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

Furrer fires way to junior record

Staff And News Services

Spokane’s Amanda Furrer put together a record-breaking performance in qualifying for the Junior Olympic Rifle Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Furrer set a Junior Women’s National Record in three-position rifle 50 feet with a 584, beating the record of 577. The score also equals the current women’s record. The three positions are prone, standing and kneeling.

The National Junior Olympic Championships will be held April 8-26.

Furrer, 18, is a Mead graduate and is a freshman at Ohio State University.

Soccer

Gonzaga University senior defender Nick Barclay and the Bulldogs men’s soccer team picked up academic honors awarded by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

Barclay was named to the University Division Scholar All-West Region team, while the Bulldogs men were recognized with a NSCAA Team Academic Award for the 2008-09 academic year. Teams had to have a 3.0 or higher grade-point average to qualify for the honor, and 145 college men’s teams were recognized. Gonzaga was one of 101 teams to have both their men’s and women’s teams honored.

Barclay carries a 3.46 GPA in civil engineering and was one of three players to earn a repeat selection to the squad. He was also named to the ESPN The Magazine District VIII All-Academic team last fall as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Volleyball

Senior Ashley Hamilton was named MVP and won two other team awards at the recent Eastern Washington University volleyball banquet.

Hamilton was also named teammate of the year and won the Eagle Award, which is earned by the player who exemplifies the qualities that are valued by the team as a whole, including leadership, commitment and work ethic.

Eastern also presented special awards for Hamilton and junior Sara Todorovich for tying an NCAA Division I record with 1.000 hitting efficiency in separate matches. Hamilton had 12 kills in 12 attempts with no errors in a match on Oct. 23, which equals the fourth-best hitting performance in the history of NCAA Division I Volleyball.

Todorovich had 10 kills in 10 attempts on Nov. 14, which equals the seventh-best hitting performance in Division I. It is the first time in Division I women’s volleyball history that teammates have accomplished this feat in the same season.

The most inspirational honors went to senior setter Amanda Yausie. Junior Chenoa Coviare was named most improved for her performance on the court.

Basketball

Grand Canyon University junior center Kia Gibson, a Lakeside High (Nine Mile Falls) and North Idaho College standout, has been named the Pacific West Conference women’s basketball Player of the Week for games played Jan. 4-10.

Gibson helped lead GCU to a 2-0 week by averaging 18.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. She led the league in scoring and tied for 10th in rebounding. She shot 65 percent from the field, second in the conference, and hit 11 of 13 free throws (84.6 percent).

Track and field

Washington State University junior hurdler Jeshua Anderson is one of 10 track and field athletes named to the official preseason watch list for the 2010 awarding of The Bowerman.

The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee will release its next list, using only marks from the 2010 season, on Feb. 9.

Anderson is the reigning two-time NCAA 400-meter hurdles champion, having clocked his career-best 48.47 in the finals of the 2009 NCAA Championships. Anderson is also a two-time Pac-10 Champion in the long hurdles and also competes in the open 400-meter dash and as part of the Cougars’ 4x400-meter relay team.