By MIKE HUFFMAN
Staff Reporter
It's never easy to say goodbye.
But, like hundreds of graduating seniors across the Inland Northwest, that's exactly what Richelle Daily and Ryan King will do this Saturday as they graduate from Medical Lake High School along with their classmates.
Along the way, Daily and King will have dealt with and fought the same battles as other teens: doing your best in sports and academics, while at the same time staying true to yourself and finding enjoyment in whatever it is you choose to do.
For Daily and King – who were singled out as the Cheney Free Press 2007 Senior Athletes of the Year from Medical Lake – that also meant keeping their chins up during seasons where Cardinal teams may have struggled in the new Great Northern League, which saw the addition of Cheney, Clarkston and West Valley in 2006.
At the end of the day, though, Daily and King displayed the poise, maturity and leadership necessary to carry their teams through.
Daily's calm, aw-shucks modesty flies in the face of her fierce competitiveness in whatever sports arena she chooses.
No sooner than she hung up her cleats for this year's softball season, Daily has had her sights set on next year's basketball season at Spokane Falls Community College, where she will continue to work her skills both inside and outside the arc at post.
Oh, and of course, there is the Cardinal Classic Basketball Tournament in July. After all, you can't say goodbye too soon.
Basketball, after all, is Daily's bread and butter. It's her No. 1 love, though volleyball and softball have been good to her too, but she says they take a distant second to hoops.
“It's what's it's all about to me,” Daily said. “I've always loved to play.”
Daily's devotion to the hardwood served her well this year, as she was the sole senior for the Lady Cards. While the situation may have added an extra layer of pressure, coach Val Von Lehe said her go-to gal never buckled under the pressure.
“She played with a lot of younger players, but she really inspired them leadership-wise,” Von Lehe said. “But it was a big change, because she was the one who always played with the older kids.”
Daily's 5-11 frame inspired respect and maybe even a little fear in her opponents. Cheney's girls coach, Hal Sautter, remarked on more than one occasion that he would be glad to see Daily graduate so his teams wouldn't have to face her anymore.
“Yeah, he told me that once,” laughed Daily. “I think that's kinda funny.”
There was nothing fun, though, about losing the first five GNL contests of the season before a stunning turnaround where the Cards won six of its last nine games headed into the playoffs.
While the fifth-seeded Cards (9-12) overall opened strongly against West Valley in the loser-out opener, the heart-breaking 58-51 loss meant their would be no second state appearance for Daily.
“That was tough, but getting to state had been one of my goals and we did it (in 2006),” Daily said.
Another was being named Most Valuable Player – which she did in big-time fashion. Daily's average of 17.3 points in 20 regular-season earned her the GNL's MVP award, and also led the Cardinals in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots in 2006-07.
For Von Lehe, she knows next year's team will have its work cut out for it.
“I told the girls were losing about 18 points, 11 rebounds a game,” Von Lehe said. “She'll be missed.”
Daily's leadership role in hoops was set up after a tough volleyball season where she watched her team struggle in the bottom of the GNL standings. The Lady Cards finished 1-13, but in the final match against Cheney Daily led ML in three categories, recording 14 kills, 16 digs and three blocks.
With her squad tying Clarkston for eighth place, Daily had to hold her head high along with the three others on the team to keep the younger players focused. The team was also getting used to a new coach, Justin Ikehara.
“It was tough at times,” Daily said.
Still, she finished the season as captain and MVP for her team, and was also selected to the All-Great Northern League second team.
Daily's softball season, under coach John Higgins, served as a way to refocus after the grueling fall and winter sports – especially after she suffered an ankle injury at the close of the basketball season. For that reason, she sat out the first several games while her sister, Gabrielle, filled in for Daily as a starter at first base.
By the end of the season, though, Daily was a key contributor, pounding out a pair of home runs against Cheney to finish fifth in the GNL – ahead of the Blackhawks – to finish 7-7, 9-9 overall. After defeating third-seeded West Valley in the playoffs, it was the league-leading Colville Indians that finally did the Cards in to end the softball season.
The low-key King, who would much rather talk about his teammates than himself, also has an on-and-off year, depending on whichever sport he was playing at the time.
King – though he was a three-sport athlete – will be putting academics to the front burner when he attends Washington State University this fall. While he says he will still play some at the intramural level, King said he would concentrate on his grades. But he will do it with the same determination he took to athletics.
“I always played to win,” he said.
King was never the biggest guy on any of his teams, standing at 5-foot-10 and weighing in at 170 pounds.
Still, his coaches keyed in on his ability to keep the other players motivated and focused – especially those younger than him on the roster.
“He was a great leader,” said second-year head football coach Rick Olson of King. “The thing he does is – whether he is injured, sick or whatever – he always shows up for practice.”
It's a role that, of course, is befitting a team captain. While ML finished its disappointing 1-8 season (0-7 in the GNL) with a heartbreaking 37-6 loss to the visiting Blackhawks, King singled himself out with his presence in the locker room and made inspiring plays at the right time.
“In that Cheney game, Ryan had a big catch that lifted everyone up,” Olson said.
“We had a chance of winning that and Ryan exemplified that – he always made the guys feel they could win.”
King was also captain of the basketball team, where he held a spot in the backcourt. The team notched an overall season of 10-13 and went into the postseason as the fourth seed. A controversial 56-51 loss to the Pullman Greyhounds ended the boys' hoops season.
“I never felt the rivalry with Cheney, because we didn't play them much,” King said. “With me, it was always Pullman.”
King was also one of the more experienced players on the baseball team and counted on to play solidly in left field under first-year coach T.J. Smith.
The Medical Lake boys' postseason came to an abrupt end in the postseason with a 7-5 loss in the opening round of the playoffs to the Cheney Blackhawks.
King was one of the scoring runners early in the game.
Smith echoed Olson's sentiments that King always supplied his players with hope even when things looked bleakest.
“Ryan is a really great kid,” Smith said. “I won't remember him for his baseball skills, I will remember Ryan for being a great young man.”
King logged a .396 batting average, but Smith said it was his intangibles as a defensive player that singled him out among his teammates.
“Ryan was the guy that would go get the ball in the gaps and over his head,” Smith said. “I wish that I could have a whole team of guys that worked as hard and were as courteous as he was.”
As the clock ticks down to graduation, both Daily and King said they are having a hard time letting go of the friends and teammates they have gotten to know over their high school careers.
“I'm definitely sad that this year is over,” Daily said.
“But I'll still be around. I've got a lot of friends here.”
King said he is happy to be moving on to life's next stage, but certainly will enjoy taking time off from sports to enjoy the finer things in life – like fishing.
“I'm ready to spend some time at the lake,” he said.
Mike Huffman can be reached at [email protected]
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