Dave Trimmer

Fred McGaver still wrestling hard at age 40. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Games will be spread from Coeur d'Alene to Cheney when the 1996 AAU girls 18U and 16U tournaments are played in the Spokane area next month. Twelve sites have been selected for the tournaments, which run from July 6-13. The championship games are scheduled for Eastern Washington University on July 13. More than 100 teams from across the country are expected to compete.

John Nagel kicked the post and then the Shadow kicked the Bigfoot. The Spokane Shadow rallied from two goals down to defeat the Everett Bigfoot 3-2 in a game between USISL league leaders at Spokane Falls Community College Sunday evening. The Shadow let Craig Beeson slip free to score off a header in the 19th minute, and just 4 minutes later, Michael Brady's shot deflected past Nagel, the Spokane goalkeeper.

New Legion coaches with their bright new uniforms are, left to right, Keith Ward, Scott Rogers, Greg Gores, Lance Rickman and Robin Lund. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Graduating high school soccer players step out of the Shadow and into the spotlight Sunday afternoon. The best of the graduating players from the Frontier and Greater Spokane leagues meet prior to the Spokane Shadow's USISL game with Everett.

The legend of the Beast from the East continues to grow. Greater Spokane League athletes won 11 of 34 events and swept team titles as Star Track XIV ground to a halt late Saturday night in the Lincoln Bowl. Mead won its third straight boys State AAA track title, but that wasn't enough for the Big Blue Beast as the Panthers added their first girls team title. "We finally get to prove we can make a mark," senior Autumn Wood said after the girls escaped the shadow of a boys team that won for the fifth time in eight years.

Megan Franza of Cascade-Leavenworth has a 5-foot, 10-1/2-inch jump this season, a mark among the top 10 prep girls in the nation. Photo by Don Seabrook/Wenatchee World

Skaife

It's deja vu, deja vu. If that's possible, Dick Cullen has done it. The Mead soccer coach is going to the Final Four of the State AAA boys soccer tournament after taking the girls to the Final Four last fall. The girls Final Four was at Shoreline Stadium. The Panthers' semifinal foe was Shorecrest, which plays its home games at Shoreline Stadium. The boys Final Four is at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. The Panthers semifinal foe Friday night at 8 is Rogers of Puyallup (16-0-1), which plays its home games at. ...

Track meets are about races, and although none is a marathon, that may be exactly what the long State AAA meet becomes this weekend. The Mead boys have the potential to win their third straight title, but without their usual domination of distance events, the team race could go down to the wire. The same is true on the girls side, with Mead and Ferris expected to battle Garfield for the championship.

While the Ritzville golfers are chasing birdies today at Liberty Lake, most every other golfer in the field for the State A/B golf tournament will be chasing Broncos. Ritzville, the two-time defending girls champion, has qualified five golfers for the two-day, 36-hole girls tournament that begins this morning. <

Track The fine line between happiness and heartbreak remains razor-thin when the Greater Spokane League and Big Nine divvy up State AAA track berths. Eight records were broken and another was tied as the two leagues finished the two-day Eastern AAA regional meet to determine the 51 state entries for both boys and girls.

Golf/Track Most athletes in spring sports hope to make state this weekend by performing well in district and regional competition. For golfers, however, the waiting is almost over. State golf tournaments are Monday and Tuesday. The Ferris and Ritzville girls will be out to defend titles.

Aaron Walkup gives his team depth as backup goalkeeper on Mead's soccer squad. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

A Riverside High School track athlete was granted a temporary restraining order that allowed her to compete in the Frontier League championships Tuesday. Melanie Erickson and her parents, Larry and Susan Erickson, sought the restraining order in Superior Court after Melanie was suspended from the team because school officials said she violated the athletic code of conduct. Melanie, a senior who is student body president, ran in the 100 meters Tuesday at Eastern Washington University, but did not qualify for the finals. She will, however, be part of two Riverside relay teams when the meet continues Friday. The top finisher in each event advances to the State AA meet. She is a three-time state qualifier.

Mead's Ben Brodsky launches a header between Mark Leslie, left, and Travest Story of Kamiakin, helping the Panthers trounce the Braves in a first-round State AAA playoff game. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The Spokane Shadow squandered chance after chance but once they figured this scoring thing out, they made it look easy. The Shadow dominated a scoreless first half before a second-half outburst lifted them to a 3-0 victory over the Willamette Valley Firebirds in an USISL Western Premier Division soccer game at Spokane Falls Community College Saturday night. Chad Brown converted a nice pass from Kieran Barton to start the scoring and then Barton and Tim Seely secured the win with a pair of high, hard rockets.

The eye of the Tiger twinkles. That's because the sleek Tiger is an innocent freshman, hardly aware of what she accomplished Friday night at Spokane Falls Community College. Teresa Brooks' dramatic surge at the finish line gave Lewis and Clark the Greater Spokane League 1,600-meter relay crown and brought an end to an outstanding night of track.

The face of Washington high school athletics is changing. While there is some fear of the unknown, a lot of people are excited by the prospect. Some time will elapse before schools have the answer to their primary question: How many state playoff allocations will each league receive? "It's a challenge, and a lot of times that's fun," said Mead principal Steve Hogue of reallocation.

University senior Craig Allen would like to get some cooperation from Mother Nature in his bid to get to 7-1 in the high jump. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Lazarus Nyakeraka only has his shadow to keep him company as he lopes past Spokane Falls Community College at the halfway point of his front-running victory in the men's race. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Lazarus Nyakeraka 3. Paul Wiggins 4. Colleen DeReuck 5. Jean Driscoll

Frontier League schools and other small schools in Eastern Washington are facing a new frontier, one they didn't expect to see so soon. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association representatives assembly shocked local school officials by voting Saturday to add a fifth classification. "I just can't believe it passed," East Valley athletic director Karen Gilmore said. "I'm kind of sitting here in shock."

1. Redmond 2. Reed

Going up has often been the best part of Johannes Mabitle's day. He's hoping that holds true Sunday when he reaches Doomsday Hill during his first Bloomsday. Mabitle, a 28-year old South African who worked in a gold mine before he discovered distance running, is a dark horse behind a stable of Kenyan runners and countryman Simon Morolong in the elite field for the 20th annual 12-kilometer race. Mabitle's biggest concern isn't defending champion Josphat Machuka, still stuck in Nairobi with visa problems, but the 7.4-mile loop.