Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

What a mess.

With temperatures barely cresting 30 degrees in the "heat" of the afternoon and a slab of ice and compacted snow turning roads into virtual hockey rinks, peninsula sports teams saw most of the games and matches either canceled or altered greatly.

The first meeting between Sequim High School's and Port Angeles' basketball teams, slated for Dec. 19, was postponed. Dave Ditlefsen, Sequim High's athletic director, said the game is scheduled to be made up on Jan. 10, a Saturday. Both boys and girls teams, varsity and junior varsity, are scheduled to play that evening at the Rick Kaps Memorial Gymnasium (601 N. Sequim Ave.), but C-team squad games have not been rescheduled yet.

It will be the third game in five days for the Wolves - they play Kingston on a Tuesday evening and North Kitsap on Friday night - and the second for the Roughriders, who have a bye Tuesday and games against North Mason Friday, Jan. 9.

"We typically have two games a week, (but) a third game that week is nothing unusual," Ditlefsen said. "They're used to playing tournaments so ... three games in a week is not an issue for our kids."

Sequim's girls also had a Saturday game against Bainbridge Island canceled with no date for a make-up game scheduled. They are 0-3 in Olympic League play, 0-4 overall. Sequim's boys are 0-3 in three league games.

Sequim High's wrestling team was slated to wrestle at a home Olympic League match against Port Townsend Dec. 18 and at Franklin Pierce High School's Cardinal Classic Dec. 20. While the Port Townsend match will be rescheduled for some time in January, Ditlefsen said, the Cardinal Classic tourney was canceled. The Wolves may try to schedule another tournament in January with a couple of weekends remaining open.

Sequim's wrestlers are 0-3 and seeking their first dual meet win of the season, though they had a good showing at the competitive Battle at the Border in Blaine Dec. 12-13, placing 12th out of 27 teams.

A Sequim-Olympic bowling match scheduled for Dec. 18 in Silverdale was also postponed with no make-up date set. The Wolves (3-6) fell to defending state 2A/3A champion Bremerton early last week.

"With the road conditions the way they are, it wasn't hard to make the right decision to not do anything," Ditlefsen said.

Peninsula College's men's and women's basketball teams already were on the road headed to tournaments when the winter storm fully kicked in. The men, on their way to the East Region Crossover Tournament in Yakima, turned their bus around and played at the West Region Crossover at Highline Community College in Olympia, taking the place of tournament drop-out Columbia Basin.

The Peninsula women were scheduled to play at the South Region Crossover in Salem, Ore., but could not get farther than Tacoma, where they got caught up in a traffic jam for several hours where Interstate 5 was closed near Fort Lewis.

"They had to find a hotel," Peninsula athletic director Rick Ross reported.

Instead, the Pirates found a tourney to take them: the South Puget Sound Crossover Tournament in Olympia.



Sequim High School postponed/canceled games

Team Org. date New date

Boys, girls basketball Dec. 19 vs. Port Angeles Jan. 10 (Sat.)

Bowling Dec. 18 vs. Olympic TBA

Wrestling Dec. 18 vs. Port Townsend TBA

Wrestling Dec. 20 tourney in Tacoma canceled