Ridgefield girls soccer repeats and defends 2A state title
The Ridgefield girls soccer team earned its first state title in 2023. In 2024 the Spudders defended their success to win the 2024 2A championship over rival Columbia River Rapids with a 1-0 win on Nov. 23.
In 2023, the Spudders flew under the radar to conquer the 2A state title. In 2024, as the first overall seed throughout the postseason, the Spudders did not give up a single goal in their last seven games en route to their repeat victory, as they outscored opponents 12-0 in the state tournament, including a 2-0 win over fourth-seeded Bellingham High School in the semifinal round on Nov. 22.
When the soccer team returned home from Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma on Nov. 23, they were greeted with a police escort through the city of Ridgefield and welcomed by supporters at the high school.
In an interview with the Reflector, seniors Abigail Vance, Nora Martin, Marlee Buffham and Baylee Bushnell described the night from the final whistle to arriving back at the high school as emotional and amazing. Buffham was credited with the lone goal in the title game after it deflected off of a Columbia River player and into the back of the net.
“I think it’s really cool to see such a small community come together when we accomplish something,” Martin said.
To earn the repeat state title, the Spudders defeated their rivals Columbia River High School three times during the season, including the district and state title matches. The season series between the Spudders and Rapids went 3-1, with the Rapids taking the first of two regular season games, and the Spudders winning three straight.
“I think winning a championship in general is going to feel good but especially against our rivals and a team that in the past we haven’t performed well [against]. So this year, especially, it feels really good,” Martin said.
Playing the Rapids in the state title game adds a new chapter to the rivalry between the two girls soccer programs, the Spudder seniors felt.
“I think just getting to play River under that stage, that pressure, is just so cool. Like, it was such a good way to end it and like a full-circle moment,” Bushnell said of adding a state title matchup to the rivalry. “Going back and forth between all the years has been so fun, and to end it that way was so cool. And definitely to come out on top made it feel even more special.”
Prairie’s Faith Tarrant three-peats at state wrestling Matt Classic, looks for fourth title
Prairie High junior Faith Tarrant entered the Tacoma Dome with more confidence than before to win her third girls 235-pound wrestling state championship in the 3A/4A class on Feb. 17, 2024.
Tarrant pinned Katherine Petersen from Tahoma High School in Maple Valley in the second round to go 3 for 3 in the championship match in her junior year. She has now completed her second straight undefeated season by pinning every opponent. Her third title topped off her 38-0 campaign.
With the score 0-0 after one round of the championship match, Tarrant started the second positioned on top. She said that added to her confidence to seal the deal.
“I didn’t mind it going 0-0 because I’m confident with my ability being on top,” She said. “So being 0-0 in the first round was OK with me.”
Tarrant felt a lot more confident in her third appearance at the Mat Classic.
“I think I was just more confident in my ability being there for the third time,” Tarrant said. “I didn’t have the same feelings as I did my freshman, sophomore year[s]. I wasn’t as nervous. … I felt confident in my ability that I could win a third state title.
Entering the 2024-25 season, Tarrant has an opportunity to go 4-0 at the state meet at 235 pounds. With the opportunity to win state all four years, Tarrant said she is approaching this final high school season with a lot of excitement after putting in a lot of offseason work leading into the regular wrestling season.
“I kind of changed my technique, you know, because everybody’s obviously watching me,” she said. “I’m the person to beat, so I make sure I put in the work. I wrestled a lot in the offseason, just consistently putting in work to make sure that I remain on top and try to stay level-headed, like, I won the state titles, yes, but it’s a new year. It’s fair game.”
Prairie wins rivalry matchup against Tigers 43-38
The Prairie Falcons arrived by bus to their home game against the Tigers at District Stadium on the Battle Ground High School campus and returned to Prairie High School victorious after a 43-38 win on Sept. 20, 2024.
With the huge win, the Falcons now have a 26-25 lead in the all-time series between the two Battle Ground Public Schools high schools. After the win, one Prairie player joked it should be called the “Prairie School District.”
“This was a statement win for the team, for the program, for the community, for the school, everybody. It wasn’t just the team. It was the fans, the family, the band, everybody,” Prairie head coach Junior Miller said.
After being smacked by the Ridgefield Spudders, the Falcons beat Washougal and then found their identity before the massive rivalry game.
