While some high school sports have wrapped up the winter season all across Washington, others are headed into prime time.
Last weekend brought a close to wrestling and swimming, but this weekend offers a state gymnastics meet and regional basketball action that will send winning squads to four-day state tournaments.
Teams and individual athletes from the Plateau were busy with last weekend’s state competition and will be involved in all the continuing action.
Here’s the rundown for Enumclaw and White River high schools.
STATE WRESTLING: WHITE RIVER GIRLS
The top-rated of the local grappling squads, the Hornets headed to Mat Classic XXXIII as one of the favorites to climb the leaderboard. The crew eventually delivered second-place honors to Buckley, trailing only Toppenish after two days of action in the Tacoma Dome.
In girls’ wrestling, competitors from schools of all sizes are brought together for a single tournament (the state’s boys are divided by classification, based on school size).
Leading the way for the White River girls was Shelby Moore, who captured the state championship at 130 pounds. After receiving a first-round bye, Moore pinned four state opponents to take the title.
Teammates Anna DiCugno, 120 pounds, and Nicole Poussier, 135, dropped their finale but walked away with second-place honors.
Other top placements in state include Jalia Williams, who placed third place at 170 pounds; Allaina Cox, fourth at 235; Maria Hawthorne, fifth at 145; and Lilyana Lamothe, seventh at 110.
Also earning a state berth, but finishing out of the final placings, were Adriah Blue, 105 pounds, and Kirya Reither, 145.
WRHS Hornet Logan Lisherness takes down Luis Amadon from Burlington-Edison, also for a state title. Photo by Kevin Hanson
STATE WRESTING: WHITE RIVER BOYS
The Buckley squad took a dozen wrestlers to the Tacoma Dome for the Class 2A championships and left Mat Classic with a seventh-place finish.
The top Hornet was Logan Lisherness, who left the Dome as the 285-pound champion. He opened the tourney with two pins, scored a 7-0 decision in the semifinals closed things out with another pin to take the title.
Also among White River’s tourney placers were Caleb Dale, fourth place at 145 pounds; Riley Simmons, sixth at 220; and Brendan McBride, seventh at 120.
Other Hornets qualifying for the state tourney and competing in the Dome were Hunter Oswald, 113 pounds; Caleb Evanger, 120; Cooper Reeves, 132; Cole Cashman, 152; Julian Sandoval, 170; Christopher Bowen and Chase Campbell, both at 182; and Thomas Stanhope, 195.
STATE WRESTLING: ENUMCLAW BOYS
Five EHS wrestlers fared well enough to land in 11th place in the final Class 2A standings.
Individually, most of Enumclaw’s points came from the duo of Cade Carter, 132 pounds, and Westin Triplett, 160. Each won three straight matches to reach Saturday’s championship round, where they dropped tough decisions and left the match with second-place honors.
Also factoring in the scoring was Zeke Luchi, who finished fourth at 285 pounds.
Other EHS grapplers competing at Mat Classic were Dylan McMahan, 113 pounds, and Tyler Ramirez, 132.
EHS’ Tanner Harms placed sixth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.73 seconds. Photo by Ray Miller-Still
BOYS SWIM & DIVE: ENUMCLAW
Tanner Harms placed sixth in the 100-yard butterfly, registering Enumclaw High’s top performance during the Class 2A state competition. He had also qualified for state in the 100-yard breaststroke and competed in the prelimaries, but did not advance.
Competing in Friday’s diving preliminaries, but not advancing to the finals, was Samuel Beal.
Making it to the 2A state meet and swimming in Friday’s prelims, but not advancing to the finals, was the EHS 200-yard freestyle relay team of Connor Strong, David Prince, Dean Paulson and Joshua Hughes-Kuruganti.
At the conclusion of the three-day state meet, staged at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, the Enumclaw High crew finished 27th in the team standings.
BOYS SWIM & DIVE: WHITE RIVER
The top effort among the White River squad was turned in by Mason Arnold, who placed 10th in the 500-yard freestyle. He added a 13-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley.
Also making the finals was Evan Slish who placed 11th the 50-yard freestyle and 12th in the 100-yard freestyle.
Swimming in Friday’s preliminaries, but not qualifying for the next day’s finals, was the 200-yard medley relay crew of Arnold, Jordan Simon, Slish and Cole Holmes. Competing in the prelims was the 400-yard freestyle quartet of Arnold, Anthony Martin, Simon and Slish.
At the end of the three-day state meet, again hosted by the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, the White River team finished 27th in the final standings.
White River’s boys opened district basketball action with a victory over Bremerton High on Feb. 16. Here, the Hornets’ Carson Voellger sends a pass to teammate Rylan Donovan (11) during the home-court, 74-62 win. The Hornets picked up another district victory on Feb. 18 before falling to North Kitsap in the tournament finale. The White River squad will play a regional game this weekend then head to the state Class 2A tournament in the Yakima Valley SunDome.
REGIONAL BASKETBALL
The regional round of the Class 2A basketball tournament features the state’s top 16 teams, making it the opening step in the statewide hoop festivities.
The dates and times of this weekend’s regional games had not been announced by press time. Details can be found by visiting the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association website (www.wiaa.com) and clicking “tournaments” on the drop-down menu, then “state championship dates.”
All in the Sweet 16 aspire to advance to the formal, four-day tournament which will be staged March 2-5 at the Yakima Valley SunDome. In advance of this weekend’s regional games, the only Plateau squad guaranteed of a Yakima berth in the boys’ team from White River.
Here’s how things are sitting for the teams from White River and Enumclaw high schools.
White River boys: By securing the No. 6 seed into the regional round, the Hornet boys will be SunDome bound, win or lose. Their regional game, against R.A. Long, the No. 3 seed, is important, though.
That regional game is slated for 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, at Mark Morris High School.
The winner of that game plays March 3 in Yakima and is guaranteed at least two days of SunDome contests. The loser of the regional game plays March 2 in Yakima in a loser-out contest.
White River girls: As the No. 10-seeded team into the regional round, the Hornet girls will open with a loser-out game against Sammamish. The contest is set to begin at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25, at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
The winner will head to Yakima for a March 2 contest; that 10:30 a.m. game also is a loser-out affair. The winner, however, will play at least two more days in the SunDome.
Enumclaw boys: The Enumclaw High boys received the No. 13 berth into the regional round, where they will take on No. 12 Grandview. Game time is noon on Saturday, Feb. 26, at Yakima’s Davis High School.
The loser will be done for the season while the winner returns to Yakima for a 7:15 p.m. game March 2 in the SunDome, another loser-out affair. The March 2 winner will be assured of at least two more days in Yakima.
Enumclaw girls: The Enumclaw girls were seeded No. 14 into the regional round and will take on the No. 11 Prosser Mustangs in a loser-out game. The contest is set for 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25, at Richland High School.
The winner heads to Yakima for a 9 a.m. contest on March 2. It’s another loser-out game, but the winner will play at least two more days in the SunDome.
ENUMCLAW GYMNASTICS
High school gymnasts from schools of all classifications will descend upon Sammamish High for the Feb. 25-26 state meet.
The pair representing Enumclaw High School – Brooke Faul and Julia Carter – will compete on Day 1, where those from the 1A/2A/3A classifications will be highlighted. Saturday’s events will be for the Class 4A athletes.
At Sammamish, Carter will compete in three events – the vault, bars and floor exercise – while Faul competes in the vault and bars.
