Greg Lee: A look back at 2015
Sometimes I look back at a year and determine the good I accomplished and consider things I may have just flat missed.
When it comes to high school sports – the beat I was hired here to cover back in 1984 – you have to consider a year that begins in late August and concludes in early June. High school sports aren’t a January to December thing.
Before closing the book on 2015, though, allow me the opportunity to celebrate one last time, at least in this forum, some of the wonderful feats. There were a number of golden moments.
It began last winter with the Colton girls basketball team capturing a seventh straight State 1B championship. Just an incredible run that doesn’t appear is going to end any time soon.
In that span, Colton had four undefeated seasons under coach Clark Vining, going 178-4. That’s a ridiculous .978 winning percentage.
And Vining isn’t leaving any time soon either. Consider his daughter is in seventh grade and is a nice little player in her own right.
Just as impressive was the repeat in State 4A by the Gonzaga Prep girls. The Bullpups finished with a 50-game winning streak.
G-Prep’s run speaks to the toughness of the Greater Spokane League, which has captured seven state titles in the last decade.
Turning to fall sports, a streak of considerable magnitude was extended by the North Central boys cross country team. The Indians now stand at the top of the big school heap as winners of a record 10 straight State 3A championships, eclipsing the mark of nine set by Pat Tyson’s former Mead teams.
Back in the day, we celebrated how Tyson was the master at building teams. Well his successor in that realm is NC’s Jon Knight – a prince of a gentleman and a master motivator.
What I enjoy about being around NC cross country is that Knight is so classy and humble. He doesn’t hog the spotlight. In fact, he’s the first to acknowledge his mentor, Tyson. Then he shares the credit with his longtime assistant coaches.
Leading the Indians was senior Justin Janke. Just like Tanner Anderson before him, Janke dominated the state field and showed why he was the best male runner regardless of classification.
And Janke is an example of how to do things right to prep athletes. He not only goes out at the top of his class in terms of running, but he’s second to none in the classroom, too. And that is the most important skill he has because he will go far in life based on his smarts and not his legs.
In football, Gonzaga Prep and Almira/Coulee-Hartline were the standard bearers in eastern Washington.
We were more familiar with G-Prep’s story from the start this season just because I knew the Bullpups were going to be good and seemingly good enough to advance to the semifinals. To finish off a 14-0 season with a State 4A championship was spectacular.
The most impressive thing to me about G-Prep is the fact that coach Dave McKenna started 22 different kids. Sure University of California-bound Evan Weaver played enough on both sides of the ball to be considered a two-way starter, but McKenna believes so much in family and rewarding dedication and hard work that he didn’t stray from his two-platoon principal.
In ACH’s case, the kids representing three communities forged a bond that none of thought could end up in Tacoma because highly favored Liberty Christian stood in the way.
But in a game I’ll remember for a long, long time, ACH, led by do-everything Dallas Isaak, knocked off Liberty Christian in the semifinals and took care of business against Lummi Nation the next week.
So 2015 was chock full of feats. And by this time next year we’ll be celebrating new ones.