Matai and Smith Coastal league players of the year
Lyle-Wishram's football team earned plenty of league honors in their first year of action in the Coastal league, including players of the year on offense and defense.
Henry Matai was an easy choice as first team running back and offensive player of the year as he ran for more than 200 yards per game in every game this year and averaged 15.5 yards per carry in league play. Matai ran for more than 300 yards twice against league opponents and put up 404 yards in the non-league game against Prairie City. Matai was also selected first team at linebacker.
Joining Matai on the defensive first team was fellow senior, Nolan Smith. Smith was a key part of the Cougar's defense shutting down running to his left end of the defense. Smith was a perpetual presence in the backfield on passing plays when teams abandoned hopes of running against the Cougars' strong front line. Smith joined another defensive end, Josh Russell, of King's Way Christian as co-defensive players of the year. On the offensive side of the ball, Smith gave Lyle-Wishram a big one-two punch, carrying the ball when he wasn't blocking for Matai. Smith was an honorable mention at running back.
Lyle-Wishram's only other senior, Billy Williams was also a first team selection on offense. Williams was chosen at the center position along with junior guard Trey Kitchens, who helped open holes for Matai and Smith.
Chase Carpenter was recognized for his work at cornerback with a first team selection. Carpenter, just a freshman, was joined by another freshman, Johnathon VanAhn, who was a second team selection at defensive end along with eighth grader Gabe Montoya. Montoya and Matai played nose tackle and middle linebacker, making the middle of the Cougar defense impenetrable.
Differences between states delays WDFW barbless hook order
Columbia River anglers who fish for salmon and steelhead will not be required to switch to barbless hooks next year, but state fishery managers are asking them to do it voluntarily. Effective Jan. 1, Washington sport fishing rules allow barbed hooks for recreational fishing from the mouth of the Columbia River to McNary Dam.
"Going barbless only makes sense in these fisheries where we're trying to maximize survival rates for released wild fish," said Phil Anderson, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). "Anglers can play an important role in that effort by using barbless hooks."
Anderson made his appeal to anglers after informing the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission of plans to delay a new rule - originally set to begin Jan. 1 - that would require anglers to use barbless hooks.
The Washington commission, which sets policy for WDFW, approved that requirement, but the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission did not. Anderson said the prospect of having incompatible fishing regulations on a portion of the Columbia River jointly managed by the two states prompted him to delay the barbless rule for at least a year.
"The two states have worked together for nearly a hundred years to avoid conflicting fishing regulations that would create confusion for anglers on the Columbia River," Anderson said. "Delaying the barbless rule is disappointing, but we're going to continue to pursue it."
"Anything we can do to rebuild wild runs will ultimately help maintain or expand fishing opportunities for hatchery fish," Anderson said.
Anderson noted that the border between Washington and Oregon - which determines which state's fishing rules are in effect - is hard to define along the Columbia River. "Down near the mouth, about 90 percent of the river is in Oregon," he said. "That changes as you move upriver."
Anderson said barbless hooks, knotless nets and careful handling of released fish are all ways that anglers can contribute to recovery of wild salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River.
"Anything we can do to rebuild wild runs will ultimately help maintain or expand fishing opportunities for hatchery fish," Anderson said. "We hope that all anglers will get behind that idea and voluntarily switch to barbless hooks."
2010 a year of champions and team accomplishments
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
There isn't any bigger sports accomplishment in high school than becoming a State Champ. Klickitat County had their share of champions from individual sports and while none of the teams grabbed State number one recognition, several had banner years and there were plenty of accomplishments at the league and district levels.
Track and Field
The sport that generates the most championships from Klickitat County is track and field. In 2010, three girls returned to State to defend titles won in 2009. A fourth, TLG's Liz Vogt was a 2009 champion, but passed on the event to go after a different gold medal. The other three girls were Charice McConville and Samantha Brewer, of Klickitat, and Mckenzie Zoller, representing TLG.
Vogt came out of State sporting gold medals for the triple jump with a leap of 34.75 feet, 300 meter hurdles in 47.73 seconds, and as a member of the TLG championship relay team in the 4x400. Vogt passed on the 400, but her teammate, Katie Yarnell filled in pretty well with a fourth place finish in the event.
