Area roundup: Whitworth sweeps track titles

The Whitworth men claimed their sixth straight Northwest Conference track and field title and the women broke two school records in claiming their first NWC title Saturday in Newberg, Oregon.

Junior Nicholas Gosselin led the men’s team with a victory in the 200-meter dash. He finished in 21.86 seconds. Gosselin was also a part of Whitworth’s winning 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

For the women, junior Kerry Wright broke her own school record in the javelin by reaching a distance of 157 feet, 10 inches. Her previous record was 156-7.

The Whitworth women’s 1,600 relay team won in a school-record time of 3 minutes, 56.70 seconds. The previous record of 4:01.44 was set in 1988.

• Several meet records were set at the Cougar Invitational in Pullman.

Washington State senior Abby Regan, limited for weeks because of nagging injuries, won the women’s 800 in a season-best and meet-record time of 2:08.22.

Gonzaga’s Shelby Mills and Troy Fraley also set meet records. Mills won the women’s 5,000 in 16:38.77 and Fraley won the men’s 3,000 steeplechase in 9:13.39.

Emmanuel Panchol led the Idaho men with wins in the high jump (6-7) and triple jump (48-5 1/4).

Baseball

Spencer Ansett pitched seven strong innings, Joshua Davis hit a two-run home run and Whitworth advanced to today’s Northwest Conference tournament championship game with a 4-1 win over top-seeded Pacific Lutheran in Parkland, Washington.

The third-seeded Pirates (27-13) will play the Lutes (27-10) again today at 1 p.m. with an automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional tournament on the line. The Lutes will need two wins against Whitworth, while the Pirates need to win once. Pacific Lutheran earned a spot in the championship after beating Linfield 7-6 following its loss to the Pirates.

Ansett allowed a run on five hits through seven innings. Carson Blumenthal blanked the Lutes in the final two innings to secure his eighth save.

Davis’ home run came off Pacific Lutheran starter Kyle Rossman in the fifth inning.

• Dalton Carroll allowed one run over eight innings and Utah (14-24, 6-11) beat Washington State 4-1 in the second game of a three-game Pac-12 Conference series in Salt Lake City.

The junior right-hander allowed six hits, no walks and struck out eight to improve to 5-5 on the season.

Joe Pistorese took the loss for the Cougars (22-19, 6-11) after giving up two earned runs in seven innings.

The rubber game is set for 11 a.m. today.

• Gonzaga racked up 13 hits but could only produce two runs in a 5-2 West Coast Conference loss to Santa Clara in Santa Clara, California.

The Bulldogs’ Sam Brown and Taylor Jones each had three hits, but Joey Harris’ two-run single in the third was GU’s only run-producing hit.

Broncos’ starter Eric Lex pitched five innings, gave up both runs and improved to 3-4 on the season.

Gonzaga’s Hunter Wells took the loss after giving up three runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

The Broncos (17-24, 5-12) and Bulldogs (20-20, 10-10) will play the rubber game of the three-game set today at 1 p.m.

• Walla Walla (23-13, 13-7) swept Community Colleges of Spokane (22-11, 11-9) in a Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader at Spokane Falls Community College. The Warriors won the opener 6-3 and the nightcap 6-1.

• Phil Craig-St. Louis had two hits and scored twice and Oregon (24-19, 6-11) clipped Washington (23-18, 8-12) 4-3 in a Pac-12 Conference game in Eugene. The teams play again today.

Softball

Tori Almos and Maddie Anthony led North Idaho (32-5) to a nonconference doubleheader sweep of Blue Mountain (12-24) in Coeur d’Alene.

Almos pitched a five-inning no-hitter in the Cardinals’ 8-0 win in the opener. She walked three and struck out nine. Anthony hit a three-run home run in the fifth.

Anthony again led the way in NIC’s 19-3 nightcap victory. She hit two three-run homers in the Cardinals’ 12-run first inning.

• Lindsie Scholwinski led Community Colleges of Spokane (35-4, 21-1) to a pair of Northwest Athletic Conference wins over Treasure Valley (17-23, 13-9) at SFCC.

Scholwinski pitched a four-hit shutout in the Sasquatch’s 2-0 opening-game win and a five-hit shutout in CCS’ 1-0 nightcap victory.

• Taylor Van Zee had three hits, scored twice and drove in two runs to guide No. 18 Washington (37-12, 8-8) to a 9-6 Pac-12 Conference victory over No. 20 California (33-13, 6-11) in Berkeley, California.

Casey Stangel (Lake City High School) also had two RBIs for the Huskies.

Tennis

The Idaho men and women both advanced to today’s Big Sky Championship match with wins at the Gold River Racquet Club in Gold River, California.

The second-seeded Vandals men’s team topped fourth-seeded Montana State 4-1. They’ll face No. 6 Northern Arizona today for a chance at their second straight conference title.

The Idaho women’s team, also the second seed, topped No. 3 Montana 4-1 and will take on tournament host Sacramento State in the championship match.

Golf

The Whitworth men are in second place and the women are in fourth after the first day of the Northwest Conference tournament at Crosswater Golf Club in Sunriver, Oregon.

The men are tied with Pacific Lutheran, 16 shots behind Willamette. The Pirates’ Samson Martinez and Oliver Rudnicki are both tied for fourth individually after shooting a 5-over 77.

The Whitworth women are 16 shots behind George Fox. Nicole Lomax shot a 5-over 77 and is tied for second place, just a shot behind Pacific Lutheran’s Paige Henry. The tournament concludes today.