Harrington to join athletic combine

HARRINGTON – The Broncos athletic combine appears to be growing, with more athletes joining local teams.

The School District annonced that it is joining the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague/Washtucna athletic combine on a one-year trial basis.

Lind-Ritzville Athletic Director Greg Whitmore welcomed Harrington to the combine in an email Friday, May 13.

“This will be quite a change for Harrington, but I know it won't be long until they are also saying ‘It's great to be a Bronco,’" he said.

The change to the athletic combine is awaiting approval from both the Lind and Ritzville cooperative school boards, and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. The approvals are expected.

The decision follows an offer from the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague/Washtucna combine and special meetings of the School Board on May 2 and May 9.

There was considerable discussion both for and against the merger at the May 2 meeting, and no action was taken.

On May 9, the the board voted, 3-2, to accept the offer.

Athletes from Harrington's middle and high school are included in the arrangement.

Under the agreement, the Harrington School District will be responsible for transporting student-athletes to Ritzville for practice and the Lind-Ritzville district will be responsible for transporting the middle school athletes on to Lind.

The Harrington School District is currently searching for an athletic director for the 2022-23 school year.

The move reunites Harrington with Sprague.

The two schools combined to compete as the Sprague-Harrington Falcons for several years beginning in the mid-1990s, notably producing Gonzaga University basketball standout Ryan Floyd. More recently, Harrington combined with Odessa competing as the Odessa-Harrington Titans.

And this spring girls from Harrington played on the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague/Washtucna fastpitch softball team, which preceded the latest offer.

The addition of Harrington student-athletes does not change the 2B classification for the combine and adds to the largest athletic combine in the state, in terms of geography, officials said. The combine covers more than 3,000 square miles.