10 top 2024 Tri-Cities sports stories: From Olympics to sale of major local teams
The sports world was full of highlights and changes in the Mid-Columbia, whether they involved high school athletes, college athletes, professionals or the international scene.
New owners stepped into the spotlight for some teams and venues. New events sprang up. Old events, making a return, were announced for the coming year.
Athletes representing this region competed with the world’s best in Paris.
And of course, our high school athletes showed the rest of the state of Washington that they could compete with the best.
So here’s a compilation of the best local sports stories for 2024:
1. The Olympics
Pasco High School graduate Marisa Howard and College Place grad Kenneth Rooks both qualified for the United States Olympic Track and Field team.
Both of them are 3,000 meters steeplechase runners and, by qualifying, that sent them to Paris on the international stage during the summer.
For Howard, it was her first time in three tries to make it, as she placed third in the U.S. Trials. While she failed to make the Olympic finals, it set a great base for her for future Olympics.
Rooks won the steeplechase in the U.S. trials, and he’s been on the international rise over the last two years, and is ranked No. 10 in the world at the end of 2024 in the men’s steeplechase.
In the Olympics, Rooks shocked the rest of the field and the pundits by placing second in the finals, earning the Silver medal.
Only Morocco’s Soufiane Elbakkali finished better than Rooks.
2. New events
In August, operators at Tri-City Raceway continued to bring prestige to the revived track by adding an ARCA Menards race event, drawing thousands of fans to the facility.
With the Apple Cup in the spring and the Fall Classic, it made for an impressive trio of events at what is called the fastest half-mile tri-oval track west of the Mississippi.
Then, in September, the first Ironman event was held in Richland, bringing national and international attention to the region.
Called Ironman 70.3 Washington Triathlon, the event brought in 3,000 competitors from 45 states and 20 countries.
Luke Tasker — from Vancouver, B.C., but representing Great Britain — was the top male finisher in 3 hours, 52 minutes and 53 seconds. Haley Mennes, from DuPont near Seattle, was the top female finisher in 4:32.40.
With two more years scheduled with the contract, there should be more competitors coming in 2025 and 2026.
3. New owners
This year saw a lot of ownership changes in local sports.
In July, local businessmen Craig Eerkes, Chris Eerkes and Scott Mitchell bought Canyon Lakes Golf Course from Mike Lundgren and Terry Graff. It was a multi-million dollar deal.
In November, the Tri-City Americans announced that Seattle-area businessman Jon Sortland had purchased a majority share of the team.
Another businessman, Darryl Henry, also bought in.
The four previous owners — former NHL (and Tri-City Americans) stars Olaf Kolzig and Stu Barnes, Bob Tory, and Dennis Loman — still retain a smaller share of team ownership.
And in December, Brett Sports decided to sell the Tri-City Dust Devils.
Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns 41 minor-league baseball teams, stepped in to buy the Dust Devils. The company took ownership this week. The Dust Devils are still a High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels for six more seasons.
4. The diamond
It was another tough season for the Dust Devils on the field in the Northwest League.
The team had a 53-78 overall record. But despite that record, the team set another season record in attendance, as 121,949 went through the turnstiles.
5. Hydros
The annual unlimited hydroplane races — the region’s biggest sporting event — was held in late July. The Apollo Columbia Cup final was won by Corey Peabody, who drove the U-9 Beacon Plumbing to victory.
It was Peabody’s third Columbia Cup win in the past four years.
It was also owners’ Darrell and Vanessa Strong’s third Columbia Cup win in the past four years. The two Tri-Citians ran two boats on the circuit.
Late in the year, H1 Unlimited announced that the Tri-Cities would host the APBA Gold Cup in 2025.
And just this past week Kennewick High grad Bruce Ratchford — who founded the Apollo company, sponsored both the Tri-Cities and Seattle races in 2024, and sponsored a boat — decided to purchase the two boats and their equipment from the Miss Madison team.
He plans to run both boats during the 2025 season.
6. Soccer
The Tri-Cities added two semipro men’s soccer teams this year.
The 3 Cities Football Club played in the United Premier Soccer League’s Washington Division, playing a spring and fall league.
Meanwhile, the Tri-Cities Badgers began play in the Evergreen Premier League in the spring and into the summer. The EPL consists of teams in the state of Washington.
Players from both teams are mostly college age or older, and good-sized crowds attended home games at either Richland’s Fran Rish Stadium or Kennewick’s Lampson Stadium.
But the biggest story was Chiawana graduate Summer Yates, who was an integral part of the Orlando Pride this year.
The second-year professional played forward for the Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League. Yates started most of the season, and she helped lead Orlando to the NWSL championship. The Pride defeated the Washington Spirit 1-0 in the title game.
