Down two strokes to Fife High junior Kendall Gray with seven holes to play and a state title hanging in the balance, Steilacoom High’s Cherokee Kim took a deep breath, telling herself to focus on the little things.

It worked. And the result was Kim shooting 1-under through the final seven holes to claim her second straight, Class 2A girls state championship at the Classic Golf Club on Wednesday.

After shooting a 77 in the opening round, Kim finished with a 79 for a winning score of 156 strokes over two-day tournament.

And for the second straight year, Kim fended …

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Sometimes, even amid a spectacular run of golf like the one the Bellarmine Prep girls have put together, not everything goes your way.

The Lions easily accomplished Wednesday what they set out to do – win their fourth consecutive Class 4A girls’ team championship. With six golfers making the cut at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, they scored 168 points – well ahead of Kentwood (921/2) and Eastlake (911/2).

But Bellarmine Prep also had a chance to win the individual title in back-to-back seasons, and saw it shockingly halted under rainy weather conditions.

First, overnight leader and defending 4A champion …

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Class 4A, 3A, 2A (Star Track XXXI) at Mount Tahoma Stadium, Tacoma
Class 1A, 2B, 1B at Roos Field, Cheney

Schedule: For 4A, 3A, 2A – Session I Thursday begins at 3:30 p.m. Session II Friday begins at 9 a.m. Session III Friday begins at 1:15 p.m. Session IV Saturday begins at 9:30 a.m. For 1A, 2B, 1B – Session I Friday begins at 10 a.m. Session II Saturday begins at 10 a.m.

2012 boys’ team champions: 4A – Gig Harbor. 3A – Bellevue. 2A – Ephrata. 1A – Hoquiam. 2B – Riverside Christian. 1B – Valley Christian.

2012 …

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They might be Lions. But they survived like ducks.

Unrelenting rain soaked the first round of the west-side WIAA state high school golf championships Tuesday. But Bellarmine Prep’s boys and girls did not seem to mind.

Lions’ top golfer Greg Gildea birdied the first three par-5 holes at Camas Meadows to move into a five-way tie atop the leaderboard at the 4A boys’ tournament. He joined Union’s Eddie Abellar, Lynnwood’s Rudy Caparas, Camas’ Brian Humphreys and Eastlake’s Li Wang with 2-under-par 70s.

And the Bellarmine Prep girls got six of their seven golfers through to the final round, led by …

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By his former coach’s admission, point guard Ahmaad Rorie is moving up to bigger challenges – in basketball and in life.

The two-time News Tribune All-Area first team guard, including player of the year in 2011-12, announced Tuesday he is leaving Lincoln High School to attend prestigious Montverde Academy in Florida.

Montverde, located 25 miles outside Orlando, finished last season as the top-ranked high school boys’ basketball program in the country by USA Today and ESPN.com.

“The coaches from Findlay Prep (Nev.) and Montverde has been talking to him the last couple months,” Lincoln coach Aubrey Shelton said. “The …

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The Emerald Ridge High Jaguars had yet to be truly challenged this season.

But when they finally met up with a Camas High Papermakers team that matched them blow-for-blow in the West Central District Class 4A district title game on Monday night at Sprinker Recreation Fields, the Jaguars proved to be up to the task.

Emerald Ridge scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to upend Camas, 2-1, and lock up the district title and the No. 1 seed to this weekend’s 4A state tournament in Spokane. Camas will go as the No. 2 seed.

After not …

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Some had to wait an extra day to see if they could punch their ticket to the state baseball playoffs.

Apparently the rain falls harder up north, because White River (2A in Bellingham) and Cascade Christian (1A in Anacortes) had their regional baseball tournaments postponed until Sunday.

Facing one of the hottest pitchers in the state in Derrick Mahlum, White River fell to Archbishop Murphy, 2-0, in the regional semifinals at Martin Stadium.

Zander Clouse gave the Wildcats all the scoring they would need with an RBI single off Hornets’ starting pitcher Cole Johnson in the third inning for a …

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The timing couldn’t have been much worse.

Nearly all the elements that helped the Puyallup Vikings capture the South Puget Sound League and West Central District title this season were virtually nonexistent Saturday afternoon in the regional round of the Class 4A state baseball playoffs at Heidelberg Park.

Puyallup struggled at the plate, in the field and on the basepaths in a season-ending 3-0 loss to Heritage.

“Anything can happen in this game, and it just wasn’t the right time to not be very good,” Puyallup coach Marc Wiese said. “We made some young mistakes early on, and we made …

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