I was glad to see that WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese reinstated Bellarmine senior Nicole Cochran as state champion in the 4A girls 3,200 meters.
It wasn't quite for the technicality I thought he would use, but it still all worked out.
Colbrese made his decision after speaking to the judges involved in making the ruling and determining that they had misidentified which Bellarmine runner had, in fact, run on the inside lane line on lap 6 of the race.
It was because the judges did not immediately identify the offender, but instead waited until a lap later, when they mistook Cochran for teammate Kayla Evans and decided she was the culprit, that Colbrese overturned the DQ.
I wish I had my handy-dandy NFHS rulebook with me (OK, I really don't own one), but Colbrese said he relied upon rules 2-3, 3-2-7, 3-5 and 3-11 to make his decision. Anyone who has the appropriate citations, please pass them along.
The whole Cochran saga was a bizarre finish to an otherwise exciting Star Track meet that makes my list of the top 10 prep sports events I had the privilege of covering this season.
However, my No. 1 event (and it's a close call) would have to be the Pasco-Moses Lake girls basketball regional game at Toyota Center.
It was a back-and-forth game all through regulation and overtime until Kelsey Ramsey hit the game-winning 12-footer at the buzzer to send Pasco to state. Of course, it was a bittersweet ending as Ramsey suffered a torn ACL in her right knee celebrating the victory.
No. 2 would have to be another basketball game: Kennedy vs. Hanford in the 3A girls state semifinals. The Falcons were thought to be outmatched by the Lancers coming into the game (yours truly being one of the detractors), but Hanford played a fantastic game and came within a minute of pulling one of the biggest upsets of the season, only to have Kennedy pull out the victory.
Hanford bounced back to win the third-place trophy the next day, beating CBL rival West Valley.
The Falcons also figure in my No. 3 game -- any one of their first three volleyball matches with Kamiakin. Whether it was either of the regular-season matches or the district final, all were outstanding, edge-of-your-seat affairs that showcased volleyball at its best.
I can't include Hanford's state championship win among my top 10, because I took the 4A state tournament that weekend. However, that tourney produced my No. 4 contest -- Mead vs. Rogers (Puyallup) in the semifinals.
The Panthers' hopes of a fifth straight state title dangled by a thread after Rogers won the first two games of the match. But Mead clawed its way back into the match, erasing two-point deficits in Games 4 and 5 led by sophomore Alexis Olgard, who will be among the state's all-time greats once her career is done.
No. 5 on my list might just be the only blowout here -- Prosser's dominating win over Burlington-Edison in the 2A state football final. I was just so impressed with how methodical the Mustangs were in dismantling a Burlington-Edison team that had knocked off Othello the week before in the semifinals.
No. 6 is Star Track XXVI, which didn't produce many records but did have a lot of close finishes -- including a 16-vault duel between Richland's Jessica Christian and Walla Walla's Shanie Bushman to decide the 4A pole vault title, and a pair of 200-foot javelin throwers duking it out in the 4A boys competition. Great stuff.
For No. 7, we head back to the hardwood for another Kamiakin-Hanford showdown -- this time, their 3A Eastern Regional semifinal basketball game. It didn't go to overtime, but it did feature some last-second heroics by Braves junior Marcy Hjellum, who hit a short jumper with 9 seconds left, then stole the ball on the final play to seal their 41-39 victory, completing their comeback from a 3-9 start to the season to qualify for state.
No. 8 takes us back to the gridiron for the Week 3 matchup between Kennewick and Southridge. The Lions hadn't beaten their crosstown rivals in seven years, but with Robbie Mitchell and Danny Engel leading the way, they ended that frustration with a 24-14 victory at Lampson Stadium.
No. 9 is another basketball game -- Othello at Prosser in the girls ranks. At the time, I told myself that I had to remember this game for my top-10 list, and here it is. Two teams that ended up trophying at state -- Prosser third, Othello seventh -- with a bevy of talent lining up for both teams. Watch out for Allison Walker -- the Othello senior-to-be will sign with some Division I school next year, although for basketball or volleyball is yet to be seen.
The final spot on my countdown goes to the only soccer match I watched this year -- the regular-season finale between Pasco and Richland's girls at Edgar Brown Stadium on Oct. 18. It went double-overtime, with the Bulldogs scoring the winning goal with literally seconds on the clock (I asked the referee afterward how close he was to blowing the whistle to signal the end of the period, and he indicated that probably was the final play of the game) to earn only their second win over Richland ever. Good stuff.
And there were other games that I considered: Southridge vs. Bellevue in the 3A state football playoffs; Kamiakin vs. Kennewick in CBL 3A football; the Kamiakin-Kennewick 3A regional baseball final; the Pasco Invite track meet; and a pair of 1A state boys basketball quarterfinal games -- River View vs. Brewster and Connell vs. Bellevue Christian, which still had the most clutch game-winning shot I can recall by BC's Brian Baranowski.
I hope to hear from some of you about your favorite games and moments from the 2007-08 high school sports season.
Til next time ...