Four wrestlers score pins in their last home match of the season.
The constant onslaught of bad weather has kept high school teams across the state from maintaining a consistent schedule.
The Bainbridge wrestling team is no different – especially when the other matches that did happen didn’t have many opponents with whom to do battle.
“They were ready to wrestle someone else,” head coach Dan Pippinger said of his club. “We worked them pretty hard this week.”
The Spartans took out their aggression on the Nathan Hale Raiders, beating them 48-20 Thursday for their fourth win of the season in their final home match.
Eli Narte and Mathew Ritualo, both first-time participants at Mat Classic last year, look to be on their way back.
Narte pinned Douglas Newton at 2:25 in the 119-pound category for his eighth win of the season, while Ritualo pinned Carson Hoel in the 125-pound category in just 18 seconds – four seconds off the record of 14 seconds he set in 2005.
It’s his ninth win of the season.
“Most of the time, they do exactly what we expect them to do,” Pippinger said. “They’re fulfilling their expectations, which means they’re going out and wrestling focused. They’re wrestling their match.”
At 160 pounds, Spartan Robin Stewart won by pinfall over Eroll Killic at the 3:17 mark, while Robert Ferguson put down Will Dickson in 3:42 in the 215-pound category.
At 135 pounds, Keith Robert won an 11-6 decision over Josh Arndt, while at 285 pounds, Jethro Cotton won an 8-3 decision over Phillip Alexander.
“(Cotton) had a really gutsy performance for a first year performer,” Pippinger said. “I thought that guy was stronger than him and bigger than him and he did some really smart stuff.”
Ryan Hinkley and Mason Remy both dominated their matches, but made a wrong move near the end and were pinned at 5:20 and 5:44, respectively.
“There were some mental errors on some basic things,” Pippinger said. “(But) they’ll overcome those errors and get better.”
The team also collected 126 pounds of food for their “Wrestling Against Hunger” promotion.
At the Island Invitational last Saturday, the Spartans finished ninth with 74.5 points.
Ritualo was the lone medalist for Bainbridge, as he pinned Joe Hutchinson of Sequim in 3:07.
Narte and Elliot Marsing scored pinfalls in the Spartans’ 46-24 win over Bishop Blanchet last Tuesday, while Stewart and Ferguson won by decision and pinfall, respectively, in Bainbridge’s win over Chief Sealth Dec. 12.
They wrestled at Eastside Catholic in a makeup match yesterday, then take part in the Renton Invitational today.
Tumblers win another one
Marie Welsh took first in the all-around score as Bainbridge won their 86th dual meet in a row last Saturday in a four-way contest against Shorewood, North Kitsap and Shorecrest.
Welsh finished with a score of 34.8. She placed second on the vault and floor but finished first on the bars and beam.
Sophie Wenzlau was third in the all-around score with a 32.8, while Katie Matthews was sixth with a 30.9.
Bainbridge scored 158.85 points as a team.
The Spartans host North Kitsap next Friday.
Spartans on top of prep basketball world
A season that has gotten off to a fantastic start for the Bainbridge boys basketball team is also making some history.
The Spartans are ranked number one in the first Associated Press 3A basketball state poll of the season.
It’s the first time in school history that the basketball team has been ranked at number one.
Bainbridge, with an overall record of 9-1, earned six first place votes.
The next three spots are taken up by Metro League teams.
Mountain Division rival O’Dea are second with three first place votes, while Rainier Beach is third with two first place votes.
Undefeated Sound Division leader Chief Sealth is ranked fourth with one first-place vote.
Issaquah, Squalicum, Enumclaw, Southridge, Meadowdale and Kennedy round out the top ten.
The Spartans’ only loss came to Franklin, who are ranked number one in the AP 4A state poll.
To head coach Scott Orness, being number one means “you’re the number one person they want to knock off now.”
But he’s happy that the team is recognized for their success on the court.
“It is definitely an honor to be in that top spot,” he said. “It’s a compliment to all the hard work these guys have put in.
“But it is just a bunch of people’s opinion and you have to get it done on the floor.”
Co-captain Steven Gray agreed.
“We’ve been playing well, but we can’t really look at that right now,” he said. “It’s nice to look and see (where we’re at) but we really can’t focus on that.”
They’ll choose to focus all their energies on the redone schedule thanks to the latest round of cold weather that has plagued Western Washington for the last few months.
Bainbridge traveled to Sealth yesterday.
The Spartans will play Beach at home next Tuesday, then go to Lakeside next Friday.
That game is the first of a four-games-in-five-days stretch, when they play Bishop Blanchet twice – away on Saturday in a makeup game, and at home on Tuesday, along with their makeup game against Cleveland on Monday.
Orness said they picked that date so as not to interfere with finals week next week.
Their regular season ends with a road game at Seattle Prep, a home game against Eastside Catholic and O’Dea twice in three days.
“Every night is tough from here on out,” he said. “But everyone is healthy and we’re playing our best basketball right now.”
Practice field ruined by feet
An impromptu scrimmage over the weekend two weeks ago left the practice field at the high school damaged, with little to no chance of it being repaired in time for the spring sports season.
School district lead groundskeeper Chris Rauch made the discovery on the morning of Jan. 9. He found that most of the practice field – used by football, soccer and lacrosse teams, and part of the outfield grass on the baseball field – had been torn up by, in his estimation “20 to 30 people” wearing cleats and playing in one spot.
“It’s extremely muddy,” Rauch said. “They just pulverized it into brown mud.”
Some of the cleat marks run four to five inches deep into the grass.
Several signs had been posted around the area, notifying people that the field was closed, but the signs were broken into several pieces.
It’s unknown who caused the damage.
Destruction of the field comes at a bad time, as the district closes the field during the winter to recover from all the grass that gets torn up from all the teams that play on it in the fall.
“It affects two to three different sports,” Rauch said. “The grass gets super wet, so it’s hard to repair or get any machinery on it.”
“It really bothers me,” he said of the damage, noting that the Bainbridge Island Soccer Club and the lacrosse program donate money to help maintain the fields. “Somebody has to know that’s not the right thing to do.”
Rauch told the police that it will cost $500 to $1,000 to reseed and recultivate the grass – and there’s no chance of that happening anytime soon, due to ongoing lousy weather in the region.
“People need to realize there’s a shortage of fields,” he said.
