Locally: Academic hall of fame honors Spokane kicking standout Jason Hanson
Jason Hanson, a three-time Academic All-American during his four years at Washington State (1988-91), has been elected into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
The former Mead standout, a 4.0 student in high school who was a pre-med major at WSU, concluded his senior season by being named a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete, one of only five in WSU history to receive the honor. He is the first Cougar elected to the CoSIDA shrine.
Hanson, one of the most recognized Cougars of all time, was an All-American kicker and punter for the Cougars, earning Freshman All-America honors as a kicker in 1988 and became WSU’s first consensus first-team All-American as a sophomore in 1989.
As a junior, he was All-Pac-10 as a punter and kicker and All-American as a punter. As a senior in 1991, he was an All-American as a punter and kicker. Hanson finished his WSU career with 19 field goals of 50-plus yards, including a Pac-10-record 62-yarder, the longest without the use of a tee in NCAA Division I history.
He parlayed that into a 21-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions, who selected him in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1997 and 1999 and retired in 2013 as the NFL record-holder for 50-yard kicks with 52.
He was inducted into the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Lions Ring of Honor in 2013.
Basketball
Laurie Koehn, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Northern Colorado under new Washington State women’s coach Kamie Ethridge, followed her boss to Pullman and has been named associate head coach of the Cougars.
“Laurie brings a wealth of experience as an elite-level athlete, player-development coach and brilliant recruiter,” Ethridge said of her first hire. “Laurie will have ‘hands-on’ in every area of our program.”
Koehn, who earned her bachelor’s in social science from Kansas State, where Ethridge was a longtime assistant, established herself as one of the greatest outside shooters in NCAA history, leaving with an NCAA-record 392 3-pointers.
After college, Koehn spent 11 years playing professionally in the WNBA and oversees before getting into coaching with Ethridge in 2015.
• Drew Muscatell, an assistant at the University of Portland the last three seasons, has joined coach Jon Newlee’s women’s basketball staff at Idaho.
Muscatell, 26, was honored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association last month as one of its Thirty-Under-30 that recognized up-and-coming coaches in women’s basketball.
Prior to Portland, he served as video coordinator at San Jose State. The 2013 graduate of the University of Oregon will work mainly with Idaho’s post players and be heavily involved in scouting and recruiting.
Muscatell comes from a coaching family. His father, Dan, is a long-time college coach who was head coach at Sacramento State for six seasons and is currently an assistant at San Jose State.
Boston Marathon
Matthew Zuchetto of Spokane led the way for 53 runners from the Spokane and North Idaho area in the rain-soaked 122nd Boston Marathon last Monday that had 25,746 finishers.
Zuchetto, 42, one of three area runners to finish in less than 3 hours, covered the 26-mile, 385-yard distance in 2 hours, 42.57 minutes. He placed 215th overall, 214th among the men and 13th in his age division.
Scott Garrison, 30, of Spokane timed 2:54.28 for 963rd overall and 818th in his age division and Jason Moyer, 32, of Wellpinit, clocked 2:58.10, 1,481st overall and 1,197th in his age division.
The area’s top female finisher was Chelsey Leighton, 27, of Lewiston in 3:03.57, 131st among the women and 122nd in her age division.
Besides Zuchetto, there were five others from the area with top-100 age-group finishes – Carol Wright, 76, Sandpoint, third; Kara Ames, 51, Liberty Lake, 18th; Doug Jacobson, 62, Pullman, 20th; James Richman, 57, Spokane, 40th; and Sue Jacobson, 63, Pullman, 53rd.
Other Washington area runners in overall order of finish, Spokane unless otherwise noted:
Washington – Andrew Hastings, 40; Todd Jones, 37; Travis Stark, 25; John Harris, 33, Liberty Lake; Trevor Pincock, 42; Jeff Oswalt, 43; Emily Paradis, 26; Chris Kreider, 40; Michael Barbero, 37, Spokane Valley; Kim Sain, 36, Colbert; Mary Illback, 25; Maja Lebon, 34; David Gardner, 37; Jill Hogan, 40.
