Good Friday morning. We start with some track and field for you. The WIAA’s state high school track and field meet started yesterday for the 2A and 4A athletes in Tacoma, with several athletes from the Valley’s high schools getting in action on the opening day.
We start in the throwing events, where Mount Si’s Abby Triou finished 15th in the 4A girls’ discus, with a toss of 106 feet, eight inches. Meanwhile, in distance events, in the boys’ 1600m, Cedarcrest’s Grant Van Valkenburg pocketed the first Red Wolve team points of the weekend, finishing second in the 2A race and scoring eight for CHS. He clocked 4:21.05. The 4A results were not available as of press time, with MSHS’ Joe Waskom scheduled to compete and expected to have a similar result in his race to his fellow Valleyite. That race was supposed to happen last night.
Also, Cedarcrest’s 4×400 girls’ relay crew of Jaylin Yowell, Kate Vergillo, Elsie Dombek and Lauren Krause just missed out on a trip to the finals this weekend in the 2A race; they finished ninth in their preliminary race last night, clocking 4:11.02 and finishing just under three seconds behind the eighth-place team from W.F. West in Chehalis that took that final spot to the finals tomorrow.
Action continues through tomorrow at Mount Tahoma High School in south Tacoma. Also from track:
North Bend’s Scott toughs it out at NCAA D-III nationals: Whitworth senior Bailey Scott, from North Bend and a 2014 Mount Si HS grad, battled tough last night in the NCAA Division III national women’s 3000 meter steeplechase championship race in La Crosse, WI. Scott finished 22nd of 22 runners in the preliminary heat, with a time of 11:43.24 and will not be in the finals tomorrow. Her mom, Barbara, is in La Crosse watching her daughter and she told us by email last night that Bailey has been battling among other things a foot injury, a cold, and just the normal end-of-senior year routine (finals, graduation, etc.) as Bailey has graduated from Whitworth and will be embarking on her post-college affairs soon.
But she showed tremendous courage in competing and finishing last night and represented her school and community well despite the end result. Teammates Kayla Leland and Marissa Mount won their respective heats and will head into the finals one-two tomorrow, with Scott cheering them on. She by the way this week was named an All-West Region selection in the steeplechase by the US Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association, so a congrats to her on that as well from us.
Time now for the diamond cuts. Youth baseball from Gamechanger and the Gamechanger app, available on Apple IPhones and IPads in their app store.
Youth Baseball
The first major regional youth tournament of the summer kicked off last night around the Puget Sound area. The Art Wright Memorial Day tournament is featuring teams from 9U-18U competing against top local competition at locations all up and down the I-5 corridor from Everett to Tacoma. Action in this event continues through the holiday weekend. Here’s scores and highlights involving local players that we have for you from GC.
Northwest Naturals 16U 20, Laces 4: This one was pretty one-sided from the outset at Hartman Park in Redmond, as the Sammamish-based Nats rolled over the Everett-based Laces in their Art Wright tournament opener. Mount Si’s Jack Mardon went 2-2 with two runs scored and an RBI for NWN, and fellow Wildcat Cam Ferreri despite going 0-2 also contributed to the winning efforts, with a walk, scoring a run and driving in another.
Boys of Summer 15U 6, Seattle Wave Black 0: Mount Si’s Turner McCutchan was dominant on the mound last night for Bellevue-based Boys, helping guide them to an opening night win in the Art Wright tournament at Marymoor Park in Redmond. McCutchan fired one-hit ball over five innings, walking two and striking out three, and got the win. He also got a chance to hit and went 0-1 with a walk.
Colts 10, Rippers 16U 0: The Art Wright event did not start well last night for the Redmond-based Rippers, as they were limited to four hits in the loss at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline. Among the players with hits was Cedarcrest’s Curt Nelson. Fellow Red Wolve Gavin McDermott also played in the game for the Rippers, going 0-1.
Seattle Gladiators 16U 4, City Gold 2: The weekend started out strong for the Seattle team, as they scored the win at Southeast Athletic Complex in Seattle. Mount Si’s Mason Gronewald went 0-1 but walked twice and scored a run for the Gladiators. Fellow Wildcat Tom Phillips also recorded a walk for SG.
Boys of Summer Blue 18U 14, Pro Player 4: The Art Wright tournament started out well for Bellevue-based Boys backed by a strong effort from MSHS’ Spencer Marenco. He went 2-2 with a double and three RBI’s lifting Blue, who scored six fifth-inning runs to lock this one up at Issaquah High School.
Washington A’s 18U Gold 12, Northwest Naturals 18U 3: The two Sammamish-based teams, both with MSHS players, opened Art Wright play at Courter Field on the BC campus last night in Bellevue, with Wildcat Will Scott leading the way for the A’s, going 2-3 with a run scored and RBI as Gold took care of this one. Fellow MSHS’er Logan Van Campen went 1-3 with a run aiding NWN, and a third Wildcat, Clayton Waltz, also played for the Nats, going 0-2.
College Baseball
Western Athletic Conference Tournament (loser out): Cal State Bakersfield 2, Northern Colorado 0 – The college career for Mount Si grad Evan Johnson came to an end yesterday as the Bears were blanked in the loser-bracket game at the WAC tournament in Mesa, AZ. Johnson, a senior from Snoqualmie and 2014 MSHS grad, went 0-4 for UNCo and finished his season hitting a solid .284 for the Bears, who finished 29-24 on the season. He had a homer and 32 RBI’s, with a decent .358 slugging percentage and .339 on-base percentage for the Bears serving as the team’s DH for much of the season. Johnson, if he is not drafted by a Major League Baseball club in their upcoming draft, will be playing this summer for the Everett Merchants of the Pacific International League after spending last summer with the WCL’s Wenatchee AppleSox.
