McClammer eighth in Paralympics 800

Chelsea McClammer of Benton City, Wash., a Team St. Luke’s athlete and Paralympian, has returned after a successful trip to Beijing.

McClammer, 14, the youngest of 17 women on the U.S. Paralympic team, placed eighth in the women’s 800 meters in her disability classification at the 2008 Paralympic Games.

After a fifth-place finish in her heat, timing 21 minutes, 20 seconds, to qualify for the finals, she cut nearly three minutes off her time in the finals, clocking a personal-best 18:44.

She was accompanied to Beijing by Team St. Luke’s coach Teresa Skinner.

Bowling

Jared Descoteaux stepped up when Chris Gray cooled off at the wrong time and Descoteaux won the first singles stop of the 2008-09 Junior Bowlers Tour Sept. 14 at Players & Spectators.

Gray, who qualified for the five-person finals in fifth place, had knocked off Mitch Lukes (who finished fifth), Alex Earle (fourth) and Dalton Shears (third) to reach the finals against leading qualifier Descoteaux. Descoteaux prevailed 176-167.

April McDonough rolled the high game of the day for the girls, a 203. Descoteaux led the boys with a 257.

The next JBT is Sept. 28 at North Bowl.

College scene

Christie Dalsanders, head women’s golf coach at Community Colleges of Spokane, has been named the 2008 LPGA Western Section Coach of the Year.

Dalsanders has been the head women’s coach at CCS for six years, leading the Sasquatch to four NWAACC championships and two second-place finishes.

Under Dalsanders, CCS has won six straight Eastern Region titles and has compiled a 70-2 league record. She has been the NWAACC coach of the year five times.

•Former Idaho track and field star Melinda Owen has made the secondary cut for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. She is one of 10 Division I athletes on the list that also includes 10 each from Divisions II and III. They were pared from an initial list of 130.

By the end of the month, the list of 30 will be trimmed to nine finalists. A national winner will be announced Oct. 19.

•Two with Greater Spokane League ties were Northwest Conference athletes of the week in their sports last week.

Jenny McKinstry, a George Fox junior forward from Central Valley, was the women’s soccer choice after collecting two game-winning goals for the Boxers, one on a penalty kick.

Wyatt Evenson, a Puget Sound freshman kicker from Shadle Park, was the football special-teams selection after ending a string of 42 straight quarters for the Loggers without a field goal. He kicked three, plus four extra points for a 13-point game, in a 37-7 win over Pomona-Pitzer.

Soccer

A pair of goalkeeper coaches with Hawaiian ties have joined Gonzaga University’s men’s and women’s programs.

Vito Higgins of Kailua, Hawaii, who completed an outstanding playing career in goal last season for GU as the Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA tournament, has joined men’s head coach Einar Thorarinsson’s staff.

C.J. Cooper, who spent the previous two seasons as a men’s and women’s assistant at Hawaii-Hilo, has joined the staff of women’s coach Shannon Stiles. He graduated from UC Irvine, where he lettered four years and was an All-Big West first-team selection in 2001.

Higgins returned to his alma mater to coach after a foot injury cut short his professional career. He signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS this past spring.

Track and field

Two high school athletes and three transfers will attend Eastern Washington when school starts this month and compete for the men’s team.

The newest Eagles are freshmen distance runner Kyle King from Coupeville, Wash., and sprinter Brad Wall from Vancouver, Wash.

The transfers are thrower David Howard, an East Valley High School graduate, and jumper Kurt Williams from Snohomish, Wash., both from Community Colleges of Spokane, and jumper Ben Cogdill from Estacada, Ore., coming from Portland State.

In 2008 championship meets, King won the Washington 1B 3,200 and was second in the 1,600; Wall was first in the State 4A 400 meters; Howard won a second NWAACC shot put title and was second in the discus; Williams was second in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump; and Cogdill was fourth in the Big Sky pole vault.

•Sprinter Gale Nelson from Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls and three-time state champion hurdler-sprinter Ashley Stabl from Tekoa-Oakesdale are among a half-dozen newcomers who will join the Eastern Washington women’s team when school starts this month.

Others are sprinter-jumper Kelly Downey from Okanogan, Wash.; cross country-distance runner Tera Klein from Kalispell, Mont.; hurdler Olivia Johnson from Kennewick; and jumper Jennifer Wamsley from Auburn, Wash.

With top-10 placings in state meets last spring, Nelson was third in the 1A 100 meters and fourth in the 200; Stabl won the 2B 100 and 300 hurdles and was second in the 200 meters; Downey was second in the 1A 800 and ninth in the long jump; Johnson was second in the 3A 300 hurdles and seventh in the 100; and Wamsley was 10th in the 4A high jump.