CWU's hire was destined to coach

YAKIMA — The Blaine Bennett era at Central Washington officially began on Friday, when he was named the Wildcats' 22nd football coach.

More realistically, though, it probably started on Oct. 15, 1964. That's when Bennett was born in Walla Walla, to Blaine "Shorty" and Marcella Bennett. Few would have been surprised if the baby had arrived with a chrome whistle in his mouth instead of the proverbial silver spoon.

"I always felt I'd be a football coach someday," Bennett said at Friday's news conference, "so even at an early age I tried to learn from everybody."

Bennett began the process as just a little guy who wanted to be around the big guys, the Ellensburg High School players his father coached to a state championship in 1973 and two other, unofficial poll state titles. The younger Bennett said his first priorities will be to assemble his staff around John Picha, a 19-year CWU assistant, and to recruit.

"We've got two weekends left," Bennett said of the Feb. 6 signing date. "Signing day is right around the corner."

Recruiting is nothing new to Bennett, who spent six seasons as an assistant in the Big Ten. He was quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Purdue under Joe Tiller, and later became assistant head coach and wide receivers coach for John L. Smith at Michigan State. After Smith's firing, Bennett was head coach at Lafayette Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Ind., in 2007.

Bennett previously spent nine years at Western Oregon, including the last six as head coach. He also had been an assistant at Chico State and Idaho, and as a graduate assistant at Washington State, Bennett was instrumental in the recruitment of quarterback Drew Bledsoe.

That was the first of several big names Bennett has coached or recruited. At Purdue, he coached Kyle Orton, now with the NFL's Chicago Bears, and presided over a passing game in which Yakima native Taylor Stubblefield became the NCAA's career receptions leader. At Western Oregon, Bennett — a quarterback who started at Whitworth — tutored Bledsoe's younger brother, Adam.

Next year, he'll have Mike Reilly, Central's standout, back at quarterback.

It's no wonder the man who once completed 43 passes for Whitworth said of his offensive philosophy, "We'll throw it first, run it second."

Seattle Pacific

Gymnastics: Seniors Ashley Domres (Phoenix) and Christie Chinaka (Honolulu) finished 2-3 on the balance beam at last week's season opener at UC Davis.

Track and field: Sophomores Jessica Pixler (Eastlake of Sammamish) and Jane Larson (Cedar Park Christian of Bothell) posted NCAA qualifying times in the mile at the UW Indoor Preview.

Men's basketball: Senior guard Marques Echols (Garfield) leads SPU in scoring, averaging 17.1 points.

Women's basketball: Senior guard Jackie Hollands (Oregon City, Ore.) scored 45 points over the weekend on 54 percent shooting, including 8 of 16 from three-point range, as third-ranked SPU improved to 15-0.

Seattle U.

Men's basketball: The four games last season that the Redhawks played against this weekend's opponents, Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks, were decided by a total of seven points. SU won three of the four.

Women's basketball: SU looks to snap two losing streaks this weekend: eight straight losses at Northwest Nazarene and 19 in a row against Seattle Pacific.

Track and field: Eight school records were set at last weekend's UW Indoor Preview.

Washington

Women's tennis: Freshman Venise Chan (Hong Kong) made a strong impression in her first two matches as No. 1 singles player. She upset Sacramento State's Katrina Zheltova, ranked 63rd, in her first dual match. Chan then beat Hawaii's Sophie Kobuch, who was coming off a win over the nation's No. 16 player.

Volleyball: Sophomore libero Tamari Miyashiro (Kaneohe, Hawaii) was named the defensive player of the year (and an honorable mention overall) on the Asics/Volleyball Magazine All-America team. Two UW teammates, senior outside hitter Christal Morrison (Puyallup) and junior middle blocker Jessica Swarbrick (El Dorado, Calif.), were second-team selections. Miyashiro averaged 5.65 digs per game last season, second in the Pac-10 and 32nd nationally.

Western Washington

Men's basketball: The Vikings rank last in the GNAC in free-throw shooting at 61.8 percent, including just 50.9 during the past three games. Opponents have hit 75.1 percent.

Women's basketball: Western is 1-5 at home this season, tying the school record for most losses at Carver Gym since 1977-78.

Track and field: Junior Christy Miller (Boise, Idaho) was an NCAA II provisional qualifier in the pole vault at the UW Indoor Preview, clearing a personal-best 11 feet, 9 inches.

Other colleges

Eastern Washington: The men's tennis team kept up with No. 68 Brigham Young on the road in its season opener before losing 4-3.

Evergreen State: Kyle Foster (West Valley of Yakima), who previously played at Northwest U. and Walla Walla CC, signed to play men's soccer. The midfielder was all-conference last season at Walla Walla.

Gonzaga: Both the men's and women's basketball teams are unbeaten in the West Coast Conference and start two Seattle-area freshman guards. The Zags men (15-4), who travel to No. 1 Memphis at 9 a.m. Saturday for a game on ESPN, have started Steven Gray (Bainbridge) in four games. Courtney Vandersloot (Kentwood of Covington) has started 12 games for the women (13-6).

Northwest: Freshman guard Erika Hornyak (Everett) leads the Cascade Conference in free-throw shooting at 90.6 percent, and junior forward Brittany Bowsher (Issaquah) is third in scoring, averaging 17.2 points.

Pacific Lutheran: Senior guard Kyle Haag (Black Hills of Olympia) is on pace for 81 three-point field goals. The PLU women's basketball season record of 67 was set by Kelly Turner in 2005-06.

Puget Sound: Austin Boyce (Kentwood) leads the Northwest Conference men's basketball in field-goal percentage at 61.6, with Robert Krauel (Phoenix, Ariz.) third at 60.0 and Jason Foster (Foss of Tacoma) fifth at 56.2.

Saint Martin's: Junior Jake Linton (Meadowdale of Lynnwood) was GNAC Co-Player of the Week in men's basketball despite only taking 11 shots in two games. The 5-foot-10 guard was 7 for 11, including 6 of 8 three-pointers, and was 16 of 16 from the foul line for 36 points, including 27 in a win Saturday over Seattle U.

Whitman: Sophomore Devon Spika (Ottawa) is 11th in the West Region in nordic skiing. She needs to place in the top 18 to earn a second consecutive trip to the NCAA championships.

Whitworth: Cody Stelzer (The Dalles, Ore.) high-jumped 6 feet, 10 ¾ inches to break an 11-year-old school record and win the WSU Indoor Track Open on Saturday. Stelzer automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, where he finished third in 2007.

Sports information directors

contributed to this notebook.