NW Briefs | NOOD Regatta sets sail for Puget Sound

The longest-running and largest sailboat racing regatta series in the United States, the Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta, will make its debut on Puget Sound May 16-18.

More than 1,000 sailors and 200 boats from throughout the country are expected to compete in the inaugural Seattle NOOD regatta, which will be co-hosted by the Seattle Yacht Club and the Corinthian Yacht Club.

The NOOD Regatta consistently attracts a diverse group of competitors, from Olympic and professional sailors to local day sailors participating in their first regatta.

The overall winner in Seattle will be invited to participate in November's NOOD Regatta Championships in the British Virgin Islands, competing aboard Sunsail 39s against the winners from each stop on the nine-regatta Sperry Top-Sider NOOD circuit.

The Seattle regatta will be the fourth stop of the nine-event series.

Following Seattle, the series will set sail for Detroit; St. Petersburg, Fla.; San Diego; Annapolis, Md.; Chicago; Marblehead, Mass.; Larchmont, N.Y.; and Houston.

Created by Sailing World in 1988, the NOODs attract nearly 2,000 boats and more than 30,000 competitors and spectators annually. Each event in the series features multiple days of sailboat racing for one-design models from 20 to 70 feet in length.

Golf

Washington received an at-large bid into the NCAA Division I Men's West Regional, which will be hosted by the Huskies May 15-17 at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton.

The Huskies, who received the No. 21 seed, will be making their 13th straight regional appearance. Among the teams playing in Bremerton will be defending NCAA champion Stanford and USC, the regional top seed and the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament.

The top 10 teams and the top two individuals not on an advancing team from each of the three regional sites will advance to the NCAA championships, May 28-31 in West Lafayette, Ind.

• The Western Washington men are second, eight strokes back, after first-day play in the NCAA Division II West Regional in Petaluma, Calif. The Vikings, seeded third in the regional, shot a 5-over-par 293. Western's Thomas Jun and Jake Koppenberg each shot even-par 72 to stand tied for sixth.

• The Western Washington women are fourth after one round of the NCAA Division II West Regional in Phoenix. The third-seeded Vikings shot 319. Breanna Carmichael is tied for second after a 3-over 75.

Baseball

Oregon State pounded out 17 hits and received 11 walks from Washington State pitching on the way to a 19-9 victory in Pullman. Chad Arnold (2-4) took the loss for the Cougars (24-20, 5-10 Pac-10) after giving up six runs in 2-1/3 innings.

• Washington (28-16, 8-7 Pac-10) earned its first national ranking of the season, debuting at No. 30 in Collegiate Baseball's latest poll.

• Bucknell senior Jason Buursma, a graduate of Lakeside School, has been named to the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award, presented to the nation's top collegiate baseball player in conjunction with the College Baseball Hall of Fame's annual induction festivities.

Conference honors

• Seattle University pitcher Erin Martin was named Great Northwest Athletic Conference co-pitcher of the year, and joined teammates Jane Purdy, Katie Antich and Lauren Berin on the all-GNAC first team. Other first-team honorees were Holly Rossman, Mallory Holtman and Kasey Druffel of Central Washington, and Michelle Wrigley of Western Washington.

Montana State Billings' Kelly Parsons, a graduate of Mount Rainier High, was named freshman of the year.

• Central Washington's Jamie Nilsen has been named GNAC baseball hitter of the week.

• Gonzaga's Drew Heid has been named West Coast Conference player of the week.

• Darren Haworth, coach of the Eastern Washington men's tennis team, was named Big Sky Conference coach of the year.

Notes

• Middle-distance runner Joe Abbott of Reno, Nev., hurdler Brittnay Crabb of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and sprinter Jacki Hill of Bremerton have signed letters of intent with Washington State.

Compiled from staff and sports-information reports.