Get outside. The weather is lovely.
The spring sports season debuted last week and gets going in earnest this week. And Monday’s forecast looks perfect for getting outside for a prep event.
Girls golf teams opened their season last week. Several baseball and soccer teams played their season openers over the weekend.
And the weather was more dry than wet, which is more than anyone can ask for in the second week of March.
La Center junior Coral Clark enjoyed her team’s first practice on their field outside last Tuesday after spending the first week of spring practice in the gym.
“This is great,” Clark said. “Last year, we didn’t get outside until our first game of the season.”
This season, the Wildcats open Monday at Heritage, and the temperature could reach the 70s. Sounds perfect.
In addition to softball openers, girls tennis teams will also open the season this week, and several track and field teams will have season-opening jamborees.
And The Columbian staff will be putting the finishing touches on our spring sports preview special section, which will be in Sunday’s edition of The Columbian.
Like we’ve done in the fall and winter season, our previews section will set the table for the upcoming spring season.
Sports editor Micah Rice, reporter Andy Buhler and I sat down for podcast, in which we talk about our spring sports preview and what readers can expect.
We also talked about our series of winter All-Region athletes of the year, and the selection of the All-Region teams.
You can give it a listen, but I’ll explain it short here.
The Columbian staff make the selections for every All-Region athlete of the year after consulting area coaches and discussing the decision among ourselves.
The All-Region teams for wrestling, swimming, gymnastics and bowling our made by The Columbian staff by comparing season-best scores, times and placings at district, regional and state events.
For the basketball teams, the selections are made in a three-part process.
The first part of the selection process are the picks made by Columbian staffers Micah Rice, Andy Buhler, Meg Wochnick and myself.
The second piece is a vote by area coaches. Of the 19 area coaches who were sent a ballot, we had between 14 and 16 coaches respond for the boys and girls teams. And we appreciate their input.
The final piece was comprised of a vote of the fans. For the girls team, we received 1,346 fan votes. For the boys team, 1,161 votes were cast.
After all votes were cast, we put those three pieces together to arrive at the final All-Region team.
For the most part, the three ballots had a great deal in common. On the boys team, five of the six players on the first team were picked on the first team by The Columbian, the coaches and the fans.
Nine of the 12 players selected by fans made the final All-Region team. The same was true 10 of 12 coaches’ picks and 11 of 12 of The Columbian picks.
On the girls basketball team, four of six first-teamers were unanimous picks among fans, coaches and The Columbian.
All 12 players to receive place in the top 12 of the fan vote made the final team. Eleven of the 12 players the coaches picked made the final, and 10 of the 12 players The Columbian staffers picked made the final team.
Some people have told me they don’t like the fan vote because they say it’s just a popularity contest. But no player the fans vote for can make the final team unless that selection is echoed by either the coaches or The Columbian.
Truthfully, the same can be said for the players selected by the coaches or The Columbian.
So this year’s All-Region basketball teams were really made by a consensus.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep editor for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538 or follow his Twitter handle @360TMart.
