State golf wraps up Wednesday; Tennis, track athletes prepare for state

The spring sports season is rapidly drawing to a close, with a handful of successful Plateau athletes still competing.

Enumclaw High and White River have representatives in the state tennis tournament, the state golf tourney and the state track and field meet.

The curtain closed last week on both the local baseball and fastpitch teams and others had put away their uniforms a week earlier.

Here’s a look at who still remains in action and who was eliminated last weekend.

DISTRICT TRACK AND FIELD

Track and field athletes from both Enumclaw and White River joined their district peers May 20-21 at North Mason High School in Belfair.

The event was the West Central District championships, where the top six finishers in each event advanced to his week’s state Class 2A finals. The state meet takes place May 26-28 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

In team scoring, the White River boys placed fourth among the 22 teams represented while the WRHS girls were 10th; on the Enumclaw side, the girls tied for seventh place and the boys were 11th.

Qualifying for the state meet were the following individuals, with their district placing:

Enumclaw boys: McCoy Brooks, fourth at 3200 meters and sixth at 1600 meters; Amos Hall, sixth in both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles; Sean Phillips, sixth in discus; and Joseph Cleveland, fourth in the long jump.

White River boys: Cole Riley, district champion at 800 meters and fourth in the 400 meters; 4×100 relay (Lyle Dolojon, Jayden Clausnitzer, Tyce Donovan, Payne Plaster), fourth place; Wyatt Skinner, second in triple jump and fifth in long jump; and Evan Slish, fifth at 800 meters. In addition, the White River boys were district champions in the 4×400 relay (Donovan, Michael Marlow, Slish, Riley).

Enumclaw girls: Ellie DeGroot, district champion in both the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles; Marissa Espinosa, sixth in the shot put; Ava Sawyer, fifth at 3200 meters; 4×400 relay (Rubie DiBella, Sophia DeMarco, Natalie DeMarco, DeGroot), third place; and Saiya Flaherty, third in the high jump.

White River girls: Kelsey Sanders, fourth at 400 meters; Vivian Kingston, fourth at 1600 meters; Ava Cash, second in pole vault; Emma Tomlinson, second at 3200 meters; and the 4×400 relay (Soleil Bianchi, Tomlinson, Kingston, Sanders), fifth place.

STATE GOLF TOURNAMENT

Fourteen golfers from the Plateau teed off yesterday in the first round of the Class 2A state tournament, which concludes with an additional 18 holes of play today (Wednesday).

Those who rose to the top and qualified for state play are finishing their seasons on Thurston County courses. The 2A boys are playing at Capitol City Golf Club and the girls are competing at Tumwater Valley.

Ten golfers had already guaranteed themselves a spot at state, based on their performances during the fall season. Others recently joined the select field, thanks to a May 17 qualifying tournament.

Here’s how things stood, leading up to this week’s state competition.

White River boys: Four Buckley boys – Zach Miller, Kaden Ausen, Lane Maras and A.J. Mills – had assured themselves of a state berth during the fall season. Teammate Arthur Mijares placed fifth during last week’s qualifier to earn a state berth.

Also playing in the qualifier was Alex Wakefield who placed 18th and did not advance.

White River girls: Brooke Gelinas, Brooke Mahler and Lexi Mahler had already earned a state berth; during the qualifier, they were joined by Alle Klemkow and Sophie Ross. Abby Rose wound up as the first alternate.

Enumclaw boys: Ben Laurnen and Jake Bort are in the state tournament, having earned a spot last fall. Teammates Jack Craighead and Tanner Nichols participated in last week’s qualifier but did not advance.

Enumclaw girls: Emma Nitsche was the lone member of the EHS girls’ team to earn a state berth last fall. During last week’s state qualifier, she was joined by Brookelyn Jewett.

Emily Alicea came close, but landed as the second alternate. Also representing EHS at the state girls’ qualifier was Raegan Chevalier, who placed 12th in the field.

ENUMCLAW GIRLS TENNIS

A trio of Hornet girls will be in Seattle this week for the Class 2A state tennis tournament.

The event is set for May 27-28 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.

Surviving through the SPSL 2A and district tournaments were Macy Furtwangler in singles play and the doubles team of Sydney Scribner and Jasmine Dumontet.

In the opening round of the tourney, Furtwangler is paired against Emma Lungwitz of Columbia River High School (Vancouver).

All players are guaranteed two matches on Friday. Two victories advances a contestant into the semifinals and two losses sends a player home (same for singles and doubles).

On the doubles side of the state tournament, the EHS tandem of Scribner and Dumontet open against Kira Carlson and Ella Morrow of Bellingham High.

ENUMCLAW HIGH BASEBALL

Having advanced into the Class 2A’s Sweet 16 and the regional round of the state baseball tournament, Enumclaw found some initial success.

Playing May 21 at Davis High in Yakima, the No. 11 Hornets started with a 2-0 shutout of No. 6 Lynden. EHS managed singles runs in the third and sixth innings and that proved to be enough. That was because pitcher Drake Anderson handcuffed the Lions, limiting Lynden to a measly two hits while walking just one batter and striking out six during his complete-game gem.

Landon Brauer and Dylan Watts scored Enumclaw’s runs.

The victory put the Hornets into the Elite Eight, where they were pairing against Ellensburg, the tourney’s No. 3 seed. Things didn’t go quite as well and the Hornets were eliminated after suffering a 10-3 defeat.

Watts drove in two of Enumclaw’s runs and Noah Seabrands knocked in the other.

WHITE RIVER BASEBALL

It was a tough draw, opening against the No. 1-seeded team in the field, but White River was up to the task.

Facing North Kitsap in the opening round of the Class 2A state baseball tournament, the No. 16 Hornets stunned the Vikings with a 5-1 victory and sent the tourney favorites packing.

Advancing to the Elite Eight and a second game on May 21, White River went up against W.F. West of Chehalis. In a squeaker, the Hornets fell 7-6 and were eliminated.

Both games, making up the regional round of the state tourney, were played at Foss High School in Tacoma.

WHITE RIVER FASTPITCH

It’s tough to win a ball game when scoring only two runs. That was the key storyline for the White River Hornets and their short stay at the District 2/3 tournament.

Contested May 20-21 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey, the White River girls were limited to a single day after falling into the dreaded “two and out” territory.

The Hornets had a tough opening-round draw, squaring off against the top-seeded Roughriders from Port Angeles. The No. 8 Hornets gave up seven runs over the first two innings and eventually fell 8-2.

Things only got worse for the Buckley bunch, who quickly took the field in a loser-out contest against the North Mason Bulldogs.

Giving up 10 runs over the final three innings of a shortened, six-inning affair, White River left the field on the losing end of a 15-2 score.

Ella Lidstrom provided the only highlight for the Hornets with two hits, including a home run, while driving in the team’s only runs and scoring once.

ENUMCLAW FASTPITCH

Enumclaw High’s back-to-back losses brought a quick exit from the District 2/3 fastpitch tournament.

The Hornets carried the No. 2 seed into the May 20-21 tourney, but that didn’t seem to matter. On a Friday afternoon at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey, Enumclaw first dropped a 3-2, nine-inning heartbreaker to Fife and later fell 8-2 to the Orting Cardinals.

The defeats brought a close to a campaign that saw EHS capture the South Puget Sound League 2A title.