Lee-Painter wins

University of Idaho senior Allix Lee-Painter cruised to victory at the Western Athletic Conference women’s cross country championships Saturday at the New Mexico State golf course.

Lee-Painter finished in a time of 18 minutes, 20 seconds – 25 seconds faster than the runner-up – as she earned the WAC women’s Athlete of the Year honors.

Senior Breanna Sande of Boise State, by way of Lake City High, took second (18:25.80).

Idaho finished with 66 points, good enough for second behind Utah State (48).

The Vandals’ Markus Geiger earned Freshman of the Year honors to lead UI’s men to fourth place with 85 points. Utah State (47) was first.

Geiger finished fourth in 25:48.40. Jason Holt of USU won in 25:34.80.

•With four runners finishing in the top 10, the Whitworth University men ended the seven-year run of Willamette University at the Northwest Conference championships at Walla Walla’s Veterans Memorial Golf Course.

Nick Gallagher finished second and teammate Dusty Caseria fourth as the Pirates grabbed their first men’s title since 1972. Aaron Jenkins was sixth and Emmanuel Bofa took 10th.

Puget Sound’s Francis Reynolds won the men’s title, finishing in 24:35.24 to top Gallagher by more than 50 seconds.

Whitworth finished with 43 points and Willamette was eight points back.

In the women’s race, Whitworth tied for second with 77 points. Willamette won with 42.

Kathryn Williams was the highest-placing Whitworth runner in 11th. Maddie Coffman of Willamette won in a time of 21:31.27.

The top seven finishers each earned spots on the All-NWC first team.

•Eastern Washington University runners Paul Limpf and Alex Smyth earned All-Big Sky Conference honors with top 10 finishes at the Big Sky Conference championships in Portland.

Limpf took fourth in 23:34.9 and Smyth was sixth (23:47.6). David McNiell of team champion Northern Arizona finished 14.9 seconds ahead of Limpf.

EWU’s men finished a school-best third. The Eagles women placed seventh.

Amber Nickelson led EWU by finishing 16th (17:53.8). That was an improvement over her 26th-place finish last year.

•Gonzaga University senior Colby Litzenberger earned honorable mention honors by placing 14th and sophomore Matt Bejar took 17th at the West Coast Conference championships in Belmont, Calif.

The GU men finished sixth with 145 points.

Portland (38) continued its conference dominance with a 30th straight title.

GU’s women placed seventh with 211 points. Portland (43) won its seventh straight title and 16th in the last 18 years.

Litzenberger finished in 27:02 and Bejar was 2 seconds behind him. David Kinsella of the Pilots won in 25:11.

GU sophomore Laura Volcheff was the top Zags finisher, taking 34th (23:59). Loyola-Marymount’s Tara Erdmann won in 21:54.

Volleyball

Three University of San Diego players had double-digit kills to lead the visiting 15th-ranked Toreros to a 25-10, 25-13, 25-20 win over Gonzaga University in a West Coast Conference volleyball match at GU.

The loss snapped a three-match winning streak for the Bulldogs (9-17 overall, 2-7 WCC). Junior Layne Broksy led GU with 10 kills. The Toreros (18-3, 8-1) were led by Ali Troost’s 12 kills.

•Idaho got back on track with a 3-1 win at San Jose State in a Western Athletic Conference match.

The Vandals (15-8, 8-4) were led by Haley Larsen’s 25 kills and 10 digs. Sarah Conwell added 17 kills and a career-high .429 hitting percentage. Teammate Kelsey Yonker totaled 26 digs.

•Eastern Washington bounced back from a first-set loss to down Montana State 19-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-9 in a Big Sky Conference match in Bozeman.

The win kept the Eagles in third place at 8-4. Hayley Hills led EWU with 26 kills. The junior outside hitter now has the five highest kill totals posted by a Big Sky player in 2008.

Men’s basketball

North Idaho College had no problems winning for the second time in as many tries, handling Central Wyoming College 90-62 at Casper, Wyo.

Shawn Henderson scored a game-high 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting and added seven rebounds for NIC. He made 5 of 5 3-point shots.

The Cardinals held a superior rebounding advantage (38-23). Twelve of 13 players scored for NIC.

Men’s soccer

Whitworth and Whitman battled to a scoreless tie in a rainstorm in a Northwest Conference match at Walla Walla.

Whitman, which outshot the Pirates 25-13, remains two points behind Whitworth in the standings.

•Community Colleges of Spokane scored two goals apiece in each half to top visiting Pierce College 4-2.

Four different players scored for CCS. Travis Green had three assists.

Women’s soccer

Amanda Swenson scored two goals to lead Community Colleges of Spokane to a 4-0 win over visiting Yakima Valley Community College.

Patty Duncan and Jaymi Stuermer each had a goal.

Wrestling

North Idaho College won seven of 10 matches to top Northern Colorado 25-13 at University High School.