Allison Alldredge, 31, Pullman; Amber Matt, 42, Spokane Valley; Lindsey Will, 27; Jada Freer, 40, Kettle Falls; David Werme, 55; Kelsey Mosier, 29, Spokane Valley; Keri Collins, 46, Liberty Lake; Ronnie Crenshaw, 52; Jacqueline Noelle Lovoi, 35; Jonathan Wallis, 26, Pullman; Jodi Mckenzie, 53.
Stacey Robinson, 47, Liberty Lake; Gary Ogle, 55; Linda Jones, 36; Katie Hicks, 40, Liberty Lake; Keith Brownlee, 57; Jeffrey Zobrist, 55; Kim Waller, 51; Tina Hoffmann, 50, Mead; Wayne Foster, 55; Carolyn Zakrzewski, 50, Cheney; Terri Brice, 59, Moses Lake; Lauren Buyer, 29, Fairchild AFB; Bill Mizell, 60, Spokane Valley; Lisa Nelson, 36.
Idaho – Daniel Mottern, 46, Deary; Shaunavee Dick, 38, Sandpoint; Hannah Gibbs, 28, Lewiston; Greg Dietrich, 52, Lewiston; Michael Ehredt, 57, Hope; David Pimentel, 55, Moscow.
College scene
Twins Alec and Andrew Hoover, 2016 Mt. Spokane graduates, capped their sophomore wrestling season at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland by hauling in an armload of honors.
The brothers helped Case Western earn the National Wrestling Coaches’ Association Division III Scholar Team Award for a second straight season with the nation’s eighth-best grade-point average, 3.5394. They also earned individual scholar-athlete All-America honors with GPAs of 3.2 or better and All-University Athletic Association All-Academic honors.
Alec, an economics and math double major with a 4.0 GPA, had a 21-15 season record and was sixth at 133 pounds at regionals. He was awarded the school’s scholar-athlete award, its Dr. Tom McLaughlin Tortoise and the Hare Award for perseverance, and the school award for most pins (10).
Andrew, an economics major, led the team with a 29-14 record, received the school’s Bob Del Rosa Most Valuable Wrestler Award and was All-University Athletic Association at 141 pounds.
• Idaho junior Sophie Hausmann from Germany was named the 2018 Big Sky Conference Women’s Golfer of the Year and was joined by two teammates on all-conference teams.
Hausmann, the first Vandal to win Big Sky golfer of the year but the eighth to claim the honor regardless of the conference, was named to the All-Big Sky first team for the third consecutive year. Teammate Valeria Patino, a freshman, was a second-team choice, and Michelle Kim, a junior, was named to the third team.
The All-Big sky third team also included Montana State sophomore Kelly Hooper from Gonzaga Prep, who led the Bobcats and compiled a 75-stroke scoring average through 27 rounds.
The All-Big Sky teams and awards were selected using a points system based on the Golfstat National Ranking, the Golfweek National Ranking and the adjusted score-to-par provided by Golfstat. Hausmann led the conference in each of the three categories.
• Gonzaga sophomore Jessica Mangrobang from Chula Vista, California, is one of 10 named All-West Coast Conference in women’s golf and one of four underclassmen selected by the coaches.
Mangrobang played in all 10 events for the Zags this season, recording a 76.68 stroke average, almost a one-stroke improvement from her freshman season. Twice during the season she shot career-low scores of 222 for 54 holes and had two top-five finishes.
• Hunter Weitze, a Lewis-Clark State junior from Colfax, was the Frontier Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week for the second time this school year.
He had two even-par rounds of 72 (144) to finish second in a field of 37 at the six-team Bigfoot Invitational at The Links in Post Falls. His first honor came in October.
• Maggie Peters’ first medalist finish of the season earned the Whitworth sophomore from West Linn, Oregon, Northwest Conference Women’s Golf Student-Athlete of the Week honors. She shot 167 at the Pronghorn Resort in Bend, Oregon, for a four-shot win in the Willamette Spring Thaw and led the Pirates to a 57-stroke victory.
• Sean Langham, a North Idaho sophomore from Australia, was named NWAC Men’s Golf Player of the Tournament after he won the North Idaho league match at Avondale by two strokes, shooting 1-under-par 143, to lead the Cardinals to a 17-stroke victory in the 11 school field. It was Langham’s first medalist finish of the season.
