Winter sports have wrapped up their regular seasons at Enumclaw High and White River, meaning it’s time for players, coaches and Plateau fans to focus on postseason play.
Some have already secured a spot in their state tournaments, others are gunning for a state appearance and one has already put the winter campaign in the record book.
Here’s a look at where things stand for winter programs at both local high schools.
WHITE RIVER BOYS WRESTLING
The White River High boys will head to the state wrestling championships on a serious high note, having won last week’s district title and qualified a whopping 15 wrestlers to the Class 3A state meet.
For 3A wrestlers, state competition runs February 20-21 in the Tacoma Dome. Hornets qualified during the February 8 district tourney at Kent-Meridian High School.
White River’s state contingent is headed by district champions Brayden Thacker, 132 pounds, Caleb Dale at 150, Joshua Hanson at 157, Luke Lisherness at 175, Tyson Moran at 190, Riley Simmons at 215 and Thomas Stanhope at 285. Others who battled their way to the finals and placed second were Joshua Wilson, 113 pounds, and Hunter Oswold, 165.
Other state qualifiers include third-place district finishers Morgan Presley, 126 pounds, and Jack Berdan at 190; Trevor King, fourth place at 144; Levi Northam, fourth at 165; Mason Brame, fourth at 285; and Dallas Stryker Simmons, fifth at 175.
WHITE RIVER GIRLS WRESTLING
Four White River girls earned district wrestling titles and will lead a crew of eight Hornets into the February 20-21 Class 3A state championships.
The state meet will again be contested in the Tacoma Dome.
Battling their way to district championships were Mya Turcott at 115 pounds, Amanda Lilly at 120, Lilyana Lamothe at 130 and Marli Miller at 135.
Also earning a state trip were Nancy Woodard, who placed third at 155 pounds and a trio of fifth-place finishers: Ruth Schweickert, 135, Arieana Jones, 190, and Sydnee Hloshyk, 235.
ENUMCLAW BOYS WRESTLING
The EHS boys wrestling team will be headed by district champion Caleb Grantham when the Hornets arrive at the Tacoma Dome for the February 20-21 Class 3A state championships.
In all, seven Hornet grapplers qualified for state during last week’s district meet at Kent-Meridian High School.
Grantham topped the district field at 138 pounds to earn his state tourney berth.
Other Enumclaw wrestlers punching their ticket to state were: Eddie Cormier-Higgins, second at 138 pounds; Bo Bruhn, second at 144; Cole Schumacher, second at 150; Mason Elder, second at 157; Gaven Gemmell, fourth at 106; and Romeo Gwerder, fourth at 132.
ENUMCLAW GIRLS WRESTLING
Eight Enumclaw High girls, including three district champions, will be in the Class 3A field during the upcoming state championships.
The state meet will be staged February 20-21 at the Tacoma Dome. Enumclaw’s state qualifiers earned their Tacoma trip during the February 8 district meet at Kent-Meridian High School.
Leading the way at state for EHS are the district-winning title trio of Taydem Bylin at 140 pounds, Madison Cooper at 170 and Sydney Poe at 190.
Also earning a state trip were Lily Hammond, second place at 110 pounds; Lily Pederson, second at 125; Maisy Norton, third at 135; Brookelyn Miller, fourth at 140; and Avery Sawyer, sixth at 100 pounds.
GIRLS GYMNASTICS
Four Plateau athletes, representing both Enumclaw and White River high schools, have qualified for district competition and remain in the chase for berths in the Class 3A state meet.
Locally, high school gymnasts represent their individual schools but turn out together under the direction of coach Ben Skipworth.
The quartet qualified for district during the February 8 subdistrict meet at Mount Rainier High School and will be back in action this this week at Ascent Gymnastics Center in Olympia. From there, the top two teams, the top four in all-around competition and the top 11 individuals in each event will advance to state.
State competition for Class 1A/2A/3A athletes will take place February 20-21 at Sammamish High School.
Making the biggest splash at subdistrict was Enumclaw’s Aly Posey who emerged as the all-around champion after finishing No. 1 in both the vault and floor exercise, placing second in bars and fifth on beam.
White River has a trio of gymnasts heading to the district meet. Ainsley Koehn finished No. 5 in all-around scoring, Jayden Saborio landed in sixth place and Maci Roach was eighth. Koehn tied for third on beam, tied for fourth in floor, was fifth in bars and sixth in vault; Saborio was third in floor, fourth in vault, sixth in bars and 12th on beam; and Roach tied for eighth in floor, was ninth in vault and bars and 15th on beam.
