Sunday locals: Whitworth women’s swimming team second in GPA

The Whitworth women’s swimming team finished the 2012-13 academic year ranked second in the nation in cumulative grade-point average.

The team finished with a cumulative GPA of 3.65. Connecticut College led all of NCAA Division III with a 3.66. Whitworth’s Kori Carpenter, Kate Duvall, Bridget Louis, Hannah Norris and Alisa Stang all received honorable mention Scholar All-America honors.

Wes Tatum earned honorable mention honors for the Whitworth men’s team, which ranked 24th nationally.

Basketball

The Eastern Washington women’s team ranked 14th in the 2013 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll.

The honor marks the 12th time EWU has made the prestigious list. The Eagles earned a spot on the honor roll 11 times under 12-year head coach Wendy Schuller. This year’s squad had a team GPA of 3.491.

Eastern found its name on the list in 12 of the 18 years the honor roll has existed, earning seven top-five rankings. EWU topped the list following the 2003-04 season and ranked third at the end of the 2002-03, 2004-05 and 2005-06 campaigns.

• The Eastern Washington men’s team was among the 96 schools nationally to receive the inaugural Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Following the spring academic quarter at EWU, Eastern had an average cumulative grade point average of 3.35, and a quarterly GPA of 3.28.

In fact, all of Eastern’s sports programs boast an average cumulative GPA above 3.0, with a collective grade-point average of 3.27. In spring quarter, Eastern student-athletes had a collective 3.20 GPA.

Coached by Jim Hayford, members of the 2012-13 men’s basketball team included Collin Chiverton, Ivan Dorsey, Jeffrey Forbes, Tyler Harvey, Jordan Hickert, Daniel Hill, Venky Jois, Frederik Jorg, Parker Kelly, Thomas Reuter, Martin Seiferth and Kevin Winford. Danny Powell and Garrett Moon redshirted.

On July 17, Winford and Hickert were honored on the NABC Honors Court. Those two players, plus Dorsey, Harvey, Hill, Kelly, Jois, Jorg and Reuter, were also honored on the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team for the 2012-13 season.

• Six Whitworth men’s players were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court and the entire team earned an Academic Excellence award.

The NABC announced its annual academic awards last week.

Whitworth made the list with a cumulative GPA of 3.51.

In addition, six Whitworth players were selected to the NABC Honors Court, recognizing those collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the 2012-13 season.

The six Whitworth players to make the list are: Taylor Farnsworth, Wade Gebbers, Mack Larkin, Colton McCargar, Dustin McConnell and Matt Roth.

The Pirates were 26-4 in 2012-13 and won the Northwest Conference regular-season championship for the fourth straight year, going 14-2.

Tennis

Every member of the Whitworth women’s team made the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Scholar-Athlete list.

The Pirates had a cumulative grade-point average of 3.71.

Whitworth’s Scholar-Athletes include Caylee Lamm, K.C. McConnell, Morgan McDivitt, Saryn Mooney, Taylor Pena, Jessi Steele, Annika Westre and Megan Wingfield.

• Randall Knox has been hired as the first full-time assistant coach in the history of the Gonzaga men’s program.

Knox has served as a men’s assistant coach with Samford University, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Georgia State University. The native of Athens, Ala., has more than a decade of coaching experience.

Rowing

Former Washington State star Lisa Roman helped Canada’s women’s eight crew take third place at the Samsung World Rowing Cup at Lucerne, Switzerland.

Canada finished in 6 minutes, 1.61 seconds. The United States was first and Romania was second.

Roman, a native on Langley, British Columbia, competed with the Cougars varsity rowing team from 2010 through 2012.

Rodeo

Curt Scheer rode Spring Planting to the saddle bronc title July 13 at the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta.

Spring Planting belongs to the Flying Five Rodeo Co., operated by Don Hutsell of Ritzville and Sonny Riley of Pomeroy.

Cheney bareback rider Ryan Gray, Colbert tie-down roper Tyson Durfey and Grand Coulee bull rider Shane Proctor all earned money by making it out of the first round, but none made the finals.