The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 30

Pag C2 Sunday April 16, 2006 The Spokesman-Review SPORTS LETTERS Cougars set to add to Hall of ame Former athletes, coaches and athletic director among group of nine ma, first at Lincoln, then at Wilson, where he started a swimming program at the new school and won 323 consecutive meets, including 24 straight state titles. Harman, who is deceased, starred for the Cougars in field hockey, but became better known in bowling. She was a member of the first WSU Bowling Club who went on to a successful, hall of fame career in the Professional Womens Bowling Association. Hitchcock earned three varsity letters in both wrestling and football and went on to a hall-of-fame career as a wrestling coach at Cal Poly and was coach of the 1976 U.S. Olympic wrestling team in Montreal.

Jankovich, who is retired and lives in Hayden Lake, came to WSU in 1968 as defensive coordinator on Jim Sweeneys football staff, moved into administration in 1971 and became athletic director in 1976. It was under him that WSU undertook the expansion of what is now Martin Stadium, and inaugurated the Hall of Fame into which he enters. Lavine, a two-time Pac-10 and NCAA outdoor All-American cham pion in the discus 0987 and 88) and shot putter who ranks seventh on WSUs all-time list in the event, was selected in 1996 as WSUs Woman Athlete of the Decade. Lynch, from Lewis and Clark High School who resides in Prague, Czech Republic, was a two-time team captain and an All-American offensive guard in 1984. He is the only player to participate in two Senior Bowls.

He played the event in 1983 following his fourth year at WSU, but was then granted a medical hardship, played another season for the Cougars, and was selected for the Senior Bowl again in 84. He also won the prestigious NCAA postgraduate award in 1985. Puidokas, who is deceased, rewrote the WSU record book during his career, establishing career marks for points 0.894), field goals (734), field-goal attempts rebounds (992), minutes played (3,592) and points in a single game (42). He ranks second in points and minutes played. He is the only WSU basketball player to have his uniform number (55) retired and played professionally in Europe for many years.

Oh, no, Fairly's back For the first five games I thought the Mariners had wised up and changed color men. Then yesterday back came the old red head, Ron (Theres no question about that) Fairly. Just about made me cry! I call him TNQAT for short ICC Stacy Spokane Speltz needs to go It has been a long time coming and it needs to be done and somebody needs to say it: Tim Speltz of the Spokane Chiefs needs to go. He has been the general manager for IS years. Yes, that is good for longevity but the Chiefs have been playing sub-par hockey for the last five seasons since Mike Babcock left There have not been many good trades or moves since the Chiefs hosted the Memorial Cup in 1998.

Speltz has made trades, but they have been small ones here and there. Either they have not panned out or have been right across the board. For example, a third-line left winger for a third-line left winger does not help the team very much. There have been losing streaks for the Chiefs in the past and what did Speltz do? Nothing. He just let the coach deal with it and let all the fans blame the coach.

This is a sport, but it is also a business. If you want fans to come to games and the Chiefs to win, you need to improve and change the talent on the ice. And since some changes on the ice have not been that good, then it is time to look upstairs at the GM position. And Speltz is the one who needs to be changed. Kyle Kinder Spokane Some fans wear blinders Larry Smith wrote the best letter in this paper (Morrisons skills limited," April 9) since Scott Heyamoto (Morrison lacks class, April 2).

He echoed everything I feel about Adam Morrison. And, Joe Polello, you actually make Heyamotos case for him (In defense of Morrison, April 9). You saying Morrison should stop and show Heyamoto an assumed medal is actually the type of low-class act Morrison would pull Did you not see the ridiculous stunt Morrison pulled under the basket in the waning moments of the UCLA game? He locked arms with a UCLA player and tried to throw him down in a snit, but actually got thrown down himself. Ha! Polello is a prime example of Spokane Fans of Washington Teams. SFWTs reside in Spokane and are fans of (Seahawks, Mariners, Cougars, The worst problem SFWTs have is they cannot get out of the way of there blinder-covered eyes.

