With the first round of the Metro League tennis tournament pushed back to Monday due to rain on Saturday, the Bainbridge tennis team came out and put forth a strong effort.
On the girls’ singles side, Christina Crowley moved on when she defeated Vivi Nguyen of Chief Sealth 6-4, 6-2.
On the boys’ singles side, Dylan Skeffington defeated Will Chandara of Cleveland 7-6 (1), 6-4.
On the boys’ doubles side, David Gruber and Ryan Hunt defeated Daniel DeRocco and Paul Brune of O’Dea 6-2, 6-2.
Chris Compeggie and Euimin Jung defeated the Beckmans of Seattle Prep 0-6, 6-1, 6-3 while Tim Buxton and Nate Parker defeated Supler and VenDenEnde of West Seattle 6-3, 7-6 (2).
The tournament continues through Thursday.
Sailors head off to nationals
Ferry riders and denizens of Eagle Harbor were treated to the unusual sight of 18 small sailboats in fierce competition for the title of Northwest Interscholastic Association’s team racing champions this past weekend.
NWISA is allocated one representative for this district at the national championship this year to be held in Minnesota over Memorial Day weekend.
Team Racing is a game played in six boats at a time, three from each school going at it on the water and using the rules and abilities of their players to control the other team and finish in listed positions whose sums are 10 or less for a win.
It is often not the case that the team with a boat in first place is winning the race, therefore all members have to stay alert and ensure that their mates are doing sufficiently well in the race to win.
Twelve FJ class boats were raced in the varsity divisions and six Vanguard 15 class boats were used for “junior varsity” competition.
A superb venue for the racing, Eagle Harbor provides protected waters and a perfectly sized area for setting the digital N and triangle shaped race courses that were used.
A wonderful swap-out station of float and tug boat were placed near the course area by Gregg and Sharon Magnuson of Star Marine, to enable both easy changes in crew for participating schools and an educational exposure to a working class boat.
Saturday’s winds were light but steady and for the most part shifts were not so much a factor as boat speed and handling, and use of proper team racing tactics.
North Kitsap, evidencing excellent tactics, dominated the racing; at the close of two rotations (having raced every other team twice) Saturday they stood in first place, having lost once only to Orcas. Bainbridge stood in second, having lost two both to powerhouse North.
In one of those races, North Kitsap pulled off an outstanding move with one boat to pin two Bainbridge boats on the wrong side of the starting line, creating a huge advantage, and sending the other two North Kitsap boats ahead for the win.
Orcas, having lost twice to Bainbridge and once to North Kitsap, was in third, but looking strong, having beaten NK.
Teams from Central Kitsap, Friday Harbor, and Anacortes were fighting their own battles in the fleet while Bainbridge junior varsity had won all their matches with good team racing moves.
Dawn Sunday came with a mirror surface and visiting teams began to despair of wind, but as the clouds thinned, the thermal appeared and the day was spent in light easterlies with some shifting to make wind reading a factor.
A relatively chilly beginning of the day warmed as competition heated up and although North Kitsap was clearly outsailing all the opposition, Bainbridge and Orcas struggled to best each other.
Finally the matches of the day came down to Bainbridge versus Orcas and Orcas versus North Kitsap.
Although holding the lead for a while in the match with Orcas, Bainbridge sailors failed to recognize and combat Orcas’ team racing tactics, and eventually lost their match with Orcas.
North Kitsap went on and won their match with Orcas handily.
This left North the winner with 14 wins and one loss, putting Bainbridge and Orcas both in second with 11 wins and four losses each.
But because Bainbridge beat Orcas twice and Orcas beat Bainbridge only once, the tiebreaker went to Bainbridge for second place, leaving Orcas third.
Central Kitsap, virtual newcomers to the scene, were fourth with four wins and 11 losses.
Friday Harbor went 3-12, and Anacortes, reappearing after a hiatus of several years, was sixth with 2 -13.
Again the Bainbridge JV was undefeated with a 8-0 record and were crowned as champions.
NK was second with a 5-3 record and Orcas took third with a 4-4 record. A combined team of sailors from Mercer Island and Friday Harbor finished 2-6 and Central Kitsap was last with a 1-7 record.
Sailing for Bainbridge in the varsity fleet were Captains Max Fleischfresser and Emma Hartmann, Haley Lane, Nico Papajani, Ethan Stahl, Abby Hartmann, and Chase Webber.
Team members Kyle Grosten, Sean Willerford, Andrew Selzler, Chris Walker, Kendall Sanson, Amanda D’Amore, Hannah Bouchillon, Jake Fetterman, Aidan Sievertson, and Katherine Linrothe were the undefeated JV players.
Because there is a rule in the Northwest District that no one team can attend national events in both fleet and team racing disciplines, second place Bainbridge will travel to Minnesota to represent the NWISA while season champion North Kitsap has chosen to attend fleet nationals in Annapolis, Md.
–with information supplied by BHS sailing coach Susan Kaesler
Girl golfers win tourney
The Bainbridge High School girls golf team defeated 22 other high school teams from across the state of Washington to bring home the championship of the Suncadia Girls Invitational Golf Tournament last Tuesday.
Each school was allowed to play five golfers and count just the four best scores.
Bainbridge took first with 360 strokes, while Sehome took second with 363.
With team member Annalise Herr unable to make the trip, the Spartans had only four players in Melanie Trygg, Ryan Nottingham, Anna Bourland and Peyton Lunzer.
Therefore, there was no high score to drop and no room for error.
Besides winning the championship, Bainbridge had two other notable achievements:
•They were the only team in the field of 23 to have all four scoring members shoot a score of under 100 strokes on the challenging course under weather conditions that ranged from bright sunshine to hail and freezing rain.
•They were the only team in the field that plays their golf season in the fall, as all of the other teams are in the midst of their seasons now while the Bainbridge team has had exactly four official practices since last October, and those were held last week.
Chelan’s Kelly Bowers shot a 75 to win medalist honors.
Both Bourland and Nottingham finished in the top seven overall.
The team will be practicing over the next two weeks in preparation for their District 2 Tournament May 12 at Riverbend in Kent.
Qualifiers from that tournament will advance to the 3A state tournament May 20-21 at Shuksan in Bellingham.
–with information supplied by BHS golf coach Steve Nielsen
Boy golfers take fourth
The Bainbridge boys golf team took fourth out of 22 teams at the Ellensburg Invitational held at Suncadia Monday.
Heart warming skies and two club winds challenged decision making and shot selection to the very slow and unaccepting greens.
Kyle Hurt shot the lowest score on the team with a four-over 76. Freshmen Carl Jonson and Bobby Griffin each shot 77.
Sean and Kyle Leonard posted scores of 85 and 91, respectively.
The individual scores amounted to the team’s total of 315.
Mercer Island and Woodinville tied for first with 311. Mt. Si had 312.
The team now moves onto the 3A state tournament May 20-21 at the Bellingham Country Club.
“(It) should be an interesting adventure,” head coach Bob Dwyer said. “Sean, Carl, and Kyle could surprise a few people.”
–with information supplied by BHS golf coach Bob Dwyer
Girls lacrosse beats ‘Riders
The Bainbridge girls lacrosse team defeated Roosevelt 18-5 Monday in Seattle.
Lucy Schlesser led the way with six points off of five goals and one assist.
Mariah Walk had four goals and an assist while Sally Baumgartner had two goals and three assists.
Three players had two goals each.
