State Colleges Report | Seattle U.'s Hall is growing fast

Despite a long history of intercollegiate athletics, especially in sports such as basketball, baseball and soccer, only 25 individuals and one team were in the Seattle University Athletic Hall of Fame before May 2007.

By the end of May 2008, that total will almost double, as five individuals have already earned membership into the exclusive club, and 12 more former student-athletes, plus three administrators and two teams, will be honored on Saturday, May 24, in a dinner and ceremony at the Campion Tower Ballroom on campus.

Last spring, the men's basketball program honored Jim Harney and Ernie Dunston for both their performances on the court and their continued support of the program. Last fall, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the men's soccer program, three former players became the first soccer athletes to enter the SU Athletic Hall of Fame — Joe Zavaglia, Tom Hardy and Bobby McAllister.

After three meetings of the newly created Hall of Fame committee, made up of present Hall of Famers, other alumni and staff members, the new class of inductees was established. Because it had been years since anyone had been inducted into the Hall of Fame, the committee decided to honor a bigger class than normal as a way to make up for lost time.

The Hall of Fame Class of 2008 includes baseball players John Kelly and Ernie Pastornicky; men's basketball star Charlie Brown; women's basketball standouts Michele Hackett and Lisa Hill; golfers Jeff Coston and Bill Meyer; men's soccer players Jason Palmer and Kurt Swanson, women's soccer standouts Ingrid Gunnestad (Patnode) and Julie Holmes (Woodward); and tennis player Brian Parrott.

Former athletic director and basketball and baseball coach Al Brightman, longtime statistician Bob Klug, and athletic supporter Fr. Francis Logan are also being inducted, as is the 1968 tennis team that advanced to the NCAA tournament and the 1997 men's soccer squad that won the NAIA championship.

In future years up to five individuals and one team will be honored, and the annual Hall of Fame ceremony will take place in the winter, on the same weekend as a key home men's basketball contest.

Also at Seattle U.

Softball: Thanks to two rescheduled doubleheaders, the Redhawks will play their final 12 games of the regular season in a 10-day span. SU leads the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, but five teams are within one game of the conference lead.

Seattle Pacific

Track and field: Sophomore Jane Larson (Cedar Park Christian of Bothell) is ranked first in NCAA Division II in the 3,000 meters (9:49.48) and second in the 1,500 (4:28:08).

Gymnastics: Senior Ashley Domres (Phoenix, Ariz.) capped her Falcons career by earning All-American honors on the vault, balance beam and uneven bars.

Washington

Baseball: Junior right-hander Jorden Merry (Pasco) is 5-0 with a 2.10 earned-run average. In seven starts, he has allowed 33 hits and nine runs in 49-2/3 innings, while striking out 44.

Softball: Junior outfielder Marnie Koziol (Liberty of Issaquah) has been named a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) All-American. Koziol was one of 20 NCAA softball players to be honored by the NSCA, and was the only from the Pac-10.

Men's golf: The Pac-10 Championships are Monday through Wednesday at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif. UW had its season-best score (20-under par 832) at the same course last fall, an event that also saw senior Zach Bixler (Richland) become the third player in NCAA history to shoot a 60.

Rowing: The nation's top-ranked crews race Saturday in the Bay Area. The Huskies men's varsity eight is No. 1 and the UW women are No. 8. They row in a dual regatta against the No. 1 California women and No. 4 Bears men's crew.

Track and field: UW placed 27 athletes on the MPSF All-Academic team, second only to Stanford in the conference, which includes eight Pac-10 and two Big West teams.

Men's tennis: Junior Patrik Fischer (Bern, Switzerland) is the No. 6 seed in this weekend's Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif. Fischer is one of four Huskies in the main draw.

Women's tennis: Freshman Venise Chan (Hong Kong), sophomore Aleksandra Malovic (Apeldoorn, Netherlands) and senior Tara Simpson (Vancouver, B.C.) are all in the main draw of this weekend's Pac-10 Championships.

Western Washington

Softball: Freshman outfielder Jenna Mohrweis (Jackson of Mill Creek) set a season school record for being hit by a pitch with eight and is four from the WWU standard for walks with 17. Western's Sonya Joseph was plunked six times in 2000 and Jodi Rock drew 21 free passes in 2003.

Track and field: Seven Vikings have had NCAA D-II national provisional qualifying efforts, three of them in two events.

Women's golf: The Vikings, ranked No. 3 in the latest West Region poll, are looking to make their sixth straight regional appearance. Junior Kaitlin Parker (Marysville-Pilchuck) leads the team with a 78.9 scoring average.

Men's golf: The Vikings earned a five-shot victory Tuesday at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships at Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane. WWU has won 25 conference titles and 45 championships (district and regional) in all, the most by any sport in school history. All five Vikings golfers placed in the top seven in medalist play.

Women's rowing: The Vikings, who have won the last three NCAA D-II national titles, have been ranked No. 1 nationally all season, receiving every first-place vote.

Other colleges

Central Washington: Junior Matt Rogstad (East Valley of Yakima) won the 200 and 400 at the Spike Arlt Invitational in Ellensburg, posting a season-best time of 48.30 in the 400.

Eastern Washington: Junior Mattie Bridgmon (Laramie, Wyo.) set a school record in the 5,000 at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. Her time of 16:47.65 also qualified her for the NCAA West Regional.

Evergreen State: Hailey Harris (Shoshone, Idaho) will play volleyball for the Geoducks. She played at Everett Community College last season.

Northwest: Sophomore Jimmy Reed (Bothell) had first-place finishes in the 100 (11.3, a personal best) and 200 (22.37, a school record) at the Warner Pacific meet in Portland.

Puget Sound: The Loggers men won all but one race they entered on Vancouver Lake to clinch their sixth Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference championship in the last eight years.

Saint Martin's: Senior Hiro Nezu (Shizuoka, Japan) took medalist honors with a 6-under 138 at the GNAC men's golf championships. The Saints finished second as a team.

Whitman: The baseball team is one of the Northwest Conference leaders with 39 double plays and turned an infield triple play last Sunday against Pacific Lutheran.

Whitworth: The men's track-and-field team claimed its first Northwest Conference title since 2001.

Sports information directors contributed to this notebook.

Information in this article, originally published April 24, 2008, was corrected April 26, 2008. A previous version of this story contained an error. Whitman College's baseball team has 39 double plays this season and does not lead NCAA Division III in that statistic. An item in the original version of this story credited Whitman with 64 double plays due to incorrect information from the school.