Some Schools Won’t Like How Numbers Add Up
The numbers have finally been bunched, crunched and dumped, and some member schools of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association are not going to like it.
The WIAA Executive Board approved playoff allocations over the weekend, the long-anticipated final step of the statewide reclassification process.
Most of the numbers that emerged from the decision to add a fifth classification for state high schools were anticipated.
One that wasn’t involves 2A cross country. In the final count, only 49 schools were classified 2A but only about 45 decided to have cross country teams. That means an eight-team state meet, since it takes 48 teams to qualify for a 16-team meet.
The 2A Great Northern League qualifies one boys team and two girls teams this fall, and the allocations reverse next year.
It appears 2A schools will also get shorted in tennis and fastpitch softball.
The 1A and B schools combine for cross country, which will allow for 16-team championships.
The 4A Greater Spokane League has two berths in everything, as does the Big Nine, so the regional tournaments between the leagues will qualify four for state.
The 3A Frontier League has one berth but plans are to regionalize with the Mid Valley. The Great Northern has three berths in most sports.
Probably the best news for the area B schools is Whitman County basketball has two berths in each of the next two years.
Wrestling is still up in the air. The state has traditionally been divided into four equal areas with four wrestlers qualifying out of each. The reclassification has made dividing the regions more difficult, especially in 3A schools with only 12 on the East Side.
Where is Lyle?
The Naselle School Board is playing a game called ‘Lyle’s In/Lyle’s Out.’
At a recent meeting, the board rescinded a one-year contract it offered in the summer to legendary boys basketball coach Lyle Patterson.
Patterson, who has retired from teaching, said the board’s change of heart occurred after its attorney exposed a loophole in the system. Patterson said Naselle coaches believed they operated under similar guidelines as the district’s teachers, with the freedom to return to their positions if they received a positive evaluation.
The attorney, however, discovered the coaches’ union hadn’t submitted the proper paperwork to put coaches in the same position, Patterson said.
Patterson will still interview for the position next week. Also up for the job are assistant coach Bob Torppa, C squad coach Ryan Bjornsgaard, ex-Ritzville resident Kevin Heimbigner and Naselle physical education teacher Debra Denny. Applications closed Tuesday.
Bjornsgaard, a 1987 Naselle graduate, scored 248 points at the B tourney, the seventh-most in history.
During 32 years at Naselle, Patterson has a 623-230 record, with five second-place finishes at the State B.
First-year blues
Having a first-year program is hard enough, but Chewelah’s girls soccer team received another blow Tuesday.
Kelly Franklin, who has scored two of the Cougars’ four goals during five Great Northern League matches, broke her leg during a 5-1 loss to Colville.
First-place news
Of the 101 goals scored in GNL matches this year, 47 belong to league-leading Riverside.
The Rams boast four of the six players who have tallied five goals or more in the seven-team league.
, DataTimes