High school sports

Few college volleyball teams nationally have experienced as much change as Washington State since the Cougars’ loss to Pittsburgh last December in the third round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. WSU has a new head coach and coaching staff, a bunch of new players and a new conference home.

Redondo Krišková needed just nine words to sum up why she wanted to be the one to lead the Vandals. “Because life is not easy and I like challenges,” she said.

For the past two years, North Idaho high school football has kicked off in Missoula with state powerhouses Coeur d’Alene facing Rigby, splitting a pair of contests on neutral turf at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

The high school sports season is right around the corner, with fall practices starting Wednesday. In preparation for another season, Greater Spokane League officials brought together athletes, leadership and administrators from the 17 league member schools for a “Sportsmanship Summit” at Mt. Spokane High School on Monday.

Understandably, there were some unsettling and uncertain days last summer as Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen dealt with the reality of needing a third major surgery on his pitching elbow in seven years.

There was a time in high school when Devin Culp considered dropping football to concentrate on basketball. But his mom, Pia, made a deal that if he stuck with the sport and kept catching passes, she would allow him to get tattoos. Before his career at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane was over, he helped his team go 14-0 and win a state championship. Putting his stamp in the NFL as the Bucs’ seventh-round pick may prove to be a little more difficult, but the late-blooming Culp is embracing the challenge.

Grace Lee showed her first true interest in golf at age nine by asking her father if he’d take her to the driving range. “He took me and said I had a natural golf swing,” Lee recalled. “The first tournament I played in I got second place, so that kind of motivated me. I thought, ‘I think this is my sport.’ ” Think she might be right.

Longtime followers of the tournament, a major on the PGA’s Pacific Northwest Section, know Indian Canyon’s final two holes – a drivable par-4 and a shortish par-5 – often produce fireworks and dramatic swings on the leaderboard. That’s exactly what happened Sunday as Spokane amateur Andrew Von Lossow spent his lead with a double bogey on No. 17 before responding with a birdie on the par-5 18th to take home all the Rosauers Open trophies – low amateur and tournament champion.

Russell Grove isn’t at 100 percent due to an undiagnosed shoulder issue, but you’d never know it by looking at his scorecards. Grove has pretty much left his driver in the bag and relied on hitting fairways, his short game and putter to do the heavy lifting through two rounds of the 37th Rosauers Open Invitational.

Spokane’s Andrew Von Lossow and the University of Idaho’s Dalton Dean led a strong showing by area amateurs in Friday’s first round of the 37th Rosauers Open Invitational.Von Lossow and Dean each birdied all three par-5s and carded 6-under 65s at Indian Canyon Golf Course to move to the top of a crowded leaderboard. Amateur Nate Plaster, who recently played at Washington State, is one of six players trailing the co-leaders by one stroke.

High temperatures and low scores are hallmarks of the Rosauers Open Invitational. The 37th edition of the 54-hole tournament should see plenty of both Friday through Sunday at Indian Canyon Golf Course.

Brought together by the pain of 2023 injuries, Drew Rasmussen and Garrett Cleavinger spent a lot of time with each other this past offseason at a rehab and training facility near their Arizona homes. They worked out on the same days, ran and lifted weights on the same schedule, went to physical therapy at the same office. Which also allowed them plenty of time to talk shop.

The Spokane Youth Sports Awards, held annually at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, is the culmination of the high school sports season. It’s an opportunity to celebrate some of the most accomplished student-athletes in the city and region – from schools big and small.

Tammy Tibbles knows best because she lived it.

As the Gonzaga legend nears his 40th birthday, with his induction into the Hooptown USA Hall of Fame scheduled for this week, an update seemed appropriate. So much was written during his career, yet so very little of him since, leaving the collective memory of most fans to go dark after his injury-shortened NBA career.

Hooptown USA is not a recognized geographical area.

Wil Smith’s rise as a runner at Gonzaga University has seen enough peaks that it’s tempting to assume there haven’t been any potholes.

All because of one person.

MOSCOW, Idaho – When Paul Ryan donned Cougar crimson nearly a decade ago, he joined a Washington State University distance running legacy that included the likes of four-time world record-holder Henry Rono and Bernard Legat, a three-time Olympic medalist and two-time world champion who holds the U.S. record for 1,500 meters.