BLOGS

VOLLEYBALL (9-3, 21-11)
State this week. For the second consecutive season Wenatchee qualified for the Big One…the state volleyball tournament. Friday the Panthers will be in Lacey where the tourney will be held at St. Martin’s University and Timberline High School. WHS opens with Curtis at 3:15. The Vikings are from University Place, a city just south of Tacoma, and members of the South Puget Sound League. Wenatchee and Curtis have faced each other twice, with a lot of time between the two meetings. This fall Curtis won 2-0 in a September tournament in Kent. The first time was over three decades ago when the Purple and Gold topped the Vikings 2-1 in the 1978 state tournament in Bellevue.

From 1977 to 1991 the Panthers were frequent visitors in the state tourney. Ten times during those 15 seasons WHS was a state contender, and when they went to Renton in 1983 the Panthers came home state champions. In that event WHS went 4-0 and clobbered Kent-Meridian 15-3, 15-3 for the title. After 38 tournaments that score remains the biggest rout in championship match 4A history.

Wenatchee’s record in state matches is 25-21, and besides the first place in 1983, they took fourth in 1978 and third in 1982. Their state years and records: 1977 (1-2), 1978 (4-2), 1981 (2-2), 1982 (4-1), 1983 (4-0), 1984 (2-2), 1985 (1-2), 1988 (4-2), 1990 (2-4), 1991 (1-2) and 2010 (0-2).

In addition to the Purple & Gold attending numerous tournaments in the “early days,” local fans got to see a bunch of top quality volleyball as five times the big show was contested right here in Wenatchee – 1979, and 1986 through 1989.

Of the 15 other teams battling for the top trophy this week, WHS has some history with 12 of them. – Prep (Tacoma) 0-1, Central Valley (Spokane) 5-2-1, Curtis (University Place) 1-1, Kamiak (Mukilteo) 0-1, Kent-Meridian 7-4-1, Kentwood 5-5, Mead (Spokane) 10-7, Newport (Bellevue) 1-0, Puyallup 1-2, Rogers (Puyallup) 2-1, Skyview (Vancouver) 0-2 and Woodinville 5-3. Wenatchee has never faced Jackson (Mill Creek), Olympia and Tahoma (Kent).

Tournament note. Since 1994 the first place state trophy has lived in Spokane 17 times in 27 years. Lilac City champs – Mead 7, Shadle Park 5, Lewis and Clark 3, North Central 1 and Ferris 1. As well as the Panthers 1983 title, only one other CBBN team has won first place hardware, Eisenhower in 1990.

And congratulations to three Wenatchee seniors who were selected for the CBBN all-league teams. First team members are Hannah Leiber as an outside hitter and Michaela George as a middle blocker. Both were second team picks a year ago. Rachael Tamngin made the second team as a setter.

Number 7. The Panthers head to state with the number seven ranking in this week’s volleyball coaches association poll. That is advancement of three places from last week.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
STATE CHAMPION! Jacob Smith captured the 4A state cross country title Saturday at Sun Willows Gold Course in Pasco. The Wenatchee senior is the first state champion in cross country in school history. A state meet has been held for 53 years, with the first competition in 1959. In fact Jacob is the first runner to ever win the title in CBBN history – that’s 46 years.

With five local harriers earning points, the team finished fourth at the meet, only the third time a Panther boys’ team has ever placed. The best finish was in the initial meet in 1959 at Green Lake in Seattle when Wenatchee nearly took the state championship, but finished second, one point behind Shadle Park. The next fall in 1960 the Panthers finished 14th. They have had of runners compete individually in the state event since, but never enough in one season to qualify as a team.

Close behind Smith in sixth place was teammate Nicholas Boersma, a fellow senior. A year ago at state Smith was sixth and Boersma 11th. The other three Panthers that placed were Tristan Cunderla 20th, Cole Christman 62nd and Judd Lewis 66th. Cunderla is a sophomore, Christman a freshman and Lewis a senior.

Prior to Smith’s title, one Panther came mighty close previously. Back in ’59 when the team took second, Bill Pratt was the runner-up in the individual competition, finishing 11.9 seconds behind the winner. In that same year Wenatchee’s Jim Colpitts placed 11th.

In the 53 meets, Smith is the 30th winner from the east side of the state, but the only one from outside the Spokane area. That’s right; nine Inland Empire schools have supplied 29 individual champions, led by Mead with 11.

FOOTBALL (3-3, 5-5)
This is the ninth consecutive non-losing season for WHS. Since 2003 there have been four winning years and five like this one when the team has split their 10 games.

Maybe once every 31 years is enough to have Gonzaga Prep come to town. The first time the two schools met was 1980 in the Apple Bowl and the Bullpups won 45-31. Last Friday they were here again and won 49-30.

And those 49 points by Gonzaga. The total ties for the fifth most ever surrendered by a Wenatchee team in 104 seasons. The last time the opposition tallied at least that many was 2000 when Kamiakin won 56-6. The record for points given up was set way back in 1919 when the Seagulls of Everett flew into town and laid a 65-0 licking on the local eleven.

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