CC Notebook: Mariners players to attend LCC dinner and auction
Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:02 PM PST
By Rick McCorkle
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E-mail this articleThe annual Lower Columbia College Athletics dinner and auction will be held Jan. 9 in the LCC Student Center. The fundraiser event for the LCC Athletics Department will be held in conjunction with the Seattle Mariners’ Caravan, which will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 9 in Truman Myklebust Gym at the college.
A silent auction and social hour kicks off the dinner/auction event at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and a live auction at 7. In addition to members of the Mariners’ Caravan at the dinner/auction, coaches and players from all of the LCC sports will be in attendance along with some special guests.
To reserve individual tickets or booking an entire table, call Kirc Roland, 442-2471.
Roffler earns HOF nod
A Roffler was recently inducted into the Tacoma Community College Athletic Hall of Fame, and it wasn’t LCC men’s basketball coach Jim Roffler.
Roffler’s wife, Elizabeth (Harris) Roffler was among seven student-athletes inducted for individual performances during the early and mid-1980s. Roffler, along with Holley Hovey, were two of the first women to win individual and team championships for the Tacoma Titans.
“These are two of the pioneers in women’s athletics at the college,” TCC athletic director Carl Howell said in a press release from the college. “Not only was this a great chance to honor former TCC athletes and coaches, but it was also a great opportunity to host an annual get-together of former and current Titans.”
Roffler, a rare three-time NWAACC champion, won conference high jump titles in 1985 and ‘86, and was a member of the women’s basketball team at Tacoma that claimed the 1986 conference crown. She was also selected to play in the 1986 NWAACC Women’s All-Star Basketball Game.
After her sophomore season, Roffler was selected to represent TCC on a team of community college athletes who competed as part of a track tour in Russia. She later attended Eastern Washington University, where she was a two-time track MVP who competed in both the Pefontaine Classic in Eugene, and the Modesto, Calif. Relays. Roffler won the high jump at the Modesto Relays with a personal-best leap of 5-feet-11 1/4.
She later graduated from Eastern with a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in marketing, and is currently a math and science teacher at Huntington Middle School where she also coaches track.
The Rofflers have been married for 17 years, and have two sons, Jeremiah James (J.J.) and Jared Ray.
Park named to all-league team
LCC freshman defender Kelly Park was named to the all-NWAACC North-West divisions All-Star team for women’s soccer following a recent balloting of the league’s coaches.
Park, a Kelso High graduate, also scored a goal and handed out two assists. She was also picked to play for the North-West team at the annual NWAACC All-Star Game that was conducted on Dec. 6 at Doc Harris Stadium in Camas.
In volleyball, Shyra Hoffman of Clark was named to the NWAACC all-Western Division first team. Hoffman, an R.A. Long graduate and a sophomore middle blockers with the Penguins, was ranked seventh in the conference with 55 block assists and 26 solo blocks. She also led her team with 219 kills, served 21 aces and made 164 digs.
No LCC athletes were named to the all-Western Division team.
Two LCC student-athletes were named to the NWAACC Fall All-Academic team. Kendall Jo Rapp of the women’s soccer team was picked based on her 3.64 grade point average, and Kacie DeRosier of the volleyball earned the nod from her 3.58 GPA.
To be eligible for the All-Academic team, student-athletes must be sophomores in eligibility, have earned a minimum of 36 credits, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25.
Davis, Greene ink at Hawaii-Pacific
A trio of LCC sophomore baseball players have already announced plans for their respective 2010 seasons by inking letters of intent during the early signing period.
Outfielder Tyler Davis and right-handed pitcher Michael Greene have signed to play at Hawaii-Pacific University for their junior campaigns, and left-handed pitcher Conor Spink has inked to join the Seattle University baseball team in its inaugural campaign in 2010.
Davis and Greene follow in the footsteps of four former LCC players currently on the Hawaii-Pacific roster. R.A. Long High graduate Jonah Hobson is a redshirt senior outfielder, Bas Nooij is a junior catcher, Chad Wagner is a junior pitcher, and Sean Winston is a junior infielder.
