Boys golf will send two to State in May

The sticks have spoken, and just two will move on.

Austin Hurt and Jamie Neill will represent Bainbridge at the state golf tournament next spring.

Austin won the Sea-King 3A District 2 Golf tournament at Washington National in Auburn on Monday as he shot a 70 to place first overall, one stroke ahead of Newport’s Scott Tsuchiyama.

Neill shot a 77 to just make the cut.

As a team, the Spartans finished in fourth with 126 Stableford points. Mercer Island won the district title with 167 points.

It’s Hurt’s first-ever district tournament win and his third consecutive trip to State. He tied for fourth place last year.

“It’s cool,” he said. “I thought the number was going to be lower, but I just went out there and had fun.”

“I’m extremely happy for Austin,” head coach Bob Dwyer said. “I’ve been waiting for a long time to see him do that.”

David Botefuhr, Kyle Hurt and Ricky Ulloa all missed qualifying for State as they shot 84, 86 and 82 respectively.

The biggest heartbreak was Paul DeBarros, who shot a 79, two off the cut of 77 and missing out on a playoff for the alternate spot, as five shot 78 apiece.

“It was hard to watch Ricky and Paul come in with long looks on their faces,” Dwyer said. “It’s always hard to see a senior go out. They spend long hours on the course and for Ricky to put in work mentally, to come back and shoot well, that’s a huge accomplishment.

“Paul never, ever gives up,” he continued. “To see that happen to him is hard. He’s one of those players who will count and recount every single stroke because he wants to do well for the team.

DeBarros was saddened to see his season end this way.

“It’s definitely disappointing as a team and as an individual,” he said. “I made it to State the other years, but it’s just a shock to struggle this bad.

“You want to go out and win, but that’s part of golf. There’s days like that.”

The course, home to the University of Washington golf team, is a difficult one, but Austin Hurt was still able to utilize his game to the fullest.

“It was difficult if you weren’t hitting good shots,” he said. “I was hitting good iron (shots) and I was putting well. The only problem was, I was striking my driver kind of errantly. But I got it around.”

For the boys to repeat as champs, they’ll need to play like Vijay Singh to keep them in the hunt when May rolls around.

“We’re going to have to put up some good numbers,” Austin said. “Mercer Island has five or six guys going, so it’s going to be tough. For us to have a chance we need to be in the top 10, but we’ll see how it goes.”

“Of course they have a chance,” Dwyer said. “If they make the cut they should do well, but they have to be in the top 10. Two guys can do a lot, but it’s going to be very, very tough.”

While Austin and Neill will move on, DeBarros said he will play in some amateur tounaments to stay in shape and apply to colleges, one of which is UW. He also hopes to walk onto their golf team.

The 3A state tournament will be May 22 and the 23 at Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane.

– John Becerra, Jr.

Girl swimmers run the table

With a season-ending 104-82 win over the Eastmont Wildcats last Saturday, the Bainbridge girls swim and dive team finished undefeated in a dual-meet season for the first time in 11 years.

Head coach Greg Colby said the team has been a strong group all season and should be happy with what they did.

“I told the kids that they should be proud of each other and themselves,” he said.

The last time they did it was 1994. That was the same year Megan Reha led in all the 2A swim categories but two, as a senior-laden squad dominated in every meet, went 12-0 in the WesCo League and crushed the competition en route to a senior title.

“It’s been a very exciting season,” said Reha, now a first-year volunteer assistant coach and BHS science teacher. “I did expect the girls to do it. They’ve been swimming well, especially when they beat Mercer Island twice.”

Anne Scott had a state qualifying time in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:18.11. She, along with India Wade, Tessa Griffin and Keziah Beall achieved a state qualifying time of 3:52.02 in the 400 free relay.

While many others missed state qualifying times by mere seconds, the Spartans won with their depth, as they placed 1-2-3 in four events and finished first in every event but three.

“Depth is a very big parallel,” Reha said when comparing her ’94 team to her current team. “One big difference is that they’re a very young group. It’s made up of mostly freshman and sophomores, whereas we had more of a proportional team (across the classes). Another parallel is great training and consistency.”

While Reha believes the familiarity with the program helps her get her points across to the girls, she draws the line at being a rabbit’s foot for the squad.

“I don’t think it was a coincidence that she was a part of it,” Colby said.

“I don’t think I’m the lucky charm,” she said. “Greg mentioned it, but I’m not the lucky charm on a team when 40 girls are working together and achieving their goals.”

They’ll be trying to achieve more at the Metro qualifying meet this Friday at 3:30 p.m. Colby said the team won’t lose any focus between then and the State meet in Federal Way.

“We gotta close the deal,” he said. “There’s still three weeks left.”

– John Becerra, Jr.