State Colleges Report | Ex-Auburn star: from a gym find to key SU reserve

Chelsea Kungkagam enjoyed a solid varsity career at Auburn High School. She twice was second-team all-conference as well as team captain and team MVP.

Nice memories, but at Seattle University, basketball had taken a back seat behind books.

The forensic-science major started playing pickup basketball during the lunch hour at the Connolly Center last September, just to get back in shape and challenge herself.

That where Doug Cocke spotted her in early October. The Seattle U. assistant women's coach told head coach Dan Kriley, who had just lost a player and went to see Kungkagam for himself. Kriley offered the senior the final spot on the women's basketball roster.

Kungkagam, a 5-foot-5 guard, has appeared in 16 games this season for the Redhawks, averaging 6.6 minutes to give other guards a rest. Her best game came at Brigham Young-Hawaii in December, when she scored six points, pulled down a rebound and dished out two assists.

In last week's victory at Western Oregon, she hit her first collegiate three-pointer, grabbed a rebound and earned an assist in 11 minutes on the floor. After a season-ending injury to Cassidy Murillo, she has given SU some much-needed depth.

"It was a hard transition, especially after not playing for those years," Kungkagam said. "But it has been a good experience."

Kriley called her "a wonderful addition to our team this year. She brings a tremendous amount of speed and an aggressive attacking style of play to our program. I only wish we had her in our program for the previous three seasons."

Kungkagam will be honored along with the other seniors before Saturday's game against Alaska Fairbanks.

Also at Seattle U.

Men's basketball: Over the past two seasons, the Redhawks have posted a 13-3 record in games played after Feb. 8, working into postseason consideration both years.

Women's basketball: SU closes the regular season with home games against nationally ranked Alaska Anchorage on Thursday and Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.

Track and field: After setting numerous school records during the indoor season, the Redhawks begin the outdoor season Saturday at the Peyton Invitational in Tacoma.

Softball: Nationally ranked SU begins its home and conference season this weekend against Montana State Billings, with a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Seattle Pacific

Women's basketball: SPU is poised to host the West Regional Tournament March 14, 15 and 17 at Brougham Pavilion.

Men's basketball: Senior center Rob Will (O'Dea) set a new GNAC record for consecutive shots made, hitting 22 over a three-game span.

Gymnastics: Junior Brianna Schwartz (Sumner) scored a career-high 9.825 on bars, placing fourth at Boise State last weekend.

Washington

Baseball: The Huskies begin a 14-game homestand this weekend against Cal Poly. UW will play 22 of its next 25 games at home.

Softball: Junior outfielder Marnie Koziol (Liberty of Issaquah), freshman third baseman Jace Williams (Encinitas, Calif.) and freshman pitcher Aleah Macon (Upland, Calif.) were named to the all-tournament team at the Husky Softball Classic.

Women's tennis: The Huskies, No. 70 in the preseason ITA Rankings, have jumped to a No. 34 ranking. Freshman Venise Chan (Hong Kong) is now ranked 41st in singles and senior Tara Simpson (Vancouver, B.C.) is 98th, the first career ranking for both.

Men's tennis: Freshman Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (Chennai, India) cracked the Top 100 of the ITA Rankings for the first time, coming in at No. 82.

Track and field: Junior Jordan Boase's (Bothell) school-record 400-meter dash time of 46.37 at last weekend's MPSF Championships ranks fifth in the NCAA.

Washington St.

Baseball: The freshmen are providing a spark for the Cougars, who at 7-1 are off to their best start in 15 years. Combined, WSU frosh are hitting .494 (42 for 85) with seven doubles, four triples, two home runs, 26 RBI and 21 runs scored.

Women's tennis: Freshman Jessica Gomez (Guadalupe, Mexico) has a 13-6 record, going 7-2 in dual-match play at the No. 6 spot.

Western Washington

Men's basketball: Junior guard Ira Graham (Fontana, Calif.) has scored 30 or more points in three games this season. He leads the GNAC with 19 points per game.

Women's basketball: Redshirt freshman guard Amanda Dunbar (Marysville-Pilchuck) has averaged 18.8 points over the last five games, hitting 51.7 percent (15 of 29) from three-point range during that span.

Men's golf: Junior Jake Koppenberg (Everett) has a 70.9 scoring average this season, placing among the top six in four tournaments. If he can continue that pace, it would be the best by a Western player during the 15-year tenure of Vikings coach Steve Card.

Softball: Junior right-hander Jessica Rosencrants (Sequim) went 3-1 and earned a save at the Central Washington Invitational last week. She did the same thing at the Lead-Off classic two weeks earlier.

Other colleges

Eastern Washington: Junior Mattie Bridgmon (Laramie, Wyo.) won the 5,000-meter title at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. Her time of 17:27.63 is the second-fastest in school history. She is the first Eagle to win that event since 1992.

Evergreen State: Three school records were broken at Saturday's Icebreaker Invitational, hosted by Linfield College — sophomore Brian Rakestraw (Woodinville) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:13), junior Lindsey Farah (Yelm) in the 400 (1:03.36) and freshman Ryan Lara (Franklin Pierce) in the 200 (24.09).

Northwest: Freshman forward Greg Peters just completed his first season of basketball indoors. There are no indoor basketball facilities on his island of St. Vincent in the West Indies.

Community colleges: NWAACC Basketball Sophomore All-Star games are Sunday at Bellevue CC. Women's games will be at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Men's games will be at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Elsewhere: Kyle Bressler (Decatur of Federal Way), a junior at Oregon State, won a Pac-10 wrestling championship at 197 pounds with a 3-1 overtime decision over top-seeded Jason Trulson of Arizona State. Bressler earned his second consecutive NCAA bid.

Sports information directors

contributed to this notebook.