Winter Sports Post Season

As the regular season ends they move on to play the best teams in the state.

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Graphic: Lucien Sevilla

One last ride: Senior Chloe Pattison, Senior Wyatt Springer, Junior Garrett Chesley, and Senior Jaden Cardona all compete in their respective sports at the State tournament. “After having such a weird season last year with no postseason I’m glad to have one this year, ” Pattison said.

Boys swim and dive
After becoming Wesco Champs, the boys team went onto districts. After a record breaking meet, they captured their first district title in league history. This was also the first time in 15 years that a team other than Jackson or Kamiak won districts. They beat Jackson by 34 points ending with a first place score of 484. They had 20 top eight finishes throughout the 9 individual events with 15 top 6 finishes. The Vikings also had two individual champions and a winning relay team. Coach Brady Dykgraaf was named Coach of the Year in Wesco 4A.

Senior Diver Jaden Cardona had an impressive district performance with a score of 490.90. Cardona was also first team all-wesco for diving and placed second at state with a score of 428.35 points. He did better than the champs from 3a, 2a and 1a.
“I was really impressed with my performance, and even though I only placed second, I knew this was the best I could’ve done,” Cardona said.
Junior standout Garret Chesley also was 1st team All-Wesco for the 100 backstroke. He also broke the district meet record with a time of 51.96 seconds. They won districts in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. Seniors DJ Trout, Garret Chesley, Laird Marlett, and Camden Blevins-Mohr placed first with a time of 3:20.06 seconds.
“Being able to be part of the relay team to clinch the win for us was an amazing feeling,” Chesley said.
At state, Chesley placed sixth in the 100 backstroke and eighth in the 100 butterfly. As a team, the Vikings placed 11th at the 4A State Championships.

Girls basketball
After dominating Wesco sitting alone at the top, it was time for them to show Kingco what they were made of and had a successful showing, making it all the way to the championship but losing to a top-ranked Woodinville team. After losing in Regionals to Eastlake, the Lady Vikings were only guaranteed one game at the famed Tacoma Dome.
“Going to the Dome has always been a goal for us, especially after being so close two years ago,” senior Chloe Pattison said.
The difference for them according to Pattison was the chemistry they hold. They had four people on the Wesco teams this year who are all seniors. On the 1st Team All-Wesco was Cori Wilcox and Camille Jentzsch. On 2nd Team All-Wesco was Chloe Pattison and rounding out the group was Baylor Thomas who was voted 4A Wesco League MVP by the coaches.
They won in the first round at the State Playoffs in a thriller against Rogers High School, winning 41-37 in overtime. Thomas led the team with 12 points including a last second bucket that sent the game into overtime. After that, the Vikings dropped a close one against Pasco sending them into the consolation bracket. They then faced Pasco which they lost to 39-54, ending their season.

Boys wrestling
After having a successful regular season capturing another Wesco Title they went onto the State Championship bringing 10 wrestlers with them. A top placer for the wrestling team was senior Wyatt Springer who placed second for 160lb. division. While they didn’t reach their goal of a state championship to send off legendary Coach Barnes, they were able to place sixth as a team.

Girls Wrestling
Girls wrestling also won Wesco 4A and were able to have numerous placers at Regionals, and they sent four girls to the State Championship at the Tacoma Dome. We had seniors Cianna Helenihi , Mikalia Miller, and Madisen Bowers represent the lady Vikings at the Dome. We also had junior standout Tyra Wheless also reach the Dome who was also recognized by the WIAA and was named one of the athletes of the week after winning Region 1 4A. All four of them and junior Kourtney Etheridge were named to Wesco 4A first team as well.

Boys Basketball
Having their backs against the wall with only four games left in the regular season without a single league win, the boys realized it was now go time. They faced a challenging schedule ahead, playing a skilled Jackson team twice and a top-ranked Glacier Peak. They were able to string together some crucial wins and clinch a playoff berth.
They were unable to continue their Cinderella run, losing in the first round versus Bothell. They did have some players make All-Wesco teams such as junior Tyson Eyman, senior Kye Taylor, and senior Grayson Murren, who were all named to the Honorable Mention Team. Making All-Wesco 1st team was junior Maddox Preder, making the jump from All-Wesco 2nd Team last year.