Quick hits
Mead All-Sports champ
Mead athletics, for the fifth time in six years, is the Greater Spokane League All-Sports Trophy winner.
The Panthers totaled 248.3 points to Ferris’ 203.5 by winning or sharing league titles in volleyball, girls soccer, gymnastics and boys golf, with second places in six other sports.
The state champion Saxons boys basketball and nationally ranked boys cross country teams were among five Ferris league team titlists. The others were boys and girls tennis and girls soccer.
This year’s standings: 1, Mead 248.3; 2, Ferris 203.5; 3, University 175; 4, Lewis and Clark 167; 5, Central Valley 160.5; 6, Mt. Spokane 147.7; 7, Shadle Park 141; 8, Gonzaga Prep 134.5; 9, East Valley 118; 10, North Central 89.5; 11, Rogers 43.0.
Advantage in loss?
The cloud in Shadle Park’s 1-0 district championship loss to University on Tuesday may have had a silver lining when Greater Spokane and Columbia Basin league teams compete for state this weekend.
The Highlanders open against Moses Lake, which finished fourth in the CBL with a 5-7 record but upset Walla Walla to finish third in district.
The Blue Devils had tied Richland and Pasco for first place in the CBL, all with 10-2 marks. The Bombers won a tiebreaker 5-0 over Pasco for top seed, but lost 5-0 to the Bulldogs in the district final.
District champion U-Hi draws Wa-Hi, while Central Valley plays Richland and Mead plays Pasco. All games are Friday at 6 p.m.
State track qualifiers
State qualifying track meets start today with area B athletes at SFCC and Walla Walla and 2A at Cheney High School.
The 2A Great Northern League qualifies two per event to state in Tacoma. The meet continues on Friday. The two-day meet at Walla Walla is for 2B schools with two advancing to state at EWU. The one-day meet at SFCC sends three in 2B and three boys and two girls in 1B to EWU.
The 1A regional is Friday at Cashmere with four boys and three girls moving on to state in Tacoma.
The 4A/3A regional is Friday and Saturday at SFCC. The 4A meet advances three and the 3A two to state in Pasco.
“The Greater Spokane League District 8 track meet generally does not keep team scores, for several reasons. First, the GSL crowns a regular-season champion. Second, coaches don’t want to overextend athletes at the start of the three-week postseason in events they don’t plan to continue in.
Maybe it’s a change in strategy, but more likely the result of the computer program that automatically tallies team points, that team scores were kept at last week’s meet.
Although no awards were given, Mead, runner-up to the Central Valley boys and Shadle Park girls, respectively, during the regular season, won the District 8 4A meets. The Panthers girls had 155 points to 146 for Ferris and 128 for Shadle. The boys had 136 1/2, six ahead of CV with LC at 103 1/2. The meet scored eight deep for individuals, the same number of athletes to advance to regional.
With Class 3A scoring four deep because four advance, the Mt. Spokane girls beat East Valley 74-65 and the North Central boys edged EV 62 1/2-61 with Mt. Spokane at 571/2.
Last team standing
East Valley’s boys soccer team, which got a jump on the State 3A meet last weekend with victory over Sunnyside, is the lone area team still playing. The Knights host Camas at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gonzaga Prep.
Baseball pairings set
Local baseball teams know who they play in this weekend’s state baseball tournament regional pools Saturday.
University opens 4A play at 10 a.m. against Moses Lake in Richland. Mt. Spokane plays Issaquah, which tied for fourth in the KingCo League, in 3A at 10 a.m. in Yakima.
Clarkston and Pullman will be tested by CWAC 2A powers Ephrata and Selah at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, also in Yakima. Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) drew Kiona-Benton, the SWAC district champ at 1 p.m. in Moses Lake, following the Chewelah-Cle Elum game.
In 2B, it’s St. George’s vs. Waterville (10 a.m.) and Lind-Ritzville vs. DeSales (1 p.m.) at Shadle Park, and Liberty vs. La Salle (10 a.m.) and Republic vs. Asotin (1 p.m.) at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla. Two will advance to state semifinals.
Odessa plays Oakville at Naches Valley at 1 p.m., while St. Michael’s plays Liberty Christian at 10 a.m. and Northport plays Colton at 1 p.m., both at Eisenhower High in Yakima, with winners reaching next week’s State 1B semifinals in Yakima.