Former WSU A.D. Nagel to be honored

Former Washington State athletic director Ray Nagel is one of 22 athletics administrators selected for induction into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2006 will be honored during the group’s 41st convention June 20-23 in New Orleans.

After 20 years as a football coach, Nagel was appointed athletics director at WSU in 1971. He came from the University of Utah, where he had been head football coach for eight years. When he took the Utah job he was 29, the youngest major college football coach at the time. He was athletics director at WSU until accepting the same position at the University of Hawaii in 1976.

At WSU, he spearheaded the creation of the Cougar Club, coordinated fundraising and served on the NCAA football rules committee from 1973-76.

Basketball

Cheney teammates Matt Brunell and Jess Donnerberg will continue their careers at separate community colleges. Brunell will play at Big Bend in Moses Lake and Donnerberg at Columbia College in Sonora, Calif.

•Cassy Pilkinton, a senior at Chelan, Wash., who is a McDonald’s High School All-America nominee and the MVP of the Central Washington Athletic Conference in both volleyball and basketball, has signed a letter of intent to play for North Idaho College.

Pilkinton, named to the Washington 2A all-state girls team, averaged 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals for Chelan, which finished fourth at the state tournament.

•The 2006 Eastern Washington men’s awards banquet will take place Wednesday 6-8 p.m. at Tawanka Hall on the EWU campus in Cheney.

Cost is $22.50 for a buffet-style Italian dinner. To attend, contact assistant coach Grant Leep by Monday at 359-6540 or e-mail grant.leep@mail.ewu.edu.

Bowling

The little town of Newport made the biggest noise among the local contingent during the eighth weekend of the 2006 Washington Women’s Championship Tournament last weekend at Lilac Lanes.

April Hurst from Newport took over first place in F all-events with a scratch score of 1,480.

And the four-woman team of McCroskey Attorney at Law is leading the C division with a score of 2,070.

The area also produced one other new leader, Coeur d’Alene Hand Center of Post Falls moving into the top spot in five-woman team E division with a scratch score of 2,267.

No leaders from the area lost their positions last weekend.

The tournament winds up this weekend. Officials said final official results should be available in a little more than a week.

College scene

Lindsay Mann-King of Colville, a junior at Western Washington, has been named to the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA Division II All-America team for a second straight year.

Mann-King helped the Vikings, who are ranked No. 1 in the USRowing/CRCA D-II poll, to a West Regional title and trip to the national championships next weekend in West Windsor, N.J., where they are the defending champions.

•Ten student-athletes from Washington State were selected Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars for 2006.

Named to the first team were Kevin Chen (men’s golf) and Gwen Davis (volleyball). On the second team were Shaye Harrel and Jessica Martinez, both women’s soccer.

Third-team honors were accorded to Jed Collins (football), Angela Fajardo (soccer), and Nicole McClendon and Kelly Ramirez, both track and field. Carmen Anderson (soccer) and Tamara Diles (track and field) were on the fourth team.

Since 1992, the magazine Diverse: Issues in Education has honored student-athletes who exemplify the standards set by tennis great Arthur Ashe Jr.

•Jena Robinson of Lewis and Clark, a senior at Puget Sound, won the triple jump with a leap of 37 feet, 8 3/4 inches at the Last-Chance Meet last weekend in Salem, Ore., just off her NCAA Division III Provisional qualifying mark of 37-11 1/4.

•Washington State sophomore Ekaterina Burduli has gone from alternate to participant in the NCAA Individual Singles Championships in tennis, which run Tuesday through Thursday at Stanford, Calif.

Burduli, whose 25-17 record includes a 6-14 mark against nationally ranked opponents, was selected for the field of 64 last week. She will be just the second Cougar to participate in the event. Erika Perkins went in 1998, 2001 and 2002.

•Air Force men’s tennis player Shannon Buck of Spokane, who attended high school in Delaware, was named the 2006 Farnsworth/ITA Senior Player of the Year for the Mountain Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Buck established himself as the best player in Air Force history during his four years and was ranked as high as No. 15 in the country this spring. He has a 29-5 singles record in 2005-06, including 18-1 at No. 1.

Soccer

Community Colleges of Spokane has signed 12 players for its men’s team, including eight from the Greater Spokane League.

Five are from Central Valley – defenders Taylor Fyhrie and Brian Riffle, midfielders Matt Bunch and Jesse Dunbar, and forward Jay Vela – and one from GSL champion East Valley, defender Matt Klaiber.

Also from GSL schools are forward/midfielder Ryan Matern from North Central and forward Neil Bachman from West Valley.

Also slated to join the Sasquatch are midfielder Brady Ostendorf from Riverside, midfielder/forward Jairo Ruvalcaba from Wahluke (Wash.), midfielder Gary Frank from Lakeland of Rathdrum and goalkeeper Miles Ertel from Salt Lake City.

Track and field

The new Greater Spokane Track Club, which offers opportunities and training for athletes of all ages, will hold an informational meeting and its first practice May 30 at 6 p.m. at University High School.

The club was formed by merging three local clubs – Spokane Stealth, Spokane Valley Track Club and Top Competitor.

Info: Chuck Dunning at East Valley High School, 927-9506, or dunningc@evsd.org.

Miscellany

The University of Idaho Alumni Association will host a Silver and Gold celebration Wednesday at Lewiston from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at 1822 18th Ave.

Among those expected to attend are UI president Tim White, athletic director Rob Spear and men’s and women’s basketball coaches George Pfeifer and Mike Divilbiss.

Cost for the picnic-style dinner is $5 per person. Vandals attire is encouraged.

Info/reservations: Joanne Meyer at (208) 885-7069 or jmeyer@uidaho.edu. Reservations deadline is Tuesday.

•The North Idaho College Booster Club will wrap up the school year with a social May 30 from 5-7 p.m. at Centennial Distributing, located just west of Highway 95 off Wyoming on West Buckles in Hayden, to celebrate the Cardinals’ successful seasons.

The event, which replaces the club’s luncheon held at the end of each month, is free and open to the public.

Info: (208) 769-3348.