Fast Break

Fishing

Record walleye on Columbia

A Washington record walleye was caught in the Columbia River Monday by Mike Hepper of Richland.

The fish was weighed on certified scales at 19.3 pounds and measured 33.7 inches long and 22.2 inches in girth.

Hepper, 64, was fishing with Ron Humbyrd of Pasco, trolling a homemade spinner made with a Mack’s Lure Smile Blade when he hooked the lunker in 34 feet of water around 10:30 a.m. They were fishing in the Burbank-Finley area near the Tri-Cities.

Hepper said he’s been fishing the Columbia for nearly 30 years. Now that he’s retired, he fishes full time. Until Monday, his biggest walleye was a 17.7-pounder he landed last year.

SportsLink

Gonzaga Syndrome

San Jose Mercury News sportswriter Jon Wilner explores the “Gonzaga Syndrome” in a column regarding Santa C`lara’s next basketball coach.

“There are alums, boosters and school officials … who want to be like Gonzaga,” writes Wilner.

But that Gonzaga Syndrome “is causing schools to lower their admission standards and fire coaches.”

It’s interesting reading and Vince Grippi has a link to the entire column on SportsLink at spokesmanreview.com/ blogs/sportslink.

Baseball

Pujols elated with citizenship

Albert Pujols has won a National League MVP award, a Gold Glove and a World Series. He added a perfect 100 on his U.S. citizenship test to his resume this week.

The St. Louis Cardinals star became a U.S. citizen Wednesday. Pujols’ wife Diedre arranged to have about two dozen relatives and friends watch U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber swear in Pujols.

Chester Moyer, the officer in charge of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service office in St. Louis, said Diedre Pujols served as her husband’s tutor.

“He even answered a bunch of additional questions and gave us more answers than we asked,” Moyer said. “He clenched his fist and said, ‘I got 100 percent!’

“He just had a grin from ear to ear. He was thrilled to become a citizen.”