Locally

Renz leads the way for area swimmers

A trio of fourth-place finishes, two by Marshel Renz, led the showing by 16 members of the Spokane Area Swim Team at the 2005 YMCA National Swimming Championships April 5-8 at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Renz, a University High School student, was fourth in the 200 (1 minute, 53.40 seconds) and 400 (3:59.93) individual medley events.

He also was eighth in the 200 breast stroke and qualified in those three events for the USA Swimming 18-and-under championships in Irvine, Calif., Aug. 9-13.

Also qualifying were Nick Blank, Lake City, in four events and Jenni Dole, Mead, in two.

SAST also qualified nine relays for the national meet, including the boys 800 freestyle of Sam Thompson, Lewis and Clark; Renz; Lee Nelson, U-Hi; and Blank, which placed fourth at the YMCA meet in 6:54.71.

Other placers for SAST, which finished 13th out of 214 teams:

Blank, 10th 500 freestyle, 8th 1,000 free, 16th 200 backstroke, 6th 1,650 free; Summer Morgan, Gonzaga Prep, 14th 500 free, 11th 200 IM (both with a broken wrist diagnosed after she got home); Nelson, 16th 200 free, 13th 1,000 free, 11th 1,650 free; Thompson, 5th 200 free.

Also, boys 400 free relay (Blank; Thompson; Daniel Goldberg, Ferris; Renz) 11th; and girls 800 free relay (Morgan; Dole; Miranda Moore, U-Hi; Brittney Moore, Mead), 10th.

Also at the YMCA meet were Victoria Eickerman, West Valley; Kelly Frazier, Ferris; Veronika Gorova, WV; Steve Kerr, North Central; Becky Miller, Lakeside; Alec Petrie, Ferris; and Maggie Thompson, Sacajawea Middle School.

College scene

Gonzaga junior right-handed pitcher Nate Williams is one of 18 students from around the country to receive the first Diamond 45/Ubiqui Tel Scholarships as announced by the Tug McGraw Foundation.

Scholarships were awarded to baseball players who exemplify former Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher McGraw’s spirit following a competitive application process that judged applicants on their academic accomplishments, community involvement and leadership ability.

•Idaho’s Jennifer Tucker and Kelly Nakashima have earned honorable mention on the All-Big West Conference women’s golf team.

Tucker, a junior, and Nakashima, a freshman, join teammates Renee Skidmore and Cassie Castleman, named to the first team following the conference tournament that Skidmore won Tuesday. Honorable mentions were named the next day.

Also, UI’s Brad Rickel shared the conference coach of the year honor.

•The area’s three contributions to the Arizona State women’s basketball team received special honors at the team awards banquet last week.

Sophomore Emily Westerberg from Central Valley picked up the coaches award and was co-winner of the scoring award. Sophomore Aubree Johnson from Post Falls won the rebounding award and shared the team academic award with freshman Regan Pariseau from CV.

Golf

Whitworth College has received confirmation from four high school seniors that they will enroll in the fall and play for the Pirates, coach Warren Friedrichs announced.

Newcomers are Chris Contino from Summit High in Bend, Ore., a three-time state qualifier; Bobby Elder, West Valley of Yakima, defending district champion and a winner of several junior tournaments last year; Collin Fling, Mendocino, Calif., two-time defending league champion; and Steve Johnson, Marysville-Pilchuck (Wash.) High, a state qualifier in 2004.

Gymnastics

Northwest Gymnastics Academy produced four regional champions and qualified three athletes for national-level competition at the Region 2 Championships last weekend in Whitefish, Mont.

Amy Brandle, a junior at University, won the Level 10 Senior C division floor exercise championship with a 9.7 and qualified for the Junior Olympic Championships May 13-15 in Ontario, Calif.

Juliet Law won the Level 9 vault championship with a 9.3, and qualified for the Junior Olympic Western National Championships May 5-8 in St. Louis along with teammate Meghan Ballou.

The other region champions came in the season windup for Level 8. Renee Messling was first in floor with a 9.575, and Lianne Walker won the vault title with a 9.45.

Other NWGA placings:

Level 10, Senior C: Brandle, tie 4th vault; career-best 37.8 all-around.

Level 9, Junior D: Law, 2nd bars, 3rd all-around; Ballou, 2nd floor exercise, 4th all-around.

Level 8, Junior C: Katya Finta, 2nd all-around; Messling, 4th beam, 8th all-around. Walker, tie 5th floor exercise.

Shooting

Three local juniors were recognized by USA Shooting, the national governing body for the Olympic shooting sports, for setting four national records this season.

Amanda Furrer set two records in J3 (under 14) – shooting 585 out of 600 in women’s prone rifle at 50 feet, breaking the old mark of 570, and 554 our of 600 in three-position at 50 feet. The old mark was 546.

Cori Hawkins, J2 (15-17) set a mark of 583 out of 600 in women’s prone at 50 feet, and Elisha Lafond, J2, shot 558 out of 600 in three-position at 50 feet to break her own record of 556 set in 2004.

