GSL MVP Beal commits to play at CCS
Eric Beal of North Central, the Greater Spokane League most valuable player in basketball, has committed to play at Community Colleges of Spokane, the Sasquatch announced.
Beal, a 5-foot-10 guard who was a second-team All-GSL selection as a junior, averaged 14.6 points per game and also was first-team All-State 3A as a senior this past season.
He averaged 18.5 points and 4.0 assists in the 3A tournament, where the Indians finished fifth in the school’s first state appearance since 1951. He was named to the all-tournament second team.
Bowling
Three teams from the Spokane area claimed leads in their divisions as there were changes aplenty atop the leaderboard in the fourth weekend of the 2006 Washington Women’s Championship Tournament at Lilac Lanes.
Where area bowlers held the top spot in 12 divisions after Week 3, the number fell to nine, with two of the former leaders displaced by local teams last weekend.
Assuming the top spot in the five-woman team B Division with a score of 2,408 were The 5 Buddies from Spokane.
Hopeful’s from Coeur d’Alene lead the four-woman team A Division with a 2,373, while Charlie’s Angels from St. Maries lead the four-woman team E Division with an 1,825.
All scores are scratch.
Other area leaders are: Lucky Ladies, Spokane, five-woman team E Division, 2,161; Shari Cawley-Jamie Nelson, Spokane Valley, A doubles, 1,324; Jill Carpenter-Yvonne Spicer, St. Maries, F doubles, 866; Cawley, A singles, 663; Cawley, A all-events, 1,942; Dana English, Spokane, G all-events, 1,473
College scene
Sophomore basketball players with Greater Spokane League connections are Community Colleges of Spokane’s scholar-athletes of the month for February.
The female selection is Brittany O’Neal, a Lewis and Clark graduate who transferred after a year at the University of Idaho.
Despite switching between point guard and shooting guard, she was one of the most consistent of the Sasquatch both on offense and defense. She averaged six points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals a game and has maintained a 3.2 grade-point average.
The male winner is Peter Leyk from Central Valley.
The coaching staff credited his “toughness inside and quiet leadership” as key ingredients on the team that won the Eastern Region and finished third in the NWAACC tournament. He played in all 32 games and shot 48 percent from the floor. He has a 3.49 GPA.
•Gonzaga junior basketball players Sean Mallon and Stephanie Hawk were selected to the 2006 Division I-AAA scholar-athlete teams by the I-AAA Athletic Directors Association.
The teams honor student-athletes at non-football playing institutions.
Mallon makes his second appearance on the team with a 3.27 GPA in political science. It’s Hawk’s first selection to the team. She has a 3.58 GPA in business.
Gymnastics
Ryan Wurz, a freshman at Central Valley competing for Spokane Elite Gymnastics, placed seventh on the vault at the 2006 Region II Boys Gymnastics Championships last weekend in Seattle.
Soccer
Chelsey Hannesson of Langley, British Columbia, and Mandy Cheney of Maple Valley, Wash., have signed national letters of intent with Eastern Washington and will join the Eagles women this fall.
Hannesson, a defender/center midfielder, was a member of the Canadian U-17 national team in 2005. Cheney, an outside midfielder, helped lead her high school to an 18-3 record and the 4A state championship in 2005.
Softball
Whitney McDaniel, a first-team All-Greater Spokane League selection as a junior at Central Valley in 2005 before the family moved to Central Point, Ore., for her senior year, has signed a letter of intent with Oregon Tech. She played summer select ball with the Spokane Angels.