Whits Hoping On Long Shot

Official word comes Thursday, but the Whitworth College men’s basketball team doesn’t expect to return to the NAIA Division II championship tournament.

“Because of what happened over the weekend with the other tournaments around the country, I can’t see Whitworth getting a bid,” sports information director Steve Flegel said.

Whitworth, second in the nation last year, lost to Lewis & Clark in an NCIC semifinal game, then regular-season champion Pacific beat LC in the title game 88-79 to earn an automatic berth into the national tournament. LC most likely will earn an at-large berth.

In the NCIC women’s final, Puget Sound beat Pacific Lutheran 84-66 for the automatic berth.

Miscellany

Joe Kopp of Mica completed a successful tour of the southeast with a win and a runner-up finish in a pair of American Motorcycilist Association (AMA) races.

Sunday, Kopp led until he was passed on the last lap by Will Davis and settled for second in a Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series event in Barberville, Fla.

Friday night in Savannah, Ga., Kopp won the opening round of the AMA Hot Shoe racing series, which visits Spokane’s Playfair Race Course on July 2nd.

West Valley graduate Tim Hanshaw, a San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman, has been allocated to play for London of the World League of American Football.

, DataTimes