Danielson, Sabrowski win Spurlock awards

A couple of NCAA Division III All-Americans received the Dennis Spurlock Memorial Award to highlight honors given to five senior athletes at Whitworth College.

Volleyball standout Natalie Danielson of Kennewick, only the fourth person in the history of Whitworth’s female team sports to be named a first-team All-American, is the women’s recipient of the Spurlock award. She was the Northwest Conference player of the year.

Todd Sabrowski from Oregon City, Ore., a soccer All-American and the NWC defensive player of the year, is the male winner.

The award is presented annually to the senior athletes who best exemplify the qualities of the late former Pirates All-American football quarterback.

Jo Sonnett, the record-setting NWC pitcher of the year in softball from Puyallup, Wash., was named the senior female athlete of the year.

The male award was shared by Lance Pecht from West Valley, the NWC player of the year in basketball, and Loren Killgore from Gresham, Ore., the NWC Championships’ co-men’s swimmer of the meet.

Awards

Former Washington State quarterback Drew Bledsoe of the Dallas Cowboys will receive a Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Award during ceremonies June 5 in Tulsa, Okla.

The Iba award, given by the Tulsa Rotary Club, is named for the former Oklahoma State and U.S. Olympic men’s basketball coach and is given each year to one male and one female athlete who excel in their sport and show a desire to help others.

Basketball

Four women and a man have committed to Community Colleges of Spokane for this fall.

Slated to join the CCS women’s team are Ren Mallory, a point guard who helped lead Lewis and Clark to the State 4A title; two-time All-Northeast A League selection Maria Barranco from Newport; Kelsey Stillar, the Great Northern League MVP from Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls; and Kellee Neal, a first-team all-conference forward from Ephrata, Wash.

Mallory averaged 4.5 points, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals a game for LC. Barranco, who scored more than 1,000 points in her career, averaged 19.5 as a senior at Newport. Stillar, a 5-foot-8 guard, averaged 18.5 points, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals at Lakeside. Neal, second-team all-state, averaged 13.5 points and 8.5 assists for Ephrata.

Joining the Sasquatch men will be Jeff Johnson, a 6-2 guard from Chelan, Wash., who was second-team all-league. He led his team in steals and assists and led the state tournament in free-throw and 3-point shooting percentage.

Bowling

Spokane entries produced changes at the top in A singles and F singles at the 2006 Washington Women’s Championship Tournament at Lilac Lanes last weekend.

Debra Friberg took over first place in A singles with a 673 scratch score, replacing Sandy Hanson from Spokane Valley, who had assumed the lead just the week before with a 671.

In F singles, Amber Munro shot to the top with a 584, 94 pins better than the previous leader.

Six other area entries retained leads: Valley Bowl Pro Shop, Spokane Valley, 5-woman team A division; Hopefuls, Coeur d’Alene, 4-woman team A division; Charlie’s Angels, St. Maries, 4-woman team E division; Shari Cawley and Jamie Nelson, Spokane Valley, A doubles; Kim Gellhaus, Spokane Valley, A all-events; and Dana English, Spokane, E all-events.

Lucky Ladies from Spokane fell out of share of first in 5-woman team E division into a tie for second.

The tournament takes this weekend off because of Bloomsday, then returns for two final weekends, winding up May 21.

College scene

Mandy (Kaestner) Harvey from Lake City in Coeur d’Alene, a senior at Western Washington, was named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball all-academic team for a third straight year. A physical education major, she has a 3.41 grade-point average.

Halley Cey from Mead, a sophomore at Saint Martin’s, was selected a GNAC softball all-academic for the first time. She has a 3.44 GPA with an undecided major.

•Washington State women’s tennis sophomore Ekaterina Burduli was selected as the third alternate for the NCAA Singles Championships at Stanford May 23-28. Burduli, who had 25 singles victories this season, will play if three or more of the 64 players in the championship field withdraw.

•Chad Portwood from Cheney, a junior at Western Washington, won the 5,000 meters in 15 minutes, 44.66 seconds in a twilight meet at WWU last weekend.

