Area Roundup: Byers earns honor

Washington State’s Tyson Byers (University High) finished third in the men’s pole vault, clearing a personal-best height of 18 feet, ½ inch to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship on Friday at Fayetteville, Ark.

It was the second time Byers has reached a PR at a national championship. His previous WSU-best of 17-8 ½ came at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships in a fifth-place finish.

By setting the PR, Byers moved from third into a tie for second on the WSU all-time men’s pole vault list.

Idaho sophomore Matt Wauters earned All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the men’s hammer throw, setting a Vandals record in the process.

Wauters hit a personal-best throw of 69 feet, 9 ½ inches on his third toss of the day in the weight throw, beating his school record of 69-9.

Eastern Washington’s David Paul finished 14th in the event, with a throw of 63-1 ¼.

Oregon’s Rebekah Noble (Rogers) advanced to today’s eight-person final after placing second in her women’s 800-meter heat with the sixth-best overall time of 2:07.22.

“Whitworth’s Brandon Howell finished last in his 800 preliminary heat with a time of 1:57.02 and won’t advance to today’s final at the Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at Terre Haute, Ind.

Howell finished the race despite suffering a severe leg wound when he was spiked by another runner rounding the final turn.

Baseball

Mike Gilbert collected four hits and Washington State scored 10 unanswered runs in a 10-3 non-conference rout of San Jose State at San Jose, Calif.

The Spartans (11-6) had no answer for Gilbert as he went 4 for 4, including two doubles, three RBIs, three runs scored and a walk.

The Cougars (7-5) knocked around 15 hits, including three apiece from Scott Suttmeier and Zach Borba, and another two from Jeff Miller.

Matt Way picked up the win for Washington State, which snapped a two-game skid, pitching five innings while giving up five hits and striking out seven.

“Jonathan Cluff had two RBIs and scored twice to lead BYU (9-6) past Gonzaga 10-3 in non-conference play at Provo, Utah.

Bryan Winston went 4 for 5 and had two RBIs for GU (10-9), and Ryan Wiegand picked up a pair of hits and scored two runs.

Starting pitcher Brandon Harmon took the loss for the Bulldogs, pitching six innings while giving up nine runs on 11 hits and striking out three.

Softball

Community Colleges of Spokane opened its season with three losses and a win during the opening day of the Maricopa CC Tournament in Phoenix.

In the win, 6-3 over Scottsdale, Amber Keeler picked up a pair of hits for the Sasquatch (1-3), including a double.

Swimming

Washington State’s Erin McCleave placed 14th in the women’s 200-yard freestyle event, earning All-America honors at the NCAA Division I Championships in Minneapolis.

McCleave became the third swimmer in WSU history to earn All-American honors, and is the second Cougar to be honored multiple times. She placed 11th in the 1,650 freestyle last year.

“Whitworth’s Samantha Kephart placed second in the 100 butterfly and Natalie Turner took fifth in the 200 freestyle at the NCAA Division III Women’s Championships at Houston.

Kephart, who won the 100 butterfly last season, finished with a time of 55.70, just behind Marika Ross of Middlebury, who won in 55.59.

Turner finished with a time of 1:51.75, breaking her Whitworth and Northwest Conference record of 1:52.76 she set at the conference meet last month.

The two have a combined 41 points in the meet, leading to Whitworth sitting in 15th place in the team standings.