Nic Wrestlers Get Tie For Title

North Idaho College’s best - and the best is what the Cardinals gave - was just enough.

Exactly enough.

The Cardinals, with seven All-Americans, scored 101.5 points to tie Lassen of California for the national championship Saturday at the NJCAA wrestling tournament in Bismark, N.D.

North Idaho entered the tournament as somewhat of an underdog, despite its long run of success that now includes 11 national junior college championships.

Lassen, from Susanville, Calif., won its fourth consecutive national championship. Lassen defeated NIC in a dual meet in December.

“It feels great,” NIC coach Pat Whitcomb said. “Every one of the guys wrestled up to their potential and above. Maybe I shouldn’t say potential, but above what they were expected to place.”

The three Cardinals most exceeding expectations, NIC coach Pat Whitcomb said, were NIC’s three finalists - Shaun Williams (118 pounds), Brandon Springer (167 pounds) and Trevor Prangley (177 pounds). All three North Idaho finalists placed second.

North Idaho led by 10 points entering the finals, and Lassen, which had two individual champions among its six All-Americans, was able to catch up.

Williams lost 3-2 to Claudell Ruffin from Muskegon (Mich.) in their final. Springer lost 5-1 to John Garriques from Gloucester-Sewell and Prangley lost by injury default against Lonnie Kern from Phoenix.

NIC had a fourth semifinalist - 150-pounder Justin Springer, who lost 8-3 to Todd Buckland from Iowa Central.

NIC’s other All-Americans were Jason McClanahan (126), Nate Laslovich (158) and Roger Neff (heavyweight).

Oddly, North Idaho and Lassen wrestlers did not go against each other in any match where team points were at stake.

Track and field

Seville Broussard lost her crown in one event but replaced it in another as the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships wound up a two-day run in Bozeman, Mont., on Saturday.

Broussard, an Eastern Washington junior from Walla Walla, broke her own school record in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.85 seconds, but lost the title when Nsa Henshaw of Weber State nipped her in 7.81. Henshaw had won the event in 1995 and ‘96 before redshirting last year.

But Broussard didn’t come home without gold. She won the high jump at 5-8, besting three others who cleared the same height.

EWU managed just one other win, the men’s 1,600-meter relay team prevailing in 3:14.90.

Both men’s and women’s teams finished sixth.

The Eagles women also got a second Saturday from Taneka Sauls in the triple jump (39-2).

The EWU men got seconds Saturday from Ryan Zackla in the 800 (1:52.43) and Tim Archer in the triple jump (48-8-1/4).

Todd Hering of Pullman won the men’s 55-meter dash for Montana in 6.27 seconds.

With Bernard Lagat leading the way, Washington State made a successful pilgrimage to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships at Fresno State.

Lagat was named the male athlete of the meet after winning the 3,000 meters in 8:07.75 and the 800 in 1:50.25, both NCAA provisional qualifying times.

WSU edged Stanford 116.5-115.5 for the men’s team title.

The Cougars’ Hilary Mawindi won the triple jump (51-9-3/4) and was second in the long jump (24-2-1/2) while Arend Watkins won the 55-meter hurdles (7.38) and Eric Kanau captured the mile (4:06.52).

WSU’s women had three winners and three who met NCAA provisional marks, but Stanford edged the Cougars 113-103 for the team title.

WSU’s Agneta Rosenblad won the 55-meter hurdles in 7.89 to break her own school record and was third in long jump (19-2-1/2).

Francesca Green won the long jump (20-5-1/4) and was third in the 55 meters (6.91); Alishia Booterbaugh won the 800 in 2:10.38, and Tamika Brown was second in the 200 in 23.98 to break her own school record. All are provisional marks.

It all helped WSU’s Rick Sloan to be named men’s and women’s coach of the meet.

In the USATF Indoor Championships in Atlanta, the University of Idaho’s 1,600-meter relay team set a school record and qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships with a second-place finish.

Felix Kamangirira, Adekunle Adejuyigbe, Jason St. Hill and Tawanda Chiwira ran 3:06.38, just off Georgia Tech’s winning 3:06. They are the two fastest marks in the NCAA this year.

Chet Doughty won the long and triple jumps to lead Whitworth in an NCIC four-way meet at George Fox in Newberg, Ore.

Doughty captured the long jump in 22-2-1/2 and the triple in 44-10 to lead a 1-2-3 Pirates finish. Tony Davis was second and Braden Thomas third.

The only other Whitworth win came from Takashi Atkins in the shot put (44-1/2) as the Pirates finished third in the four-way meet.

The Whitworth women had only one winner, Miranda Thygesen taking the 800 meters in 2:19.40, and were a distant fourth.

Baseball

Gonzaga University’s “ownership” of new Husky Ballpark lasted all of one day. University of Washington reclaimed the deed Saturday.

Catcher Pete Orgill drove in four runs, three with a second-inning home run, and four pitchers combined to no-hit GU the last five innings as the Huskies dealt the Bulldogs a 5-1 non-league loss.

That avenged a 4-3 Bulldogs’ win the day before in the first game in the new baseball facility at UW.

After GU parlayed a walk, a wild pitch and Donnie Murrell’s single into its run in the top of the fourth, Husky pitchers dominated.

Eric Brown slugged two home runs and drove in three runs to spark Whitworth to a 9-6 triumph over Puget Sound in the Banana Belt Tournament in Lewiston.

Tim Bishop also drove in three runs for the Pirates on two hits.

The Pirates, who had lost two games on Friday, play Western Oregon and host Lewis-Clark State today.

Swimming

Two Washington State Cougars turned in NCAA optional times during the Pacific-10 Conference Championships in Long Beach, Calif. They will find out next week if they’ve been selected for the March 19-21 meet in Minneapolis.

Sophomore Erin Eldridge had the Cougars’ best finish in the meet that ended Saturday, earning fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke in an NCAA optional 2:17.28. She also has an NCAA optional time in the 100 breaststroke.

Junior Katie Keller finished 11th in the 100 freestyle in a school-record 50.85 seconds, an NCAA optional time.

, DataTimes