Top 10 high school mascots in Washington: Vote for the best

From Acorns to Highclimbers to Tarriers, meet the best high school mascots in Washington

Fort Vancouver High School in Washington has the Trappers as its mascot. / SBLive archives

Some elementary school kids in this country grow up as Tater Tots, and high school mascot fans in Washington can tell you many of them will grow up to become Spudders.

Over the past few months, SBLive/High School on SI has been featuring the best high school mascots in every state, giving readers a chance to vote for No. 1 in all 50.

The winners and highest vote-getters will make up the field for our NCAA Tournament-style March Mascot Madness bracket in 2025. The Coalinga Horned Toads (California) are the defending national champions.

Here are High School on SI's top 10 high school mascots in Washington (vote in the poll below to pick your favorite):

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Friday, Feb. 21.

1. Abes (Lincoln HS)

You have to respect Lincoln's honest take on one of the country’s best-respected presidents. On a related note, there are seven Hoover high schools in the United States, but none is called the Herbs.

2. Acorns (Oakville HS)

Even the mightiest of all oaks starts as an acorn, but Oakville’s athletic personification of the Acorn in its gym is something so mighty-looking that even He-Man might blush.

3. Bantams (Clarkston HS)

Originally the Sandpipers, Clarkston became the Bantams in 1937. They've also been called the Fighting Bantams and Mighty Bantams. The impressive Bantam (a rooster) logo the school uses today was designed in the early 2000s by an art teacher at the school.

4. Borderites (Blaine HS)

Blaine is right on the Canada border, thus they’re the Borderites. Simple.

5. Chinooks (Kalama HS)

Kalama recently worked with the Chinook tribe to rebrand the school's mascot, moving away from Native American imagery to a mascot showing a fierce-looking Chinook salmon.

6. Highclimbers (Shelton HS)

If climbing is your thing, it’s a good goal to try to climb high. And Shelton High School is just south of the Olympic National Forest, so high-climbing opportunities abound.

7. Papermakers (Camas HS)

When you think about the amount of paper that high schools go through every year, it makes a lot of sense to devote a mascot to its production. Somebody has to make it. Camas’ physical mascot is a life-like paper-rolling machine, in honor of the town's founding industry, the production of paper goods at the Georgia Pacific paper mill near the Columbia River.

8. Spudders (Ridgefield HS)

The Spudders’ mascot is a potato, and one of its feeder elementary schools, Union Ridge, is the home of the Tater Tots. Excellent taste and presentation.

9. Tarriers (Charles Wright HS)

No, not the Terriers. “Tarrier” is an Irish/Scotch ethnic stereotype, with one definition meaning a “loiterer” and another saying it’s a kind of railroad worker.

10. Trappers (Fort Vancouver HS)

Originally called Vancouver High School when it opened in the late 1800s, the high school is named after Fort Vancouver, an early trading outpost near the Columbia River across the Oregon border. The high school chose the Trappers as its mascot in honor of the fur trade in the area in the early 19th century.

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports