Sue Durrant, 1968 track team head WSU Hall of Fame list
Sue Durrant, a pioneer in women’s sports, and the Cougars’ 1968 men’s track & field team that featured three NCAA individual champions, head the list of seven inductees in the Class of 2017 into the Washington State University Athletic Hall of Fame.
They will be honored during ceremonies Sept. 22-23, bringing to 217 the number of individuals and teams that have been enshrined since it was chartered in 1978.
An induction dinner will be Sept. 22 at the Davenport Grand Hotel in Spokane with the 2017 Class also being recognized at the WSU-Nevada football game in Pullman the following day.
The Class of 2017:
Durrant (1963-82): She led WSU to a 134-99 mark as the women’s basketball coach (1971-72, 1973-82) … coached volleyball for 12 seasons, going 67-35 from 1973-75, which are the only records for that sport available … was a driving force in WSU’s Title IX lawsuit to provide gender equity in Washington state and nationally … has received numerous honors for her work in women’s athletics.
Dominique Arnold (track & field, 1994-96): Became WSU track & field’s 34th NCAA individual champion by winning the 1996 110m hurdles … captured 55m hurdles in a then-lifetime best to win Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor title … post-WSU, he captured 2006 USA Outdoor National Championship in 110m hurdles and was ranked No. 5 in the world … set American record at 12.90 in 110m hurdles in 2006 … held No. 1 world ranking in 2005 in 55m hurdles, 60m hurdles and 110m hurdles.
Mike Kinkade (baseball, 1992-95): Four-year letter winner … set WSU career records for hits (304), runs (230) and doubles (75) … as junior was second-team All-American by NCBWA and third-team by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America … earned Gold Medal as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games … played six major league seasons after being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth round 1995.
Marcia Miles (women’s basketball, 1982-86): Four-year letter winner … finished WSU career No. 2 in scoring (1,485 points), scoring average (15.0) and ninth in rebounds (429) … two-time All-Northern Pacific Athletic Conference first-team selection … 1985 Women’s Basketball News Service All-America honorable mention … 1986 WSU Outstanding Female Athlete.
Diana Pickler (track & field, 2004-07): Five-time All-American … 2007 Pac-12 heptathlon champion … set school records in pentathlon and heptathlon … following senior season, was WSU’s Pac-10 Conference Medal recipient … left WSU holding four school records … finished third at 2008 USA Olympic Trials in heptathlon to earn a spot on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games team … captured 2009 USA Outdoor heptathlon title.
Paul Sorensen (football, 1980-82): Arrived at WSU after two seasons at Diablo Valley Junior College … as a senior in 1981, helped WSU to Holiday Bowl, the first bowl game for the Cougars since 1931 … earned Football News and NEA All-America first-team honors … played in East-West Shrine Game and Japan Bowl … two-time Pac-10 All-Academic pick … selected by Cincinnati in fifth round of 1982 NFL Draft … served as color analyst for Cougars football radio broadcasts after retiring from NFL after two seasons.
1968 men’s track & field team: Missed the national championship by one point to USC despite winning four individual championships – Gerry Lindgren (5,000m & 10,000m), John van Reenen (discus) and Carl O’Donnell (javelin) … Boyd Gittins was runner-up in 400m hurdles … it was the first of five runner-up finishes for WSU at the NCAA Championships.
More details on Hall of Fame Weekend will be released throughout the summer. For more information on the dinner, contact Bridget Slaybaugh at (509) 335-0220 or bslaybaugh@wsu.edu.
Baseball
The high school All-State Feeder Games will be Wednesday and Thursday at A.K. Jackson Field at Shadle Park High School.
Players from Class 2A/1A schools will play those from Class B schools at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. At 7 Wednesday, it’ll be B vs. 4A/3A. A third game at 4 p.m. Thursday will pit 2A/1A against 4A/3A.
The purpose of the Feeder Games is to select 10 players to nominate for the State All-Star Games June 10-11 in Yakima. More than 40 schools are eligible to nominate players for the Spokane Feeder Games.
College scene
Madison Perez, Whitworth’s record-setting senior pitcher from Fountain Valley, California, has been named a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American in NCAA Division III softball.
Perez, Whitworth’s first first-team Academic All-American in DIII softball and just the second overall in the sport, graduated last Sunday with a degree in psychology and a 3.95 grade-point average. In 2015, the Pirates’ Megan John was Whitworth’s first Academic All-American, selected to the second-team.
Jessica Mildes, who is working on her masters of taxation degree at Gonzaga; Matthew Swanson, a graduate student at Washington State; and Aaron Castle, a redshirt senior at Arizona, have been named to CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 teams in track & field and cross country by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
All advance to the Academic All-America ballot.
Mildes, a distance runner from Riverside High School and Community Colleges of Spokane, graduated from GU with a degree in accounting and a 4.0 GPA. She was selected to the CoSIDA All-District 8 women’s team for a second straight year after earning third-team Academic All-America honors last year.
