Whitworth trio set for induction
Two former All-Americans and a coach who probably did more with less than any of his contemporaries will be inducted into the Whitworth University Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame on Saturday on campus.
Football’s Wayne Ralph and track and field’s Kristen (Shields) Hinton and coach Arnie Tyler Sr. will be enshrined during breakfast ceremonies at 8:30 a.m. in the Hixon Union Building. The 20th class, which brings the Heritage Gallery to 67 individuals and seven teams, also will be introduced at halftime of the Pirates’ football game that day in the Pine Bowl against Chapman.
Ralph had the two most prolific pass-receiving seasons in Northwest small-college history in 1985 and ’86, receiving NAIA first-team All-America recognition after each. He caught 101 passes for 1,111 and seven touchdowns in ’85, setting NAIA records for passes caught and receptions per game (11.2). The next year he outdid himself, catching 105 for 1,204 yards, including a school-record 20 for 219 yards in one game.
His 248 career catches remain a Northwest Conference record. He accumulated 2,793 yards and 22 touchdowns, and had 17 100-yard-plus receiving games.
Before she graduated in 2004 with a 4.0 grade-point average, Shields won an NCAA Division III 100-meter national championship as a senior, three NWC 100 titles and anchored the women’s 4x100 relay team to four conference championships. She earned All-America honors in the 100 as both a junior (she was fourth) and senior and in the 200 as a senior.
Tyler, who coached first the men’s track and field team from 1976-81, then both the men and women from 1982-91, saw three of his Pirates win NAIA national championships, and 25 earn All-America honors – all without the benefit of an on-campus track.
Reservations for the induction and breakfast can be made by calling 777-3224.
Bowling
Dalton Shears used the momentum from qualifying fifth and facing three playoff rounds to claim his first Junior Bowlers Tour championship on Sunday at Players & Spectators.
Shears capped his surge by knocking off top qualifier Chris Gray 182-178 on a day when the shots were tough and the scores generally low. En route to the final match, Shears defeated Curtis Lindeman (who finished fifth), T.J. Besel (fourth) and Thomas Locke (third).
Besel had the day’s top game, a 268. Megan Froman was high for the girls with a 195.
The next JBT is Oct. 4 at North Bowl.
College scene
Hilary Koenigs of Lewis and Clark, a freshman setter at Vassar, has been the Liberty League rookie of the week in volleyball the last two weeks as the Brewers have started the season 4-0 without dropping a set.
Koenigshad back-to-back 30-plus assist efforts to earn last week’s award. One was a career-high 34, the other 31.
The previous week, she started her college career with 44 assists in two wins.
•Chris Shaw, a Puget Sound junior from Coeur d’Alene Charter, had a goal and an assist in the Loggers’ 2-0 win over Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, two weeks ago as UPS opened its men’s soccer season with two wins.
•The North Idaho College women’s basketball team earned National Junior College Athletic Association team Academic All-America honors for a fifth straight year with a team grade-point average of 3.0.
Lauren Miller of Boise earned Distinguished Academic All-America status with 3.8 GPA and Marielle McKean of Moses Lake received Academic All-America with a 3.6.
Golf
Jack Sheehan, a Gonzaga Prep graduate and former sports writer for The Spokesman- Review, will be inducted into the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame Oct. 15.
He was a two-time Spokane City Junior champion in 1966-67 who went on to a stellar collegiate career at the University of Oregon. Along the way, he won four Coeur d’Alene City and four North Idaho amateur titles and the Southern Oregon Amateur championship among his successes.
He has written two books with PGA golfer Peter Jacobsen (“Embedded Balls” and “Buried Lies”), has been the emcee since 1990 for the Las Vegas PGA Tour event champion ceremonies and in 2007 received the VegasGolfer Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award.
Tennis
Gabriela Niculescu, a two-time Pac-10 Conference doubles champion at Southern California, has transferred to Idaho, Vandals women’s coach Tyler Neill announced.
Niculescu, from Romania, was an Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American in doubles in 2008 when her team reached the quarterfinals in the NCAA Championships.
•Steve Clark, director of tennis and head professional at the Spokane Racquet Club, will join the Whitworth University men’s tennis staff as an assistant coach for the 2009-10 season, head coach Mike Shanks announced.
Clark coached UC Irvine to seven NCAA tournament appearances from 1992-2006.
Clark, an All-America player at UC Davis in the mid-1980s, was also a head coach at Texas A&M and Chapman University.
•Jeff Beaman, director of tennis at the University of Idaho, was elected to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Committee and will serve on the men’s committee for the Mountain region.