Locally: Former Eastern Washington standout Dario Romero selected for school Hall of Fame induction
Dario Romero, who went from All-Greater Spokane League to All-American at Eastern Washington to an 11-year professional career, has been selected to be inducted into the EWU Athletics Hall of Fame with the Class of 2019.
A 1996 graduate of Lewis and Clark, Romero was a freshman defensive lineman on EWU’s 1997 team that advanced to the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
He was All-Big Sky Conference honorable mention as a sophomore, then earned NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) All-America honors as a junior and senior that launched an 11-year professional career in the NFL and CFL.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 2000, he began his pro career in 2001 with the Edmonton Eskimos, then spent the next four seasons (2002-05) with the Miami Dolphins, where he played in 26 games, two as a starter.
He returned to the CFL in 2006, and in 2008 and ’09 he was a West Division All-Star for the Eskimos. He retired from pro football in 2012. During his 15-year collegiate and pro career he amassed 369 total tackles with 47 1/2 sacks.
He resides in Spokane and teaches at Innovation High School, a part of the Pride Schools (charter school).
Track and field standout Lisa Sorrell, volleyball’s Keva Sonderen and the 1980 men’s track and field team have previously been announced as inductees with the 19th class. The induction breakfast and ceremony will be Sept. 28. Cost is $25. A link to register will be available in July at goeags.com/HOF.
Baseball
New Washington State coach Brian Green announced that he is bringing three assistants with him from New Mexico State as he builds his Cougars staff.
Terry Davis will serve as the Cougars’ recruiting coordinator, Anthony Claggett will be the pitching coach and Trevor Hairgrove will be the director of operations. Green is also expected to name a volunteer assistant.
Davis was the Aggies’ recruiting coordinator the past two seasons and assisted with the hitters and defense the past three seasons. Claggett was Green’s pitching coach the past two seasons and Hairgrove was the Aggies’ volunteer assistant in 2019. Before that, in 2016, he was director of operations at his alma mater, UC Riverside.
With their assistance, Green took the Aggies to the 2019 Western Athletic Conference regular-season title. In 2018, NMSU earned an NCAA Regional berth for winning the WAC Tournament.
College scene
Gonzaga Prep graduate Daniel Roy, who just completed his freshman year at Stanford, charged from behind in the final 100 meters to win the men’s 200-meter breaststroke at the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in Clovis, California, on Friday.
Roy had entered the A final as the No. 2 qualifier behind rival AJ Pouch. Pouch won his qualifying heat in 2 minutes, 12.36 to Roy’s heat-winning 2:12.64. Roy was third after the first 100 of the final, but a 33.12-second third 50 meters earned him the lead and he closed with a 34.26 for a winning time of 2:10.43 to Pouch’s runner-up 2:11.06.
Roy, who finished fourth in the 100m breast on Thursday, is headed to the World University Games in Naples, Italy, early next month. He highlighted his freshman season at Stanford by earning his first All-America award with a 12th-place finish in the 200-yard breast at the NCAA Championships.
• Gonzaga basketball standout Josh Perkins is the male recipient of the 2019 West Coast Conference Mike Gilleran Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
Perkins had a 3.26 GPA as a graduate student, pursuing his master’s in organizational leadership while being named a candidate for both the Bob Cousy and Senior CLASS awards. The Park Hill, Colorado, native is a three-time WCC All-Academic honoree and has volunteered extensively in the community, mentoring local youth.
BYU volleyball All-American Roni Jones-Perry was the woman’s winner of the award named for the conference’s first full-time commissioner to recognize the accomplishments in athletics, academics and community service by individuals who have completed their college eligibility.
• Cade Coffey from Lakeland of Rathdrum, Idaho football teammate Noah Johnson and Eastern Washington’s Spencer Blackburn have been named to a second Football Championship Subdivision 2019 preseason All-America team, this one the Athlon Sports first team.
Johnson, a senior offensive lineman, was on the first team and sixth-year senior Blackburn and junior kicker/punter Coffey were named to the second team by Hero Sports the previous week. Coffey was selected as the punter on both teams.
• Jacob Kempf, a four-year soccer starter at Gonzaga from Camas, Washington, was named the 2019 West Coast Conference Male Postgraduate Scholarship winner.
The four-time President’s List honoree has been active in the community and carried a 3.92 GPA while pursuing his MBA. He graduated magna cum laude in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and capped his career by being named the 2019 GU Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. He plans to attend law school and pursue a career in the legal profession.
• John Dressel, a Colorado senior from Mt. Spokane, capped his collegiate career by earning a fourth second-team All-America honor, and his second this year, with a 14th-place finish in the men’s 5,000 at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Austin, Texas, last weekend.
He had been running in the top four with three laps to go before the pace quickened, and he was eighth as the bell sounded for the final lap.
