.
For instance, Klarissa Alder, who came in at 144, averaged 170 for the day. Makayla Hoover went from 146 to 168, and Alex Hollenbeck from 152 to 187.
But Grace Martin opened the most eyes. Coming in at 162, she averaged 209, highlighted by the high game of the day for the girls, a 258, then capped the day with partner Mathew Shears by winning the tournament from the top qualifying position.
Martin and Shears, who went 7-0 in match play, defeated Alder and Clint Nolen 420-340 for the title. Norlen averaged 212 for the day.
Hoover and Mason Georgeadis finished third; Zack Aris and Raymond Worthey, in his final JBT before heading to college, were fourth; and Hollenbeck and Jake Richer placed fifth. Worthey had the day’s high game, a 259, and averaged 209. Shelby Snyder, also in her last JBT before going to college, averaged 201 for the day.
Marcus Goss also finished his JBT career.
College scene
Riley Stockton, a Seattle Pacific senior guard from Ferris, was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in men’s basketball for the second time in three years.
The 6-foot-4 Stockton, who won the same award in 2013, is among the GNAC leaders in rebounds (6.7 for fifth) and assists (3.9, sixth) and is the SPU leader in steals with 31. He also averages 9.7 points and earned first-team All-GNAC honors.
Shawn Reid, a 6-4 Seattle Pacific senior guard from Post Falls, earned All-GNAC honorable mention.
• Jenni White, Western Washington’s senior point guard from East Valley, was a first-team All-GNAC selection in women’s basketball and Vikings center Kayla Bernsen, a junior from Moses Lake, was named to the second team.
White is averaging 10.9 points and leads the team in assists (3.6) and steals (2.4) and shoots 81.4 percent (35 of 43) on free throws and 39.5 percent (34 of 86) from 3-point range.
Bernsen averages 12.6 points and leads the Vikings in rebounds (6.6 average) and blocked shots (49), which is second is in the GNAC. Her 3.3 offensive rebounds per game lead the conference. Bernsen ranks 11th among WWU career leaders in blocks with 113.
Jasmine Parker, a Central Washington junior from Mead, earned GNAC honorable mention. She averages 10.3 points, third best on the team, while leading the Wildcats in rebounding (7.7 average) and blocked shots (41).
• Isaac Griffith, a junior from Lewis and Clark, who repeated in the men’s 5,000, led a contingent of three area athletes at Western Washington who were named 2015 United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Indoor Track and Field All-Stars.
J.T. Konrad, a freshman from Mt. Spokane, was selected in the men’s pole vault, and Mark Seely, a junior from Central Valley, was named in the men’s triple jump.
• The Washington State swim team earned Team Scholar All-America honors for the second straight fall semester in 2014 from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America with a 3.14 grade-point average in the semester.
The swim team’s cumulative GPA of 3.42 is the second-highest of WSU’s measured sports. Twelve of the 18 athletes had a 3.00 GPA or higher in the fall.
Golf
Nicholas McCaslin, assistant professional at Spokane Country Club, is one of 33 PGA professionals from around the country to achieve advanced certification through the PGA Certified Professional Program 2.0, the PGA announced.
In the program designed to enhance the skillset of the professionals and advance their career opportunities, McCaslin, a Mead High School and New Mexico State graduate, received his certification in golf operations.
Horse racing
Char Clark and Todd Havens, among the few remaining Thoroughbred breeders in the Spokane area, were singled out during the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association’s annual awards ceremony last weekend at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington, when 6-year-old gelding Stryker Phd was named both older handicap and horse of the year.
Stryker Phd, owned by Mona and Jim Hour of Bellevue, Washington, and bred by the Clark-Havens partnership, was unbeaten in a trio of stakes, including the 79th Longacres Mile, a Grade 3 race. He also had two stakes placings on the California circuit while winning $192,900 in 2014. His career earnings are $320,651 in three seasons with top-three finishes in 15 of 18 starts.
Clark, by herself, was the breeder of Stryker Phd’s 5-year-old half-sister, Madame Pele, named the champion older filly or mare. The siblings are the first two foals produced by Striking Scholar, the Washington broodmare of the year.
Letter of intent
Carroll College football – Sam Stratton, Shadle Park, All-Greater Spokane League 3A first-team wide receiver with 66 receptions, 1,217 yards, 18 touchdowns and a 3.66 grade-point average.