Skiing

Drew Anderson had a first and a second, Chelsea Nova a couple of seconds and Blake Bledsoe a second to lead the showing by Schweitzer Alpine Racing School and Spokane Ski Racing Association racers at the J1/J2 and J3 Northwest Cup finals at Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Ore., last weekend.

Anderson, skiing for SARS, was first in giant slalom and second in Super G in men’s J3 (13-14-year-olds)

Nova (SARS) had seconds in women’s J1/J2 slalom and giant slalom, as well as a sixth in Super G.

Bledsoe (SSRA) was second in J3 men’s slalom, as well as fourth in GS and a fifth in Super G.

The Anderson twins from SARS, Lindsey and Ashley, who are J4 (12 and under) skiers, were invited to the J3 races and skied times that would have placed them in the top 10 in both GS and slalom, but they weren’t listed in the results.

Other area results:

J1/J2 women: Courtney Nova (SARS), 7th GS, 9th Super G, 13th slalom; Kristen Wick (SSRA), 12th GS, 15th Super G; Natalee Hatch (SSRA), 16th GS.

J1/J2 men: Ryan Farmin (SARS), 3rd slalom, 8th Super G; Will Brandenburg (SARS), 3rd Super G; Ian Bray (SARS), 6th GS, 10th Super G; Eric Anderson (SARS), 9th Super G, 18th GS; Sage Dunham (SSRA), 18th Super G.

J3 women: Bonnie Snow (independent), 4th GS, 6th Super G; Morgan Black (SARS), 5th slalom, 14th Super G; Kristen Lindsay (SSRA), 6th slalom, 15th GS, 18th Super G; Kat Lamberson (SSRA), 10th GS, 13th Super G; Rachel Sandvig (SSRA), 11th slalom, 14th GS, 19th Super G; Laura Black (SARS), 13th slalom; Jill Guthrie (SARS), 17th slalom, 18th GS; Camille Bryant (SARS), 20th Super G; Alexandra Devries (SSRA), 20th slalom, 25th GS; Isabelle Guthrie (SARS), 22nd GS, 22nd slalom.

J3 men: David Owsley (SARS), 6th Super G, 11th GS; Jordan Valkenaar (SARS), 15th slalom, 21st GS; Rob Jobson (SARS), 17th Super G, 23rd slalom; Alex Hanson (SARS), 20th Super G; Carl Preiksaitis (SSRA), 22nd slalom.

Snowboarding

Coleman Allen from Mount Spokane won national championships in two events and the overall national alpine title for his age group during the USA Snowboard Association Nationals at Copper Mountain, Colo.

Allen, 12, won the giant slalom by six seconds, a huge margin in snowboarding, and the giant slalom by three seconds.

Also from Mount Spokane, Auston Sorensen, 15, placed ninth in giant slalom with the fifth fastest second-run time; Ian Anderson, 15, was 24th in bordercross; and Griffin Clements, 7, was 14th in slalom.

Sam Dollar‘s 14th in the open class slopestyle led the showing for 49 Degrees North competitors. Brian Dotson was 22nd in the event and Mitch Richmond 38th.

Jacob St. John of 49 Degrees North was 66th in slopestyle in youth men (agfes 14-15).

Soccer

Medical Lake High School senior Sara Massey has signed a letter of intent to play soccer for Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Ore.

Massey, a forward/midfielder, also played for the Spokane Shadow U-18 girls team that won the U.S. Soccer Club National Championship. She has been the Great Northern League offensive MVP three times and was selected to the state sports writers all-state team twice.

Softball

Jackie Purser, a 5-foot-10 catcher at Mt. Spokane, has signed a letter of intent to play at Montana State-Billings in the fall.

A three-year letter winner, Purser went into this season with a .352 career batting average, .573 slugging percentage and .425 on-base percentage for the Wildcats. She was a second-team All-Greater Spokane League selection as a junior.

Tennis

Anastesia Opata from Lawrenceville, Ga., has signed a national letter of intent with Washington State, Cougars coach Lisa Hart announced.

Opata, who will come in as a freshman, was ranked as high as No. 2 in the state and No. 9 in the South region in her junior career. Ranked 85th nationally in the 18-and-under age group, she played No. 1 in the 2003 Davis Cup/Fed Cup for Georgia in the 18 and under age group and helped capture the 2003 National Open doubles title in the bracket.

Track and field

K.C. Dahlgren from Missoula, the 2003 and ‘04 Montana girls AA state pole vault champion who is ranked 14th in the nation among high school pole vaulters, has signed a letter of intent with Idaho.

Dahlgren, among the top 10 seniors in the U.S., has a personal best of 12 feet, 11/2 inches. Idaho also expects to use her in the pentathlon, co-head coach Yogi Teevens said.

Volleyball

Joe Houck, former associate head coach at Eastern Washington, has been named the new head volleyball coach at Western Oregon University.

Houck, the eighth head coach in the history of the program, replaces Judy Lovre, 52, who retired after leading the Wolves for 17 seasons.

Houck was at EWU in 2002-03 after turning around the Concordia College program in Portland during a five-year stint.