Cedarcrest track and field takes on Wesco rivals

Cedarcrest High School’s track and field teams went the short distance up to Monroe High School in Monroe yesterday to compete against their Sky Valley rivals from the Bearcats, along with athletes from Everett’s Cascade High School. The Red Wolve girls took second in the Wesco 2A/3A three-way meet with 52 points, while Cedarcrest’s boys finished third in their three-way scoring 26 ½ points. Monroe won both the boys and girls’ team titles.

The Red Wolve girls’ efforts were headlined by a sweep in the hurdles events for Sadie Schaefer. Schaefer took the 100m hurdles in 17.92 seconds, followed up by a win in the 300m competition, clocking 51.65. Summer Soptich also had a solid day, winning the long jump with a clearance of 15 feet, five inches, then taking second in the 400m with a time of 1:06.12. Maddy Brooks had similar results in the throwing events, winning the discus with a toss of 105’ 11 ½” then taking second in the shot put throwing that 25’2”. Kaylee Scott won the pole vault clearing seven feet, and there was a one-two Cedarcrest sweep in the 800m, with Cassidy Moon winning the race with a time of 2:38.74. Avery Zlateff was runner up about four-tenths of a second back.

Red Wolve 4×400 relay units swept those races, with the girls’ crew of Zlateff, Moon, Sierra Swart and Lydia Swenson winning their race clocking 4:47.73, and the boys’ foursome of Nate Bergman, London Haley, Brooks Sammarco and Shawn Watson winning their relay with a time of 3:43 flat. Both Bergman and Haley also won individual races on the boys side; Haley took the 800m in a time of 2:07.44 while Bergman grabbed the 1600m in a time of 4:53.79.

Elsewhere, Ethan Swenson rounded out the boys’ event wins taking the 200m in a time of 23.53, and Spencer Pitt was runner-up in the 300m hurdles clocking 47.66.

Cedarcrest tomorrow heads over the Cascades to compete at the Don Holder Relays, hosted by Eisenhower High School at their stadium, Zaepfel Stadium, in Yakima. They will host their first Wesco regular season meet of the spring next Thursday, when they meet Kamiak and Shorecrest at CHS’s stadium in Duvall. The meet begins at 4:00 and will end around sundown.

Sports camps for upper Valley announced

Your local parks district is once again offering opportunities for you in the community to get better in athletic competition, specifically baseball and softball.

Si View Metro Parks has announced upcoming baseball and softball camps.

Baseball: Si View’s “Pro Baseball Camp” will be taking place over spring break, April 10-13, from 10am-1pm at Si View’s baseball field in North Bend, 400 SE Orchard Street. The camp is open to players ages 5-12 and will give youngsters valuable instruction that will help them be successful at Little League and other youth baseball competition. As the season is ongoing, this instruction could be very worthwhile for kids, as it will focus on all aspects of the game, including hitting, fielding, pitching, baserunning and throwing. Steve Goucher, who has conducted these camps for Si View for many years, is a former major league pitcher and scout for Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, and also has past experience coaching local high school baseball.

Adult Softball: If you are planning on being a part of an adult softball league this summer, your local parks district is offering new this year a clinic to help you prepare for that competition. The “Adult Softball Clinic” will meet on Fridays in June – June 2, 9 and 16 – from 10am-noon all three sessions. Goucher will be instructing these sessions as well and will discuss a lot of the same elements he works on with youngsters in the kids’ camps, but is gearing the instruction offered within this camp to help adults seek the most success possible within their local adult softball leagues. These classes will also be held at Si View’s baseball field.

For more information or to sign up, head to Si View’s website, http://www.siviewpark.org, or give the parks district a call at (425) 831-1900.

SVSJ commentary: Kingco right to slow down tiered scheduling, but has opportunity to do this right and address real issues facing its league and some schools

Mount Si High School’s Grace Turley (center) battles Woodinville defender Brooke Beresford (right, #32) on a shot attempt during the girls’ basketball game between the two schools earlier this year at Mount Si. The league both schools are part of, the Kingco Conference, is currently working on addressing competitive balance issues in their scheduling, but has voted to delay implementation of that plan amidst a lot of concerns about it. Looking on, among others, are Woodinville’s Macartney Noe (front left) and Mount Si’s Makhayla Adams (far left). (File, photo courtesy Calder Productions)

The vote last week to hold off on implementation of proposed changes in the Kingco Conference’s high school sports scheduling structure, in light of the concerns that were raised about the concept, is welcome. But the concerns which spawned this discussion should not be ignored, and we believe schools should make this a priority. However, it is important that the process in achieving the objectives that school principals seek out of this is done right.

Conference athletic directors voted at a special meeting last Monday 12-10 to postpone the rollout of the new scheduling model, which was set to be started with girls’ soccer. As we discussed in our story on this on Wednesday here on the blog, there were a number of concerns raised about this proposal from many, including coaches and some school administrators, including those from both Mount Si High School and the Snoqualmie Valley School District. Among the concerns were a couple we will discuss more in this commentary – the apparent lack of transparency and involvement of stakeholders in the process and the structure and management of the computer rankings that were going to be used for this.

This debate and discussion to us is somewhat uncomfortable because it takes away, we believe, from the larger issue principals, and rightly so in our opinion, are trying to fix, and that is competitive balance in the conference. When we discussed this first in February, we noted that competitive balance concerns are not new to this conference; every high school league we think has to deal with this issue and Kingco has not been immune. Remember when Mount Si High School was part of Kingco 3A and the very dominant games in some sports the Wildcats had against teams from Sammamish High School? Or softball against Mercer Island? So this is something that we feel is worth addressing and something that if people are properly educated about, they will support.

Mount Si High School’s girls’ soccer team meets with coach Kate Deines-Krieger (upper left in black coat) during halftime of their game last fall with Eastlake. Kingco’s proposed “tiered scheduling” competitive balance-based model was set to be launched this fall with girls’ soccer, but pressure from league coaches and other stakeholders resulted in league administrators putting the plan on hold. (File, Rhett Workman/SVSJ)

However, the manner in which this proposal was being moved through the rulemaking process to us, based on the arguments of Kingco girls’ soccer coaches in the letter they sent the league outlining their opposition and concerns about it, almost seemed like that it was going to penalize certain schools for the hard work and support of athletes, families and communities with respect to building and maintaining a solid program. As an example, coaches in their letter argued that the proposed structure of four tiers of six teams each was, in their words, “far too granular” for the league, claiming that if this was in place last year, Issaquah and Skyline would have played girls’ soccer matches against one another five times.

Now, we like our rivalries and we want as much of that as possible, but five times seems a bit much to us and worse, a rivalry like this one that tends to get intense, as Mount Si coach Kate Deines-Krieger can probably attest (she played in a bunch of those as the star player for Issaquah High School’s team in the late 2000’s), the more times the teams play, chances would be good that ultimately, someone would get hurt because the intensity and physicality of the matches gets too heated. Is that what principals and AD’s want in order to solve what is we think a very legitimate concern?

