Locally: Local anglers land firsts at state junior event

Two Inland Empire Bass Club Juniors won in the FLW Junior State Tournament last weekend on Moses Lake.

Joey Nania, 16, of Liberty Lake and David Slater, 13, of Spokane Valley bested the fields in their age divisions to earn the right to fish in the national championships of the FLW Cup.

The competition, named for Forrest L. Woods, founder of Ranger Boats and sponsored by the National Guard, will take place the first week of August in Hot Springs, Ark.

Nania and Slater are no strangers to competitive bass fishing. This was Nania’s third junior state title. He also won the Junior Bassmaster Classic World Championship in 2005. Slater is a repeat state champion and recently finished fourth in the 2007 Junior Bassmaster Classic World Championships.

Nania rocked the field of 15-18-year-olds with a first-day, five-fish total of 18.91 pounds, creating an 8-pound gap over second place. Day two, Nania managed four fish to add another 13.43 pounds, placing him in first by almost 14 pounds.

“I was able to fish my game plan on day one,” Nania said, “but on day two conditions changed and I had to go off the plan and start searching for cruising fish.”

He found them and one 5.69-pound largemouth in a canal to seal the deal.

Slater, fishing in the 11-14-year-old category, found tough going and on day one caught a fish weighing 3.04 pounds. That left him in second place. Day 2 he found two more fish, ending with a total of 8.84 pounds – a 1.81-pound victory margin.

Basketball

Former Gonzaga University All-American Maria Stack was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame April 28.

Stack was a 1985 Naismith Award winner and NAIA All-American during her senior season at GU, the only season she played for the Bulldogs. She still holds single-season records for points (707), field goals made (264), free throws (179), assists (203) and steals (96).

Stack was named Indiana’s Miss Basketball 1980 after leading Columbus East to a runner-up finish in the state 4A tournament. She had championship-game records of 42 points and 22 rebounds, which still stand.

She was also a member of the 2005 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Silver Anniversary Team that honored players from 1980.

“Alysha Green, a 5-foot-8 guard from Mead, has signed a letter of intent to play at Carroll College in Helena, Saints coach Shawn Nelson announced.

Green averaged 13.2 points, five rebounds and four assists as a senior as Mead placed fourth in the State 4A tournament.

Bowling

Newport bowlers vaulted into the spotlight during the seventh of nine weeks of the Washington State Women’s Tournament at Mt. Vernon last weekend.

Patricia Shields moved into fifth place in Class F singles (491) and all-events (1,416), and four McCroskey Attorney-at-Law teams picked off top-five spots.

McCroskey IV is third in four-woman B division (2,068); McCroskey I (2,138) is first and McCroskey III is fifth (1,953) in four-woman C; and McCroskey II is third in four-woman D.

Other area competitors who moved into the top five:

Family Affair, Newman Lake, fifth, five-woman team E (2,178); Pin Sweepers, Post Falls, first, four-woman team D (2,114); Jackie Zorica, Newport, second C singles (610); and Sharon Jennings, Post Falls, tied for fifth, D all-events (1,583).

All scores are scratch.

“Two Spokane teams picked up top-five spots last weekend in the fourth week of the Washington State U.S. Bowling Congress Youth Championships in Seattle.

Rebels claimed first in the E division (380-439 handicap) with a 2,741, and High Rollers moved into second in AA (680 and over handicap) with a 2,522.

College scene

Greg Biagi, the former Colfax and Big Bend baseball standout, had a banner first year at Dakota State University.

The junior shortstop, in the top 10 in the conference in most offensive categories, not only was named to the All-Dakota Athletic Conference first team, but was selected the conference’s most valuable player and named to the Gold Glove team.

Biagi tied for sixth in the DAC with a .353 batting average, was first in hits (61) and RBIs (52) and second in runs scored (44). Among third-place stats were his 90 total bases.

“Peter Birdwell, a freshman pitcher at California Lutheran from Mead, was named to the All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference second team in baseball.

Birdwell had a 3-0 record and seven saves with a 2.59 earned-run average to lead the team. He had 38 strikeouts, gave up 24 hits and 19 walks in 31 1/3 innings.

“Stew Davis, a Central Valley HS graduate, was chosen to the Northwest Conference all-star baseball team. Davis, a designated hitter who is a repeat first-team selection, hit .358 and led the team with 38 RBIs.

