Soccer teams continue to march through season

Friday was showdown time for Central Valley’s boys soccer team.

The Bears traveled to Mt. Spokane for a first-place match between Greater Spokane League unbeatens. The outcome can be found in today’s sports page.

Both were 5-0 in league after Wednesday victories.

CV defeated Cheney 3-1, a team that had only lost once. The teams were scoreless in the first half before goals by juniors Jesse Dunbar and Josh Antles 10 minutes apart gave the Bears a lead midway through the second period.

Jay Vela, also a junior, had assisted on Antles’ goal and scored his 11th goal of the season, eighth in league, with four minutes left after Cheney had halved the deficit.

CV went to 6-1-1 overall.

Mt. Spokane won its eighth straight overall and fifth by shutout, beating West Valley 2-0. The Eagles are 1-4 in league and 3-4 overall, junior Neil Bachman with six of WV’s 11 goals.

East Valley (5-1, 4-1) moved into a third-place tie by shutting out Shadle Park 3-0. The Knights hosted surging Gonzaga Prep on Friday and are home again Wednesday against Mt. Spokane in a pivotal match.

Ben Funkhouser scored twice, both from about 30 yards out into the upper left corner of the net, and Cole Abramson scored the other to move past the Highlanders.

Funkhouser, a junior midfielder, and Abramson, a sophomore forward, have five goals each to lead a team that has 10 different players who have scored.

University was shutout 5-0 by Ferris, the team EV was tied with after Wednesday’s matches.

Toussaint sets record

West Valley senior Rashad Toussaint set a state high school triple jump record in the first track and field meet of the Greater Spokane League season.

Toussaint’s 50-83/4 leap shattered the old mark of 50-2 set last year in the Pasco Invitational and was the 13th best all-time by a product of Washington high schools.

It wasn’t enough, however for the Eagles who lost 86-58 and 77-68 to Lewis and Clark and Central Valley, respectively, in the double dual. LC won every track event except Eagle Chris Vennum‘s hurdles victories. Toussaint also won the long jump, and Kevin Lemieux won the discus. Lemieux has already gone past 160-feet in the event.

LC’s girls also swept the Bears and Eagles, and CV beat WV 109-39. Lisa Haley won both hurdles, Hailey Ficklin cleared 5-1 in the high jump and the Bears won the 1,600 relay. Eagle Emily Sasse threw 36-5 and 108-4 to win shot put and discus.

East Valley’s boys swept Ferris and University 80-65 and 97-48, respectively. The Saxons also beat the Titans.

The Knights piled up field points behind Matt Tonani winning twice. Kevin Martin won both hurdles for U-Hi.

EV’s girls beat University 107-41 and both lost to Ferris. Knight Eleaya Schuerch won the 100, long jump and triple jump, reaching 17-4 and 35-4 in the latter two.

Baseball Bears hang tough

Central Valley’s baseball team bounced back from its doubleheader loss against Mt. Spokane to win twice this week and remain third in the GSL,

The Bears (5-2 prior to Friday’s game at Mead) rallied from a 6-0 deficit to beat Clarkston 8-6 and the Panthers 13-3. Next week they test North Central, then Shadle Park twice. Shadle is right behind the Bears and had a bye.

Brad Johnson and Kyle Renz had five hits each in the wins.

West Valley (3-2) split one-run games, but got a 3A leg up with its 5-4 win over rival East Valley (3-4) and its ace Bret Riggin by scoring three unearned runs on Thursday. Matt Peterson and Greg Bradley had two hits each, the latter with a triple.

Softball one-third done

University (5-1) remains part of a three-team tie for first place a third of the way through the GSL softball season.

Pitcher Linse Vlahovich flirted with a perfect game, retiring 17 straight before walking East Valley’s only base runner with two outs in the sixth inning of a 7-0 no-hit victory.

She finished with 16 strikeouts and has fanned 67 batters in five outings and has allowed only one run since a 4-2 loss to Mead in the season opener.

The Knights (3-4), are vying for top seed among 3A teams, tied with Clarkston and a game ahead of West Valley and Cheney. They play the Eagles on Tuesday.

Central Valley (4-2) is a game behind the league leaders following 3-2 and 13-1 wins over EV and WV last week. Lone senior Katee Nauert had two hits in each game and Whitney McDaniel had a win and save pitching and hit a home run.

Titan twins identical

Twins Hailey and Mandy Parsons, University’s Washington State University-bound golfers, shot identical scores during the first two GSL matches.

The pair tied for second with 76s during last week’s outing and shared sixth at 82 in their season opener. Haley also shot 74 to earn medalist honors in the Jim Shriver Cup in March and was third behind Mandy in an earlier nonleague match.

U-Hi is currently fourth, ahead of Central Valley in girls competition. The Titans are fifth, in front of East Valley and CV in the boys league.

CV’s Nicole Barham finished third and sixth with scores of 79 and 81 in her two matches. Teammate Katie Sorenson shot 82 last week for seventh. West Valley’s Ashley Weiber was 10th and 12th with rounds of 85 and 86.

Bear Nick Grigsby has been the GSL’s leading man. He shared medalist honors at 72 in Clarkston, and shot 69 to win by three strokes this past week at Wandermere. Teammate Patrick Norton shot 77 and 74 while placing fourth and sixth.

EV’s Josh White (81) and Ben Johnson (76), and U-Hi’s Wes Millard (81-74) and Chris Ackerman (74) have had top 13 GSL finishes.

GSL tennis update

GSL tennis is approaching the end of divisional play with Central Valley’s boys and girls tied with Mead for second place in the National and University’s girls in second in the American.

All have 4-1 records with one match remaining – the Bears against division leading Ferris – the Titans against Lewis and Clark, which has one loss. That loss came against East Valley (2-3), the opening match of the season.

No. 1 singles players Josh Steele from U-Hi, and WV’s Glen Water were double winners last week.

Four Golfers brave cold

A hardy quartet of Liberty Lake Ladies 18-Hole golfers braved bitter weather excluding their worst nine holes and using half their handicap to determine scores.

Brave souls in A flight were Cathy Whitley who had 32, and Patsy Lynn with 34. B flight went to Alice Shattuck with 31, followed by Jody Cantrell at 321/2.

Trailhead golfers begin

First results, sans scores, were reported for the 2005 Trailhead Ladies Golf Club season.

Low gross winners were Carolyn State in A flight, Harriet Carbon in B, Sandi Hatcher in C and Sharron Collins in no-handicap.

Low net winners were Deana Hauser in A, Emma Long in B and Grace Libby in C.

Liberty Lake 9-Hole Club

The first two weeks of Liberty Lake 9-Hole women’s golf saw Karen Strauss win low gross A flight twice, most recently with a 51.

This week’s other winners were Janice Smith, who chipped in during a 60 in B flight, and Alice Sturman with 71 in C.

Net winners were Lorraine Martin at 41 in A, Sadie Rueckert with 40 in B and Emma Long with 45 in C.