Meg Wochnick specializes in high school sports coverage for The Olympian. She is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, where she was an NCAA Div. III All-American in track and field. She will provide insight on high school sports in South Sound. She can be reached at: mwochnick@theolympian.com.
Earlier on Monday night, former Yelm High School track and field standout David Paul finished sixth in the men's hammer preliminaries and advances to Friday's final at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, which are being held at the historic Hayward Field, on campus of the University of Oregon.
Paul, a 2002 Yelm graduate who also graduated from Eastern Washington in 2007, threw the hammer 228 feet, 6 inches, about one foot off his all-time. Paul will be one of nine throwers aiming for the three Olympic spots in the finals, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Friday.
Two other South Sound men competed in the hammer throw. Adam Midles (Capital grad) and Nick Owens (Shelton grad) finished 14th and 15th, respectively. After fouling his first throw, Midles uncorked a toss of 221-1, while Owens’ best throw of 219-8 came on his third throw. Both failed to advance to Friday’s final.
Capital grad Brittany Hinchcliffe will compete in the women's hammer throw, scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m.
In all, six South Sound athletes are competing in the trials. Four of the six are hammer throwers.
As voted on by sportswriters and editors from newspapers across the state, here are the entire all-state teams for all classifications for baseball, fastpitch and boys soccer.
As voted on by sportswriters from across Washington, here are the all-state fastpitch teams.
As voted on by sportswriters from across Washington, here are the all-state boys soccer teams ...
Twenty-one South Sound baseball players were named to the all-state baseball team — either the first team, second team or honorable mention. Seven of the 21 were named to the first team, along with two coaches of the year. The voting was completed last week and is done by sportswriters from across the state.
Last week, I had a story about former Olympia standout Curtis Medved being named the new boys basketball coach at Tumwater.
After an exciting U.S. Open, Gail and I decided to head out and continue with the golf theme. We were able to head out to the Indian Summer Golf Course and chat/play golf with Cameron Peck, for this week's Prep Zone — Summer Edition, show. The Timberline junior recently won the AJGA FootJoy Invitational in North Carolina, which was one of the top junior golf tournaments in the country. He shot a closing-round, 4-under par 66 to win by six strokes. He’s now ranked 11th in the country among junior golfers, up from 40th last week.
It's not too often that I go off on a rant. In fact, not sure if I ever have on the blog.
That's right ... the Prep Zone is back, but a different twist. In its place for the summer is the Prep Zone: Summer Edition, which is a high school-age/recreational-style video for the next eight weeks or so. See the FAQs below for more details.
With the school/athletic year is officially over for high school sports, it's never too soon to reflect and look back.
The Rochester Warriors won the Class 1A baseball state title after beating a familiar opponent -- Kalama 9-5 -- on Saturday afternoon in Yakima.
A tough finish to Timberline's fastpitch season: The Blazers lose, 5-1, to Kennedy, ending their season at 26-1.
From Tacoma, some highlights from Timberline's 3A state fastpitch title game against Kennedy:
Lots to report in a wild finish in Olympia's semifinal baseball game with Snohomish.