Mike Vlahovich: GSL gathers State 4A titles in bunches
As the clock approached midnight and we were wrapping things up on Saturday’s Gridiron Classic in the Tacoma Dome, a fellow scribe in press row mentioned how coverage of Greater Spokane League state champions was becoming a habit.
The comment struck a chord. It has been a remarkable year based upon the Youth Awards Luncheon fiscal sports season that begins in March with state basketball tournaments and ends with state fall sports.
This is what the GSL has accomplished. It might go down as the most amazing run of state success in league history. If not, it’s close.
“Winter: The league produced two state team champions in the same tournament for only the second time. The Ferris boys completed a rare unbeaten season, going 29-0 to capture the State 4A basketball title. Lewis and Clark girls won their second straight 4A championship, compiling a two-year record of 52-7.
“Spring: Shadle Park brought home only the second State 4A softball title in GSL history. The Highlanders compiled a 28-1 record and didn’t allow a run in seven regional and state games. University was the first titlist, in 2003.
“Fall: Was the most wonderful time of the year. Tom Yearout’s Tigers capped it all with last weekend’s State 4A football title in what easily could have been an All-GSL final. Before that, Mead won its fifth straight State 4A volleyball championship (over LC, for the second year in a row). Before that, North Central romped to its second straight 3A boys cross country championship and Mead extended the GSL’s run of 4A boys titles to 20 straight.
There were numerous second-place team finishes. NC’s boys went from last place in GSL basketball to third at the State 3A – perhaps the greatest accomplishment of all – further saying something about GSL talent.
Titletown, Washington? That might be stretching it a bit, but certainly it was a year to remember as far as the Greater Spokane League is concerned.
It was one particularly satisfying in the Yearout household. Tom and his wife, Julie, coached state finalists, and their daughter, Laurie, was a part of two LC volleyball second-place teams.
“It was quite a fall at our house,” Tom said. “And that’s probably an understatement.”
Indeed. And I was privileged to be there for most all of it.
Lakeside wins showdown
It may have simply been an early-season non-league wrestling match, but Wednesday’s Deer Park-Lakeside encounter was significant. Host Lakeside won 34-29, winning the final two matches.
It pitted last year’s State 2A second-place and 1A third-place finishers against each other. DP’s Stags, Riverside and Clarkston are ranked first through third in 2A on the Washington Wrestling Report Web site and Lakeside is picked second in 1A this year.
“Both of us have really tough teams,” said first-year Lakeside coach Troy Hughes. “I don’t think there’ll be another match like this all year.”
Between them, the schools had a dozen state placers among 16 qualifiers in their lineups. The match of the night had Lakeside’s Wes McAdam, second at state last year, scoring a major decision over Ryan Jorgensen, who was sixth in a national meet over the summer.
I.E. Classic wrestling
The annual Inland Empire Classic Wrestling tournament is Friday and Saturday at Central Valley.
Friday’s rounds begin at 4:30 p.m. Saturday’s matches begin at 9 a.m. and conclude with finals at 3 p.m.
Eighteen schools from the Greater Spokane, Great Northern and Columbia Basin leagues, plus Idaho, Oregon and Montana will participate.
All-session tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for students and seniors. Friday prices are $4 and $3, and Saturday’s are $6 and $3.
Girls favorites meet
Lewis and Clark boys basketball doesn’t hit the court until the fifth game of the GSL season on Tuesday. But the Tigers girls face Mead Friday, 7:15 p.m., in an early season showdown between the two top league picks.