Junior High School Foul Shooter Earns A Berth In National Finals

It’s three down and one to go for Sarah Steblaj of Spokane. Next stop: Springfield, Mass. Steblaj, 13, a seventh-grader at Horizon Junior High, won the girls 12-13-year-old division in the regional finals of the Elks National Hoop Shoot competition in Portland.

Sarah, who made 22 of 25 free throws to qualify for the May 4 finals, earlier won local and district titles.

Sarah, who plays basketball at Horizon and also on the Nothing But Net AAU team, said she practices “almost every night.

“My friend, Robin (Silvey), lives across the street and she has a really big court, so I go over there.”

She shoots 25 to 50 a night to keep her edge.

Baseball

Charley Lau Jr. will be the featured instructor at the first Kootenay baseball/softball hitting school Saturday and Sunday at Trail, British Columbia.

Lau, son of the longtime former major-league hitting instructor, works with such established hitters as Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Tony Gwynn.

The school, for ages 8 and older, costs $100 Canadian. Apply by Wednesday.

Info: (800) 635-5894.

College scene

Three members of the Whitworth women’s team have earned recognition from the NAIA as swimming and diving All-American Scholar-Athletes.

Honored were Lea Stenerson, who has a 3.83 grade-point average in physical education; Jan Okada, 3.74, P.E.; and Shannon Braun, 3.56, sports medicine.

Matt Sellman of Lewiston, who swims for Pacific Lutheran, made the men’s team (3.61, secondary education).

Robin Orth of Nine Mile Falls is the first shooter in Air Force Academy history to become an eight-time All-American when he captured honors for the fourth straight year in both .22 rifle and air rifle at the NCAA championships last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Orth, a senior, placed fourth in .22 rifle and 11th in air rifle to help the Falcons finish second in the team competition.

Todd Kinley of Spokane (Lewis and Clark) is 8 for 19 (.421) with a double and five runs scored while playing center field for Wheaton College as the Wheaton, Ill., baseball team has started 1-4.

Mike Craven, a sophomore from Spokane (Ferris), helped Whitman College repeat as U.S. Collegiate Ski Association four-way national champion last weekend.

Craven, also a member of last year’s title team, placed 13th in the giant slalom and 22nd in the slalom for the Missionaries’ alpine team. Earlier, Craven won one of five races as Whitman took a third straight league title.

Whitman’s women’s team also repeated as USCSA four-way national champion.

Liz Sadler of Spokane (St. George’s), a freshman at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., averaged 1.5 points and 1.3 rebounds as a reserve on the Continentals women’s basketball team. She was sixth on the 11-14 team in both assists and steals.

Jake Schmidt, a Muhlenberg College junior from Spokane (Mead), was named to the District II GTE College Division men’s academic all-district at-large soccer team with a 3.65 grade-point average in economics.

Schmidt, backup goalie at the Allentown, Pa., school, started seven matches and compiled a 1.12 goals-against average, good enough to earn all-conference honorable mention. The Mules went 16-1-4 and won a second straight league title.

Golf

The MeadowWood women’s 18-hole club will have a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the clubhouse.

The Esmeralda Early Birds women’s club will open the season April 2 with registration at 7:30 a.m. and breakfast at 8. Tee times start at 9.

Info: Ruth Headstrom, 534-8465.

Handball

Jerry Skogstad of Spokane placed second in the golden masters (ages 55-60) division at the National Masters Handball Championships in Tucson, Ariz., last weekend.

Jim Slavin Sr. of Spokane had a top-eight finish in the 70-75-year-old division.

Hockey

North Central High students Cam Werfelman and Jeremy Hare have been selected to play for Team Washington in the Chicago ShowCase high school hockey tournament April 17-20.

Werfelman, a right wing, and Hare, a center, played this season for the Spokane Braves of the Kootenay International Junior League.

Shooting

Spokane-area marksmen made a big medal haul at the NRA Sectional Championships in Whitefish, Mont., last weekend.

Darius Young of Malo, Wash., won gold in international pistol and silver in both air pistol and conventional pistol; Patrick Kelley of Spokane won silver in international pistol and bronze in air pistol; and Scott Hogan of Spokane won the bronze in conventional pistol.

Scores from this and other sectional meets will be used to determine overall NRA national rankings.

Synchronized swimming

Beth Moore and Megan Murphy of Spokane will compete in the West Zone Senior Championships this week in Poway, Calif., after swimming in the U.S. Junior National Championships last week in Irving, Texas.

Moore (Northwood Junior High) and Murphy (LC) placed 53rd out of 60 teams at the Junior Nationals. As a trio with Nikki Velategui (University), they placed 40th out of 42 teams. All also swam solo.

Track and field

Team Spokane will hold a second registration meeting for junior high and middle school athletes Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Stevens Elementary School, 1717 E. Sinto.

Info: Ken Bailey, 535-8342.

Wrestling

Ron Seibel, longtime wrestling coach at Moses Lake High, has been honored as National Coach of the Year.

Miscellany

Two-time world decathlon champion Dan O’Brien, the former University of Idaho standout, will be the featured speaker at the American Red Cross Lifesavers Awards Luncheon on Friday at the Spokane Club, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Reservations are available for $20 by sending a check to: American Red Cross, Att: Lifesaver Awards, 315 W. Nora, Spokane 99205. Proceeds benefit local emergency preparedness programs and other Red Cross services.

Info: (509) 326-3330.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Calling all camps The Spokesman-Review’s annual list of area summer sports camps is scheduled for publication April 21. Deadline for submitting camp information is Friday, April 12. This will be the only opportunity to publish summer sports camp information.