Swanson, a middle-distance runner for the Cougars from North Vancouver, British Columbia, is pursuing his master’s in business administration after earning his undergraduate degree in finance a year ago with a 3.85 GPA. His graduate studies GPA is 3.94. He is the 2017 Pac-12 Conference Postgraduate Scholarship recipient for WSU.
Castle, a thrower from Newport, has a 3.78 GPA as a biology major. He was Academic All-District 8 in 2015 and went on to be named to the Academic All-American third team.
Paige Danielson, a sophomore at Washington State, has been named the NCAA Elite 90 Award winner for Division I rowing for having the highest cumulative GPA among participants at the NCAA Rowing Championships in West Windsor, New Jersey.
The native of St. Cloud, Minnesota, in her first year rowing with the Cougars’ varsity eight, has a 4.0 GPA and is majoring in electrical engineering. The 15th ranked Cougars are participating in their fifth-straight NCAA Championships.
The Elite 90 “recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete” and is awarded to the individual with the highest cumulative GPA at the finals site for each NCAA championship event.
Gonzaga student-athletes earned an athletic department-record 158 academic honors with the release of the GU President’s and Dean’s lists for the Spring 2017 semester and posted a departmental-record cumulative GPA of 3.42 for the semester.
A record 18 Bulldogs had perfect 4.0 GPAs and the women’s track and field team had the highest team GPA ever in the department, 3.71. Three other programs also posted semester-record GPAs in their team history - volleyball, men’s rowing and men’s soccer.
Of the 158, 55 were on the President’s List (3.85-4.0) and 103 on the Dean’s List (3.50-3.84).
Golf
Billy Bomar of Prairie Falls Golf Club in Post Falls was at 2-over-par 218 to tie for seventh as the top-finishing finisher in the 91st Washington Open Invitational at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Washington, last week.
Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake Country Club was the top finishing local amateur, tying for 10th overall at 3-over 219, and Nick Nolan from Gonzaga University shot 8-over 224 to tie for 21st. Hatley was the No. 3 amateur and Nolan tied for 6th.
Drew McCullough, an amateur from Meadow Springs in Richland, finished with a 7-under 65 for a 6-under total of 210 and a one-stroke victory over pro Shane Prante from Lake Spanaway.
Letters of intent
Carroll women’s soccer – Katie Anderson, D, Mead; three-year starter, 2016 GSL Defensive MVP, 4A all-state second team.
Gonzaga men’s golf – Matthew Ruel, Oldsmar, Florida/University of Mississippi.
Softball
Grace Lilje, who has been playing varsity softball at Davenport High School since the eighth grade and carries a 4.0 GPA, has been selected by the Inland Empire Softball Hall of Fame to receive its Doug “Pops” Bender Scholarship.
The senior pitcher, a three-time All-Northeast 2B League selection (she missed her junior season with a torn ACL), is the 14th recipient of the $1,000 scholarship, which she can use at the school of her choice. She has already earned 49 college credits and been accepted by 10 colleges or universities.
A three-sport athlete, Lilje will be recognized at the 41st IESHOF banquet and induction June 17 at the Spokane Eagles Lodge, 6410 N. Lidgerwood. A no-host social at 4 p.m. will precede dinner at 6 with awards to follow. Cost is $25 for adults, $12.50 for children under 12.
Slated for induction are six players, a coach and an umpire, plus one going into the Hall of Honor, and two teams selected as Teams of the Decade for the 1980s.
Players: Tim Poffenroth, men’s modified pitch; Mike McNeilly, men’s fastpitch; Jerry Buckenberger, men’s modified; LaDonna Schuster, women’s fastpitch and slowpitch; Kelli Clinton, women’s fastpitch and modified; and Deb Hjortedal, women’s fastpitch and modified. Coach: Don O’Neal, women’s fastpitch and modified. Umpire: Roger DeShaw. Hall of Honor: Jim Strom (a former fastpitch player in Wenatchee who has been a volunteer assistant coach for his son-in-law, Jon Schuh, at University High School for 18 years. Strom still plays slowpitch locally.)
Spokane Metros in men’s fastpitch and Off Broadway/WTB/Capco in men’s modified were selected Teams of the Decade for the 1980s.
Ticket info: Dan Fry, 624-5842.
Volleyball
Tyler Fenton, head women’s coach at Treasure Valley Community College in 2016, has joined the Eastern Washington staff as an assistant to third-year head coach Michael King.
A two-time, first-team all-league selection as a setter during a four-year career at Boise State, where he graduated in 2014, Fenton was a volunteer assistant at his alma mater and College of Idaho and has served as a head coach at the club level since 2013.
Kaysie Shebeneck, who graduated from Texas A&M this month after playing setter for Aggies’ teams that went to four NCAA Tournaments, has been named new operations coordinator for the Washington State volleyball program, coach Jen Greeny announced.
A native of Racine, Wisconsin, Shebeneck’s duties will include arranging team travel and meals, administering the video analysis and scouting service, and coordinating the players in promotional and community activities. She replaces Katie Hinrichs, who left after six seasons to become an assistant coach at Montana State.