10 best sports moments of 2021 in the Mid-Columbia
It’s been a strange year for sports in the Mid-Columbia. But let’s just say it’s been certainly better than 2020.
At least we had plenty of sports in 2021, compared to the dearth of it last year.
Here’s a look at some of the top local sports stories for 2021, in no particular order:
Talia von Oelhoffen
The gist of Talia von Oelhoffen’s story was that she decided not to take a chance that there would be any high school girls basketball.
The highly recruited athlete chose Oregon State University in Fall 2020, and when the NCAA allowed high schoolers to graduate early and play for their new college team, von Oelhoffen made the move, graduating from Chiawana High School and reporting for classes in January.
No one was expecting her to get much playing time with the Beavers. But within a week of her first practices, she was cracking the rotation.
She was a factor in OSU making the NCAA Tournament come March. The best part? It didn’t affect her eligibility. She got six extra months of studies and playing time, and still entered this current season as a true freshman.
Resumption of sports
For high school students, the past two years have been miserable, with sports halted in March 2020 and then not even happening through the rest of 2020.
It wasn’t until February of 2021 that the state allowed high school sports to resume. They were shortened seasons, with no state playoffs — starting with fall sports, then spring sports, and finally winter sports that went into mid-June.
When fall sports began in late February, schools were limited on numbers of fans at events, effectively locking some people out.
Even so, everyone was just happy to have some sense of normalcy back in their lives.
By the time the new school year rolled around in late August, high school sports were back on schedule.
Tri-City Americans
The Americans and the rest of the Western Hockey League weren’t able to start the season on time, thanks to COVID.
But by March, the WHL allowed teams to play within their divisions for a shortened season. So the Ams played against their U.S. division opponents, while the Canadian teams stayed within their own provinces.
Tri-City got in 19 games, but was forced to cancel a few more because of a COVID outbreak with the team.
The 2021-22 season started on time, the team hired co-owner Stu Barnes as head coach, and the Ams enter the new year just one spot out of the playoff race with plenty of time remaining.
No horse racing, again
For the second straight year, the Tri-City Horse Racing Association decided it could not hold its annual spring meet.
While it could have technically held the six-day meet in the spring, the parking lot at the Benton County Fairgrounds was being used for COVID vaccinations.
The organization will try again in April 2022.
Tri-City Dust Devils
After a 2020 season that didn’t happen, the Dust Devils got a new lease on life with a different Major League organization, a new league, and a longer season.
For much of 2020, the Dust Devils were one of the teams considered to be cut from the MLB-Minor League Baseball affiliation group.
But early in 2021, the Dust Devils announced a new 10-year agreement with the Los Angeles Angels, cutting their ties with the San Diego Padres.
The short-season Northwest League was eliminated and turned into the High A West league, with the number of teams dropped from eight to six.
It also meant a longer season, even with a month’s delay, starting in May. The Dust Devils finished the season with a 43-68 record. That’s 111 games, and included a few games canceled because of COVID. That was still way more than the 76 games Northwest League teams played.
The 2022 season, with each team scheduled for 132 games, is expected to start on April 8.
The current Major League Baseball lockout is not expected to affect minor league baseball.
Columbia Cup, hydroplanes
First it was on. Then it was off. Then it was on again.
That was the rollercoaster ride on unlimited hydroplanes this year.
At one point, in the spring, the Water Follies decided that the state’s guideline involving large events would make it impossible to hold the HAPO Columbia Cup — the Tri-City area’s largest sporting event scheduled for late July.
Then, the state adjusted its guidelines in June, and the Water Follies board voted to forge ahead with the event.
In the end, Corey Peabody won the final in the U-9 Pinnacle Peak Racing, finishing ahead of teammate J. Michael Kelly in the U-8 Miss Tri-Cities.
The great thing about that was the teams were owned by Tri-City businessman Darrell Strong, who purchased them in the offseason.
Tri-City Rush
Brandon Tate owns a local semipro football team called the Tri-City Rage.
