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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Former CCS coaches selected for hall

Three former coaches at Community Colleges of Spokane will be inducted into the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Hall of Fame in Pasco on May 28 at 5:30 p.m.

Selected for the 2009 class are Irene Matlock, volleyball; Keith Snyder, baseball; and the late Erik Anderson, cross country and track and field.

Matlock was women’s volleyball coach from 1986-2004, when she retired from coaching. During her 15 years, her teams made the NWAACC tournament every year and won championships four times. She was selected by her peers as coach of the year four times and was the national coach of the year in 1994.

She continues teaching on the Spokane Falls staff.

Snyder was head baseball coach from 1982-90, winning NWAACC championships in 1986-87 and 1988-89, when he also received coach of the year honors from his peers. He also won four Eastern Region titles.

He has also has served as an assistant in baseball and softball and continues to teach on the CCS staff.

Anderson, who died Feb. 19 in a tragic accident on the CCS campus, was the CCS head men’s and women’s cross country and assistant track and field coach from 2004-09. He won eight NWAACC cross country titles.

Anderson was a former standout runner at Clark CC, where he coached from 1999-2003. He then returned to CCS, where he had been an assistant. He was NWAACC cross country coach of the year 10 times and track coach of the year twice, winning numerous titles in both sports.

Awards

The Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame is accepting public nominations for consideration of its October induction program at the Spokane Arena.

Biographies of deserving nominees can be sent to hall of fame chairman Jon Heimbigner, Spokane Regional Sports Commission, 801 W. Riverside, Suite 510, Spokane, 99201. The deadline is April 30.

Every two years the hall honors athletes, coaches and contributors who have brought national and regional recognition to this area. The organization is approaching its 50th year, having been formed in 1960 with its first class inducted in 1963.

There are 127 hall of fame and scroll of honor members whose accomplishments are on display in alcoves at the Arena.

The 11-member hall of fame committee is an adjunct of the SRSC. Rosauers is the major sponsor.

Questions may be directed to Heimbigner or secretary Deana McClenny at 742-9379.

Baseball

Billy Harris, who pitched for the Triple-A Spokane Indians in the early 1960s, will return to town Thursday for an autograph session and to talk baseball at West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt, from 1-2:30 p.m. It is open to the public.

Harris, who lives in Kennewick, where he owns a tavern, was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame last summer. He had a 14-16 record for the Indians from 1960-62 and had stints during a 15-year professional career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. Although he appeared in only two major league games, he compiled 174 minor league wins.

College scene

Caitlin McGrane of Colville, a junior at Puget Sound, was the Northwest Conference women’s field athlete of the week for the week ending March 21.

She posted an NCAA provisional qualifying mark by scoring 4,325 points in the pentathlon while finishing fourth in a meet at Cal State Northridge. She won her group in the 100 hurdles and javelin.

•The Eastern Washington men’s cross country team earned All-Academic honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association with a 3.330 grade-point average.

Eastern, which had a school-best third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference championships, was third among five Big Sky teams honored by the USTFCCCA.

•Washington State’s 2008 volleyball banquet is scheduled for April 11 at 6 p.m. at the CUB in Butch’s Den.

The cost is $15 a person. Those wishing to attend, or interested in sponsoring a volleyball student-athlete, should e-mail assistant coach TeAna Tramel at ttramel@wsu.edu. The deadline is Friday.

•Idaho will honor its female student-athletes May 4 at the Vandal All Women’s Sport Banquet at the University Inn-Best Western in Moscow.

A no-host social at 5 p.m. will be followed by the banquet at 6. The cost is $25 a person.

UI hall of famer Kathy Clark is the scheduled featured speaker.

For information or to RSVP, contact volleyball coach Debbie Buchanan at (208) 885-0238 or debbieb@uidaho.edu. RSVP by April 27.

Tennis

Tod Whitman and Dan Dieter of Spokane won the BNP Paribas Tri-Level Championships Men’s 4.0 Doubles representing the Pacific Northwest Region in the tournament at Indian Wells, Calif., last weekend.

The doubles event involves 14 United States Tennis Association Sections from around the country and was held in conjunction with the BNP Paribas Open.

Whitman and Dieter play for the Spokane Athletic Club and qualified by winning the regional tournament in Portland last fall.

Track and field

George Mathews of Hayden Lake won two championships with American-record throws and finished second in a third event at the USATF Masters National Indoor Championships last weekend in Landover, Md.

Mathews won the men’s 65-69 20-pound weight throw at 62 feet, 81/2 inches. He set the world record for the event earlier in the season at 65-42/3.

In the 44-pound superweight throw, he hit 34-53/4 to surpass his age-group record of 34-13/8.

Mathews placed second in the 5-kilo shot with a put of 41-53/4.

Compiled from staff, wire and news service reports.