Postseason for Mid-Columbia high school fall sports kicks into high gear. What to expect

We’re almost finished with regular-season play for fall high school sports, which means we’re about to embark into the postseason.

Here’s a look at the playoff picture — mostly involving the Mid-Columbia Conference — with some other notes thrown in.

Cross country

The Kamiakin boys ran away with the MCC regular-season title, going 16-0; while the Kamiakin and Hermiston girls shared the MCC crown with 15-1 records.

The conference held its MCC Championships on Oct. 19 in Leslie Groves Park in Richland, which pared the field down that heads to the District 8 Championship, set for Saturday, Oct. 28, at Windermere Golf Course in Spokane.

Here are the top three finishers in each of the four races at the MCC Championships:

4A boys — Ezra Teeples, junior, Kamiakin; Noah Thomas, junior, Kamiakin; Crew Martell, senior, Richland.

4A girls — Meredith Stavenger, junior Kamiakin; Lillian Robertson, junior, Richland; Valerie Siebol-DeRuyter, junior, Pasco.

3A boys — Jaysen Rodriguez, junior, Hermiston; John Mills, senior, Hermiston; Ian Lash, junior, Walla Walla.

3A girls — Morgan Thompson, junior, Kennewick; Elizabeth Newman, junior, Hermiston; Lillian Fields, junior, Hermiston.

In Saturday’s upcoming district races, the top two teams in both the 4A boys and girls events qualify for the WIAA state meet; while the top three placing teams in both 3A boys and girls also qualify for state.

The state meet is set for Saturday, Nov. 4, at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Here are the final regular-season standings for MCC cross country:

MCC boys — Kamiakin 16-0, Hermiston 14-2, Hanford 12-4, Richland 10-6, Walla Walla 7-9, Pasco 6-10, Southridge 4-12, Kennewick 3-13, Chiawana 0-16.

MCC girls — Kamiakin 15-1, Hermiston 15-1, Richland 10-6, Hanford 9-7, Walla Walla 9-7, Chiawana 8-8, Southridge 3-13, Kennewick 2-14, Pasco 1-15.

Football

We’ll all have a better picture of the Class 4A regional crossovers after this weekend. But we know a few things, thanks to Kamiakin athletic director Kyle Cowan.

For instance, we know that Richland is locked into the No. 3 seed spot out of the MCC, and it’s possible the Bombers could play three games in nine days.

Richland visits Mountain View of Vancouver for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff this Friday, Oct. 27.

The Bombers then are set to play the Greater Spokane League No. 2 seed on Tuesday, Oct. 30. That will either be Central Valley or Lewis & Clark (who are both 3-4 in GSL play). The site of that game is still being discussed.

Here are the other regional crossovers, all set for Friday, Nov. 3, or Saturday, Nov. 4:

▪ Big 9 No. 3 at GSL No. 1, which is Gonzaga Prep. It looks like Sunnyside has that No. 3 spot wrapped up.

▪ MCC No. 2 at Big Nine No. 2. Chiawana plays Walla Walla this Friday, while Kamiakin takes on Pasco. If both Chiawana and Kamiakin win those games, the Braves would end up the top MCC seed, while the Riverhawks would be No. 2.

An upset by either Pasco or Wa-Hi would change all of that.

The Big Nine No. 2 will be whoever loses the big Moses Lake at Eastmont showdown this coming Friday night.

▪ Big Nine No. 4 at MCC No. 1. There is a possibility of a three-way tie for that final Big Nine playoff spot, which could force a mini-playoff. If that were to happen, this game could be moved to Saturday, Nov. 4.

▪ Finally, the winner of that Tuesday game would play Big Nine No. 1 (whoever wins the Moses Lake-Eastmont game) on Saturday, Nov. 4.

The state committees will meet on Sunday, Nov. 5, to determine the pairings for the state playoffs.

▪ By the way, Kennewick will play in the Round of 32 that Class 3A has. The Lions should get a home game that weekend, as they have been consistently ranked in the top 7 in the state RPI.

▪ Also by the way, school officials have moved the Connell at Royal game this week up from Friday, Oct. 27, to Thursday, Oct. 26.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the winner of the game will be the top seed for the 1A South Central Athletic Conference’s East Division, and will host the SCAC West No. 3 team in regional crossovers the next week.

The loser of Connell-Royal will be the East’s No. 2 team.

Girls soccer

District 8 tournament play started Tuesday in both 4A and 3A.

Here are the first-round scores for 4A: Chiawana 4, Pasco 0; Lewis & Clark 3, Kamiakin 2; Richland 5, Central Valley 0; Gonzaga Prep 4, Hanford 0.

Semifinals will be played on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 1 p.m., with Lewis & Clark visiting Chiawana, and Richland traveling to Gonzaga Prep.

The first-round losers still have a chance to win one of the two available 4A state berths.

Here are the first-round scores for 3A: Ridgeline 5, Ferris 0; Mt. Spokane 3, Walla Walla 0; University 6, Hermiston 0; Mead 3, Southridge 1.

So a clean sweep for the GSL schools. But the MCC squads still have a chance at a state berth, of which there are three available in this tournament.

On Saturday, Oct. 28, in loser-out games, Ferris visits Walla Walla at 11:30 a.m.; and Hermiston travels to Southridge for a 1 p.m. start.

Girls swimming

The MCC schools head to Whitman College in Walla Walla this coming Friday and Saturday to determine who advances to the state meet.

The state meet is set for Nov. 9-11 in Federal Way.

Here are the final standings in MCC play: Hanford 8-0, Richland 7-1, Southridge 5-3, Walla Walla 5-3, Kamiakin 4-4, Kennewick 4-4, Hermiston 2-6, Pasco 1-7, Chiawana 0-8.

Slowpitch softball

Here comes Chiawana again. The Riverhawks have won the last two state 4A championships, and are ranked No. 1 in the latest RPI.

Chiawana won two games at last weekend’s 4A district tournament — beating Lewis & Clark 16-4, then blanking Central Valley 3-0 for the title.

They open state 4A play at noon on Friday, Oct. 27, at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima.

Here are the first-round games (all at noon): Game 1, (6 seed) Skyview vs. (3) Moses Lake; Game 2, (7) Central Valley vs. (2) Union); Game 3, (5) Eastmont vs. (4) Woodinville; Game 4, (8) Bothell vs. (1) Chiawana.

The state championship game is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Walla Walla went 3-1 in the 3A district tournament, beating Ridgeline 17-6 in the state play-in game.

They’ll open the 3A state tournament (same site as 4A) at 10 a.m. Friday as a 3 seed against No. 6 Juanita. Other first-round games (also starting at 10 a.m.) are (7) Evergreen-Vancouver vs. (2) Mt. Spokane; (5) Columbia River vs. (4) Lake Washington; and (8) Roosevelt vs. (1) University.

The championship game is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.

Volleyball

Don’t know if we’ve seen a more dominant team in the MCC than this year’s Kamiakin squad.

There is still one day of regular-season play left, set for Thursday, Oct. 26, but the Braves are the top team for the third straight year.

Kamiakin is 15-0 and has only lost 6 sets all season.

Kennewick and Chiawana are right behind at 11-4, while Richland is 10-5. Walla Walla is 8-8, Hanford is 5-10, both Southridge and Hermiston are 4-11, and Pasco is 0-15.

The District 8 tournament for 3A begins Oct. 31, as teams battle for three state berths.

The 4A district tournament starts on Nov. 1, with two state berths available.

The state tournament draw will be held on Nov. 12.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Herald.