Mike Vlahovich

The weather this winter was no friend of Greater Spokane League gymnasts. But hardy souls that they are, the competitors soldiered through. Mead, in particular, packed a season’s worth of competition into three weeks to claim its fourth league title in five years. It marked a championship return as head coach of the Panthers for Laurie Chadwick.

It all begins with defense for Lewis and Clark’s girls basketball team. And that was the case at Mead, where the first-place Tigers defeated the Panthers 51-40 in a game between the top two Greater Spokane League teams. The victory Tuesday left LC (19-0) a win away from a perfect regular season as it ran its winning streak to 52 straight over two-plus seasons. The Tigers are tied for fourth place in state annals with Ritzville (1996-99) and Raymond (1988-90). Three teams are tied at 56, including Central Valley from 2000-03.

Not much separated the top four finishers during the Greater Spokane League dual wrestling season, but Mead’s second straight District 8 championship, by a point over University, carried close to extremes. The Panthers won by 16.5 points a year ago and the closest district finish dating back 17 years was an 11-point win by Gonzaga Prep in 1999.

Billy Sanders did an about-face Wednesday morning. A little more than a week after the Lake City tight end/defensive end had given UCLA an oral commitment, Sanders signed with the University of Miami – the school he initially committed to a year ago.

Lewis and Clark had a comfortable 16-point lead and with 9 minutes remaining and appeared well on its way to victory over visiting Central Valley on Tuesday night in Greater Spokane League boys basketball. The Tigers, however, frittered most of it away before getting a bailout from Sean Hoffmann and some clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch to survive with a ragged 47-45 victory.

East Valley swept weekend boys basketball games, including a victory over fellow 3A school Mt. Spokane, moving to within two games of the Wildcats for the fourth playoff berth with three Greater Spokane League games remaining. If the Knights (4-13) fail to make it by one game, they’ll look back with regret on a Jan. 6 overtime loss at Central Valley. EV scored the apparent winning basket at the buzzer in regulation, but it was disallowed and the team lost by two points in the OT.

There were reasons why East Valley was favored in Greater Spokane League wrestling. Even though the Knights settled for a third-place tie, those reasons were on display during Thursday night’s league-ending 31-26 victory at previously unbeaten University.

There was an article in the Voices sections of The Spokesman-Review a couple of weeks ago about a recreational alternative for basketball players not good enough to make their high school teams. This is the second year that Spokane Youth Sports Association is offering the program that has 11 teams and 78 players paying $75 a head for the opportunity to play.

Expectations were met when Greater Spokane League boys basketball heavyweights Shadle Park and Gonzaga Prep squared off Tuesday night in a contest befitting title contenders. The showdown took an electric performance by Anthony Brown, beyond the standards he’d already set, to lift the host Highlanders to the 64-60 win, tying the pair for first place with 13-2 records.

The top two finishers in Greater Spokane League boys basketball are virtually assured. So, too, are the top four finishers in wrestling. Order of finish is another matter, although contests this week will go far in determining it.

The dream lives for the Mead Panthers, whose 42-29 wrestling triumph Thursday night at East Valley maintained hope of a Greater Spokane League title. Not so for the Knights (6-2), who, to mask weaknesses in some weight classes by bumping up wrestlers, instead suffered the defeat.

Greg Gavin coached West Valley to the State AA football championship in 1976 and Central Valley into its first state playoff six years later. On Saturday in Bellevue, Gavin will be inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Shadle Park continued to share second place in the Greater Spokane League after Tuesday night’s basketball victory over University. But the Titans remained a thorn in the Highlanders’ (10-2) side.

Mead girls basketball coach Regan Drew learned that you must play with the hand you’re dealt when she was a player at Stanford. Drew said she never wonders “what if” when asked if, in hindsight, she thinks about how good the Panthers could have been this year. That may be why the Panthers haven’t missed a beat in the Greater Spokane League.

The question before the Greater Spokane League boys basketball game between first-place Gonzaga Prep and surging Central Valley was: How much the Bullpups’ size would have to do with the outcome? The answer? Everything.

Deer Park and Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) wrestlers are car pooling. The teams, defending State 2A and State 1A champions, respectively, will travel together to Orem, Utah, for this weekend’s Rocky Mountain Rumble. “We are sharing a charter bus to help cut costs,” DP coach Matt Jorgensen said.

Seldom can it be said in wrestling that the outcome of a dual contest was decided by the night’s first match. But University sophomore Jacob Fry’s comeback at 171 pounds and subsequent overtime victory Wednesday night was pivotal in the Titans’ 35-27 Greater Spokane League victory over visiting Mead.