Gildehaus Family Excels

Spokane’s bicycle-racing Gildehaus family continues to ride high.

Mother Brenda Gildehaus and daughter Stevie, 5, repeated as state BMX motocross champions, adding to the titles they won in 1995.

And father Jerred, who has generally served as chief mechanic for the women, added some trophies of his own to the family collection. He won the Washington, Idaho, Montana Mountain Bike Series in the sport division, capturing first in four of six season races.

Brenda Gildehaus, who recently finished fourth in the World Cup in Pomona, Calif., where classes were combined, ranks second nationally and Stevie fourth in their age divisions. Stevie has two thirds and a fourth in national races this year.

The family is preparing for the American Bicycle Association’s Grand National Finals in Oklahoma City on Thanksgiving weekend.

Bowling

Amanda Riddle may be only 13, but she’s establishing herself as the top bowler in the family. And if that position needed any support, she provided it during junior league play Sept. 28 at Bowlers World in Airway Heights.

Riddle, a Medical Lake Middle School eighth-grader who has bowled since she was 5 years old, hammered out 11 strikes in a row for a 297 game. She carries an average in the 170-180 range, the same as her mother, Kitti, and several pins higher than her father, James.

College scene

Seattle Pacific’s Spokane Connection, sophomore forwards Jim Morton (Mead) and Chad Zlateff (Gonzaga Prep), played key roles in the Falcons’ 5-2 overtime win over No. 2-ranked Tampa in men’s soccer.

Morton’s first goal of the season proved the winner and Zlateff scored two of his three season goals, one in OT, in the first game in the Diadora Big Four Autumn Classic in Pennsylvania. But the Falcons (5-5) dropped a 1-0 decision to South Carolina Spartanburg in the second round.

Jason Iverson of Spokane (Northwest Christian), a sophomore at Western Baptist College in Salem, Ore., headed in the winning goal as the Warriors (7-2) defeated Western Washington 2-1 at Bellingham in men’s soccer.

Iverson has three goals in nine games.

Middlebury College sophomore Chris Peterson of Spokane (St. George’s), who scored her first collegiate goal earlier in the month, scored the first two as the Panthers from Middlebury, Vt., defeated St. Michael’s 5-0 in their home opener.

Colin Charbonneau of Spokane (St. George’s), one of the top players on the Franklin & Marshall men’s golf team last year, is a junior veteran for the Lancaster, Pa., school this fall.

Handball

Jason Santos, a Washington State University freshman from Pleasanton, Calif., won the Junior Pacific Northwest handball championship in the 19-U division last month at Seattle after finishing second in the national championships in Colorado in June.

Santos, who’ll compete in the annual Lilac championships at the Spokane Club the first weekend in November, is preparing for the Junior World Championships Dec. 26-29 in Modesto, Calif.

, DataTimes