Lawrence Reaches Semis At Junior Worlds

Jared Lawrence of Sandpoint is among four U.S. freestyle wrestlers who have qualified for the semifinals in their weight classes at the FILA Junior World Championships in Nantes, France.

Three of the U.S. semifinalists were place-winners at the 1999 FILA Junior World Championships as well.

They are Lawrence, at 152 pounds, T.J. Hill (Farmington, Mo.) at 110 pounds, and Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio) at 213.75 pounds. The other U.S. semifinalist is Jason Powell (Lincoln, Neb.) at 119 pounds.

Lawrence scored three wins on Friday. In the pool competition, he stopped Lauri Parna of Estonia, 9-0 and Krystian Brzozowski of Poland, 4-1. In the quarterfinals, he won an exciting 3-0 decision over Nicolai Paslar of Bulgaria. Lawrence will draw an opponent from Russia in the semis. Lawrence placed fifth at 1999 FILA Junior World Championships.

The Junior World teams are made up of men and women ages 17 to 20 years old.

Golf

Lani Elston of Spokane qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Championship by shooting a 77 and tying for sixth place at Waverley Golf and Country Club in Portland.

Waverley will also be the site of the championship, to be played Aug. 7-12.

Elston will also compete the week before at the USGA Junior Amateur Championship at Pumpkin Ridge GC in Cornelius, Ore.

Ferris High graduate Reid Hatley finished fourth at the Sahalee Players Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, Wash., recent site of the PGA Championship.

Hatley scored rounds of 72, 72 and 73 for a total of 217. He finished eight strokes behind the winner, former University of Oregon standout Ryan Lavoie of Pasco, who shot 69-67-73-209. Lavoie is coming off one of the Northwest’s finest recent golf seasons, as he won the WSGA Men’s Amateur and the Pacific Coast Amateur Individual on his way to the PNGA men’s player of the year award.

Between Lavoie and Hatley were Han Lee, Fullerton, Calif., (70-73-72-215) and Todd Miller, Napa Calif., (70-74-72-216). Miller is the son of PGA Hall of Famer Johnny Miller.

Baseball

Kenny Florence pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10 in leading the Bandits to a 3-2 victory over the Cannons in a Senior American Legion game at Jackson Field.

Shawn O’Brien and John Cox had RBI singles for the Bandits. Craig King, Keith Christensen, Matt Levin Stankevich and Travis Wiles had the other hits for the Bandits in a pitcher’s duel.

Andrew Bower hit a solo home run and Jeremy Nichols singled in the other run for the Cannons. Nate Brown had their other hit.

In the second game, the Northstars defeated Great Falls 8-2. Kurt Hibbard pitched four hitless innings and Jake Sampson finished the combined three-hitter. Hibbard added a three-run home run, and teammate Matt Kelly had two hits.

All three hits for Great Falls came during a two-run seventh-inning rally.