Doering’s emotional story exemplifies spirit of awards

It was a Wednesday afternoon of surprises, tears and a standing ovation when junior winners were announced at the 27th Annual Spokane Regional Sports Commission’s Sports Awards Luncheon at the Spokane Ag-Trade Center.

On an afternoon when small school teams and athletes got their due, the standing ovation was for Colfax volleyball coach Sue Doering following an emotional acceptance speech after she was named the 2004 Junior Coach of the Year.

Doering just completed chemotherapy treatments that began last October after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was at the head table, along with other finalists, wearing a fur cap to cover her hairless head.

“The good thing about not having hair,” she quipped upon receiving her trophy, “is if you look at your dinner plate and see a hair, you know it’s not yours.”

Next up is radiation treatment in Spokane, she said, which will coincide with trips to watch spring sports.

The cancer was discovered last fall and found in two lymph nodes, but it didn’t keep Doering from coaching, as she has for 25 years, another State 1A championship team. She missed only one match on Colfax’s journey to its fourth title in the past decade.

“I have so many things to be thankful for,” Doering said. Not the least was, “my amazing team. I’ve never coached a girls team that didn’t have problems. This one did not have one throughout the season. I had all the problems. They took it home and won a state title for me.”

Mead’s volleyball team, which won its second straight state 4A championship, and Rogers High track and cross country phenomenon Becca Noble were voted junior female team and athlete of the year.

In accepting Mead’s trophy, setter and co-captain Lacey Anderson said that the team theme, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,’ thanks to “our rendition of it,” was the inspiration for their success.

Noble, who became the second-fastest Washington prep runner at 400 meters, among a litany of top performances, said the award was better than winning a state title.

During her acceptance speech she said, “Oh, wow! It’s been a good year. (This is) pretty important to me.”

The other two awards, like Doering’s, went to small-school standout efforts.

LaCrosse-Washtucna’s three-time state champion B-8 football team, winner of 35 straight games, was team of the year.

“The Tigercat football program put in countless hours of weight rooms, camps and practices,” said team representative and All-State defensive back Craig Koller. “We pride ourselves in being a class act on and off the field. Thanks.”

Kevin Hatch, the all-around athlete at Class 1A Freeman, was junior male athlete of the year. Hatch has had a standout career.

Over three years of state track and field, he’s won two pole vault championships, the high jump, finished first and second in the triple jump, and took third twice in the long jump.

Last fall he rushed for nearly 1,700 yards in football as a two-way and All-State player for the state finalists and in his spare time plays basketball for a state-placing program.

“What an honor,” said Hatch when he learned of the award.

He thanked God for his ability, his parents for support, coaches for shaping him and his teammates, “for the great years out at Freeman and for the memories I won’t forget.”

Memories were the theme of speakers, from Lewis and Clark graduate Erik Coleman, a rookie starting safety for the New York Jets, to Juliann Laney, a former Gonzaga Prep standout now playing basketball at Gonzaga University, and Joel Clark, the Mt. Spokane three-sport star, who quarterbacked Whitworth’s 7-2 football team and plays baseball for the Pirates.

“I remember sitting over there (at the head table) and now I remember how nervous I was as an athlete up there,” said Coleman. “And when I think of great experiences and times of my life, I think about growing up in high school.”

Laney, whose college career has been limited by a series of injuries, recalled a crushing basketball loss that kept G-Prep from state.

“Of course, I was crushed that we had worked so hard for nothing,” she said. “But I also knew my pain and frustrated feeling at the time was not the same as my other teammates. Unlike them, the game would not be the last time I stepped on the basketball floor.”

Her message: Appreciate and respect sports, be a role model and don’t take things for granted.

It was a message received, given the standing ovation the audience of nearly 1,100 – most of them young athletes – gave Doering.