Its great to be a dedicated fan, but never seeing the potential of other teams is ludicrous. They get mad at players and coaches who try to better themselves, how dare they leave a Washington team! They have one conspiracy theory after another. I wish I had a nickel for every insipid thought or comment a SWFT made! Be a fan, have fun! Danny Shea Spokane ON THE AIR TV TODAY Eight former coaches and athletes, and an athletic director will be inducted into the Washington State University Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 8. Director of athletics Jim Sterk announced that induction ceremonies will take place the night prior to WSUs home football game with Idaho.

The Class of 2006 will bring to 113 the number of players and coaches inducted since the first group was selected in 1978. This years inductees include four from the Pioneer group, gymnastics coach Hubert Dunn (1947-62), and athletes Vaughn Hitchcock (footballwrestling, 1952-55), Dick Hannula (swimming, 1948-50) and Janet Harman (bowling-field hockey, 1949-52). Contemporary inductees include former athletic director Sam Jankov-ich (1972-84), and athletes Dan Lynch (football, 1980-84), Laura Lavine (track, 1987-88), Steve Puidokas (basketball, 1974-77) and James Donaldson (basketball, 1977-79). Donaldson, a 7-foot-2, 275-pound center, holds the WSU record for blocked shots in a game (eight) and career (176). The seventh pick of the LOCALLY Area snowboarders have solid nationals Valerie Reynolds and Cameron Maring, both of Spokane, led a strong showing by Inland Northwest entries in the USA Snowboarding Association Nationals at Northstar at Tahoe March 26-April Reynolds, 15, a student at Gonzaga Prep, finished on or near the podium in every event in her third nationals and is ranked second in the United States in her age group (women 14-15) in freestyle overall (halfpipe and slopestyle combined), combined overall-(freestyle and alpine events combined), and triple overall (freestyle, alpine and boardercross combined).

Maring, 14, a member of the 2006 USASA All-American Team that competed in Italy last month, earned second-place awards in both the combined overall and triple overall in mens 14-15. He added a seventh in the alpine overall, all after a lOth-place finish at the Junior Worlds in Italy. Other finishes for Inland Northwest snowboarders and skiers in the event that attracted more than 1,300 entries, with more than 80 in some agegender groups: Lindsey Minana, 15, Spokane, fourth overall in both womens freestyle overall and ridercross in her first season competing as a freeride skier; Coleman Allen, Spokane, 12-13, second overall alpine; Caitlin Sorenson, Whitworth College, women 18-22, sixth alpine overall; Sarah Shearer, Sandpoint, womens 14-15, 11th alpine overall in her age group. Also, Eric Davidson, Spokane, skier mens 16-17, 10th freestyle overall and 11th ridercross; Austin Visintainer, 8-9, sixth in both the combined overall and triple overall, ninth alpine overall and 15th freestyle overall; Jacob Clements, 10-11, 25th alpine overall; Michael Brooks, 60-plus, second in freestyle overall, combined overall and triple overall and third alpine overall Given the relatively young age and inexperience of our group, we did really well, said Mark Harris, one of the coaches who accompanied the group. Its exciting to see that the pipeline weve put in place is really paying off.

Now our athletes have a place to showcase their talents. Other finishes included: Mitch Richmond, open men, 12th slopestyle; Kix Kamp, 8-9, third slalom and fourth boardercross; Hunter Bailey, 10-11, 23rd boardercross; Dash Kamp, mens 12-13, third slalom, 15th boardercross, 30th slopestyle; Kyle Woodley, mens 12-13, 43rd freestyle overall; Ian Anderson, mens 14-15, 25th boardercross; Michael Anderson, mens 14-15, 22nd giant slalom and 37th alpine overall. Also, Axton Vorpahl, mens 14-15, 45th freestyle overall; Hunter Robinson, mens 14-15, 53rd freestyle overall and 29th boardercross; Jacob St John, mens 16-17, ninth slopestyle; Jeremy Jacobs, mens 16-17, 47th halfpipe and 67th slopestyle; Andrea Mills, womens 16-17, 26th slopestyle; Jason Guthrie, mens 16-17, 13th halfpipe and 17th ridercross; Matt Sund, mens 18-22, 16th boardercross; and Dave Sanborn, mens 30-39, third boardercross. Sports editor Joe Palmquist 459-5503 I Outdoors editor Rich Landers 459-5508 I FILE The Spokesman-Review Ex-Cougar Dan Lynch is only player to participate in two Senior Bowls. fourth round by Seattle in 1981, he played for six teams in an NBA career through 1995.

