UI, Ewu Struggle; Msu Women Wait

The University of Idaho women’s cross country team managed just a seventh-place finish at Big Sky Cross Country Championships while the UI men finished in eighth place despite Frank Bruder’s run of 31 minutes, 22.5 seconds, which was good enough for 13th place at the District VII Championships at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Montana State walked away with the women’s 5-kilometer title with 40 points as four of their runners finished in the top 10. The Bobcats finished off a tough Weber State team which finished with 55 points, followed by Boise State (83).

Former Mead High runner Emily Thompson finished 20th with a time of 17:53 for Montana State. The MSU women will learn Monday if they earn an at-large bid to the NCAA championships.

In the men’s 10K Northern Arizona used three top-five finishes to win the team title with 30 points. Boise State finished a distant second with 57 points, followed by Montana State (62).

Eastern Washington’s men finished seventh in the Big Sky while the women finished eighth.

District III

At Greenville, S.C., former Rogers High runner Jessica Fry, now running for the University of Alabama, qualified for the Nov. 20 championships at Ames, Iowa, as she finished the 3.1-mile course in fourth place with a time of 18:09. Fry was 9 seconds behind the winner.

District VIII

Oregon’s Karl Keska won the men’s race as the Ducks and Stanford captured all four automatic team berths in the NCAA District 8 cross country championships at Woodland, Wash.

In individual results, Mead grad Matt Davis finished fifth overall in the men’s 10K competition with a time of 30:38.5.

In team results, Gonzaga’s men finished 11th with 336 points while the women finished 12th at 357. Washington State’s women finished ninth at 227.

Volleyball

Tenth-ranked Washington State beat Oregon State 15-8, 12-15, 15-6, 15-2 before 1,563 fans in Bohler Gym.

WSU recorded its 20th win of the season and 12th win in the Pacific-10 Conference against four losses. Oregon State fell to 11-15, 5-11.

WSU’s Sarah Silvernail led the Cougars with 18 kills.

Idaho beat Montana 15-5, 15-9, 15-4 at Missoula to end the Big Sky regular season.

The Vandals hit a season-high .435 as a team, while all-America candidate Tzvetelina Yanchulova finished with 25 kills.

The Vandals (25-4, 13-1) will host the Big Sky Tournament next Friday and Saturday and will open first-round play against in-state rival Boise State on Friday night at 7:30.

Idaho State, seeded second, will take on Northern Arizona in the first game of the tournament on Friday at 5 p.m. Montana finished its season at 13-13, 7-7.

Gonzaga avenged an earlier loss this season by defeating San Francisco 15-7, 15-7, 15-11 in a West Coast Conference league match at San Francisco.

GU’s Wendy Wilson had 14 kills, and the Bulldogs had a .355 hitting percentage in what was their second win in their last three meetings. GU is 5-25 on the season and 3-10 in conference. USF (9-23, 2-10) fell into last place in the WCC.

Eastern Washington put up a spirited fight but was defeated by Montana State 15-5, 11-15, 15-12, 10-15, 15-11.

EWU’s Kim Exner and Kellie Glaus finished with 19 and 14 kills, respectively.

Wrestling

North Idaho College’s Ben Shane was named the outstanding wrestler in the 21st annual North Idaho Takedown Tournament as he registered 19 takedowns in tournament competition.

In the championship round, Shane, at 134 pounds, defeated Central Washington’s Chad Hendricks.

In other final round results involving NIC champions, at 118 pounds, NIC’s Dan Vega defeated Jeff McKinlay (Unattached), 3-0; 142: Bob Presta (North Idaho) defeated Jim Nispel (Highline), 1-0; 150: Matt Armstrong (North Idaho) defeated Loyd Martindale (Clackamas), 1-0; 167: Jason Moaney (North Idaho) defeated Seth Kernodle (North Idaho), 4-0.

Women’s soccer

UCLA’s women’s soccer team achieved its goal of reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time ever but was unable to go any further, losing a first-round playoff game to Washington 2-1 at UCLA on Saturday.

Washington will play Portland in the second round.

Spokane Community College used Kerri Stockwell’s first-half goal and the 13 saves of goalie Amy Schmidt to beat Skagit Valley 1-0 to earn a trip to the NWAACC playoffs. CCS (7-6-1) will play Columbia Basin on Thursday at 1 p.m at Pop Kenney Stadium at Bothel.

, DataTimes