THE PROSPECT OF more snow falling Friday and Saturday has athletic directors fretting and planning for potential weather-related postponements of winter sports postseason events.
“Past Friday night, snow should be everywhere,” according to the National Weather Service at midday Wednesday. “Snow should continue throughout the day Saturday.”
Swim meet condensed
The West Central District 3 Class 1A/2A boys Swim and Dive Championships have been condensed from a two-day schedule into a one-day event set Friday. The diving competition will begin at Lindbergh High School in Renton at 9:45 a.m. and the swimming events will begin at 3:45 p.m. at Hazen High School in Renton.
“The main emphasis is making sure participants and their families are safe and not traveling during hazardous conditions,” West Central District 3 director Joe Keller wrote in an email. “With the following format we will still get the top swimmers racing against each other for places, team points and allocations to state. Anyone can move up into the top 12 for scoring or top seven for allocations to state from any heat.”
Basketball update today
The Quilcene girls basketball team endured three postponements of its Class 1B SeaTac League loser-out contest with Northwest Yeshiva.
Six West Central District or Tri-District basketball games are scheduled on the North Olympic Peninsula from tonight through Saturday night.
This includes the Port Angeles boys basketball team’s district contest at home Friday night and a postseason triple header Saturday at Port Angeles featuring the Crescent boys hoops team and the Clallam Bay and Port Angeles girls squads.
“We will make the decision regarding the status of Friday’s and Saturday’s games no later than 4 p.m. [today],” West Central District 3 board member and Sumner athletic director Tim Thomsen said. “In the meantime, we will be working on contingency options for all tournament brackets for next week. Those contingency options will be shared with league reps at a meeting [this] afternoon.”
Sequim’s girls and Port Townsend’s boys basketball teams also are scheduled to play district games on the road in Renton and Puyallup tonight and Saturday.
And the Forks girls have a district playoff game at King’s Way Christian in Vancouver on Friday night.
Wrestling Saturday
Wrestling regionals for area athletes also are scheduled Saturday at venues in Bellingham, Federal Way, Olympia, Castle Rock and Belfair.
Gymnastics on schedule
Gymnasts from Port Angeles, Sequim and Crescent will compete tonight at the district meet in DuPont, but that meet is set to run as planned.
“We will err on the side of caution and embrace the safety of our student athletes,” Port Angeles athletic director Dwayne Johnson said.
Check peninsuladailynews.com for scheduling updates.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.