Locally: Soliday takes on A.D. role at Vanguard
Rhett Soliday, a former Reardan High School basketball standout and successful college coach, has been elevated to the position of athletic director at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California.
Soliday, who succeeds the retiring Bob Wilson, will serve in a dual role as he continues as men’s basketball coach, a position he’s held since 2010. In six seasons, Soliday has a 107-80 record and guided the Lions to the most successful season in school history in 2013-14, capped by winning the NAIA Division I National Championship. He was named National Coach of the Year.
“Rhett demonstrates a genuine commitment to fostering the academic, spiritual, personal and athletic success of student-athletes,” retiring A.D. Bob Wilson said, “and he is passionate about ensuring that student athletes succeed – both on and off the field.
“I’m excited to see him lead the Lions and continue to define what a winning athletic program looks like at a faith-based institution, where we emphasize the development of the whole person.”
Soliday, who played at Big Bend Community College and Concordia University, a Vanguard conference rival, started his coaching career right out of college, serving as head assistant at both Concordia and UC Irvine for four years each before taking the head job at Vanguard.
College scene
Taylor Jones, a senior first baseman at Gonzaga University, has been named one of 10 finalists for the NCAA Senior CLASS Award for baseball.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the CLASS award is given annually in each sport to a senior student-athlete who has notable achievements in the community, classroom, character and competition.
A native of Kent, Washington, Jones is having a career year. He came into the weekend leading the WCC and 11th in the nation with 17 doubles and tied for the league lead with four triples. His 55 hits ranked third in the conference and his .369 batting average fourth. All are career highs, as are his 27 runs scored and 15 walks.
An applied communication studies major, he has a 3.50 GPA, has been named to President’s List in each of the last three semesters and is involved in community service.
Nationwide fan voting will be conducted through June 7 and helps determine the winner, who will be announced during the 2016 College World Series in June. For more information and to vote for Jones, visit http://www.seniorclassaward.com/baseball/.
•It’s another golf honor for Kristen Hansen. The Western Washington senior from Mead capped her career being named a Great Northwest Athletic Conference first-team All-Star for the fourth time in her career. She has also been the GNAC Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year and conference champion
Hansen will carry a scoring average of 78.1, fifth in the GNAC, into the NCAA Division II Regional. The Vikings, runners-up in the GNAC championships, are seeded eighth in the West Region event Monday through Wednesday at Brookside Country Club in Stockton, California.
•Lindsie Scholwinski, a Southeastern University junior from Coeur d’Alene High and Community Colleges of Spokane, was named the Sun Conference softball Pitcher of the Week for a third consecutive week and fifth time this season after pitching three shutout victories – a five-hitter, one-hitter and two-hitter – a week ago.
She finished the regular season with a 27-5 record for the NAIA Division I 10th-ranked Fire and a 1.27 ERA. The victories tie for first nationally, the ERA is 14th, while her 248 strikeouts rank second and 215 innings are third.
•Angus Montgomery, a Gonzaga junior transfer from North Idaho College, was named Academic All-West Coast Conference honorable mention in men’s golf.
Fencing
Benjamin Duchow, 14, led eight members of the Spokane Fencers Unlimited Club, including three brothers, who have qualified for the United States Fencing Association National Championships June 29-July 8 in Dallas.
Duchow, who is home-schooled, qualified for five events – epee in Division 1A, fencing’s top level; Division 2; Cadet (17 and under); and Youth 14, as well as Youth 14 Foil.
Duchow dominated at the Inland Empire Division qualifying tournament in Missoula in mid-April, winning Men’s Open Epee, Youth 14 Epee and Youth 14 Foil. But perhaps his best outing came earlier in the national-level Super Youth Circuit Tournament in Bellevue where he finished second in Youth 14 Epee in a field that included elite-level fencers from across the country.
Kari Sobisky finished second in Women’s Open Foil at the division tournament and Dilan Grewell, a senior at Cheney, placed third in Men’s Open Epee.
