19 Mid-Columbia swimmers to head to Washington state finals

As state tournaments continue this week in football, girls soccer and volleyball, the state finals in girls swimming runs Friday and Saturday at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.

The Mid-Columbia will have 19 entries in the three classifications, and Richland senior Bryan McGinnis looks to have the best chance of causing some damage.

McGinnis has a couple of the best times coming into her two events for the 4A state meet.

Her 5 minutes, 12.45 seconds in the 500 freestyle event is the second-fastest of the 24 competitors going in.

McGinnis also has a time of 59.11 seconds going into the 100 butterfly, which ranks her fifth among the 4A competitors.

As far as individuals go, McGinnis and Southridge junior Liesel Telquist are the only two area swimmers competing in more than one event.

Telquist will swim in the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly in the 3A state meet.

Here are the rest of the Mid-Columbia entries:

• Hanford senior Chamelle Abringe is swimming in the 4A 100 butterfly;
• Walla Walla junior AnnMarie Hallon will compete in the 3A 1-meter diving competition;
• Hanford will have relay teams in the 4A 200 medley and 400 free;
• Hanford sophomore Corinne Hatch will compete in the 4A 1-meter diving event;
• Hanford sophomore Noelle Landon will be in the 4A 50 free;
• Chiawana junior Sidney Leavens is a competitor in the 4A 1-meter diving event;
• Prosser will have two relay teams in the 2A meet: the 200 medley relay, and the 400 free relay;
• Richland has an entry in the 4A free relay;
• Kennewick freshman Alexa Sanchez qualified for the 3A 1-meter diving competition;
• Southridge will have relay teams in the 3A 200 medley and 400 free events;
• Southridge sophomore Paisley Walkley is entered in the 3A 500 free event;
• Richland senior Sydney Willford is competing in the 200 free in 4A.

Girls soccer

Richland and Kamiakin, both qualified for the 4A state tournament in girls soccer, play their openers on Wednesday night.

Richland — a No. 2 seed determined by the WIAA — plays host to No. 15 Sumner at 6 p.m.

No. 10 seed Kamiakin plays at No. 7 Puyallup at Sparks Stadium, at 5 p.m.

In girls 1A soccer, Royal qualified for state as a 14 seed and lost to 3-seed Deer Park 20-0 on Tuesday. You read that correctly. 20-0. Classy move by the Deer Park coaching staff.

Also in 1A, No. 16 Wahluke lost to top seed Klahowya 5-1 on Tuesday night.

Volleyball

The state 1A, 2B and 1B volleyball tournaments begin this week in Yakima. Our region has two teams involved in the 1A tournament, and three in the 2B event (none in the 1B tourney).

College Place earned a No. 10 seed in the 1A tournament, and will open play at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12, against 7-seed Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls.

At the same time, No. 14 seed Connell will take on No. 3 Castle Rock.

In the 2B tournament, also in Yakima, No. 6 seed Walla Walla Valley Academy will open with No. 11 Adna at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11; No. 14 Warden plays No. 3 Kalamazoo at the same time.

No. 12 Tri-Cities Prep will open with No. 5 Manson at 9:45 a.m.

In 4A, 3A and 2A, district play continues this week, with all state berths to be determined on Saturday, Nov. 13.

The three classifications will play Nov. 18-20 at the Yakima Valley SunDome for their state tournaments.

In the District 8 4A tournament, Central Valley visits Kamiakin, and Gonzaga Prep is at Richland, in the two semifinals (winners to state). Both games are at 10 a.m.

The losers of the two semifinals will then have to do battle with Chiawana and Lewis & Clark to determine the district’s third state berth.

In the District 8 3A tournament, everything is at Lewis & Clark in Spokane on Saturday.

Mead and Mt. Spokane have grabbed two of the three state tournament berths, and will play for the title at 3 p.m. Meanwhile, Walla Walla plays North Central, and Ridgeline takes on Kennewick in loser-out battles. One of those four teams will earn the district’s third state berth.

Finally, two state berths are up for grabs out of the 2A CWAC. In loser-out contests set for Tuesday, Nov. 9, Othello visits East Valley of Yakima, and Prosser is at Selah.

Top two seeds Ellensburg and Ephrata await the winners on Saturday.

Baseball

Dillon Plew, the former Kennewick High standout who went on to star at Washington State University and then Lewis-Clark State College, played in 31 games this past summer for the Santa Cruz Seaweed of the independent Pecos League.

Plew, who was drafted by the Houston Astros in 2019 but never signed, hit .308 with 2 home runs and 21 RBIs for the Seaweed.

Signings

Southridge senior Angela Park plans to sign a letter of intent on Wednesday night to play women’s golf next year at the University of Washington.

Wednesday marks the first day of college signings, and a number of Mid-Columbia athletes are expected to do so.

If you know of an athlete who is signing, please send the information to sports@tri-cityhearld.com.

College update

▪ Ashley Ripplinger (Prosser) had six kills to help lead Oregon Institute of Technology over Walla Walla University 3-0 in women’s volleyball play on Oct. 9.

▪ Gabrielle Browning (Walla Walla Valley Academy) led Walla Walla University with 11 kills and 10 digs.

▪ Sacramento State defeated Eastern Washington University by a 4-2 score in women’s soccer on Oct. 10. Taylor Matheney (Hanford) scored a goal in the loss for EWU, while teammate Maddie Morgan (Kamiakin) added an assist.