Welcome to March, a time not only for madness on the hardwood, but the official start to spring sports. For the last handful of years, SW Washington has dominated the spring season with state champs in softball, a bounty of first place finishers in state track and field plus, for those fall sports that have spring championships, claim some hardware as well.
It’s a blitz to the finish line and while the inevitable rainouts and postponements are to occur, more often than not, it makes for quite the ending come May.
Here are five storylines to keep a watchful eye on over the final two-plus months of the 2025-26 athletic season.
Chance at more history in field events
Onalaska’s Luke Barrick reset the Class 2B pole vault record with his title-winning clearance of 15 feet, 7 inches. Oakville-North River’s Lewis Koser secured his second straight 1B state discus title. And Barrick’s teammate Ethan Thayer triumphed in the 2B discus.
All are back this spring.
Koser could become the first three-peat champ for the Acorns and Barrick, recently committed to Idaho State, has already cleared 17 feet back in January. Thayer, who also finished second in the shot put, went over 170 feet in his final two discus throws in Yakima.
On the girls side, the Loggers Kiley Talley is the highest area 2B thrower with podium finishes in both throwing events.
Can an EvCo soccer team breakthrough?
It’s been four years since an Evergreen Conference boys soccer program has won a state tournament match. Tumwater in 2022 was the last to do it and a Lewis County school hasn't accomplished it this century.
The T-Birds graduated the high-scoring star duo of Dylan Stevens and Gavin Cuoio, but returned a handful of defensive starters. W.F. West lost eight seniors and a handful were first team all-league guys, but Gage Grisham in the back, Rafa Mendez in the midfield and Alex Mathuzima up top are core players back.
Centralia made the district pigtail game before falling by a goal to Ridgefield. Nine seniors are gone but first team all-league midfielder Gabriel Cruz is back. Black Hills returns Zachary Cammack as a first team defender and a couple other all-league honorees.
District 4 has been dominated by Columbia River recently and the lack of strength of the EvCo has led to low state seeds. Still, the Bearcats nearly won as the No. 15 seed and the T-Birds were competitive for a half versus Archbishop Murphy.
Is Adna’s Trevin Salme the favorite to go back-to-back?
If the Pirates junior picks up the clubs again, he’ll do so as the defending Class 2B state champion. Salme needed a second round 18-hole card of 71 to triumph over Orcas Island’s Joe Anderson by a stroke at MeadowWood Golf Course in Liberty Lake.
While Salme could be the perceived favorite, he could have his hands full once again. Anderson is back as is Wyatt Winters of Manson,who placed in a tie for third. In total, 17 of the 21 golfers that made day two are all expected to be back.
Salme will also have Rainier’s Josh Peralta within his own district to contend with. Peralta placed inside the top-25 two years ago as a freshman.
Quick reminder of fall qualifiers for spring state championships
Two sports that have their regular season in the fall — boys golf and boys tennis — will have their state championships in May. For golf, seven area athletes qualified outright and a couple are alternates.
The headliners are Tumwater’s Braeden Konrad, who placed third at districts, and Black Hills’ Logan Stallings in ninth place. The T-Birds, Wolves plus W.F. West each has two state qualifiers. In 1A, Rochester freshman Clayton Knutson won a playoff hole to nab a state berth.
For tennis, Centralia’s Jacoby Corwin and Tumwater’s Bodie Jackson qualified in singles. Corwin was the state runner-up in doubles last year and for Jackson, it marks his second straight state appearance in singles.
The T-Birds also have a doubles tandem in Max Bunn and Kieran Cox that will be in Seattle.
Will the local District 4 teams pull the baseball, softball double state champ?
It’s happened before, the last being 2023, but area District 4 teams are in a two-year cold spell of having a baseball and softball state champion. There are reasons to think 2026 could fall in line with 2023.
Softball is a virtual lock for District 4 being represented in the 2B state finals — it’s been every year since the 21st century a D4 team has made the title game. And W.F. West returns a nucleus anchored by Taylor Tobin in the circle and Karlee Coleman in the lineup. Even with the graduation of their top battery, betting on Tumwater is fools gold.
Baseball is another question. The Bearcats and Pirates were the lone teams last year to make the quarterfinals, but both lost. W.F. West brings back a star-studded pitching staff led by Connor Coleman, Hayden Rooney and Cole Ozretich. What the infield and catcher spots look like — outside of Hiroto Smaciarz — remains to be seen.
Adna brings back Cameron Nakano has its ace and a solid Nos. 2 and 3 in Jack Pennington and Beau Miller.
Tumwater has Luke Overbay, a Michigan commit, plus a bounty of varsity guys back off a district title team. Napavine returns Cal Bullock and do-it-all infielder Beckett Landram while Toledo has a handful of all-league guys in the mix after a state tourney berth.
