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CHENEY – The release of the Strategic Resource Allocation report to the Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees on Dec. 6 put the spotlight on the future of hundreds of programs. Now comes the process of putting action behind the recommendations, but do not expect any swift conclusion. All told over the past several months a committee of 16 staff members ranked over 200 programs and services at Eastern into five categories — or quintiles. Graded top to bottom, to fin...
CHENEY – Saddled with limited numbers, Cheney gymnastics had a bright spot emerge Dec. 13 in the season’s first Greater Spokane League meet. Co-op team member Makaila McKenney of Medical Lake finished third in vault with a score of 8.225, behind the 8.975 from Jacquie Bonnett of Mount Spokane. “(Makaila) did really well at her first meet,” Coach Melissa Linton said. “Vault is one of her strongest events. She works hard at it and is currently working on upgrading to an even m...
— Editor’s note: Yet another controversial year in determining the four teams who will play for the national championship of the Football Bowl Subdivision is at hand. We revisit a column written in December 2011 that suggested a possible way to construct a true playoff based on rankings and utilizing the existing bowl games. It’s not unlike the Football Championship Subdivision in which Eastern Washington plays.) Roos Field sat in the evening chill, dark but silhouetted by th...
CHENEY -- The Blackhawks boys basketball team split a pair of non-league games last week, losing Dec. 12 at Lewis and Clark, 59-43, before topping Shadle Park, 61-52, at home Dec. 16. Once again, a slow start sunk the Blackhawks (2-4) into a deep hole. LC’s 16-5 edge in the first quarter set the stage for the Tigers to lead 33-20 at half. “It’s never easy to play from behind early like we did at LC,” head coach Travis Peevey wrote in an email. “We have to come ready to play a...
MEDICAL LAKE – The Medical Lake girls' basketball team ran its preseason record to a perfect 6-0 following wins last week against Greater Spokane League Rogers, Northeast A League Newport and 2B St. Georges. Using a dominating third quarter and outscoring the Prates 25-4 to break a 21-all tie at halftime, the Cardinals won going away 63-32 at Rogers, Dec. 12. Medical Lake capped the week with a 40-24 win against NEA foe, Newport, Dec. 15 and 46-30 at St. Georges', Dec. 18. A...
CHENEY – In what might be termed their toughest week of wrestling outside what could occur in February at district, regional and state competition but Cheney exited the gauntlet with a number of plusses. Wrestling on back-to-back nights on Dec. 13-14, the Blackhawks came away with a split in Greater Spokane League competition, losing to Mount Spokane 42-34 before handling Central Valley by the same score. To cap the week the Blackhawks were at the Tri-State tournament in Co...
SPOKANE VALLEY – The University boys and girls basketball teams dunked Cheney on Dec. 8. The local girls won, 64-36. And the Titan boys won, 62-53. In the girls game, Cheney had a slow start at U-Hi that would dog them the remainder of the game. "We couldn't get shots to drop and we didn't take care of the ball," Blackhawks Coach Meredith Richards said. Evan Stinson's game-high 27 points paced Cheney in the loss to U-Hi. In other area basketball scores over the last week: F...
CHENEY – In their Dec. 8 meeting, the Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees were presented with the results of a report on potential across-the-board cuts following drastic declines in enrollment. Since reaching a high of over 13,000 students in 2015, enrollment has spiraled down to 8,200 in fall of 2022 which are the latest numbers available. One of the most notable results of the study was the Eastern’s football team’s status on campus as compared to other progr...
CHENEY – The Blackhawks girls basketball team notched win number one for new head Coach Meredith Richards to start the week but ended things with a pair of losses. The Blackhawks topped North Central 43-21 on Dec. 5 before losing at University, 64-36 on Dec. 8 and at Wenatchee, 37-30 on Dec. 9 – all non-league games. "Tuesday (at North Central) came with highs and lows," Richards said. "We were able to pull out a win, with a strong showing from several players. We unf...
The next time you feel like the world is closing in on you try spending 10 minutes with Bob Hunt. First, however, you'll have to find time in his schedule as a full-time student, working part time, coaching and training to be on the world stage. Oh, Hunt does this all from a wheelchair that has been part of his life for most of the last 33 years and has his eyes on 2024 as a U.S. Paralympian team hopeful. "I mean, when you talk about someone who has found the capability of...
Evan Stinson returned from having missed the last half of the 2022-23 season seemingly non-the-worse for the foot fracture that sidelined him as the Cheney boys opened their season Nov. 30 vs. Ridgeline in a non-league game at home. But his game-high 33 points needed more support at the Blackhawks fell to the Falcons 68-57. A slow start where Ridgeline outscored Cheney 25-12 in the first quarter and then 22-14 in the third created too big of a hole that Cheney's 25-15 final...
Playing shorthanded was only part of what played into the Cheney girls dropping their first basketball game of the season, 67-35 to Greater Spokane League rival, Nov. 30 at home. In the debut of new head coach Meredith Richards, there was just not enough offense, the the Blackhawks were missing a pair of key performers. "Hannah Ward in California for a cross country invite and Mia Ashcroft out with an injury, we just ran out of gas," Richards wrote in an email. Cheney was led...