Dressel had secured his third All-America award when he placed 10th in the 10,000 earlier last week. His first came as a freshman in 2015 and his second as a sophomore in 2016.
• Keshun McGee’s 18th-place finish in the triple jump at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships last weekend earned the Eastern Washington junior All-America honorable mention.
• Eastern Washington selected four seniors and junior quarterback Eric Barriere to be the football team captains in 2019. All-American center Spencer Blackburn, named a captain for a second straight season; tight end Jayce Gilder; defensive tackle Dylan Ledbetter; and linebacker Jack Sendelbach join Barriere.
• The Gonzaga women’s and men’s tennis teams have been selected to play in the 2020 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kick-Off Weekend in January. The women play Jan. 24-25 and the men Jan. 25-26.
The women, ranked No. 51 in the final 2019 ITA rankings, will be making their second straight appearance in the event and will travel to UCLA to face WCC rival Loyola Marymount in the first round. UCLA and Minnesota play in the other first-round match.
The GU men, who received a season-ending No. 75 ITA ranking, will play host Baylor while Louisville and New Mexico play the other first-round match in Waco, Texas.
• Gonzaga finished second to BYU when the West Coast Conference awarded its Commissioner’s Cup for the 2018-19 school year. BYU compiled 106.5 points in the all-sport competition to earn an unprecedented seventh straight cup. GU had 88.
BYU also won the women’s and men’s all-sports trophies for the fifth time. GU was fifth in the women’s and second in the men’s.
Hockey
Spokane will play Portland and Tri-City twice each and Everett and Vancouver once each in six preseason Western Hockey League games announced by the league last week.
The Chiefs will open the exhibition schedule against Portland on Aug. 30 as part of the annual Labor Day Weekend tournament in Everett. They’ll play the host Silvertips the next day, Aug. 31, and wind up the weekend against Vancouver on Sept. 1.
The next weekend, Spokane will be in Kennewick for the annual Tri-Cities tournament, facing Portland again on Sept. 6 and Tri-City on Sept. 7.
The Chiefs wrap up the exhibition schedule against the Americans on Sept. 14 in Kennewick.
There are no preseason games in Spokane this season.
• Dustin Tokarski, a goaltender who led the Chiefs to the 2008 Memorial Cup, collected a second Calder Cup as American Hockey League champion when his Charlotte Checkers defeated the Chicago Wolves 5-3 last Sunday to win the best-of-seven series in five games.
Tokarski, who spent his entire WHL career in Spokane and is the Chiefs’ franchise leader in shutouts, won his first Calder Cup with the Norfolk Admirals in 2012. He had a 5-0 record and AHL-leading 1.74 goals-against average in the playoffs but was not in goal as Charlotte clinched the city’s first Calder Cup.
• Dan Lambert, who left as the Spokane Chiefs’ head coach to take an assistant’s position with the Nashville Predators of the NHL, has been replaced as head coach of Canada’s National Men’s Summer U-18 team.
Hockey Canada announced that Michael Dyck, who took Vancouver to Game 7 of the WHL Championship Series in his first season as Giants head coach, has been named to lead the U-18 team through selection camp and the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Letters of intent
WSU women’s rowing – Brooke Aberle, Lodi, California; Cierra Bird, San Diego; Caitlin Donaldson, Abingdon, United Kingdom; Alana Duvall, Queensbury, New York/SUNY Adirondack (transfer); Catherine “Cate” Field, Burke, Virginia; Ella Greenslade, coxswain, Wellington, New Zealand; Ruby Hopkins, Lakewood, Washington; Talia Jacobson, coxswain, Lakewood, Wash.; Molly Miller, San Diego; Laurita Neweraviciute, Kaunas, Lithuania; Maddie Pollard, Henley, UK; Cassidy Riddle, Tempe, Arizona; Breanna Roney, Temecula, Calif.; Elle Saccacio, San Diego; Freyja Sendall, Reading, UK; Lina Winiski, Mercer Island, Wash.; Nicole Winters, Newcastle, Wash.
WSU women’s swimming – Riley Fidler, butterfly/freestyle, Glacier Peak (Snohomish, Wash.); Erin Harnum, backstroke, Denver; Erin Harvey, free, Bellevue/Oregon State (transfer); Mikaela Kirton, free, Centennial, Colo.; Kate Landeroute, back, West Linn, Oregon; Sierra Ortiz, back, Las Cruces, New Mexico; Ku’ulei Patterson, free, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii; Corinne Pelzer, free, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Hilary Petersen, free/fly, Southridge (Kennewick); Jewel Springer, back, Decatur (Federal Way, Wash.); Michee van Rooyen, free, South Africa; Mia Zahab, free/fly/IM, Nepean, Ontario.