The 2011-12 Redmond High boys' swim team may not be the most talented or fast team head coach Julie Barashkoff has ever coached, but they are certainly one of of the most diverse.
A solid turnout of 40 swimmers this year includes a fairly equal mix of seniors, juniors and sophomores, with impact athletes coming from each grade level, in addition to a pair of promising freshmen.
Much like the flu bug that has hit schools and offices with a vengeance in the winter season, the injury bug has already bitten the Redmond High gymnastics team.
The one positive is that it's early in the season, and the upcoming winter break will allow the ailing top Mustang gymnasts a chance to rest, recuperate, and make a push towards making the state meet in late February.
In any sport, it’s always a kid’s improbable dream to get to meet an Olympic medalist.
That dream became a reality for a big group of young gymnasts on Wednesday night at Redmond’s Emerald City Gymnastics, as superstar gymnast Jonathan Horton, who earned two medals from the 2008 Beijing Olympics – a silver on the high bar and a bronze team medal – visited the club to speak to the more than 50 kids in attendance.
It’s another year older, and another year wiser for the Bear Creek School girls’ basketball team.
The talented and deep Lady Grizzlies were fortunate to retain all of their varsity starters off last year’s 15-3 team, which began the year 15-0 before three straight losses derailed the team’s state title hopes.
Nursing a slim 31-28 lead after three quarters on Tuesday night at home, the Mustangs came up big in the fourth quarter with 27 points to win 58-45 over Jackson in their season opener.
Guard Leslie Ellis led all scorers with 22, followed by senior forwards Conner Floan and Jason Harrington with 12 each.
According to the old adage, experience is the best teacher.
And in the competitive 4A Kingco league this winter, there will be no basketball team more experienced than the Redmond Mustangs.
The Mustangs’ program has been building up to the 2011-12 season, as a tremendous group of upperclassmen, led by four returning starters from last year, are set to lead the way.
Team previews of Redmond, Overlake and Bear Creek boys' basketball highlighting key players, big games and coach's comments.
A giant celebration erupted Saturday at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium after The Bear Creek School girls' soccer team realized they had won the program's first 2B state championship.
The energy at the stadium was filled with so much excitement, one would have thought the Grizzlies had just won the Major League Soccer championship.
The ecstatic Grizzlies more than made up for 90 minutes of near-misses and frustration in the title game, which ended in a 0-0 tie at the end of regulation, by out scoring the Napavine Tigers in penalty kicks, 3-1.
The Bear Creek School boys team's losses last weekend in the state semifinals and the 3rd-4th-place consolation finals — both 3-2 losses to Providence Classical Christian and St. George's, respectively — were far too frighteningly similar to seem real.
It certainly didn't seem real to the stunned Grizzly squad and head coach Chad Pohlman, who was nearly at a loss for words after the team gave up three late goals to fall to the Dragons in the 3rd-4th-place game at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner.
Sometimes, in the bracket-happy world of high school state tournaments, it comes down to the luck of the draw.
The Bear Creek School volleyball team swept Kittitas in its opening round match last Friday at the Yakima SunDome, and were only two matches away from playing for the championship for the first time in school history.
Then Reardan stepped in.
To say it was an eventful weekend for Redmond High School (RHS) senior Aly Davis would be quite an understatement.
Last Thursday, she signed her national letter of intent to swim for Texas Christian University, a NCAA Division I school in the Mountain West Conference.
The very next day, she was on her way to Federal Way and the King County Aquatics Center with her Mustang teammates, to compete in her first – and last – 4A state swim meet.
The Grizzlies' soccer squads kept their magical seasons alive in their state tournament openers last Saturday at Sammamish High in Bellevue.
The boys defeated Tacoma Baptist for the first time in three tries this season, 3-2, to advance to the state semifinals at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner.
Playing in the 2B District Tournament at Stanwood High School last weekend, the Bear Creek School volleyball team made it to the championship match, falling to La Conner in four sets, 25-22, 28-26, 14-25, 25-17 to earn the second seed to the 2B state tournament.
It was a three-way battle for the 4A state girls' cross country team title last Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, but the No. 1-ranked Redmond High Mustangs had to settle for third as they were edged out by Tahoma and Bellarmine Prep.
The final standings were one of the closest in recent history, with Tahoma finishing with 88 team points (adding up the top five placers for each qualified team), with Bellarmine in second with 99 and Redmond one point shy at 100.
Before the season got underway, Redmond senior Aly Davis set a lofty personal goal for herself.
She wanted to post state-qualifying times in each of the eight individual events offered in high school swimming: the 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyles, the 200 individual medley (IM), and the 100 butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke events.
Every point seemed to matter during Monday night's 1A Emerald City League (ECL) volleyball match as the Overlake Owls and Seattle Academy Cardinals battled in the Overlake School gym.
With the Owls already securing a berth to the ECL playoffs starting tonight, the home team could have played the role of spoiler and knocked the Cardinals out of the playoff picture with a win, but Seattle Academy stayed alive with a 3-1 victory on game scores of 25-22, 25-15, 25-27 and 25-21.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll — an fiery 60-year-old with the energy of a teenager — pushes himself and his players to the limit on the football field.
Off the field, however, Carroll tries just has hard to make a difference in the local communities in which he coaches.
On Tuesday afternoon, the former University of Southern California (USC) Trojans coach visited Microsoft's campus in Redmond during their annual Giving Campaign to tell employees about "A Better Seattle," an organization he recently founded that works with policy makers, elected officials, law enforcement and the community to reduce gang and youth violence.
If you have a son or daughter that has played soccer in the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association (LWYSA), then chances are you have visited 60 Acres Park in Redmond, the largest soccer complex west of the Mississippi. Home to LWYSA matches as well as national tournaments and a myriad of other events, the aging park requires as much as $500,000 of maintenance and upgrade costs annually, and a new nonprofit organization is spearheading the effort to raise the funds needed to keep the park in top shape.
Much like The Bear Creek School's stellar basketball program, head soccer coach Chad Pohlman knows that some teams in the Sea-Tac 2B League may not give his team the challenge they need to succeed at the state tournament this November.
As a result, Pohlman, who also serves as the Bear Creek School's Athletic Director, put together a late-season tune-up for his squad on Monday against a very tough La Conner team that placed third at the 2B state tournament in both 2009 and 2010.
As well as Lyle and Oliver Rudnicki, the No. 1 and 2-scoring players from Redmond High's golf team, have played this year, "pressure can make you do funny things," according to head coach Chris Zimmerman. After Lyle's 73 and Oliver's 74 on Tuesday, the twins looked to be well within the cut line for the 4A state tournament, which advance the top 14 finishers from the two-day 4A Kingco District Tournament held this year at Redmond's own Willows Run Golf Club.
