Picture Perfect | Renton prep year recap
Published 9:54 am Friday, June 22, 2012
Read on for some of the best moments of the past year in prep sports.
Fall
The Lindbergh boys cross-country team maintained an amazing run of success and won the 2A state title. The Eagles haven’t lost a league meet since 2006 and have placed in the top eight at state every year since 2004.
Luke Garcia, Mark Garcia and Travis Downen led the way, finishing within nine seconds of each other in 18th, 19th and 21st. Nathan Haley, Mohamud Abdi, Ben Platt and Omelyan Strembitskyy rounded out the title-winning group.
The Lindbergh girls team placed sixth at state for the third straight year. Senior Sarah Reiter ended her excellent cross-country career with a sixth-place overall finish. Reiter won the 2A state title as a junior, and placed 14th at the 3A state meet as a sophomore.
Led by a senior trio of Whitney Hilde, Jordyn McLuen and Kimi Girmus, the Lindbergh soccer team won a first-ever outright Seamount title. The season was highlighted by a 2-1 win against Kennedy Catholic. None of the Eagles’ seniors could remember even scoring against Kennedy, let alone beating the Lancers.
Liberty finished undefeated in KingCo play for the second straight year. The Patriots featured a number of stars, including Cassidy Nangle and Kimi Fry, and made it all the way to the 3A state title game before falling to Seattle Prep.
Hazen finished the year undefeated in Seamount play and took the league’s top 3A seed into the playoffs, even while dealing with difficult circumstances. The team lost Hazen custodian and long-time superfan Joe Dahl and Lora Michaud, long-time supporter and mother of a current Hazen player, during the season.
At the 3A swim and dive meet, Liberty took seventh and Hazen eighth. Liberty freshman Mackenna Briggs won a state title in the 100 back, while sophomore Talisa Wibmer had the fastest overall time in the event and finished ninth. Briggs became the first Liberty freshman to ever qualify for every event earlier in the season.
Transfer running back Anthony Gold got the Renton football team off to a quick start. Gold’s playmaking ability confounded the rest of the Seamount and he finished the year as the league’s Athlete of the Year and Offensive Back of the Year.
Behind a powerful rushing attack, Hazen made state for the first time since 1993 before falling against a tough Capital team. Tray Brown, the team’s lead rusher, scored seven touchdowns in a single game against Highline early in the season.
Lindbergh ran into tough luck in the state playoffs when a matchup at Lakewood on a grass field and a rain storm coincided. That left for muddy, slow conditions that neutralized the Eagles’ offensive stars.
Winter
Renton senior Steve Sholdra won two titles at the 2A state swim and dive meet. He broke his own 500 free state record in both the preliminary round and finals. He also earned automatic All-American status. He also won in the 200 free, setting a new state record in prelims, then breaking it in the finals. He earned All-American consideration in the event.
The Liberty boys swim and dive had a special season, placing fourth at the 3A state meet. Junior Raymond Ha won a title in the 100 breast. Logan Briggs placed second in the 200 IM and 500 free. Ha and Briggs both earned All-American consideration.
Outstanding senior Jimmy Keum led the Lindbergh basketball team to fifth place at the 2A state basketball tournament. It was the team’s first state appearance since 1991. Keum finished second in the Seamount in scoring at 19.3 points per game despite facing near-constant double teams from defenses.
The Lindbergh boys swim and dive team placed seventh at the 2A state meet. Andrew Franco-Munoz took second in the 100 fly, while Aaron Jacobsen finished fourth in the same event.
Seniors Airashay Rogers and Emily Graver wrapped up their basketball careers. Graver was the Seamount’s MVP, while Rogers averaged 20.8 points, 10.1 rebounds, 6.7 steals and 4.9 assists per game.
Meanwhile, the Renton girls basketball went undefeated in league play, won its first league title since 1987 and made state for the first time since 1987. The Indians defense harassed opposing teams into errors all season long.
The Lindbergh gymnastics team finished as Seamount co-champions and sent Jenna Louie and Makia Williams to the 2A state meet.
Liberty’s Hamilton Noel placed sixth at the 3A state wrestling meet at 160 pounds.
Spring
The Lindbergh tennis team won a district title and placed second at the 2A state meet. Adrian Villanueva and Sam Bayna took fourth in the doubles tournament, while Boris Oks and Bobby Huynh placed sixth. Joe Kwiatkowski finished sixth in the singles tournament.
Josh Gordon won a second straight 3A state title in the long jump, leading the Patriots to fifth place. He also took third in the triple jump, sixth in the high jump and third in the 4 X 400 (along with Joseph Bergmann, Noel and Hiron Redman).
Several other local track and field athletes excelled at state, like Hiron Redman and Adriel Paine IV in the 800, Travis Downen in the 3,200, Sarah Reiter in the 3,200, Tala Hild in the high jump, plus Janayla Scott in the triple jump.
Undaunted by an extremely tough schedule and several key injuries, the Liberty softball team returned to state after a three-year absence.
The Hazen boys soccer team made state for the first time since 2007 and won a Seamount title.
Jimmy Schmidt pitched a one-hit shutout against Enumclaw to get the Hazen baseball team to state for the first time since 2008. Schmidt, along with Zac and Jake Kolterman gave the Highlanders a pitching trio few teams could match.