So with that said, it is good that those administrators reacted to the concerns the right way and decided to slow this down. So, where do we go from here and what would we suggest AD’s and principals do now to address these issues moving forward?

Alternate options
As many of these issues are limited to certain programs at certain schools in the conference, we would like to see principals and athletic directors look at alternate ways to address some of these competitive balance issues they believe exist. For starters, Kingco has allowed some programs at some schools – Mount Si’s girls’ swim program for one – to compete outside of their classification in league competition. We would suggest that, as that has been to some extent successful for most of the schools, the league look at expanding usage of that option.

Administrators and athletic directors at schools where this is an issue with programs can also, we think, take a more active role in examining why those issues exist in those programs. What is the program turnout like, and why is that? What is the overall interest level at the school and in the larger community surrounding the school for that sport/high school sports program? Do families have access to out-of-school resources, like year-round club programs, or do factors such as cost and family income limit that access? We would suggest that school administrators, at the building level, become more involved in the local youth sports community with an eye on helping that community increase the interest, and access to, those sports programs for local kids.

As part of this, we would also suggest that some schools might want to consider asking the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, our state’s high school sports governing organization, for permission to start out-of-season sports programs that would compete within local travel leagues, in other words, school-based “club” sports. To do this would require changes in out-of-season coach contact rules, but if this is what is required for those programs and athletes to have access to those year-round opportunities so many others in this conference enjoy, perhaps then helping strengthen those high school programs in the process to make them more competitive, then this is something those schools in our view should explore.

Establishing a proper computer ranking, and proper management of that system
If, after those alternative options are examined, league principals and athletic directors still want to pursue a tiered scheduling option, the league is going to need to formulate a computer ranking structure that we believe will need to do several things at once:

• Fairly bracket teams in the various groupings
• Seed teams for playoffs as those will remain classification-based
• Make those seeding decisions accounting for differences in schedule strength which will be an inherent part of this tiered scheduling model. For example, Issaquah and Mount Si might both be 9-2 in league play, but Issaquah is in a grouping with stronger teams. So as such, Issaquah would need to get the higher seed based on the higher quality of their competition.

In the original proposal, which was drafted back in December, according to the league, they were looking at using a model being used by schools in California. And to that, we ask, why, especially when we have qualified individuals based here in Washington that could probably put together something that would meet the needs of the league as we outlined in our view above? We call on Kingco to abandon the usage of the California model and instead, seek out the consultation of two very well-known people in the high school sports community here in Washington, both of whom who have extensive experience handling high school sports computer rankings. Those individuals would be:

• Ted House, a gentleman based in Bellingham and who has assisted on the Northwest 2A District’s computer rankings for many years
• Matt Evans, a gentleman based in Kennewick and who runs the Evans Rankings website and computer rankings service. He has done computer rankings of Washington prep sports as well for many years, and is also associated with schools in the Tri-Cities, as his wife is an educator at one of the high schools over there

We would suggest Kingco work with one or both of these individuals on formulating the system, and further, we would also call on the league to use them to manage it. It is likely Kingco will want athletic directors to handle this themselves in-house, and we think that is a mistake, since AD’s we think have too much skin in the game with respect to their student-athletes. Both House and Evans are outside individuals who would not have any biases toward any school in the conference, and as such would be more trusted by schools and affected stakeholders.

Also, it will be important for Kingco to establish a proper recordkeeping system in order to accurately manage this formula. An issue that coaches raised was the inaccuracy of some of that information; the league needs to do a better job in our view of proper collection of scores and stats from coaches and statkeepers.

Mount Si High School’s boys’ basketball team and coaching staff shares a moment together following this season’s WesKing 4A championship game at Everett Community College. Mount Si won the title beating Issaquah. Proposed changes to Kingco scheduling will ultimately impact all sports in the conference, including boys’ basketball. (File, photo courtesy Calder Productions)

Communication and transparency
Another issue which has come up, and was we think the central issue for a lot of people concerned about it, is the perceived lack of communication from Kingco to affected stakeholders. To be fair, the league did make this request of the schools, as noted in their materials they handed out at the recent meeting: “AD’s were told to discuss the tiered schedule model with their coaches and communities. Clearly not all did, or they were not able to articulate the plan and goals.” As for Mount Si, we are on the school’s email communication list and as far as we can remember, the school has not sent out official communication about this to families. That doesn’t mean they haven’t done it, it’s that they haven’t utilized the most obvious means to get information out – via email or other social media. We suspect this is probably the case with most, if not all, other Kingco schools.

So why do we think that is? Well, largely because this conference, for many years, has not had a dedicated media outlet they could go to in order to communicate this type of discussion around the league, and officials have not made any inroads to addressing this problem. Kingco many years ago had that with dedicated coverage from the then-Eastside Journal newspaper and also the Seattle Times. But the Journal ceased operations and the Times in recent years has made cutbacks to their prep sports coverage. So as things stand right now, there really is not a dedicated media source covering this league, like there is in Kingco’s partner league, the Wesco Conference, where you have both the Everett Herald newspaper and STSPN Sports, a YouTube-based streamer, doing coverage, and a weekly radio show on KRKO Radio, based in Everett, profiling athletes and competition in that conference, a show where this issue could easily be discussed if that league, were it discussing something similar, wanted that airtime to discuss it.

For Kingco to better communicate things like this, it will need to invest in providing that coverage outlet themselves. But if schools and administrators do not see the value in that, then these communication issues will continue to be that for this league. As part of addressing this larger issue, the conference this summer we believe should explore options for media and community outreach that involve school student-run media production departments and local businesses willing to sponsor that coverage. This would allow the league to be able to publicize its athletics better and also allow students an opportunity at on-the-job style training that will be helpful for them as they seek careers in that industry.

Moving forward
At the end of the day, this is an issue that we believe is worthy of continuing to explore, but how league administrators initially approached it, and the pushback that received, show that there are a number of other existential issues that face this conference and ultimately are limiting their ability to deal with controversial subjects such as this. Controversy which, in this case, we don’t think was anticipated or wanted, but controversy that came about because this league didn’t do a good job of conveying this issue to the right people because it lacks the media outreach structure to do that or the will to create it. Hopefully, the league and its president, Lori Box, the athletic director down at Highline High School in Burien, one of the Kingco’s 2A members, have learned some very hard lessons here and will work to address some of these concerns in the coming weeks and months.

Friday diamond cuts

Good Friday morning. Cedarcrest High School’s campus in Duvall was busy yesterday afternoon, with baseball and softball at home and their track and field team also competing. The track and field soon but we have diamond cuts first starting with baseball.

Cedarcrest High School’s baseball team got a solid pitching performance from Jackson Rees as they blanked visiting Cascade, from Everett, at home yesterday in Duvall. Rees pitched a complete-game three-hitter striking out three as the Red Wolves shut out the Bruins 5-0. Cooper Ayers led Cedarcrest with a pair of hits, a run scored and RBI while J.J. Polacek added two hits and a run scored to the efforts.

