Sunday locally column: Lindgren headlines Pac-12 All-Century cross country team

Gerry Lindgren, who went from a stellar, record-setting career at Rogers High School to international fame, leads a trio of former Washington State distance legends named to the Pac-12 Networks’ Pac-12 All-Century Men’s Cross Country team.

Henry Rono and Josephat Kapkory are also among the 12 men selected last week. Lindgren and Rono are members of the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Lindgren was the NCAA cross country champion in 1966, 1967 and 1969 and set meet records in ‘66 and ‘69. He won 11 straight NCAA titles and was never beaten in an official NCAA championship event. Lindgren, also the Pacific-8 cross country champion in ’69, held the world record at 6 miles.

While at Rogers, he set 11 prep distance marks and won a spot on the 1964 United States Olympic team for the Tokyo Games. Lindgren was the first American to beat the Russians in a distance race, accomplishing that feat at 10,000 meters in a 1964 dual meet between the countries.

Rono, from Kiptaragon, Kenya, was a three-time NCAA cross country champion from 1976-79. He won the NCAA Indoor 2-mile in 1977, was a two-time outdoor steeplechase champion and held six collegiate outdoor records and four indoor records. In 1978, Rono was named Track & Field News World Track and Field Athlete of the Year, Sport Magazine Track Athlete of the Year, AP European Sportswriters Sportsman of the Year and was the North America winner of the Helms Athletic Foundation World Trophy. He was a member of Kenya’s 1980 Olympic team but did not compete due to a political boycott.

Kapkory, from Kapenguria, Kenya, a three-time NCAA All-American from 1991-94, was cross country champion in 1993 and the Pac-10 Athlete of the Year in ‘92 and ’93. On the track, he was a five-time Pac-10 champion from the 1,500 to 10k and was a two-time NCAA Indoor 3,000-meter champion.

Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine (1969-71, ’73) and Arizona’s Amy Skieresz (1995-98) earned Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Century honors, respectively, with current Colorado coach Mark Wetmore named the Pac-12 Cross Country Coach of the Century.

Also named to the men’s team: Edward Cheserek, Oregon (2013-present); Galen Rupp, Oregon (2005-08); Meb Keflezighi, UCLA (1994-98); Alberto Salazar, Oregon (1976-79); Lawi Lalang, Arizona (2011-12); Ryan Hall, Stanford (2001-04); Martin Keino, Arizona (1991-94); and Dale Story, Oregon State (1959-61).

The women’s team: Amy Skieresz, Arizona (1995-98); Tara Chaplin, Arizona (1998-01); Lauren Fleshman, Stanford (1999-02); Jordan Hasay, Oregon (2009-12); Regina Jacobs, Stanford (1982-85); Arianna Lambie, Stanford (2003, 05-07); Francie Larrieu Smith, UCLA (1973); Alicia Craig, Stanford (2001-04); Sara Bei, Stanford (2001-04); Amy Hastings, Arizona State (2003-05); Regina Joyce, Washington (1979-82); and Kendra Schaaf, Washington (2008-09).

College scene

Sydney Johnson, a freshman setter at State University of New York (SUNY) Polytechnic Institute from Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls, was named the North Eastern Athletic Conference Volleyball Rookie of the Year.

A two-time first-team All-Northeast A League selection at Lakeside, she led all NEAC rookies and was second overall in the NCAA Division III conference in both assists (960) and assists per set (9.80). She also hit .381 on 118 attacks, a percentage that jumped to .556 against league opponents.

Johnson dished out at least 50 assists four times, including a season-high 62 in a 3-2 win over Utica on Oct. 15. She earned one NEAC Player of the Week award and had 243 digs, 52 kills, 40 aces and 15 block assists in 29 matches for the 25-4 Wildcats heading into the postseason. SUNY was a co-regular-season champion.

• Martha Heaps, a Concordia sophomore defender from Mead, and Ashley Cook-Cox, a Northwest Nazarene sophomore midfielder from Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls, received honorable mention on the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s soccer team.

Cook-Cox was a second-team selection in 2014.

• Peyton Pelluer, a redshirt sophomore linebacker at Washington State, was selected to the 2015 Academic All-District 8 first team in football for Division I by the College Sports Information Directors of America with a 3.57 grade-point average while majoring in history with an emphasis in secondary education.

Pelluer is eligible for Academic All-America honors, as are all first-team district selections in all divisions.

• Five Eastern Washington Eagles – senior tight end Jake Withnell, senior defensive back Todd Raynes, junior wide receiver Cooper Kupp, sophomore linebacker Jake Gall and sophomore defensive lineman Andre Lino – have been named to the Division I Academic All-District 8 football first team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The five match the most Academic All-District selections in one year in school history.

Withnell has a 3.91 GPA in accounting; Raynes a 3.42 in mechanical engineering; Kupp a 3.54 as an economics major; Gall a 3.53 as a criminal justical major; and Lino a 3.71 with an undeclared major.

