An exciting year for West Valley teams
What a year.
Athletically, the 2007-08 school year was one for the West Valley High School record books.
The Eagle football team lost a play-in game for the state Class 2A tournament and every other team sport, plus boys doubles tennis players, reached its respective state tournament. Girls cross country, girls soccer and volleyball all brought home trophies and the West Valley dance team was crowned state Class 2A champion.
“This has been a great boost for the student body and overall support from the community,” said Jamie Nilles, who coaches boys basketball and tennis and counsels students. “After all those years being the smallest school in the old Border League and Greater Spokane League and having so many of our sports take their lumps for all those years, it’s been great to see them all have success.”
In their second full season in the Great Northern League, the Eagles were league champions in volleyball, boys cross country, baseball and girls and boys track. Three West Valley athletes were named league Most Valuable Players: Alyssa Wold for volleyball, Melissa Mauro for girls basketball and Andy Vennum for baseball.
Six West Valley coaches were named Coach of the Year: Drew Wendle (volleyball), Lorin Carlon (girls basketball), Vic Wallace (boys track), Rick Kuhl (girls track), Don O’Neal (baseball) and Dirk Linton (boys soccer).
“This has been the kind of year that you really have to savor because the odds are against it happening again,” Nilles said. “It’s great for these kids to get the chance to participate in a state tournament – that’s one of the things that you remember for the rest of your life.”
The success was especially sweet for girls sports, Nilles said.
“They really took their lumps in the Border League and the GSL,” he said.
The West Valley dance team, under coach Jodee Cahalan, won state titles in two separate events at the WIAA state championship in Yakima in March and was named the Class 2A academic state champions. Team captain Peyton Boone was honored as the Outstanding Individual Dancer.
Coach Shelli Totton’s girls soccer team reached the state playoffs for the first time a year ago. This past fall she directed the Eagles into Class 2A Final Four. West Valley lost its semifinal match to Burlington-Edison and came home with a fourth-place trophy, the school’s first state girls soccer trophy, after falling to Archbishop Murphy in the consolation final.
Wendle led the Eagles to the state tournament and earned the school’s first state volleyball trophy after their eighth-place finish. West Valley lost to eventual third-place winner Ellensburg in the first round, then knocked off both Mt. Baker and Mark Morris before losing to Archbishop Murphy in the fifth-or-eighth-place game.
Coach Jim McLachlan guided the girls cross country team to a third-place finish at the state meet. Junior Krystal Hughes led the Eagles at state, placing 13th overall. The team’s lone state senior, Camille Mackey, was the second WV runner to cross the finish line at 32nd.
Carlon took the girls basketball team back to a state tournament for the first time since the Eagles won the 1997 state Class 3A championship. The team won its tournament opener, knocking off Elma, but dropped its next two games and finished one win shy of a trophy.
Coach Paul Cooley’s girls softball team reached the state tournament and golfer Jordyn Sodorff placed 16th at the Class 2A state tournament.
Kuhl’s track team placed fourth at last weekend’s state meet, and the Eagles captured three individual state titles. Senior Melissa Mauro set a state meet record in the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 7 1/4 inches on the final jump of her prep career. She doubled as the state 300 hurdles champion by running a 45.9 in the final and added a fourth-place finish in the 100 hurdles. Senior Ashley Kenney set a meet record in the discus, uncorking a winning throw of 146-11.
Boys teams, too, played on the state stage.
Football qualified for a state tournament play-in game but dropped a thriller at Ephrata, 28-20.
Boys cross country placed fifth at the state meet. Senior Richard Keroack placed fourth overall to lead the way.
Boys basketball reached the state tournament for the fourth consecutive season, bowing out after two games.
While the Eagle wrestling team struggled to fill out a complete lineup, senior Justin Fiman placed fifth at 130 pounds in the state tournament.
O’Neal’s baseball team had high hopes for the state tournament, but lost in the first round to eventual runnerup East Valley-Yakima.
Linton’s soccer team lost its first-round state playoff game, 1-0 to Grandview.
Wallace’s boys track squad placed 12th as a team at state. The Eagles won the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:25.76, and Nigel LaFountain finished in a three-way tie for first in the high jump at 6-6.
And in boys tennis, the doubles team Brian Bergan and Chase Baxter reached the state tournament.
“I think we’re going to see more excitement and more interest in being a part of teams like the ones we had this year,” Nilles said. “The middle school enjoyed some pretty successful seasons, too.”