BOYS SWIM & DIVE
Six Plateau high school athletes have qualified for the upcoming Class 3A state swim and dive championships.
The season-ending meet is set for February 20-22 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
Hornets from both sides of the river earned a state trip during the February 7-8 district meet which saw swimmers in the water at Mount Tahoma High School and divers competing at Auburn High.
Making the biggest impact among local representatives was White River’s Conroy Meyers who was the district champion in the 50-yard freestyle and placed second in the 100-yard freestyle. He will also head to state in the 200-yard freestyle relay, joined by Eli Long, Evan Weisheyer, and William Haalas.
Representing Enumclaw High in two events at the state meet will be David Prince, who qualified by placing fourth in the 500-yard freestyle and fifth in the 200 freestyle at the district meet. Also making a trip to state will be EHS diver Riley Jensen who placed No. 4 during district competition.
Among the 17 teams at the district meet, White River placed No. 5 and Enumclaw was eighth.
GIRLS BOWLING
White River’s Shelby Lee joined bowlers from throughout Washington last week for the state tournament.
The Hornet junior had qualified as an individual, competing February 5 at Bowlero in Tukwila.
Rolling six games on the tourney’s opening day, Lee averaged 161.5, placing 20th in a field that included more than 70 girls in the Class 3A ranks. She posted a high game of 205; others included 165, 169, 158, 112 and 160.
ENUMCLAW BOYS BASKETBALL
The EHS boys will begin District 3/4 tournament play with an opening-round game tonight (Wednesday) at Lacey’s Timberline High.
The Hornets will take to the road as the district’s No. 10 seed while the Blazers earned the No. 7 position.
The winner will play again Friday against the winner of a game between No. 2 Lincoln and No. 15 River Ridge. The higher-seeded team will host the contest. The Enumclaw/Timberline loser will play Friday against the Lincoln/River Ridge loser (the loser of that one is finished for the season).
The 16 teams in district play will be battling for one of the tourney’s seven berths into the state tournament.
ENUMCLAW GIRLS BASKETBALL
Sixteen teams will begin play Thursday night in the District 3/4 basketball tournament, all hoping to be one of the seven squads advancing to the Class 3A state championships.
Included in the district field are the Enumclaw High Hornets, who landed as the No. 11 seed. In the district opener, EHS will travel to face a familiar foe, the No. 6 seeded Auburn Mountainview Lions. When the two met during the NPSL 3A season, the Lions came out on top.
Thursday’s winner will advance to play the winner of a game between No. 3 Bellarmine and No. 14 Decatur, squaring off Saturday on the home court of the higher-seeded team. The Enumclaw/Auburn Mountainview loser will face the Bellarmine/Decatur loser, also on Saturday, in a loser-out contest.
WHITE RIVER GIRLS BASKETBALL
White River’s goal of making a return trip to the state tournament begins with a Thursday night, opening-round, District 3/4 contest against Tacoma’s Silas High Rams.
Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. in the White River gymnasium.
The Hornets will host the game by virtue of their No. 2 seeding into the 16-team district tourney. Silas enters as No. 15.
Thursday’s winner will play again Saturday in the district quarterfinals against the winner of a contest between No. 7 Evergreen (Vancouver) and the No. 10 Lakes Lancers. The White River/Silas loser will play Saturday against the Evergreen/Lakes loser, with the loser finished for the season.
When the district tournament wraps up Saturday, February 22, seven teams will have earned a berth in the 3A state tourney. The state finals will take place in the Tacoma Dome.
White River enters postseason play as one of the top-ranked teams in the state. With a 20-2 regular-season record the Hornets sit at No. 3 in the RPI rating system used by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
WHITE RIVER BOYS BASKETBALL
The Hornet boys open postseason play tonight (Wednesday) against Mountain View High, hitting the road to challenge the Vancouver school.
The contest is an opening-round game in the District 34 tournament that will eventually send seven teams to the Class 3A state championships.
The winner of the White River/Mountain View contest will take on the winner of a game between No. 16 Kent-Meridian and No. 1 Auburn Mountainview, a quarterfinal game set for Friday on the home court of the higher-seeded team. The pair of opening-round losers will also play Friday in a loser-out contest.