“Lindsay Davis of Whitworth was named to the 2007 CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII College Division softball team.

The senior catcher and team captain has a 3.95 grade-point average in health, fitness and physical education.

“Central Washington outfielder Kasey Druffel from Colton and North Idaho College picked up some major awards last week.

The junior was named to the inaugural Daktronics Division II All-West Region softball team after being selected to the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference first team and named the league’s newcomer of the year.

Druffel was the GNAC regular-season batting leader at .416. Hitting leadoff, she led the league in on-base percentage (.441) and conference games in runs (22). Her 57 hits were two shy of the single-season record for the Wildcats.

“Seattle University freshman outfielder Katie Antich from Gonzaga Prep was named to the All-GNAC second team.

Antich is hitting .349 for the Redhawks, who qualified for this week’s eight-team NCAA Division II West Regional for the third time in four years.

“Seven Eastern Washington athletes from the area were named to Big Sky Conference All-Academic teams for winter quarter. To qualify, they must have at least a 3.20 GPA.

Eastern selections by sport with majors:

Men’s basketball – Rhett Humphrey, senior, Cheney, marketing; Matt Penoncello, Moscow, Idaho, sophomore, business.

Women’s basketball – Katy Baker, Lewis and Clark, so., business; Karilynn Darnell, Rathdrum (Lakeland), junior, biology.

Men’s indoor track and field – Erik Walker, Odessa, jr., biology.

Women’s indoor track and field – Teanna Meinhold, Colville, jr., business administration; Bonnie Millard, Priest River, freshman, management information systems.

“Three area athletes at Idaho were selected to All-Academic teams in the Western Athletic Conference for winter semester with GPAs of 3.0 or better.

Katie Schlotthauer, a sophomore from Newport majoring in secondary education, was selected in women’s basketball. Mallory Kellogg of Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), majoring in animal science, and Katie Kolva, a junior in marketing from Newman Lake (Gonzaga Prep), were named in women’s swimming.

“Alicia Mills from Central Valley and Allie Brosh from Sandpoint, both track and field athletes, were scholarship award winners at Montana.

Mills, a senior with a 3.35 GPA in health and human performance, received the John Kolendich Memorial Scholarship.

Brosh, a junior with a 3.08 GPA in journalism, received the Dean Erhard Athletic Award.

“Three area athletes at Western Washington were Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic selections in track and field.

Nick Gaddy, a sophomore from Cheney with a 3.42 GPA in pre-medicine; Lydia Morrison, a sophomore from Clarkston with a 3.22 GPA in biology; and Chad Portwood, a senior from Cheney with a 3.20 GPA in computer science, were honored.

“Men’s tennis player Pannhara Mam, a sophomore, has been selected to represent Eastern Washington at the 2007 NCAA National Leadership Conference May 27-31 in Buena Vista, Fla.

He’s one of 356 student-athletes nationwide selected from a list of 1,308 nominations.

Volleyball

First-year Lewis-Clark State coach Jennifer Greeny didn’t have to look far for her first recruit.

Greeny, who had a successful career at Pullman High School before taking the LCSC job, signed Pullman standout Katie Hinrichs to a letter of intent. The pair helped Pullman to the school’s first state volleyball title in 2005 and a third-place finish last fall.

Hinrichs, a 5-foot-4 libero, was a two-time All-Great Northern League first-team selection and a second-team 2A All-State pick as a senior last fall. She also has a 3.40 GPA.

Miscellany

The 10th annual Washington State Senior Games will be July 27-29 in Olympia with a wide variety of activities and sports for people age 50 and older.

For information on entering, call (360) 413-0148 or Jack Kiley at (360) 754-4937. The online Web site is www.pugetsoundgames.com.

“Central Washington’s 1984 football team, which had an 11-2 record and advanced to the second round of the NAIA playoffs, will be inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame a week from today, and Matt Brkljacich wants to make sure his former teammates know.

“I’ve contacted 25 players and coaches … and am trying to get the next 25 to make it a full turnout,” the former quarterback said.

He can be contacted at brkljacichmatt@yahoo.com.

Dinner will be at 5 p.m. Tickets are available through the athletic department.

Info: Kim Thomas, event coordinator, (509) 963-2762.