Jim Allen

Eastern Washington University basketball coach Jim Hayford has a new five-year contract and a big raise, the school confirmed Friday. After agreeing in principle on a new deal, Hayford and the Eagles made it official this week with a five-year contract worth $117,000 a year, not including incentives.

Eastern Washington University basketball coach Jim Hayford has a new five-year contract and a big raise, the school confirmed Friday.

Eastern Washington is No.1 … in the magazine aisle at your local supermarket.

This is the last in a series of four stories from a fledging backpacker’s perspective as he learns what it takes to be a mountaineer. I hope backpacking class isn’t graded on a curve, because I flunked the first test.

Golf science is advancing faster than the eye can see. At the workshop of Kelly Crumpler in Nine Mile Falls, it’s moving at 50,000 frames a second, fast enough to capture every hitch and every loss of swing speed.

Rooting for the underdog comes a little easier at Eastern Washington University, especially when your leader is one. On Wednesday night at Showalter Hall, the athletic department held its sixth annual EeeWoos event, honoring student-athletes for their deeds on and off the field. For one night at least, there were no minor sports; nominees and winners from volleyball, women’s basketball and track and field drew the biggest cheers.

There’s a lot to like about this year’s Ferris boys soccer team – besides the fact that the Saxons are two wins from a state title. “They have a lot of heart, and as far as technical ability, they’re among the best we’ve had,” said coach Robin Crain, who figures to see both qualities tested in Friday night’s State 4A semifinal game in Puyallup against top-ranked Skyview of Vancouver.

As it turned out, Riverside State Park was the perfect setting for Mother’s Day brunch. And I was the chef.

As the thrill of last year’s state title gave way to the hard work of a new season, Cheney boys soccer coach Mark Kiver wasn’t worried. “I just try to put the players in the right spots,” Kiver said. “I don’t have to tell them.”

The Ferris boys soccer team took care of business, all right. That took about 15 minutes – all the time the Saxons needed to score three goals on the way to a 6-0 win Wednesday night over visiting Cascade (Everett) in a first-round State 4A match.

The goals came a little harder, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm after Cheney earned another district soccer title Thursday afternoon. Actually, Blackhawks coach Mark Kiver was plenty damp from an ice-water bath that punctuated the Blackhawks’ gritty 2-0 win over Pullman for the District 7 2A title – familiar territory for the defending state champions.

Eastern Washington is in “agreement mode” on a new five-year contract for basketball coach Jim Hayford, athletic director Bill Chaves said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s not finalized, but it’s going through the process,” confirmed Chaves, who said that the deal is both a reward and a key piece in building stability in a program that has known little since the Eagles’ move to Division I in 1983.

Eastern Washington hammer thrower Jordan Arakawa looks nothing like Thor, but he probably has better technique. “They say it takes 10,000 throws to master the event,” said Arakawa, a junior from Olympia whose methodical approach has landed him among the nation’s elite throwers. As the Eagles fly to Flagstaff, Arizona, for this week’s Big Sky Championships meet, Arakawa ranks 13th in the NCAAs and seventh in the Western Region with a best of 219 feet, 8 inches.