• Whitworth senior Kayla Leland (Gonzaga Prep) was named Northwest Conference Women’s Track Student-Athlete of the Week for a second consecutive week after she ran the second-best steeplechase time in the nation at the Whitworth Twilight meet. Her time of 10 minutes, 42.92 seconds set a Boppell Track record.
• Whitworth’s Erica Lee is a 2018 second-team All-Northwest Conference women’s tennis selection. The sophomore from Sherwood, Oregon, moved up from No. 4 as a freshman to play No. 1 singles for the Pirates and joined junior Emma Jo Wiley at No. 1 doubles, where they compiled a 10-2 record.
• Sophie Whittle, a Gonzaga sophomore from Nipomo, California, was named the West Coast Conference Women’s Singles Tennis Player of the Week for a second time this season after she pushed her winning streak to eight with a pair of straight-set wins at No. 1 in conference play. She is 21-5 in singles, 7-0 in the WCC.
• The Gonzaga men’s No. 1 tandem, sophomore Sam Feit from Los Angeles and junior Ruadhan O’Sullivan from Australia, was named West Coast Conference Doubles Team of the Week after winning a pair of league matches to finish the season with a 13-6 record, including 4-2 in dual match play.
• Megan Carver, North Idaho’s versatile sophomore utility player from Auburn, Washington, was the Northwest Athletic Conference Softball Player of the Week after she went 7 for 11 with a double, triple and two home runs, two walks, scored six runs and drove in five for the Cardinals. Carver, who the Cardinals announced will continue her collegiate career at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida, is tied for fourth in the NWAC with a .516 batting average.
Golf
Pro Billy Bomar from Prairie Falls Golf Club in Post Falls shot a 5-over 149 to place ninth in the Pacific Northwest PGA Senior Players Championship last week at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla and lead the showing by area golfers.
Pro Mark Gardner from The Creek at Qualchan checked in with a 151 to tie for 17th.
Pro Jeff Coston from Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club in Blaine, Washington, was 1 over at 145 for a one-stroke victory.
In the team four-ball competition, Bomar and amateur partner Mike Kerns from Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Washington, were the only locals in the top 15, tying for fifth at 139.
Hall of Fame
Tyson Thivierge, who came out of Clarkston High School in 1998 to have a dominating wrestling career at Montana State-Northern highlighted by an NAIA national championship as a senior, will be inducted into the Northern Lights Athletic Hall of Fame on May 4 in Havre.
Thivierge, the Northern wrestling coach since 2008, had a second and two third-place finishes at the NAIA Nationals before winning it all in 2002, being named NAIA Wrestler of the Year and collecting a fourth first-team NAIA All-America honor. He graduated with the school record for career wins (136) and tied for first in career pins (53).
At Clarkston, he had top-five finishes at Mat Classic as a sophomore, junior and senior, capped by second place as a senior in 1998, and was first-team All-Frontier League those three years.
Letters of intent
Gonzaga men’s golf – Brentt Salas, Tumon, Guam.
WSU women’s swimming – Lauren Burkel, Albuquerque, New Mexico, breaststroke, IM.
Shooting
Two members of the Spokane Junior Rifle Club, Washington State women’s champion Cassidy Wilson and Mason Maystrovich, shot in the 2018 National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships that wound up last week at the US. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Wilson, 17, who is home-schooled, won the gold medal in the state championships in December to qualify for nationals. She placed 20th in the women’s J1 age division and 33rd overall out of 68 in 50-meter Smallbore 3-Position, shooting 2,239 out of a possible 2,400. In 10-meter Air Rifle Standing, she was 56th in J1 and 77th out of 183 overall, shooting 1,212.7 out of 1,308.
Maystrovich, 17, Northwest Christian, shot 566 in the men’s state championships to place sixth and qualify for nationals. He was 13th in the J2 age division in 50-meter Smallbore 3-Position and 53rd out of 61 overall with a score of 1,097 out of 2,400. In 10-meter Air Rifle Standing, he was 39th in J2 and 111th overall out of 171 with a 1,178.5.
Former SJRC member Maliya Hillman, 19, who attends the Air Force Prep School, placed 65th in J1 and 89th overall in women’s 10-meter Air Rifle Standing.