Spokane Will Have To Wait For Star Track

In May, Spokane plays host to the championships of high school Class AAA spring sports except for track.

After a one-year absence, coaches and track fans lobbied the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association to revive Star Track, the combined Class AAA and AA state meet held in Tacoma for a dozen years.

However, Spokane will apparently get to see Star Track in 1997. The Class AA championships will be in Spokane along with Star Track that year.

Next year, Spokane plays host to the complete Class A/B Springfest.

The WIAA approved Springfest sites through 2000 at its December executive board meeting.

Spokane gets Class AA Springfest in 1998, but without Star Track. To have the 1997 Star Track with the Class AA Springfest, Spokane Falls Community College must increase the seating capacity for track.

The A/B Springfest returns in 1999 with Class AAA, minus track, in 2000.

The executive board also approved a five-year contract with the Spokane arena for the State B basketball tournament to be in Spokane for the next five years. The WIAA is negotiating to have AAA volleyball remain in Spokane and B volleyball in Cheney the next five years.

Pains in the back

Medical Lake, ranked No. 1 among Class A boys in the latest Associated Press poll, lost its first game of the year Saturday when it played without two starters.

Cardinals juniors LeMar Bailey and Dan Huston are rehabilitating from back injuries. Lakeside took advantage of short-handed Medical Lake (8-1) during a 54-39 win.

Huston, a point guard, practiced Tuesday and is “about 60-percent” healed, said coach Dave Olzendam.

Bailey was attempting a layup against Colfax on Friday when a defender landed on top of his back. He’s expected back in two weeks.

Both players were averaging eight points per Northeast A League game.

Despite the injuries, Olzendam credited Lakeside on the win and said the league - with Chewelah, Riverside, Freeman and Newport taking their shots - is as tough as he’s seen it.

Stars return?

Central Valley girls basketball coach Dale Poffenroth is trying to revive the statewide girls basketball all-star game for graduating seniors. Coaches interested in resuming the girls all-state game, last played in 1991, should contact Poffenroth.

No Miller time

Ferris standout gymnast Liz Miller will miss the rest of the season because of an injury to her knee.

Miller injured her knee while performing on the uneven bars during a four-way Greater Spokane League meet at Central Valley in mid-December.

Miller, a junior, won the all-around competition at last year’s District 8-AAA meet.

Coach dies Touchet boys basketball coach Justin Schurtleff, 29, died Dec. 26 in a head-on crash on Hwy. 12 near Walla Walla.

Schurtleff’s pickup collided with a car driven by Salomon Martinez, 25, of Walla Walla, who also died in the crash. Martinez had driven across the center line. Foggy conditions contributed to the accident.

Jennifer McClure, 21, the Touchet girls basketball coach, was slightly injured in Schurtleff’s car during the wreck.

Notable

The Greater Spokane League and Big Nine received a waiver from the WIAA executive board to have two basketball games in one day at the Eastern AAA regional tourney. Two games are needed to determine state tourney berths because the combined allotment for the two leagues has been cut from four to three.

Tacoma officials have expressed an interest in having the Kingbowl championship football games moved from the Kingdome to the Tacoma Dome.

The WIAA is drafting a policy to allow schools to display one sponsor’s name or log, no longer than 1 inches by 1 inches, on uniform shorts or warmups.