Dave Trimmer

The track and field head coaches at Mt. Spokane have opposite personalities, but they got the same results in big meets Thursday afternoon at Central Valley. Behind calm coach Bryan Payne, the Wildcats won the boys 1,600-meter relay to edge the Bears and previously unbeaten Shadle Park.

Training in sweats to prepare for heat is a tactic, but running uphill to make the finish seem easier isn't. That's just the way life is in Northport, no big deal to sprint star Chad Butorac, one of just three members of the Mustangs' boys track team.

Tyler Jolley has been introduced to steroids and that was all he needed to convince himself to stay away. "I met a guy on steroids once," said Jolley, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound junior football lineman and thrower at East Valley. "He was kind of nuts. He talked to me about it. He was a guy who looked like he should weigh 150 weighing about 250. He was massive. Wow! But he was weird and I was like, 'Leave me alone.' " It's clear steroids are out there, but there seems to be little evidence that area high school athletes are knocking down the doors to get to them.

Diligent training and proper nutrition are the foundation of success for high school athletes. But creatine, said Daniel Dami, Ph.D., can enhance that foundation if an athlete already works hard, eats right and will use the muscle-building supplement properly.

The coaches spent most of Thursday preparing their quarter-milers for a fantastic finish, but what were expected to be close meets didn't turn out that way. The big guns for the East Valley boys and North Central girls did what they needed to do, making the closing Greater Spokane League races at EV anticlimactic.

Those closest to Rashad Toussaint aren't afraid to put him out there – out in the public eye for what he can do and what he has done. They're predicting the slight West Valley senior could be the best triple jumper in state history.

Gonzaga women's basketball coach Kelly Graves interviewed with Oregon State officials on Monday about their job opening. "I did talk to Oregon State," Graves said in a telephone interview from Portland Monday night. "We just talked, that's all. I don't want to leave Spokane. The only negative is we went 27-3 and didn't get in (the NCAA Tournament). But we're happy in Spokane."

Danny Pariseau and Matt Nelson want to keep playing college basketball. They just decided to take their games elsewhere, with no hard feelings. The two Eastern Washington University starters and reserve Eric Henkel have decided to transfer following the Eagles' 8-20 season.

There only seems to be one significant difference between the Gonzaga and Brigham Young women's basketball teams. GU's Bulldogs finished the regular season 27-3, shattering all kinds of school records along the way.

MISSOULA – Winning at Montana has been a near impossible task for the Eastern Washington women's basketball team. Idaho State proved to be just as tough as the Grizzlies in Dahlberg Arena.