McSwain, Diles, make strong showing at relays

A pair of Washington State Cougars reached NCAA Regional Qualifying marks Saturday at the 48th Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, Calif.

Senior James McSwain took second in the 100-meter dash, finishing in a qualifying time of 10.31 seconds, .07 behind the unattached Josh Norman.

Tamara Diles also hit a qualifying mark, tying for seventh in the pole vault after clearing 13 feet, 2 1/4 inches.

WSU’s men’s relay team – composed of Brian Woods, McSwain, Justin Woods and Jaycee Robertson – finished fifth in the 4x100-meter relay in a time of 40.96. WSU’s Robin Mikesh took 11th in the high jump, clearing 5-3.

Idaho got a strong showing from its men’s 4x400 open relay team. The team of Jason Giuffre, Josh Guggenheimer, Kevin Pabst and Driss Yousfi finished in second place in a time of 3:12.30. Azusa Pacific took first in 3:09.12.

Vandals thrower Russ Winger took eighth in the shot put invitational, throwing 61-8 1/4.

On the women’s side, Dee Olson took sixth in the 1,500 open, finishing in 4:22.52, 5.11 seconds ahead of teammate Mary Kamau, who took eighth.

Idaho’s Shanna Lytle took first in the women’s shot put open division, throwing 44-1 1/2. Winger was second in the men’s discus, throwing 169-2.

•CC Spokane’s Shannon Long won the women’s 100 and 200 at the Sam Adams meet at Whitworth.

Long took the 100 in 12.66 and finished the 200 in 25.95.

Idaho had two first-place finishes, Ian Chestnut winning the men’s 10,000 in 33:33.60, while Derek Laughlin won the 3,000 steeplechase in 10:05.51.

In other top performances at Boppell Track: Eastern’s Anna Woelk, won the women’s shot put (40-11 3/4) and discus (138-11); Eastern’s Chad Butorac won the men’s 100 (11.04) and 200 (22.06); and EWU’s Corey Lehosky won the men’s shot put (47-11 3/4) and discus (157-10).

•Eastern Washington’s David Paul crushed the field in the men’s hammer throw and finished third in the discus at the Brigham Young Invite at Provo, Utah.

Paul threw 194-07 in his first hammer throw, and that was good enough to take home first place, more than 20 feet ahead of second-place Chris Sonognini (174-01) of Weber State. His fourth throw of 173 feet in the discus was good for third, 11-2 behind first-place Brock Money of Weber State.

Other Eagles who did well included Haley Heater, who took second in the 400 women’s hurdles in 1:02.71; Alex Moon, who took fourth in the 400 men’s hurdles at 52.94; and Carolee Geaudreau, second in the women’s discus, throwing 145-11.

Baseball

Joel Staples finished with five hits and six RBIs as Saint Mary’s knocked Gonzaga out of first place in the West Coast Conference by sweeping the Bulldogs 8-4, 4-2 in a doubleheader at Moraga, Calif.

Staples went 2 for 4 with four RBIs in the first game as the Gaels (18-15, 5-3) scored seven runs in the fist two innings.

Darin Holcomb and Bobby Carlson each went 2 for 4 for the Bulldogs (22-14, 4-4).

In the nightcap, Corey Madden (5-1) allowed just two runs in eight innings, and Staples went 3 for 4 with a pair of RBIs as Gonzaga fell 4-2.

•Lewis & Clark jumped to an early lead and held on for an 8-5 victory over Whitworth in Northwest Conference action at Merkel Field.

The Pioneers (12-24, 7-14) scored seven runs in the first two innings on Whitworth starter Steven Hare (4-2).

Andrew Barnes and Neal Finch each went 3 for 3 with two RBIs for Lewis & Clark.

Leadoff man Van Lierman went 3 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI for the Pirates (17-15, 11-7).

•Washington State’s scheduled game with visiting California was postponed by snow and rain. The game is rescheduled for today at noon.

•Kody Anderson (Shadle Park) and Tom Barlow (Lake City) each had RBI singles in the third to precede Brian Yardley’s two-run single as Community Colleges of Spokane scored four times in the inning to earn a 7-2 win and salvage a doubleheader with Treasure Valley at Spokane Falls.

Jordan Moore (Lakeside–Nine Mile Falls) threw a complete game for the Sasquatch (11-17, 6-5 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges) to earn the win.

In the opener, Nick Burch went five innings, allowing one run on one hit while striking out three as Treasure Valley (25-11, 7-6) won 7-1.

Softball

Jo Sonnett (16-4) threw a complete game, allowing five hits and one run while striking out eight as Whitworth completed a four-game sweep of Lewis & Clark (4-27, 4-20) with a 6-1 win at Merkel Field.

Lindsay Davis went 2 for 3 and finished with three RBIs, and Heather Case finished the day 3 for 4 for the Pirates (22-8, 17-3 Northwest Conference).

•Sarah Fleer threw a complete game – allowing two runs on six hits and striking out 12 – and also added a pair of hits as Chemeketa beat CC Spokane 8-2 in the championship game of the NWAACC Crossover Tournament in Wenatchee.

In an earlier semifinal, Jessie LaPlante threw a complete game, allowing four hits and one run, and Amber Fowler (Colville) hit a two-run home run in the second inning as CCS (15-7) finished second in the 20-team tournament.

Wrestling

Two area wrestlers placed at the U.S. Wrestling Nationals in Las Vegas.

Jared Lawrence, a Sandpoint grad formerly of the University of Minnesota who was wrestling with the Minnesota Storm, took fifth place at 145.5 pounds, beating Eric Larkin of Tempe, Ariz., via injury.

Travis Pascoe, a Gonzaga Prep grad from Rathdrum, Idaho, took fourth at 185, falling to Clint Wattenburg of Ithaca, N.Y., 4-1, 3-0 in the best-of-3 format.

Rowing

Gonzaga’s run of 16 straight Fawley Cups came to an end at Wawawai Landing in Pullman as Washington State’s men knocked off the Bulldogs.

WSU won the varsity 8, finishing in 6 minutes, 14.36 seconds. Gonzaga came in at 6:18.66.

•Western Washington’s women eked out a win over Gonzaga at the Blue Cup on Silver Lake in Medical Lake.

The Vikings’ varsity 8 finished in 6:50.14, with Gonzaga coming in at 6:50.24.

Football

Idaho sophomore offensive tackle Billy Bates was arrested April 9 and faces a felony charge of grand theft after allegedly trying to steal two laptop computers, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported.

Bates’ preliminary hearing was set for Thursday but has been moved to May 18.

Auto racing

Events at Stateline Speedway in Post Falls were canceled because of wet conditions. This was the seventh scheduled event delayed canceled or moved because of weather this season.