Idaho women lead at WAC

Idaho athletes won seven individual events – including a tough distance double by Allix Lee-Painter – and the Vandals women surged into the team lead at the Western Athletic Conference track and field championships in Ruston, La.

Lee-Painter, a senior from Moscow, opened the day with a 25-second victory in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:26.18) and finished it by cruising to a 35-second win in the 10,000 (36:16.67).

Three teammates – Julia Veseth, Maike Holthuijzen and Melissa McFadden – followed her in the top eight in the long race to push Idaho’s point total to 83, 45 ahead of host and favorite Louisiana Tech, which will score heavily in the sprints in today’s final session.

Idaho’s Ulrike Hartz followed her Thursday heptathlon victory by winning the javelin (161 feet, 5 inches), and K.C. Dahlgren took the pole vault at 12-111/2. Mykael Bothum needed a school-record effort of 52-81/4 on her last attempt to win the shot put.

For the Vandals men, James Rogan won the hammer (217-4) and Markus Geiger took the 10,000 (31:38.66), but Idaho is 41 points behind team leader Boise State.

•Nicole Luckenbach won a second straight title in the hammer to lead a strong early showing by the Eastern Washington women at the Big Sky Conference championships in Ogden, Utah.

Luckenbach’s throw of 190-5 won by more than 9 feet as the Eagles totaled 35 points to stand third heading into today’s concluding session. The Eagles women also got a 2-3 finish by long jumpers Shene Davis (19-23/4) and Brianna Okoro (18-103/4) and second by Erica Chaney in the discus (146-5).

On the men’s side, Community Colleges of Spokane grad Jason Flemmer of Montana won a tight duel in the javelin over EWU’s Aaron Mettler, throwing 215-6 to Mettler’s 214-0.

Baseball

Patrick Wisdom belted a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning and Justin Fazio added a three-run home run in the fourth as Saint Mary’s pounded Gonzaga (15-32, 3-10) 12-5 in West Coast Conference action in Moraga, Calif.

Brenden Kalfus added a homer for the Gaels (16-26, 7-9), who finished with three home runs, chasing GU starter Cody Martin in the fifth inning.

•Jake Schlander went 2 for 4 with four RBIs and No. 25 Stanford (27-18, 11-8) scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally past Washington State (26-18, 9-10) 8-7 in Pac-10 action at Stanford, Calif.

Matt Fanelli had three hits for WSU, including an RBI single for a 4-3 lead in the seventh.

•Stefen Romero and Jared Norris each homered and Oregon State (25-18, 8-11) used eight runs on 15 hits to beat Washington (25-23, 8-11) 8-6 in Corvallis, Ore. The Huskies and Beavers combined for 24 hits, including 10 for extra bases. Doug Cherry had a pair of doubles and two RBIs for the Huskies.

Softball

North Idaho (33-30) saw its season conclude on the second day of the Region 18 tournament at Salt Lake City, with the Cardinals falling to Snow College (25-30) for the second time in as many days, losing 5-1. The Cardinals beat Southern Nevada earlier in the day 5-4.

•Taylor Morgan hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to give No. 1 Washington a 4-1 lead and the Huskies held off No. 10 Arizona State (41-14, 10-10) to win 5-4 in Pac-10 action in Tempe, Ariz. The win came despite a tough outing from Danielle Lawrie, who allowed four runs on 14 hits against the Sun Devils.

•Whitworth announced that freshman shortstop Heather Hesselgesser from Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) was named to the 2010 National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-West Region second team while senior outfielder Lacey Kerr from Mt. Spokane was a third-team honoree.

Golf

Krystal Pitkonen shot a team-best round of 85 as the Whitworth women concluded their final round of the NCAA Division III tournament with a 353, finishing the tournament in 17th place in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.

Pitkonen finished in 66th. Emily Guthrie led the Pirates with a 44th-place finish, ending her tournament with a total of 347.

Tennis

Community Colleges of Spokane’s Tyson McGuffin became the first entry into the men’s singles title match at the NWAACC championships at Spokane Community College. On the women’s side, Lindsay Newman of Skagit Valley also made the title match after the first day of the tournament.

The rest of the semifinals will square off today, with the championship round to be set by the end of the day.

Title matches for the men’s and women’s doubles will be played Sunday at 10 a.m., while the singles matches will be played at 2 p.m. at SCC.

Soccer

Jonah Feil and Jared Stephens scored as the Spokane Spiders (0-2) fell 2-0 to the Victoria Highlanders (2-0) in Premier Development League play at Albi Stadium.