As 2001 began to wind down, adherents of three different Bainbridge Island Parks user groups – roller hockey, horseback riding and Bainbridge Island Little League – brought up projects that will impact local parks before the Park Board.
“When are we getting out of the Metro League?” is a question that BHS athletic director Neal White has been asked on more than one occasion during the past few months.
“When we move the island closer to Olympia,” is his stock response.
January
Spartan wrestling team places second in Island Invitational…Meadowmeer assistant pro Drew Azure sets new course record of 64…Boys swim team wins Olympic League Championship but members don’t follow through on pre-season pledge to “smash guitars”…Freshman diver Xander Burmer sets new school record with 206.15 points.
What a difference a day makes, Spartan wrestling coach Steve Hohl said, after the squad did better than expected in Saturday’s Highline Team Tournament.
“The kids wrestled with technique and passion,” Hohl said, saying those qualities had been lacking in Friday’s double dual meet as Bainbridge dropped two decisions, 33-45 to Orting and 36-40 to Port Townsend.
Spartan swimmers defeated Wilson and Sequim in a triangular meet on Tuesday at the Ray Williamson pool.
Though Wilson won seven of the 12 events, the Spartans were much deeper in a 100-82 win. And they took ten of 12 against Sequim for an easy 127-58 win in their second meeting in six days with the Wolves.
The last time the girls basketball team played Bishop Blanchet, it was the second round of last year’s state tournament. The Spartans shot 33 percent from the field, committed 13 turnovers and were blown out 61-40.
The Blanchet and Bainbridge boys basketball teams combined to become The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight in the first quarter of Saturday’s game.
Bainbridge shot three of ten from the field, while the Braves were a woeful two of 14 as the Spartans took a 7-4 lead at the buzzer. But Blanchet sank eight of 12 and committed just one turnover for a 20-5 second-quarter edge over the Spartans, who were one of seven and turned the ball over eight times.
Wrestling coach Steve Hohl grimaced when he saw the results of the random draw to determine the opening weight for Friday’s match against visiting Eastside Catholic, a team that – like the Spartans – had easily won its first two Metro League matches.
Seattle Prep won seven of eleven events to eke out an 86-84 win against the Bainbridge/Ingraham boys swim team on Friday at the Ray Williamson pool. The Prep girls won ten events and swept seven as they swamped the Ingraham girls 134-29.
The boys basketball team started cold and finished hot on Friday to defeat Chief Sealth 68-58 at home, then started hot and finished cold on Saturday, losing to Ingraham 65-60.
The fun is over. Now the games begin.
A quirk of scheduling presented the girls basketball team with a succession of teams whose combined season record is 1-14 as the Spartans jumped out to a quick 4-0 start.
At Nathan Hale on Tuesday, the boys’ basketball team put together the perfect antidote to their fourth quarter problems the previous weekend, in which North Mason and West Seattle had broken open close games to win by an average of 12 points.
The Spartans opened up a 33-13 halftime lead against the Raiders and extended the margin to 29 points after three quarters en route to a 57-34 win to even their Metro League record at 1-1.
The venues for the boys’ basketball team on Friday and Saturday were different, but coach Scott Orness’s verdict was the same for both games: “We played well but we couldn’t execute at crunch time,” he said.
“Not being able to handle pressure was our downfall.”
Despite holding narrow halftime leads in both games, the Spartans lost at home to West Seattle 66-55 on Friday, then dropped Saturday’s game at North Mason 59-46.
