Wednesday, May. 13, 2009

Richland's gain is Southridge's loss

The phone call came into the Herald sports department about 9 p.m.

It was Richland athletic director Mike Edwards, announcing the school's hirings for its girls soccer and girls basketball coaching positions.

Now, I don't know much about Sara Elfering, the Bombers' choice to replace Chris Smith as girls soccer coach.

But the choice for girls basketball coach definitely caught my attention.

Kristen Davis was leaving Southridge and moving across the Yakima River to take over at Richland.

To be honest, it wasn't a complete shock when I heard the news, for several reasons.

First, Davis had been eyeing the Richland job since she first returned to the Tri-Cities after graduating from Central Washington University. She was an assistant with the Bombers under Cindy McCoy for a couple seasons, and if McCoy had left Richland in 2004 rather than 2007, I think Davis would have been a top candidate for the job.

But Davis was itching to take over a program of her own, and McCoy wasn't showing any signs of leaving. So when the Southridge job came open, and with Davis an elementary school teacher in the Kennewick School District, Davis took over the Suns.

Her first two years at Southridge weren't pretty -- 2-18 and 1-19 seasons -- but she got the program back on track in her third season, upsetting West Valley (which placed third at 3A state that year) and qualifying for districts for the first time in seven years.

The Suns made it back to districts in 2008 and 2009, losing in the first round this year to (ironically enough) Richland before getting bounced out of the postseason for the second year in a row by Kamiakin.

Second, I think Davis had taken the Southridge program about as far as it could go. The Suns have been plagued with low turnout for basketball for some time, struggling for several years to field even three teams. That won't be a problem at Richland, which usually has enough players for at least four teams, and sometimes five.

For girls basketball players in the KSD, Southridge was No. 3 on the totem pole. Kamiakin, with its long tradition -- fueled in part by Davis' play in the mid-1990s -- and Kennewick, thanks to its 2000 state title, draw the majority of girls basketball talent in the district.

Southridge certainly has some good players in the fold for whomever takes over for Davis. Seniors Heather Worley and Jamie Lyons will be a potent 1-2 scoring duo.

But Richland has the potential to be really good over the next couple of seasons. The Bombers graduate only one player -- post Jacqie MacDonald -- off their 12-deep roster and have a real solid nucleus with Tori Stevens, Gina Ojeda, Chelsey Bettinson, Jalyn Von Oelhoffen, Melanie Valdez, Katie Mahoney ... and I know I'm leaving some good players off. They're poised, along with Walla Walla (another team loaded with young talent), to replace Moses Lake and Pasco as the CBBN's power teams next season.

Congratulations to the players who made the All-CBBN boys soccer team selected this week.

I'd list them all by name, but there's too many of them to list. And that's the problem.

The CBBN coaches followed in the grand tradition the CBL football coaches set a couple years ago and turned the all-league team into what the late, great Mike Warchol joked was the "No Child Left Behind" team.

Six defenders. Six midfielders. Seven forwards -- and that's the position that usually has the fewest players on the field.

As I've said before, putting so many players on the first team just cheapens the honor of making it.

The football coaches figured it out and have toned down the award-giving the past couple of years. The fútbol coaches? We'll see if they follow suit.

Til next time ...