When Jason Connor stepped away as the Cheney boys’ head wrestling coach following the 2022-23 season, the Blackhawks program did not have to go far to replace him. With over 20 years of experience as an assistant, Brian Skaff was the logical choice. For Connor, whose day job is as a biologist for the Kalispel Tribe, coaching was important, but family and other winter pursuits more so. “I loved doing it but was a challenge with my job being so far away and balance other int...
To say that Cheney girls’ wrestling has come a long way in a year would be the understatement of understatements. When freshman Jalisca Holmgren signed up a year ago she was one of six, but as it turned out she was one of one both when the season started and ended. Holmgren, however, loved her experience — which included a trip to state, a first — so much that she became the program’s pied piper. Today there are 10 girls who have their own coach. “It’s just been cool to see wh...
CHENEY - Cheney wrestling's first match was a short road trip to compete in the Medical Lake Scramble, Dec. 2. The Blackhawks finished in seventh place with 97 points behind champion Lewis and Clark taking home the team title with 160. Sixteen wrestlers competed for the Blackhawks and four finished in the medal rounds. They included Aiden Carr second at 120 pounds and Chazz Gray at 285, both earning runner-up finishes. Wyatt Wells at 175 was third while Mason Bridges was...
There is, perhaps, an interesting yet purely accidental experiment taking place this winter sports season on the West Plains. Anecdotally speaking and come February, we might see if focusing largely on one sport or stocking a roster with a diverse array of multi-sport athletes delivers more wins? A show of hands when the Cheney boys’ basketball team went through a Q&A Nov. 18 at the school’s media day indicated most, if not all, played the game year-round with a club. Con...
CHENEY – As if the pure idea of trying to navigate the first season as a head coach in charge of a struggling program was not enough in itself, Travis Peevey had another obstacle drop in his path last season. While taking the necessary steps to improve upon the 4-15 record the Blackhawks had during the 2021-22 season, along comes news that one of the key cogs would miss the league season with an injury. Not long after Cheney surpassed the previous season's win total topping We...
MEDICAL LAKE – Consider the off-season for Medical Lake girls' basketball to have been not unlike a game of musical chairs. When the Cardinal's boys coach, Jordan Starr, packed up and left for his childhood home and a job at Selah High, athletics director Dawn Eliassen found replacements close at hand. Girls head coach Brett Ward moved to the boy's bench and a veteran assistant, Yeta Holloway, was put in Ward's spot. For Holloway, who had served on the boy's staff in v...
CHENEY – When Ken Ryan made the decision to jump from the girls’ basketball head coaching job to the athletics director’s chair at Cheney High School, he did not have to go far to find a replacement. It came from the same team bench with his assistant coach Meredith Richards. She has 18 years coaching in various roles ranging from youth to high school. “I’m excited for this year,” Richards said at the Nov. 18 media day at CHS. “We’ve got a bunch of really good people, good hu...
MEDICAL LAKE – To say that new Cardinal boys head basketball coach Brett Ward has some challenges ahead might certainly be an understatement. Not only is he moving benches from leading the Cardinal girls last season, but he inherits a team that won but one game in 2022-23. Ward relapsed Jordan Starr who accepted a similar job in his hometown of Selah, Wash. “Same role, just different team and pretty excited about it,” Ward said. While he will miss the opportunity to have...
CHENEY — In a game of runs, maybe Eastern Washington just ran out of time in their Big Sky Conference regular season ending game with Northern Arizona Nov. 18 at Roos Field. Rallying from a 35-7 deficit with five minutes remaining in the first half and eventually tying the contest at 35-all with 10 minutes, 35 seconds to play, Eastern gave up back-to-back touchdowns in the final 6:47 falling to the Lumberjacks 49-42 on Senior Day. “NAU played well enough, they were ready fro...
CHENEY – High school basketball player Evan Stinson's college dream has come true. The senior officially signed his letter-of-intent on Nov. 13 to play at Washington State University where he hopes to make as early an impact as possible for the Cougs as a small forward. Stinson was being courted by the likes of Eastern Washington, Montana and Montana State, San Francisco and Utah State, but WSU was an odds-on favorite for a variety of reasons, one outside of basketball. S...
CHENEY – It’s certainly an understatement when Cheney High head football coach Bobby Byrd admits the 2023 season was “A very tough year.” Going winless in 10 games will do that, especially when there was no indication such a result might happen. “In my mind, the staff’s mind and the players’ minds, (we were) having what we thought was a pretty good summer,” Byrd said in a recent interview. With the experience the team returned on paper, the Blackhawks definitely looked better...
CHENEY – Despite having a defending state champion return to the team, Cheney swim coach Jennifer Hochwalt is taking a cautious approach to the 2024 boys' season. "We're gonna see what the season brings," Hochwalt said as she'd had just a few days to evaluate her team since its first turnout. Cheney graduated what Hochwalt termed "Several solid swimmers," but she welcomes back junior Alma Smith who claimed the state 3A diving title. "After graduating our class last year, I t...
FEDERAL WAY – Co-op swimmers from surrounding schools delivered three state championships for the Cheney High School swim program staged at the King County Aquatics Center, Nov. 10-11. Brigid Dinnen from 2A East Valley won the 100 freestyle (52.53) and was runner-up in the 200 (1:54.22). Co-op swimmers are from area schools without swimming programs but compete in the Cheney program. Lewis and Clark’s Ava Swigart collected wins at the 4A level in both the 200 and 500...
