For cross country, next week is the run for Pasco. And the place to be for nearly all of it is Apple Ridge Run.
The state’s premier runners-only course up on Naches Heights will host a tripleheader of state-qualifiers — the EWAC on Thursday, SCAC on Friday and CWAC on Saturday.
The CBBN (4A) district meet will be held Thursday at Franklin Park.
Apple Ridge Run will start with the EWAC and a boys-only event. The top two teams and 14 individuals will be on their way to the 2B-1B state meet. With a smaller number of teams, the EWAC girls will compete at Liberty Bell on Saturday in a District 5-6 race.
Next up will be the SCAC, which has ample paths to Pasco with the top three teams and 21 individuals advancing to 1A state.
It’s the same 3-and-21 opportunity on Saturday for the CWAC, but this is actually a regional meet that will include qualifiers from the GSL. East Valley-Spokane’s Logan Hofstee, last year’s 2A state runner-up, could be taking a shot at Kate Laurent’s year-old course record of 17:32 on the three-mile layout.
On Thursday at Franklin Park, the CBBN will have its standard two-teams, 14-individuals allocation for the 4A state meet. West Valley’s Caden Casteel and Eisenhower’s Isabela Alvarado will be seeking repeat titles, and the Rams will be looking to advance both teams to Pasco.
Up, up and away
Break a Prosser passing record and you’ve done something.
Junior Kory McClure did just that last week, completing 32 of 45 passes for 496 yards on his home field against East Valley. That took down a 14-year-old Mustang record of 449 yards set by Jordan Durbin in 2008. Durbin hit 37 of 45 in that game against Ephrata.
Six different quarterbacks have produced 11 games of 400 yards or more in Prosser’s history.
A day after McClure’s exploits, West Valley’s Skyler Cassel looked like he might take a shot at his Valley record of 520 yards when he put up 346 in the first half against Eisenhower. During one stretch in the second quarter he completed six consecutive passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns.
But the second half got bogged down with a rash of penalties on both sides — the ugly total was 27 flags for 245 yards — and Cassel finished with 455 yards, giving him three of the Valley’s top 10 all-time single games.
First teams to state
The first state berths of the fall season will be earned on Saturday when Moses Lake hosts the CBBN district slowpitch tournament.
With 22 Class 4A teams in Washington, the CBBN gets two berths in the eight-team state tournament, which returns to Yakima’s Gateway Sports Complex on Oct. 28-29.
Moses Lake (16-2), ranked second in the 4A state RPI, will play West Valley (14-4) in the championship game at 11 a.m. to settle the top seed. The Mavericks, who split four games with RPI leader Chiawana, swept the Rams in league play, 15-5 and 15-14, on Oct. 11.
During the title game, Eisenhower (6-10) and Davis (5-11) will meet in a loser-out contest. That winner will then face the championship loser in a winner-to-state game at 1 p.m. The Cadets took two from their city rival, 9-4 and 3-2, last week.
Fitting tribute
Kudos to Eisenhower and athletic director Paul Stephens for the pregame tribute to Dan Eyman before last Friday’s game.
With a montage of photos and videos on the big scoreboard, it was a wonderful sendoff for Eyman’s final game at Zaepfel Stadium. Especially with the accompaniment of Time of Your Life by Green Day.
Eyman is the winningest coach in Eisenhower’s history, having led the program from 2002 to 2013 before later returning to his alma mater at West Valley.
In his eight years at the helm of the Rams, Eyman has done well on his former field, winning six of seven games and his last five in a row.
Ready to repeat
After rolling to last year’s 2A state volleyball title in the SunDome, where it dropped only one set in four matches, Columbia River appears ready for a repeat.
At Saturday’s Burlington-Edison Invitational, a 2A showcase, the top-ranked Waves went 6-0 with wins over No. 2 B-E, No. 3 Lynden and No. 4 Ellensburg. Columbia River is 25-0 overall and has dropped only two sets all season.
The host Tigers finished second in their tournament, and Ellensburg was 4-1 before having to depart during bracket play. The Bulldogs’ notable win was over Lynden.
Aiming for crossovers
With two games left in the EWAC’s regular season, the top three seeds from both divisions are settling in and aiming for the Week 10 state-qualifying football crossovers.
The East will get its top two spots sorted out Friday when fifth-ranked Burbank hosts No. 10 River View. Both teams are 3-0 in league and 6-1 overall.
This season the West will host two of the three playoff crossovers on Nov. 4 with these pairings: East 3 at West 1, East 2 at West 2, and West 3 at East 1.
If Burbank tops River View, it’s safe to think that the Panthers wouldn’t be excited about a trip to West 2, which is likely to be Kittitas. The Coyotes (2-1, 4-3) 3) handed River View its lone loss, 24-21, in Finley last month and they have their ground-and-pound game in high gear these days.
Quarterback and senior class president Josh Rosbach has scored 10 of his 16 touchdowns in the last three weeks and has returned three kickoffs for scores.
From the sideline
- Davis is hosting Spokane’s new school, 3A Ridgeline, on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., with both teams seeking their first win at 0-7. The Falcons have faced a tough schedule and scored 12 touchdowns in their last four games.
- With Granger’s track and field project completed early this week, the Spartans are ready to host White Swan for Homecoming on Friday and debut the new facility to the community. It will also be senior night for football and cross country.
- Naches Valley junior Ty Moore touched the ball only seven times in Friday’s game at Wapato but certainly made the most of it, scoring four touchdowns via pass reception, punt return, interception return and kickoff return. With those seven touches he gained 275 yards. Moore and Rosbach earned WIAA athlete of the week honors on Thursday along with Prosser’s Kambree Blair and Cle Elum’s Megan Conover.
- Life is never easy in the CBBN for a sophomore quarterback and Eisenhower’s Moses Spurrier has done a lot of learning by fire this season. But he has managed to rack up 1,029 yards in seven games and he’s got the speed to run.
