After a long climb to the top, Kamiakin boys aren’t ready to step down just yet

The first of the WIAA high school state championships is upon us this Saturday with cross country at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Over 1,000 runners in five different classifications will traverse over 3 miles on the golf course, and you know someone will display the T-shirt with the slogan “Our sport is your sport’s punishment.”

Which is true.

Plenty of talented athletes will be looking for state titles or high finishes.

In fact, there are four returning state champions – Adna’s Austen Apperson (boys 1B/2B), Liberty Bell’s Novie McCabe (1B/2B girls), North Central’s Erinn Hill (3A girls), and Central Valley’s Ryan Kline (4A boys).

In addition, watch out for Lake Stevens’ Taylor Roe, who won state titles as a freshman and sophomore, but finished second in last year’s 4A girls race as a junior. She should be a heavy favorite.

Other runners to keep an eye on are Macenna Hansen of the Northwest School (girls 1A), and the 4A boys group of Daniel Maton of Camas, Jonas Price of Eisenhower, Richland’s Riley Moore and Hanford’s Caleb Olson.

Matt Rexus’ Kamiakin boys have been ranked as high as seventh in the nation by Dyestyat.com, and they come in as the defending 3A boys champions.

The Braves dominated last week’s regional meet in Walla Walla, and they’re led by senior Ryan Child.

Individually, Child will be pushed by Bainbridge’s Sebastian Belkin and Gig Harbor’s Bradley Peloquin.

Keep an eye out for the Kennewick siblings Johan Correa (3A boys) and Geraldin Correa (3A girls).

Both have been running real well this season.

The course has been changed a bit this year. The 1-, 2- and 3-mile marks are staggered not too far from the finish line.

It all begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday with the wheelchair race, then goes in the following order: 1B/2B girls at 10 a.m.; 1A girls at 10:30 a.m.; 2A girls at 11 a.m.; 1B/2B boys at 11:30 a.m.; 1A boys at noon; 3A girls at 12:30 p.m.; 4A girls at 1 p.m.; 2A boys at 1:30 p.m.; 3A boys at 2 p.m.; and 4A boys at 2:30 p.m.

Prep volleyball

Walla Walla’s Noelani Helm, a senior setter, was named the Mid-Columbia Conference’s Volleyball Player of the Year this week by the conference’s coaches.

The coaches also named their colleague, Chiawana’s Jim Steach, the coach of the year.

For a look at the All-MCC Volleyball Team, see the scoreboard.

The district tournament begins Nov. 1 at various sites: Game 1, Walla Walla at Gonzaga Prep; Game 2, Lewis & Clark at Chiawana; Game 3, University at Richland; Game 4, Hanford at Mead. All matches start at 6 p.m.

It’s a modified double-elimination tournament, with the top three teams advancing to state.

▪ Prossser beat Selah 3-0 on Tuesday night to advance to the CWAC district finals, set for 7 p.m., Thursday, at Ellensburg. The winner advances to the 2A state tournament, while the loser will host a glue crossover game on Saturday against the No. 2 Great Northern League team.

▪ Tri-Cities Prep beat Lake Roosevelt 3-0 on Oct. 25 to clinch a state 2B volleyball berth in the district tournament. Walla Walla Valley Academy has also qualified for state, which is Nov. 8-9 in the Yakima Valley SunDome. Before that, though, both Prep and WWVA play for seeds in district on Nov. 1 at Royal City.

Girls soccer

Congratulations to the Kamiakin girls soccer team, which beat Shadle Park 5-0 on Tuesday to win the district 3A tournament and clinch a state-tournament berth.

In other 3A games, Mt. Spokane ended Kennewick’s season 4-0, while Southridge stayed alive, eliminating North Central 1-0.

So Southridge visits Mt. Spokane at 3:30 p.m., Thursday in a loser-out game. The winner of that plays Shadle Park on Saturday in a battle for the second state 3A berth.

In the 4A district tournament on Tuesday, Chiawana lost 1-0 to Central Valley and heads to the loser’s bracket. The Riverhawks will visit Richland on Thursday in a loser-out game. The winner of that will play Mead or University for the third 4A state berth.

Gonzaga Prep plays Central Valley on Thursday for the district title. They’ve clinched the top two state berths.

Richland knocked out Hanford 4-1 on Tuesday, while Mead ousted Walla Walla 4-0.

Prep football

All Big Nine League football games have been moved up from Friday to Thursday just in case a mini-playoff is needed on Saturday in Moses Lake.

Eastmont has a 5-0 Big Nine record, while Sunnyside and Wenatchee are both 4-1.

On Thursday, Sunnyside hosts Moses Lake, and Eastmont visits Wenatchee.

▪ Some of the MCC teams who didn’t make the postseason will finish their seasons on Thursday night. University of Spokane visits Edgar Brown Stadium to play Pasco, set for 6 p.m. Thursday.

At Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane, Walla Walla takes on Ferris at 5 p.m., followed by Southridge against Rogers at 7:30.

Prep bowling

The first winter sport kicks off on Friday. Girls bowling begins with the MCC Invite at Go Bowl Lanes in Pasco. For the first time, all nine MCC schools are fielding bowling teams. Each MCC school will compete in 16 conference matches.

Americans

The Tri-City Americans continued their winning ways last Saturday, beating Spokane 5-3 on the road with a four-goal third period.

Sasha Mutala had a goal and assist in the period for the Ams, who sit in third place in the U.S. Division with a 9-4-0-0 record and 18 points.

Everett is in first with 20 points (10-5-0-0) and Spokane is second with 19 points (8-4-1-2).

The Ams are still in the middle of an 11-game road trip. They play at Everett on Friday, then take their Eastern swing with six games from Nov. 9-17.

Tri-City’s next home game is Nov. 23 – the day after Thanksgiving – against Kamloops.

Slowpitch softball

Chiawana senior infielder Sadie Search was named Mid-Columbia Conference Player of the Year, while Riverhawks coach Brian Thomas was named MCC Coach of the Year for the conference’s slowpitch all-star team.

Chiawana went 11-7 in the regular season, went 2-0 in the district tournament, then went 0-2 at last weekend’s unofficial state tournament in Richland.

Check the scoreboard for entire all-MCC team.

Mt. Spokane beat University 10-4 in the championship game Saturday. In the third-place game, Central Valley beat Moses Lake 4-2.

The WIAA is expected to make slowpitch softball an official sport next fall.

NWACs

The men’s and women’s NWAC soccer tournaments began Wednesday, including the Columbia Basin College men traveling to Chemeketa.

The Walla Walla men have a first-round bye and play Saturday. The Warriors are ranked fourth in the final coaches poll.

On the women’s side, Walla Walla opened the tournament at Lane on Wednesday.

Spokane, which is ranked fourth in the final women’s poll, has a first-round bye and doesn’t play until Saturday. Pasco High grad Megan Wilkinson has 9 goals and 2 assists for the Sasquatch this season, while Micky Ramirez (Kiona-Benton) has started 17 matches at keeper and has five shutouts.

Defender Jamie Fassler (Prosser) has started 13 matches for Spokane, while freshman forward Serenity Pool (Southridge) has seen limited action for the 12-3-4 Sasquatch.