Brewer repeated her championship in the 100 hurdles in 16.97, but had to settle for second in the long jump, and fifth in the triple jump. Brewer was third in the high jump, although her jump of 5-2 matched the winning jump, but she was edged out on number of attempts.
Zoller repeated in the pole vault with a jump of nine feet. She, like Vogt, picked up another gold medal in the 4x400 relay, along with Anna Nakae and Amy Underwood. Zoller also won gold on the 4x100 relay team. Her teammates in that race were Amanda Zoller, Anna Nakae and Yarnell.
McConville wasn't able to repeat her win in the discus, settling for second. She also had a podium finish with sixth place in the shot put.
There were also new champions from the county. Cody Carlsen, of Lyle-Wishram swept the sprints at district and had a good showing at State, winning the 400 meters and placing second in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Nic Venema, of Bickleton and Brian Langfield, of TLG both cleared 11 feet in the pole vault with Venema getting the gold medal on fewest attempts. Alec England, of TLG also made it to the top spot on the podium with a time of 4:39.63 in the 1600.
Other podium finishes that didn't quite hit number one were Klickitat's, Zoe Lindner's great throw to capture second in the javelin; Edgar Molina, of Bickleton scoring two medals, second in the shot put and fourth in the discus; Val Vogt, of TLG placing second in the 3200, third in the 1600 and fifth in the 800; Lyle-Wishram's Henry Matai placed fourth in the 110 hurdles and his teammate, Lena Mueller was fifth in the girls' 100 hurdles; Henrik Heldahl, of Bickleton had a 5-8 jump for third in the high jump while teammate, Taylor Brown was fifth in the 110 hurdles; Goldendale's Sadie Shattuck took fifth in the shot put; Krissy Yarnell was second in the pole vault and Katie Yarnell had her third medal placing fourth in pole vault.
Golf
Goldendale's Zach Wanderscheid had one goal left in his high school golf career after being named Pacific Northwest Golfer of the Year in 2009. He had yet to win the State 1A title.
Wanderscheid was able to check that off his list with a great performance in the spring of 2010. Wanderscheid shot 8-under-par for 36 holes to win the 1A title by one stroke over Minwoo Park, of Highland. Wanderscheid has since taken his game to the University of Idaho.
Others who qualified at District and played at State were Amber Ihrig, Riley Ross and Andrew Wall.
Basketball
Bickleton's girls made their first trip to the State basketball tournament since 1981 and came through with a trophy for their seventh place finish.
Changes in coaching took place at four schools to start the 2010 season, just a few weeks ago. Ginger Plum went from coaching basketball to coaching volleyball at Goldendale. Lance Den Boer took over head coaching duties for girls basketball for the Timberwolves and his assistant is former volleyball head coach, Jodi Bellamy.
Traci Kessinger returns to coach Klickitat basketball. Her counterpart with the boys' program in Klickitat is former assistant, Phillip Watlamet.
Lyle-Wishram has a new girls coach, who also coached the boys a few years back, Dan Ferguson.
New at Bickleton is Jerry Roberts who is coaching boys' basketball.
Wrestling
The sport that is the most physically demanding is wrestling, and Goldendale has had plenty of State level wrestlers over the years. Last winter, six Timberwolves competed at State, including Goldendale's first female participant. Jessica Carr didn't make the medal round, but did wrestle well for her team.
Four of the five boys came home with medals, led by Braydon Ross who placed fourth. Billy Monroe won the sixth place medal and Torey Spaulding-Jimenez and Nolin Bare each came home with a seventh place medal. Kurt Wilkins missed out on a medal but had an outstanding year, making his second appearance at State.
Dance
The newest sport in the Goldendale line-up, dance came through with the first ever dance trophy for the Timberwolf trophy case, in this it's second year of performance.
Baseball
It was a dream year for Goldendale-Klickitat baseball. The Wolves opened the season 14-0 with high hopes of defeating defending State champion Naches Valley. It wasn't to be, but Goldendale was firmly into post season play and they made it all the way to the quarterfinals and their 21-4 record is the best in memory at Goldendale.
