3 national stories dominated prep sports

With the last state championship decided, it's time to look in the rear-view mirror at a newsy school year of high-school sports.

It will be remembered for the national reach of three stories. One was happy, two weren't.

The happy story was the national play a video of Auburn cheerleader Cali Kaltschmidt received. She was adjusting the banner the Trojans football team was going to run through after halftime and got trampled.

Fortunately, she suffered only a couple of bruises. Her charm and good nature landed her on "Good Morning, America" and other national shows.

A tragic story was the death of pole vaulter Ryan Moberg from DeSales of Walla Walla. He died after hitting his head on the gym floor during an indoor practice and became the first Washington fatality in the track-and-field event.

The other national story was reaction to a decision of the Cascade Conference and various Washington Interscholastic Activities Association boards in disqualifying Archbishop Murphy from the Class 2A football playoffs because of a player's lapsed physical. The self-reported oversight wasn't caught because coach Terry Ennis died in early September, five days after coaching his last game.

Archbishop Murphy, a Catholic school near Mill Creek, sought compassion citing "extenuating circumstances." It got none.

Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly wrote: "The smallest-brained crustaceans are water fleas. The smallest-brained parasites are flatworms. And the smallest-brained mammals are the men and women who run high-school athletics in the state of Washington."

A state rule allowing mercy for clerical errors was adopted eight months later.

Oddities

The Eason Invitational Track Meet at Snohomish High School was snowed out April 19.

• Cedar Park Christian, a 1A school in Bothell, went to a holiday basketball tournament in Orange County, Calif., and wound up playing three Washington teams, including fellow Eastside schools Eastlake and Redmond.

• Pasco basketball player Kelsey Ramsey suffered season-ending knee injuries when she was jumping up and down to celebrate her winning shot in a winner-to-state game against Moses Lake.

• At a Class 4A baseball regional in Kent, Bothell beat South Kitsap 23-2 then lost to Kentlake by the identical 23-2 score.

• The bus carrying the Garfield softball team back from a loss to Lake Washington in Kirkland crashed when the driver steered the 12-foot tall bus into a 9-foot underpass.

• State sprint champion Zach Keene of Cedar Park Christian caught eight passes during the football season, each for a touchdown.

• Lummi beat Crescent 118-72 in an eight-man football playoff game that tied the national record for most points.

Performances

Kristi Kingma from Jackson of Mill Creek scored a record 43 points in a final-day loss at the 4A state tournament.

• Sara Elliott from Cascade of Everett rolled a perfect 300 game in a qualifying event for the state bowling tournament.

• Rusty Shellhorn from Central Valley of Spokane struck out 21 North Central hitters in a 5-0, seven-inning, two-hit victory.

• O'Dea's Johri Fogerson rushed for a 3A title-game record 297 yards and scored four touchdowns. It wasn't enough as Skyline of Sammamish overcame a 28-7 third-quarter deficit to win, 42-35.

• Harvard-bound Davis Mangham won the 3A singles tennis title for a third straight year, extending Lakeside's grip on the singles title to seven consecutive years.

• Sehome of Bellingham won state titles in 2A baseball, boys soccer, boys track and girls golf and was second in boys tennis and girls track.

• Mercer Island won the 3A boys swimming title with a meet-record 374 points.

• Michael Mangrum (145 pounds) of 3A Auburn Riverside won his 100th consecutive wrestling match and his third straight state title. He was undefeated his last three years.

• Mount Rainier senior Ryan Prentice won the 3A cross-country title despite losing considerable training time after being bitten in the rear end by a pit bull while on an August training run. He won the two distance events at the state track meet last week.

Big decisions

Alarmed at the number of transfers for obvious athletic reasons, the Representative Assembly of the WIAA passed a rule last month that will make it more difficult to transfer within a school district.

• In a case involving athletes at Wahkiakum High School in Southwest Washington, the Washington Supreme Court ruled against random drug testing.

• Just days before basketball season's practices began, new Roosevelt principal Brian Vance fired girls basketball coach Bill Resler. He was 187-51 in nine seasons, won the 2004 4A state title and starred in the documentary "Heart of the Game."

• Crossfire Premier Soccer Club didn't allow boys on its two national academy teams to play for their high-school squads. Washington Premier Football Club of Tacoma did and Bellarmine Prep, with seven Washington Premier players, won the 4A title.

Sportsmanship moments

Thirty minutes after being awarded second-place and sportsmanship medals at the 4A girls golf tournament, Rui Li of Kentwood had the feeling that there might be a mistake on the scorecard she had signed. She notified officials who confirmed the mistake and disqualified her.

• After Bellarmine Prep's Nicole Cochran was disqualified after an apparent win in the girls 3,200 for stepping three consecutive steps on the track's inside lane line, Shadle Park's Andrea Nelson, who was declared the winner, hung her first-place medal around Cochran's neck.

Spokane streaking

Spokane 4A schools had a big year: Lewis and Clark, which won its first football championship, also won the 4A girls basketball title for a record third straight time; Ferris won its second straight 4A boys basketball title and has a 58-game winning streak, and Mead won its fifth straight volleyball title. Mead also won boys cross country. That title wasn't back-to-back but was Mead's 13th state crown in the sport in 20 years.

Storybook finish

Freshman substitute Ryker VanBelle, who had got off the bench in only one game at state, hit the winning three-pointer in the last minute that enabled Sunnyside Christian to beat Tekoa-Oakesdale 38-37 for the 1B state championship.

Numbers

At least eight Lakes High School football players got scholarships from four-year schools, and three others will get aid at out-of-state junior colleges.

• Washington Huskies recruit Cody Bruns of Prosser became the all-time leader in receptions (310), yards receiving (5,177) and touchdown catches (72). Prosser teammate Kirby Moore set a state 0record with 29 TD catches in one season.

Upset of the year

Eastlake beat defending champion Shadle Park of Spokane 4-1 in the 4A fastpitch championship game. Shadle was ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation, had a 35-game winning streak dating to last year and also had Oregon-bound ace Sam Skillingstad on the mound.

Have a question about high-school sports? Craig Smith will find the answer when his weekly column returns next fall. Ask your question by voice mail (206-464-8279), snail mail (Craig Smith, Seattle Times Sports, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111) or e-mail csmith@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published May 27, 2008, was corrected May 28, 2008. A previous version of this story contained an error. Kentlake High School's baseball team defeated Bothell 23-2 in a Class 4A regional baseball game May 17. The original version of this column incorrectly said that Kentwood won the game.