|
|
| IT'S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN |
|---|
| 2001 -- The year in sports in review |
|---|
 | | Photo by Sverre Bakke | | NOVEMBER 2001 -- Columbia senior linebacker Mike Wild (right) catches Rochester's Luke Erwin from the backside during a Nov. 2 SW Washington District 4 playoff game. The Warriors ended the Bruins' 2001 season with a 40-13 victory. |
|
By Sverre Bakke
This week, The Enterprise concludes its 2001 year in sports review with a look at some of the stories we covered and one or two we missed during the months July-December.
JULY
An action-filled three-game Hugh Hinman Memorial Tournament on July 4 concluded with White Salmon's Underwood Fruit defeating Maritime Services of Hood River 14-10 in the boys major league championship game.
The victory earned Underwood (13-7 on the season) its second consecutive title, and third in four years.
Robbie Kloster went 4 for 5 with six runs batted in to pace the Packers at the plate.
Jared McDonald -- the second of three pitchers used by Underwood -- got the win in relief, pitching 2@FN(1)@FD(3) innings of three-hit ball.
A field of 374 runners braved blustery weather conditions on July 15 for the 2001 Subaru Gorge Games' 10-kilometer run and half-marathon.
But strong wind -- not to mention the threat of rain -- wasn't enough to blow them off the challenging Snowden-area courses laid out by race organizers.
The first runner to whip the conditions and cross the finish line was Dusty Lopez of Trout Lake, who repeated as overall champion in the 10-kilometer race. His winning time was 39 minutes, 19.8 seconds.
In the men's 50-and-over division of the 10k, it was a Klickitat County sweep as Rick Bruner of White Salmon beat Sherman Rouse of Lyle to the finish line by 20 seconds. Trout Lake's Monte Pearson came in third.
History was made on the first day of Gorge Games competition as Renee Hanks of Arcadia, Calif., became the first female kiteboard sailor to complete the Blowout race.
She finished the exhausting 17-mile upriver race from Stevenson to Hood River in a time of 2 hours, 47 minutes, 45 seconds.
Her time didn't set any records, however, as she crossed the finish line nearly two hours behind men's kiteboard and overall winner Cory Roeseler of Hood River, who did set a new Blowout time of 47:51, racing on a pair of waterskis.
One racing team co-sponsored by SDS Lumber Co. of Bingen won its division of the 2001 Subaru Gorge Games 24-hour marathon bike race and a second finished fifth in its.
Team SDS/Sunnyside Sports was victorious in the four-man men's race, which began at noon on July 21 and concluded at non on July 22.
The jointly sponsored team of Dave Zimbelman, Mike Schindler, Greg Miller and Kevin Murray completed 23 laps in 24 hours, 5 minutes and 1 second. Its margin of victory was 10 seconds over Mt. View Cycles of Hood River.
In the five-person coed division, fifth place went to Team SDS/Sunnyside Sports.
The quintet of Jason Spadaro, Don Leet, Cassondra Spring, John Howcroft and Kevin Leet covered 20 laps in 25:01:08 and finished just an hour out of second place.
AUGUST
White Salmon-area swimmers turned in some outstanding performances to help the Hood River Valley Swim Team win the Columbia Gorge Summer Invitational, Aug. 3-5, at the Hood River Aquatic Center.
Erin Jones led local swimmers with seven first-place finishes and two seconds in 10 open events, in the girls 9-10 division.
Justine Rawding, swimming in the girls 13-14 class, set two meet records and logged six firsts and three seconds. In fact, meet records fell in half of her 10 events.
HRVST set 12 new invitational records all told on its way to winning the meet by 166.5 points, with 1,483 points.
Local Little League supporters began the process of upgrading all four ballfields at the Center Street complex.
The improvements, undertaken by White Salmon Community Youth volunteers, included installation of automated underground sprinkler systems.
Community Youth put the total cost of the project at $8,000-$9,000, thanks to generous donations and discounts on parts, materials and equipment rentals.
White Salmon native and former Columbia High School standout Liz (Walker) Downing was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame during ceremonies Aug. 11 in Portland.
The former star athlete's career in the run-bike-run sport of duathlon began in the late 1980s and stretched into the early '90s.
Her accomplishments included two world duathlon championships and 64 victories in 85 events. She retired from competition in 1994, at the age of 36.
Downing grew up in White Salmon and graduated in 1977 from CHS, for which she still holds the girls record in the 800-meter run.
In her acceptance speech, Downing credited her mother, Margaret Walker of White Salmon, for her success.
"Without her dedication and sacrifice for me to reach my athletic goals, I wouldn't be here," said Downing, who played soccer, softball and basketball at Portland's Lewis and Clark College in the late '70s.
