Mike Vlahovich

East Valley and University took major steps toward divisional titles as Greater Spokane League wrestling reached its season's midpoint. With the Knights 45-15 win over Central Valley and the Titans' 54-16 win over Gonzaga Prep, both are 3-0. U-Hi is the only unbeaten team remaining in the National Division of the GSL entering the holiday break.

There is a certain enigmatic quality about the noncounting basketball teams among Greater Spokane League schools. Are they an indicator of things to come when the league officially begins Jan. 4? Or are coaches using them to get a feel for their players, meaning all bets are off after the holidays.

Not yet 2 years old, Kathryn DeVleming's life became progressively shrouded in silence because of a congenital hearing defect. The resulting profound deafness did not prevent the Clarkston basketball player from living normally in an auditory world, thanks to a miracle of modern technology.

East Valley's margin for error in Wednesday's Greater Spokane League wrestling match at Mt. Spokane was nearly as thin as Jordan Jolley's overtime escape at match's midpoint. Jolley rolled free from Jake Reynolds as time expired in their 171-pound match during EV's eventual 36-28 escape, and was awarded the winning point for a 7-6 decision that could have gone either way.

North Central girls basketball coach Dave Hall couldn't remember if the Indians had begun a season 3-0. They did Friday night with their 56-54 non-league comeback win over visiting Clarkston.

Only a sophomore and only three games into her varsity basketball career, University's Dara Zack has already picked up a couple of nicknames. Her coach, Mark Stinson, calls her Dennis Rodman with good citizenship. Some of her teammates, said Zack, "call me 'The Janitor.' I pick up the trash."

University's girls basketball team finished an impressive first week of the basketball season with its third in win five days, all coming against highly regarded statewide programs. And its 67-34 victory over Kentlake in the East-West Classic at Gonzaga University was every bit as convincing as the 33-point margin indicates. Particularly considering it was accomplished against a team ranked ninth in pre-season polls, with the Titan starters watching from the bench for the entire fourth quarter.

In a rematch of schools that had met a week earlier in the State 4A football semifinals, Gonzaga Prep got off to a slow start against Evergreen from Vancouver in the third annual East-West Classic basketball series in The (old) Kennel at Gonzaga University. But coach Mike Haugen wouldn't blame the 68-54 loss on the fact that several Bullpups were playing their first game because of the football delay.

It's not how you start, the axiom goes, but how you finish. But it was the minutes in the middle that mattered in University's 68-56 win over visiting Snohomish. The Titans trailed 17-4 to the hot-starting visitors because of taut defense and 6-for-7 shooting, including two 3-point baskets.

West Valley boys basketball coach Jamie Nilles said there's never a dull moment when his junior-dominated Eagles take to the court. "As the old saying goes, we bent but didn't break," Nilles said after the Eagles' 53-47 victory over University on a non-league night for Greater Spokane League teams.

Several games hold considerable interest in the third annual East-West Classic basketball series Saturday at Gonzaga University. But one of the local teams, University's girls, will already be coming off an important non-league test. The Titans, ranked No. 2 in state, play third-ranked Snohomish at home tonight before taking on No. 9 Kentlake at 1 p.m. in Martin Centre.

Unlike his state champion brother Isaac (in 1995 and 1996) and sister Emily (1997), cross country runner Peter Hawkins has received little individual recognition. But as the No. 5 runner on Ferris's distance team, Hawkins accomplished something his elder siblings didn't as an important component on back-to-back team state-title wins.

It's been a while, maybe never before, that a University girls basketball team won a breather in a game against rival Central Valley. But with a healthy Angie Bjorklund on the court beginning with the season's opening whistle, it took only two minutes to determine where the game was headed.

The hurt lingered long after Lewis and Clark and University girls basketball seasons ended in non-placing disappointment at state. LC, in particular, had made a return trip to Tacoma for the 4A tournament, expectations high after having placed a surprising fifth the year before.

East Valley wide receiver Grant Bruscoe was distraught following East Valley's season-ending State 4A quarterfinal loss, 41-32 to visiting Kelso. Bruscoe, a senior who snagged 16 passes for 297 yards and six touchdowns during the regular season, had completed another remarkable game, with seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.

These are busy times for local distance runners. Last weekend several were involved in the annual Border Clash pitting boys and girls teams from Washington and Oregon against one another.