Gesser to captain Washington St. for third season

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Jason Gesser (St. Louis '98) of Hawai'i Kai, is the first player in 108 years of Washington State football to be elected team captain three straight years.

"This is a real big honor. I would have never thought coming to Washington State that I would be named team captain as a sophomore and junior," Gesser said. "That was really unexpected."

Gesser, a fifth-year senior who will be promoted as a Heisman Trophy candidate, passed for 3,010 yards and 26 touchdowns last season, but some radio station announcers in eastern Washington haven't learned to pronounce his name yet. Last week one called him "Gee-sir."

VOLLEYBALL

• Lindenwood (Missouri)

Sophomore libero Devin Hori (Kohala '00) put up some good numbers — on the court and in the classroom — as Lindenwood reached the championship game of the Tachikara NAIA national championships.

Hori led the Mid-America conference in digs with 2.87 per game (353 digs in 123 games). He also was academic all-conference with a 3.5 grade point average.

"Devin improved a lot from last year (when he was a setter on the junior varsity)," coach Ron Young said. "He worked on passing, and did a lot of things to get himself into that (libero) position, and he shot up on the depth chart when practice started."

Lindenwood lost the national title to Williams Woods, also of Missouri, in five games (17-19 in the fifth) and finished with a 30-5 record.

Freshman David Woodward (Damien '01, of Kane'ohe) played outside hitter on the junior varsity.