In 1987, she began competing in triathlons, but after coming to the realization she wasn't a strong-enough swimmer, she switched almost exclusively to duathlons and dominated.
Downing entered the sports hall of fame with the class of 2001 that also featured former NBA all-star Clyde Drexler, bowler Marshall Holman, auto racer Herschel McGriff, multi-sport star Royce McDaniel and distance runner Rudy Chapa.
SEPTEMBER
The second Gorge Youth Football League season concluded Sept. 22, and both White Salmon teams went out winners.
White Salmon's Big Red shut out Hood River's Purple Vikings in the first game of a playoff triple-header at Hood River's Henderson Community Stadium.
Kent Shelley scored on a 57-yard punt return in the first quarter and a 79-yard interception return as the first half expired to stake Big Red to a 12-0 lead in the game for fifth place.
Much later, on the final play of the game (which followed a Big Red defensive stand at its own 4-yard line), Shelley threw a halfback option pass to Travis Sears, who went 96 yards for a game-ending touchdown.
The White Salmon Black Knights followed with a shut-out victory of their own in the game for third place: 12-0 over the Hood River Blue Devils.
Kyle Earls and Darnell Douglas each ran for a touchdown to spark the Black Knights.
Earls scored from 30 yards out early in the first quarter to stake the White Salmon team to a 6-0 lead.
Douglas made it 12-0 when he crashed in from the 2-yard line on a fourth-and-goal play midway through the final period.
Columbia High School's athletics fund grew $1,300 richer, thanks to the participants of the 32nd annual Mt. Adams Elks/Francis E. Logan Memorial Golf Tournament.
This year's tournament field featured more than 60 mixed couples knocking balls around Husum Hills Golf Course.
The winners were Derek Yeager and Donna Mollett. They combined to card the lowest gross.
Senior slotback Keith McMillen scored on runs of 52 and 67 yards in the second half to lead Columbia High to a 28-23 non-league prep football victory over visiting Lake Roosevelt Sept. 28.
McMillen finished the game with a career-high 164 rushing yards on five carries and also led the Bruins on defense with 16 tackles and an interception.
OCTOBER
Neither Lyle nor Wishkah Valley held anything back when they met Oct. 13 in Wishkah to play a non-league Class B-8 football game.
The two teams combined for 887 yards of total offense and 16 touchdowns in a classic 8-man shootout. In the most important statistic of all -- points -- the Cougars had the final advantage, 60-54.
Lyle quarterback Chad Myers scored the winning touchdown on a broken play from the Wishkah 2-yard line with less than four minutes remaining in the game.
The fourth-and-goal play began with Myers fumbling the snap from shotgun formation. But the senior played it cool as he picked up the ball, eluded a horde of tacklers and found an opening into the end zone.
Twelve-year-old Jeff Emmerson of White Salmon played his way from a standing of 90th among Northwest junior tennis players to a place in the top 22 just a few months after joining the Champ division.
The move up made it possible for Emmerson to qualify for national tournaments.
He started playing tennis competitively just over a year ago. During that period of time he rose through two divisions to Champ, the highest level of junior tennis competition.
On June 28, he won the first state junior tennis title of his career at the 103rd Oregon State Junior A Tennis Championships -- a victory which added another link to his chain of 2001 successes.
Columbia High lost its third consecutive homecoming game Oct. 19 -- and its first game of the 2001 season -- as the La Center Wildcats blanked the Bruins 34-0.
A victory over La Center would have clinched CHS at least a share of the Trico League championship and locked up the league's No.-1 district playoff berth.
Instead, the loss left the Bruins playing for their playoff lives with one game to go in the regular season.
Last year, circumstances awarded Trout Lake the Greater Columbia B League boys soccer championship and the league's top seed into the state 1A/B playoffs.
This season the Mustangs earned both. And they left no doubt by winning seven straight matches and eight of their last nine, including their Oct. 19 3-1 decision over visiting Sunnyside Christian.
When they convened the season's first practice, Henkle Middle School girls basketball coaches Mike Yarnell, Michael Hannigan and Dennis Jablonski began the process of paring the roster from 50-some girls to 44.
The decision to limit the number of players was made earlier in the month by Superintendent Dale Palmer, with input from the coaching staff, school administrators and the district's athletic director.
Palmer concluded after an examination of the options that the school could not afford to do business as usual -- one coach for every 25 to 30 kids -- and still provide a quality athletic experience.
A 3-1 Trico League victory over Castle Rock here Oct. 25 earned Columbia High's volleyball team CHS's first District 4 Tournament berth since 1996.
The Bruins (3-9 in league, 5-10 overall) won two of their three remaining matches to claim the league's fourth and final spot in the eight-team, double-elimination district tournament.
Klickitat reigned supreme once again, going through another Greater Columbia B League volleyball campaign undefeated and winning its 11th conference championship in a row.
The Vandals, the state's second-rated team, locked up the title with an Oct. 23 sweep of the Lyle Cougars.
Columbia High secured an appearance in a district playoff game by manhandling Ridgefield 35-6 in Trico League football action Oct. 26 at CHS Stadium.
Senior quarterback Bryan Charters, in just his second start of the season, threw for three scores and ran for another to lead the Bruins' offensive charge.
Senior cornerback Keith McMillen's 16 tackles helped make the case for CHS's Black Hat defense.
NOVEMBER
Seasons came to an end for both Columbia High's football and volleyball teams the weekend of Nov. 2-3.
The CHS football team lost a District 4 2A playoff game to Rochester, 40-13, there on Nov. 2. The Bruins trailed the Warriors 21-13 at halftime of the state-qualifying contest.
On Nov. 3 in Montesano, the CHS volleyball team bowed out after losing its first two District 4 2A tournament matches.
The Bruins won their opening set against Rochester, but lost the next four sets (two to Rochester, two to Forks) en route to being eliminated from CHS's first district volleyball action since 1996.
Freshman Kris Huffsmith's goal three minutes into the second overtime Nov. 2 gave Trout Lake a 4-3 victory over Day Star Christian in the Yakima Valley District 5 Class B championship soccer match.
The victory -- their third of the year over the Moses Lake school -- sent the Mustangs (13-3) to Spokane to play defending champion St. George's High School in a first-round match of the state 1A/B playoffs.
Klickitat extended its run as Yakima Valley District 5 Class B volleyball champion to four seasons Nov. 3 with a two-set victory over Sunnyside Christian in the district title match.
With the win, the top-seeded Vandals (21-1) advanced to their fourth straight state B tournament.
In the ensuing consolation final, second-seeded Lyle (17-3), runnerup to Klickitat in the 2001 Greater Columbia B League season, swept Sunnyside Christian to secure the district's second berth -- and the school's firstever in volleyball -- to state.
After finishing second in last year's Class B state tournament, Klickitat's volleyball team hoped this would the year it went all the way.
But it wasn't to be as the Vandals lost their rematch with the defending champions from Davenport in a two-set semifinal Nov. 10 in the Spokane Arena.
Klickitat rebounded from the disappointing defeat to beat Darrington in the match for fifth place and claim its third state trophy in three years.
The finest season in Trout Lake soccer history concluded Nov. 10 in Spokane, with a 3-1 loss to Northwest Christian in the championship match of a state 1A/B regional tournament.
The Mustangs, who completed their unsuccessful run for the state finals with a 14-4 record, advanced to the regional title match by upsetting defending state champion St. George's of Spokane 4-2 in Nov. 9 regional semifinal action.
Senior Ben Anderson, Trout Lake's all-time leading scorer, put in two goals on direct free kicks and had an assist in the win over the previously unbeaten Dragons.
A pair of Lyle seniors were named to Oakville publisher Dave Tuengel's Washington Prep Football Report Class B-8 All-State Football Team.
Running back Randy McMurrin, who unofficially led the B-8 ranks in rushing in 2001, earned a spot on the WPFB's first-team offense.
Teammate Ryan Johnson, the Cougars' leading pass-catcher and point-scorer, received recognition as a wide receiver on the second-team offense.
DECEMBER
First-place trophies went to Klickitat's boys and girls basketball teams for Dec. 1 victories in the championship games of the season-opening Klickitat Riverside Tournament.
Senior Michelle Martell had 20 points and 15 rebounds as Klickitat defended its title with a 77-51 triumph over Thorp in the girls' final.
In the boys' title tilt, senior Michael Payne's two free throws with four seconds remaining made the difference in the Vandals' 53-52 victory over the Thorp Tigers.
With her first basket in a Dec. 8 game against Klickitat, Lyle senior Kristina Lucas became the first girl in school history to surpass the 1000-point mark for a career
Lucas, in her fourth year as a varsity starter, tallied 23 points, nine rebounds and six steals in the Cougars' 50-41 victory over the Vandals.
Wrestling made its debut at Wayne M. Henkle Middle School during the fall of 2001.
The Grizzlies' first season in the Lower Columbia Middle School Activities Association concluded with league tournaments in mid-December.
Seventh-grader Austin Krentz posted the highest finish among Henkle varsity wrestlers, placing second on Dec. 15 in the 82-pound weight class.
Krentz began the year by winning his first five matches before losing his last two.
At the jayvee tournament on Dec. 13, Andrea London, Vince Cruse and Sam Mart all placed second in their respective weight brackets.
|
| Go to top. |
|