In 2020, Tate told the owners of the American West Football Conference that his semi-pro team could fill in for any home games that they lost because the Tri-City Fire franchise folded a week before the 2020 season was to start.
The offer became moot when the pandemic canceled the season, but the other AWFC owners remembered Tate’s offer and wondered if he’d like to buy in on a franchise.
So the Rush was born, and Tate ended up leading the team to the AWFC championship, beating Idaho in the final at the HAPO Center in Pasco in September.
The league is expected to begin in the spring, and will have six teams this coming season.
Tri-City Raceway
The fact that a race was ever held this year at Tri-City Raceway is nothing short of a miracle in itself.
But a group called the Friends of Red Mountain Event Center was able to do it in early October.
The track hadn’t had a stock car race at it since 2004, and outside of some smaller local races around cones, the facility sat dormant.
Then West Richland Mayor Brent Gerry and the FRMEC group got together. West Richland bought the land from the Port of Kennewick, and Gerry was able to have a new police station built on the land.
As for the track itself, the group of volunteers was able to clean up the facility, add seating and fencing, and held the Fall Classic — a major Northwest race that was going to die when Yakima Speedway (which annually held the event) was shut down earlier this year.
For two glorious race days, the track was filled with fans once again enjoying cars racing around the fastest tri-oval west of the Mississippi.
More races are scheduled for 2022.
State cross country
The annual championships are held at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, but it had been two years since the last event was held.
With thousands of runners, and even more thousands of fans lining the course, everything felt normal again on an early November day.
And local fans got a bonus when they saw Kennewick senior Macy Marquardt demolish the Class 3A girls field en route to an individual title.
Not to be outdone, Kamiakin senior Isaac Teeples did the same thing in the Class 4A boys race. Teeples also helped his Kamiakin team earn another state team title.
Fall prep football
In the fall, Kamiakin, Kennewick and Royal went deep into the Washington state high school playoffs.
Kamiakin dominated during the regular season and much of the postseason, as Scott Biglin’s squad went undefeated in Mid-Columbia Conference play.
Led by MCC Offensive Player of the Year Henry Mercado, MCC All-Purpose Player of the Year Payton Graham, and numerous weapons on both sides of the ball, the Braves went 8-0 in MCC play and 4-1 in the postseason — losing to eventual 4A state champion Graham-Kapowsin in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, it was the Kennewick Lions who made it to the state title game in Class 3A.
Randy Affholter’s team only loss in the regular season came to Kamiakin. But then the Lions got hot, winning five straight games — including a stretch where they traveled to Seattle on consecutive weeks to beat O’Dea and Eastside Catholic.
Players such as Myles Mayovsky, Bronson Childs (the MCC Defensive Player of the Year), Austin Stoddard and Ayden Knapik provided the team with great talent, and even better leadership.
Only a 17-13 loss in the state finals to Bellevue stopped the season from being completely magical.
Finally, Wiley Allred’s Royal Knights had little problem rolling to another Class 1A state championship, when they routed Eatonville 41-0 in early December.
That gave the storied Royal program its 10th state title.
The Knights — led by Derek and Luke Bergeson, and Avery Ellis — and their starters rarely ever played a full game during the season, as they were always well ahead by halftime.
The team finished at 14-0.
Other mentions
Columbia Basin College’s men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball teams all make the postseason in the fall. … Chiawana’s slowpitch softball team takes the state 4A championship in Yakima in November. … Richland High grad Eric Yardley starts the season on the Milwaukee Brewers’ Opening Day roster as a relief pitcher, finishes season in Triple-A. … Southridge grad and first baseman Mason Martin has outstanding season for Pittsburgh Pirates’ Double-A team in Altoona, finishes regular season at Triple-A Indianapolis. … Kennewick’s Lionel Kunka qualifies for the U.S. Senior Open. … Chelsea McClammer, David Wagner and Roxanne Trunnell — all with Mid-Columbia connections — compete at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. Trunnell, who used to live in Richland but now calls Florida home, won a gold and bronze in the equestrian events.