Locally

Tony Bennett gets promotion with WSU basketball program

Tony Bennett, son of Washington State head basketball coach Dick Bennett, has been promoted to associate head coach of the team.

“This is an effort to prepare him for the next step at least in resume fashion,” Dick Bennett said of his son’s new title. “I think he has earned the promotion because of his recruiting. He was a great recruiter at Wisconsin and he has proven to be equally as good here.”

The younger Bennett came to WSU from Wisconsin prior to last season and helped the Cougars earn 13 victories.

•Washington State football coach Bill Doba and men’s basketball coach Dick Bennett will be profiled on the Fox Sports Net show “Before the Bigs” later this month.

Bennett will be featured Tuesday while Doba will be profiled on Aug. 30. The 30-minute show begins at 6:30 p.m. each day.

The Doba episode will re-air on Sept. 15 at 12:30 a.m. and Sept. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Fox Sports Net describes Before the Bigs as a 30-minute sports documentary that thoughtfully weaves the stories of the people, places and events that cultivated the lives of the Northwest’s biggest sports personalities, up to the point when they reached “the big-time.”

Before the Bigs launched in March 2004 with 19 original episodes on members of the Seattle Mariners organization and has featured Gonzaga University men’s basketball coach Mark Few.

Baseball

Three players were local college ties have been named to the Pacific International League’s all-league first team. They are third baseman Mike Rundle (Bend Elks) of Gonzaga University, outfielder Kaeo Rubin (Aloha Knights) of Washington State and pitcher Dane Renkert (Bellingham Bulls) of WSU. No players from the Spokane RiverHawks were named to the first team. The complete all-league list is in today’s Stat Sheet.

•Brian Munhall, a 1998 graduate of Ferris High School, has been promoted by the San Francisco Giants to their Long-A affiliate, the Hagerstown (Md.) Suns. Munhall had been playing for the Advanced-A club, the San Jose Giants. Munhall signed with the Giants in 2002 as an undrafted free agent out of Gonzaga University.

College scene

Former East Valley High wrestling standout Chris Thoreson has been signed to wrestle for Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids, Minn. As a Knight, Thoreson compiled a record of 125-18 while winning two state championships and one state runner-up finish.

•Coming off of a ninth-place finish at the 2004 NCAA Rowing Championships, seven student-athletes have been signed with the Washington State University rowing team.

Lindsay Black of Eugene, Ore., Karin Brevick of Bellevue, Wash., Willow English of British Columbia, Jessica Matejik of Mechanicsville, Penn., Kelly O’Brien of Granite Bay, Calif., Catherine Shirley of Australia and Robyn Stephenson of South Africa make up the 2004 spring recruiting class.

English, a graduate of Stellys High in Saanichton, British Columbia, rowed at both the school and the Victoria City Rowing Club. While at the VCRC she was part of a crew that captured the women’s junior eight event at the 2003 Windermere Cup. She was a member of the Canadian CanAmMex team with current Cougars Catherine Watt and Sarah Waterfield.

In addition to the new recruits, Michael Stahlman, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been hired as the new assistant rowing coach. Stahlman spent last year as an intern coach at Princeton University, where he worked with the freshman programs in the fall and coached the third varsity lights and heavies in the spring. As a student, Stahlman was a member of crews that captured the Ten Eyck Intercollegiate Regatta Association (IRA) National Championship four times.

•Kari Simpson, a 2000 graduate of the University of Washington, has been hired as the new assistant coach for the women’s golf program at Washington State University. Sampson walked on for the Huskies and earned three letters competing for the Husky women’s golf team. As an assistant for the Clarkston High School girls golf team for the past four years, Simpson coached five of the girls to the 3A State tournament.

•Lori Scheider has joined the University of Idaho women’s soccer staff as a goalkeeper coach. She comes to Idaho form the University of Wyoming, where she graduated with a criminal justice degree in 2004. While at Wyoming, Scheider was a goalie for the Cowgirls. She led the Mountain West Conference in saves per game and tied the lead for shutouts during her senior season, earning all-conference honors.

Scheider was also honored as an NSCAA Scholar All-American during her senior year and rounded out her collegiate career ranked second in career saves at Wyoming.