State Colleges Report | Longtime SPU trainer Bob Grams will resign at end of school year

After 2,400 athletes and miles and miles of athletic tape, Bob Grams has decided it's time to move on.

The head athletic trainer at Seattle Pacific for the past 32 years, Grams will be stepping down from his post at the end of the academic year.

He has played a part in numerous national championships, eight team titles in all, but Grams lists the school's first title — the 1978 men's soccer team — as his greatest memory. "It is the most special to me because it was our first. The excitement and sense of accomplishment is something I'll never forget."

From the sunshine of Florida and California to the sub-zero temperatures of Alaska and the chill of Massachusetts in March, Grams has traversed the country alongside Falcons teams. With his medical kit in tow, he's always ready to help.

"I truly enjoyed getting to work with the kids and getting to know them," said Grams, who also is an assistant professor in the School of Physical Education at SPU. "I got to watch them enter as wide-eyed freshmen and see them leave as completely different people as seniors."

But after 32 years of taping ankles he has decided it's time for something new.

"I've been around so long I'm now regularly working with kids of former athletes," Grams said jokingly. "I've had a chance to work with some outstanding coaches over my tenure and have been blessed to work at a place like Seattle Pacific. I feel very fortunate."

Also at SPU

Track and field: Juniors Jeeni Schantin (West Linn, Ore.) and Lauren VerMulm (Mount Vernon) and freshman Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens) hold the three best javelin marks in the GNAC this season.

Gymnastics: The Falcons compete in the USAG Championships in Shreveport, La., Thursday through Saturday. Seniors Christie Chinaka (Honolulu, balance beam) and Ashley Domres (Phoenix, uneven bars) and junior Brianna Schwartz (Sumner, all-around) will attempt to repeat as All-Americans.

Seattle U.

Softball: Senior second baseman Jane Purdy (Missoula, Mont.) increased her batting average 44 points (.377 to .421) last weekend to become the GNAC leader. She also leads the conference in on-base percentage (.471).

Track and field: The Redhawks combined to set five school records last Friday at the Pelluer Invitational in Cheney.

Washington

Women's golf: The Huskies begin postseason play April 21-23 at the Pac-10 Championships hosted by USC. Sophomore Christina Yoon (Ontario, Canada) was the team's top finisher last year, placing 11th.

Men's golf: The Huskies close the regular season competing at Stanford's U.S. Intercollegiate on Saturday and Sunday.

Men's rowing: The varsity eight crew competes at home Saturday for the first time since winning the 2007 national championship. Top-ranked UW brings a 12-race winning streak into the meeting with No. 14 Oregon State.

Gymnastics: After a fourth-place all-around finish at the NCAA West Regionals in Corvallis, Ore., freshman Haley Bogart (Woodside, Calif.) became the first Huskies gymnast to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 1997.

Men's tennis: Senior Andy Kuharszky (Budapest, Hungary), seventh on the UW singles wins list, will make his final home appearance Saturday as the Huskies close the regular season against Oregon.

Women's tennis: Freshman Venise Chan (Hong Kong) jumped back to her season-high singles ranking of 30th.

Track and field: Junior Jordan Boase (Bothell) broke former Husky legend Ja'Warren Hooker's 400-meter school record at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Ariz., running an NCAA-leading time of 44.82 seconds.

Washington St.

Women's tennis: Senior Ekaterina Burduli (Tel Aviv, Israel) is 27-9, the second-most wins in a season at Washington State. She has a school-record 90 career wins.

Western Washington

Softball: Sophomore pitcher Jennifer Jorgensen (Meridian of Bellingham) is 2-2 with a 2.82 earned-run average and is holding left-handed hitters to a GNAC-low .111 average. Western is 6-2 in her starts.

Women's rowing: WWU looks for its fourth consecutive team title at the eighth Northwest Collegiate Championships Saturday at Vancouver Lake.

Track and field: Thirteen WWU athletes will compete in the Mount SAC Relays on Thursday and Friday in Walnut, Calif.

Other colleges

Eastern Washington: Five different golfers have won six Big Sky Golfer of the Week awards, marking the first time in league history more than three golfers from the same team have earned honors. Also, no team had previously won the award more than five times in the same season.

Evergreen State: Junior Miguel Pineda (Tumwater) won the 800 in a school-record and personal-best 1:56.43 at Saturday's Pacific Lutheran Invitational in Parkland.

Pacific Lutheran: The Lutes baseball team swept a four-game Northwest Conference series against Whitworth last weekend, outscoring the Pirates 54-12 and hitting .463 as a team. Every player with at least seven at-bats hit at least .375.

Saint Martin's: Freshman Sam Washington (Lincoln of Tacoma) set two school records at the Pacific Lutheran Invitational. He won the shot put with a GNAC season-best throw of 50 feet, 8 inches to become the seventh athlete in GNAC history to surpass the 50-foot mark. He then broke his own record in the discus with a winning throw of 143-6.

Whitworth: The women's tennis team finished its most successful regular season in more than a decade (16-4, 14-2) to clinch second place and the No. 2 seed at the Northwest Conference Tournament Friday and Saturday in Yakima.

Sports information directors contributed to this notebook.