Few Surprises At District
High school tennis/golf
The boys portion of the District 8 4A tennis tournament panned out as expected.
Top-seeded Philip Laubscher of Shadle Park and No. 2 Nick Clayville of Ferris won straight-sets semifinals at Mead on Friday to advance to today’s title match in boys singles.
Also at Mead, No. 1 Karl and Peter Johnson of Lewis and Clark, and second-seeded James VanHess and Kevin Novan of Ferris advanced to today’s boys doubles title match with straight-sets wins.
Laubscher stopped No. 4 Drew Piston of LC 6-1, 7-5; Clayville defeated No. 3 Troy Handwerk of Gonzaga Prep 6-4, 6-1.
Johnson/Johnson stopped unseeded Brian Reed and Mike Schneider of Mead 6-1, 6-1; VanHess/Novan powered past No. 3 James and John Lattin of North Central 6-1, 6-2.
The girls tournament at Mt. Spokane provided a definite Gonzaga Prep flavor. G-Prep’s Lisa VanGemert, ranked No. 1 in girls singles, advanced to today’s championship against unseeded teammate Carla Jones.
VanGemert defeated LC’s Alerian Lockwood 6-3, 6-2. Jones topped second-seeded Oana Barac of LC 6-1, 7-6 (7-1).
G-Prep’s top-seeded Marie Carroll and Marissa Flinders outlasted Shadle’s Lisa Trefts and Leslie Liddell 6-1, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) in one semifinal. They’ll play for the title against No. 2 Whitney Persch and Lindsey Scribner of Shadle, who topped East Valley’s Elly Smith and Sarah Shogren 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
Cheney’s Chris Mount and West Valley’s Staci Heidenson won singles titles in the District 7 3A tournament at East Valley. They earn top seeds into the regional tournament next weekend at Sunnyside against the Mid-Valley League. Mount defeated Leo D’incao of WV 6-4, 6-3 for the boys title. Heidenson topped teammate Tiffany McFrederick 6-4, 6-3 in the girls final. District doubles are scheduled for noon today at East Valley.
Boys golf
Patrick Galloway defeated teammate James Patton in a playoff for medalist honors, and their West Valley (Yakima) team ran away with the title at the Region IV 3A tournament in Eastmont. The Rams finished at 318 for an 18-stroke edge over Eastmont. Local teams were bunched up with Colville (344) in fourth place, Clarkston (345) in fifth and Cheney (346) in sixth. Cheney’s Peter Sisich placed third, two shots of the pace with a 77. Colville’s Jason Cox and Justin Hite tied for fourth at 79. Sixth-place Steve DeTray of Clarkston, with an 80, was the other area player to qualify for the May 22-23 State 3A tournament at Bellingham Golf and Country Club.