Prep Notebook | All-girls wrestling dual a 1st

In what likely is a first in the state of Washington, a girls-only dual meet wrestling event takes place today at Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup.

Emerald Ridge coach Jim Meyerhoff said he is expecting between six to 10 teams, with each team wrestling three matches. By Thursday afternoon, he had received rosters from Jackson of Mill Creek, White River of Buckley, Fife, Kelso and Franklin Pierce of Tacoma, in addition to Emerald Ridge. Meyerhoff said he also anticipates team entries from Bellevue, Highline of Burien and Tumwater. Several other schools will be sending one or two wrestlers, he added.

Wrestling begins at 5:30 p.m.

This will be the first year of an official state tournament for girls, which will be part of next month's Mat Classic at the Tacoma Dome. A state girls invitational has been offered since 2004.

Meyerhoff said more than 350 girls are wrestling statewide, more than twice as many as last season.

On Saturday, Emerald Ridge will host the Jaguar Invitational, which will include separate competitions for boys and girls. Meyerhoff said 93 girls recently participated in a tournament at Kelso and he is expecting similar numbers.

Notes

• Andy Hendricks, Seattle Prep girls soccer coach for 17 years, has been named Far West Region coach of the year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Hendricks' teams have won six Metro League championships and finished second in the Class 3A state tournament last fall.

• Bellevue finished 14th in the final national football rankings by MaxPreps, a national high-school sports media company. Coach Butch Goncharoff's Wolverines capped a 14-0 season last month with a 21-14 overtime victory over Kennedy of Burien for their fifth Class 3A state championship in six years.

• Selah's Allyson Powell has been named Gatorade State Volleyball Player of the Year. The 5-foot-6 senior led the Vikings from the Yakima Valley to their second consecutive Class 2A state championship last fall.