•Seven Eastern Washington athletes from the area were named to Big Sky Conference all-academic teams for winter sports for having at least a 3.2 GPA. They are:

Men’s basketball: Rhett Humphrey, Cheney, junior; and Matt Penoncello, Moscow, Idaho, freshman.

Women’s basketball: Abby Johnson, Clarkston, sophomore.

Men’s indoor track: Alex Moon, Shadle Park, senior.

Women’s indoor track: Teanna Meinhold, Colville, jr.; Lizzy Mellor, Colfax, sr.; and Bonnie Millard, Priest River, fr.

•By three points, Whitworth was dethroned as winner of the Northwest Conference McIlroy-Lewis All-Sports Trophy for the 2005-06 school year. Puget Sound won for the first time with 245 points to Whitworth’s 242.

Cross country

Tessa Boehnke from Belgrade, Mont., a six-time Montana state participant in cross country and track, has signed with Community Colleges of Spokane. She medaled in the 2005 Montana state 800-meter run.

Soccer

Shanie Benner from Central Valley, a sophomore defender at North Idaho College, has signed a letter of intent with Northwest Nazarene, the NCAA Division II school in Nampa, Idaho, announced.

Swimming

Amanda Stone from Greely, Colo., a sprinter who was an all-conference and all-state selection for four years, has signed a letter of intent with the University of Idaho, Vandals women’s coach Tom Jager announced.

Track and field

Four high school seniors have signed national letters of intent with Washington State, Cougars head coach Rick Sloan announced.

The newest Cougars are sprinter/hurdler/long jumper Kyle Schauble from Kennewick; and middle distance runners Lisa Egami from Coquitlam, British Columbia; Luke Lemenager from Maple Valley, Wash.; and Chelsea VanDeBrake from Eisenhower of Yakima.

Schauble holds the top mark in the state in both the 110 hurdles (14.46 seconds) and 300 hurdles (37.81). The Cougars plan to use him in the decathlon, Sloan said.

Egami has won the B.C. high school 800 championship the last three years and the B.C. Juvenile 1,500 the last two years. Lemenager, also an all-state cross country runner, is second fastest in the state this year in the boys 800 at 1:51.3, which ranks among the top five nationally. VanDeBrake is a two-time all-state cross country runner and has top-six state times in both the 3,200 and 1,600 this spring.

Volleyball

Meghan Cogley from Cheney, who lettered in three sports, has signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at North Idaho College, the Cardinals announced.

Cogley, expected to play middle hitter at NIC, was voted Cheney’s best offensive player four times. She also was a standout in basketball and track for the Blackhawks.

Wrestling

Thirteen from North Idaho qualified for regionals off their performances in the Idaho State Kids Greco Roman & Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Idaho Falls last weekend.

Twelve advanced in both styles. The 13th, Mario Peregrina of Plummer, qualified in freestyle at bantam 70 pounds, finishing second. He can’t wrestle Greco until he enters the midget division at 9 years old.

Four of the North Idaho entries won gold in both styles and Kenny Staub from the Buzzsaw Wrestling Club in Coeur d’Alene qualified for regionals for a third straight year, placing sixth in Greco and fifth in freestyle at 90 pounds in the schoolboy division. The top eight qualify for regionals.

The other North Idaho placers:

Midget 80 pounds: Hudson Staub, Buzzsaw, first in both.

Novice 105: Garrett DeMers, Buzzsaw, first in both.

Schoolboy 100: Kyle Siegworth, Buzzsaw, fourth in both. Schoolboy 105: Jake Graham, Buzzsaw, fourth Greco, third freestyle; Sam Howard, Buzzsaw, third Greco, sixth freestyle. Schoolboy 110: Brandon Richardson, Lakeland, first in both. Schoolboy 125: Johnny Peregrina, Plummer, fourth Greco, third freestyle. Schoolboy 130: Kyle Anderson, Timberlake, second in both. Schoolboy 165: Shawn Duffy, Buzzsaw, fourth in both; Nick Adkinson, Buzzsaw, fifth in both. Schoolboy 225: Drew Moreno, Buzzsaw, first in both.