20 Tri-Cities area swimmers and divers compete for state championship titles

Mid-Columbia swimmers and divers are competing this weekend in the WIAA state high school girls championships in Federal Way.

The area will be well-represented with 20 athletes competing in individual events and another 11 relay teams trying to earn state championships.

Leading the way will be Hanford junior Regan Geldmacher.

She won district titles in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle last weekend in Kelso.

In fact, Geldmacher’s times — 1:54.44 in the 200 free, and 5:00.81 in the 500 free — are the fastest among any of the Class 4A competitors coming to Federal Way.

Last weekend, in the 4A district meet, Hanford placed first with 265 points, followed by Camas at 263, Union at 215 and Richland at 211.

It allowed the Falcons to bring home a third consecutive district title.

“Coming down to the last event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, there was only 8 points separating the leader, Hanford, and second-place Camas,” said Richland coach Wes Bratton. “In the end Camas may have won that relay, but Hanford was able to take home an overall victory with a score of Hanford 265 to Camas 263.”

Hanford teammate Carrie Moore also qualified for 4A state in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Moore placed third at district in both of her events.

And the Falcons will be bringing three relay teams to state: the 200 free relay, the 200 medley relays, and the 400 free relay.

Richland has qualified six individuals for the 4A state meet and two relay teams.

Leading the way will be Bryn McGinnis, who won the 100 butterfly at district, and finished second in the 500 freestyle.

McGinnis’ time in the 500 free, 5:20.16, is the seventh-fastest among the 24 Class 4A competitors this coming weekend.

Other Bombers qualified for state include Lisa Bradshaw (50 free, 50 backstroke), Karma Johnson (500 free, 100 breaststroke), Sage Miller (diving), Alicia Orbananos (200 free), and Chloe Smart (50 free)

Walla Walla’s Laurel Skorina also qualified for 4A state in two events, the 100 free, and 100 back.

• In the Class 3A state meet, Kennewick is sending two individuals and two relay teams: the 200 medley team, and the 400 free.

The Lions’ Laney Harmsen will compete in the 200 IM, while Felicity Badeaux qualified for the 50 freestyle.

Kamiakin will have three individuals and its 200 freestyle relay team.

The Braves’ Alissa Carreno is ranked 18th among divers going in, and she will be joined in the event by teammate Maia Canada.

Olivia Galbreath will compete in the 100 backstroke.

Rylee Garvey leads a three-person contingent to 3A state for Southridge.

Garvey is ranked 16th in the diving competition going in. She’ll be joined by fellow Suns Emily Espinoza (200 free and 500 free) and Liesel Telquist (100 butterfly).

Hermiston has two swimmers competing: Abigail Sharon (100 butterfly) and Georgia Stevenson (100 back).

• Finally, in the 1A/2A meet, Prosser is bringing Madisen Mendez (100 butterfly) and three relay teams — 200 medley, 200 free and 400 free.

All things soccer

The Kamiakin girls soccer team is back into the 3A state tournament quarterfinals after going on the road Tuesday night and beating Lakes 3-0.

Jennifer Bell, Maddie Kutschkau and Paige Savage each scored goals for the Braves, who now await in the quarterfinals the winner of Wednesday night’s Bellevue-Southridge first-round match.

Southridge lost 3-2 to Bellevue, so Bellevue advances to play Kamiakin.

• The Wahluke girls saw their season end Tuesday night in Wenatchee, as they fell 3-2 in a shootout to Cascade of Leavenworth. Cascade outscored the Warriors 4-2 in the shootout.

• The Eastern Washington University women’s team fell just short of qualifying for the NCAA tournament when the Eagles lost 1-0 to Northern Colorado on Sunday in the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game.

EWU coach Chad Bodnar, a Pasco High graduate, led the Eagles to an 11-8-2 record this season.

Maddie Morgan, a Kamiakin grad, had two shots in the title game, but couldn’t convert on either one.

Morgan did finish the tournament with three goals in three games for Eastern.

Eagles keeper Kelsee Winston (Hanford) had six saves in the title match.

Eastern advanced to the title game with a 2-1 double-overtime win over Sacramento State on Friday.

In that game, Morgan scored the game-winning goal in the 101st minute for Eastern.

• Northern Colorado, now 9-10-4, qualified for the NCAA tournament with the victory.

It will play at Colorado on Saturday in the first round of the tournament.

Former Kamiakin standout Britney Donais plays for Northern Colorado. The freshman forward has scored two goals in 18 matches this season.

• The University of Washington women’s team (11-6-2) plays host to Seattle University (12-7-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Chiawana graduate Summer Yates, now a sophomore for the Huskies, leads the team in scoring this season with 22 points (8 goals, 6 assists).

Notes

• Chiawana’s volleyball team stayed alive Tuesday night in the District 8 Class 4A tournament by defeating Gonzaga Prep 3-1.

The Riverhawks now meet University in a 3 p.m., loser-out match, Saturday at Spokane Falls Community College.

The winner of that match will then turn around and play the loser of the Mead-Richland championship match, played earlier, at 5 p.m. for a berth to the 4A state tournament.

• Congratulations to Tri-Cities Prep students Logan Mercado and Elisabeth Cole, who signed letters of intent Wednesday.

Mercado, who has been verbally committed the past two years to the University of Oregon baseball program, made it official by signing on the dotted line. Mercado will pitch for the Ducks, but could become a two-way player.

Cole signed a letter of intent to play women’s soccer at St. Martin’s University in Lacey.

She runs cross country at Prep and plans on playing girls basketball for the Jaguars this winter. But Cole didn’t play high school soccer this fall. She was recruited based off of her club play.

• High school girls bowling started Tuesday, and Richland opened Mid-Columbia Conference play with a 3-1 victory over Hermiston.

Samantha Winslow led the Bombers with a high game of 182, while Halle Pennington led the Bulldogs with a high game of 177.