Chiwira Breaks Ankle, Will Miss Ncaa Indoor

University of Idaho 400-meters stand-out Tawanda Chiwira will miss the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships after breaking his right ankle last weekend at the USA track and field championships in Atlanta.

Chiwira broke the ankle halfway through his leg of the 4x400 meter relay. He managed to finish the race, helping his team set a school-record of 3 minutes, 06.38, third-fastest in the United States this year and an automatic NCAA qualifying time. Curtis Kunkel will take Chiwira’s place at the NCAAs, March 13-14 in Indianapolis. He’ll join Jason St. Hill, Felix Kamangirira and Adekunle Adejuyigbe on the 4x400 team.

Chiwira also qualified for the indoor championships in the 400 meters with an Idaho-record 45.83, .02 seconds off the fastest time in the U.S. this year.

Big West to stay in Reno

The men’s and women’s Big West tournaments will remain in Reno through 2001, the conference announced Thursday.

“We are pleased with our experience in Reno,” Big West commissioner Dennis Farrell said in announcing the new agreement with the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. “The community has embraced this event.”

The tourneys first came to Reno in 1996 as six-team events. The fields were expanded to eight last year.

Swimming

Washington State’s Erin Eldridge has become the school’s first swimmer to qualify for the NCAA nationals.

At last week’s Pac-10 championships, she posted NCAA optional times in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke. Both times held up when the field for the NCAA Division I women’s swimming championships was announced Thursday.

Eldridge, from Kirkland, posted her 100-yard qualifying time, 1 minute, 3.28 seconds, in a preliminary at the Pac-10 meet. In the 200, her qualifying time of 2:17.28 was good for fourth.

Baseball

The Washington State used a 13-hit attack to defeat Lewis-Clark State 11-2 in first-round play at the UNLV Coors Desert Classic at Cashman Field in Las Vegas.

, DataTimes