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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Locally: Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta returns; plus local achievements in golf, rowing and more

Reid Hatley has won back-to-back tournaments. (Pacific Northwest Golf Associati / Pacific Northwest Golf Associati)
From staff ,wire reports

The “Mudhole” is not a very glamorous name for the site of a regatta.

But it’s where a “celebration of rowing” will take place for the eighth year on Sept. 29 when the Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta welcomes crews and spectators to the Pend Oreille River at the Priest River Recreation Area, known in the neighborhood as the “Mudhole,” one mile east of Priest River on Highway 2.

“It’s the only regatta in the state of Idaho,” said Patricia de Blaquiere Sudick, founder of the Pend Oreille Rowing and Paddling Association, which has put on the event since 2011.

“It’s a competition; a serious competition; medals will be awarded,” Sudick added, “but it’s a fun event to get people started for the fall season.”

There will be eight flights of races with competition in masters men, women and mixed and juniors in eight-person boats, fours and pairs, where each person has an oar, and quadruple, double and single sculls where they have two oars each.

Races over a 1,700-meter course will begin at 8:30 a.m. Crews can register online after Sept. 2 at hopregatta.org. There is no charge for spectators.

Head racing, traditionally held in the fall, uses a staggered start where boats have a chance to overtake earlier starters as opposed to the side-by-side sprint races usually held in the spring and the type seen in the Olympics.

Sudick said crews come mainly from the Inland Northwest and Canada, but “last year there were a couple from the West Coast.”

“College teams used to come,” she added, “but they’ve outgrown us.”

Basketball

Xavier Smith, who saw limited playing time in seven games last season as a freshman at Oregon State, has transferred to Idaho and will be eligible immediately Vandals coach Don Verlin said.

Verlin called Smith “a big, long, athletic combo guard” who twice eared All-Metro honors for O’Dea High School in Seattle. He averaged 22.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals as a senior after helping get O’Dea to the state championship game as a junior.

College scene

Sam Lees, a Whitworth junior from Christchurch, New Zealand, was named most valuable player after leading his Waitaha Canterbury club to New Zealand’s U23 national basketball championship Aug. 8-11 in Porirua, N.Z.

Lees scored 25 points in the championship game, a 99-80 victory over Auckland. He scored 26 in a second-round win, 31 in the semifinals with nine rebounds and five assists and averaged 24 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in four games and shot 60 percent from the field.

Maddy Haro, a Washington State senior, was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week in women’s soccer for the second time in her career after leading the Cougars to a pair of home wins last weekend to open the season.

WSU allowed just one goal – a 3-1 win over Seattle and a 1-0 shutout of Grand Canyon in which it gave up only two shots in 92 minutes, the first in the 84th minute. Haro also assisted on three of the Cougars’ four goals.

Nick Hauger, a Portland senior from Shadle Park and 2017 USTFCCCA All-American, was named to the All-West Coast Conference men’s cross country preseason team in voting by league coaches.

The coaches also tabbed 2017 NCAA third-place finisher BYU as the favorite to win a fourth WCC men’s championship with Hauger and the Pilots picked to finish second. Gonzaga didn’t have anyone named to the All-WCC preseason team and was fourth in the voting, one point behind third-place San Francisco.

In the women’s preseason coaches voting, Gonzaga was fifth while BYU and San Francisco tied as favorites, each with five first-place votes and 77 points.

Golf

Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake survived a two-man playoff Thursday during the U.S. Mid-Amateur sectional qualifier at Tumble Creek Club in Cle Elum, Washington, to qualify for the 2018 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship Sept. 22-27 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hatley and Sean Fallows of Edmonds, Washington, both shot 3-over-par 74s in the 18-hole qualifier to tie for fourth behind co-medalists Jacob Rohde of Everett, Wash., and Jacob Koppenberg of Bellingham, Wash., who matched even-par 71s. Mark Strickland of Everett claimed the third qualifying spot with a 2-over 73.

Hatley, the Washington State Golf Association Mid-Amateur Player of the Year the last three years, won Mid-Amateur sectional qualifiers in 2015 and 2016 and was medalist at a 2017 U.S. Amateur sectional qualifier.

Earlier this year he tied for sixth in the Mexican Amateur, made it to the quarterfinals of the PNGA Men’s Amateur, and was a member of the three-man WSGA team that won the Morse Cup competition of the 2018 Pacific Coast Amateur.

Russell Grove of Coeur d’Alene was 15 under par for 54 holes at the Northwest Open Invitational last week at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, but the North Idaho College coach had to settle for second place.

That’s because Shane Prante of The Home Course in DuPont, Washington, charged from behind with seven birdies on the back nine in the final round and finished with a 9-under 63 to edge Grove 200-201 for the title.

Loren Jeglum, a PGA professional at the University of Idaho Golf Course, tied for 10th at 9-under 207 and amateur Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake Country Club tied for 15th at 208. Pros Todd Pence (Fairways Golf Club) and Corey Prugh (Community Colleges of Spokane) were at 209.

Rowing

Clare Manthey, who rowed four years at Gonzaga from 2013-17, and Sam Casto, a former standout at Virginia, have been named assistant coaches for the GU women’s crew by first-year head coach Marisa Wortman.

Manthey, a captain her senior year and two-time West Coast Conference champion in the second varsity eight and a two-time NCAA Championships competitor, spent last season coaching at Holy Names Academy in Seattle. The Portland native also coached at Rose City Rowing in her home town in 2017.

Casto, from Dallas, Pennsylvania, was a two-time CRCA All-American who rowed in three NCAA Championships. She coached the Harvard lightweight women in 2016-17, leading the third varsity eight to gold at the Eastern Sprints in 2017. She also twice competed in the U23 World Championships for the U.S.

Miscellany

Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Robertson will be honored Sunday when the Tacoma Rainiers rename their home radio suite in honor of the club’s longtime broadcaster. The “Bob Robertson Broadcast Booth” is scheduled to be unveiled during a special in-game ceremony at the Rainiers PCL baseball game at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.

Since Tacoma’s origins in the Pacific Coast League in 1960, Robertson has played an integral role in the club’s success in the community through numerous roles. Most recently, for the past eight seasons, he has served as a guest broadcaster during Rainiers Sunday home games.

Robertson, who for several decades was the voice of Washington State football, has been honored as the Washington Sportscaster of the Year 12 times, and is a member of a multitude of halls of fame including the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Krista Rammelsberg, a native of Pullman who has worked at the University of Washington the last 12 years, has been named director of Spokane operations for the Cougar Athletic Fund, Washington State athletic director Pat Chun announced.

The Pullman High School and Gonzaga University graduate who lives in Spokane will be responsible for development and engagement efforts in greater Spokane, Northern Idaho and California, Chun said.

At UW, she most recently served as a major gift officer for Husky athletics. Prior to UW, she worked in marketing and development at the University of New Mexico.