Locally: WSU head volleyball coach Jen Greeny selected as assistant for collegiate national team

Jen Greeny, head women’s volleyball coach at Washington State, has been named an assistant coach of the U.S. Collegiate National Team-Europe Tour that will compete this summer.

USA Volleyball announced that Greeny, starting her sixth season at WSU, will join two of her players, outside hitters Casey Schoenlein, a junior, and sophomore McKenna Woodford, who were announced earlier for a team that includes four Pac-12 players on the 12-player roster.

“I am excited for the opportunity to help coach the Collegiate National Team for USA Volleyball,” said Greeny, a former Cougars standout. “It’s a great staff and I am looking forward to a wonderful experience with an incredible group of student-athletes.”

The CNT-Europe coaching staff includes Utah coach Beth Launiere, who will serve as head coach, and Portland coach Brent Crouch, who joins Greeny as an assistant.

After a training camp July 6-16, the team has scheduled training matches against an Italian Federation team July 7-9, near Milan, Italy, and then will play in the 12th annual Global Challenge July 11-14, in Pula, Croatia.

Baseball

Dr. John Olerud, who went from an All-America career at Washington State to become a distinguished dermatologist in Seattle, has been chosen by the National College Baseball Hall of Fame to receive its George H.W. Bush Distinguished Alumnus Award for post-college achievements.

Dr. Olerud will be honored in a ceremony at 7 p.m. on July 16 at Safeco Field in Seattle before a Mariners game against the Houston Astros. It will also be WSU Coug Day at Safeco Field.

It is the second significant honor for the Olerud family in less than a month. Three weeks ago, Dr. Olerud’s son, also John and a baseball All-American at WSU in the 1980s, was named the Pac-12 Baseball Player of the Century.

Dr. Olerud, an All-America catcher at WSU for the Bobo Brayton-coached Cougars that played in the 1965 College World Series, pursued a career in dermatology after balancing medical school and minor league baseball for parts of seven summers.

He served as head of the dermatology program at the University of Washington School of Medicine and has contributed to more than 100 publications. His main area of research is diabetic wound healing. His clinical research and publications have been in T-cell lymphoma.

“Dr. Olerud is a worthy recipient of the Bush Award,” said Mike Gustafson, president and CEO of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. “He … embodies what we look for in the Bush Award. … We are excited to honor him and celebrate with him and his family.”

The award is named after its first recipient, the 41st President of the United States, who played at Yale from 1946-48.

Basketball

Grant Leep, a former assistant men’s coach at Eastern Washington and Community Colleges of Spokane, has been elevated from assistant to become the new men’s coach at Seattle Pacific.

Leep, 36, served seven seasons as the top aide under Central Valley grad Ryan Looney, who left after seven years to become the new men’s coach at Point Loma Nazarene University.

Prior to joining the SPU staff in 2009, Leep served four years as an assistant at EWU and two years at CCS.

College scene

Lisa Roman, a member of the Washington State women’s crew from 2010-12, has been named to the Pac-12 Women’s Rowing All-Century Team.

Roman, from Langley, British Columbia, rowed in Cougars varsity shells all three years she was in Pullman after transferring from University of the Fraser Valley in her native province. She was named all-conference twice, and in 2012 was named to the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Associate All-West Region first team and the Pocock All-America second team.

Roman has been a member of Canada’s National Team since 2014, helping its women’s eight to multiple medals in international competition in that time.

Washington had 10 of the 25 women’s all-century honorees and the Huskies’ Jill Harville (1988-2003) was named Coach of the Century and UW’s 1997 crew was named Women’s Varsity Eight of the Century. Stanford’s Elle Logan (2008-11) was named Rower of the Century.

J.J. Robinson, a Lewis-Clark State junior from Colfax, was named 2016 NAIA West Baseball Player of the Year and Warriors coach Jeremiah Robbins was tabbed Coach of the Year.

Robinson, also named to the All-NAIA West team as designated hitter, was the only Warrior to start and play in all 54 games, finishing with a .360 batting average, second on the team. He had 71 hits, including 25 doubles and 14 home runs, both tops in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, and a conference-best 78 RBIs, which rank fourth nationally.

Robbins earned his first coaching honor after leading the Warriors to a 48-7 overall record, going 30-5 in the NAIA West.

Also named to the all-conference team were Warriors Cabe Reiten, senior, shortstop; Robert Smith Jr., sr., infielder; Jacob Zanon, junior, outfield; and Micah Brown, sophomore, outfield. Junior second baseman Gunnar Buhner received a gold glove.

Colton Loomis, a Northwest Nazarene senior pitcher who transferred from Community Colleges of Spokane, and Kyle Vanderkin, a Western Oregon senior third baseman transfer from Gonzaga, were named to the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference second team in baseball. Loomis was honorable mention in 2015.

Katie Rowe, a College of Idaho senior infielder from Lake City, and Iris Rodriguez, a Corban junior infielder from Warden, Washington, were first-team selections on the All-Cascade Conference softball team. Rowe is a first-team repeater from 2015.

Austin Campbell of Spokane, who attended high school in Colorado, a junior at Milwaukee School of Engineering, was named to the No. 3 singles position on the All-Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference men’s tennis team.

After a slow start to his season and inconsistent court time, Campbell hit his stride in league play, going 7-1 against NACC competition to highlight an 8-3 overall season record.

Whitworth seniors Drew Brigham in tennis and Oliver Rudnicki in golf have been selected to Division III Academic All-District 8 men’s at-large teams by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Brigham, a repeater with a 3.94 grade-point average in engineering physics, and Rudnicki, who has a 3.86 GPA in mathematical economics, are eligible for the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division III men’s at-large team.

Kali Klotz-Brooks, a Western Washington senior from Cheney, was selected for a third straight year to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic women’s team in track and field and Mark Seely, a Western senior from Central Valley, is on the men’s team for a second straight year.

Also on the women’s team are Laura Seymour, a senior at Northwest Nazarene from University, and Sofia Marikis, a Western junior from Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls.

Hockey

Sean MacFarlane and Riley Bowles, who played youth hockey in Spokane and are both on-ice officials, have been selected to work the United States Hockey League’s Clark Cup, the symbol of Tier 1 American junior hockey supremacy.

MacFarlane is one of four referees selected for the best-of-5 series while Bowles is one of four linesmen. Both worked in the Southern Professional Hockey League this season and Bowles also worked in the American Hockey League.

MacFarlane has been invited to participate in USA Hockey’s Program of Merit officials training camp in June in Buffalo, New York.

Letters of intent

Zach Hillman, WR, Post Falls, Whitworth football.

Dylan Haag, OL, Post Falls, Rocky Mountain football.

Soccer

Mike Ramos, a former University High and Whitworth standout who just completed his first season of indoor soccer with the Tacoma Stars, was named to the All-Rookie team by the Major Arena Soccer League. A midfielder, he had 10 goals and five assists in 19 games, his 15 points fifth best on the team.

Ramos signed with the Kitsap Pumas of the United Soccer League’s Premier Development League for the outdoor season and scored two goals in the league opener last week, a 3-0 win over the Victoria Highlanders.