Around Montana: Dolan second at Canadian nationals

By Chronicle Staff

CALLAGHAN VALLEY, B.C. n Kate Dolan finished 26.1 seconds out of first place in the junior division five-kilometer classic race Tuesday at the Haywood Ski Nationals, the Canadian Nordic skiing national championships.

The 17-year-old Bridger Ski Foundation athlete finished with a time of 17 minutes, 25.5 seconds at Whistler Olympic Park, following Parker Tyler of the Stratton (Vt.) Mountain School. They were part of an American sweep of the junior girls podium.

BSF’s Erika Flowers finished 21st in the same race.

It was Dolan’s second podium finish in less than a week. She was second in the 5K freestyle at the 2008 Junior Olympics at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Alaska, last Wednesday.

BSF’s finishing up a banner week in which four skiers filled six of the spots on two second-place-finishing Intermountain sprint relays teams in Alaska on Saturday.

Other BSF results Tuesday included Stephanie Howe (17:23.9) and Kristina Trygstad-Saari (18:01.8) finished 28th and 39th in the women’s open division at Whistler. Montana State skier Claire Rennie of Ottawa, Ontario, finished 31st (17:29.1).

Lander Karath and Ben Westesen finished 55th (36:18.3) and 56th (36:25.2) in the junior boys 10K classic.

Bozeman native and U.S. Ski Team member, Leif Zimmerman didn’t finish in the men’s open 10K.

Track & field

THROWS CLINIC SET: The Bozeman High School team will sponsor a throws clinic on Saturday from noon-2 p.m. in the high school gymnasium.

The clinic is free and open to the public.

Two Montana State assistant coaches will conduct the clinc. Mike Carrigan will speak on the shot put and discus. Jorah Griffith will present the javelin.

Men’s basketball

THREE PLAYERS TO LEAVE GRIZ: At Missoula, University of Montana coach Wayne Tinkle announced that three players will not return to the team next season.

Redshirt freshman Zach Graves, sophomore Cameron Rundles, and sophomore Dave Vanderjagt have all asked to be released from their scholarships after the spring semester.

Graves, a 6-2 guard from Sacramento, Calif., played in 10 games this season and scored 15 points. He redshirted in 2006-07.

A 6-1 guard from Minneapolis, Minn., Rundles played in 30 games and started in 13, and was UM's fifth-leading scorer, averaging 6.6 points a game. Rundles played in 62 career games and was the Big Sky Conference’s freshman of the year two seasons ago.

Vanderjagt is a 7-foot center from Townsville, Australia, who played in 13 games this season and 17 career contests.

Montana, which tied for third in the Big Sky this season with an 8-8 league record (14-16 overall), will lose two seniors to graduation: forward Andrew Strait and guard Matt Martin, who both were three-year starters and four-year letter winners.

Tennis

GRIZ PLAYER HONORED: At Ogden, Utah, Montana’s Danni Paulson has been named the Big Sky women’s player of the week.

Paulson, a native of Kalispell, went 2-1 in singles and doubles play last week as Montana played three matches in Oregon. The road trip included a 4-3 win over conference opponent Portland State.

The sophomore began the week with a 7-5, 7-6 (4) victory over Portland’s Anna Gullickson at the No. 5 singles. She also teammed up with Martyna Nowak at No. 3 doubles for an 8-4 win over Gullickson and Audree Jenks.

Against the Vikings, Paulson and Nowak pulled out a 9-8 (12-0) doubles win over Stephanie Fuchs and Anya Dalking at the No. 3. She then dispatched Alyssa Ferry 7-5, 6-0 in singles play.

Paulson’s only loss of the week came at the hands of Idaho’s Yvette Ly at the No. 3 singles spot.

SAC PLAYER HONORED: At Ogden, Utah, Sacramento State’s Anton Stryhas has been named the Big Sky men’s player of the week.

Stryhas, a native of Minsk, Belarus, went undefeated at the No. 1 singles and doubles as the Hornets picked up two conference wins last week. Sacramento State defeated Northern Arizona 6-1 on Saturday and shut out Northern Colorado on Sunday.

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