Former Kamiakin quarterback announces retirement from Canadian Football League
Mike Reilly — the former Kamiakin High School quarterback who transferred to a Montana high school his senior year, then starred at Central Washington University before becoming a standout in the Canadian Football League — announced his retirement from football on Monday.
Reilly, who played 11 seasons in the CFL, turned 37 on Tuesday.
He amassed 34,805 passing yards and tossed 182 touchdown passes during his CFL career, which included two stints with the B.C. Lions and another with the Edmonton Eskimos (now named the Elks).
In 2011, Reilly led B.C. to the Grey Cup championship. The Grey Cup is the CFL’s championship game.
In 2015, with Edmonton, Reilly led his team to another Grey Cup title and was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player.
In 2017, he was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player.
Before embarking on his 11-year CFL career, Reilly was a walk-on at WSU before transferring to CWU. After an outstanding career at Central, Reilly was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers but did not make the team.
He also had short stints with the Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks — never playing in a game — before settling in with the CFL.
Reilly played for Kamiakin in the early 2000s, and was a starter his junior season. But a planned change by the coaching staff to another starter before his senior season led his parents, Rhonda and Pat Reilly, to transfer him to Flathead Lake High School in Montana, where he set a school record for passing years his final year in high school.
Theprovince.com on Monday said the past couple of years, Reilly had been working towards starting a job in a fire department, and that Reilly had been thinking about retirement from football before the 2021 season.
Reilly lost his mother last year to myelodysplastic syndrome.
His father tweeted out Monday, “28 years ago he asked me to help get him to pro football. He did everything ever asked by his coaches. For 28 years I have dreaded this moment. I love you and am so proud of you #13. Enjoy your retirement, you earned it.”
Anderson’s final home dual meet
Chiawana boys wrestling head coach Jack Anderson will lead his Riverhawks into their final home dual meets on Wednesday against Walla Walla and Kennewick.
They will also be Anderson’s final home dual meets as Chiawana’s head coach, as he’s planning on stepping down after this season.
His son, Isaiah, is a senior and is headed to Oregon State University in the fall to wrestle for the Beavers.
First match is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Kamiakin gym dedication
The Kennewick School District announced that the dedication of Kamiakin High School’s gymnasium is set for Friday, Feb. 4.
The district’s school board voted to approve the naming of the gym to Randy Dolven Gymnasium at Kamiakin High School, after a committee approached the school board in November.
Dolven was a long-time teacher, coach and athletic director at Kamiakin who passed away in 2020.
The dedication will happen at halftime of the Richland-Kamiakin boys game, around 8 p.m.
Dolven’s oldest son, Heath Dolven, said the family hopes to have a memorial service, scheduled tentatively for May 21, depending on the COVID situation in the community.
More wrestling
▪ Three area wrestlers came away with titles at the Quincy “Bring Home Da Beef” girls tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15.
Warden sophomore Jordan Hernandez took the 115-pound title to raise her season record to 20-2; while Royal junior Alondra Morales (now 4-0) earned the 140-pound crown.
Sunnyside junior Alexxus Ramos won the 110-pound title to raise her record to 11-0.
▪ Four area wrestlers won titles at the Ray West Invitational boys tournament in Ellensburg on Jan. 15.
Hermiston senior Sam Cadenas earned a title at 285 pounds to raise his season record at 20-3.
Othello’s Isaac Campos earned the 106-pound crown, and the sophomore improved to 17-2; while Sunnyside’s Alejandro Fernandez III, a junior, won at 138 pounds and improved to 20-3.
Finally, Hanford junior Jake Hubby improved to 6-1 by earning the 145-pound championship.
College soccer
Looks like Chiawana grad Summer Yates plans to play another season for the University of Washington women.
Yates, who is a senior and made the All-Pac-12 Conference team, could have made herself eligible for the recent National Women’s Soccer League draft.
But she also could stay for another season with the Huskies. That’s what she has done, as she’s listed as a graduate student for the early 2022 Husky roster. In fact, Yates is one of seven UW players listed as grad students for the 2022 Huskies.
She’ll be joined in the fall by true freshman Hannah Crowley, a senior at Richland High who committed to UW.
▪ Chiawana grad Julianna Ventura, who also played at Walla Walla Community College, was named second-team All-Northwest Conference this past fall while playing for Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore.
Ventura made the team as a defender. She started all 19 matches for the 6-12-1 Boxers.
▪ Walla Walla High School grad Makenna Reitz had a great season playing for Seattle Pacific University.
Reitz scored 13 goals and helped lead the Falcons to a 19-2-1 record and to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals. For her career, Reitz has scored 21 goals, and the senior midfielder has the option to come back next fall to play another season (thanks to the spring covid season).
For her efforts, Reitz was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year, then was named a first-team NCAA D2 All-American.
She carries a 3.72 grade point average, majoring in Sociology, and was named to the NCAA D2 Scholar All-American team.
Women’s swimming
Regan Geldmacher, a state champion swimmer from Hanford High, is in the midst of her freshman season at BYU.
In a meet last week, Geldmacher won two events against Air Force.
She won the women’s 500-meter freestyle event in 5 minutes, 1.65 seconds.
Later in the meet, she set a pool record in the 1650 freestyle in 17:42.11.
This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 2:22 PM.