Dunns WSU association ran from 1947-62, first as a four-year varsity letter winner, then as not only the schools first gymnastics coach, but the first in the old Pacific Coast Conference. Hes considered by many the father of Northwest gymnastics. Hannula was a WSU co-captain his senior year who went on to become a successful high school coach in Taco Basketball Community Colleges of Spokane has received commitments from two area players to join the Sasquatch in the fall Brandon Holibaugh from Kettle Falls and Bo Gregg from Lewiston. Holibaugh is a 6-foot-6 post player who averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per game his senior season. The leading scorer in the Northeast A League, he was a first-team all-league selection.

Gregg, a 6-5 guard who averaged 14 points a game, wad selected the most valuable player in the Inland Empire League and was first-team all-state. He scored 23 points in the Idaho high school all-state game. Bowling It was Brandon Roush's day, but Josh Schmehl's year as the Junior Bowlers Tour completed its season at Players Spectators on April 2. Roush, the only bowler to seem to master the conditions and top 200 -he averaged 216 for the first five games, 202 for the second five to qualify first defeated Mike Federico 191-153 for the championship of the finale tournament. Schmehl, who finished third in the final event, led the season-long all-star team competition, collecting 186 points.

He had a 211 average. Matt Descoteaux, fourth in the finale, was second on the all-star team with 164. Nick Schmehl finished fifth in the final event. Third through fifth on the all-star team were Evan Nash (156 points), Todd Benner (136) and Ryon Cline (115). Descoteaux had high game in the finale, a 268.

Lacey Kerr led the girls with a 222. Only one new leader from the area emerged following the fifth weekend of the Washington Womens Championship Tournament at Lilac Lanes. Eastettes from Spokane Valley took over first in the five-women team Division, compiling a scratch score of 2,449. The team it displaced was The 5 Buddies from Spokane, which held the top spot for just one week. Lucky Ladies from Spokane, which had been sitting atop the five-woman team Division with a 2J61, saw Landmark Realty from Ellensburg move into a first-place tie.

All other leaders from the area retained their spots. The tournament runs through May 21 but is taking off this weekend because of Easter, and will take off the first weekend in May because of Bloomsday. College scene Eric Nygard, a senior hurdler at Washington State, has been named the male recipient of the 2006 Pac-10 Sportsmanship Award selected by members of the Pac-10 Student-Athlete Advisory Council. Nygard, a native of Wenatchee, who competed both indoor and outdoor, placed eighth in the intermediate hurdles at the Pac-10 Championships in 2005. He is also actively involved in volunteer activities through his church.

Two sophomore members of the Idaho womens swimming team, Mallory Kellogg from Lakeside-Nine Sports deskreport results 459-5500 I Toll free (800)789-0029 I second-team All-Greater Spokane League selection last fall. Also slated to join the Cardinals are McKenzie Favero, an all-state, all-region and Region 11 MVP from Ogden, Utah; Lauren Winterholler, a two-time all-conference defender from Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Erica Sonnenberg, a forward-defender two-year starter at Centennial in Boise. Swimming Spokane Area Swim Team completed the championship season with first-place team titles in the Inland Empire Championships and YMCA Pacific North Region Championships. Two SAST swimmers competed at the USA Spring National Championships in Federal Way, March 28-3L Nick Blank from Lake City High School was 45th in the 1500-meter freestyle and 44th in the 400 individual medley. Marshel Renz from University was seventh in the 400 IM, his time of 4 minutes, 33.44 seconds less than 3 seconds from the Olympic Trials qualifying time, 33rd in the 200 breaststroke and 39th in the 100 breast Fourteen SAST swimmers competed at the YMCA nationals in Fort Lauderdale, last weekend, where Spokane placed 13th out of more than 250 teams.

