National letter of intent day is today
Wednesday is the first day high school athletes can sign letters of intent.
Camryn Irwin of Prairie volleyball is expected to sign with the University of Oregon. Taylor Williams of Camas baseball is expected to sign with Washington State.
Not all sports are open to accept signatures just yet. Football and soccer players, among others, must wait until the February signing period.
Coaches and athletic directors are encouraged to contact The Columbian with details about athletes from their teams signing letters of intent. E-mail Paul Valencia at paul.valencia@columbian.com
Updates on playoff football games
Carl Click will once again be on the road for prep football, so you don’t have to.
Click will be broadcasting Saturday’s 3A football state playoff game between Columbia River and Meadowdale. The game kicks off a 6 p.m. in Edmonds.
You can listed to the play-by-play at carlclick.com.
La Center opponent set for Saturday
La Center will play Nooksack Valley in the Class 1A first round state football playoffs on Saturday in Battle Ground.
Nooksack Valley beat Vashon 42-20 on Tuesday in a District 1/3 playoff. When Meridian beat Port Townsend 25-0, it sent Nooksack Valley to face the Wildcats.
Saturday’s game will kick off at 5 p.m. Battle Ground’s District Stadium. It was announced previously that the game would be played at 1 p.m.
1A all-league picks announced
Castle Rock freshman Teirney Uhlenkott (volleyball), White Salmon’s Laurel Huth (soccer), La Center’s Hannah Trigg (soccer), La Center’s Dillon Kelly (football), La Center’s Derek Van Soest (football), and Castle Rock’s Chris Tinney (football) earned player of the year honors in the Trico League as all-league teams were announced.
All-league teams will be posted on The Columbian’s high school blog at www.columbian.com/preps as soon as they are received. They will be published in the print edition of The Columbian beginning Nov. 18.
O’Dea promotes assistant coach
O’Dea assistant coach Jerry Carr will take over the school’s boys basketball program on a one-year interim basis, athletic director Monte Kohler confirmed Tuesday.
“Jerry had worked under Phil,” Kohler said. “He was an assistant the last three years here and they had spent a lot of time in basketball together. I was just hoping Jerry would accept the position.”
Carr, who joined the Irish staff in 2005, will fill in for longtime coach Phil Lumpkin, who died recently.
Before joining the Irish, Carr spent 10 of his 27 seasons as a head coach at Bishop Blanchet. Carr retired from Blanchet in February 2004, took a year off and became a member of Lumpkin’s staff the following year.
Carr also spent 13 seasons as head coach at Mariner High School of Everett and four years at Lincoln of Portland. His coaching record in Washington over 23 seasons is 289-227.
“Considering the circumstances, there is probably not a better person out there that could be doing this right now,” said Franklin boys coach Jason Kerr, who was an assistant under Lumpkin. “No. 1, Jerry was one of Phil’s closest friends that he had, and he had obviously been coaching with him the last number of years and certainly understands what coach would expect out of his team and his program.
“With Jerry’s experience, being a former head coach himself at multiple schools, and just his longevity within the sport, in terms of what those kids and that community needs right now, he’s probably the perfect person.”
Under Lumpkin, who took over the program in 1991, the Irish went to 15 Class 3A state tournaments, and had 13 top-eight finishes. O’Dea won five 3A state titles (2007, 2005, 2004, 1997, 1993) and advanced to seven championship games.
Lumpkin will be buried Thursday in Dayton, Ohio. A memorial service for the coach will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the O’Dea High School gym. Donations in his memory can be made to the Phil Lumpkin Fund at O’Dea.
