Roundup: Howell heading to Montana
Former Mead and Washington State University golfer Lauren Howell will compete for Montana next season, the school has announced.
Howell, who will enter the program as a sophomore and be eligible to compete immediately, played her freshman season at Washington State this past year.
Howell, a 2008 Mead grad, shot a season-best 1-under-par 71 in the second round of Oregon State’s fall tournament, had a pair of 73s during the season and tied for 44th at the Pac-10 championship in April for the eighth-place Cougars.
College basketball
Freshman Kyle Miller (Cheney) was named the player of the year for the Eastern Oregon University women’s basketball team.
Miller was also named the defensive player of the year and the co-newcomer of the year along with junior Ashley Michelson (North Central).
The Mountaineers won 18 games last season and finished fourth in the Cascade Conference.
•Damal Neil (North Central), who played at Community Colleges of Spokane the past two years, has signed with William Jessup University, an NAIA school in Rocklin, Calif. Neil is a 6-foot-5 post and was chosen to the NWAACC Eastern Region All-Star team. He averaged 13 points and seven rebounds per game his sophomore year.
Rowing
Gonzaga University women’s rower Hanna McClintock was named to the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) first team All-West Region for the second straight season. The senior was one of 13 student-athletes to receive the honor.
McClintock, who also was named All-West Coast Conference and All-WIRA first team this season, is the third Bulldog to be named CRCA All-Region at least twice in their career. She joins Maria Bokulich, who garnered the honor all four years with Gonzaga, and Nicole Lustig, who was named CRCA All-Region her junior and senior seasons.
Soccer
Gonzaga University has hired assistant coach Shea Swoboda and volunteer assistant coach Candace Chapman to complete head coach Amy Edwards’ staff for the women’s soccer team.
Swoboda joins the Zags after spending two years at Indiana State University as an assistant coach. The Kansas City, Mo., native has also worked with the Olympic Development staffs in Missouri and Indiana. She was a four-year letterwinner and two-time captain at the University of Missouri and also played one season of basketball for the Tigers.
Chapman, a current member of the Boston Breakers in Women’s Professional Soccer, will join the Bulldogs after completing her season later this summer. Chapman has previously served as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Missouri, working with Edwards and current GU assistant coach Molly Schneider during the 2008 season.
Track and field
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) named Washington State University assistant coach Mark Macdonald the West Region men’s team assistant Track Coach of the Year.
Macdonald is a former All-American intermediate hurdler for the Cougs and has been on the coaching staff since 1992, starting as a graduate assistant for two years before becoming a full-time assistant coach in 1994. He coaches the men’s and women’s hurdlers as well as working with sprinters and relay teams.
Miscellany
Washington State basketball player Taylor Rochestie and track and field athlete Sara Trané won the 2008-09 Pacific-10 Tom Hansen Conference Medal.
A Conference Medal is awarded annually to each member institution’s outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership. The Pac-10 recently renamed the award the Tom Hansen Conference Medal in honor of Hansen, who is retiring at the end of June after serving 26 years as commissioner of the Pac-10.
The Tom Hansen Conference Medal winners will be honored at the State Farm Pride of the Pac-10 Breakfast held in Los Angeles in conjunction with the Pac-10 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments next March.
Washington’s winners were basketball player Jon Brockman and softball player Ashley Charters.