In addition, former Tacoma College outfielder Jake Valentine and pitchers B.A. Garner and Daniel Cox are also at Hawaii Pacific, a member of the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference.
Spink is one of 19 players who have inked to play Division I baseball at Seattle University, the first Redhawks’ team to play at the D-1 level since 1980, and the first varsity baseball team sponsored by the school six the mid-80s.
Spink, a native of Eagle River, Alaska, will play for newly-hired coach Donny Harrel, who served as an assistant coach at the University of Washington for four seasons after toiling as an assistant at Oregon State University. Prior to OSU, Harrel coached for seven seasons at Lane College in Eugene, where he led the Titans to the NWAACC title in 1999.
“Conor is a developed pitcher who will drive hitters crazy with the ability to throw three different pitches for strikes,” Harrel said on the school’s Web site.
In softball, sophomore first baseman Camy Way has inked a letter of intent to play at Concordia University in Portland beginning in 2010. Way earned first-team NWAACC Southern Division honors after hitting .469 with eight home runs and 40 runs batted in.
Centralia CC unveils renovated gymnasium
A new Health and Wellness Center, built in conjunction with a $5 million remodel of the gymnasium at Centralia College, was recently unveiled during a recent women’s basketball game between the Trailblazers and Seattle Community College.
The circa-1935 gymnasium was originally constructed in 1935 and was part of the original Centralia High School. The renovated building now includes two new scoreboards along with a $55,000 media board that is capable of producing images.
Spectators will also notice that players no longer sit on the first row of bleachers, and are seated in folding chairs near the court. A large lobby with 30-foot ceilings greets visitors, and display cases were added to house all of the school’s trophies.
Devils at four-year schools
Former LCC men’s basketball player Omar Krayem is averaging a team-high 18.2 points at California Baptist University, an NAIA school competing in the Golden State Athletic Conference.
Krayem, a senior who led the team in scoring during five of the team’s first nine games, netted a season-high 25 points in an 89-73 victory over Bethany College for the Lancers, ranked 15th in the recent NAIA Division I national standings.
During the preseason, Krayem and the Lancers played UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, where the Bruins cruised to an 86-58 victory. Krayem finished with 16 points, five assists and three steals in 37 minutes.
Three ex-LCC players are on the roster at The Evergreen State College in Olympia. Senior Nick Moore is second on the team in scoring (16.4 points) and second in rebounding (6.5), and Senior Steven Trotter is third in scoring (11.8) and first in rebounding (9.3).
Moore was named MVP of the recent Lewis and Clark State College Cannon’s Building Materials Tournament, where he scored 44 points in two games. In a recent 90-82 victory over Linfield, Moore netted 10-15 shots for 27 points.
Trotter was nearly perfect in a recent 95-81 triumph over Concordia, netting 9-10 shots including all three of his 3-point attempts, and hit all four of his free throws for 25 points.
Anthony Gallagher is a junior coming off the bench for the Geoducks, averaging 3.3 points and two rebounds.
At the University of Puget Sound, ex-LCC guard Steffond Brown is a senior coming off the bench and averaging 1.7 points.
Two former Red Devils are coming off the bench at Warner Pacific College. Junior Ryan Hoff is averaging two points, and senior Andrew Nieman is averaging one point per game.
Among the ex-Lady Devils are three members of the Linfield College basketball team. Sara Burgoyne is an assistant coach in her second season, and Nadra Evans and Kelsey Forrest are junior starters.
Forrest leads the Wildcats in scoring at 10.5 points and averages four rebounds. She recently received Northwest Conference honorable mention Student-Athlete of the Week honors after netting 15 points in a 76-59 loss to Corban, and 14 points in a 72-63 victory over Chapman.
Evans is averaging seven points, 4.7 rebounds and two assists.
Kourtney Craft is averaging 1.6 points as a junior reserve guard at Concordia University, and Katie Garcin is a junior post averaging 4.6 points and 3.2 rebounds as a part-time starter.
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