Locally: CC of Spokane golf coach hits hole-in-one, wins pro-am in Pullman

Corey Prugh likes the number 1. Particularly as it relates to golf. Like the score on a hole. Or the finishing position in a tournament.

The Community Colleges of Spokane coach experienced both last week during the nearly-century-old Pacific Northwest Pro-Amateur Championship at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman.

Prugh collected the seventh hole-in-one of his playing career, and fifth in competition, on the 119-yard 16th hole during Thursday’s closing round to highlight a 22-under-par 122 (61-61) as he and boyhood friend and amateur partner Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake carved out a two-stroke victory in the 36-hole tournament.

“It was fun,” Prugh said of the ace. “Especially (when it comes) in competition.”

Writing down 1s on the scorecard, he admitted, “don’t add up very fast. That’s nice.”

“It was a good way to finish (the season), with a lot of birdies, and a ‘sparkly’ one there at the end,” he added, alluding to their 23 combined birdies and two eagles.

Prugh and Reid grew up together in Spokane.

“We’ve known each other about 37-38 years, I guess,” said the 40-year-old Prugh. “We took swim lessons together when we were 2 or 3.”

They played golf together at Ferris HS, went their separate ways to college – Prugh to Washington, Hatley to Arizona – and have played best-ball events together regularly since Hatley regained his amateur status in 2013.

This is the third PNW Pro-Am title for both. They paired to win it in 2013;

Hatley won it in 2007 as a pro with amateur Darren Titus; and Prugh teamed with his father, former Manito pro Steve Prugh, to win it in 1998.

The names of other area golfers dotted the leaderboard: Jeff Gove (Sandpoint) and Darren Slackman (The Creek at Qualchan) were third at 125; Loren Jeglum and Erick Johnson (both Palouse Ridge) were in a three-way tie for fourth at 125; and Derek Siesser (Indian Canyon) and Erik Olson (Snoqualmie Ridge) and David Nuhn (University of Idaho) and Kevin Tucker (Canyon Lakes) were involved in a three-way tie for eighth at 128.

College scene

After sweeping a road trip to the Rocky Mountains for the first time since 2015, shutting out Utah (1-0) and Colorado (2-0), Washington State women’s soccer swept Pac-12 weekly awards on Oc. 4 for the first time since the 2018 season.

Freshman Nadia Cooper was Goalkeeper of the Week while fifth-year Sydney Pulver was Defensive Player of the Week for their first weekly honors.

In seven career appearances and 495:00 minutes, Cooper had yet to concede a goal, setting a program freshman record and threatening the school’s all-time mark of 512:11. In addition to Pulver’s steady play on the back, she had an assist against Colorado. The shutouts gave WSU nine, including a perfect six-for-six on the road.

Cooper and the Cougars lost the shutout streaks in their next match, a 1-0 home loss to No. 14 Stanford on Oct. 7. The Cardinal scored in the 29th minute, the first goal Cooper yielded in 523:56 minutes and ended WSU’s program-record streak at 578:45.

• Two goals in Gonzaga’s first West Coast Conference game of the season, a 3-2 victory over San Diego, earned Bulldogs junior midfielder Frankie Ljucovic his first WCC Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week honor on Oct. 4. His second goal in the 69th minute was the winner.

• Whitworth athletes collected five Northwest Conference player-of-the-week awards for the week Sept. 28-Oct. 4, including sweeping volleyball honors.

Madison Lee, a senior OH from Mead, had 29 kills in 61 attempts in wins over UPS and PLU. She hit .300 with 17 kills, 19 digs and three block assists against the Loggers and hit .476 with 12 kills and a service ace against the Lutes to earn volleyball offensive honors. She leads the NWC in points per set and is tied in kills per set (4.25).

Kaity Barr, a sophomore MB who leads the NWC in blocks per set, earned volleyball defensive honors. Her stat line included 10 block assists in seven sets and four service aces.

Nate RaPue, the Pirates’ senior kicker, finally missed the first kick of his career, going two of three on field goals, including a career-long 49 yards, and was 4-for-4 on extra points to receive the football special teams award.

Caleb Belton, a grad student, finished eagle, par, birdie, par to charge from behind and claim medalist honors at the George Fox Invitational. His matching 69s for a 6-under 138 earned him a one-stroke victory and men’s golfer of the week award.

The NWC men’s soccer offensive award went to freshman Beckett Arthur, who scored three goals in two Pirates’ victories. He has nine goals in 10 matches to lead the NWC.

• It took 66 minutes, 12 seconds into his 12th collegiate soccer game for Central Valley grad Adam Jones to score the first goal of his career. Less than six minutes later, the Biola redshirt freshman forward scored his second and was named PacWest men’s soccer player of the week.

It was the seventh game of Biola’s fall season, a 4-0 victory over Academy of Art on Sept. 30, after Jones had started all five games of his true freshman season without a goal, but collecting one assist.

• The Chambers Creek College Open/NWAC Preview cross country meet on Oct. 2 at University Place, Washington, produced a pair of weekly conference awards for area runners.

Annika Esvelt, a Seattle Pacific sophomore from West Valley HS, was Great Northwest Athletic Conference Female Runner of the Week for the second time this season after her second victory, covering the 5k course in 18 minutes, 32.9 seconds for an 11-second victory.

The Northwest Athletic Conference men’s award went to Community Colleges of Spokane freshmen Anthony Carlascio, who was 12th overall and the second finisher from the NWAC on the course that will be the site of the conference championship meet this fall. He ran 8k in 26:15.

• Jack Prka, Carroll College’s freshman quarterback from Coeur d’Alene HS, was named Frontier Conference football offensive player of the week after he led the Fighting Saints to a come-from-behind, 28-21 road win over No. 23-ranked College of Idaho on Oct. 2.

Prka was 15 of 27 passing for 231 yards and two touchdowns, including hitting 5 of 7 passes for 134 yards on the game-tying and game-winning drives, capping the former with a 26-yard TD pass.

Softball

Spokane’s Stor A Way Storage Grey Sox went undefeated and won the gold medal in the men’s 65+ A Red Division at the Huntsman Games Senior Olympics last week in St. George, Utah.

The scheduled championship game between Stor A Way and the Texas Tornadoes was rained out, but because the Spokane team had defeated the Texans 14-12 in bracket play they were declared division champions. It was the fourth title and a second-place finish in five tournaments this year for Stor A Way, which was 3-0 both bracket and pool play in Utah.

Team members: Ron Klawitter, Allen Arnold, Dan Griffith, Tim Wheatley, Jack Parker, Jerry Coulter, Ray Gaines, John Hollett, Randy Willis, Lee Libera, Jim Polumbi.