“They bought in,” Miller said after the Falcons topped Washougal. “Our coaches, I have to give credit to those guys, the game planning that they do. We spend hours watching film. The kids spend hours watching film, and they do a great job of putting it on the field during our practice session. So I have to hand it to the coaches and the players. I mean, I’m just here to celebrate with them after this.”
After a back-and-forth second half, the Tigers struck late to regain the lead at 38-36, but it was not late enough. The Falcons methodically drove down field with consistent sideline plays as the Tigers secondary tried to not give up the deep shot near the hashes, but Falcon quarterback Devin Vigue found wide receiver Jackson Kimball to seal the deal.
Spudders win marathon pitchers duel in 16-inning showdown
The Columbia River Rapids and Ridgefield Spudders baseball teams shortened their spring break with a 16-inning game at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex.
A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Ridgefield’s Colton Warren brought a close to the tortoise of a baseball game in which the Spudders won 4-3 March 29, 2024.
Ridgefield played as both the hare and the tortoise by jumping to an early 3-0 lead by the fourth inning. The Rapids tied the game in the sixth. Ridgefield had a chance in the bottom of the second extra inning, but the game went on.
In 16 innings, two full high school length games and some change all in one, both teams committed zero errors, a rare feat, even for a normal length game.
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Spudders head coach Nick Allen said. “That was quintessential high school baseball: both teams playing their butts off and executing. I mean, the defense, the way both teams' defenses played and kept that thing where it was, and pitchers, you know, just scrapped and threw strikes, and hitters didn’t make very good adjustments, but the pitching and defense played today. It was an incredible high school baseball game.”
After Ridgefield’s Rocco Wright threw six innings, Deven Savella came in for what was probably meant to be a couple of innings of relief at most with the game tied at 3, but he threw for seven more innings. Savella gave up three hits and no runs on six strikeouts and just one walk with 78 pitches in his seven innings on the mound. Landon DeBeaumont earned the win with three innings allowing two hits, no runs and three strikeouts with one walk.
River Homelink has first ever college athlete signing
After 30 years, a student at River Homelink, a Battle Ground Public Schools alternative school, has signed the school’s first ever college commitment.
Serena Hewes, a student and a softball catcher for the Prairie Falcons, opted for her college commitment signing at River Homelink. Hewes inked her commitment to Hesston College in Kansas on Feb. 28, 2024, in front of a crowd of students, staff, friends and family.
The signing meant a lot to River Homelink Principal Matthew Kesler. He joked that it took 30 years to have a college athlete for the Lynx. Earlier this year, River Homelink celebrated its 30th anniversary.
“It’s just special because she’s the first,” Kesler said of Hewes signing at River Homelink. “And I think the story that I told at the beginning — that she insisted on signing here — that she insisted on signing with us is really a wonderful gesture and a real honor.”
Hewes thanked Kesler, Bonnie Roggenkamp and Sandy Sparks for their guidance at River Homelink. For Hewes, signing at River Homelink over where she plays athletics was important for her.
“I did all my sports at Prairie, and, sure, all my friends are there, but all the staff members were all the ones who really helped me,” Hewes said. “And so I felt it was important that I was here with them.”
BGHS unified soccer team places third at state
The Battle Ground High School unified soccer team placed third at state on May 25, 2024, but beyond the score and stats, the team is celebrating the positivity and inclusion unified sports bring.
Head coach Jason Otto is proud of the success that landed the school’s first unified soccer trophy. Beyond the athletic efforts the athletes with disabilities and their partners brought to the field this season, Otto said he is pleased with the program’s growth since he became involved as a coach 12 years ago. Unified soccer at Battle Ground High School includes three teams, each at a different level.
“As far as unified sports goes, I think that, overall, our program has really shown a lot of growth throughout the years. These kids are very energetic each and every day,” Otto said. “They work hard. … The nature of the kids, their energy and our [administration] and staff being behind us, you know, the teachers being behind us, there’s a lot of support here.”
The teams feature the athletes and partners, students without disabilities who pair up with the athletes and assist them with the game. After this season, some of the partners will be graduating high school, which leaves a gap to fill for next year. Otto encourages students to join the program for next year.
“I think the biggest thing is to just be involved with these kids. These kids are part of our everyday lives, and I work in special education, so I think it’s just getting out there and having fun with them,” Otto said, adding the experience not only brings joy but adds life skills and a great resume addition.
