2025’s wild ride for Tri-Cities and WA sports. The highs and those we lost

Before everyone starts diving too deep into the new year, let’s look back on what a sports year the Mid-Columbia enjoyed in 2025.

From outstanding play by the Mariners and Seahawks, to hydroplane races, to excellent runs by the local high school kids, there was plenty of excitement all year.

Here’s a look, in no particular order, of the biggest sports stories in the region:

Racing on the water

The Tri-Cities Water Follies earned the right to host the APBA Gold Cup in July.

Dave Villwock, already the winningest driver in H1 Unlimited history, earned his 68th career victory on race day Sunday on the Columbia River.

The 71-year-old Villwock didn’t have the fastest boat of the field. But the veteran has always known how to hit the starting line on time.

Villwock, driving the U-27 Miss Apollo, watched as half the field hit the starting line too early — forcing the drivers to be penalized.

That wasn’t immediately clear at the time. But Villwock sensed something was amiss. He made sure he was ahead of the other drivers who hadn’t jumped the gun.

After some confusing minutes following the finish, Villwock was indeed declared the winner. It was his 11th career Gold Cup victory.

Just as important, team owner Bruce Ratchford, in his first season as a team owner, got his first Gold Cup win.

Ratchford, a Kennewick native who founded the Apollo company, dived into boat racing full steam ahead last offseason, buying three boats and racing two of them. His other boat — the U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate, driven by Andrew Tate — won the national high points championship.

In the fall, Villwock announced his retirement from racing. This spring, he will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Tri-City Dust Devils

The region’s professional baseball team provided another season of entertainment, finishing the season with an overall record of 61-70.

That was good enough for the Los Angeles Angels farm club, managed by former Major League catcher Dann Billardello, to place third overall in the six-team Northwest League.

It was the first season under the ownership of Diamond Baseball Holdings, a group that now owns at least 40 minor league baseball teams. It bought the team in December 2024.

Pitcher Ryan Johnson was named to the Northwest League all-star team.

Outfielder Randy De Jesus led the Dust Devils with 18 homers, while infielder Adrian Placencia had a team-high 61 RBIs, and infielder Capri Ortiz stole 27 bases.

Pitcher Ryan Costeiu had a team-best 7 victories, while Chris Cortez had 114 strikeouts.

Tragedy hit the team when on the final weekend of the season, outfielder Rio Foster was seriously hurt in an auto accident. He is still on the road to recovery in his home state of Georgia.

Those who have left us

Former high school basketball coach Mike Conner passed away in Kennewick in February.

Conner had coached a number of sports for 40 years — but he was known mostly as a basketball tactician.

He developed a number of players at Kennewick High, and at Tri-Cities Prep near the end of his career.

In late August, the hydroplane community lost Chris Denslow to a short illness.

Denslow was a photographer, and he captured the beauty and color of the sport. If Denslow was at a boat racing event, you knew it was important.

In the fall, the community lost two hall of fame coaches in Glenn Meinke and Don Monson.

Meinke was a baseball coach at Hanford High School, and he had been at one time the Falcons’ head football coach. He was inducted into the Washington State High School Baseball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 1995.

Former Pasco boys basketball coach, Monson developed the Bulldogs into a state powerhouse before leaving for major college basketball.

Prep basketball highs

It took Todd Schumacher and his Columbia-Burbank boys four years to get there, but the Coyotes finally reached the top in March when they won the 2B state basketball championship, beating Freeman 47-45 in the title game in Spokane.

Led by a trio of seniors named Quincy Scott, Tristan Frimodt and Caden Ross, this group had finished each season at state better than the last: sixth in 2022, third in 2023, second in 2024 and finally first in 2025.

The town of Burbank held a victory parade for the team.

Elsewhere, Prosser’s boys finished second in the 2A state tourney in Yakima, while the Richland boys and Chiawana girls earned fourth-place finishes in their respective 4A tournaments in the Tacoma Dome.

Racing on land

The year started out when the owner of Hermiston Raceway told Greg Walden that he was selling the land to someone else, effectively ending any auto racing on the track.

That left the Walden family more time to fine-tune and run Tri-City Raceway in West Richland.

Fans came out in droves to watch the races, which included an ARCA West event, and the annual Apple Cup and the Fall Classic.

The Waldens have another packed schedule for 2026.

On Dec. 18, former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family died in a plane crash in North Carolina.