Magnuson Byars got things going for the Red Wolves in the third, hitting a double to score Polacek and Quinn Larson. Ayers, on base in the fourth, scored on a wild pitch, then Rees helped his own cause with a single scoring Reed Gilmore. Ayers then singled in the fifth to score Byars, and Rees’ work on the hill did the rest as he only walked one in his seven innings of work.

CHS moves to .500 on the season and heads to Edmonds-Woodway tomorrow to meet the Warriors for a 2:00 first pitch at Edmonds-Woodway High School.

Red Wolve alum Davenport starts another pro season: The 2023 professional baseball season started last night with the Seattle Mariners beating the Cleveland Guardians at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, and for one Cedarcrest alum in the Guardians’ minor league system, his season is just around the corner.

Pitcher Aaron Davenport, who the Guardians drafted in 2021 out of the University of Hawaii in the sixth round, becoming the highest-ever Valley athlete ever selected in the draft, will be returning to compete for Cleveland’s class “High-A” minor league team, called the Lake County Captains. Davenport pitched all of last season with Lake County, going 7-6 with a 4.22 earned run average in 23 games, all starts, for the team based in the Cleveland suburb of Eastlake, OH. Davenport, after struggles most of the season, had a late burst of success in August and September last season, and it is hoped that will continue for him as he starts 2023. If that happens, there is a chance he will get promoted to “AA” ball, and if that happens, that team is just down the road in Akron, and is called the Rubber Ducks.

Lake County’s season opens next Thursday against Dayton. Select games will be available for streaming this year, and there have been some changes to that. Previously, games were streamed via Minor League Baseball’s website, but this year, Major League Baseball has incorporated that streaming into its MLB.TV service, which allows fans to also watch out-of-market MLB games. So if you subscribe to that, you will be getting the minor league games as well as part of that subscription. Go to http://www.mlb.com for more information on MLB.TV and how to sign up for that service if you want an opportunity to support Davenport’s efforts this season. He is from Duvall and graduated from Cedarcrest in 2018.

Skyline’s Hixson shuts down Mount Si “C” bats in dominating mound effort: Skyline High School freshman pitcher Hunter Hixson fired six innings of crisp baseball yesterday, dominating on the hill for the Spartans as their “C” team beat Mount Si’s “C” team 6-1 at Pacific Cascade Middle School in Issaquah.

Hixson allowed the one run on just three hits in those six innings, striking out six. Patrick Rein had a hit and drove in the lone Mount Si run, with Scott Corder and Zach Cesar also getting hits in this one for the Wildcats. They are off for the remainder of this week and will resume play next week.

Wesco scoreboard now with our action powered by GameChanger and their Team Manager app. Scores, highlights and live game coverage featuring teams – and athletes – from your community. All now on phones and tablets in their app stores.

Shorewood 1, Shorecrest 0: Finn Liekkio’s single scored Jacob Lindberg with what turned out to be the game’s lone run in the seventh off Shorecrest ace Hudson Cunningham to give the StormRays the win and a split of their rivalry series this spring with the Scots. Oliver Troung was the winner on the mound in relief for Shorewood, allowing a hit and walk in two innings of work. Cunningham was the tough-luck loser on the hill for the Scots, allowing that run unearned on three hits in a complete-game effort striking out six. Lindberg started on the mound for the StormRays, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out four over five innings.

Meadowdale 5, Kamiak 4: The Mavericks scored three runs in the seventh to steal one from the Knights in a Wesco 2A/3A-4A crossover contest last night in Mukilteo. Broderick Bluhm tripled as part of a two-hit effort leading Meadowdale; he scored three runs. Tyler Odegaard led Kamiak with a double and two RBI’s.

Edmonds-Woodway 4, Lynnwood 3 (9): The Warriors won this in extras in very bizarre fashion, as Cruz Escandon hit a sacrifice bunt, but the ground ball was misplayed by Lynnwood allowing base runner Luke Boland to score the winning run as Ed-Wood beat the Royals. Diego Escandon had a triple for the Warriors while Jace Hampson led Lynnwood with two doubles, a run scored and RBI.

Jackson 9, Mountlake Terrace 7: The Timberwolves scored five first-inning runs and held off the Hawks in a Wesco crossover clash at home in Snohomish County. Ryan Nakajima led Jackson going 2-4 with two runs scored while Robert Swan and Matt Meadows led Mountlake, the two combining for six hits, four runs scored and four RBI’s.

Softball: Red Wolve ladies come close to pulling one out of the hat against Wesco foe
The Cedarcrest High School softball ladies and visiting Marysville-Getchell yesterday afternoon played a rather interesting contest, one that proved to be perhaps closer than it should have been were it not for all the miscues players from both teams made in the game.

There were a total of 18 errors committed between the two teams, and Cedarcrest took advantage of some of them, but could not take advantage when they needed to and fell just short of an amazing comeback, dropping the contest to the Chargers 10-9 at home in Duvall. CHS only had three total hits in the game and needed the assistance of some of the misplays on Getchell’s end to make things happen.

Case in point, the bottom of the first. After MG scored three in their half of the opening frame to break out to the early lead, the Red Wolves got on the board courtesy of an error on a ground ball hit by Kaylee Hulse. Riley Warden was on base and the Montana State-Billings bound senior was more than happy to come home and score a run thanks to that miscue, and the Red Wolves were off and running. The Chargers again had a three-spot in the second, maintaining that 6-1 lead into the third when Maddie Knowles hit a fly ball to right field. What presumably was going to be a routine play ended up not being so, as the right fielder misplayed it, allowing Warden and Gabi Harrington, both of whom were on base at the time, to score.

Getchell responded in the fourth with another run, then Cedarcrest responded in their half with a run, again thanks to another miscue. This time, it was on a ground ball hit by Warden and it scored Abby Combs. The Chargers tried to pull away late, but Cedarcrest mounted one last push in the final inning. It started off, yes, with another miscue on a Warden ground ball. Peyton Hayes then walked, then Hulse singled, loading the bases, except subsequent to that Getchell’s first baseman misplayed the ball, allowing Warden and Hayes to both score. The Iowa State-bound Knowles walked and was replaced by courtesy runner Jo Krivanek (as we have discussed in our Mount Si softball coverage, Knowles, as a catcher, is allowed to by rule be replaced in this fashion if she reaches base). Katie Sewell then reached on an error loading the bases. Jo’s sister Rachel Krivanek then walked scoring Hulse. Jo then scored on a wild pitch and Emma Duke hit a sacrifice fly scoring Sewell.

There was one out and Rachel Krivanek was on at second. Combs grounded out and Rachel could not advance. Harrington then walked to set up Warden, who with her hitting ability had she had the opportunity to make some magic could have walked this thing off perhaps, but Rachel made a daring attempt to steal third, which is not something that is encouraged in that particular situation, but she tried anyway. Unfortunately for the Red Wolves, she was caught stealing and the game ended. A tough break for Cedarcrest and for Krivanek, but you do have to give her credit for trying her best in that situation.

CHS is off the rest of the week and will be busy next week with four games in five days. It started on Monday with a date against Stanwood, then they make up their rainout from Tuesday next Tuesday against Stanwood. Both games are at home and will be at 4:00 p.m.