Renz again led the showing by winning the 200 IM in L5L35, placing third in both the 200 breast and the 400 IM and sixth in the 100 breast Other SSA swimmers and their places: Jenni Dole (Mead), ninth in both the 100 and 200 back; Miranda Moore (U-Hi), 14th in the 1650 freestyle and 16th in the 500 free; Lee Nelson (U-Hi), 10th, 500 free and 13th, 1,000 free; Alec Petrie (Ferris), 12th, 200 breast; Sam Thompson (Lewis and Clark), 14th, 100 free. In relays, SAST was 14th in the mens 200 medley, 10th in both the womens and mens 400 free, ninth in the mens 800 free and 10th in the womens 400 medley. Kelly Frazier (Ferris), Josh Goldberg (Ferris) and Karl Tridle (Coeur dAlene Charter School) also qualified and competed at the YMCA National Championships. Volleyball Four members of Meads state championship team will continue playing collegiately. Amy Herron and Nicole Solum will remain teammates at Western Oregon in Monmouth, where theyll join the program coached by Joe Houck, who coached their Spokane Splash club team.

Megan Thigpen will attend Alaska-Fairbanks. Both schools are members of the 10-team NCAA Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Cassie Dobson will play for NAIA Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston. Wrestling Two wrestlers from Medical Lake, David Snyder, an All-Great Northern League selection and third-place state placer at 145 pounds, and Garret Johnson have committed to the University of Great Falls, the Montana school announced. Compiled from staff, wire and news service reports.

I OR SEND US AN E-MAIL I ATSPORTSiiSPOKESMAN.COM Mile Falls and Katie Kolva from Gonzaga Prep, received all-academic honors from the Western Athletic Conference. Kellogg majors in marketing, Kolva in secondary education. To be eligible, student-athletes must maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average. Janelle Bekkering from Taber, Alberta, who has signed to play basketball at Gonzaga, is the youngest of the 24 players invited to attend the Canada Senior Womens National Team tryouts this summer. Josh Martin, a 2002 graduate of University and a senior pitcher at Jamestown (N.D.) College, has been selected to the USA Athletes International baseball team that will compete in the Flanders Invitational in Brasschaat, Belgium, July 2-10.

Tim Miller, a senior outfielder at Northwest Nazarene from North Central was named the baseball player of the week in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for the week of March 20-26. Miller was 6 for 15 that week, with a double and two home runs, scored five runs and drove in four as the Crusaders beat four-time defending GNAC champion Western Oregon twice for their wins in a 2-3 week. Sam Hall from Colfax, who played at Big Bend Community College and for the Spokane Riverhawks, continues to be among the baseball team leaders at San Jose State. Playing in 33 of the teams first 36 games, he ranks first in stolen bases with 12 in 15 attempts and is in the top three in runs (21), doubles (seven), triples (two) and RBIs (16) while hitting .281 which ranks fifth on the team. Katie Dinsmore, a 2002 graduate of Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls and a senior at Boise State, completed her fourth year of gymnastics for the nationally 25th-ranked Broncos.

She capped the year by being named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first team in the vault and second team on floor and balance beam. Her high scores were 9.875 in the vault, 9.725 uneven bars and 9.85 balance beam. She will graduate this spring with a degree in health sciences. Football Josh McLain, a 6-foot-l 275-pound offensive and defensive lineman from North Central, has signed a letter of intent to play at Rocky Mountain College. The Billings, Mont, school is a member of the NAIA Frontier Conference.

The Inland Northwest Chapter of the National Football Foundation will underwrite scholarships for disadvantaged youngsters to the third annual Morning Star Boys Ranch football skills camp June 17 at Ferris High School For information on scholarship criteria, contact Morning Star program director Brian Barbour at 448-1099 or (800) 834-7108. Information on the camp can be found on the Web at www.morningstar boysranch.org. Soccer Jill McAndrews, a defender-midfielder from Mead, is among four players who accepted scholarships to play for the North Idaho College womens team this fall. McAndrews, a three-year varsity letter winner at Mead, was a Fax 744-5655 North Idaho (208)765-7127 RADIO TODAY HOW TO CONTACT US.