Locally

Thibault in running for Bench Award

Gonzaga University sophomore catcher Kiel Thibault has been named one of 15 semifinalists for this year’s Johnny Bench Award, presented to the nation’s top collegiate baseball catcher.

Thibault leads the West Coast Conference in hitting with a .433 average, which ranked seventh in the NCAA last week.

The native of Jerome, Idaho, was four hits shy of tying the school record of 91 in a season set by Larry Patterson in 1977.

Joining Thibault as semifinalists for the 2004 award are Jeff Clement (Southern California), Brad Davis (Long Beach State), Tuff Gosewisch (Arizona State), Aaron Hathaway (Washington), Chris Iannetta (North Carolina), Devin Ivany (South Florida), Jason Jaramillo (Oklahoma State), Mat Liuzza (Louisiana State), Donny Lucy (Stanford), Landon Powell (South Carolina), Erick San Pedro (Miami, Fla.), Kurt Suzuki (Cal State Fullerton), Craig Tatum (Mississippi State) and Taylor Teagarden (Texas).

Basketball

Four men with area ties will be inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame during ceremonies June 28 at the Red Lion Inn at the Park in Spokane.

The Class of 2004 includes Jack Cleveland, who coached at four schools in the Spokane area; Terry Irwin, who coached at two Greater Spokane League schools; Denny Humphrey, who coached at four area schools; and North Central graduate Marty O’Brien.

Cleveland, who died last summer in Yakima, where he was coach at East Valley High School, had coaching stops in the Spokane area at Endicott, Davenport, Medical Lake and University.

Irwin coached at Gonzaga Prep and Central Valley. Humphrey’s resume includes LaCrosse, Chewelah, Ritzville and Cheney. O’Brien coached at Ephrata.

A reception at 5 p.m. will precede the banquet. Ticket information is available by calling Larry Walker at (360) 474-0443.

• Former Washington State great Larry Beck has been inducted into the hall of fame of the former National Industrial Basketball League.

Beck, a 1957 United Press All-America honorable mention, set 23 records at WSU, some of which still stand. He played in the NIBL with the Seattle Buchan Baking Co.

During his time in the NIBL, Beck was the Bakers’ leading scorer and rebounder. He had a career-high of 43 points in a pre-league game against the Phillips Oilers in Bartlesville, Okla., in 1957-58.

• Kali Ramey, a senior guard at Northwest Christian, has committed to play basketball at NCAA Division III George Fox in Newburg, Ore.

Ramey, who will play in the state East-West game June 19 at Mead, led the Northeast A League in scoring this past season with a 20.2 average in earning first-team All-NEA honors. She also averaged 5.5 assists per game.

Boxing

Brandon Anderson of Spokane qualified for the USA Junior Olympics June 21-28 in Brownsville, Texas, by winning a Pacific Northwest Region 12 Championship last weekend in Pasco.

Anderson, 15, who attends East Valley High School and fights for AAA Boxing Club in Otis Orchards, won the 132-pound division by defeating Daniel Munoz of Idaho.

College scene

Ten Community Colleges of Spokane sophomore student-athletes were selected to NWAACC All-Academic teams for spring quarter:

Honors went to:

Baseball – Tim Miller, 3.35 grade-point average; and Adam Patchett, 3.48.

Women’s golf – Elizabeth Wrigley, 3.87.

Men’s tennis – Phillip Salvador, 3.44.

Men’s track and field – Asiki Ayumi, 3.28; John Dean, 3.54; and Michael Krings, 3.48.

Women’s track and field – Marjorie Bovey, 3.60.

Softball – Kristy Barker, 3.27; and Aubrie May, 3.26.

• Four Gonzaga University women’s rowers earned All-West Region recognition when the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association announced their 2004 all-region teams last week.

Maria Bokulich was a first-team selection while Kristi Aamodt, Kari Durgan and Karen O’Hagan were all named to the All-West Region Academic team.

Bokulich finishes her career as the most decorated rower in GU history, earning her fourth-straight all-region nomination. She was named to the All-West Region second team as a freshman and sophomore before earning first-team honors the last two seasons.

Aamodt, a senior with a 3.89 GPA, earned her second appearance on the CRCA Academic All-Region team. Durgan, a sophomore with a 3.80 GPA, and O’Hagan, a junior with a 3.57 GPA, made their first appearances on the honors team.

• Danielle Ayers-Stamper of LaCrosse tossed off her “redshirt” and qualified for the NCAA Division II track and field championships last weekend at the Ken Foreman Invitational in Seattle.

The Seattle Pacific sophomore, who originally had planned to sit out this season with a back injury, came back in late-season form, posting the highest heptathlon score in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference to earn the league’s track and field female athlete of the week honor.

Her mark of 4,855 points, good for second in the meet, is tied for fourth best among Division II athletes in the country this spring. Her long jump (17 feet, 761/2 inches), high jump (5-3 3/4 ) and 100 (14.99 seconds) are among the top season marks in the GNAC this year.

She was runner-up in the NCAA and U.S. Junior National heptathons last year.

• Naval Academy senior Erik Schmidt of Spokane Valley (University) qualified for the NCAA Division I East Regional in the 1,500 meters by finishing second with a time of 3:46.95 in the IC4A Championships last weekend.

It was Schmidt’s second meet back after breaking his collar bone prior to the Penn Relays. He narrowly missed the NCAA quyalifying standard in his first meet back.

Hockey

Two National Hockey League referees and two NHL linesmen are among the instructors slated to participate in the Excel Officiating NW development camp August 6-8 at Planet Ice in Spokane Valley.

Dennis LaRue of Spokane and Kelly Sutherland of Vancouver, British Columbia, are the NHL referees on the staff list, along with linesmen Lonnie Cameron (Vancouver, BC) and Vaughan Rody (Everett, Wash.). Two Western Hockey League linesmen, Tony Leonetti of Spokane and Jeff Edgely of Vancouver, are among others also slated to participate.

The camp will offer education, evaluation and exposure and is designed to help officials improve their officiating skills, whether they would like to advance or just become stronger in the local programs in which they work. It’s reportedly the only camp of its kind in the U.S. Pacific Northwest this summer.

Info: Directors Kerry Blair (325-3885) or Cory Bowles (238-2193) or on the internet at excelofficiatingnw@earthlink.net.

Shooting

Davenport will have a team and Spokane an individual in the Precision Air Rifle National Championships in Bowling Green, Ky.

The Davenport team of Ty Freeze, Ben Brooks, Brian Morcom and Justin Malone of Wenatchee won the Washington state championship in 3-position air rifle to qualify for the national event. Freeze who won the gold medal in the event with a score of 592 and Brooks captured the silver at 581. Malone was the high intermediate junior with a 577 and Malone was fourth at 567.

Amanda Furrer, 13, of Spokane, the bronze medalist with a 578, is one of 15 nationally ranked shooters invited to the national event as an individual.

Lauren Furrer, 15, of Spokane was 12th in the state meet with a 542.

Tennis

Robert Mark Chalkley of Solihull, England, has signed a national letter of intent to play for the University of Idaho beginning this fall.

Chalkley, who will be a freshman, also plays rugby, soccer and track and has a 4.0 grade-point average, noted UI coach Katrina Perlman, who said “he’s going to give us a lot of depth next year. … He’s a great athlete.”