Other Wesco action, powered by GameChanger and their TeamManager app, available on phones and tablets in their app stores:

Meadowdale 12, Archbishop Murphy 1: Destiny Emery homered for the Mavericks and drove in four runs as Meadowdale scored 10 runs in the final two frames to break open a close one and turn it into a blowout of the Wildcats. Jaeden Sajac was the beneficiary of this in the circle for the Mavs, going the distance allowing a run on six hits, walking three and striking out four. Peyton Fry paced Meadowdale going 2-5 with a double and three RBI’s. As for Murphy, Ashlie Latta led the way going 2-3.

Shorecrest 21, Mariner 7: The Scots put this Wesco crossover game away in a hurry, scoring 19 runs in the first two innings – 13 alone in the second – to take care of the Marauders. Lyla Ann Taing led Shorecrest, going 4-4 with a double, three runs scored and four RBI’s while Prisila Santiago paced the Scots with a triple, two runs scored and four more RBI’s.

Mount Si track and field starts season off with solid results

Mount Si High School’s track and field team had itself a fantastic weather day yesterday for their first home meet of the season in Snoqualmie, and a lot of athletes were very successful in the competition, as they hosted the Issaquah Eagles. Mount Si’s girls won their dual meet 77 ½-72 ½ while Issy’s boys won theirs, 85-60.

The Wildcats had multiple event winners individually, plus some other noteworthy results.

Mount Si’s girls had great success largely in sprint and relay events. There were top four sweeps for the Wildcat ladies in both the 100m and 200m races. Scooby Reid won the 100m clocking just under 13 seconds while Hailey Weir took the 200 with a time of just under 26 seconds, which is the fifth-best time statewide thus far this season at 4A. Sophia Kono was second, Bailey Hall third and Rachel Arnold fourth to round out the 100m sweep, and Arnold was second, Gio Hansen was third and Kono took fourth in the 200m to close out that sweep. Hansen herself won an event, the 400m, coming across in just over one minute, with the fourth-best time statewide thus far in the event at the 4A level.

Mount Si relay teams dominated in the 4×100 and 4×200 girls’ relays, with Reid, Weir, Paris Price and Ruth Groscost winning the 4×100 in 51 seconds flat, a time that has them ranked eighth overall at the 4A level statewide, while Groscost, Hansen, Weir and Hall took the 4×200 in a time of 1:46.93, the second-best in the state thus far this season. Wildcat “B” relay units of Kono, Arnold, Hailey Blodgett and Aspen Sinnott in the 4×100 and Kono, Blodgett, Arnold and Katie Holloway in the 4×200 finished as runners-up.

Jaida Warrick pocketed wins in a pair of throwing events, winning both the shot put and javelin. Warrick tossed the shot put 25 feet, 1 ½ inches for the win there then tossed the javelin 112’6” to get top spot there. That distance is good for seventh overall statewide thus far this spring at 4A. Reid was runner-up in the javelin event. Rounding it out for the ladies, Maya Hewitt took the 300m hurdles with a time of 53.83 seconds, Weir cleared 15’9” to take the long jump, and Lauren Leslie cleared 10’6” to take the pole vault. Leslie’s clear is tied for fifth overall amongst all competitors in 4A thus far around Washington.

The boys were dominated by the foursome of Jacob Hall, Liam Christensen, Maceo Swanzy and Sawyer Shelton, especially in the sprints and relays. Hall won both the 100m and 200m races, with Christensen taking second in both, Shelton third in the 200, and Swanzy third in the 100 and fourth in the 200. Hall clocked just under 11 seconds for the 100m title and 22 ½ seconds for the 200 crown. That foursome also ran the 4×100 relay for Mount Si’s boys and won that race in a time of just under 44 seconds. Hall also did well in the jumping events, winning the long jump clearing 20’1” with Swanzy as his runner-up in that event. This foursome will be a group to watch all season.

Why? Hall currently has the third-best time in 4A in the state in both the 100m and 200m sprints, and the foursome is tied for fourth overall in 4A statewide in the 4×100 relay.

In other boys’ action, Tanner Nelson scored a pair of wins – he cleared 95’5” to win the discus event, and finished in a tie for first with an Issaquah athlete in the triple jump with a clear of 39’10” but the Eagle competitor received the first-place team points by way of a better second jump. Beau Phillips also fared well in the shot put, winning that event with a toss of 95”5. Teammate Ben Kilbreath finished as the runner-up.

Elsewhere, Aiden Schomber finished as runner-up in the javelin with a solid toss of 137’10”, and Nolan Wright finished as runner-up in the 400m, with a time of just under 56 seconds.

Mount Si is headed to Tacoma on Saturday to take part in the Mount Tahoma Track Festival. The idea here is to expose the athletes to the venue that will serve as the home once again this spring for the Washington state high school track and field postseason meet, so an opportunity for the competitors to get used to the surroundings and prepare for that postseason opportunity if that becomes reality for them later in the season. The meet begins at 9am and runs all day. The next Wildcat Kingco meet is next Tuesday against Skyline at Skyline High School in Sammamish. That meet starts at 4:00 and runs until sundown.

Slugfest at Mount Si, but ‘Cats softball ends up on short end

Softball now. We’ll have some track and field for you soon.

Mount Si High School’s softball team last night put on another offensive show, but with the inexperience of their pitching comes the risk for big innings. Their opponent, Bothell, with its offensive firepower, is certainly capable of that, and that’s exactly what went down as the Cougars outslugged the ‘Cats.

Bothell sent 16 hitters to the plate in the fifth, and got homers from both Brooke Baker and Rachel Traxler to key what ended up being a 12-run frame, as they rallied from an early deficit to pounce Mount Si 19-13 at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie. Baker finished going 5-6 and drove in six runs, while Traxler’s homer was her lone hit, as she drove in four runs herself. Ally Hetzel homered twice for Mount Si driving in four runs and Anna Braukus also homered as well for the Wildcats. The Wildcats are on the road Friday night against North Creek up in Snohomish County at 6:30 p.m.

In JV action:

Engel’s homer lifts Wildcat JV: Maya Engel homered for Mount Si’s JV in a 6-3 win over the Bothell JV ladies. Georgia Dennis went the distance in the circle for the Wildcats, allowing three runs on five hits, with a walk and five strikeouts. Good stuff there for Dennis, who also saw action in the varsity game last night, so she is quickly becoming someone that the program can count on to help out the pitching situation.

Scoreboard
Time for our look at Kingco 4A and Wesco 2A/3A action so you local fans can stay up on who’s doing what around both leagues and how that will impact your local schools and athletes. Highlights powered by GameChanger and their TeamManager app.

Snohomish 5, Shorewood 4: Cheyenne Sigler was 2-2 with a run scored and RBI and Emma Hansen added a double and run scored as the Panthers eked out the Wesco 2A/3A win over the StormRays. Cayden Wheaton and Yuri Siler each had two hits for Shorewood, with Wheaton doubling and also driving in two runs.

Mountlake Terrace 9, Monroe 7: Amaya Johnson worked hard and earned every bit of it yesterday, going the distance in the circle and also helping her own cause with a homer as the Hawks won a slugfest with the Bearcats. Johnson, despite allowing all seven Monroe runs, struck out 12 in the complete-game effort for Mountlake, and also scored twice and drove in another two runs with the help of the homer. Kaylee Mitchell pitched in for the Hawks, going 3-3 with two runs scored. Annie Oylear homered, scored twice and drove in two runs to lead Monroe.

Cascade 13, Edmonds-Woodway 6: It was the Abby Surowiec show up in south Everett last night, as the Bruin senior hit two homers and drove in eight runs leading Cascade to the Wesco 2A/3A win. Hazel Mills went 2-4 with a run and RBI for the Warriors, and pitcher Ella Campbell went the distance despite taking the loss in the circle.

Skyline 12, Issaquah 2: Nazli Chavez homered and drove in four runs leading the Spartans to the road win in round one of their city rivalry series with the Eagles. She also doubled, while Elle Sexton paced Skyline with two hits and three runs scored. Grace McKillop led Issaquah, with a hit and both Eagle RBI’s.

North Creek 14, Newport 8: It was a home run derby of sorts in south Bellevue as players from both teams hit it out in this one as North Creek won the slugfest. Emma Gochenour and Lindsey Caudle both homered for the Jaguars, each driving in three runs. Kat Wajerski hit two homers for Newport, and Jessica Yang also round-tripped it herself once trying to keep the Knights in it, but they came up short in this one.

Eastlake 6, Redmond 0: Audrey Borup hit a fourth-inning grand slam for the Wolves then let pitcher Addi Baumgartner do the rest as Eastlake beat their in-district rivals at Redmond High School. Baumgartner went the distance firing a complete-game five-hitter, walking four but striking out seven. Tia Milloy led Redmond going 2-4 in the contest.

Inglemoor 9, Woodinville 8: The Vikings at one point in last night’s game at home in Kenmore held a 9-1 lead on their in-district rivals, but the Falcons made a spirited late comeback only to fall just short. Jillian Starosky went the distance in the circle for Inglemoor, allowing only three earned runs of the eight she allowed on eight hits, walking eight but striking out three. Cam Clark and Jade Cisneros both had two hits, with one of Clark’s being a triple, and each scored a run and drove in two more pacing the black and gold. Elizabeth Kirstein led Woody going 1-4 with a run and two RBI’s.

Colleges
Fordham, Drexel split two: Fordham University’s Rams from New York City and Drexel University’s Dragons from Pittsburgh took a game each in their twinbill yesterday in the Big Apple, with Fordham winning the opener 3-1 before Drexel came back to take the nightcap 9-1. Senior Michaela Carter played in both games for the Rams. The Cedarcrest HS grad from Duvall was 2-4 with a run scored in the first game before going 0-2 in the nightcap. Fordham plays conference games this weekend against George Mason University from northern Virginia. All of the games will be available on ESPN+ streaming with some of you being able to see the Saturday games on MSG Network. That network is available in the Valley on DirecTV with their Sports Pack.

Skidmore swept at home: Up the road in Saratoga Springs, NY, Skidmore was swept in a pair at home yesterday, falling 4-3 and 7-4 in the respective games one and two to Plattsburgh State University, from nearby Plattsburgh. In the opener, which went eight innings, freshman Madison Bonham, from North Bend and a 2022 Mount Si HS grad, was 0-2 for the Thorougbreds, then went 0-1 in a pinch-hitting role in the nightcap. Skidmore has two at home tomorrow with Russell Sage College. The games begin at 11am our time and will be available for streaming on Skidmore’s website.

Simmons splits with local foe: Simmons University, from Boston, made the short drive up to Quincy, MA, for two with Eastern Nazarene University, and split the pair, taking the opener 4-3 before falling in the nightcap 9-1. Freshman Emery Kreidel-Reimer, from North Bend and a 2022 Mount Si HS alum, was 0-1 in a pinch-hitting role in the opener for Simmons. She did not play in the second game. Simmons on Saturday will play Emmanuel College, located right next door to the Simmons campus in Boston. That will also be a doubleheader.

Mount Si baseball wins in dramatic fashion

Good Thursday morning. We’re going to split our diamond cuts up into two. Softball on deck but first baseball.

Mount Si High School’s baseball varsity squad, if it wants to remain in contention all season for the Kingco 4A title, is going to have to win its share of wild finishing games, and last night’s was certainly that and thensome. Trailing 3-2 into the bottom of the seventh, Mount Si was able to load the bases and won the game on a walk-off, beating the Bothell Cougars 4-3.

Alex Chamberlain was 1-4 with an RBI for Mount Si, but the hero was Tristan Aasland, who scampered home on a wild pitch with the bases loaded to win it for the Wildcats.

The two teams opened proceedings each exchanging runs in the second and third innings. Mount Si in the second loaded the bases and Ryan Ruffin was there to take advantage, hitting a single that scored Aasland. After Bothell’s third-inning run, Chamberlain came up in the bottom of that frame, and singled to score Gavin Yost, who had reached base earlier in the inning on a walk. Bothell re-took the lead in the sixth, then all heck broke loose for Mount Si with two out in that fateful final frame. It started with walks to Aasland and Parker Norah to load the bases; Jeffrey Mather already was on base after having reached earlier in the frame. Payton Utley came to bat and walked to score Mather, then with Will Gregory up hoping to be a hero, he let Bothell’s pitcher, Logan Egge, do the work instead, as Egge tossed that bad pitch. Aasland paid attention and made a B-line to home, scoring the winning run and we are sure making his entire family who was watching very happy.

Norah won the game in relief for Mount Si allowing a run on three hits in two innings striking out five. Logan Anderson started on the hill for the Wildcats and the University of Portland-bound senior delivered, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits, walking three and striking out four.

Mount Si heads to North Creek tomorrow for a biggie with the Jaguars, who are tied for first in league with the Wildcats at 3-1 in Kingco play. The game is under the lights at 6:30 p.m. at North Creek High School in Snohomish County.

Also:

Wildcat JV’s smoke Cougars: Preston Pryzbylski was the jack of all trades last night, leading the Mount Si JV’s offensively and also helping out on the mound as Mount Si waxed the Cougar JV’s 15-0 at Bothell High School. Pryzbylski tripled as part of a two-hit effort driving in four runs, and he along with pitchers Drew Hossfeld and Carter Stelter tossed a combined four-hit shutout in the game on the mound for the Wildcats. They host North Creek tomorrow.

Scoreboard
Kingco 4A action for you and a little Wesco as well, powered by our friends at GameChanger and their TeamManager app, providing athletes, families and fans the opportunity to support their young athletes. GC is becoming the best place to go if you want scores, highlights and live games involving young athletes from your community. All available now on phones and tablets in their app stores.

Arlington 4, Archbishop Murphy 1: Reece McBride homered and senior pitcher Ty Rusko did the rest, dominating on the hill for the Eagles in their Wesco 2A/3A win over the Wildcats. Rusko went the distance allowing an unearned run on seven hits striking out eight for the win. Reese Logsdon and Henry Gabalis both had two hits apiece for Murphy, with Logsdon also scoring a run.

Issaquah 8, Skyline 3: Trent Varga and Bryan Sfanos both doubled twice and drove in two runs each for the Eagles as they won round one of the Issaquah city rivalry series at home over the Spartans. Mason Pirello homered and drove in two runs for Skyline in this one.

North Creek 3, Newport 2: A homer from Jacob Moyer powered a three-run North Creek fourth inning, and pitcher Kai Miller did the rest as the Jaguars held off the Knights in south Bellevue. Miller went the distance on the hill for North Creek, allowing two runs on seven hits striking out seven. Dante Santulli led Newport, going 2-3 with both Knights RBI’s.

Eastlake 13, Redmond 3: Blake Borup tripled and drove in two runs leading the Wolves to the blowout win over the Mustangs in Redmond. Grady Woodward had two hits for Eastlake, scoring three runs and driving in three more, while Jack Edmunds added two hits himself, scoring a run and driving in four more. Andy McBain and Josh Tyler both homered for Redmond leading their efforts.

Inglemoor 5, Woodinville 4: Nathan Harb guided the Vikings with a double and RBI as they won at home last night in Kenmore over the Falcons. Nathan Woodside, off a solid performance as we showed you on Twitter yesterday in Monday’s game against Mount Si, had two hits and an RBI to pace Woody.

Colleges
Regional community college action from the Northwest Athletic Conference for you:

Yakima Valley 6, Spokane 1 (game one, doubleheader): The Yaks bested the Sasquatch at home in the first of two in East Division action. Kevin Corder went 1-4 with a run for Yakima Valley while Cam Ferreri went 0-4. Both players are sophomores and 2021 Mount Si HS grads from Snoqualmie. Spokane won the nightcap 4-1 to split the twinbill, with stats not being reported for that contest.

Lane 7, Linn-Benton 3 (game one, doubleheader): Lane handled Linn-Benton in a battle of Oregon league rivals down in Albany, OR. Freshman Aidan Dougherty, from Snoqualmie and a 2022 Mount Si HS grad, was 0-3 with a walk and run scored for Linn-Benton.

Lane 3, Linn-Benton 1 (game two, doubleheader): Lane took LBC in the nightcap to sweep that pair of games; Dougherty was 0-4 for LBC in the contest.

Competitive balance scheduling in Kingco will have to wait following AD’s vote

Mount Si High School’s girls’ basketball team stands together during the announcement of the starting lineups prior to their February playoff game with Inglemoor High School at Inglemoor’s gym in Kenmore. Athletic directors at Kingco Conference high schools, of which Mount Si is a member, voted last week to delay implementation of proposed competitive balance scheduling that would eventually have affected girls’ basketball and other sports in the conference. (File, photo courtesy of Calder Productions)

Local high school athletic directors, under pressure including some from Mount Si High School and Snoqualmie Valley School District administrators, have chosen to delay implementation of proposed competitive balance scheduling for girls’ soccer and other high school sports.

The so-called “tiered scheduling” model would have seen schools playing league opposition based on overall record and talent level as opposed to geography. Kingco Conference athletic directors, who were considering this plan, voted at a special meeting last Monday to delay the rollout of this new scheduling model until the 2024-25 school year. It had been expected by many that they would attempt to roll it out in time for this fall, and that prompted an intense outcry from many in the girls’ soccer community. League coaches, and officials at both Mount Si and the school district, wrote formal letters to the league outlining their concerns about the proposal, including issues regarding the computer rankings formula being used, along with whether the league and member schools communicated this proposal well enough to affected stakeholders.

We first discussed this proposal last month here in the Journal. The proposal was introduced as a way to address concerns that have been raised by league principals about lopsided scores in some contests in the conference, and also is intended to provide more equity for student-athletes and programs in terms of the quality of competition they will face in league contests.

At the meeting last Monday, at the Bellevue School District’s instructional center in downtown Bellevue, athletic directors, including Mount Si’s Chris Hill, were given a document outlining the history of this proposal, noting that discussion on this started back in October among league principals. League officials, according to minutes of the AD’s meeting from last Monday we have reviewed, lamented the lack of communication it appears helped fuel a lot of the opposition to the proposal, and also indicated that how people were viewing this process – as finalized as opposed to it being in draft form – also contributed to a lot of this.

Mount Si officials, and league coaches, expressed concern with the ranking formula, noting among other things inaccuracies in the recordkeeping they were using to set this up (an example was that the information they were using had Mount Si’s girls falling in their league contest last fall to Redmond, a game which the Wildcats actually won sparking their run to the playoffs last season under first-year head coach Kate Deines-Krieger).

Work on formulating a final proposal will continue, especially as the league at the meeting last week indicated the possibility of as many as 14 4A schools following reclassification, which is set to take place next fall. Mount Si is expected to be among those possible 14. However, the Valley’s other high school, Cedarcrest, as we have also discussed here, could seek to leave its current conference, the Wesco Conference, and join Kingco with this tiered scheduling model in mind. Any decision on the Duvall high school and the Riverview School District pursuing that will come at a later date and likely be driven by both reclassification and whether tiered scheduling will be in place for them when they would join Kingco.

We will have an additional editorial comment about this upcoming in the Journal, as there are a number of issues we would like to see athletic directors and principals look at as they formulate this proposal.

Diamond cuts and a little lacrosse too on this Wednesday…..

Time now for our diamond cuts on this Wednesday. We lead it off with some baseball for you. Cedarcrest High School’s baseball team and the opposing Cascade Bruins from Everett exchanged blows out of the gate, with each scoring a pair of runs in the opening inning. But a five-run second frame for the Red Wolves allowed them to take command, and their pitching did the rest as Cedarcrest scored a nice road win.

Carter Smith went 2-4 with a run and three RBI’s, and pitchers Magnuson Byars and Luke Thompson got the job done on the hill as CHS won 7-2 at Cascade High School in Everett. Marcell Alexander’s first inning double drove in teammates Connor Olsen and Manny Molina and that as it ended up accounted for the lone Cascade scoring.

Cedarcrest opened the scoring with two runs in the first. Byars led off the game getting hit by a pitch, and that was followed by a walk to Thompson. Cooper Ayers then came up, and singled to score Byars. Smith then singled to score Thompson. After Alexander’s two-RBI double in the bottom of the first leveled things, the Red Wolves went to work in the second.

Justin Link led it off with a walk, then stole second, one of three stolen bases in the game he had for Cedarcrest. Byars then walked, and Thompson singled to score Link putting the Red Wolves in front for good as it turned out. But there was more. A lot more. Ayers was successful in a sacrifice bunt to advance Byars and Thompson a base, and that set up Smith, who singled to score both baserunners and break it open. But hold on, there was more. Quinn Larson then singled, and he also attempted a steal of second base. The throw to second to try to nail him there from Cascade went awry, and that allowed Smith to score another run, then Reed Gilmore singled scoring Larson. From there, Cascade settled down and got out of the inning but the damage was done, and the two CHS pitchers did the rest.

Byars started on the mound and worked four innings allowing the two runs, one earned, on three hits, walking one and striking out six. Thompson finished out the final three innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out four for the save.

The two teams meet again tomorrow at Cedarcrest High School in Duvall. Game time is 4:00 p.m.

CHS JV’s sink Jackson “C” squad: Pitcher Alex Hoyer was solid for Cedarcrest’s JV’s as they handled the “C” team from Wesco 4A Jackson. Hoyer went 6 2/3 strong innings on the mound for the Red Wolves in their 5-3 win, allowing the three runs, one earned, on just four hits, walking two and striking out six.

The key inning for Cedarcrest was the sixth, when they scored three runs to take command. Tyler Questad opened the frame reaching base on a Jackson error, then singles from Hoyer and Michael Rynders loaded the bases. Logan Pfister hit a sacrifice fly to score Questad, then Tyler Scott walked to re-load the bases. Carter Huffman then walked with the bases loaded to score Rynders, then after Colt Norris struck out, Blake Walesby, who led CHS going 2-2 with three RBI’s, drove one of those runs in by getting hit by a pitch with the bases still loaded scoring Hoyer.

Rynders came in to get the save in the seventh for Cedarcrest, striking out one. The Red Wolve JV is back in action tomorrow.

Mount Si “C” team routs Newport: Jacoby Schmidlapp and Davis Nelson each had two hits to lead Mount Si’s “C” squad to an 11-4 blowout of Newport last night at home in Snoqualmie. Schmidlapp went 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI while Davis was 2-3 with a run scored and two RBI’s. Jimmy Pratapas also doubled and drove in a run for the Wildcats, who play again tomorrow at Skyline. The team is unbeaten on the season thus far at 6-0-1.

Time for our scoreboard this morning featuring Wesco 3A/2A and Kingco 4A action. Scores and highlights powered by GameChanger and their TeamManager app, available on phones and tablets in their app stores.

Jackson 9, Meadowdale 0: Pitchers Chase Halvorsen and Alec Mullinix combined on a no-hitter for the Wesco 4A Timberwolves in their shutout of the 3A Wesco Mavericks last night in Snohomish County. Halvorsen struck out 13 in five innings of work for Jackson. Micah Coleman and Ryan Nakajima each had two hits for the Timberwolves, with Coleman doubling, scoring two runs and driving in a third. Nakajima also drove in two runs.

Edmonds-Woodway 10, Lynnwood 0: Pitcher Dylan Schlenger hurled a one-hitter striking out eight as the Warriors bested the Royals in Lynnwood. Tom Schults had a big game for Ed-Wood, going 5-5 with a run scored and RBI, and Diego Escandon also had a strong game for the Warriors, going 3-4 with a run scored and four RBI’s.

Shorecrest 2, Shorewood 1: Shorecrest hurler Dillon Carrell fired a complete-game gem, allowing a run on five hits, walking one and striking out five as the Scots won round one of the Shoreline city rivalry series last night at Meridian Park in north Seattle. Pitcher Logan Anderson allowed two runs, one earned, in six strong innings himself for the StormRays, on just three hits. Six walks hurt his cause a bit but he struck out 11. Joe Facilla led Shorewood offensively going 2-3.

Mountlake Terrace 8, Kamiak 0: Pitchers Tyler Song and Dayton Nickolson combined on a two-hitter for the Wesco 3A Hawks as they blanked the 4A Knights at home in Mountlake Terrace. Matt Meadows paced Mountlake going 2-3 with two runs scored and Rominic Quiban had a double and RBI.

North Creek 3, Skyline 2 (8): Bailey Castillo walked it off in the eighth with a single scoring Brady Miller with the winning run as the Jaguars beat the Spartans at home in south Snohomish County. Brock Fleming got the win in relief on the hill for NC, pitching a perfect inning and two-thirds striking out three, and Ethan Swallom had a hit and two RBI’s for the Jaguars. Mason Pirello homered as part of a two-hit effort scoring both Skyline runs to lead the Spartans.

Softball: Meadowdale offense delivers against Red Wolves
Cedarcrest High School’s softball ladies yesterday afternoon were just down the road a bit from their baseball counterparts in Everett, as they took on the Meadowdale Mavericks at Meadowdale Playfield in Lynnwood. Unfortunately, all it took in this one for the Red Wolves to fall was one big inning, as CHS dropped the game to the Mavs.

Destiny Emery’s leadoff solo homer sparked a four-run fourth inning for Meadowdale, and Analise Griffiths led off the sixth with a solo shot of her own to put the icing on the cake as the Mavs handed Cedarcrest the 6-2 loss. Pitcher Olivia Feistel went the distance for the home side allowing two unearned runs on six hits striking out six.

For Cedarcrest, Kaylee Hulse led the way, with two doubles, a run scored and RBI, and she was a factor in both Red Wolve scoring plays. Cedarcrest scored a run each in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, after one of the Hulse doubles, Katie Sewell grounded out to score the Red Wolve senior, who then hit a sacrifice fly out in the fifth to score Abby Combs.

CHS hurler Lily Rafferty also went the distance in this one and fared decent, allowing all six runs, four earned, on six hits, walking five and striking out six.

The Red Wolves are home tomorrow taking on Marysville-Getchell at 4:00 p.m.

Wesco scores, powered by GameChanger and their TeamManager app:

Lake Stevens 15, Shorecrest 1: Zoe Hopkins, Emery Fletcher and McKenna Richer were a three-girl wrecking crew for the Vikings in their rout of the 3A Wesco team in a non-conference game at Lake Stevens High School. The three combined to go 8-8 with two homers – one each from Hopkins and Richer – and 13 RBI’s. Good stuff and something Mount Si and Kingco may have to think about come WesKing District tournament time. Kyah Easton’s homer accounted for the only offense in the game for the Scots.

Archbishop Murphy 15, Mariner 3: The Wesco 2A Wildcats put this thing away early against their 4A Wesco counterparts with an eight-run first. Carly Madhavan was 2-2 with a run scored and four RBI’s leading Murphy, while Chloe Hogue added a 3-3 effort, a run scored and two RBI’s.

Also:

Lacrosse: Mount Si boys open Kingco schedule with win
The Mount Si High School boys’ lacrosse team braved rain and cold conditions to hold off Issaquah 12-11 last Friday night at home in Snoqualmie in their Kingco opener. Kendall Saldivar had five goals and Aidan Landgraf added four along with two assists leading the Wildcats.

The Eagles opened the scoring strong with a balanced attack, taking a 4-1 lead in the opening frame with four different guys scoring goals. Cale Gunter and Michael Hyde each had three goals leading the Eagles. Mount Si then began to creep back into it, going into halftime trailing by just one, 5-4. Mount Si struck first in the third quarter to tie it up, but Issaquah responded with two straight to retake the lead. Issaquah’s defense, though, had no answer for Saldivar and Cade Kirwin up front for Mount Si. This twosome has been dangerous all season, and it proved to be that late in the quarter, as the duo hooked up for back-to-back goals to send the game into the final stanza tied at 7-7.

