Locally: Gonzaga hires women’s tennis head coach for men’s position, elevates longtime assistant
From staff and wire reports
D.J. Gurule and Natalie Pluskota-Hamberg, who have worked together for four years, are splitting up and taking on new responsibilities in the Gonzaga University tennis program.
Gurule, who just completed his 17th year as head coach for the women’s team, has been named new men’s head coach, athletic director Mike Roth announced. Pluskota-Hamberg, who has been Gurule’s assistant, has been elevated to head coach of the women’s team.
The changes came after Jonas Piibor resigned in early May after three seasons.
In announcing the hires, Roth said Gurule and Pluskota-Hamberg “have been instrumental in the growth and success of our women’s tennis program. We are excited to see what they can accomplish in the coming seasons.”
Gurule, who took over the women’s program prior to the 2004-05 season, has developed the Zags into West Coast Conference contenders. GU has won double-digit matches in 10 seasons, including the six prior to COVID-19-impacted 2020, and has compiled six of the highest seven win totals of the last 20 years.
Prior to the 2015-16 season, GU hadn’t finished above sixth in the WCC. Gurule led the Zags to three-straight second-place finishes (2015-16, ’16-17 and ’17-18). In 2017, Pluskota-Hamber’s first year, the Zags reached the final match of the WCC Championships for the first time, one year after reaching the program’s first semifinal.
In Gurule’s 17 years, GU has produced 29 all-conference singles players (five on the first team) and 26 doubles players (eight first team). GU has also had 38 ITA Scholar Athletes and collected seven ITA All-Academic Team honors.
Pluskota-Hamberg, who has spent four seasons overall as a women’s assistant, came to Spokane in 2016 after a four-year professional career and two years of teaching experience. The four-time University of Tennessee All-American was a GU aide from 2016-18 and 2019-21. During the 2018-19 season she was an assistant at Arkansas.
College scene
Senior volleyball player ShaRae Niu, a communications major with a 3.85 GPA, was named the Eastern Washington Student of the Year at the 2021 Student Leadership Excellence Awards last week.
It honors a student who has made significant contributions on campus and off and has gone above and beyond, demonstrating initiative, dedication, dependability, compassion and impact on those around them. Niu was among 22 nominees.
She is the social media coordinator for the Student Athlete Advisory Council and has created campaigns to promote mental health awareness and voting opportunities for Eastern student-athletes. Her community volunteering outreach has included the Special Olympics and restoration of the Cheney Depot.
Earlier last month, Niu received the Frances B. Huston Medallion Award given to students “who have established themselves as exceptionally capable individuals in academic and extracurricular activities.”
• Washington State finished 15th overall as a team and Gonzaga was 20th on the NCAA rowing point system when the 2021 women’s NCAA Rowing Championships wound up on a rainy Sunday in Sarasota, Florida.
WSU’s first varsity four took second in the 1V4 petite final, earning it eighth overall, while both varsity eight boats finished third in their C finals for 15th overall places. The Cougars’ 1V4 boat was fifth at the 1,000-meter mark when it cranked up the pace to earn a runner-up finish. It’s the seventh time in program history WSU’s 1V4 boat has had a top-10 finish.
GU’s first varsity eight boat cruised to a 5.5-second victory in the D final thanks to a mid-race charge to earn 19th place overall in its class. The varsity four finished sixth in the C final for 18th overall and the second varsity eight finished fourth in the D final for 22nd in its class.
Texas won the women’s championship, prevailing in a three-way tiebreaker against Stanford and Washington, who finished second and third, respectively. Those three programs finished in the top three in each final. Washington won the second varsity eight and varsity four.
• The Gonzaga’s men’s varsity eight won the fifth final of the Varsity Challenge Cup by nearly three seconds, while its JV8 placed fourth in the Kennedy Challenge Cup’s fourth final at the 2021 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship Regatta during the weekend on Mercer Lake in New Jersey.
The University of Washington was dominant on a cold, rainy day as it climbed back atop the men’s collegiate rowing world. The No. 1-ranked Huskies swept all four grand finals in earning the program’s 19th national championship, but first since 2015.
UW captured the Varsity Challenge Cup, emblematic of the collegiate national championship, as well as the Kennedy Challenge Cup, the Stewards Cup and Eric W. Will Trophy thanks to grand final victories in the second varsity eight, third varsity eight and the varsity four, respectively.
The Huskies retained the James Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy as the overall points winner for the ninth straight time.
• Jessica Norris, a senior stroke who sits in the six seat on Washington State’s varsity eight and helped the Cougars earn an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA Rowing Championship, has been named to the All-Pac-12 rowing team for the first time in her career.
• Women’s rower Sue Yu and sprinter/long jumper Ja’Maun Charles from the men’s track and field team, both seniors, were named the Washington State Academic Services student-athletes of the month for May.
Charles has a 3.49 GPA as he works toward finishing his master’s in business administration this summer. Besides excelling on the track – he qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries in the 100 and 200 – he is involved in Coug Pals, served as a tutor for athletes in math and business courses, was a PAC counselor and is a SAAC representative.
Yu, a neuroscience major with a 3.51 GPA, helped the Cougars qualify for a 13th at-large bid to the NCAA rowing championships. She has been a member of multiple Pac-12 All-Academic teams, is a PAC counselor and an athletic tutor.
• Nicholas Blair, a former offensive lineman on the Eastern Washington football team, was selected the Outstanding Graduate in Mechanical Engineering by the EWU department of mechanical engineering and technology.
Blair, who receives his bachelor’s degree this spring with a 3.97 GPA, was on the football roster from 2016-19 before an injury ended his career. After that, the Everett (Wash.) HS graduate, who earned Big Sky Conference All-Academic honors, assisted the athletic department as a tutor and was a featured speaker for the 2020 student research and creative works symposium.
Hockey
Rookie winger Blake Swetlikoff, among the Spokane Chiefs honored when the team named its 2020-21 award recipients, is one of two Chiefs listed on the final 2021 NHL Central Scouting Service Draft Rankings. He is 160th while defenseman Graham Sward is ranked 117th.
Swetlikoff, who completed his high school graduation requirements at the end of fall semester and enrolled in a university class, was named the Chiefs’ Scholastic Player of the Year.
Other awards went to Raegan Wiles, John “Hitman” Hern Defenseman of the Year; Matt Leduc, Players’ Player; Mason Beaupit, Rookie of the Year; and Cordel Larson, Ken Rabel Most Sportsmanlike Player.
Wiles, a second-year Chief, contributed major minutes, generally on the top defensive pairing with the veteran Leduc. Leduc was chosen by his teammates as a leader who best exemplifies what it means to be a good teammate. Beaupit is a 6-foot-5 goalie whose .916 save percentage was second in the U.S. Division. Larson compiled just eight penalty minutes in 17 games.
Letters of intent
Gonzaga men’s soccer: Chris Swider, MF, Coeur d’Alene HS, All-IEL first team as a senior when he scored 14 of his 30 career goals.