Whitworth Basketball Earns More Awards

Honors continue to come in for the 1995-96 Whitworth Pirates men’s basketball team.

Nate Dunham, Roman Wickers and coach Warren Friedrichs are members of the 1996 Little All-Northwest team.

Dunham, a 6-foot-6 senior forward from Almira, Wash., was earlier named to the NAIA Division II All-America team, and Wickers, a 6-2 senior guard from Houston, were selected to the Northwest’s first team. Friedrichs was named the Northwest coach of the year.

They were selected by a 30-person panel of regional sports writers and sports information directors.

The Pirates went to the championship game of the NAIA Division II national championships and were defeated by Albertson, 81-72.

BASKETBALL

Carl Hinton of Opportunity and his wife are in New York this weekend attending the NCAA Final Four, guests of Sprint as winner in the telephone company’s “Call the Final Four” promotion.

Hinton, 27, a United Parcel Service worker, called in his picks of Mississippi State, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Syracuse 48 minutes after the promotion began March 11.

“I just went through the brackets and those were the four teams left,” Hinton, who had never attended an NCAA tournament game, told Sprint. The promotion generated more than 60,000 calls, with five others correctly tabbing the Final Four. The second correct call came in an hour and a half after Hinton’s.

Gonzaga University men’s coach Dan Fitzgerald is involved in two special functions during this weekend’s NCAA Final Four in East Rutherford, N.J.

Fitzgerald was one of the coaches involved in the NCAA (Youth Education through Sports) youth clinic Saturday at St. John’s University. It is the sixth time Fitzgerald has participated in a clinic, which stresses academics, goal-setting, developing mental skills and transferring what athletes learn in sports to other areas of their lives.

Fitzgerald also will be one of several National Association of Basketball Coaches participating in the 1996 NABC Fan Jam prior to Monday’s championship game. He will talk basketball and interact with fans.

BASEBALL

The Tri-City Posse, 1995 Northern Division champions of the independent, eight-team Western Baseball League, will conduct open tryouts at two sites in April.

One will be at Tri-Cities Stadium, 6200 Burden Road, Pasco, April 20-21. The first will be April 13-14 at Bellevue Community College. They begin at 9:30 a.m. both days. Players must furnish their equipment and can attend one or both of the tryouts.

Longtime former Washington State coach Bobo Brayton is the Posse’s new manager.

Info: (509) 547-6773.

COLLEGE SCENE

Brian Guastella of Spokane (Gonzaga Prep) had six goals and four assists in 23 games as a right winger on the Hamilton College hockey team.

The sophomore has nine goals and 11 assists in two seasons at the Clinton, N.Y., school. Hamilton went 15-11-1, losing 5-4 in overtime to Amherst in the ECAC playoff title game after knocking off first the No. 4 seed then the No. 1 seed to make the championship game.

Willy Nunn of Spokane (Mead High School) runs the 800 and 1,500 meters for the Worcester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute track team.

GOLF

The Liberty Lake women’s 18-hole club will have its opening day Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at the clubhouse. A continental breakfast will be served.

HYDROPLANES

Reservations are being taken for food and non-food concession space at the Budweiser Columbia Cup unlimited hydroplane race July 26-28 in the Tri-Cities.

Info: (509) 547-2203.

SOCCER

Jay Stewart, public address voice of the Spokane Indians and Spokane Chiefs since 1993, will become the first radio play-by-play voice of the Spokane Shadow soccer team this summer.

The Shadow, members of the Western Premier Division of the USISL, and radio station KTRW announced all 22 home and road matches will be carried on The Score 970. No matches were broadcast last season.

Besides his P.A. work, Stewart has produced and helped broadcast Greater Spokane League football and basketball games the last two years.

The first broadcast will be the Shadow’s season-opener April 20 against the Seattle Sounders at 7 p.m. Soccer Tonight, a pregame show, will precede all broadcasts an hour before game time.

Tickets for the Shadow’s regular-season matches go on sale Monday through G&B Select-A-Seat (325-SEAT or 1-800-325-SEAT). Home matches will be played at Spokane Falls Community College.

Ticket prices are $6 for adults, $4 for children 12 and younger. Group rates and season-ticket packages are available by calling the Shadow at 535-8000.

SWIMMING

Fourth places by Joe Tidwell and Luke Wotruba highlighted the performance by Spokane Area Swimming members at the Speedo Junior National Championships last weekend in Federal Way, Wash.

Tidwell, a University High School senior who will be attending Nevada-Las Vegas on a swimming scholarship this fall, had three top-nine finishes. He was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke in 56.98 seconds, seventh in the 200 breast (2:04.37) and ninth in the 200 individual medley (1:52:40).

Wotruba, also a college-bound U-Hi senior, was fourth in the 200 butterfly in 1:50.89. He also was 16th in the 100 fly (50.84).

Other SAS results: Chris Wood, Lake City (Coeur d’Alene), 16th 100 free (46.30) and 24th 50 free (21.33). Jennifer Weidert, Mead, 36th 200 butterfly (2:07.81) and 40th 400 IM (4:33.15). Annie Warner, Central Valley, 50th 100 breast (1:07.75). Dana Morrell, Mead, 51st 200 back (2:08.65). Men’s 400 medley relay (Wood, Tidwell, Wotruba and Joe Covey, Centennial Middle School), 17th (3:31.94). Women’s 400 medley relay (Morrell, Warner, Weidert and Kelley Mattingly, Mead), 26th (4:00.94).

TAEKWONDO

Six of the eight Defense Arts Academy of Spokane members who participated in the Washington state TaeKwonDo championships last weekend in Bellevue placed first or second, qualifying for national meets.

Firsts went to Brandy Gillmore, 14, red belt, girls 14-15 lightweight; Jacob Gillmore, 13, red belt, boys 11-13 lightweight; and Geoffrey Palachuk, 8, all colored belts, 6-8 lightweight.

Earning seconds were Tony Morris, 13, black belt, boys 11-13 heavyweight; Dominic Schwebs, 13, black belt, boys 11-13 lightweight; and Danny Nguyen, 20, adult black belt, bantamweight.

Nguyen qualified for the U.S. Championships in May in Colorado Springs, Colo., while the others qualified for the Junior Olympic Nationals in July in Orlando, Fla.

Derek Nelson and Tom Pileggi also competed.

VOLLEYBALL

Two Spokane-area teams qualified for Junior Olympic National Championships by their performances in the Colorado Crossroads Tournament last weekend in Denver.

The 18-and-under Inland Empire Volleyball Club team placed second, losing to Team Mizzuno, from Northern California, 15-7, 15-8 in the title match. Team Mizzuno won the 1995 national championship and was the defending Crossroads champion.

The U-16 New Balance X-treme team, seeded 46th in the 62-team open division, placed third with an 8-1 record.

Inland Empire, which finished 11-2, was led by Joy Sperry of Wallace, named to the all-tournament team along with teammates Jessica Sanborn of Mead and Brandy Barratt of Gonzaga Prep.

Other team members: Haily Scofield, Clark Fork, Idaho; Stacey Moline, Tiwi Bond, Mandy Ringhand and Brea Sordoff of Sandpoint; Angie Shirley and Olivia Sementi, Coeur d’Alene; Erika Robinson, Lewis and Clark; Megan Allison, Warden; and Leah Wiiest of Deer Park.

X-treme members are: Erin Naipo, LC; Missy Blackshire, Janelle Morrisette and Julie Weatherred, Ferris; Abby Hornstein, Krista Nelson and Kortney Stewart, Mead; Michelle Etter, Shadle Park; Jana Juston, Northwest Christian; and Chantelle Frost, West Valley.

The Gonzaga University women’s team will conduct its seventh annual recreational players and coaches clinic April 26-27 in the Martin Centre. It will include 12 hours of instruction by GU players and coaches, a tournament and a social hour.

Info: 328-4220, ext. 6376.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo