What a season it was

West Valley’s first team state track title capped the 2004-05 sports season for Spokane Valley high school athletes. And what a season it was. There were numerous team and individual state champions and place winners from the season’s start to its finish.

Besides the Eagles team title, University High wrestlers won their first state team championship as well, one of six top-10 state finishing efforts by Titans teams.

Season-long GSL standout, Central Valley junior golfer Nick Grigsby, brought home a coveted 4A championship to begin Springfest.

Freeman, led by Kevin Hatch, Malcolm Soelberg and Jessie DePell, claimed three Class 1A second-place state team finishes this year – one per season in football, girls basketball and boys track.

Twins Mandy and Haley Parsons finished fifth and sixth in State 4A golf last week that earned U-Hi a second-place team trophy.

And three other Titan girls teams – volleyball, basketball and softball – placed sixth in state. It was volleyball’s first state trophy and the second for basketball. Softball tied for its second-best state finish.

With a virtual mirror effort, the Titans volleyball and basketball teams both reached the state semifinals and the softball team wound up sixth as well in its 10th straight state trip last weekend. All three teams were denied third-place or potential third-place finishes by fellow Greater Spokane League schools: volleyball by Gonzaga Prep, basketball by Lewis and Clark and softball by Shadle Park.

Looking back chronologically:

Fall

East Valley athletes, back in the 3A classification for the first time in five years, started the season in a big way.

Football had its best season as a Greater Spokane League participant, finishing with a 9-4 record and reaching the state quarterfinals before its tough 41-32 loss to Kelso.

Boys cross country, led by 10th-place finisher Nick Atwood, finished third in state.

EV’s girls soccer qualified for the state round of 16.

Freeman, with two-way standout Hatch earning All-State honors, helped the small four-team Northeast A League make big state noise.

The Scotties won 12 straight games before losing 29-7 in the Gridiron Classic finals in Tacoma.

U-Hi volleyball, whose Mandy Daniels was GSL most valuable player and first-team All-State, was joined by the Titan girls cross country at state, the latter finishing 10th. And Titan football and girls soccer both reached the postseason.

And Freeman’s volleyball team made its annual state appearance, finishing seventh.

Winter

The winter brought continued successes with U-Hi’s state wrestling title, second-place finishes for East Valley grapplers and Freeman’s girls basketball team, third place in 3A state by West Valley boys basketball, matching its best, and U-Hi’s sixth-place girls effort.

U-Hi placed eight wrestlers at state, including champions Brian Owen (103 pounds) and Cory Fish (119), to outscore Lake Stevens 135-118. Central Valley junior Lucas Chesher (125) also won state.

East Valley sent a dozen wrestlers to the 3A tournament, placing nine, including 112-pound titlist Joey Plumb, and scored 138 points. But the Knights ran into Sedro Woolley’s juggernaut, which scored 173.

WV’s young basketball team wound up contending for a Greater Spokane League title and then for a state title led by leading scorer Tyler Hobbs. The Eagles were 23-4 during the season.

The Titans finished no worse than third in a GSL winter sport. Girls basketball went undefeated in league and were victorious in 26 of 27 games behind three-time All-GSL player Jami Bjorklund and sophomore Parade All-American Angie Bjorklund before losing its final two state games.

U-Hi’s boys basketball team, led by GSL MVP Calvin Jurich, qualified for regionals for the first time in nearly a decade.

DePell was named the State 1A tournament MVP after leading the Scotties into the finals, but the team could not beat Colfax a fourth straight time and settled for second.

Freeman’s boys basketball team, led by Soelberg, also had high state aspirations but went unplaced. Wrestler Danny Matthews brought home the Scotties second straight state title at 112 pounds.

Spring

Grigsby began the golf season with a par 72 and victory at the Rogers Invitational and capped it with a two-round total of 138 for his one-stroke victory in state.

He had opened the tourney at Indian Canyon Golf Course with a round of 66 and first-day lead.

On the second day he came back with a 72 and birdied the 18th hole after a double bogey two holes earlier cost him a three-stroke lead.

Grigsby finished 6-under-par during the two-day tournament.

The Parsons twins had opened their tourney at MeadowWood with identical 77 scores and a share of fifth after the first day.

Mandy shot 76 on day two for her fifth-place 153 total and Haley shot 79, finishing tied for sixth at 156.

CV’s Nicole Barham finished 14th at 162, EV’s Ashley Saffle and WV’s Ashley Wieber each shot 170 in the 3A tourney at Hangman Valley to share 16th.

Freeman’s Devan Moe finished third at 141 at Esmeralda, one stroke off the lead in the 1A boys tourney; Joseph Lindemann of Valley Christian tied for 13th at 163 in Class B.

Hatch got the one field event championship that had eluded him during a stellar track career at Freeman. He long jumped 22-8, beating Soelberg by a foot for the title.

His 6-8 high jump and 14-0 pole vault titles gave him a total of seven titles (two other pole vault, another high jump and a triple jump) during his career.

He and Soelberg, second in the 100 and third in the 200, combined for 52 of Freeman’s 66 second-place team points.

Bryan Riggs (400) and Michael Wittwer (discus) and the third-place 1,600 relay team accounted for the rest. DePell was fourth in the pole vault and seventh in the long jump and Jennesa Miller finished third in the 100-meter hurdles.

East Valley’s 1,600 relay team of Sam Hale, Anthony Laborin, Matt Tonani and Keith Holt won the 3A championship in 3:23.53 and U-Hi’s Kellen Lewis finished second in the 4A 300 hurdles at 38.45.

Other EV placers were Cody Irby, third in the javelin, Chris Shearer, fifth in the high jump and sixth in the javelin, Laborin sixth in the 200 and Holt seventh in the 400 for 31 points and sixth place.

Knight Eleaya Schuerch was fifth in the long jump and EV’s girls 400 and 800 relays were sixth and eighth. WV’s Emily Sasse finished sixth in the shot put.

Valley Christian 400 runner Erica Hattamer finished second in the State B meet at 59.82.

University’s softball team won three of five state tourney games, finishing the year 24-5, Freeman, led by seniors Jacklyn Riordan and Melissa Triber also finished in the final six of the 1A state tournament and Central Valley’s boys soccer team, led by All-GSL and league scoring leader Jay Vela, reached the state quarterfinals in the 16-team tournament.