No surprise in SWABs winners
Mead’s Rogers, Reardan’s Moos top junior athletes
It comes as no surprise that Mead wrestler Jordan Rogers and Reardan multi-purpose athlete Kelsey Moos are the 2012 Inland Northwest Sportswriters and Broadcasters Junior Athletes of the Year.
Both had Paul Bunyan-esque seasons and their careers landed or will land them at bigtime colleges.
For Junior teams and coaches of the year, twice is nice.
Rogers had arguably the finest single season in Spokane’s illustrious wrestling history.
He toyed with his 182-pound opposition en route to a third State 4A championship. All four of his pins came in the first round in the tournament that mirrored the entire 42-0 season.
He earned numerous accolades nationally and was ranked No. 1 in his weight class. Following the 144-8 prep career, he is redshirting this winter at Oklahoma State University.
There is a reason that Reardan has won three straight State 2B volleyball championships and two in basketball and it begins with Moos.
The 6-foot Arizona State-bound basketball signee averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and four steals on a team that went 27-0 for the title in 2012 – and she still has this season to finish – and was among statistical leaders in the volleyball program that was at its best when the state title was on the line.
Teams and coaches of the year are in essence one and the same.
A gymnastics team from the Greater Spokane League hadn’t won a state championship since 1971. Last year, Mead ended four decades of frustration under the tutelage of Laurie Chadwick.
The 2012 Junior Female Team of the year swept undefeated through the Greater Spokane League and scored 179.25 points to defeat a strong field in Tacoma. Chadwick, who has had a long and successful coaching career at Mead, is the Junior Female Coach of the Year.
North Central’s boys cross-country runners won a seventh straight State 3A championship, scoring just 38 points, finishing well ahead of the runner-up, to be named Junior Team of the Year. Architect of the Indians’ dynasty, Jon Knight, is Junior Coach of the Year.