Locally: Whitworth to induct three into latest Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame class
From staff reports
Kaimi Rocha, George Valle and Jo Ann Wagstaff will be inducted as the 34th class of the Whitworth Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame.
Rocha started all 106 matches of her Whitworth volleyball career (2008-11) after arriving from the island of Maui, Hawaii. She was a two-time Northwest Conference Player of the Year as a junior and senior in 2010 and 2011 after leading the Pirates to a pair of conference titles. Whitworth played in the NCAA Division III tournament each season. She was a three-time, first-team All-Northwest Conference honoree and a two-time, first-team AVCA All-Region selection. As a senior in 2011, Rocha earned second-team All-America status from the AVCA.
Valle was a constant presence on the Pirates’ basketball team from the 2012-13 season until 2016. He started all 116 games of that four-year span and averaged 12.4 points per game, finishing with 1,440 points in his career. At the time of his graduation, Valle ranked seventh in Whitworth history in points scored during a career. He was a Josten’s Award finalist for Division III Player of the Year and earned recognition as a third-team Academic All-American.
Wagstaff became Whitworth’s women’s tennis coach in 1985 and continued in that role through 2014. Over the course of 30 seasons, Wagstaff’s teams won 326 tennis matches and Northwest Conference titles in 1991, 1997 and three in a row from 2009 through 2011. She coached two NWC players of the year – Tanya Jones in 1992 and Rachel Burns in 2011. Her 1997 squad played in the NAIA national tournament, and the 2009 and 2010 Pirates competed in the NCAA Division III national tournaments. Wagstaff also served 25 years as an assistant and associate director of athletics before retiring from that role in 2019. Wagstaff served the Whitworth athletics department for 34 years.
The ceremony will take place on Oct. 12 in the Hixon Union Building at 9 am. The ceremony includes a breakfast. Reservations can be made by calling 509-777-3224. The cost is $15 per person.
The class of 2024 will join a group of 113 individuals and eight teams enshrined in the heritage gallery. The current class, along with all previously inducted heritage gallery members attending the event, will be recognized at halftime of the Whitworth football game against Willamette that afternoon.
The Whitworth Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame was created in 1989.
College cross country
Gonzaga’s Rosina Machu has won West Coast Conference women’s cross country runner of the week honors, announced by the conference on Tuesday.
Machu placed third at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, last Friday, leading the No. 18 Gonzaga women to an eighth-place team finish that marked their highest in program history. Machu led for the majority of the 6,000-meter championship race before earning Gonzaga’s highest individual finish, placing third with a time of 20 minutes, 6.2 seconds.
Wheelchair racing
Tekoa, Washington, native Susannah Scaroni finished second in last Sunday’s Berlin Marathon, just three weeks after winning four medals at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
Scaroni finished the race in 1 hour, 38 minutes – 2½ minutes behind Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner.
The Berlin Marathon is one of six World Marathon Majors events, with Chicago and New York upcoming this month and in November.