La Center boys distance runners break school records
As the La Center High track team’s season wound down, the boys celebrated a successful season with two school records broken.
The La Center boys 4x800-meter relay team broke the La Center High School record at the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays in April with a time of 8 minutes and 24.7 seconds and broke the distance medley relay school record earlier this season at the Tiger Invite in March with a time of 11:19.
The Wildcats boys relay team consisted of Brady Sypher, Anthony Larkin, Logan Hubler and Carter Sherry.
La Center track and field head coach Jill Cole said the team has had a strong cross country season.
“So we threw together these guys in the distance medley relay at the Tiger Invite because we knew we could run a pretty fast one, and they broke the school record and then got to the Nike/Jesuit meet,” Cole said. “We knew we have some really strong 800 [meter] runners, and we knew we could run a really great 4 by 8, and so we were able to get in, and then they came home and broke the school record again and broke it by a lot.”
Tigers, Spudders, Wildcats advance to baseball state tourney
The Battle Ground Tigers advanced in 4A, while the Ridgefield Spudders punched their ticket in 2A and the La Center Wildcats earned their way, as well, in the spring.
The Tigers devoured their way into the 4A state tournament with three straight wins, two of them loser-out, to start the 4A District 3/4 tournament.
The Ridgefield Spudders faced elimination in their final game of the 2A District 4 tournament to advance to the 2A state tournament.
The La Center Wildcats conquered the 1A District 4 Tournament’s loser’s bracket to earn their way into the state tournament.
Raptors host first responder night
The Ridgefield Raptors’ Colby Wallace may have cracked the game open with a home run on first responder night, but the star of the night was connecting the community and emergency personnel with the shared love of summertime baseball.
The Raptors, a summer collegiate wood bat league in the West Coast League, hosted their annual first responder night highlighted with a jersey auction benefiting Kindness 911, a nonprofit organization connecting first responders with the community, on July 10, 2024.
“It’s a pretty amazing experience,” Ridgefield Police Chief Cathy Doriot said of first responder night at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex. “We have a really good relationship with the Raptor organization anyway, but Gus Farah does an amazing job with that team, and Jason Hattrick works really hard at promoting Kindness 911 and the positive acts of being kind to others. We’ve supported him for a long time, and he’s such a good human, and he really wants to recognize people and promote kind acts, even small kind acts.”
First responders were provided tickets courtesy of Riverview Bank, the key sponsor of the night, Doriot said.
Top Clark County high school golfers compete at Royal Oaks Country Club
High school golfers from 11 different teams in the Clark County area converged on the pristine conditions at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Vancouver on Oct. 7.
The rare opportunity for high schoolers to play at Royal Oaks, a private golf club, was combined with the opportunity to partner with other teams’ players, some even rivals. The top two players from each high school in Clark County were eligible to play at the country club course with no cost.
“The goal of this event is to unite and spotlight Clark County, Washington’s best high school golfers in a fun, competitive team event …” the Clark County Cup’s website stated.
High schools with players from north Clark County included Woodland, Ridgefield, Battle Ground and Prairie.
The tournament was formatted with two overall teams, the green team and the blue team, the official colors of Clark County, with six pairings on each team. In the end, the green team defeated the blue team, 4-2, in their matches.
Prairie High School grad helps secure gold for Team USA in gymnastics
Jordan Chiles, a Prairie High School grad, helped the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team win an Olympic gold in the women’s team final on July 30, 2024, in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Chiles, Prairie High School class of 2019, began training at Naydenov Gymnastics in Vancouver when she was just 6 years old. Prior to the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games where she helped the team win silver, the Falcon senior competed in 2019 as a member of the senior U.S. National Team and trained for 32 hours a week at Naydenov with a dream of competing at the 2020 Olympics, according to previous reporting by The Reflector. She left the Vancouver area in 2019 to Spring, Texas, to train with fellow Olympian Simone Biles at the World Champions Centre.
In the July 30 team finals, Chiles scored 14.4 on vault, 14.366 on uneven bars, 12.733 on the balance beam and a 13.966 for her floor routine. Her efforts helped the United States reclaim its gold status in the Olympics with a team score of 171.296, a lead of 5.802 over silver-medal winner Italy.
