Another Veteran Coach Retiring At Rogers
Another era is coming to a close at Rogers, where softball coach Paul Cooley is retiring after 30 years.
Cooley, like recent Rogers retirees Ken Pelo (wrestling) and Jim Paton (baseball), proved year after year that athletes who didn’t succeed in other sports at the northside school could succeed in theirs.
Cooley student-taught at Rogers and began his career at age 20. His Rogers coaching time stretches over 24 years and includes football, track and field, tennis, and boys and girls basketball. He helped the Pirates win the State AAA girls track and field title in 1986.
He began with the softball team 14 years ago, serving as assistant coach the first year. The Pirates are 174-91 under his guidance heading into today’s District 8-AAA tournament opener against Shadle Park.
Rogers won the Region IV-AAA title in ‘95, when the Pirates lost the state title game 1-0 to South Kitsap.
“We had three people thrown out at home,” said Cooley, who still has starters Angie Vulcano and Jaime Christensen from that runner-up team.
Cooley would like to continue coaching after his retirement from teaching. Options may include a Division II school in Florida, the new program at Whitworth College and the Gonzaga Prep job opened up by the recent resignation of Denise Schlepp.
Bullpups came out swinging
G-Prep was the model of consistency in winning its first Greater Spokane League girls tennis title since 1984.
G-Prep, which wrapped up an 8-0 season Tuesday by beating Shadle Park 7-0, blanked five of its league opponents. The Bullpups were unbeaten at doubles, with No. 1 Alecia Nelson and Kristen Casey, and No. 2 Wendy Lin and Vanessa Waldres leading the way.
Kendra Leyca lost just one singles match, and freshman Lisa VanGemert dropped two.
Finish line for track
Tonight is the District 8-AAA meet at Central Valley. The meet concludes Friday, with the top eight individuals in each event and the top four relays advancing to the regional at CV next weekend.
The Frontier League has its final league meets tonight before the District 7-AA meet Tuesday and next Friday at Eastern Washington University.
The Northeast A has a sub-district meet Saturday at CV. Qualifiers go on to the District 7-A meet to be held in conjunction with the Eastern AAA regional at CV.
The Whitman County meet is Friday at Colfax, the District 9-B meet next weekend at Washington State. The Panorama meet is Saturday at Colville before the qualifiers hook up with the Bi-County qualifiers for the District 7-B meet next Friday.
WIAA leaves Reardan alone
In business Wednesday at Bellevue, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association executive committee took no action against Reardan on charges that it falsely reported its enrollment numbers.
Reardan will remain at the Class B level for the next two years. Reardan reported its enrollment at 149. The B cutoff is 150.
Looking ahead
State championships will get bigger and smaller around here next spring.
To cap 1998 spring sports, the 2A, 1A and B state track meets have been awarded to the Spokane area. EWU will be the main site, but a second site could be used or an extra day tacked on. The rest of the 2A, 1A and B spring championships will be at Yakima. The 4A-3A track meet is going to Tacoma, as usual, along with 3A Springfest. The 4A Springfest is at Vancouver.
Wilbur-Creston coach resigns
Wilbur-Creston girls basketball coach Steve Jantz has resigned his position to spend more time with his 5-week-old son, Trevor.
Jantz coached the Wildcats to a 48-9 record in two years, including a second-place finish at the ‘97 State B tournament and a fourth-place finish in ‘96. He also coached the W-C boys to two state appearances from 1991-95, compiling a 79-52 record.
Jantz announced that Mindy Bandy, W-C’s most valuable player, has given Whitworth an verbal commitment.
, DataTimes