Harriers hit their stride in Bellevue

The Spartan cross country team keeps on running with success.

At the Bellevue Invitational at Lake Sammamish State Park on Saturday, the Bainbridge girls placed third out of 64 teams. Gig Harbor, the top-ranked team in the state, won the invitational, while Bellevue finished second.

Caroline Johnson and Emily Farrar finished 13th and 16th, respectively, in the varsity 1-2 runners flight. Johnson had a time of 19:03, while Farrar placed with a mark of 19:15.

In the varsity 3-4 flight, Hillary Pritchett was fifth with a time of 19:25 while battling arch problems on both feet. Emily VanVleet was 25th with a time of 20:42.

Callie McKenzie made another strong showing as she placed eighth in the varsity 5-6 flight with a time of 20:44. Michelle Yates was 16th with a time of 20:57.

In the varsity 7-8 flight, Molly O’Keefe was 19th with a time of 21:44. Taylor Raquer ran 26th with a time of 22:13.

“Each one of our kids was running hard,” head coach Dean Tarbill said. “We didn’t have ‘elite’ times, but our success illustrates it was a team effort.”

Tarbill also praised the efforts of JV runners Camille Frate, Jamie Huggler, Kara Tsolomitis and Amy Hamilton as they improved their times by a whole minute or more.

The boys placed 31st in the invitational. Joel Turkheimer was the top finisher for the Spartans as he placed 19th in the varsity 1-2 flight with a time of 16:25.

Tarbill also gave credit to Ian Shiach, Colin Schultze, Alex Oechsli, Matt Tetlow and Griffin Dunn for their performance.

“You would say, ‘It’s not something to get astounded by,’ but they’ve really made strides improving their times,” Tarbill said, noting this is the first time in recent memory that the boys and girls harriers placed in such meets. “I really feel these young people are working hard, and their work is paying off.”

Boys captain Bevan Taylor missed the meet with tendinitis in his right toe.

Bainbridge returns to league play as they take on Seattle Prep and Eastside Catholic at Lower Woodland Park this Thursday. They will also take part in the Mt. Baker Invitational Saturday in Bellingham at Silver Lake.

—John Becerra, Jr.

Spikers stay out of loss column

Head coach Julie Miller said she doesn’t operate in wins and losses.

“I just really don’t think about it, to be honest,” she said of her squad’s winning streak. “I’m a game-to-game person. We have a goal to win the league and we’re on track.

“Mostly we want to improve so we’re peaking at the right time to go to State.”

The Spartans are definitely peaking, as they swept the Seattle Prep Panthers 25-22, 25-17 and 25-18 on Wednesday night, then did it again against the Lakeside Lions on Monday by a score of 25-8, 25-22 and 25-8.

Hannah Stuart had 10 kills, two blocks and four digs. Ali Post had 13 assists and three digs, while Hillary Grant had five digs. Lindsey Bratonia had six assists and two kills. Sabrina Tan had four aces, six digs and three kills.

Bainbridge heads to Seattle to play Eastside Catholic at 6 p.m. today. They will then try to defend their Mount Vernon Invitational tournament title on Saturday. They are in pool play with 4A Arlington and 1A LaConner.

—John Becerra, Jr.