NW briefs: MVP-packed field for volleyball series

Five all-state Most Valuable Players will take part in the 20th annual Washington State Volleyball Coaches Association All-State series starting tonight at Fife High School.

Sixty graduating seniors will participate tonight in Fife, tomorrow at Selah and Saturday at Mead of Spokane.

Class 4A MVP Rachael Schurman of Mead is among those scheduled to play. Bishop Blanchet's Stephanie Augustavo, the 3A MVP, was a late scratch after suffering an ankle injury playing for Seattle Puma in last week's Junior Olympic championships.

East vs. West matches begin today with 1A/B teams at 4 p.m., followed by 3A teams at 6 and a 2A/4A match at 8. Tomorrow's matches in Selah are at 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Saturday's matches at Mead are scheduled for 3, 5 and 7 p.m.

Gonzaga matchup set for Maui

MAUI, Hawaii — Gonzaga will face Maryland in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational men's basketball tournament, beginning Nov. 21.

Michigan State and host Chaminade University tip off the tourney at 11:30 a.m. Pacific, followed by Gonzaga-Maryland at 2 p.m. Games will be televised on ESPN2. The winners will meet at 4 p.m. on Nov. 22, with the two losers playing at 10:30 a.m.

The lower half of the bracket has Arizona facing Kansas, and Arkansas against Connecticut.

Cyclist dies in Portland race

PORTLAND — A cyclist died when he crashed headfirst near the finish line during a road race at Portland International Raceway.

Charles Christensen, 29, of Milwaukie, Ore., was 300 yards from finishing the 40-mile race when he lost control of his bike Tuesday night, said Lt. Allen Oswalt, a spokesman for Portland Fire and Rescue.

The cyclist slammed headfirst into a steel post filled with concrete. Oswalt said the cyclist, who was wearing a helmet, suffered "huge head trauma" and died at the scene.

Race organizer Jeff Mitchem said Christensen, who had several years of racing experience, was in a pack sprinting toward the finish line when he tried to pass on a straightaway and veered off course.

Portland International Raceway is designed for auto racing, and the cyclist hit a support for a fence that keeps cars from the crowd, Mitchem said.

Golf

Stroke-play medalist Ryan Carter, from Hacienda Heights, Calif., beat Jacop Koppenberg of Everett 2-up in the first round of match play at the Pacific Northwest Amateur Championship at Oakbrook Golf & Country Club in Lakewood.

Round-of-32 matches begin at 7:30 a.m. today. Winners will advance to the afternoon round of 16, starting at 12:30 p.m.

• UW's Paige Mackenzie and Amy Wang both advanced through the first round of match play at the Pacific Northwest Golf Association's Women's Amateur Championship at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club in Federal Way. Mackenzie defeated Shannon Ogg 5 and 3, and Wang downed Charise Spada 4 and 2.

Match play continues today, with quarterfinals in the morning and the semifinals in the afternoon.

Other golf

• UW's Erik Olson lost in his first-round match of the Fuji Xerox USA vs. Japan collegiate championship, but the U.S. team still is all square with Japan at 6-6 after the first day of play. Olson will face Jyunpei Takayama during the second round of competition in Palo Alto, Calif.

• Kyle Stanley of Gig Harbor will compete in the Canon Cup, Aug. 8-11, at the Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Alpharetta, Ga.

Notes

• Phil Mahre, former Olympic skier and Yakima native, and Lenny Wilkens, former Sonics player and coach, will be among the honorees at the annual Great Sports Legend Dinner, presented by The Buoniconti Fund, on Sept. 27 in New York City. The dinner recognizes athletes for their contributions to sports and achievements as positive role models.

• Three University of Washington rowers and two Huskies coaches will represent the United States at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships, July 22-24 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands: women's coach Eleanor McElvaine (women's four coach); men's freshman coach Michael Callahan (men's quadruple sculls coach); Scott Gault (men's four); Kyle Larson (men's four); and Megan Kalmoe (women's four). UW's Kara Farquharson will complete in the women's doubles for Canada.

• Sarah Hirst-Smith (lightweight women's quadruple sculls), Anne Browning (women's pair) and Sam Twardowski (lightweight women's single sculls) of Pocock Rowing Center will make their final push toward earning spots on the U.S. national team at the U.S. World Championships Trials, a five-day regatta beginning this morning on Lake Mercer near Princeton, N.J.

Two Pocock rowers, Julie Nichols (lightweight women's double sculls) and Lia Pernell (women's double sculls), have already qualified for the U.S. squad that will compete at the 2005 FISA World Championships, Aug. 28 to Sept. 4 in Gifu, Japan.

• Bryce Waller, a 2005 graduate of Oak Harbor High School, has accepted an appointment to the United Air Force Academy Prep School to play football.

Compiled from college sports-information reports and other sources. Times correspondent Matt Massey also contributed to this report.