The Bainbridge water polo team – a.k.a. Team Ray – opens its season tomorrow with a decidedly new look, as 12 of last year’s 15 varsity players are gone. That number includes the top eight goal scorers from the team that compiled a 10-10 record and placed sixth in the state tournament.
Sitting in the home team dugout behind third base, fastpitch coach Steve Nelson surveyed the scene in front of him with satisfaction.
“I’m really pleased with the support from the administration to upgrade the field and make it on a par with the other facilities here,” he said.
A new chain-link fence encloses the playing field. Piping overhead provides a framework to cover the dugouts. The backstop rises more than 10 additional feet into the air, and soon a 45-degree angle piece extending out over home plate will be installed.
In past years, it’s been almost a slam dunk for the boys soccer team to make the state playoffs – and almost as great a certainty that they wouldn’t go beyond the first round.
This year – the Spartans’ first in Metro, which co-captain Adam Brenneman terms “the best league in the state” – the reverse is likely to be true: Just making the playoffs will be a formidable task, but once there the chances of advancing at least to the second round appear favorable.
In one respect, David and Sachiko Williams of Renton were like many of the more than 3,000 cyclists who enjoyed sunny but cold weather in Sunday’s 30th Chilly Hilly – they hadn’t ridden in months.
In another respect, they were unique – they were on the same bike as their two children, six-year-old Ken and five-year-old Emi. The parents rode a standard tandem, while the youngsters were on a two-seater Adams Manufacturing Co. Trail-a-Bike, which attached to the rear seat post of the tandem.
For Ken, this is becoming standard procedure; he’s completed three Chilly Hillys. “My favorite part was the downhills,” he said.
As Blanchet’s Michelle Augustavo lined up to take two nail-in-the-coffin free throws in Tuesday’s season-ending basketball game – with less than one second showing on the clock – Spartan senior guard Fab Rezayat had a vision.
“The last four years flashed in front of me,” she said. “It was really sad. I didn’t want things to end, especially not like that.”
The gymnastics team concluded what coach Cindy Guy called “a wonderful year” as Dana Cuykendall placed sixth in beam with a score of 9.3 and teammate Brooke Nall had a 9.1 for eighth in Saturday’s finals at the 3A WIAA State Gymnastics Championships at the Tacoma Dome.
The girls basketball team ended its season with a 54-49 loss to Blanchet in
the District 2 Tournament on Tuesday. The Spartans led by 12 points midway
through the third quarter, but pressure defense and a barrage of three-point
shots allowed the Braves to close the gap and open a five-point lead of their
own with two minutes left. The Spartans got to within one, but Blanchet sank
four late free throws to secure the win.
Christine Schwager scored 11 points to lead Bainbridge scoring, while Alice
Russell and Fab Rezayat both added 10. It was the final game for seniors
Courtney Kimball, Natalie Berry, Schwager and Rezayat.
The team finished the season with a 13-11 record.
A complete game story will appear in Saturday’s Review.
Mat Classic XIV, the state wrestling championships, is a two-day event. Unfortunately, it proved to be Friday-and-out for the three Bainbridge wrestlers who qualified, as they were all eliminated by 9 p.m. that evening.
The girls basketball team lost 40-39 to second-ranked Rainier Beach on
Saturday in the District 2 tournament.
About a year after moving to Bainbridge in the late ‘80s, Chris Miller showed up at the Ray Williamson Pool and asked the cashier what kinds of diving boards it had.
“You know how to dive?” he was asked.
Miller replied that he’d been a competitive diver and coach for a number of years.
The cashier asked him to wait and disappeared.
“Five minutes later, a tall guy with arms down to his knees comes out, crosses his arms, and says, ‘I understand you know how to dive,’” Miller recalls, chuckling at the memory.
UPDATE: With the Bainbridge girls basketball team trailing Liberty by five points with seven minutes remaining to play, Fab Rezayat ignited a scoring explosion that accounted for 26 points as the Spartans defeated the Patriots 60-51 on Tuesday afternoon. Rezayat scored 13 of her team-high 17 points in that span, including six of six from the foul line in the final minute. Natalie Berry added 12 and Alice Russell had 10.
The Spartans face second-ranked Rainier Beach on Saturday at 3:00 at Bellevue Community College.
Full details of Tuesday’s game will appear in Saturday’s Review.
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Facing a 6-foot-6 opponent in Eastside Catholic’s Sarah McKay, the BHS girls’ basketball played right into her hands.
Literally.
The gymnastics team scored the second-highest point total in school history and Emily Roche set a school record in the vault, but it wasn’t enough to send the Spartans to Friday’s state meet as a team.
Instead, five girls from what coach Cindy Guy called “my best team ever” will compete in one or more individual events.
Normally, football halftime shows provide the perfect excuse to get up, have a snack, balance the checkbook, walk the dog.
But several Bainbridge families are likely to be glued to their televisions during today’s Pro Bowl halftime show in Honolulu, hoping for a glimpse of their daughters.
