Vandals picked for 9th in WAC

The University of Idaho was picked ninth by the coaches as well as the media at the annual Western Athletic Conference football media days, which concluded Thursday at Reno, Nev.

UI coach Nick Holt, however, pays those polls no heed.

“I didn’t vote that way,” Holt said. “I know if you ask our kids and our assistant coaches, they wouldn’t vote that way.”

Holt said he doesn’t use the polls as a motivational ploy.

“I really don’t address that,” he said. “We have other fish to fry. We won’t end up there.”

Holt’s second season at UI is the Vandals’ first in the WAC. He said to look for a much improved Idaho team.

“We’re a lot better,” he said. “Our kids are bigger, stronger, faster. Our summer went really well.”

Holt said he and his team are looking forward to their inaugural WAC campaign, which renews conference competition with Boise State and Nevada as well as maintaining conference ties with Utah State and New Mexico State.

“It’s a step up,” he said. “We’re excited about it.”

Boise State and Fresno State tied for first in the poll. The media’s poll was released Wednesday.

Baseball

The Spokane RiverHawks host the Kitsap BlueJackets at Spokane Falls Community College in their final home games of the West Coast Collegiate League season.

Saturday’s game begins at 5 p.m. Sunday’s doubleheader starts at noon.

Basketball

The Eastern Washington Eagles men’s and women’s schedules for the upcoming season were released.

The men’s team will play at the Great Alaska Shootout in November and also take part in ESPN’s Bracket Buster in February.

The men open at home against Pacific Lutheran on Nov. 19, before heading to the Shootout where they will open against Marquette. They open Big Sky play at Northern Arizona on Jan. 5.

The Eagles women’s opener is Nov. 11 against California in the Women’s Preseason NIT.

The women host Portland State on Jan. 14 to kick off conference play.

Golf

Alex Prugh, a Ferris High School graduate and a junior at the University of Washington, shot a 1-over-par 71 for the second straight day to advance to the third round at the Western Amateur Golf Championship at Point O’Woods Golf and Country Club in Benton Harbor, Mich.

Prugh’s 142 total leaves him eight shots behind leader Brian Carroll of Crystal Lake, Ill.

Track and field

Corissa Hutchinson, competing for the Cheney Track Club, won the young women’s discus at the USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis with a throw of 147 feet, 8 inches.