Districts scrambling to finish tournaments before WIAA deadline

The winter weather has brought another round of postponements and cancellations. With unmovable state tournament dates looming large, districts throughout the state are scrambling to get games in before Monday’s deadline.

The snow and cold in Eastern Washington have been as bad as the rest of the state – or worse – and schedules have been in flux since Friday.

Basketball

The District 8 4A and 3A championships and third-place games are still set for Friday and Saturday at the Spokane Arena, but there are plenty of games in all four brackets that have to be played to get to that point.

In 4A, the semifinals and two rounds of loser-out games – scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at the higher seeds’ gyms – are still on tap. For 3A, it’s the semis and one round of loser-out games before the games at the Arena.

The Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) has urged leagues across the state to do everything they can to get tournaments played before Monday’s deadline for districts to submit their berths to state.

Some have suggested if districts can’t settle things on the court, the seeding committee could use the RPI system to seed the state tournaments – a solution no one wants.

Wednesday’s schedule, travel permitting:

4A boys: Ferris at Richland, 6 p.m. (semi); University at Gonzaga Prep, 7 (semi); Central Valley at Hanford, 6 (loser-out); Walla Walla at Chiawana, 7 (loser-out).

4A girls: Lewis and Clark at Chiawana, 5 p.m. (semi); University at Central Valley, 5 (semi); Gonzaga Prep at Richland, 4 (loser-out); Walla Walla at Pasco, 5 (loser-out).

3A boys: Shadle Park at Mt. Spokane, 7 (semi); Kennewick at Hermiston (OR), 7 (semi).

3A girls: Kennewick at Mt. Spokane, 5 p.m (semi); North Central at Kamiakin, 5 (semi).

District 8/Greater Spokane League director Herb Rotchford said Tuesday that if teams can’t travel to games on Wednesday, they may need to expand the tournament at the Arena over the weekend.

Rotchford said that playing on Sunday – or even requiring teams to play twice in one day – were both options if it becomes necessary.

The District 7 2B tournament at West Valley got five of the nine games scheduled for Tuesday in. The others were moved to Wednesday at Davenport HS.

Wrestling

Many areas were unable to hold regional qualifying events over the weekend. The WIAA determined the fields for Mat Classic XXXI, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, would be a 32-wrestler draw filled with athletes who placed in district tournaments.

With Snoqualmie Pass closed on Tuesday and Stevens Pass closed to oversize vehicles, Rotchford said that as of Tuesday there had not been a contingency discussed if teams can’t travel to Tacoma for the state tournament.

Gymnastics

The twice rescheduled District 7/8 3A/2A championship meet was canceled altogether.

Mt. Spokane, Southridge and Kamiakin qualified as teams to the District 1/7/8 regional state qualifying meet on Saturday at GYMagine in Mukilteo, Washington, based on their scores at the Jan. 30 3A meet.

The top four all-around individuals not on a qualifying team qualified for regionals, as did the next eight nonteam, non-all-around individuals in each of the four events.

Regional qualifiers:

All-around: Lauren O’Callaghan (Cheney); Makayla Miller (Che); Kaley Jensen (Shadle Park); Alexis Ewen (Che).

Vault: Ivy Sarich (Rogers); Paige Evans (SP); Addison Carman (SP); Braigh Kilgore (Rog); Nicole Law (SP); Brooklyn Burnette (SP); Ashlynn Moad (Che); Cassidy Brown (NC).

Floor: Rose Savage (Rog); Sarich (Rog); Tapenga Godley (SP); Burnette (SP); Moad (Che); Sidnie Pacheco (Che); Evans (SP); Whitney Roane (SP).

Bars: Courtney Knutson (North Central); Moad (Che); Kilgore (Rog); Evans (SP); Jane Kohis-Chase (SP); Carman (SP); Godley (SP); Pacheco (Che).

Beam: Savage (Rog); Roane (SP); Natalia Van Sickle (NC); Sway Shaffer (Rog); Kilgore (Rog); Burnette (SP); Moad (Che); Julian Vaughan (NC).