On the girls' side, TDN Player of the Year honors go to Toledo senior Rachel Wallace, who capped a brilliant career with the Indians by averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead her team to the Southwest Washington 1A Evergreen Division crown and a state berth.

Joining her on the All-Area first team are Woodland star guard Megan Peabody, the leading scorer for a Beaver squad that captured the GSHL 2A crown; Kelso junior Sadie Salte, the driving force behind the Lassies' late-season charge to the district championship; Toutle Lake's Lindsey Scheffler, who led the Ducks to an eighth-place finish at the 2B state tourney; and Ilwaco's Anna Kitzman, the Most Valuable Player in the SWW 1A Trico Division.

There were countless strong boys' candidates, including Mark Morris' Bill Bakamus, who guided the Monarchs to their seventh straight league title, fourth straight district title, the school's first 20-0 regular season, a 26-1 overall record and second place at the 2A state tourney.

A number of Bakamus' colleagues also turned in stellar seasons. Toledo's Scott Merzoian won the SWW 1A Evergreen Division championship and the first District 4 title in his nine-year tenure. Merzoian also coached the Indians to a second-place finish at the 1A state tourney in Yakima, the first title-game appearance in school history.

Wahkiakum's Bill Olsen reloaded and took his Mules all the way to the championship game of the 2B state tournament, where they fell to Northwest Christian of Colbert. Then there was Kalama's Jody Stemkoski, who watched 6-foot-8 sophomore Eric Hutchison leave the program for Mark Morris in the off-season and still guided the Chinooks to within one victory of the 1A state tournament. And don't forget about rookie head man Rally Wallace at R.A. Long, whose Lumberjacks returned just one starter and nearly made a return trip to the Tacoma Dome. But the biggest turnaround came at Rainier, where second-year head coach Wes Armstrong led the Columbians to the final 16 of the Oregon 3A state playoffs. And although Rainier lost on the road to No. 1-ranked Santiam Christian 45-39 in an elimination game, it put the finishing touches on a 15-13 campaign ---- a far cry from the Columbians' 2-23 record in Armstrong's first season.

Lacey DeWeert of Kelso edged out Rainier's Doug Knox for the girls' All-Area Coach of the Year. DeWeert's team finished 4-16 in her first season in 2005-06, but she led a young squad to the district championship this year with a stunning upset victory over powerful Hudson's Bay.

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