Football fans in Washington are used to anxiously waiting to see if a
Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.) star will stay close to home. Quarterback Jake Heaps was the focal point last year, committing to BYU after a heated recruiting battle.
Kasen Williams will receive an equal dose of the spotlight in the coming months. MaxPreps.com lists the star wide receiver as the No. 37 recruit in the nation overall. Several services have him listed as the top receiver.
Williams just finished his junior year at the Sammamish school. Skyline has won three straight state titles. Williams had 1,209 yards and 20 touchdowns last fall. He was also a standout basketball player and a track and field star. He won the state triple jump title and was second in the long and high jumps.
He recently released the list of the top 10 schools he's interested in attending.
"I didn't make any decisions about a school until I saw what they were all about," Williams told the Seattle Times. "That took a lot of time because I'm busy with three sports and I'm always doing something."
Williams' list: Washington, Washington State, California, LSU, Arkansas, Florida, Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma.
He told the Times he plans to visit Notre Dame, Arkansas and LSU.
"I think the main thing is just picking out what coaching staff I like the most, because I think that's really important," he told the Times. "If you can't get along with the coaches, then you really don't have the motivation for showing up for practice every morning."
Track and Field: Meyers wins Dream Mile
Maddie Meyers has been establishing herself as one of the nation's top distance runners. She proved it last week.
Meyers, who recently completed her sophomore year at Northwest School (Seattle, Wash.), won the Jim Ryun Dream Mile at the Adidas Grand Prix Diamond League meet in New York. She won in 4 minutes, 41.93 seconds.
Meyers won the Class 1A state title in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and also won the state cross country title.
Baseball: Plenty of offense in All-State Series
Daniel Orr of Kingston (Kingston, Wash.) was named offensive player of the series as he lead Team Baker to a 17-5 win over Team St. Helen's in the championship game of the All-State baseball series in Yakima.
Orr's three-run triple in an eight-run seventh inning put the game out of reach. He had a two-run homer on the first day of the series.
Team Baker was mashing the ball all weekend, scoring 29 runs on 33 hits with three home runs in two games.
Taylor Williams of Camas (Camas, Wash.) was named defensive player of the series after leading Team Adams past Team Rainier 15-8 in the third/fourth-place game.
Football: East-West Game next week
The East-West All-Star football game is June 26 at Everett Memorial Field. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. and pits the top seniors in the Class 4A and Class 3A schools in the state.
The small-school all-star game, the Earl Barden Classic, is also June 26 at Yakima's Zaepfel Stadium.
This and That
The Kentwood (Covington, Wash.) girls track and field team is one of 12 teams invited to compete at the Nike Track Nationals on July 2 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The meet is billed as the national championships of track and invites 12 boys and girls teams. ... Former Seahawk tackle Ray Roberts has stepped down as football coach at Lake Washington (Kirkland, Wash.). ... Metro League MVP Will Dilorio of Bainbridge (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) will be an invited walk-on at Washington State. The 6-foot-5 wing went with Pullman over offers from Boise State, Idaho and Sacred Heart in Connecticut. ... Drew Vettleson of Central Kitsap (Silverdale, Wash.), who was drafted last week by Tampa Bay with the 42nd pick overall, was named the Gatorade state player of the year for the second straight year.