The loss hit the local racing community hard. Before he began racing at the top level of stock car racing, Biffle was cutting his racing chops at Tri-City Raceway, winning Late Model division championships in the mid-1990s.

The Vancouver, Wash., resident would race on Friday nights at Portland Speedway, win there, then pack up the car and equipment and drive to West Richland. On Saturdays, Biffle would dominate the top class at West Richland too.

Americans on ice

The Tri-City Americans finished the 2024-25 season by making the Western Hockey League playoffs, after finishing with 71 points and placing seventh in the Western Conference.

The Ams lost 4 games to 1 to the Victoria Royals in the first round of the playoffs.

After the season, Stu Barnes decided it was time to move on, so the minority owner resigned.

His long-time assistant, Jody Hull, took over as head coach.

In June, 18-year-old defenseman Jackson Smith was selected in the first round (14th overall) by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL Draft.

Before the new season was set to begin, Smith elected to play for Penn State University, citing what he felt was a quicker avenue to the NHL.

Yet despite that, the Americans under Hull have put together a strong cohesive team. They are currently, as of Jan. 15, sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference with a 21-15 record.

Football champs

Three area teams went into Husky Stadium in Seattle on the first weekend of December, and they all walked away with state football championships.

Wiley Allred’s Royal Knights continued their dominance in Class 1A, but it wasn’t easy. They beat league rival Cashmere 21-20. The Bulldogs, who scored late in the game, elected to go for 2 points on the extra point attempt.

The pass fell incomplete.

It was Royal’s sixth consecutive state 1A title.

Meanwhile, in the 2B title game, Kyle Cairn’s Tri-Cities Prep Jaguars fell behind quickly 14-0 to No. 1 seed Toledo.

But the Jags rallied hard in the second half and controlled the game in a 47-34 victory.

And in the 8-man 1B title game, Southeast 1B Grape Division rivals DeSales of Walla Walla met Richland’s Liberty Christian School.

LC’s Patriots jumped out to an early lead, but the Irish — who had beaten the Pats in their regular-season meeting — took control to win 26-14.

It was the second consecutive season Craig Lukins’ Patriots had finished second at state.

Danny Dickinson’s story

What a year for Kennewick High grad Danny Dickinson, whose story has been documented in the Herald.

Dickinson received no interest his senior year from any of the Northwest schools. He had an offer to play at NAIA Ottawa of Arizona. But after he helped lead the Lions to the state finals, Dickinson received interest from then-head coach Eddie Smith of Utah Valley.

Dickinson walked on, made the team and started for two seasons at second base. He made two All-America teams.

But in the summer of 2024, Dickinson entered the NCAA transfer portal, and he came out on the other side with a scholarship at Division 1 powerhouse LSU.

Dickinson started almost every game at second base, helping lead the Tigers to the NCAA championship in Omaha in June.

A month later, Dickinson was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. He signed with them.

It was a lesson on what hard work can do for you.

Seattle pro sports

It’s hard to believe there has been a better year for pro sports in Seattle.

Sure, the Seahawks have been to the Super Bowl three different times, winning once.

But the Mariners took everyone on a wild ride, making it to the ALCS against Toronto. They lost 4 games to 3, but the M’s were must-see entertainment. Area fans either travelled to the games, watched them at home, or went to local establishments to enjoy with friends.

Wait, we’re not done. The Seahawks, under second-year head coach Mike MacDonald, went 14-3 and earned the top seed in the National Football Conference.

The Seahawks too, have become must-see entertainment.

The Brothers Moore

There is an incredible amount of football knowledge in Tom Moore’s family.

The former long-time Prosser High School football coach was at Prosser for 23 seasons, winning four state titles and going 234-38.

But his sons, Kellen and Kirby, have reached higher levels.

Kellen Moore has been an offensive coordinator for a number of NFL teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, who won the Super Bowl in February.

Not long after, the New Orleans Saints hired Kellen to become their head coach. It was going to be a tough season, with young inexperienced talent and older players trying to stay in the game.

The Saints lost 8 of their first 9 games. But the team bounced back at the end of the season, winning 4 of its last 5 to finish 6-11.

Meanwhile, younger brother Kirby Moore has been an offensive coordinator for the University of Missouri for the last three seasons.

But when WSU needed a coach in December, Kirby answered the call and became the Cougars’ next head coach.

He’s been off to a great start, bringing in a number of transfers, and convincing current WSU players to take themselves out of the transfer portal and sign on with the Cougs.

-Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-Cities Herald.

This story was originally published January 19, 2026 at 11:13 AM.