7. The transfer portal
One thing college sports has shown fans is that the transfer portal allows athlete movement between schools.
Mid-Columbia athletes took advantage of the NCAA rules to better their situations.
Among those making moves were Chiawana grad Kobe Singleton, who moved from Liberty University in Virginia to Oregon State for football; Chiawana grad Kobe Young going from Boise State to Cal State Fullerton for men’s basketball; Kamiakin graduates Maddy Rendall (Idaho State to Oakland University) and Nikole Thomas (Memphis University to Missouri Kansas City) in women’s basketball; Southridge grad and outfielder Steven Meier moved from Old Dominion University to Troy University in Alabama; and former Southridge star pitcher Broden Palmer left University of Portland to Virginia Commenwealth.
But the three biggest moves involved Tyler Bilodeau, Danny Dickinson and Talia von Oelhoffen.
Bilodeau, a former Kamiakin star, starred at Oregon State University the last few years. But he moved over to UCLA to play for the Bruins men’s basketball team, where he starts.
Kennewick High grad Dickinson had been named a college baseball All-American at Utah Valley State University the past two years. But this past summer, Dickinson decided to transfer to powerhouse Louisiana State University, where he should be starting for the Tigers and should be drafted this coming summer by a major-league team.
Chiawana grad Von Oelhoffen graduated from Oregon State, and actually played 3 ½ seasons for the Beavers’ women’s basketball team. She transferred after graduating to USC, one of the nation’s top teams, for one last season.
8. The high schools
There were plenty of highlights this year in high school sports.
In March, seniors Josh Woodard, Luke Westerfield and Jack Forbes led the Richland High School boys basketball team to a second-place finish at the 4A boys state basketball tournament in the Tacoma Dome, falling 72-58 to Mount Si.
Grandview’s boys also placed second in the 2A state tournament, losing to Lynden 85-54 in Yakima.
And in Spokane, Columbia-Burbank’s great run ended with a second-place finish in the 2B boys state basketball tournament. Todd Schumacher’s Coyotes lost to Colfax 65-52 in the championship game.
In late May, top-seeded Richland held off Puyallup 4-3 at Gesa Stadium in Pasco to win the 4A state baseball title; while Tri-Cities Prep edged rival River View 2-1 to take the 2B state baseball championship in Ephrata. In the 1B state title game, also in Ephrata, DeSales of Walla Walla shut out Almira-Coulee-Hartline 6-0 to take home the championship trophy.
Also in May, Eric Hisaw’s Walla Walla girls took home the 3A team title in track and field; DeSales beat Richland’s Liberty Christian 9-3 for the 1B state softball title; and Royal pounded Seton Catholic 16-4 to win the 1A state softball title.
In October, Brian Thomas’ Chiawana Riverhawks defeated Mead 5-4 in the Class 4A state slowpitch softball championship game. It was the fourth consecutive year the Riverhawks won the state 4A title.
Royal defeated Seton Catholic 61-28 in December to win its eighth state 1A football title in the past nine events.
Chiawana made a great run in the 4A state football playoffs until losing 37-31 in the semifinals at Sumner (who went on to take the state title) in triple overtime; while Liberty Christian finished second at the 1B championships, losing 42-34 to Wilbur-Creston-Keller in Husky Stadium.
9. The ice
The Tri-City Americans missed the 2023-24 Western Hockey League playoffs in March, finishing with a 23-42-2-1 record for 49 points.
During the summer, Ams forward Max Curran was drafted by the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche in the fifth round of the NHL Draft.
The beginning of the 2024-25 WHL season was different, as the Ams had winning streaks of 12 — and then 5 — games.
But Stu Barnes’ team finished December in a bit of a tailspin and ended the calendar year in fifth place in the Western Conference. Still, that would mean Tri-City would make the playoffs.
10. Sports business
Sports means big business and the Tri-Cities was a great area to host events last year.
VisitTri-Cities staff expected September’s Ironman event would mean $6 million to $8 million in revenue to area businesses.
In high school sports, once again Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco was the host site for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s state high school cross country championships.
In the spring, Gesa Stadium in Pasco hosted the final four for both 3A and 4A baseball, while Richland’s Columbia Playfield was the venue for both the 4A and 1A state softball championships.
The Class 4A state tennis finals also were in the Tri-Cities, at both Kamiakin High School and the Pacific Clinic (formerly Tri-City Court Club).
Meanwhile, the Northwest Athletic Conference community college organization once again held the men’s and women’s basketball championships over consecutive weeks at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
It was the second consecutive year it was in Pasco, and will be held again this coming March.
In addition, the NWAC in October announced that CBC would host the basketball tournaments for another three years, as well as a three-year hosting event next fall for the NWAC volleyball tournament