Dave Trimmer

Gold was a little hard to come by for area girls at the state cross country meet at Sun Willows Golf Course – Riverside won the 1A championship – but there were plenty of outstanding performances, including a couple of amazing records.

It’s a testament to Spokane area distance runners that it’s easier to say what didn’t happen Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course rather than what did during the state cross country gathering.

RICHLAND – On fourth-and-1, Bishop Sankey was stonewalled at the line of scrimmage but he kept his legs churning to surge past the line, then he ran through a tackle and suddenly he was in the end zone after a 57-yard sprint. That was the game right there. Not because that score produced a Gonzaga Prep win, but because the Richland defense forced the Bullpups to take that kind of risk on the fourth play of the second half.

For the most part the Bombers contained Bishop Sankey and the Bullpups had nothing else to offer, losing 21-7 in the 4A football play-in game at Fran Rish Stadium on Friday night.

Tennessee senior Angie Bjorklund (University) has been the headliner of the big Spokane-area Division I class of 2007. Area fans got a chance to see Bjorklund two years ago when Tennessee paid a visit to Gonzaga. It is conceivable she will return to Spokane in the NCAA tournament. Bjorklund is the only Spokane native with a NCAA championship ring, earned her freshman year when she was the SEC Freshman of the Year. There have been ups and downs, including the Lady Vols’ first-round loss in the tournament her sophomore year.

Coaches get old quickly with games like Coeur d’Alene’s thrilling 19-14 win over Lake City on Friday night. Try playing a game like that two weeks in a row.

Coaches get old quickly with games like Coeur d’Alene’s thrilling 19-14 win over Lake City Friday night.

The Spokane Chiefs’ 4-2 loss to Red Deer Saturday night wasn’t quite the disaster the Western Hockey League game seemed at the time, but it certainly qualifies as a learning experience. “We haven’t reached that status of being considered one of the upper-echelon teams because upper-echelon teams know what the word consistency is,” Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur said Tuesday.

The Spokane Chiefs’ 4-2 loss to Red Deer Saturday night wasn’t quite the disaster the Western Hockey League game seemed at the time, but it certainly qualifies as a learning experience.

The Spokane Chiefs’ 4-2 loss to Red Deer Saturday night wasn’t quite the disaster the Western Hockey League game seemed at the time, but it certainly qualifies as a learning experience.

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to know how the Spokane Chiefs played Saturday night. Coach Don Nachbaur used phrases “laid an egg” and “out to lunch” and “lost our composure” to describe his team’s effort in a 4-2 loss to the Red Deer Rebels.

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to know how the Spokane Chiefs played Saturday night. Coach Don Nachbaur used phrases “laid an egg” and “out to lunch” and “lost our composure” to describe his team's performance in a 4-2 loss to the Red Deer Rebels.

There was no way the North Central boys cross country team was going to lose on Wednesday, not with the Greater Spokane League title on the line, not with perfect conditions at Plantes Ferry Park and certainly not with a chance that anything less than the best could cost a chance at a fifth straight state championship. So they didn’t.

There was no way the North Central boys cross country team was going to lose on Wednesday, not with the Greater Spokane League title on the line, not with perfect conditions at Plantes Ferry Park and certainly not with a chance that anything less than the best could cost a chance at a fifth straight state championship.

Brenden Kitchton, in his first action after a preseason hand injury, assisted on a pair of power-play goals as the Chiefs ended a 0-for-24 drought with the man advantage in a 3-1 win over Everett on Saturday night at the Arena, the Silvertips’ first road game of the Western Hockey League season.

The numbers are alarming, but Don Nachbaur isn’t panicking for a number of reasons. The Spokane Chiefs’ power play is limping along at a 14.6 percent success rate – thanks to a current 0-for-24 streak, heading into Saturday night’s Western Hockey League game against the Everett Silvertips at the Arena – with more issues than goals.

The familiar voice wasn’t cheering and the postrace hug was missing, but Jamie Lambie knows her mother saw every step as she helped Central Valley race to the Greater Spokane League championship on a glorious Wednesday afternoon. “I have to think my mom’s here and she’s with me the whole time,” Lambie said after the Bears’ pack rolled past Mead in the final quarter mile at Audubon Park. “Even though she’s not here any more, she’s watching over me. Everything I’m doing, she’s with me.”