Next group of cross country stars begins to find their pace
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
It was nice to see two runners who have paid their dues finish at the top of the cross country meet in Goldendale, last week. Johnny Barnes and Junior Hernandez have made their way to the top of their respective divisions, Barnes running for 1A Zillah and Hernandez with 1B Bickleton. Barnes and Hernandez ran a close race from start to finish. In the sprint to the finish, the lanky Barnes, with his trademark long hair flowing, was able to sprint away with the win in 17:17 . Hernandez settled for second in 17:25 .
Barnes has been a factor in cross country and track throughout his high school career, always just a shade behind the upper rung of runners. There is still the incredible Ethan Tonnemaker, of Royal out there, but this year Barnes can be talked about in the same conversation.
Hernandez has had success running since his middle school years. He rededicated himself to running last year, making it to the state meet, and he is running at a pace that will surely get him there again. Not the prototypical body type for a distance runner, the short-statured Hernandez makes up for the extra steps with smart pace and determination.
There were other great finishes in the Goldendale meet, as familiar faces locally start to gain notice from other schools. Bickleton’s Christina Wilson finished third behind Zillah’s Emma Tuning ( 21:32 ) and Naches Valley ’s Lauren Brewington ( 22:02 ). Wilson has emerged as a contender in 1B cross country, turning in a 23:15 . The other rapidly emerging runner is Goldendale’s Dylan Powers. Powers was the top finisher for Goldendale boys placing seventh in 19:02 (Addie Christensen was top girl at fifth). In a meet at Warden on Oct. 1, Powers held off Jose Garcia to win in 17:42 , five seconds ahead of the Connell runner. Others who ran in Warden were Zach Wanderscheid (9th), Casey Wilhite (14th), Riley Kauffman (21st), Skylor Ladiges (22nd), Zack Shattuck (25th), Christensen (3rd) and Kaitlyn Finn (8th).
Timberwolf runners who competed at Goldendale were Lexy Knowlton 24:59, Angelina Antone 27:43, Finn 29:34, Wanderscheid 20:01, Wilhite 20:16, Ladiges 21:08, Kauffman 21:37, Shattuck 22:38 and Austin Jones 22:39. Bickleton’s other finishes were Jessica Cummings 32:30, Taylor Brown 20:37, Justin Roberts 21:38, Joshua Cummings 22:42, and Nic Venema 23:10.
Bickleton runners ran in cool conditions at the Quincy invitational on Saturday. Brown finished fourth in a personal best for the 5,000 meters of 19:56 . Roberts was 20th and Venema had his best time of 22:13 for 29th in the large field. Joshua Cummings was timed at 23:22 . Hernandez had another top 10 finish in the varsity division, knocking 30 seconds off his time for the course and finishing ninth in 17:45. Wilson improved on her time at The Gorge with a 23:47.
Goldendale and Bickleton will be at Granger on Oct. 15.
Alan Matai rushes for 307 yards in Cougar win
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
With three games left on the schedule, Henry Matai and Alan Matai blew past the 1,000 yard mark with a combined 594 yards rushing against St. John-Endicott, fueling a 60-24 road win. For Henry Matai, it was his best game of the year with 287 yards rushing. But, it was only second best. Alan Matai gained 307 yards on 21 carries and scored four touchdowns for the Cougars, bringing his season total to 1,083 yards.
Henry made his yards on 14 carries and scored five touchdowns. His total on the year is 1,212 yards, already closing in on last year’s 1,282 yard season.
Eight-man football lends itself to lots of offense, due to the wide open spaces, but two 1,000 rushers, and brothers at that, is unusual. It also speaks to the blocking the team gets from linemen Dillon Huffman, Johnathon Marshall, Daniel Phipps, Dustin Mutch, Trey Kitchens, Nolan Smith and Flo Forsthuber, who is lost for the season to injury.
The brothers’ great rushing stats overshadow their importance on defense. Henry led the team with 11 solo tackles, three assists, a sack, two batted passes and a recovered fumble. Alan had eight solo tackles and four assists from his left side linebacker position. The right side backer, Trey Kitchens also had another good effort with five solo tackles and five assists.
After giving up 12 points in the first quarter, the Cougars adjusted their defense and allowed the Eagles just two more touchdowns in the game. The Cougars have a bye week before a tough home game on Oct. 23, against league leading Colton . The Wildcats are 5-0 and average nearly 60 points per game. Lyle-Wishram has the league’s best defense, allowing 19.3 points per game.
Defending SCAC champion Wolves start second half with their 6th win
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
If there was ever a volleyball match that should have ended in a tie, Goldendale’s five set win over Naches Valley was it. Both teams showed heart with valiant comebacks and most points were earned as the mistakes were few. The final scores were 25-18, 25-22, 17-25, 21-25, 19-17.
The final set might have gone on forever, but for a controversial double hit call and a final kill by Justine Benner that flirted with the line, but was called out by both line judges. Lexi Cameron had a great night, keeping her team in games with timely kills, a total of 21 on the night. Kayla Curtsinger did the same for the Rangers, particularly in the final set.
Both teams also had their stabilizing force on the floor, Monique Scherf for Goldendale and Jessica Farris for Naches Valley. Scherf played to perfection with 23 digs and 24-24 on serve. Scherf served up an ace to make the score 15-14 in the final set and was the unlikely recipient of a kill point, making it 16-15. Farris had no errors on serve receive and dished out 39 assists.
The Timberwolves were also the beneficiary of well placed assists from Haley Hoffman, who also made a number of great, lunging digs. Hoffman finished with 45 assists and 13 digs. Sadie Shattuck logged 19 kills and Cassie Kelly came up with 11 crucial digs and accurate passes down the stretch. In a moment reminiscent of the Cle Elum match, when freshman Karissa Ihrig subbed in and scored on two immediate kills, freshman Crysta Counts entered game two and also delivered immediately with two kills.
Two days later the Mabton Vikings visited Goldendale for what they knew would be a tough contest as the Lady Timberwolves had not lost since they played Granger on Sept. 17. Led by Hoffman’s 25 assists and Cameron’s 11 kills, the Wolves won three straight games 25-15, 25-16, 25-19 to send the Vikings home with a 1-6 overall record.
But there was one continuing sign of problems to come for the Timberwolves, and it would be exposed at the Crossover Tournament in Spokane. Timberwolf Coach Jodi Bellamy said earlier in the year, “we will be looking closely at our hitting percentage. It really needs to get up to around .200 to help us beat the tougher teams.” At the time, the Wolves were winning about 12 percent on kill shots. At Spokane, the percentage was still 12 and the Wolves lost to Othello, Southridge, Union of Vancouver, Cheney and Rogers of Spokane. The sole win was over Bridgeport. Hoffman produced 70 assists and several players had good performances at serve and on defense. Cameron, Scherf, Crysta Counts and Allison Hutchins were perfect on serve. Scherf had 32 digs, Cameron had 30, Hoffman 26, and Kelly 20.
Goldendale was second in the SCAC West with a 5-1 record at the half-way mark, and 6-1 as they traveled to undefeated Granger, Tuesday, to try and avenge their only conference loss. The next home match is Oct. 20, after a full week off.
—With reports from Justin Garrigus, for The Sentinel
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