Other SFUC national qualifiers: Sobisky, Division 2 Women’s Open Foil and Veterans Foil; Grewell, Division 2 Men’s Open Epee; Bailey Plumlee, Gonzaga Prep, Division 2 Foil; Henry Duchow, Ferris, Divisions 2 and 3 Men’s Foil; Peter Duchow, Ferris, Division 3 Men’s Foil; Ben Sharp, eighth-grade home-schooled, Youth 14 Epee; and Matthew Duchow, seventh-grade home-schooled, Youth 12 Epee.
Golf
Registration is underway for PGA Junior League Golf teams for boys and girls ages 13 and under at Spokane’s four municipal courses – Downriver, Esmeralda, Indian Canyon and The Creek at Qualchan.
Age requirements vary by facility; Downriver is 7 through 13 while the others are 9-13. No golf experience is necessary. Online registration is open at PGAJLG.com. Click “sign up” and follow the instructions. Cost is $225 and covers a team jersey, practices, matches, snacks and tournaments. Registration closes May 25.
Teams play four, nine-hole matches in a two-person scramble format and players can be substituted every three holes so everyone participates. League start times vary by facility.
Handball
Dan Murphy of Spokane and the Ryan Luttmann-Sam Sletager team from Sandpoint were the open division winners at the Idaho State Handball Tournament last weekend at the Sandpoint West Athletic Club.
Murphy defeated Pete Svennungsen, also of Spokane, 21-19, 17-21, 11-5 for the Open Singles title. Luttmann and Sletager won Open Doubles with a close round-robin tie-breaker calculation over brothers Eric Plummer of Sandpoint and former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer of Boulder, Colorado.
Chuck Gause of Sandpoint defeated Russ Akerhielm of Spokane 21-20, 21-20 in the Age Singles bracket final; Marty Presnell and Tye Barlow, both of Sandpoint, defeated Gause and Akerhielm 21-18, 21-10 for the Age Doubles title; and Dave Cousino of Sandpoint and Dave Malkin of Nevada were co-state champions in the Diamond (70+) Singles division.
Hockey
The Spokane Chiefs unveiled a new-look, updated website last week with improved mobile compatibility that matches updates made by the Western Hockey League.
The team release said spokanechiefs.com now brings flexibility to fans accessing from mobile devices and tablets with everything from news and promotions to box scores and buying tickets more accessible.
Letters of intent
Carroll men’s basketball – Isaiah Hernandez, G, Lewis and Clark.
Idaho women’s golf – Danika Palm, Richland.
Idaho men’s golf – Brock Anderson, Lake Oswego, Oregon; Ethan Atherstone, Concord, California; Chris Carew, Eagle, Idaho/Cal Baptist; and Klaus Ganter, Madrid, Spain/Central Florida.
St. Olaf University wrestling – Sebastian Hyta, Freeman.
Triathlon
Billy Morse of Spokane and Jennifer Terry of Coeur d’Alene, first-time competitors in the event, won the overall men’s and women’s titles at the 12th annual Rotary Leadman Triathlon at Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg last weekend.
Morse conquered the muddy course on the way to a men’s best time of 51 minutes, 32 seconds. Terry timed 1:04:48. Both were ahead of their closest competitor by more than four minutes in the ski, bike and run event that drew more than 170 competitors.
Age-division winners: Male 16-27 – Lennart Stoeppler, Chattaroy, 57:01.8. M28-34 – Brian Abbink, Spokane, 1:01:46.4. M35-43 – Morse. 44+ – Steve Bristow, Kellogg, 57:46.3. Female 16-30 – Abigail Goss, Spokane, 1:10:28.5. F31-39 – Terry. F40+ – Wanda Walsh, Veradale, 1:17:27.1. Kids – Judson Hall, Pinehurst, Idaho, 1:21:15.9.