• Cody Sorensen, the Idaho State senior defensive back from Ferris, was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 Division I first team in football for a third straight year. Sorensen has a 3.85 GPA in mechanical engineering.

• Three Whitworth juniors – offensive linemen Joe Beattie and Michael Cruciotti and defensive back Caleb Mathena - have been named to the 2015 College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District 8 football team for Division III.

Beattie has a 3.94 GPA in business management; Cruciotti a 3.73 in business administration and marketing; and Mathena a 3.98 in political science.

• Marc David, Eastern Oregon’s senior kicker from Mead with a 3.49 GPA as a fire services administration major, and Troy Carr, a College of Idaho junior linebacker from Rathdrum with a 3.54 GPA in biology, are CoSIDA Academic All-District 4 College Division first-team selections.

• Maddi Cillay, an Eastern Oregon sophomore forward from Pullman, was named to the CoSIDA District 4 College Division first team in women’s soccer with a 3.43 GPA in pre-nursing.

• Katelyn Peterson, a senior outside hitter at Idaho, wasa CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 second-team selection for Division I in volleyball with a 4.0 grade-point average as an exercise science and health major.

• Julie Henling, a redshirt sophomore, and Jessica Mildes (Riverside), a redshirt junior at Gonzaga were named to the 2015 West Coast Conference Women’s All-Academic Cross Country first team. Henling has a 3.98 GPA in English and Mildes a 4.0 in accounting.

Teammates Shelby Mills, a senior, and junior Jordan Thurston received honorable mention.

Hockey

Seventeen former Spokane Chiefs have been awarded Western Hockey League Scholarships for the 2015-16 academic year, including 12 who have continued their hockey careers at the collegiate level.

The group, which includes Tanner Mort, a Chief from 2008-13, who is attending the University of Idaho, is part of a WHL-record 337 scholarships awarded for the fall academic season.

Former Chiefs with the years they played in Spokane and the schools they attend (*-playing university hockey):

Levko Koper (2006-11), University of Alberta*; Cole Wedman (2011-14), UA; Anthony Bardaro (2008-11), University of British Columbia*; Eric Williams (2011-14), UBC*; Dylan Walchuk (2011-13), University of Calgary*; Reid Gow (2009-14), University of Manitoba; Jeremy McIntosh (2012-14), Trinity Western University*; Jackson Playfair (2012-15), Dalhousie University*.

Also, Blake Gal (2007-13), St. Francis Xavier University*; Steven Kuhn (2008-12), St. Francis Xavier*; Calder Brooks (2014-15), St. Mary’s University*; Luke Lee-Knight (2011-12), St. Thomas University*; Nick Charif (2015), University of Western Ontario (King’s University College)*; Connor Chartier (2010-14), Western Ontario (King’s University College)*; Tyler Vanscourt (2010-11), Riverside Community College; Blair Oneschuk (2013-15), SAIT Polytechnic.

For every season a player plays in the WHL, they receive a guaranteed, full-year WHL Scholarship to cover tuition, textbooks and compulsory fees to a post-secondary institution of their choice. The scholarships are fully funded by WHL member clubs.

Officials

When the curtain falls on the 2015 high school football season, Bill Turnquist and Mark Casey of Spokane will exit stage left, taking 85 combined years of experience with them. But two of the senior-most members of the Inland Empire Football Officials Association aren’t going far.

The much-honored Turnquist, who has officiated 45 years, the last 33 in Spokane, will remain active in the IEFOA as an evaluator and trainer.

Casey, who has been doing football for 40 years, will continue as a veteran college and high school basketball official, although he said this coming season will be his last at the college level. “I’ll still do high school, at least for the foreseeable future,” he said.

“It’s certainly been enjoyable over the years,” said Turnquist, who worked three years each in Montana and Seattle and six in Yakima before arriving in Spokane. “I’ve loved every minute of it. What I’ll remember the most are the guys I’ve worked with and the kids.”

Turnquist, a referee who has worked four high school state finals and will work his ninth state semifinal this year, was the Washington Officials Association Football Official of the Year in 2005. He also received the WOA Tom Cross Service Award, which goes to just one official a year, in 2007, and its Meritorious Service Award.

He has received the IEFOA’s highest honor, the Larry Becker-Chic Sale Award, and its Referee of the Year and Official of the Year awards.

Casey, who received the WOA Meritorious Service Award in 2008 for football and girls basketball and has been the IEFOA Referee of the Year three times, said he took up officiating “because I wanted to stay involved.”

“I’ve always enjoyed the game of football,” he added. “I played it a couple of years in high school and was a (student) manager a couple of years.”

Casey, who has worked two state high school finals and two semifinals, said it’s the people not the games he remembers most.

“I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie with other officials,” he said. “And I’ve met some coaches through the years who I have really enjoyed and have respected.”