Monday, Sep. 21, 2009

Winston clarifies his situation

I received an e-mail today from WAC Daddy, a blogger who helps run a site called Parsing The WAC.

The coordinator, Kevin McCarthy, said he had been hearing rumors that Wa-Hi senior Gary Winston was de-committing from the University of Idaho basketball program and re-opening his recruitment, and what did I know about it.

Well, this was the first I'd heard of it, so I called Gary on Monday to ask him about it.

"I've heard the same stuff, too, and it's not true," he said. "I don't know how it got started, but I am still going to Idaho."

Winston did change his mind on another decision, though -- he'll don his Blue Devils football gear for the first time Friday night when Wa-Hi plays Hanford in a CBBN Cascade game.

Winston first had second thoughts about his decision the night before Wa-Hi's season opener against Hermiston. He talked with the Wa-Hi coaches, who said they would support him if he wished to return, but he needed to talk to the Idaho coaching staff first.

Winston then attended the Hermiston game -- a 27-23 loss.

"Actually, I liked watching it at first," he said. "Watching them was kind of cool. But then right before the game, I saw all my friends, how they met up before the game to go out on the field, and I missed that."

Winston talked it over with his father, who also said he'd like to see Gary play. He then called Moscow, where the Vandals coaches said they were OK with him playing football.

"They said no worries about my scholarship, that I could go out," Gary said. "So I did it."

And now, after getting his 10 practices in and missing Wa-Hi's first two division games? "Oh yeah, I can't wait to play," he said.

At the other end of the spectrum, CBBN volleyball players might be complaining about playing too much in a short period of time.

Southridge, for example, is in a stretch of five matches in eight days, concluding Wednesday with a trip to Eastmont -- although it wouldn't surprise me if that got postponed, as the Wildcats had to move their Saturday match vs. Hanford and Tuesday's match vs. Kamiakin because of a flu bug that has decimated the team.

Cross country might have the shortest of the fall seasons -- its state meet is Nov. 7 at Sun Willows GC in Pasco -- but volleyball goes only a week longer, with its state tournaments Nov. 12-14 in Yakima and at Toyota Center.

The compressed schedule, along with the addition of Chiawana to the league, has some coaches grumbling about the added stress on the players.

"I don't use the word hate that much, but I do hate this crazy schedule with a passion," said Suns coach John Lengphounpraseut. "How can the WIAA allow this schedule to happen? We are competing every other day. It's very tough on the girls. For the last 12 days, we were competing six, including a tournament day, too. It's very tough on their bodies."

His solution -- "I could not see why not extend the volleyball (schedule) another week or two."

I don't think two weeks is feasible -- that would put the tournaments the same weekend as Thanksgiving. But a one-week extension would coincide with the state soccer Final Four weekend and football state quarterfinals.

The downside -- it also would keep the girls on teams that do qualify for state out of the first week of winter sports practice. Then again, the soccer players already are in that same boat, but my guess -- the WIAA's thinking is that having players from both sports out could mess with the start of basketball season.

Anyway, curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Til next time ...