The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – The year in Touchet Valley sports was highlighted by a brand-new Dayton-Waitsburg combine football team that went undefeated in the new Eastern Washington Athletic Conference, and advanced to the state 2B playoff quarterfinals.

After losing their opening game at Mac-Hi, 14-7, DW knocked off Columbia Burbank, a strong 1A team, 45-41 at home, before cruising through the EWAC schedule with relative ease. Their narrowest victory in league play was a 35-20 win over Tri-Cities Prep in Pasco on Sept. 23.

DW clinched the league championship with a stunning romp on the road over previously unbeaten Kittitas, 49-6, in their next-to-last league game.

After playoff wins against Tonasket and TCP, both in hostile territory, DW entered the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs. The team faced Liberty High School in Spangle on Nov. 18, and came away with only their second loss, 48-19, which ended their season. They finished 7-0 in league play and 10-2 overall.

It was an overwhelmingly successful start to the first-ever combine team between Dayton and Waitsburg High Schools. The combine was originally approved by the two schools' boards of directors in the spring.

In October, the Dayton and Waitsburg school boards agreed to establish a baseball combine, which will begin play in the spring of 2017.

In other sports highlights this year, the Dayton girls' basketball team won the southeast 2B league playoffs and advanced to the state tournament. For the second year in a row, they were bounced out in the round of 16, this time with a 58-44 loss to Mabton in late February.

As of this writing, the Lady Bulldogs are undefeated through the first four weeks of the 2016-2017 season.

In February, Waitsburg senior Tristan Newman traveled to the state mat classic at the Tacoma Dome for the fourth consecutive year. Newman came away with a third-place finish in his weight class. Also competing at state for Waitsburg were David Just and Ky Adams.

In the spring of 2016, several Waitsburg track team members advanced to the state track championships, held in Cheney in late May. The state meet was highlighted for the Cardinals by a win for Landon Callas in the 300 meter hurdles.

Emily Adams placed second for the Cardinals in the 800 meters, and fourth in both the 1600 and 3200 meter races.

Also appearing at state for the Cardinals were Travis Crockett, Mark Montgomery, Skylar Wood, Zion Branson, Joe Leamy, Nick Kitselman and Brandon Penner.

Dayton also sent three athletes to the state track meet. Cal Martin finished seventh in the javelin, and Alexis Wanlarbkam and Neylan Bryan both competed – in the 100 meter hurdles and the 400-meter run, respectively.