Community Notebook: Evergreen wrestler hits it big with championship in Reno

Anthony Thomas of Vancouver won a championship at the Cliff Keen Reno Worlds wrestling tournament, held April 13-15 at Reno, Nev.

A junior at Evergreen High School, Thomas went 6-0 with four pins and did not surrender a point on his way to the 160-pound championship for wrestlers ages 16-18. There were 50 wrestlers from 42 states in his bracket.

More than 2,800 wrestlers ages 6-18 took part in the annual event. Thomas has qualified to participate in the USA Wrestling nationals later this year at Fargo, N.D.

Lacrosse clubs score big wins

Jocelyn Cole tallied five goals as the Evergreen Lacrosse Club defeated Bethel 16-5 in a high school girls lacrosse match Saturday at McKenzie Stadium.

The win keeps the ELC Black Cats in first place in the Nisqually Conference of the Washington Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association with a 3-0 record in league play.

After giving up the game’s first goal, Evergreen went on a 7-1 run to build an 11-3 halftime advantage. Emily McCoy added three goals, as nine different players scored for the Black Cats.

Evergreen returns to action Wednesday with a key conference matchup at Puyallup, followed by a home doubleheader Saturday at McKenzie Stadium. The Black Cats host Spanaway Lake at 1 p.m. in conference play, then face Mukilteo at 3 p.m. in a rescheduled non-conference match.

King’s Way boys win — Jack Beall had three goals, three assists and won three ground balls Friday, helping King’s Way to a 14-1 win over Tahoma in a Washington High School Boys Lacrosse Association match.

The win improved the Knights to 7-1 in league play, good for second place in the Southwest Conference.

On Friday, King’s Way will play Lake Washington at 8:30 p.m. at Wilburton Hill Park in Bellevue. At 5 p.m. Saturday, the Knights take on Bellevue at Bellevue High School.

Against Tahoma, Koda Wataka-Robinson also scored three goals for King’s Way. Clayton Frank had two goals and five ground balls, and Jeff Sanchez and Cameron Tabbutt scored two goals apiece.

Key rugby matchset for Camas

Two of the top teams in Division Two of Oregon high school rugby will clash at 5 p.m. Saturday at Doc Harris Stadium in Camas.

Camas will take on Lincoln/Westside of Portland, with the winner taking over the division lead. Camas is 5-1 this season. Lincoln is 6-0.

Camas is one of five rugby teams from Clark County playing this spring in the Oregon Youth Rugby multi-school division for teams made up of players from more than one school. The Camas club includes players from Camas, Union, Mountain View, Hudson’s Bay, Evergreen, and Columbia River high schools.

Battle Ground has one team in Division One and another in Division 2. There also is a Battle Ground team in the girls top division.

VEGA gymnasts reach Western Nationals

Five girls from Vancouver Elite Gymnastics Academy qualified for the USA Gymastics Western Nationals, which will take place May 4-6 at Boise, Idaho.

All five members of VEGA’s Level 9 team qualified for the Western National event based on their performance at the Region 2 championships held April 13-15 in Beaverton.

The VEGA Level 9 team consists of Micah Parra, age 13; Emily Wilson, 14; Celeste Klug, 14; Kristen Bivens, 12; and Jaden Andrus, 12.  Each competes against girls her own age.

The Western Nationals is the top meet for level 9 gymnasts from Washington.

Andrus placed second all-around in her age division while placing second on bars, third on floor, and third on beam. In the same age division, Bivins placed fourth all-around for VEGA while also placing fourth on beam.

In the Region 2 championships at Level 8, VEGA’s Alara Jones placed third all-around for her age division while placing second on beam and third on floor. Also at Level 8 for VEGA, Jamin Karlous placed fourth on vault, and Haley Chan placed fourth on beam.

The Junior Olympics national championships are for gymnasts at the Level 10 skill level.

As reported last week, five girls from Vancouver’s Naydenov Gymnastics and at least one area boy have qualified for their Level 10 nationals.

Columbia River boat wins rowing event

The Columbia River boat won the Vancouver Lake Crew high school championship race Saturday.

The race gives members of the Vancouver Lake Crew program a chance to represent their school, or corner of the county, in an intersquad race.

The crew of Meera Gregerson, Brady Schmitt, Andrew Nevitt, Zach Greenen and coxswain Dorothy Tarnawski rowed Columbia River to the victory.

Second place went to the north county boat with Corrina Neibur, John Wilkerson, Annie Wilkerson, Tuck Wilcox, and Oliver Neibur (coxswain). Finishing third was the east county boat with Sawyer Schultz, Libby Lockwood, Reis Warman, Alec Geenty, and Katie Hickey (coxswain). The fourth-place boat was from Skyview with Joe Querin, Matt Haisch (of VSAA), Hanna Black, Deryk Ahner and Alec Bittner (coxswain).

This week, a crew from Olympia Area Rowing is scheduled to race against VLC as the clubs continue to prepare for the Northwest championships in May at Vancouver Lake.

COMMUNITY SPORTS NEWS is published each Tuesday. To submit items for consideration, send an e-mail to paul.danzer@columbian.com, or call 360-735-4521. For upcoming events, check out the online Community Sports Calendar at www.columbian.com.