Dave Trimmer

Not long after multiple sclerosis struck Laura Schwanger, she found an outlet for her competitive urge. The former solider became involved in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games.

Life lessons don’t get much better than getting paid and having fun while discovering something that isn’t quite what you don’t want to do. Janelle Ruen found out life on the staff of a major college volleyball program isn’t a day at the beach.

Lyle Balderson isn’t running from anything these days, happily retired for almost 20 years. Of course it was running that got the former Spokane planning director to that point.

As if getting drafted in the top 10 of the National Hockey League draft wasn’t enough of a dream come true, Spokane Chiefs standout Jared Cowen got his wish of getting selected by a Canadian team. The 18-year old defenseman from Saskatchewan was taken ninth overall by the Ottawa Senators as the NHL held the first round of the 2009 draft in Montreal Friday night.

In a perfect world, Jared Cowen would find out on Friday his future in professional hockey would be based in Canada. However, in a perfect world Cowen would not be recovering from major surgery on his right knee that cut short his second season with the Spokane Chiefs.

From the lack of drama it might appear 2009 Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene winners Francisco Pontano and Tyler Stewart celebrated Father’s Day on Sunday with a jog in the park. That’s assuming anyone would consider 26.2 miles of a marathon after a 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bicycle ride such a simple endeavor.

Little did Heather Wurtele know when she won the Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene last year it would cost her her home. With Coeur d’Alene as the cherry on top of a successful season and with her husband, Trevor, showing promise as a triathlete, the Wurteles decided to take the plunge.

TACOMA – Baylee Mires’ teammates took no chances. There was too much at stake: a third gold medal, a team trophy and the title of first family of Spokane track for their tiny but tough-as-nails leader.

TACOMA – After a long day, when it didn’t appear that any area track teams with aspirations of a team trophy hurt themselves, the combined State 4A/3A/2A meet came to a wild close Friday evening at Mt. Tahoma High School. It started when Mead’s Keith Webber won the pole vault on his final attempt at 15 feet, 6 inches, followed shortly by teammate A.J. Maricich coming in third in a dramatic high jump competition and ended with Shadle Park’s Bo Schuetzle getting a gold medal in the long jump snatched away at the last moment.

Zach Robinson insisted he wasn’t fast as a youngster. That’s easy to dispute, but a check of Greater Spokane League sprint times in recent years confirms he wasn’t necessarily the fastest. However, the Lewis and Clark senior has always managed to win the District 8 title and the all-league recognition that goes with it three straight times.

Not every memory fades as time races on. “I can recall every step of that race,” Chris Lewis said of flirting with history. “I recall Shelton, when I ran the 4:04, and every step of the state mile and two mile.”

A volume of short stories and history lessons, the Eastern Regional 4A/3A track meet was everything but ordinary, not with what these young athletes did at Spokane Falls Community College on Saturday, the first 80-degree day of the year. The remarkable day began with East Valley winning the 3A boys shot put and girls discus. The winners were James Dorr, who will attend college in South Carolina on a volleyball scholarship, and Melissa Youmans, an alternative school senior who knew nothing about track a few months ago and is now a regional champ in the shot and discus.

When Joan Reinbold was East Valley’s first Lilac Princess 35 springs ago, she had a unique topic for the public speaking competition. “I remember speaking up for girls athletics, and health and fitness,” she said. “I remember my dad always said be who you are and be true to your convictions.”

Ferris junior Justin Zimmerman spent the week learning the pace he needed in order to run the 800 meters in the 1-minute, 52-second range. “I thought if I was able to run those times in the wind there was no telling what I could do in good conditions,” he said, especially since he set his personal record of 1:55 in the rain at Shoreline a couple of weeks ago.

Though Mead’s Greater Spokane League track title was just a formality, it was hard to tell from watching Kiersten Green. The Panthers senior had a full day of four events as Mead dispatched second-place Mt. Spokane 87-63 in the key matchup of a quadrangular meet Thursday afternoon at Mt. Spokane.

Taking a break from a rigorous track workout, Adrian Morris was pretty matter-of-fact. “I came from New Orleans because of everything,” the North Central senior said as he gulped air. “I lost my house, school, records, everything. All flooded out.” Which means Morris turned Hurricane Katrina turned into a positive, life-changing experience.

Kyle Rose likes to say how amazed he is that a handful of diabetics in a hotel room turned their passion for bicycling into big-time competition. He’s even more amazed he is now under the Team Type I umbrella.