This was a year of change in the sports world.
Change and resistance to change.
On a national level, 2019 saw the tide turning toward college players being paid. Coaches, athletic directors and power conferences all make millions upon millions of dollars on the backs of unpaid athletes and the powers that be just about pulled their collective hair out over the idea of college players getting some compensation from endorsements and jersey sales.
The year saw that NFL officiating continues to be as messed up as ever. It saw Seattle Reign FC soccer player Megan Rapinoe triumph over both controversy and the best players in the world at the World Cup. It saw Colin Kaepernick make millions off a Nike deal despite being blackballed out of the NFL.
Regionally, we saw old Key Arena torn to pieces for a $900 million project to convert it into a state-of-the-art hockey arena. The team is coming but we made it through the entire year without a name for the Seattle NHL franchise. The name and mascot are supposedly being picked in February. My vote is for “The Seattle Kraken.”
We saw the Seattle Sounders win another championship. Soccer continues to be the hot boutique sport in the Pacific Northwest. We saw the return of a heated Seattle Seahawks-San Francisco 49ers rivalry in two of the most intense non-playoff NFL games you’ll ever see. We can only hope the Seahawks and 49ers play again in the playoffs in a couple of weeks.
We saw the Mariners torn down in yet another rebuilding project and the Huskies and Cougars had down years in football after big years in 2018 for both programs. And Gonzaga came into 2019 as the No. 1 men’s basketball team in the country and goes into 2020 as the No. 1 team in the country.
It was a year that Edgar Martinez finally overcame the bias against DHs to be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Better late than never.
Local highlights
Locally, what a year with five individual state champions. It began with powerhouse seasons from both the Port Angeles boys and girls basketball teams and a resurgence of a Sequim girls’ basketball team.
The Roughrider boys and girls are unbeaten in league this year while the Sequim girls have just gotten better from last spring. They’re also unbeaten in league.
What a game it’s going to be when Port Angeles and Sequim girls play each other on Jan. 14. And don’t forget the Forks basketball boys, who have quietly gotten off to an 8-2 start on the west side in their final year in the Evergreen 1A League.
Forks finished third in the state in wrestling at the crazy Mat Classic, which was doubled in size because heavy snow in February wiped out the regional wrestling meets around the state. The Spartans were led by Luke Dahlgren, who won a state championship in his division.
Dahlgren’s state title was just the first to come out of the Olympic Peninsula. Port Angeles’ Millie Long and Sequim’s Murray Bingham won state titles in track and field, while the Sequim boys’ track team won a state championship. While the track and field drama was going on in Tacoma, the Sequim duo of Kalli Wiker and Jessica Dietzman won a state championship in doubles’ tennis in Seattle.
That was an amazing weekend, one as a sports editor I’ll never forget.
In baseball, the Riders continued their dominance in baseball, winning a league and district championship, then the same boys won a league American Legion league co-championship with Wilder. Both teams were coached by Karl Myers, who said goodbye to Port Angeles, moving to the Seattle area after the season was over. How amazing was that Riders’ baseball team? Virtually all of the seniors on that team have moved on to play college baseball.
The year also saw Year Three of the Lefties, who continued to entertain the Olympic Peninsula during gorgeous summer evenings.
Come fall, the year saw powerful football squads in Sequim and Quilcene and a great girls’ soccer rivalry between Sequim and Port Angeles. The Wolves and Riders not only battled for a league championship, they battled for a district title, played for on a foggy field at Peninsula College. The Riders’ Long had an incredible season, scoring 33 goals on the season.
Speaking of soccer, an NWAC championship returned to Port Angeles, this time won by the Peninsula College men. Both the men and the women played for the NWAC title in back-to-back games. The women lost a heartbreaker while the men won in penalty kicks.
It was the men’s first NWAC championship since 2015.
And finally, big changes are coming in classifications as Forks and Chimacum are dropping down to 2B while Port Townsend is leaving the disbanded Olympic A League to join the Nisqually A League.
The sports scene certainly keeps us busy around here. Nine high schools and Peninsula College. Four individual state champions, a team state champion and a college NWAC champion. More league champions than I can count, honestly. Sports are a big part of the fabric of the Olympic Peninsula. I love seeing the big crowds at the games here and love being part of that scene. Here’s to another momentous year in 2020.
