State basketball playoffs running out of time

So far, Mother Nature has been winning.

But athletic directors, coaches and students are not yet giving in when it comes to snow and sports postponements. They are, however, running out of time.

There have been no high school basketball playoffs, for the most part, since last Wednesday when the entire state got hammered with heavy snowfall.

Since then school and all school activities have been canceled.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has told all state districts to try to have their district tournaments completed by this coming Monday — an extension from this Saturday.

In fairness, it takes the WIAA some time to set up the regional sites all around the state, and those are scheduled for Feb. 22-23.

So there is some time still to get the district basketball in. But the weather has to cooperate.

“Worst-case scenario, we could end up playing two games in one day,” said Richland athletic director Mike Edwards said.

That happened back in the ‘90s in the Toyota Center when teams were battling for a No. 3 seed.

So that’s not unique.

“The WIAA would have to give us a waiver to do that,” said Kamiakin Athletic Director Casey Gant. “And I’m sure they would.”

The Spokane Arena is supposed to be the final site of the 4A and 3A district tournaments, set for Friday and Saturday. That’s still on as long as the preliminary games can be played and completed.

“Otherwise, we may end up having to use what gym space we can find,” said Edwards.

Everyone remembers the harsh winter weather this area had in January 2017, when game after game was postponed.

But there was still time to schedule in the makeup dates and everything turned out OK.

In this case, it’s happened so late that it’s up against the postseason tournament schedule. Playing on Sunday could be a possibility.

The Centralia region tried to do that last weekend, but weather again postponed any travel.

Neither Edwards nor Gant seemed excited about playing on Sunday.

Edwards said that hasn’t been discussed among AD’s, and he cited schools would have to be paying workers double time, while Gant said the local school boards would have to get involved at that point.

Although it has been discussed on social media, a really worst-case scenario might be that the WIAA comes to each district and says determine your top regional teams based on the current Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).

“I think it would be the top two teams from our region,” said Gant. “There would be a discussion.”

No one wants that.

“Our saving grace is Monday is Presidents Day. There is no school that day,” said Gant.

“The 4A tournament could finish in three days’ time.The 3A could finish in four days’ time.”

It’s just been a trying time for local high school sports.

“It’s clear as mud right now,” said Gant. “It’s extremely frustrating.”

Edwards, like Gant, was hopeful.

“We need, from the old time days, a really warm wind that when we wake up the next morning we wonder what happened to all of the snow,” said Edwards. Then we have a different problem, of course, with flooding.

Some teams haven’t even played

The teams to really fell bad for are the Hermiston boys, Kamiakin girls and Mt. Spokane boys and girls.

None of those four have played a game since Feb. 1.

As top seeds in the District 8 Class 3A tournament, they had first-round byes before everything got rescheduled.

“They are going stir crazy,” said Kamiakin girls coach Lane Schumacher.

Remember, when school gets canceled, that means practice is also canceled.

“They are going to practice on their own at the Southridge complex, just so they can get in a gym,” said Schumacher. “I’m not allowed to be there, but I can’t keep them from going.”

That’s most likely what all playoff teams have been doing.

Wrestlers, swimmers and gymnasts also affected

Gant, Edwards and all other athletic directors are also busy trying to get their athletes in other sports ready for competition too.

Last weekend’s regional wrestling tournaments were canceled because of the snow.

The WIAA made a decision to move the regional wrestlers on through to the state meet, Mat Classic, which is scheduled to start Friday morning.

Only the Class 4A region 4 wrestlers, which includes this area’s Mid-Columbia Conference wrestlers, competed in Camas last Friday.

They wrestled two rounds to get their brackets from 16 wrestlers in each weight class down to eight in each.

So now, instead of having 16 wrestlers in each weight class for each of the six different state tournaments, it’s now 32 in each weight class

There will be wrestling from morning until night on the Tacoma Dome floor both Friday and Saturday, with consolation matches included.

The Mid-Columbia has 233 wrestlers scheduled to compete.

Asked if something happens to cause the postponement this weekend, Gant said the WIAA has said that Mat Classic will happen.

Those schools with boys who are swimming at state must find a way to get them safely to Federal Way for the state championships that begin Thursday.

And area gymnasts weren’t able to complete their district meet with the Greater Spokane League, which was canceled last weekend.

Instead, Kamiakin, Southridge and Mt. Spokane will advance to the state qualifying meet, based on their season scores, set for Feb. 16. The state meet is Feb. 22-23.

Revised basketball schedule

Assuming these games can be played, this is what the Class 3A District 8 basketball schedule looks like for Wednesday Feb. 13:

• In 3A boys play, Kennewick visits Hermiston at 7 p.m., while Shadle Park is visiting Mt. Spokane at 7 p.m.
  
  
• In 3A girls play, North Central is at Kamiakin, while Kennewick is visiting Mt. Spokane. Both games start at 5 p.m.
  
  
• Games would continue Thursday at various sites, then move into Spokane Arena on Friday and Saturday.
  
  

The scheduled Class 4A games for Wednesday, Feb. 13:

• The Richland boys hosting Ferris at 6 p.m., in one winner’s bracket semifinal, while University visits Gonzaga Prep in the other at 7 p.m.
  
  
• In loser-out games, Hanford hosts Central Valley at 6 p.m., while Walla Walla visits Chiawana at 7 p.m.
  
  
• In 4A girls play, Chiawana hosts Lewis & Clark at 5 p.m. in a semifinal, while University visits Central Valley in a 5 p.m. semifinal.
  
  
• In loser-out games, Gonzaga Prep visits Richland at 4 p.m., while Walla Walla is at Pasco at 5 p.m. Loser-out play would continue on Thursday, and then the remaining trophy games would be played Saturday in the Spokane Arena.