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

Area players inducted into LCSC Hall of Fame

From Staff And News Services

Five players with area ties have a spot in the Lewis-Clark State College Athletic Hall of Fame after they were inducted with their teammates on what is considered the most successful basketball team in school history.

During ceremonies April 25, the 2000-01 women, the 1987 LCSC baseball team and six individuals, including four Major League Baseball players, formed the Class of 2015 that brings the school shrine to 12 individuals and three teams.

Led by first-team NAIA All-American Brianne Jolley of Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), the 2000-01 Warriors won the Frontier Conference tournament and carried the No. 5 seeding into the NAIA National Championships in Jackson, Tennessee.

LCSC won three games to advance to the semifinals, the furthest any basketball team in school history, women or men, has gone, before losing to eventual national champion Oklahoma City. The Warriors finished with a 33-4 record.

Besides Jolley, Alyssa Erickson (Wilbur-Creston) and Shannon Russel (Ritzville) earned All-America honorable mention; Sarah McEachern (Lewiston) was All-Frontier Conference honorable mention; and Vanesa Shelton (University) and Julia Vojtech (Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls) were freshmen reserves.

Individual inductees were women’s basketball standout Julie Stringer, former LCSC president and men’s basketball coach Lee Vickers, and former Warriors major leaguers Marvin Benard, Steve Decker, Keith Foulke and Steve Reed.

College scene

Mitch Peterson of Spokane (West Valley), who completed his senior season at Washington State last fall, has been named to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame 2015 Hampshire Honor Society.

Peterson, a two-year letter-winner for the Cougars, earned Pac-12 All-Academic first-team honors as a senior with a 3.75 grade-point average in marketing.

The Hampshire Honor Society is comprised of players from all divisions who maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college career. A total of 817 players from 278 schools qualified for membership in the society’s ninth year, setting a record number of schools represented. 

• Idaho’s Big Sky Conference men’s and women’s tennis champions cleaned up when postseason honors were passed out.

Jeff Beaman was chosen by his peers Men’s Coach of the Year and four of his players earned all-conference recognition – Big Sky MVP Odon Barta and Felipe Fonseca on the first team and Cristobal Ramos Salazar and Mark Kovacs earning honorable mention.

It continues a string of coaching honors for Beaman, who collected Western Athletic Conference accolades the last two seasons and was Mountain Region Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2014.

Mariana Cobra was chosen Women’s Coach of the Year in her first year and four Vandals were voted to All-Big Sky teams – Galina Bykova was named MVP and joined on the first team by Emmie Max. Sophie Vickers was on the second team and Belen Barcenilla was honorable mention.

The UI men will face Southern California for a second straight year and the women will play defending champion UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament next weekend.

Robert Dula, an Eastern Washington sophomore on the men’s team, and Janaya Smith, a freshman on the women’s, have been named All-Big Sky Conference in tennis. Dula was a first-team choice for the second straight season and Smith was named to the second team.

Alvaro Nazal, one of the most decorated players in Gonzaga tennis history who is graduating as a junior with a double major, was named to the All-West Coast Conference men’s first team in singles and honorable mention in doubles, where he was joined by partner Nick Kamisar.

• Brandon Gfeller , a sophomore guard on the Montana men’s basketball team from Colfax, was presented with the Allan Nielsen Award for a second consecutive season as the player who best represents Griz basketball.

UM’s third-leading scorer, averaging 8.9 points per game, Gfeller started 25 of the 33 games in which he played. He tied for fifth in the Big Sky Conference in 3-point field goals (2.5 average) and 12th in 3-point field-goal accuracy (42.1 percent).  He has been a Big Sky All-Academic selection the past two seasons.

Michael Stralser, a Western Washington senior from Cheney, placed fifth in the decathlon at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Multi-Events Championships last week in Lacey, Washington.

Stralser, who cleared a personal-best 5 feet, 11¾ inches in the high jump, finished with 6,031 points. Northwest Nazarene’s Payton Lewis won with 6,595.

• Kristen Hansen , the Western Washington junior from Mead, was named a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s golf first-team all-star for a third straight year after winning the conference championship. She was the 2014 Player of the Year and 2013 Freshman of the Year.

Letters of intent

Community Colleges of Spokane men’s basketball – Melik Hampton, 6-foot-4 forward, Rogers. Greater Spokane League MVP, All-State Games, averaged more than 12 points and 10 rebounds per game

Pierce Community College men’s basketball – Robert Rucker, 6-0 guard, Rogers. First-team All-GSL as senior, second team as junior, averaged 13.5 points as senior; Michael Hannan, 6-1 wing, Central Valley. First-team All-GSL, All-State Games, 13.0 points as senior, CV Honor Roll with GPA of 3.5 or better.

George Fox football – Richie Hauser, 6-0, 210 pounds, linebacker, Post Falls. Special teams, defensive stopper.

Gonzaga men’s tennis – Ruadhan De Bruges, Mount Colah, Australia, ranked among top 100 players in Australia; Emilio Moreno, Mexicali, Mexico, considered a top-30 recruit in southwestern U.S.; Ronzai Saurombe, Mutare Zimbabwe, transfer from Seward County (Kansas) CC, won national doubles title in 2014; Jordan Smith, Sydney, Australia, ranked among top 100 players in Australia.

Gonzaga women’s tennis – Domonique Garley, Fort Worth, Texas, three-time district and regional champion, two-time state qualifier with two top-three finishes.

Soccer

Washington East ’01, a Spokane-based girls team, won a Washington Cup Gold championship for the second straight season last weekend in Seattle, capturing the U13 title with a 2-0 victory over the MVP Marauders of Seattle.

The Ric Robles-coached team, which won the U12 title a year ago, outscored opponents 10-1 in a 3-0 run through the playoffs. The state title earned Washington East a spot in the U13 regionals next month in the Tri-Cities. The winner there qualifies for nationals.

Washington East players: Taryn Baxter, East Valley Continuous Curriculum School; Katherine Bourekis, Sacajawea Middle School; Raylynn Bucher, East Valley MS; Angel Denke, St. John Vianney; Haylie Greenwood, EVMS; Kaitlyn Harvey, EVMS; Taryn Harvey, Greenacres MS; Kaylie Higbee, Timberlake Junior High (Spirit Lake, Idaho); Emily Kaiser, North Pines MS; Haley Lance, GMS; Lily O’Neel, Evergreen MS; Zoe Potter, TJH; Zyree Raban, McLoughlin MS (Pasco); Skylar Robles, EMS; Sailor Watson, EMS; Brooklyn Worsham, NPMS.

Seven other area girls teams and six boys teams also made the Washington Cup finals.

Girls: Spokane Foxes Chaos, U10 Silver, semifinals; Cheney Storm, U12 Silver, finals (2nd place); Spokane Foxes Red ’02, U12 Silver, quarterfinals; Spokane Foxes Premier, U13 Platinum, semifinals; Spokane Foxes Premier ’00, U14 Platinum, finals (2nd place); Cheney Storm-Scott ’00, U14 Platinum, semifinals; Idaho Thunder-Briseno, U14 Bronze, quarterfinals.

Boys: Washington East ’04, 10U Gold, semifinals; Spokane Pumas ’03, U11 Gold, quarterfinals; Washington East ’03-Davis, U11 Platinum, quarterfinals; Washington East ’02, U12 Gold, quarterfinals; Coeur d’Alene Sting Premier-Leeds, U12 Platinum, quarterfinals; Washington East ’01-Davis, U13 Silver, semifinals.