Eastern places fourth in Big Sky Presidents’ Cup

With a big assist from its conference-best 3.22 cumulative grade-point average, Eastern Washington finished fourth in the Big Sky Conference Presidents’ Cup standings for the 2008-09 academic/athletic year.

At 3.59, EWU’s women’s golf team posted the top GPA of any Big Sky team. The men’s cross country team led that sport at 3.43. The Eagles volleyball team was third in that sport with a 3.52 GPA and the women’s cross country team tied for fourth with a 3.51 GPA.

In the overall Sterling Savings Bank Presidents’ Cup standings, which combines academic and athletic performance, Eastern Washington placed fourth, marking the fifth time in the seven years of the award that EWU has finished in the top four. Weber State finished first, followed by Montana and Northern Arizona.

Academics

Several athletes from Washington State, Eastern Washington and Idaho were honored last week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as All-Academic Track and Field selections.

WSU women: Five women, two men and the women’s team were all honored. The women’s team had a cumulative GPA of 3.26, good for a tie for 59th among the 130 women’s teams that were honored. Women athletes Lynnea Braun, Lisa Egami, Isley Gonzalez, Alexa Huestis and Sara Trane were honored as were Barry Leavitt and Drew Polley from the men’s team.

EWU women: Six members of the Eastern Washington women’s team were also honored: Bonnie Berscheid, Michelle Coombs, Shene Davis, Krystal Deyo, Chelsi Friese and Shannon Long. Eastern’s 3.19 team GPA ranked 85th out of 131 teams that met a set of qualifying standards.

Idaho: Five Vandals were honored: Jeremy Klas, Paul Dittmer, James Rogan, K.C. Dahlgren and Christie Gordon. Also, Idaho was one of 62 schools to have both its men’s (3.06 GPA) and women’s (3.28) teams make the honor roll.

•Gonzaga University’s Derek Cheney is one of 108 NCAA Division I men’s golfers to be named a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Cheney, who will be a senior in the fall, has a 3.44 GPA in marketing.

Officiating

The Inland Empire Football Officials Association will hold its first organizational meeting of the year for new officials at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Gonzaga University School of Business Jepson Center.

Anyone interested in becoming a football official is urged to attend. The association continues to recruit new officials.

The Association supplies officials for 33 high schools and 32 middle schools, as well as the YMCA Grid Kids and Spokane Youth Sports Association programs.

For information, contact Dan Mencke, (509) 218-8650.

Track and field

George Mathews of Hayden Lake won his second weight event last Sunday at the USA Track & Field National Masters Championships in Oshkosh, Wis.

Mathews won the men’s age 65-69, 20-pound hammer throw with a mark of 62 feet, ¾ inch, defeating three-time Olympian Ed Burke, who took second at 60-4.

Mathews won a shot put title earlier in the event.