Spring sports season ends with a bang

The spring never seemed to arrive until the very end of the 2016-17 season, but once it did, the season ended with a bang.

Even longtime area coaches called Spring ’17 the coldest, wettest season in their memory. One area coach admitted to wondering if her athletes would ever be able to ditch their sweatshirts and sweatpants.

It may have been cold and it may have been damp, but it was still a very successful spring for area schools.

In tennis, Lewis and Clark senior Kyle Fager capped a brilliant high school career by beating Justin Ong of Olympia, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to earn the third-place trophy at the Class 4A state tennis tournament at the Columbia Basin Raquet Club in Richland.

Fager lost in the semifinals to the eventual state champion, Andrew Kabacy of Skyview, after winning the first set.

In three state tournaments, Fager earned a doubles championship and placed third and fourth in singles.

His sister, Brooke, earned her second trophy in just her second tournament, losing to Ali Topp of Olympia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth-place match, and brought home the seventh-place trophy.

Mead’s Edward and Eric Liu reached the state Class 4A doubles championship match and earned a second-place trophy.

Kjersti Strandness and Brook Goodwin of Ferris finished sixth in the Class 4A girls doubles tournament, falling in three sets in the third-place match.

Claire Sinner and Lily Sinner of West Valley earned a fourth-place finish in the Class 2A doubles tournament, winning the trophy match in straight sets.

In soccer, you will likely see Central Valley soccer players working on penalty kicks for the next year after the Bears were ousted by Pasco, 3-2 in a shootout in the state semifinals.

Pasco goalkeeper Jose Moreno-Gudino stopped four penalty kicks, three of them in the shootout, to stymie CV.

The Central Valley seniors are the most successful class in school history, reaching the state soccer tournament all four years, losing in the state championship match as sophomores and advancing to the state semifinals as juniors and seniors.

In baseball Freeman lost in the state Class 1A semifinals for the third straight year and beat Cashmere to earn a third-place trophy.

In three semifinals games in Yakima, the Scotties have managed to score just two runs. And after committing just 18 defensive errors en route to the Final Four, Freeman committed five errors in a 6-1 loss to Cedar Park Christian.

At the state track and field meet, East Valley’s Rodrick Fisher won both the 100-and 200-meter championships, both in record times.

The senior, who has accepted a scholarship to play football at Washington State, got some added coaching from University assistant track and field coach Anthony Buchanan on his sprint techniques. Buchanan still holds the Class 4A state meet record in the 100 meters, turning in a 10.43-second time at the 2000 state meet.

Fisher won the 100 in 10.49 seconds, breaking the Class 2A record of 10.61 set by Jonathan Green of Ephrata in 2014 – coming up just shy of his personal best time of 10.46.

Fisher won the 200 meters with a time of 21.27, shattering the state record of 21.49.

Shadle Park’s Jakobe Ford won all three jumps at the state Class 3A meet, winning the high jump by clearing 7-feet-2½, the long jump with a leap of 23-8½ and the triple jump with a mark of 49-2¼.

Mead’s Joseph Heitman almost matched Ford’s medal count at the Class 4A meet. The junior won the 110-meter hurdles title in 14.48 seconds and captured the 300 hurdles title with a time of 37.61.

But Heitman came up an inch shy of the long jump title, leaping 23-2 in the finals while Cody Allen of West Valley-Yakima turned in a jump of 23-3.

Mt. Spokane had a strong state Class 3A meet. Olivia Prewitt won the javelin with a throw of 131-4. Dillon Lionello won the shot put in 59-11½ and Hayden Dressel won the 1,600-meter final with a time of 4:15.94, edging Matthew Park of Edmonds-Woodway by 5/100ths of a second. And Cade Neumann captured the pole vault title by clearing 14-9. Teammate Docker Davis was third, clearing 14-6.

Noland Wick of North Central won the Class 3A 100-meter title, running a 10.61 final.

Clay Somes won the Class 4A pole vault title by a foot, clearing 15-6. Second-place Bryce Tyger of Union cleared 14-6.