NW Briefs | UW, WSU women to compete for crew title

Washington and Washington State women's crews begin competing today in the NCAA championship regatta on Lake Natoma outside Sacramento.

The Cougars were expected to get an invitation after finishing third in both the varsity eight race and overall team standings at the Pac-10 regatta on the same lake two weeks ago. The Huskies were a surprise pick after a fourth-place team finish at the league regatta that included a disappointing fifth-place performance in the varsity eight.

Washington coach Bob Ernst called the invitation "a new lease on life."

Western Washington is going for its fourth straight Division II title and Puget Sound is in the Division III regatta for a sixth consecutive year.

More rowing

Anna (Mickelson) Cummins of Bellevue and Portia McGee of Seattle will race today in the Lucerne, Switzerland, regatta of the Rowing World Cup. Lindsay Meyer and Lia Pernell of Seattle are on the women's quadruple sculls crew.

Notes

Washington outfielder Kyle Conley and right-handed starting pitcher Jorden Merry were named to the All-Pac-10 baseball team. Washington State's Paul Gran was named to the team and was chosen as the conference's defensive player of the year.

• The Boeing Classic, a Champions Tour event, has named Larry Dickenson, a former Boeing executive, to a newly created position: tournament chief executive.

• Matthew and Brian Remington of Seattle hold a two-stroke lead at the Washington State Men's Best-Ball Amateur Championship, hosted by The Home Course in DuPont.

• Seattle Pacific named runner Jessica Pixler the Ron Grady Athlete of the Year. SPU also gave the Falcon Award for Excellence to Beth Christensen (basketball), Ashley Domres (gymnastics), Alyssa Given (volleyball) and Kara Hamby (soccer).

• Seattle Pacific javelin thrower Jeeni Schantin, a transfer from Clackamas Community College, has been named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year, and teammate Brittany Aanstad is the conference's freshman of the year.

• Lindsay Henahan joins the WS swimming staff as an assistant on July 1.

• Eric Bridgeland is the new men's basketball coach at Whitman College.

• The Special Olympics of Washington opens at 7:30 tonight at McChord Air Force Base.

Team and wire reports, and other sources, contributed.