EV wrestling event adds girls to its Dream

The dual meet wrestling season is rapidly approaching its conclusion, but not before schools test themselves Saturday at the annual Washington Dream Duals at East Valley.

This year, EV coach and Dream Duals coordinator Craig Hanson has added a girls division.

Kelso, Mt. Baker, Springdale and Warden are the four schools entered. Hanson said Kelso is the team to beat.

Girls had their first official state tournament last year. Kelso finished second to Hoquiam in the all-classification event.

The competition is one of five classifications that begin with rounds beginning at 8 a.m. on eight mats at EV and conclude with final contests at 6:30 p.m.

Because only the Class A bracket has a full six teams, the placing matches will look a little different, Hanson said.

“It will be an all-day round-robin and we are trying to make the final matches the best,” he said.

In the 4A portion, for instance, returning champion Lake Stevens and Rogers of Puyallup, the top two seeds, will wrestle at 6:30, following Central Valley against Moses Lake. Pasco rounds out the bracket.

In 3A the seeds, in order, are Enumclaw, Eastmont, EV, Olympic and Kelso.

Four teams in 2A include Riverside, Othello, Tumwater and Steilacoom.

Top-ranked 1A school Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), defending state champion Royal, Warden, Castle Rock, Vashon and Omak fill that classification.

“It’s still going to happen,” said Hanson. “It has good brackets and there will still be great duals.”

Speaking of Lakeside

It continues to be a marvelous wrestling season for the Eagles and first-year coach Troy Hughes.

During a busy schedule last week, they beat Northeast A League foes Newport and Kettle Falls. They traveled to Royal and won easily in the match between 1A state powers. They then went on to 3A Kelso, where they beat the Hilanders in a dual and captured the Kelso Invitational tournament over the weekend.

Seven wrestlers reached the finals and 10 placed. Champions were Ryan Norstadt at 112, Jacob Lauderdale at 119, Kyle Johnson at 135 and Reid Chivers at 189 against foes from higher classification schools.

CBL saga

In talking with Rene Ferran from the Tri-City Herald, then reading his blog, it is obvious things are not totally copacetic in the Columbia Basin League.

During its meeting in Moses Lake on Tuesday, the CBL 4A schools announced that they were defining the new league. If the 3A schools wanted to opt up, or if a school were assigned to the league, it would do so at the pleasure of the larger schools.

Steve Biehn, athletic director of one of the opt-ups, Southridge, was quoted by Ferran as saying, “We were told we would have no voting rights, that we would have no part of the scheduling process.”

The rationale was that 4A schools have no other choice where they play, while 3A schools do and therefore the 4As make the rules.

Whatever happens in the Basin will spill over to the GSL because 3A schools Mt. Spokane, East Valley, North Central and Rogers will be forced to decide what they do based upon playoff allotments.

As I said on my blog, teams throughout the state seem amenable, like the GSL, to forming 4A-3A combination leagues. Why the CBL is making this so difficult is difficult to fathom.

Minnerly nominated

Ferris quarterback Jeff Minnerly has been nominated as an Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year. He is among selected players eligible to be chosen to be honored in a February full-page feature in USA Today.

The Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year program recognizes football players who embody leadership, performance and desire.