West Coast Conference Tournament: Gonzaga 13, Loyola Marymount 1 – GU used a seven-run sixth to run away with the opening round win at the WCC event down in Stockton, CA, last night. Junior Carson Breshears, from North Bend and a 2014 MSHS’er, went 0-3 for the Zags in this one.
The Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal’s weekly volleyball report for May 23
Good Wednesday morning. Time now for our weekly look into girls’ club volleyball in USA Volleyball’s Puget Sound Region here in the Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal.
Took the week off last week as we had nothing of note going on, but we return after our brief hiatus to preview the final big weekend of local volleyball for area clubs and their teams. Two major tournaments are taking place, bringing in teams from all over the Northwest for the Memorial Day weekend.
Emerald City Classic headlines weekend tourneys
The biggest of the two tournaments is the Emerald City Classic, and it once again takes center stage this weekend, at the University of Washington in Seattle. The event features teams from the U-13 to U-18 classifications, and will feature a number of teams with Valley players. Among those, the Puget Sound Volleyball Academy 17’s featuring Mount Si’s Hayley West, and several teams from Bellevue-based Northwest Juniors featuring a strong group of Wildcats and Cedarcrest Red Wolve players, will be in attendance.
Teams to watch this weekend with local players include the above mentioned PSVBA squad, and also the Seattle Juniors’ 18’s, with West’s fellow Wildcat returner this fall Bellah Gogan, and the Island Thunder 18’s from Mercer Island, featuring Mount Si players Jessica Hanners and Emma Anderson.
Admission to this weekend’s events will cost you $15 for the whole three days or $5 per day. You can today go onto the tournament website, linked at right in our news links, and pre-order a three-day pass and pay only $10, and it will get you admission to all venues for all three days, so if you are a supporter of either Mount Si or Cedarcrest and want to get out and support local kids this weekend, this will be the way to go. Here’s the full list of teams with local players:
-Seattle Juniors’ 18’s – Bellah Gogan, MSHS
-Sudden Impact 18’s – Patience O’Neal, Tahoma HS (former MSHS player)
-Sudden Impact 17’s – Harper Click, former MSHS player
-Puget Sound VBA 17’s – Hayley West, MSHS
-Island Thunder 18’s – Emma Anderson and Jessica Hanners, both MSHS
-Northwest Juniors’ 18’s – Annaliese “A.J.” Jensen and Dana Dolan, both MSHS
-Northwest Juniors’ 17’s – Chloe Stewart, Emily Dann and Lizzie Belceto, all MSHS
-Northwest Juniors’ 16’s Black – Bre Fitzgerald and Megan Underbrink, both MSHS
-Northwest Juniors’ 16’s Blue – Natalie Vanderwal and Katie Faccone, both CHS
-Northwest Juniors’ 15’s Blue – Megan Simpson and Lexi Niehaus, both MSHS
As you see, there’s over a dozen kids with ties to either Valley high school competing this weekend, so that $10 or $15 you spend will be well worth it. The action starts at 8:00 on Saturday morning and runs through Monday. The tournament is sponsored by the Washington Volleyball Academy, who is now in their 32nd year of hosting this event.
You can also find schedules for your favorite team at the website as well, and it’s as we just noted linked at right in our news links (look for Emerald City Classic).
Northwest Juniors’ season-ending tournament also this weekend
The second local tournament of note is NWJ’s Memorial Day event, and that is going on Saturday and Sunday at local sites, likely in Snohomish County. Schedules have not been announced for the Bellevue-based organization’s final tournament they are hosting this spring, so we do not know if any locals will be competing yet. However, we do anticipate the remainder of NWJ’s teams with locals not competing in the ECC to participate in this event. This would include the 15’s UnderArmour Grey, with CHS player Ava Mundy and coached by Red Wolve alum Kendall Koch and the 16’s UnderArmour Grey, with CHS’ Selah Kuiken.
This event also will include a sand tournament to be played at NWJ’s beach volleyball facility in Clearview, between Woodinville and Snohomish along Highway 9. Again, we have no word on whether any locals will be participating.
Tournament organizers also expect to have a number of Canadian teams in the event as well, providing a little international flair to the weekend.
We’ll keep you posted as best we are able throughout the weekend and we’ll have our final weekly report next week with a full wrapup on this weekend’s activities in both tournaments.
On deck
Postseason play for some teams as we have been telling you will take place at the end of June with several tournaments, headlined by the USA Junior Olympic Volleyball Nationals in Detroit. Also, the beach schedule will be loaded with numerous tournaments this summer, so if any Valley athletes participate, we’ll let you know. (Editorial comment: We would find it real cool for Mount Si or Cedarcrest’s programs to start up a beach volleyball program as an off-season offering for their players. With WIAA rules being what they are, head coaches Bonnie Foote (MSHS) and Kelsey Fish (CHS) likely could not coach their players in such competitions, but we trust that both coaches could find solid people associated with their programs, such as Koch or ex-Mount Si assistant Faith Hutcherson, to handle those duties. It would provide the players an extra avenue to help in preparation for the fall season, and also provide a different experience for the girls as well to see how their skills would fare in outdoor conditions as opposed to indoors in a gym. We would encourage both coaches to work with their school’s athletic directors to see how such a program could be incorporated into the school program while complying with the appropriate WIAA out-of-season regulations.)
This has been your weekly look at girls’ club volleyball in the Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal.