Yakima Valley High School Athletes to Be Honored Tonight

The 19th Annual (after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic) returns tonight (June 24) to the Yakima Convention Center to honor athletes, teams, and coaches throughout the Yakima Valley and Central Washington in 21 different high school sports.

Sixteen different schools will be represented and cover five of the six WIAA classifications. Geographically, they extend from Ellensburg to Prosser and range from Riverside Christian with 1 nominee to West Valley with 31 total nominations including athletes, coaches and teams.

I will have the pleasure and honor to be the co-Master of Ceremonies with KIMA-TV's Allan Sillence at the Sports Awards put on by the Yakima Valley Sports Commission. This year will be the first that the ceremony will be held in the evening as opposed to a luncheon as in previous years.

The nominees are selected by the sports department of the Yakima Herald-Republic and, again, they have a number of difficult choices.

While many individual student-athletes will be singled out for nomination in myriad sports -- including the naming of both the Male and Female Athlete of the Year -- the Team of the Year honor will be picked from the winner of each season's top team.

Those teams, categorized by season, are as follows:

FALL TEAM OF THE YEAR
Davis Girls Soccer
The Pirates went 10-2 for the season and had 9 players earn first or second team all CBBN honors.

Ellensburg Girls Cross Country
The Bulldogs had 5 of the top 6 at the CWAC district meet and placed 2nd in the 2A virtual state meet.

Prosser Football
The Mustangs finished 4-0 in CWAC, defeated CBBN co-champ Sunnyside and ranked 3rd in the state this year.

West Valley Football
The Rams scored 27 touchdowns and finished with a four game win streak to earn a share of the CBBN title.

West Valley Volleyball
The CBBN Champions had 6 all-league players and beat the CWAC co-champions Selah and Ellensburg.

WINTER TEAM OF THE YEAR
Selah Boys Basketball

Selah Boys Swimming & Diving

Selah Boys Wrestling

Toppenish Boys Wrestling

West Valley Boys Basketball

SPRING TEAM OF THE YEAR
Grandview Boys Soccer
The Greyhounds finished as CWAC League Champions at 10-1, posted 6 shutouts and beat the CBBN Champion Sunnyside Grizzlies.

Naches Valley Softball
The Rangers scored 220 runs during a 16-0 SCAC season, capped with a walk-off district title.

Selah Softball
The Vikings won the CWAC League Title by 4 games, scored 195 runs, swept the CBBN Champion West Valley Rams and finished the season 14-0.

Toppenish Boys Soccer
The undefeated Wildcats won SCAC League and District titles and had 10 players named to all-league teams.

West Valley Baseball
The Rams finished the year 13-0, outscoring teams 138-18.

Best of luck to all of the nominees!

Here's a look at past Sports Awards ceremonies and nominees: