Chiefs defenseman Gow wins scholastic award

Spokane Chiefs defenseman Reid Gow won the Western Hockey League’s Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Trophy as the league’s Scholastic Player of the Year.

Gow, a two-year Chiefs veteran, has a cumulative 95 percent score in his core classes – college prep English, advanced placement statistics and sports marketing – at Ferris High School. He is also taking college-level psychology online through Athabasca University.

The Eastern Conference nominee was Jimmy Bubnick of Calgary.

Gow is the second Chief to win the award. Kyle Rossiter won in 1998 and went on to be named the Canadian Hockey League Scholastic Player of the Year.

Spokane’s Brenden Kichton, the top-scoring defenseman in the WHL, was the runner-up for the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defenseman. Alex Petrovic, a 20-year-old from the Red Deer Rebels, won the honor.

College scene

Seniors Bowe Ebding and Shene Davis of the Eastern Washington track and field team have been selected EWU’s May Scholar-Athletes of the Month.

Ebding, who has a 3.62 grade-point average in Spanish with a minor in math, qualified for the Big Sky Conference championships in the 5,000 and 10,000. His 10,000 time (30 minutes, 48.76 seconds) is third in the Big Sky.

Davis has a 3.7 GPA in exercise science with a double minor in math and Spanish. She qualified for the Big Sky championships in the triple and long jumps, with a long jump of 19-6 1/4 that is third in school history.

• Sami Parr, a senior second baseball at Whitworth, was named to the Capital One Academic All-District 8 Division III softball team for a second straight year. She has a 3.98 GPA in health science. 

• Collin Slaybaugh, a sophomore baseball catcher at Washington State, was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-District VIII Division I first team. He has a 4.00 GPA as a movement studies major.

Fishing

Mt. Spokane junior Dakota Jones, 17, won his third state championship last weekend in an FLW tournament on Lake Washington.

Jones, a former two-time Bassmaster state champion, caught four smallmouth totaling 8.85 pounds.

Nik Autrey, 18, of Liberty Lake, a former state champion, finished second in the 15-18-year-old division with 8.06 pounds. David Slater, 18, a senior at University High and a former state champion, finished third with 5.95 pounds.

Jones will represent the state at the Junior World Championship, Aug. 9-12 on Lake Lanier, Ga.

Football

Former Washington State Cougars Jared Karstetter and Daniel Wagner were named to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame 2012 Hampshire Honor Society, which honors college players from all divisions who maintain a 3.2 GPA or better during their collegiate careers.

Karstetter, a wide receiver from Ferris, adds another accolade to his impressive academic resume. He was named the Pac-12 Football Student-Athlete of the Year this past season and also was named a National Football Foundation scholar-athlete and earned spots on the Pac-12 All-Academic first team and CoSIDA All-Academic District VIII first team.

Wagner, a punter from Portland, was an entrepreneurship major with a 3.27 GPA. He earned academic All-Pac-12 honorable mention this past season.

Letters of intent

Eastern Washington women’s soccer: Amanda Bliesner, East Valley, forward, 2010 Great Northern League Player of the Year; Taylor Berdar, University, defense, All-Greater Spokane League first team; Shayla Weiler, forward/midfield, U-Hi, two-time All-GSL first-team; Nicole Medeiros, Lake City, forward/defender, two-time All-Inland Empire League first team who is transferring from North Idaho College; Kristina Nelson, Ferndale, Wash., defense; and Rachel Robertson, Kea’au, Hawaii, defense, two-time all-league first team.

• North Idaho wrestling: Jeremy Golding, Mead, All-Greater Spokane League. Three-time State 4A champion, two-time Tri-State champion and Fargo All-American in Greco. He is slated to wrestle at 149 pounds for the Cardinals.

• Carroll women’s basketball: Maggie Heidenreich, Lake City, 6-foot post. Was a team captain and rebounding leader. Follows sister Hannah, who played basketball at Carroll, and brother Ben, a member of the Saints’ football team.

• Washington State women’s crew: Ieva Adomaviciute, Kaunas, Lithuania; Sarah Steger, Edgewater, Western Australia; Nicole Hare, Calgary, Alberta; Jordan Watson, Victoria, British Columbia; and Katrina Tarrant, Creston, B.C.

Soccer

XiFA of Spokane won the gold medal in the U-14 boys division and placed second in the U-13 boys division at the Washington Cup Championships last weekend in Lacey, Wash.

The U-14 team won 4-1 in the semifinals, avenging its only loss in six playoff games, and 3-0 in the finals, qualifying for regionals in June. The U-13 team had a 4-1 playoff record, going unbeaten until a 2-1 loss in the title game.

Softball

Gary Kuck, in his 33rd year as an Amateur Softball Association umpire, has been named a deputy umpire in chief by Spokane ASA commissioner Fuzzy Buckenberger.

Kuck, who has umpired in 10 ASA national tournaments, two state high school championship and held positions on both the Spokane ASA and Spokane Softball Umpires Associations boards, joins deputy Ken Mathia on the staff of Spokane ASA UIC Randy Harnasch.

Volleyball

Seven teams from Spokane and North Idaho are among nine from the Evergreen Region of USA Volleyball that qualified for the USA Girls Junior National Championships June 28-July 7 in Ohio following regional competition last month in Spokane.

Earning national bids were: U-18 – Splash Volleyball Club DK National, Spokane. U-17 – Sideout Volleyball Club 17, Spokane. U-16 – Sandpoint Volleyball Club 16A. U-15 – Catalyst Volleyball Club 15, Spokane; Sideout Volleyball Club 15, Spokane. U-14 – VIP Juniors Volleyball Club 14, Spokane. U-13 – VIP Juniors 13, Spokane.

The other Evergreen Region teams to advance were Montana Volleyball Academy’s U-18 and U-12 teams from Missoula.

Wrestling

Jordan Rogers, a senior at Mead, has collected two more national honors.

Rogers, a three-time State 4A champion who earlier was named the state of Washington and Western Regional winner of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award, also received:

• The Junior Schalles Award from the National Wrestling Coaches Association as the national’s best high school pinner. He pinned all 42 of his high school opponents last season.

• The Junior Dan Hodge Trophy from WIN Magazine and the AAU.

“Jordan epitomizes what we’d ideally like to see every year in a Junior Dan Hodge Trophy winner,” said WIN publisher Bryan Van Kley. “He goes out every match to dominate and pin his opponent. And he’s as disciplined in the classroom as he is on the mat, and also just a great representative of our sport as person.

“We’re proud he’s this year’s winner.”

Miscellany

The Cougar Athletic Fund, the fundraising arm of the Washington State athletic department, and Sterling Bank will stage the second annual Cougar Legends Weekend, June 8-9, at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.

The weekend begins with a dinner and auction on June 8, where teams will bid on “Cougar legends” to join their golf groups on June 9.

Saturday begins with breakfast at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course, followed by the tournament. The day ends with a dinner Saturday evening at the resort.

Confirmed to be in attendance include Drew Bledsoe, Mark Rypien and Jack Thompson.

All proceeds will go toward student-athlete support at WSU.

Info: Lori Olson, (509) 358-7541 or olsonl@wsu.edu.