Locally: Area bowlers take first place at state bowling tournament

Area bowlers picked up four first-place trophies and had 17 other top-five finishes in the Washington State U.S. Bowling Congress Youth Championship Tournament that wound up a five-week run last weekend in Seattle.

Zac Hamilton from Newport and the Raymond twins from Spokane, Joey and Jeffry, were among the multiple placers.

Hamilton won B all-events (140-154 handicaps) with a 2,135 score, was fifth in B singles (723) and was on the second-place C team (500-599 handicaps), Those One Kids from Newport (2,628).

The 11-year-old Raymonds were on the first-place E division team (380-439 handicaps), Rebels (2,741), and combined to finish second in E doubles (190-219 handicaps) with a 1,333.

Other area champions were Daniel Eldridge and Randy Holden of Spokane in A doubles (310-399 handicaps) with a 1,356 and Joe O’Brien and Anthony Woods from Moses Lake in D doubles (220-249) with a 1,393.

Other top-five finishes for area competitors:

Team: AA (680 and over handicaps) – High Rollers, Spokane, 2nd, 2,522. C (500-599) – The Dominators, Spokane, 3rd, 2,623. E (380-439) – Chewelah Youth No. 1, 3rd, 2,521. F (379 and under) – Brat Pack, Priest River, 2nd, 2,599.

Doubles: AA (340 and over) – Amanda Oens-April McDonough, Cheney, 3rd, 1,257. C (250-279) – Billy Shestock-Brandon Gilbert, Moses Lake, 2nd, 1,315; Jack Zappone-Chelsea Zappone, Spokane, 5th, 1,297. D (220-249) – Casey Holden-Jeremy Graves, Spokane, 5th, 1,280. Scratch – Jeremy Lilly-Todd Benner, Mead, 3rd, 1,170.

Singles: D (110-124) – Dillon Damp, Newport, 4th, 694; Trevor Allery, Moscow, Idaho, 5th, 689. F (94 and under) – Gianni Luchini, Spokane, 3rd, 721.

All-events: D – Mitch Holford, Chewelah, 3rd, 1,972. F – Luchini, 4th, 2,041.

Basketball

Ula Tauala, a guard on Lewis and Clark’s two state championship teams, will continue her career at North Idaho College.

Tauala, said high school coach Jim Redmon, was one of the team’s defensive stoppers, a clutch scorer and three-year regular at LC. Her 14-point game against Kentwood in this year’s semifinals, he said, was imperative in their title defense.

“Four Spokane girls teams won championships in the Best in the West AAU tournament in Yakima last weekend, one in an all-Spokane final.

Spokane Lady Hoops won the sixth-grade title, 33-28 over Eugene Westside Wolves; Spokane Dawgs won seventh-grade, 44-43 over Grandview Hoopstars; Spokane Blazers won ninth-grade, 84-68 over Sea Lady Style Gold; and Spokane Stars Blue beat Spokane Stars Red 76-58 in the high school girls elite final.

“Spokane Blazers won an Inland Empire AAU Division title for a fourth straight year the last weekend of April to lead the showing by local teams in the national-qualifying tournament in Yakima.

The Blazers won the girls U-15 Division I to earn a trip to the AAU nationals in July in Nashville, Tenn.

Other area champions, with finals scores when two local teams played:

Boys – NBC Thunder, U-11 Division II; Spokane Storm, U-13 Division II; Spokane Phantoms, U-14 Division II; Rush Hoops, U-15 Division II.

Girls – Spokane Wild, U-12 Division I (over Spokane Lady Hoops, 49-38); Spokane Sparks, U-13 Division I (over Spokane Dawgs, 44-40); Tiger Basketball No. 1, U-16-17-18 Division I (over North Idaho Elite, 51-43).

College scene

Track and field produced Community Colleges of Spokane’s female and male scholar-athletes of the month for April.

Jennifer Bolton, a sophomore who won the NWAACC heptathlon title last month in just her third attempt at the event, is the female selection. The Oregon state record-holder in the pole vault, Bolton also excels in the javelin and has a 3.05 grade-point average.

The male selection is sophomore Deji Adebayo from Rogers, who leads the NWAACC in the 100 and 200 meters. His 100 time of 10.55 seconds is sixth all time at CCS.

“Five athletes were selected for the three year-ending senior awards at Whitworth.

Football players Michael Allan and Joel Clark (Mt. Spokane) shared the Dennis Spurlock Award; softball catcher Lindsay Davis was named Senior Female Athlete of the Year; and basketball player Bryan Williams (Mead) and soccer player Niko Varlamos were co-recipients of the Senior Male Athlete of the Year award.

“More awards for record-setting Colfax grad Greg Biagi, a junior baseball standout at Dakota State University.

Biagi was named NAIA Region III Player of the Year, first-team shortstop and on the Gold Glove team, duplicating awards he received a week earlier from the Dakota Athletic Conference. His season included a .357 batting average with school records in at-bats (185), hits (66) and RBIs (53).

The only downer last week: DSU was eliminated in the Region III tournament, finishing the season 39-12.

“Lewis-Clark State’s Joey Lovell of Sandpoint was named Frontier Conference Freshman of the Year in men’s golf and was a first-team all-conference selection. He was runner-up in the Player of the Year voting.

“Two members of the Western Washington women’s rowing team from the area were named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference at-large academic all-star team.

Selections include Samantha Marikis, a junior from Republic with a 3.39 GPA in physical education, and Amelia Whitcomb, a junior from Ferris with a 3.30 GPA in environmental science.

“For the second time this year, the Washington State athletic department has been honored for its efforts in diversity.

Athletics was one of three departments in the school recognized by the National Coalition Building Institute after earning a similar honor from Texas A&M.

Judo

Ferris’ sixth-place finish led the showing by five area schools in the Pacific Northwest High School Judo Championships in Kent, Wash., last weekend.

Lewis and Clark finished ninth in the 21-school field with Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 11th, Rogers 12th and University 17th. Kentridge won.

Track and field

Washington State has signed five more athletes to letters of intent, including sprinter Deji Adebayo from Community Colleges of Spokane.

Adebayo, in his second season as a track athlete after playing soccer at Rogers High School, is the defending Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges 100-meter dash champion and ran a PR time of 10.55 seconds for 10th place at the 2007 Mt. SAC Relays.

Also signing with the Cougars, announced head coach Rick Sloan, are high school seniors Ebba Jungmark, a 6-foot-3 1/2 high jumper from Sweden; Marissa Tschida, a javelin thrower from Missoula, who has the fourth-best high school mark in the nation this year, 158 feet, 5 inches; Trevor Habberstad, a hurdler and decathlete from Canyon Country, Calif.; and Amanda Andrews, a distance runner from Gig Harbor, Wash.

Volleyball

Maddy Lorenz, an outside hitter from Ferris, has signed a letter of intent to play at NCAA Division II Concordia College in Bronxville, N.Y.

Lorenz was first team All-GSL as a senior and second team All-GSL as a junior.

She led the Saxons in kills, hitting percentage, digs, blocks and aces this season. Lorenz will join former Saxons setter Shannon Flaherty at Concordia.