This week in sports

By Oliver Lazenby

Blaine wins first postseason wrestling tournament

Alex Hall, Aidan Button and Jacob Westfall won their weight classes and led Blaine wrestlers to a first place team finish at the 2A Northwest Conference sub-regional tournament on February 1–2 in Sedro-Woolley. The Borderites edged out Burlington-Edison for the top spot by a score of 296 to 283.5.

Thirteen Blaine wrestlers placed in the top four in their weight classes, qualifying them for the regional tournament on February 9 at Blaine High School.

“I’m super proud of how we did,” said Blaine head coach Tom Hinz. “I think we fulfilled our mission. Everyone kept their heads up and even our young guys did really well.”

Blaine will have wrestlers in 11 out of 14 weight classes at the regional tournament, putting the Borderites in position for another strong team score.

Hinz expected a lot of Borderites to qualify for regionals, he said, but he was pleased to beat higher-ranked Burlington-Edison in team score.

“We just pinned everybody. We scored so many points pinning,” he said. “As the tournament went on, we were like, ‘Man, we have to be pretty close to winning this.’”

At regionals, former state champion White River High School will be Blaine’s toughest competition.

Blaine has the advantage of wrestling at home, something Hinz thinks will be a factor for the team. Blaine wrestlers have traveled a lot this year, sometimes waking up at 4:30 or 5 a.m. to make weekend tournaments, he said.

“Being able to wake up and go to our wrestling room and have our own spot to lay out and rest is going to be great for us,” he said. “There’s always a lot of sitting and waiting at tournaments and that can be stressful. Being home and having parents and friends there with snacks makes it so much better.”

Blaine athletes who finished in the top four at sub-regionals were: Alex Hall, first place at 138 pounds; Aidan Button, first at 152; Jacob Westfall, first at 195; Alex Mercado, second at 126; George Cheatham, second at 152; Gavino Rodriguez, second at 195; Adam Macauley, third at 113; Ethan Deming, third at 145; Luke Westfall, third at 182; Jack Cheatham, fourth at 132; Colton Pederson, fourth at 170; Owen Hansen, fourth at 220 and Connor Ellis, fourth at 285.

Girls basketball team to face must-win Thursday night game

Ashley Dickerson wins the opening tip-off for Blaine against Mt. Baker on January 30 at Blaine High School. The Borderites lost 45-34.

Blaine girls basketball lost a couple of tough games to end the regular season, but the team’s record of 6–14 overall and 2–11 in conference games is enough to make the playoffs.

The Borderites will play a must-win district tournament game at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 7. At press time, Blaine’s opponent hadn’t yet been determined. They’ll play at the opponent’s home court.

If Blaine wins, it will go on to play Burlington-Edison at 6 p.m. on Saturday, February 9, at Burlington-Edison High School.

Much-improved boys basketball team is playoff-bound

After a season of improvement and some hard-fought wins, the Blaine boys basketball team made the postseason, a significant accomplishment for the team after ending last season with a 2–18 record.

“It’s good to reach a goal and now that we’re in [the postseason] our focus is on making the most of it,” said Blaine head coach Brett Farrar. “It’s great for the seniors to get to the district tournament and they’re a big part of this rebuild. At the same time, it’s good for the younger guys to learn and understand what it takes to succeed in our league.”

The Borderites play Burlington-Edison, one of the league’s top teams (15–5 overall) in the must-win round of the district tournament at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 7. Blaine lost to Burlington-Edison 81–69 in a regular season game on December 18.

The winner of Thursday’s game plays Liberty High School at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 9 at Liberty.

Farrar came into this season hoping to rebuild Blaine’s basketball program after two tough years for the Borderites. Blaine finished the regular season with a respectable 8–12 overall record. The team also snapped a multi-year, 27-game losing streak in conference games, winning three throughout the season.