Longtime Inglemoor High School boys basketball coach Greg Lowell has seen a lot of young teams in his 24 years at the helm.
After graduating a Viking boatload of talented seniors last year, however, Lowell said that the 2011-12 Vikings are the youngest team he has ever seen.
But he’s definitely up to the challenge.
Bothell High, Inglemoor High and Cedar Park Christian School each had their share of exciting stories that came out of what was an action-packed fall sports season here in the Bothell-Kenmore region.
While it would be impossible to list all of my favorite stories from the past few months here is my own personal Sportscenter-esque ‘Final Four’ countdown as we recall this season’s most memorable moments:
First-year head coach Perry Dolan knew that all the hours of training, every early-morning practice the team had endured so far in the 2011 Inglemoor High girls’ swim season was leading up to Saturday’s state swim finals at King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.
His Vikings were healthy and primed to place high among the 41 competing schools at the 4A level, something the team had not done since sharing the state title with Garfield in 2007.
A pair of Bothell students signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) this week to play sports at the collegiate level.
Senior Kendra Heyer, a three-sport athlete at Bothell High School, signed her NLI this morning to attend LaSalle University in Philadelphia on a softball scholarship.
For first-year Cedar Park Christian volleyball head coach Marni Dreschel, it was quite an inheritance. After being in the varsity program for four years assisting under Julie Nelson, who took the Eagles to the 1A state tournament six consecutive years, Dreschel took over a group that included six seniors, each of whom played a big role in the team’s third-place finish last November at the Yakima SunDome.
Inglemoor High senior Cole Hublou made amends for a heartbreaking finish at the 4A District Tournament last year to earn his first berth to the 4A State Golf Championships, to be held in Spokane next May.
As far as veteran high-school swim coaches go, you probably won’t find one more experienced than new first-year Inglemoor High School (IHS) girls swim coach Perry Dolan.
In his 51st year of coaching, Dolan was a swimmer himself “as a young person,” being named a High School All-American in 1958, and the next year he participated in the Pan American Games in Bogota, Colombia.
Another year brings another high turnout, and just as high expectations, for the Bothell High football team. Due to the elimination of junior-high football programs in the Northshore School District, 164 kids in grades 9-12 turned out for football this year, equal to nearly one-tenth of the Cougar student body. With strength in numbers on his side, head coach Tom Bainter is excited to get the year under way, as he and the rest of the community will soon get to see some talented seniors, as well as whole host of unproven juniors, get their chance to shine under the bright lights at Pop Keeney Stadium.
Head Coach: Todd Parmenter, first year
Last year: 6-5, 3-4 in 1A/2B Nisqually League
2011 turnout numbers: 54
What a difference a year can make. Last year’s North Bothell Little League All-Star team had the talent, but underachieved – failing to make the state tournament. But after dedicating themselves to improvement in all facets of the game, head coach Mark Ryder and his boys put together a state-title run in 2011, eventually falling just two games shy of a Little League World Series berth at the Northwest Regionals tournament in San Bernardino, Calif.
The Washington state-champion North Bothell Little League team is so close to the Little League World Series, they can practically taste it. On a sunny, 80-degree Tuesday afternoon in San Bernardino, Calif., the hometown heroes dismantled Laramie Little League of Wyoming, 13-1, in four innings to complete their sweep of pool play and lock up the No. 1 seed heading into Thursday’s semifinals, which will be televised live on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.
Bothell speedster Matt Moran has been putting up some numbers that would make most high-school varsity track stars envious. He recently ran a personal-best 11.3 seconds in the 100 meters at the Northshore District Championships, and crushed the field in the 200 meters at the Pacific Northwest Junior Olympic Championships about one month ago, running a 23.34 to win by more than a full second.
Ask any of her coaches, and they will all tell you the same thing. Inglemoor High junior Taylor Peacocke is the most competitive athlete they have ever worked with in their careers.
In this day of specialization when it comes to high-school prep sports, the three-sport athlete has become an increasingly rare breed. But there always exceptions to the rule, like recent Bothell High graduate Braden Foley, who excelled as the Cougars’ starting quarterback last fall.
As a sports writer for a local community newspaper, the busiest and most exciting time of the year is usually at the end of May, during state championship weekend for prep spring sports. This year was certainly no exception as a number of local teams did extremely well and deserve to be commended for their efforts on the diamond, track and soccer pitch.
The Inglemoor High girls’ track team put together a strong performance at the 4A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma High last weekend, placing seven times including senior and Cal-Poly bound Tansey Lystad sweeping the distance events, handily winning both the 1,600 meter run (four minutes, 54.25 seconds) and the 3,200 (10:28.92).
After her wins in the 3,200 and 1,600 meter races at the 4A state meet, the Reporter got the chance to catch up with Inglemoor senior Tansey Lystad, headed to Cal-Poly next year on a running scholarship:
So many times this year, Bothell has been involved in low-scoring pitchers duels – and come up with timely hits down the stretch to earn a win.
Needing to do just that one final time to cap off a championship season, the Cougars came through with flying colors, scoring three runs in the final inning to unseat the No. 1-ranked Jackson Timberwolves 3-2 in a thriller that had the raucous crowd at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma holding its collective breath until the final out.
The Cedar Park Christian Eagles’ spring sports teams are enjoying a banner year, as the softball, track, and boys’ soccer teams are all alive and kicking for state titles.
Students, faculty and parents at Bothell’s Evergreen Academy recently sponsored a silent auction to raise funds for earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan, raising a total of $3,218.
