The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I n the fall of 2011, teams from Waitsburg-Prescott brought home two state championships - in soccer and football.

While that success in team sports wasn't repeated dur- ing this school year, student-athletes from WP and Day- ton turned in many strong performances, and all of us in the Touchet Valley should be very proud of them.

On Saturday, Jubilee student James Thompkins won three individual events at the state 2B track meet in Cheney - In the 100, 200 and 400 meter sprints. He also took a fourth victory, anchoring WP's winning 4x100 relay team.

Thompkins' performances highlighted the success of the combined athletics programs from Waitsburg, Prescott and Jubilee. His hard work and dedication were a great inspiration to his teammates and helped them all perform better. The eight WP boys who went to state took third in the team standings, missing out on second by one point.

Dayton's Kaitlyn Andrews placed a strong fifth in the javelin during the same meet, though she was the school's only competitor there.

Dayton and WP softball teams both advanced to the state tournament in Yakima over the weekend. WP fin- ished in the top 12 and Dayton in the top eight.

Prescott freshman Tristan Newman had the honor of competing at the state wrestling tournament in the Ta- coma Dome in March. He represented a WP wrestling program with a strong future. The Dayton and WP girls' basketball teams also went to district playoffs this winter.

In the fall, WP's soccer team made it into the quarter- finals of the state championship, before losing to a tough Northwest Christian team. In football, the WP Cardinals also made it to playoffs, but lost a state semifinal game.

In cross country, Seth Deal placed 13th in the state cross country tournament. While in Volleyball, Dayton's Lady Bulldogs advanced to the playoffs.

In The Times, we devote a lot of space to high school sports, but we also try to show off the many other achieve- ments of local students. Teams from local schools traveled to state and regional competitions this year in Knowledge Bowl, Youth and Government, FBLA and FFA.

A robotics team from Dayton will be competing this spring to see how far their mobile robot can fling a Fris- bee.

In conversations with adults in our communities, we often hear that local teens are doing drugs and drinking, and getting into too much trouble. It seems to us, how- ever, that the kids who take part in athletics and the many other after-school activities available to them, are a lot less likely to be the ones getting into trouble.

Much of that difference no doubt has to do with time. Students who challenge themselves at athletics and other extra-curricular activities must devote a lot of time to those things. It also takes time to do the things that get them into trouble. A dope-smoking petty thief who's also an accomplished athlete is going to have a pretty full schedule. It's highly unlikely he or she will be good at both.

So we salute all of the adults who put in the time to be coaches and mentors in those after-school activities that make such a big difference in kids' lives.

And we especially congratulate all of our local athletes (in both physical and mental sports) who have done such a great job this year. And to the seniors, we wish them a prosperous future.