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Prep athletes back in action following break

Tim Martinez: High School Sports column

By Tim Martinez, Columbian Assistant Sports Editor
Published: April 11, 2011, 12:00am

This week we shine the spotlight on a few invitational events that will showcase some of the area’s best athletes in golf, tennis and track and field.

We’ll start off with the Chieftain Invitational golf tournament, hosted by Columbia River High School at Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland on Wednesday.

Most high school girls golf teams have cleared their schedules this week to participate in this 18-hole tournament. All 11 Class 4A and 3A Greater St. Helens League golf teams are scheduled to compete, along with Hockinson, Mark Morris and Washougal.

This week’s tournament will be the first of two 18-hole events that will serve as previews of the district tournaments next month. It will give players the opportunity to match their skills against the best Southwest Washington has to offer in a tournament format.

Most teams will also take part in the Prairie Invitational scheduled for next week.

The Ingram Twilight Invitational track and field meet is another showcase for Clark County track and field athletes, although not all county teams will be participating.

Heritage and Mountain View are scheduled to send athletes to the Aloha (Ore.) Invitational on Saturday, and Evergreen is slated to go to the St. Helens (Ore.) Invitational. Camas and La Center will compete in the Gorge Invitational in Stevenson on Saturday.

It will be a busy weekend for Camas athletes, as the Papermakers are also among the 14 teams expected to compete at the Twilight meet at River. Camas will be joined by Battle Ground, Skyview, Union, Columbia River, Hudson’s Bay, Fort Vancouver, Prairie, Hockinson, Mark Morris, Washougal, Woodland, Ridgefield and Seton Catholic.

Hopefully, the weather will be good so some of the county’s best athletes — many rank with some of the best athletes in the state — can put up some good marks on Friday night at Columbia River. However, the long-range forecast for late this week is not encouraging.

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That’s not good news for the Mountain View Invitational tennis tournament, slated to run Friday and Saturday at Mountain View High School. This year’s tournament does not feature as many local teams as in years past, at least not according to the school’s schedules.

Heritage, Skyview, Camas, Columbia River and Prairie were the only schools that listed this tournament on their season schedules. Battle Ground, Evergreen, Fort Vancouver, Hudson’s Bay and Union all have non-league matches scheduled for Friday.

The schedule for today’s events is relative light, as schools return from the spring break. Battle Ground plays Evergreen and Union meets Skyview in softball in the only league softball action scheduled.

Of course, we’re now moving into the part of the spring schedule in which makeup games are sure to start popping up as the weather permits.

The forecast for this week calls for showers early in the week, then turning to more steady rain by midweek.

Hopefully, the weather will hold out long enough to allow a full slate of league baseball games to be played as scheduled on Tuesday. Games that day include Heritage at Evergreen (4A GSHL), Camas at Columbia River and Kelso at Prairie (3A GSHL) and Castle Rock at Ridgefield and La Center at Toledo in Trico League doubleheaders.

And rain won’t stop boys soccer matches from being played on Tuesday, as the scheduled is highlighted by a 4A GSHL doubleheader at McKenzie Stadium with Skyview facing Union at 5 p.m. and Battle Ground meeting Heritage at 7 p.m.

Also, be on the lookout for season preview features for girls golf, boys track and field and girls tennis scheduled to run in The Columbian this week.

Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached by phone at (360) 735-4538 or email at tim.martinez@columbian.com

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