Hydroplanes back on Columbia River in Tri-Cities. It’s a return to 2021 racing
Unlimited hydroplane racing fans can get a look at what part of the 2021 fleet will look like, as six boats will hit the Columbia River in what’s called the annual spring training event June 4.
The course will open for unlimiteds at 9 a.m., and H1 Unlimited has it reserved until 5 p.m. — although any teams testing past 3 p.m. is doubtful.
There is a concern about weather reports, with possible winds.
That race course portion of the river will be closed to pleasure craft boaters, and they’re asked to avoid the area.
Parking also will be limited in Columbia Park.
Here are the six boats expected to be testing:
▪ The U-8 Miss Tri-Cities, driven by J. Michael Kelly; and the U-9 Pinnacle Peak Consulting, with Corey Peabody as driver.
The boats are owned by long-time Tri-Citian Darrell Strong, who purchased them and all of the equipment in the off season.
The U-8 is the former Ellstrom boat that’s still relatively new, while the U-9 is the former hull owned by Mike and Lori Jones.
▪ The U-11 J&D’s, driven by Jamie Nilsen and owned by Scott and Shannon Raney.
▪ Two Kelly Stocklin-owned boats: the U-40 Miss Beacon Plumbing, and the 440 Bucket List Racing.
The 440 will be driven by Dustin Echols. But the real intrigue here is Dave Villwock will be coming out of retirement, at the age of 67, to drive the U-40.
▪ Finally, Rob Graham is scheduled to bring his U-12 Graham Trucking boat. Graham lost both of his drivers to Strong, and he was expected to announce his new driver Thursday night.
The H1 Unlimited season was wiped out because of the pandemic. So it’s been a good 20 months since multiple unlimiteds took to the water.
But there are three confirmed scheduled races for the 2021 season: The Guntersville Lake Hydrofest in Alabama on June 26-27; the Madison Regatta (and Gold Cup) in Madison, Ind., on July 2-4; and the HAPO Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities on July 23-25.
The Tri-Cities Water Follies organization, which puts on the Columbia Cup, originally was forced to cancel the event this year because of state health rules for large events.
But after Gov. Jay Inslee announced the state would open up after June 30, the board reconsidered and the race is back on — although on a smaller scale.
State health mandates still limit the number of people at large outdoor events. The Columbia Cup won’t have large hospitality tents, and will likely limit the number of fans in Benton County to 9,000, and another 9,000 fans in Franklin County.
In recent years, attendance for the entire weekend has been between 40,000 and 45,000.
One other H1 Unlimited race, the San Diego Bayfair, still is tentative for Sept. 17-19.
The HomeStreet Bank Cup at Seafair in Seattle has been canceled for 2021.
Other sports notes
▪ The United Soccer Coaches named University of Washington junior forward Summer Yates (Chiawana) to the second unit of the All-American team.
Yates scored 12 points this spring, scoring 4 goals and 4 assists, to lead the 10-4-4 Huskies to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
▪ Therese Warner (Southridge) helped her University of Arizona women’s golf team make it to the NCAA semifinals before losing to eventual NCAA champion Ole Miss at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz., on May 24.
In the individual portion of stroke play, Warner shot a four-round total of 300, at 12-over-par. She finished tied for 66th.
As a team, Arizona advanced to the quarterfinals, and upset top-ranked Stanford to advance to the semifinals. Warner lost her match play 3 and 2.
The Wildcats then lost to Ole Miss 3-2, as Warner won her match play 2 and 1.
▪ EWU’s Joe Gauthier (Hanford) had a strong performance at the Big Sky Conference track and field championships on May 12-15.
Gauthier won the men’s 100 meters final with a time of 10.50 seconds, and he helped the men’s 4x100 relay team finish first with a time of 40.75 seconds.
Gauthier also placed fourth in the men’s 200 meters with a time of 21.24 seconds.
Teammate Justin Roosma finished third in the men’s steeplechase, finishing in 9:07.78.
▪ Washington Scorebook Live named its top 30 quarterbacks in the state from the spring season recently, and three of them are from the Mid-Columbia: Royal senior Caleb Christensen, Prosser junior Kaiden Rivera, and Chiawana junior JP Zamora.
Christensen recently committed to playing next year at Whitworth University. Zamora verbally committed to the University of Utah last year, but he recently decommitted from Utah and has re-opened his recruitment.
▪ Connell’s Emma Andrewjeski was named 1A SCAC softball co-Player of the Year, along with Audrey Kime of Naches Valley.
Andrewjeski, who is headed this fall to BYU to play softball, led the list of first-team players.
Local athletes on that list include College Place sophomore Zoe Hardy, College Place junior Jordan Holso, College Place junior Gabriella Sanchez, and Kiona-Benton junior Paige Thompson.
Paige West of Naches Valley was named SCAC Coach of the Year.
▪ Whitworth’s baseball team finished the season with a 16-25 record.
Freshman outfielder Aidan Morrison (Southridge) contributed the most among the five Mid-Columbians on the team.
Morrison was an everyday starter, batting .279, with 2 home runs and 22 RBIs. His 11 stolen bases led the team.
Junior pitcher Austin Rice (Irrigon) was 1-5, with 23 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched.
Three others players — freshman catcher Riley Cissne (Chiawana), freshman first baseman Tim Gee (Kennewick/Walla Walla CC), and freshman infielder Jeremiah Kennell (Kamiakin) — are on the roster.
▪ The Sunnyside boys soccer team dominated Big 9 Conference play enough, sporting an 8-3 record, that its no surprise the Grizzlies dominated the all-conference team too.
Senior Diego Cervantes was named Player of the Year, while David Guevara and Sergio Licona, Sr., were named Coaches of the Year.
Five other Grizzlies made the first team: sophomore defender Oscar Gurrola, junior keeper Omar Ibarra-Rodriguez, senior midfielder Daniel Mendoza, senior forward Ezequiel Rodriguez, and sophomore midfielder Jefferson Vilcapoma.
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 12:57 PM.