Ex-Zag Rows U.S. To 2Nd

Gonzaga University alumnus Monica Michini and her USA teammates captured the silver medal in the women’s eight with coxswain at the FISA World Rowing Championships on Sunday at St. Catharines, Ontario.

The USA, which advanced directly to the final after its heat victory last Monday, finished second in 6:48.81 behind the winning crew from Romania, which covered the 2,000-meter course in 6:47.66.

Michini, a 1988 Gonzaga graduate, has won seven U.S. National championships, including the double and quadruple sculls in 1999.

Auto racing

Todd Witham of Spokane ended the three race Interstate Superstock win streak of Mike Sauls on Saturday night by winning the 75-lap main event in the next-to-last series race. The victory was Witham’s first of the season. Rick Kellogg of Spokane was second, followed by Sauls.

Bill Currier won his fourth Hobby Stock race of the season, while Steve Canrell was winning his first Grand American Sportsman race.

Woodinville’s Shane Biles made a last-lap pass on Tacoma’s Ron Eaton and defeated the three-time series champion by the width of a bumper in Saturday’s NASCAR Northwest Series race at South Sound Speedway near Olympia.

Biles took advantage of Eaton’s fading brakes and got by the veteran late-model racer in a daring outside pass.

Point leader Tom Sweatman of Cosmopolis finished 12th, while Yakima’s Chris Hart, second in points, was sixth and closed to within four points of the lead with two races remaining.

Softball

Team Hara’s of Salem, Ore., pounded Cascade Telecom of Bend, Ore., 18-4 in the championship game of the Men’s “C” Slowpitch Northwestern National Tournament at Sportsworld Softball Complex in Liberty Lake.

Air Prairie, of Brush Prairie, Wash., placed third. Budweiser of Twin Falls, Idaho, finished fourth.