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

Locally: Four area cross country coaches honored by state association

Shadle Park cross country coach Bob Isitt has been inducted into the Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. (File The Spokesman-Review)

Four coaches with area ties were honored Friday when the Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association gathered in Tacoma.

Bob Isitt, three times a Greater Spokane League girls cross country coach of the year in 29 years at Shadle Park and once a state coach of the year, and Nick Lazanis, twice a state girls cross country coach of the year in 29 years at East Valley, were among four inducted into the WSCCCA Hall of Fame.

Dennis McGuire, whose Central Valley girls finished fourth in the State 4A meet after winning a fourth straight regional title, and Terry Meyer, who led Northwest Christian to third place in the State 2B/1B meet, were named 2016 State High School Coaches of the Year for their classifications.

Isitt, who started coaching at the middle school level, had five state-qualifying teams at Shadle, winning the State 3A championship in 2009, a year Shadle was ranked third in the nation in Mile Split’s online rankings. He also had two state runners-up, a fourth-place team, 19 ranked teams and two individuals win three state championships.

Lazanis also started at the junior high level, and the first 12 years at EV he coached both boys and girls track and field. His girls teams qualified for state seven times, winning four titles, with a runner-up finish. The 1996 girls team was ranked sixth nationally and in 2002 he was the National Federation Cross Country Girls Coach of the Year. His boys track team had a third-place state finish in 1991.

Joining Isitt and Lazanis as hall of fame inductees were Steve Bertrand from Cascade (Everett) and Mike Hepper from Richland.

Other 2016 state high school coaches of the year: Keith Wren, Bellarmine, 4A boys; Brad Barquist, Interlake, 3A boys; Beth Goenen, Shorecrest, 3A girls; Bruce McDowell, Cedarcrest, 2A boys; Kelly Matson, Selah, 2A girls; James Batey, Bush, 1A boys; Andrew Helm, La Center, 1A girls; and Bob Thornton, Tonasket, 1B/2B boys.

Bowling

Bad weather – read snow – couldn’t keep the diehards away from the Junior Bowlers Tour stop at Cheney Bowl last Sunday, especially the girls.

The largest turnout of females this season showed up and helped put on some exciting matches before Raymond Worthey turned consistency into a championship with a 193-173 victory over Shaynie Montee.

Montee was in eighth after the first four-game block of qualifying but jumped three places to move into the five-person roll-offs. She continued that run in the playoffs, first defeating Donovan Meadows 208-197, then Clint Norlen 188-180 and finally John Hilden 215-183 to gain a finals spot against No. 1 qualifier Worthey.

Worthey’s steadiness had produced 809 and 822 series. Hilden had the day’s high series, an 831, but slipped during match play and headed into the playoffs in second. He finished third. Hilden was fourth and Norlen, who had the day’s high game for the boys, finished fifth.

Klarissa Ader led the girls and had the day’s high game, a 245.

The next JBT is Jan. 22 at Deer Park Lanes.

College scene

Jared Christy, a Pacific Lutheran sophomore wing from Ferris, and two Whitworth athletes collected honors when the Northwest Conference named its student-athletes of the week for Jan. 2-8.

Christy earned the men’s basketball honor after he had a pair of double-doubles, averaging 22.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists, as the Lutes swept two games. The effort included a career-high 31 points against George Fox when he shot 11 of 19 from the field and 9 of 11 from the free-throw line.

Madison Moffat, a sophomore guard at Whitworth from Ellensburg, received the women’s basketball honor after she had a pair of double-doubles, including career-highs of 15 rebounds in one game and 19 points in the other. She average 15 points and 11 rebounds and added four assists and seven steals.

Megan Thompson, a Whitworth junior from Austin, Texas, received the women’s swimming honor after collecting a win with her teammates in the 200 freestyle relay and two second-place and a fourth individually at NCAA Division I Seattle. In placing fourth in the 200 butterfly she had a season-best time of 2 minutes, 19.65 seconds.

Caelyn Orlandi, a Lewis-Clark State senior guard from Coeur d’Alene High School, was Frontier Conference women’s basketball Division I Player of the Week after she averaged 20 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1 steal as the No. 2-ranked Warriors won two conference road games.

Letter of intent

Gonzaga baseball – Colin Suter, RHP, Bellevue, Washington.

Shooting

The Spokane Junior Rifle Club gold team placed seventh in a U.S. Army-sponsored Junior National Air Rifle Championship sectional match that finished a 10-week competition in mid-December to qualify for the national championships.

Taylor Christian, 14, Spokane Valley Tech; Cassidy Wilson, 16, home school; Maiiya Hillman, 18, Lewis and Clark; Mary Maystrovich, 17, Northwest Christian; and Aidan Maddox, 17, Riverpoint Academy, combined to shoot 2,283 out of a maximum 2,400 to earn a spot in the nationals Jan. 27-29 in Fort Benning, Georgia. The top 20 teams qualified. The winning score was 2,344.

SJRC had three place in the top 50 individually out of 386, in which competitors took 10 shots in a standing position from 10 meters. Christian (576 out 600) placed 30th, Wilson (572) 44th and Hillman (571) 49th. The top 25 advance to the national finals.

Soccer

Josh Patiño and Lexi Robison have been named assistant coaches for the Gonzaga University women’s team by new head coach Chris Watkins.

Patiño recently completed his third year as head coach at Southern Virginia University. His Knights set program records, including allowing a record low number of goals last season. Before that, the 2012 graduate of Brigham Young he was with the Utah Celtics FC girls select program, helping lead the U16 team to the 2013 Utah state championship.

Robison comes to Gonzaga after spending two seasons as an assistant at her alma mater, Utah Valley University. In 2015, the Wolverines had their most successful season in school history, winning the WAC Tournament and advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time. As a player at Utah Valley, she was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2014.

Chad Bodnar, who directed Eastern Washington to its first Big Sky Conference championship and first appearance in the NCAA tournament in his third season, has been given a two-year contract extension as women’s soccer coach, director of athletics Bill Chaves announced.

It runs through the 2020 season.

“Coach Bodnar has done a tremendous job with our program …,” Chaves said. “We look forward to a bright future.”

Bodnar, who said he was “very excited” by the extension, has compiled a 33-18-7 record after inheriting a program coming off a four-win season. He has installed an offensive-minded system that produced several school records during the best season in program history (13-5-4).

The Eagles lost 3-1 to eventual national champion USC in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.