“South Whidbey High School sent more athletes to state championship meets last year than ever before, earning high regard among all 2A high schools across the state.Last week, the Tacoma News-Tribune ranked the South Whidbey athletics program as the sixth most successful in the state’s 2A ranks for the 1999-2000 season. Ranked on a point scale by the newspaper’s sports department, the Falcons scored 158 points for their various state tournament appearances. The sporting success started last fall, when the boys and girls cross country teams placed third and sixth at the state meet — placings worth 44 total points. The girls tennis team scored 40 ranking points for their state championship this spring, while the boys soccer team picked up 32 for placing second in the state. The boys and girls track teams added another 22 points, and the girls basketball team pitched in 20 points for placing eighth in the state.The sixth place finish is South Whidbey’s first appearance in the News-Tribune’s ranking. The school’s point total is its highest ever.Three North Cascades Conference schools finished in the top 10. Lynden Christian was fourth with 173 points; Meridian was fifth with 167; and Mount Baker was eighth with 144 points. No other 2A league had more than two schools in the top ten.Brian Kissinger, South Whidbey’s athletic director, said the results of this survey make a compelling argument that Falcon athletes compete in the toughest 2A league in the state.Omak outpointed all comers when it came to state success. The school’s teams scored an all-time record 292 points. Ephrata was the number-two school in the survey, with 200 points.”