Columnist Spencer Patterson: State title status anointed to three sports

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

Spencer Patterson's prep sports column appears Thursday. Reach him at 259-4085 or spencer@vegas.com

Beginning this year, Nevada will crown three additional state champions, the state's governing prep sports body has announced.

Boys volleyball, bowling and skiing were granted state championship status this week by a unanimous vote of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.

Because Northern Nevada schools do not participate in boys volleyball, the new state tournament will feature the top two finishers from Southern Nevada's Sunrise Region and the top two from Southern Nevada's Sunset Region.

Likewise, because northern schools do not have bowling teams, the state tournament in that sport will be an all Las Vegas-area affair, with the first-place Sunrise and Sunset clubs squaring off for the title.

Southern Nevada schools do not compete in skiing, so that state tournament will involve only northern participants.

Despite annual clamoring for a state girls soccer tournament, the sport's coaches have been unable to agree on a season in which to hold the event. Currently, Southern Nevada plays girls soccer in the winter, while Northern Nevada holds its season in the fall.

In lieu of a state tournament, the NIAA has voted to hold a Clark County girls soccer tournament, in which the top Sunrise and Sunset Region finishers will meet in a four-team event.

All three state tournaments have been implemented for the current school year, as has the Clark County girls soccer tournament.

* FINAL FOOTBALL SCHEDULE: The NIAA has also voted to push the start of the next year's prep football season back one week, getting Las Vegas-area players out from under the glare of the August sun.

That move, combined with the addition of an extra week of state playoffs (next year's state tournament will increase from two teams to four), means the state championship will be played the weekend of Dec. 1-2, 2000.

* GREEN VALLEY DUALS: One of the area's top wrestling tournaments kicks off Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Green Valley High School. Clubs from Oregon, California, Utah and Arizona will compete, along with 10 local squads: Cimarron-Memorial, Bonanza, Green Valley, Las Vegas, Eldorado, Cheyenne, Durango, Silverado, Western and Palo Verde.

Based on their first-day results, teams will be split into three brackets on Saturday, with three separate championships up for grabs. Title and third-place matches are slated for Saturday night at 6 p.m.

* ON THE AIR: Cox Channel 48 will air tonight's Valley at Green Valley boys basketball game next Wednesday at 7 p.m.