Dave Trimmer

Ryan Whitaker needed two putts. He made one. When the Cle Elum senior missed a 4-foot birdie attempt on the final hole at Hangman on Wednesday afternoon, his two-year reign as the State A/B boys golf champion ended.

University's 400-meter relay team (front to back): Mike Turner, Tim Buchanan, Anthony Buchanan and Jason Berger. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

Britney Holt is willing to tip her cap to anyone who can beat her - just as long as it isn't Britney Holt. The Mead senior tees off at the Yakima Elks course today to begin defense of the State AAA girls golf championship with just one thing in mind. "I don't really care if I win, if I play well," Holt said after wrapping up the District 8 title. "I love to win, of course. Everybody loves to win. But if you win and you don't really play well, it doesn't mean much." One of the premier golfers in the Greater Spokane League the past three season, Holt admits she lost her focus midway through the season. "I lost my mental game for a while. I didn't have the confidence I usually have," she said. "I didn't have much interest in golf. I don't want to sound bad, but I was kind of frustrated playing like I was. Even though I was winning, I didn't live up to my expectations." Her game came around at the end of the season when she was matched against the best in the league. A slight adjustment in her swing and she shot a 73 at MeadowWood to close out her third District 8 championship.

REPLAY: Sports, May 28, 1997 Lakeside's Matt Colyar cleared 12 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault at the District 7-A track meet at Central Valley High School. Freeman's Andy Schmidt (12-0) finished second. Both athletes qualified for the state meet. The pole vault results were omitted from Sunday's edition. Lakeside's Mark Smith, left, finishes first in the 400 relay in front of Freeman and Medical Lake runners. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

What makes track meets great is, when athletes fall, physically or emotionally, they can pick themselves up and keep going. That seemed to be the theme at the Eastern AAA regional track meet at Central Valley on Saturday, where the top three in each event qualified for state next weekend in Tacoma.

Records are made to be broken, but that wasn't enough at the Eastern AAA regional track meet. Destroyed might be a better choice of words for the first day of the Eastern AAA regional track meet at Central Valley Friday night. It started early - when University senior Jason Berger smoked his heat of the 100-meter dash in 10.83 seconds - and continued late - when Eisenhower senior Nike Sylve went 21.69 in his heat of the 200. The previous 100 mark was 11.03, and in the 200 it was 22.06.

FROM SPORTS REPLAY (Wednesday, May 28, 1997): St. George's tied Reardan for its first boys Northeast B high school district track championship last Friday with 106 points. The story and results summary incorrectly said the Dragons finished third.

It's early in the season for the Spokane Shadow soccer team but forgive coach Sean Bushey if he spends a moment or two dreaming about the future. Heading into this weekend's game, the Shadow is sporting a 4-0 record in the USISL Premier League Northwest Division, 5-0 overall. Down in Jackson, Miss., the Chargers are running away with the Mid-South Division.

Shadle Park High School's top triple-jumper, Sam Glanzer, hopes to exceed a 46-foot leap at the regional track and field championships this weekend. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Oliver Cook has a personal best of 44 feet, 1/2 inch in the triple jump. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

NC's Bobby Johnson (12) battles in midair with Eisenhower's Josh Braun (10). NC won 1-0. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

It wasn't a typical Spokane Shadow soccer game but it had a typical ending. Brett Houck's tap-in goal in the 53rd minute gave the Shadow a 1-0 win over the Cascade Surge before 1,358 at Albi Stadium Saturday night.

District 8-AAA track and field The Central Valley girls put their eggs in one basket and they're turning out to be golden. Led by senior sprint star Whitney Schmaljohn, the Bears swept the three relays at the Greater Spokane League District 8 track meet Friday evening at CV, setting two meet records to highlight the regional qualifying meet.

Prep track In a well-run 200 meters, the best runners blast out of the corner like they were propelled by a slingshot. Jason Berger and Whitney Schmaljohn shot into the record book - along with four other Greater Spokane League athletes - Thursday night on the fast Central Valley track.

Jennifer Tissue has to do her student teaching before she can enter the work world, but her postgraduate education begins next week. The former Shadle Park and Whitworth star is going to spend the summer playing soccer for the San Francisco Night Hawks in the USISL women's league.

It was amazing that North Central beat Ferris for the District 8 boys soccer title Tuesday night and even more amazing how the Indians did it. NC, blistered 7-0 in the regular-season meeting, battled the Saxons to a shootout.

Britney Holt sent a message. Ferris added a postscript.

Good, better and best. It was hard to tell which was which, but that sums up the way Greater Spokane League golfers scored Indian Canyon on Monday during the 24-team Inland Empire High School Tournament.

It was the kind of game the best team knows it's lucky to win. Make that lucky it didn't lose.

Whitney Schmaljohn practices the handoff for relay races. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Shadow defenseman Stuart Saunders was an All-American at Whitworth. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

1. Julie Sawatzky of Shadle Park clears 5 feet in the high jump Thursday on her way to a winning leap of 5-1. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. Allie Bailey of Mead wins the girls 100-meter hurdles to help grab a league title. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

East All-Stars include, from left: Bryce Stack, Lewis and Clark; Scott McGlocklin, Mead; Joe Collier, Mead; Jeff Lafferty, Shadle Park, and Ty Gregorak, West Valley. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., exults as she crosses the finish line with her ninth consecutive triumph in Bloomsday's women's open wheelchair division. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review