Turkheimer, Farrar set pace

The Spartan cross country team got off to a great start last week. In their first Metro League meet against Eastside Catholic, Nathan Hale and Ingraham at Lower Woodland Field, the Spartan boys placed first with 27 points.

Joel Turkheimer finished second with a time of 17:01, while Bevan Taylor finished third with a time of 17:18. Max Welch placed fourth with a time of 18:19.

The girls took the top six places to easily race past Nathan Hale.

Emily Farrar was first with a time of 20:05, the best time on the course this year so far. Hillary Pritchett took second with a time of 20:18, while Caroline Johnson was third with a time of 20:27. Rounding out Spartan finishers were Michelle Yates fourth at 21:20, Emily VanVleet fifth at 21:27 and Callie McKenzie sixth at 21:36.

“They were very solid,” head coach Dean Tarbill said. “There were some very good performances. I was really impressed.”

At the South Whidbey Invite on Saturday, the girls team placed second out of 24 teams. They were tied with Redmond, but went ahead as several racers finished higher than the Mustang runners.

Finishes for the Spartans were Farrar fifth overall with 19:46, Johnson 11th with 20:03, Pritchett 14th with 20:11, VanVleet 28th in 21:05, Michelle Yates 36th with 21:20, McKenzie 38th with 21:39 and Molly O’Keefe 45th with 22:06.

The boys finished 10th behind Riverside. Turkheimer was the top finisher for the squad as he placed 13th with a time of 16:53.

Taylor, despite having tendinitis in his right toe, set a personal best of 17:05 to come in 19th place.

Max Welch, Colin Schulze, Alex Oechsli, Ian Shiach and Matt Tetlow all ran well in the top 10 team effort.

On the JV side, the girls team came in first. Taylor Raquer placed third and Christina Garrigues placed fourth, while Hazel Scott came in fifth. Jamie Huggler, Camille Frate, Matty Molskness and Kara Tsolomitis also ran well.

Both teams race in the Bellevue Invite Saturday at Lake Sammamish.

Team Ray bests Vikings, 14-9

Team Ray continued its winning ways as they defeated the Curtis Vikings 14-9 at Curtis High last Thursday.

“We managed to play 1.5 quarters of great water polo,” head coach Zoltan Tusnadi said. “I can’t wait to see what these guys will do playing a whole game of great polo.”

Jake Santelli led the team with seven goals, an assist and ten steals while Tamas Torok had three goals and an assist. Jon Swanson had two goals, three steals and an assist, while Richie Moore had a goal and an assist. Goalie Cheyne Clark had 11 saves.

Team Ray will play Mercer Island at 3:30 p.m. and Curtis at 7:40 p.m. on Friday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way on Friday. They will also take part in the KCAC Tournament Saturday through Monday.

Gridders stumble at Ingraham

Looking at the game film, Spartan football coach Andy Grimm said Friday’s road loss to Ingraham “wasn’t as bad as it looked.”

“We did some things right,” he said, “but we weren’t finishing out plays.”

The Rams did the finishing as they shut out the Spartans 38-0 in Seattle, ending the Bainbridge win streak at two. Avenging last year’s 84-6 loss at BHS, the Rams rushed for 239 yards while holding Bainbridge’s potent rushing attack to just 103 yards.

“We felt going into the game we could compete with them, but they’re very athletic,” Grimm said. “Especially their linebackers, and they were beating our blocks and stopping our backs after just a few yards.”

Bainbridge had trouble stopping Sean Kelley, who scored the first four touchdowns for Ingraham, including two in the first quarter.

The Rams rounded out their scoring in the fourth quarter with a scoring pass and a field goal.

Despite turning the ball over just once when quarterback Cameron Johnson was intercepted, the Spartans never got going on offense, as Carter Williams was held to just 47 yards on 11 carries.

Max Kauffman and Jake Hinton were contained as well, as they had 32 and 22 rushing yards respectively.

“We just couldn’t get out of the hole,” Grimm said. “As far as how we go from here, we gotta be able to flush it and move on. The kids played hard, we just didn’t have any momentum.”

Defensively, Kauffman, Kyle Petheram and Josh Truan had six solo tackles each, while Truan assisted on seven other tackles. Fiore Alailima, who had two tackles and an interception, sprained his ankle in Friday’s contest. Grimm said he will be out for a week.

The Spartans play one more non-league game when they host Sequim at 7 p.m. this Friday.

North to Alaska for gymnast Nall

Brooke Nall is advancing to the next level. The two-time 3A all-around champion has signed on to tumble for the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s gymnastics program.

Nall was to attend the University of Washington, but she started the recruiting process late.

“I didn’t know when to start,” she said. “I found out you had to start by your junior year, and by that time all the spots were taken.”

She was also interested in Oregon State, but decided to attend UAA thanks to head coach Paul Stoklos and some of her future teammates calling her constantly since last November to let her know they wanted her on their team.

Nall, who led her squad to a state championship last year, said she is enjoying her time at the university.

“I really like it here,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of outdoors stuff, like hiking and camping and white-water rafting.”

She said she’ll stay at the school for now, but will decide whether to stay on at UAA or reapply for UW after her freshman year.

“I really like it here,” she said. “It depends on what my thoughts are. I really like the team and the girls. We’re really close. It would be nice to be a bit closer to home, but I really like it here. We’ll see how it goes.”

The UAA Seawolves, a Division I program, hold their annual Green & Gold intersquad meet on Dec. 9, then start their season against Air Force on Jan. 13-15.