Issaquah suffered a key injury in that late onslaught, as they lost Nick Anderson, who to that point was holding his own on defense for the Eagles. Mount Si took advantage of this to open the final frame, scoring three goals in that stretch to take command. But Issy showed no quit. It started with a goal from Gunter then the Eagles capitalized on a two-man advantage following a Wildcat foul, with a Hyde goal making the game level again at 10 apiece.

Issy then fouled Mount Si allowing the Wildcats to go on the man advantage, and Landgraf was more than happy to oblige, scoring twice in that power play opportunity to give Mount Si back the lead.

With less than two minutes left in regulation, Eagle K.J. Lewis struck with a goal to tighten the game considerably. Issy got the ball back with under 90 seconds left to go and ended up somewhat in good stead. Mount Si’s defense came out to play the ball and Gunter found Lewis on the inside, drawing a slashing foul from scarlet and gray that prevented an opportunity to score. But, the Eagles got a man advantage out of it and almost took full advantage, getting a great chance for the tying goal, but could not finish the job. The Wildcat defense won a resulting ground ball off a save from goalie Ben Magnus and that was that as Mount Si held on.

Mount Si is at Snohomish Friday night to meet the Panthers in a non-league game. Game time is 8:00 p.m. at Snohomish High School.

The Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal’s weekly volleyball report for March 29

Good Wednesday morning. We will have our baseball and softball wrap up coming up shortly. First, though, we have our weekly look at local girls’ club volleyball here in the Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal, as we follow the 2023 winter and spring season in USA Volleyball’s Puget Sound Region and profile the teams and Valley athletes that are part of them.

Kent-based North Pacific Juniors’ 18U National girls’ volleyball club team came close to making nationals this past weekend, finishing fifth at a qualifier tournament in Spokane in their age division. Mount Si High School players Friley Curtiss (top left, #3) and Lauren Kremer (top right center, #5) are part of this club team. (Photo from NPJ Volleyball on Twitter)

This past weekend was a pretty important one for a number of top high-school age teams in the region, as they all traveled to Spokane to compete in the Pacific Northwest Qualifier tournament, the only major event during the season in the Northwest where teams have a chance to qualify for the USA Volleyball Junior Olympic Nationals each summer. And for a couple of local teams, there was success seen.

Leading that group was the Kent-based North Pacific Juniors’ 18U National team. NPJ, featuring Mount Si High School seniors Friley Curtiss and Lauren Kremer, dominated in pool play, going 6-0 on the weekend, and they made it into the title round Monday in the 18U American division and had a chance to earn a national berth. Unfortunately, that quest ended quickly as they were bounced in their opening playoff match by a team from Oregon. Still, though, it was a strong weekend for the group, who has been one of the top teams in the region all season, and will look to finish that out at their 18U national tournament here in a few weeks time. NPJ’s 18U Elite, with Wildcat Ana Holverstott, was also there, but struggled, going winless in all seven of their matches and finished 31st in their division.

Meanwhile, what was a lousy opening day for Bellevue’s Sudden Impact Tornado cost them a chance at a national berth, but the 16U group bounced back in a big way, winning six straight contests Sunday and Monday and their flight playoff on Monday to finish 7-2 overall on the weekend. A pair of players with Mount Si ties factored into the final flourish too – Wildcat Maggie Kamp and Tahoma’s Isabelle Foote, daughter of retired longtime Mount Si coach Bonnie Foote. They finished 25th overall in the 16U Liberty division, but that placing really did not do this effort justice. Hopefully, the group will be able to build off this and continue their push for success this season.

Teams competing in the event faced teams from all over the western United States, and from places as far away as Texas and Colorado.

Other teams, as noted here:

-16U: NPJ Nationals, with MSHS’s Carissa Zwiefelhofer, took ninth in the 16U Open with a 3-4 weekend record.

-16U: Sudden Impact Thunder, with Wildcat Sophie Lobet, finished 23rd in that division only winning once in seven tries

-16U: Northwest Juniors’ 16UA Blue, with MSHS’s Izzy Milsten, finished 35th in the 16U Liberty going .500 on the weekend at 4-4

-17U: Northwest’s 17UA Blue, with Wildcats Audrey Gibbs and Taylor Christmas, also went .500 at 4-4 and they finished 29th in the 17U Liberty

-18U: Northwest’s 18U, with a foursome of MSHS players including Brooke Daly, Ashley Nugent, Meredith Mozseter and Peyton MacKenzie, finished 11th in the 18U American with a 3-4 record. Northwest is based in Bellevue.

In other action:

Power League: 14U and 15U teams tuned up for Spokane play this weekend at the PNQ’s second weekend with local play this past weekend.

Carnation-based Valley View Volleyball did not have a bad weekend at all. Let’s start with their 13U Silver and 14U Sapphire squads. The two went a combined 7-1 on the weekend with the only loss being as the result of a head-to-head battle between the two teams which closed out play for the two teams this past weekend, a battle won by Silver in three sets and ended a seven-match win streak for Sapphire which started after a loss earlier in the season to their younger-age counterparts. The 14U team has won nine of their last 11 matches, with the only two losses coming in that stretch to the Silver. The teams are back-to-back in the standings, in 73rd (13’s Silver) and 74th (14’s Sapphire), so it is hoped their continued good play can see them rise up the ladder.

Also, Valley View’s 14U Silver and 15U Sapphire teams saw losses in weekend play that ended long win streaks – Sapphire fell to a team from Puyallup while Silver dropped a match to Mercer Island’s Island Thunder. Good stuff here to see the girls doing well and racking up wins, so these bumps in the road hopefully will not be affecting the girls’ confidence too much. VV’s teams all have some form of lower Valley participation in them, with students from the Riverview School District.

Rounding it out, Sudden Impact’s Lightning, who will be at the Spokane event this weekend, sits fifth overall in the 15U rankings after a 2-2 weekend. Former longtime Mount Si assistant Dave Bachman coaches that squad.

WVBA March Madness: With the Washington Volleyball Academy not participating in the Spokane activities, the Lynnwood-based club hosted its own tournament this past weekend, and WVBA’s 16U Regional, with Cedarcrest’s Cait Hawkins, went 4-1 and finished sixth against a field of largely older-age teams; they played in the tournament’s 18U division.

This weekend
Spokane weekend two is on deck for the 14’s and 15’s, with Lightning expected to be the lone participant of those teams we are covering being there at this event. With their current strong ranking in the region, they should be considered a contender for a national berth this weekend, so we wish those ladies and coach Bachman good luck over there. They will be playing at the Podium complex just north of Spokane Arena in the city’s downtown core; teams in last weekend’s set of games played there and at three other sites – the downtown convention center, Eastern Washington University and the HUB Sports facility in Liberty Lake, about a 15-minute drive east of downtown Spokane on I-90.

There may be other items as well and we will mention those separately for you here later. A full wrapup on all of this weekend’s action comes up next week for you here in this segment, so for now, this has been your weekly look at local girls’ club volleyball in USA Volleyball’s Puget Sound Region in the SVSJ.