Local Snapshots

By The Associated Press - 08/15/2008

BC sophomore helps hoops champs LAS VEGAS — A Butte Central sophomore was part of the Northwest Cougars Basketball Team, comprised high school players from Montana, that won the Gold Bracket at the recently held Nike National Youth Basketball Championships Las Vegas Summer Classic competition, it was reported to the Billings Gazette.

Jonathan Richards of Butte Central was joined on the team by Brian Bullock of Jefferson High in Boulder, Ryan McCarty of Harrison, Danny Robinson of Billings West, Zach Edwards of Shepherd, Danny Little of Billings Skyview, Corbin Pearson of Big Sandy, Kurtis Parsons of C.M. Russell High in Great Falls, Sam Keaster of Belt, Joe Stulc of Winifred and Josh Huestis, of Great Falls CMR.

In tournament play they defeated teams from California, Seattle, Arizona and British Columbia.

The coaches were Craig Baumgartner of Pasco, Wash.; Jeremy Cummings of Pasco; and Jerad Smithson Eric Lipkin, both of the University of Montana Western.

Ticker Tuner Fun Run set for Aug. 23 The St James Healthcare Foundation will hold its annual Ticker Tuner Fun Run on Aug. 23 at Chester Steel Park.

The fun run is to support the St James Cardiac Rehabilitation Department. The 5-kilometer run is to begin at 8:30 a.m. and the mile fun run at 9 a.m. The cost for participants who register before Aug 15 is $15, and $18 after Aug 15. Ghost participants are welcomed and encouraged if signees are unable to attend.

This year, the foundation will have a Corporate Challenge, encouraging businesses throughout Southwest Montana to compete against each other for the most participants. Early registration is highly recommended, organizer Kevin Dennehy said.

Packets can be picked up at the St James Foundation office, 425 Porphyry, on Friday, Aug. 22 between 3 and 6 p.m. Race day registration will take place at Chester Steele Park from 7 to 8 a.m.

For more information and registration forms, contact the St James Healthcare Foundation at 782-5640 or 782-5670.

Schweyen, Babcock to coach UM track, cross counry MISSOULA (AP) — The University of Montana track and field and cross country programs are undergoing an administrative change with the resignation of longtime coach Tom Raunig.

Brian Schweyen has been named interim director of track and field while Courtney Babcock has been named as interim cross country and distance running coach.

Athletics director Jim O’Day says the school had initially sought to find one coach for both programs, but after two candidates removed themselves from consideration, the school re-evaluated the job.

Schweyen, a former All-American high jumper at Montana State, was an assistant for Raunig for 10 seasons before stepping down at the end of the 2007 outdoor season to pursue a full-time art career.

Babcock competed for Canada in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Montana soccer picked seventh MISSOULA (AP) — The University of Montana women’s soccer team was picked to finish seventh among the eight Big Sky Conference teams that compete in the sport.

A preseason poll of the coaches has Sacramento State favored to repeat as league champion while Northern Colorado and Weber State were tied for second.

Northern Arizona was picked fourth, followed by Portland State, Idaho State, Montana and Eastern Washington.

Coach Neil Sedgwick is entering his fifth season at Montana with a four-year record of 24-41.7.

The Montana women play their only exhibition match, against Carroll College, on Monday at South Campus Stadium. Carroll is coming off a 2007 season in which it posted a 17-2-2 record, won the NAIA Region 1 championship and advanced to the NAIA national championships.

Laurel voters asked to support stadium renovation BILLINGS (AP) — Voters in Laurel are being asked to support a bond to pay for a $3.67 million renovation of the high school football, soccer and track stadium.

Ballots were mailed out Wednesday to more than 6,700 voters. They are due back by Sept. 4.

Plans call for a synthetic field and track as well as removing an aging grandstand that seats about 500 people and replacing it with bleachers that will hold up to 4,500 fans.

Coach Lisa Condon says the improvements will include indoor plumbing at the field.

If the plan is approved, work will begin at the conclusion of the 2008 football season.

Rocky signs Kenyan runner BILLINGS (AP) — Rocky Mountain cross country coach Alan King has announced the signing of Luka Kogo from Nairobi, Kenya.

King says Kogo ran the 200- and 400 meters in high school. He graduated in 2002 and has since been focusing on longer distances.

King says Kogo’s best time in the 800 meters is 1 minute, 56.04 seconds at high altitude.

The Rocky cross country program is starting is second season with 17 runners, more than double last year’s total. They open the season Sept. 5 against Montana State-Billings.

UGF track signs sprinters GREAT FALLS (AP) — University of Great Falls track and field coach Jim Brewer has announced the signing of two sprinters.

Signing with the Argos are Veronica Juden of Great Falls and Whitney Kossman of Twin Falls, Idaho.

Juden was a three-year letterman on the Great Falls High track and field team, focusing on the 100- and 200-meter sprints.

Kossman’s personal best times include 12.4 seconds in the 100 meters and 27 seconds in the 200 meters.

Griz V-ball picked sixth in preseason The University of Montana volleyball team was picked for a sixth-place finish and the Montana State squad for ninth in the Big Sky Conference preseason poll, the league office announced Monday.

Voting was done by the Big Sky’s nine head coaches.

Montana, which returns five starters, placed seventh last year, finishing the season with a 6-10 league mark, 10-16 overall.

Portland State, which shared the 2007 regular-season title with Sacramento State at 13-3, is the 2008 favorite, the first time the Vikings have been given the preseason nod.

PSU collected five of the poll’s nine first-place votes to earn 61 points.

Sacramento State, which won its 11th straight regular-season or postseason Big Sky title in 2007, was picked for second, with three first-place votes and 53 total points.

Weber State edged out Eastern Washington for third, picking up 50 points. EWU earned the other first-place vote and collected 49 points. The Eagles finished third in 2007 with a 12-4 Big Sky mark. The Wildcats, in their most successful season in 19 years, went 11-5 in league play.

Northern Colorado, with 34 points, and Montana, with 30, rounded out the top six.

The top six teams in the regular-season standings advance to the Big Sky tournament, which will be hosted by Portland State on Nov. 28-29.

Filling out the bottom third of the poll were Northern Arizona (24 points), Idaho State (12) and Montana State (11).

NBA teams to show stuff at the Metra BILLINGS — Two of college basketball’s biggest stars in the past two years will show their stuff at the professional level at MetraPark in October, the Billings Gazette reported.

Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves will face Kevin Durant and Oklahoma City in an NBA preseason game on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The game will mark the third time since 2001 that the Timberwolves have played a preseason game in Billings.

The game is being sponsored by U.S. Bank and will be billed as the U.S. Bank Classic. The announcement of the game was made Thursday morning by Wayne Hirsch, president of U.S. Banks for Montana and northern Wyoming, and Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale.

Durant, who starred at the University of Texas for one season (2006-07), won the 2007 Naismith Award as college basketball’s player of the year.

Love, who led UCLA to the Final Four in his only college season (2007-08), was a finalist for this year’s Naismith Award which was won by North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough.