Several keep posting state times against top competition.
Things are starting to come together for the Bainbridge swim and dive team.
They narrowly lost to Camas 90-86 on Friday, but got revenge by beating them out for first place by several points in the Spartan Relays on Saturday.
Head coach Greg Colby said he’s always impressed with the Papermakers, a perennial top ten squad in the state from the south end of Washington.
“They’re awesome,” he said. “They’re looking great. They’re going to be real tough at state.”
But Colby has also found some good things about the team in the early going.
“Isabel (Williams) isn’t in as great shape as she was last year but she did a great job and swam four real tough swims,” he said. “Keziah (Beall) swam four tough swims.
“They (all) just need to get some yardage under them.”
Several swimmers had close races that were as intense as a state meet.
Beall missed out on first place in the 200 freestyle to Kelsey Lynch by mere tenths of a second – 2:00.81 to 2:00.83. Both were state times.
Williams narrowly beat out Mackenzie Bailie in the 100 butterfly by mere tenths of a second as well – 1:00.03 to 1:00.07. Both were also state times.
She had another close race when she beat out Bethany Hoopman in the 100 backstroke by the times of 1:03.93 to 1:04.62, respectively.
Williams’ time was a state time.
The 200 medley relay team of Williams, Julie Pendleton, India Wade and Tessa Griffin lost to the relay team of Jena Panebianco, Lisa Tompkins, Bailie and Brittnee Labuff 1:57.76 to 1:57.18 – both of which were state times.
Pendleton scored state qualifying times in the 200 individual medley with her time of 2:18.52 and in the 500 freestyle with her time of 5:27.34.
Beall also scored a state time of 55.65 in the 100 freestyle.
The 400 free relay team of Wade, Kristine Valdez, Williams and Beall won with a state time of 3:51.89.
It was close throughout the first three swimmers, but Beall pulled away at the end.
Shelby Mann contributed to the team total with her first place score of 168.80 in diving.
The one event where Bainbridge couldn’t score was the 100 breast stroke, where Camas swept the first three places.
Bainbridge did come back to win the Spartan Relays the next day, beating out Camas for first with a 57 to 46 score.
The Spartans won the 800 free relay, the 400 IM relay, the 400 medley relay and the 200 back relay.
Colby said that once they get on a normal schedule after dealing with the pool and having three meets in five days, they’ll get into shape.
“I thought it was a real good meet,” he said. “They’re looking sharp.”
Bainbridge is on the road for the next few weeks and won’t be back until Oct. 5 when they host Sequim.
Gridders blow out Seahawks
With the 46-0 whitewashing the Bainbridge football team put on the Chief Sealth Seahawks last Friday night in Seattle, the dress rehearsals are complete.
Now, the curtain comes up on the opening night of league play this Friday when Eastside Catholic, a state quarterfinal team last season, comes to town.
“They’re a good team,” head coach Andy Grimm said of the Crusaders. “They have good team speed, they’re disciplined and they have a lot of big play guys.”
Against the Seahawks, Dayton Gilbreath was his usual dominant self, putting up 286 multi-purpose yards and scoring four touchdowns.
202 of those yards came on seven punt returns as he scored on jaunts of 65 and 91 yards.
The senior co-captain also scored on runs of 16 and 6 yards.
Max Olson had 123 multipurpose yards as well, with a kickoff return of 90 yards to open the second half and a 22-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Ross Cobb ran for 103 yards and a score.
Grimm said it’s the first time he’s ever had three touchdowns scored by special teams in a game.
“I haven’t had more than one in a game,” he said. “Then I get three – two by the same guy.”
The defense pitched in to throw its first shutout of the year, holding Sealth to 96 offensive yards.
Kyle Szarzynski and James Herman had nine tackles each, while Ian Powell and Gary French had sacks.
Kiyle Playter had half a sack while Will Nunes recovered a fumble.
“We had a little bit of a slow start,” Grimm said. “They did a nice job on us and controlling the ball for the first series, but we wore them down.”
With the non-league games completed, the Spartans have the difficulty racheted up with the Crusaders arriving with a 3-0 record and one of the top wideouts in the league in Vince Taylor.
“We’ll try to have a man on him in (safety) Mike Walsh and a guy over top like (cornerback) Anthony Carter,” he said. “It’ll be like a Cover 2.
“We can’t get behind him, though, or gameplan just for him, because they’ve got a really good tight end and a good running back,” Grimm continued. “We can’t just isolate on him and overemphasize on just (Taylor.)”
If they get past Eastside, it doesn’t get any easier when they travel to Seattle to play Metro juggernaut O’Dea, who they have never beat in their time in the league.
But Grimm said they won’t let any thoughts of playoff implications or past history distract them from the job at hand.
“We go to win every game, but if we don’t it’s not the end of the world,” he said. “But we have to go out with the attitude that we’re playing for a number one seed.
“On paper, it’s a good game,” Grimm continued. “They have enough big play kids and so do we. We just have to come with intensity and the focus. We can’t let them come in and jump on us or it’s going to be a long night.”
Bainbridge hopes to get back Austin Reifeis and Chad Kakela for the game. Both have been listed as questionable as they work back from separated shoulders.
Game time is at 7 p.m.
Kickers earn first season win
The Bainbridge girls soccer team got back on track with a 2-1 win over Nathan Hale last Friday in Seattle for head coach Scott Druker’s first win as the coach of the varsity team.
Lucy Donahue led the way with a goal in the 14th minute on a put back off a missed shot and assisted on another in the 19th minute when Dina Singer scored off her corner kick.
Molly Boyd put one in at the 38th minute in front of a scrum near the goal, but that was all the Raiders could do.
Bainbridge hosted West Seattle yesterday.
They play at Eastside Catholic tomorrow.
Golfers beat Seattle Prep
Both golf teams had much success in the first Metro League meet of the season with wins over Seattle Prep.
The girls defeated the Panthers by the score of 124-80. Under the old rules of play (the Metro League switched around several things for the season, including the scoring format and having the boys and girls teams play together) Bainbridge would have had 160 points.
Anna Bourland was the medalist for the match with a two-over 39 for 34 Stableford points on the par-37 course
She beat out Katrina Hegge (who carded an eagle on the last hole and scored 32 points to lead Seattle Prep) thanks to her four pars and two birdies on the front nine.
Ryan Nottingham also outscored Hegge with 33 points, including an eagle on the fifth hole.
Peyton Lunzer and Melanie Trygg scored 29 and 28 points, respectively. Trygg had three pars and a birdie while Lunzer had three pars.
Annalise Herr scored 16 points.
The boys team also defeated the Panthers but it was by the score of 118-112.
Kyle Schneider was the medalist for the match, shooting a two-over 37 for the day.
Carl Jonson and Sean Leonard each shot a 38, while Kyle Leonard had a 39.
Kyle Hurt shot a 40, while Peter Leslie shot a 42 and Bobby Griffin and Ross Olason had a 44.
Both teams played Nathan Hale yesterday at Wing Point.
Harriers finish strong at meet
Several Bainbridge cross country runners turned in good times at the Salt Creek Invitational in Port Angeles Saturday.
For the girls, Emily Farrar was the top finisher with a time of 18:14, good enough to finish sixth overall.
Hayley Trageser was 25th with a time of 19:26 while Annie Taylor was 35th with a time of 19:37.
Molly O’Keefe was 83rd with a time of 22:11 while Zoe Worthington was 89th with a time of 22:42 and Mary Forbes was 90th with a time of 22:54.
Rebecca Sharar placed 96th with a time of 23:13.
On the boys side, Ian Shiach was the top finisher for the Spartans, placing 29th with a time of 16:14.
Matt Tetlow took 76th with a time of 17:18, while Max Welch was 87th with a time of 17:36 and Gordon Taylor was 88th with a time of 17:36 as well.
Willy Wenzlau was 94th with a time of 17:39 and Ryan Vogel rounded out the scoring with a time of 17:40.
On the JV side, Robin Stewart led the boys, finishing in 44th with a time of 18:37.
For the JV girls, Laura Chipman placed the highest with her time of 23:03, good for 30th.
Bainbridge heads to Seattle today to race Bishop Blanchet and Seattle Prep at Lower Woodland Park.
Meet time is at 3:30 p.m.
