1. Bellevue football: The Wolverines won seven titles in the last nine years. Butch Goncharoff's program has sent countless players to college programs and beat several out-of-state powers along the way. The highlight was in 2004 when nearly 30,000 people watched Bellevue end De La Salle's (Concord, Calif.) national-record 151-game winning streak.
Jake Heaps, Skyline
File photo by Todd Shurtleff
2. Skyline football: The Spartans won five state titles in the decade. The Spartans have won three straight state titles in two different classifications. The Sammamish school won the Class 3A state title in 2007 and then moved up to the 4A classification, where it won two more. BYU-bound Jake Heaps was the quarterback during the run, as he went 40-2 as a starter and won all three state titles.
3. Rainier Beach basketball: When it comes to the Class 3A state title, the Vikings are in the conversation every year. The Seattle school won three state titles, finished second twice and won four other trophies (via top-eight finishes). Among Beach alumni playing in the NBA are Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson and Terrence Williams. Perhaps even more impressive is that the Vikings' enrollment is that of a 1A school.
4. Spokane cross country: Just as in every year since 1988, a Spokane boys team won the big-school state meet. Mead won five titles and Ferris won five, including this year when it knocked off Jackson, which entered the state meet ranked No. 1 in the nation. It's not just the 4A meet, either. North Central has won the last four Class 3A titles.
5. Mead volleyball: The Panthers of Spokane have won the Class 4A state title six of the last seven years. They won five in a row, a record for schools in the bigger classifications, before taking a year off. They've been powered in recent years by 6-foot-5 Alexis Olgard, who is heading to USC. Mead trophied every year this decade.
6. O'Dea basketball: The other Metro League school that consistently challenges Rainier Beach's supremacy. The Fighting Irish of Seattle won three state titles this decade. Sadly, the architect of the program, former NBA player Phil Lumpkin, died over the offseason.
7. Issaquah and Newport gymnastics: The two KingCo schools have dominated the sport. Since the state meet split into 4A and 3A meets in 1998, Newport (six) and Issaquah (three) won every state title except one. The streak ended in 2008 when the schools moved up to the 4A classification.
8. Mercer Island and Mount Rainier boys swimming: If one school doesn't win the Class 3A state title, the other does. Mercer Island won five state titles (including four straight) and Mount Rainier won four. O'Dea, in 2000, was the only other school to win the state title this decade.
9. Spokane girls basketball: There's always a girls team from Spokane in the mix at the Class 4A state tournament. Spokane teams won five state titles. Central Valley (2001-02) won two and Lewis & Clark (2006-08) won three. Spokane also had two runner-up finishes and countless trophies.
10. DeSales baseball: The small Walla Walla school wins the Class 2B title just about every year. In this decade, the Fighting Irish won every year but two, and in one of those years finished second. DeSales has won 16 titles in the last 20 years.