Aaron Cochran, Trevor Fields and Cody Herin were named to the All-State team. Cochran was selected first team and Fields and Herin were second team selections.
Softball
It was a disappointing season for most at Goldendale, but the girls poured it on at the end and made it to the District playoffs. The team didn't progress far in the playoffs, but built a foundation for winning on the young team. Alex Counts and Taylor Gaston were first team All-League.
Rodeo
It was a good year for Goldendale rodeo participants, especially Gavin Cooper, winner of the Washington State High School Rodeo bareback bronc riding. Cooper, Lexi Cameron, Kane Thiele and Cole Cameron also qualified for the National High School Rodeo.
A related sport, deemed an activity at Goldendale High School, produced a District record when Jessica Kaseberg set a record of 3.176 seconds in break-away roping. Kaseberg and five teammates earned the right to compete at State.
Tennis
It was a great year for Goldendale tennis. Tom Kussman was runner-up at the District championships and the doubles team of Stacy Thompson and Kelsey Walker joined Kussman at State after they also finished second at District.
Swimming
She is just 10 years old, but Nadia Smith is a proven winner in swimming. Smith racked up six wins in a single meet in preparation for the Oregon State meet and came through with medals for top 10 finishes in six events at State.
World Cup skates
The International Gravity Sports Association was back on the Maryhill Loops for their World Cup event. The event drew a large entry from several countries. A new course record was set in the skate board event by Canadian Kevin Reimer in 3:06.434 on the 2.2 mile course. But an American, Zak Maytum, of Colorado won the event, breaking a two win streak for another Canadian, the colorful Scott "Scoot" Smith.
Soccer
Over the past two years, Goldendale's neophyte soccer program turned a corner and began to show more confidence and more potency in it's offense. The 2010 year proved to be disappointing as the girls missed the playoffs, but there were highlights, chief of which include two shut-out wins for the Wolves.
Volleyball
For the second time in two years, Klickitat and TLG made their way out of district to represent District 5 in the State 1B volleyball championship tournament. There was lots of excitement at TLG, hoping to make it to the trophy round for the first time in several years. For Klickitat, expectations were higher.
It wasn't what either team hoped for, but a great year of volleyball at all three schools came to an end with but one trophy. Trout Lake-Glenwood was again shut out of the trophy game and Klickitat came home sporting the hardware for eighth place. It was the 11th trophy over the past 19 years for Klickitat, an incredible run and nice way to bring another year of sports to an end.
Football
There was excitement surrounding the Lyle-Wishram football program for at least three great reasons this year. First of all, they were members of a new league, the District 4, Coastal league. The second reason was the return to playoff eligible football after playing for the previous years in District 9 as a 2B team, ineligible for post season play. The third and most exciting reason was to watch the exploits of Henry Matai. Cougar fans came to expect great things from the running back and every Cougar fan knows what a "typical Matai run" is. Henry did not disappoint. Matai racked up big yardage and finished his high school career with 6,523 yards, the number three all-time rusher in Washington State eight-man football history. The Cougars as a team were exciting and easily won the Coastal league. An injury to one of their main cogs, Nolan Smith, contributed to the Cougars' exit from the playoffs, one game short of their goal, which was the semifinals to be played in the Tacoma Dome.
There was another team in the county that was also making a lot of noise, the Goldendale Timberwolves. The Wolves ripped through opponents with a great balanced offense and one of the stingiest defenses in the league, thanks in part to All-League defensive player of the year, Blake Lesko. They also had arguably the best defensive backs in the league with Anthony Dobson setting a school record 13 interceptions and JD Moss who picked off four in one game at Naches Valley.
Eleven Timberwolves were named to the All-conference team. Ten of the 11 starters on defense and nine of the 11 on offense made All-conference.
Goldendale-Klickitat matched its record nine wins, but had hoped to advance to their first quarter-finals playoff game. A loss to Chelan ended that dream, but it was a great year for Timberwolf football
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