Kris Daughters has been coaching swimming at Liberty for 15 years. She’s had teams place well at state. She’s had individual state champions. She’s never had a team quite like this one.
“It’s going to be a very exciting year,” Daughters said. “You get a few of these seasons in your career. One was in 2006 (when the Patriots placed seventh at state), and this team is even better than that.”
In order to take the next step, it’s all about the relays for the Hazen swim and dive team.
“The formula to show well as a program is through development of pride and performance in relays,” said Hazen swim and dive coach Rick Wertman. “The big points are in relays. We want to have all the kids come around and want to win a spot on relays. That competition is the engine that drives the whole thing.”
Lindbergh sophomores Andrew Franco-Munoz and A.J. Lim, are excited for another chance to prove what they can do.
“The state meet we swam wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, so they’ve got a little redemption in the backs of their minds,” said Lindbergh swim and dive coach Roger Miron.
The Renton boys swim and dive team comes into this season with 23 swimmers, the school’s biggest team in 10 years. However, with 10 of those swimmers being seniors, Renton coach Diane Pavelin can’t help but look forward a little bit.
The Liberty boys swim and dive team made a statement with a 95-90 loss to Mercer Island Tuesday.
The Patriots (1-1) won nine of the 12 events against the perennial powerhouse.
The Hazen wrestling team beat Kennedy Catholic 49-25 Thursday.
The Highlanders got wins from Zach Moore (113 pounds), Derek Nichols (120), Josh Kluth (126), Austin Clark (132), Daniel Karpman (138), Jonathan Pineda (145), Alex Palanciuc (152), Jeremy Hazlett (170) and Justin Russell (285).
The Liberty boys swim and dive team opened the season with a 108-71 win against Interlake Thursday. The Patriots took first in every event.
Coming off of the program’s first league championship since 1999, the Hazen wrestling team is looking to keep building.
“We really want to roll with the success we had last year and try to keep it going,” said Hazen coach Rory Magana. “It’s about promoting our program right now and getting more kids interested.”
It’s all in the look.
The first thing Hazen girls basketball coach Jeff Bernhardt will tell anyone who asks about star senior Airashay Rogers is that she desperately wants to pass and get her teammates involved. But when time starts to wind down and the Highlanders are trailing, he also knows what to expect.
A late push by Interlake gave the Saints a 51-40 win against the Lindbergh girls basketball team Wednesday.
The Eagles (0-1) trailed by three at the half, but gained the lead with a 14-10 advantage in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was all about Interlake, as the team outscored Lindbergh 18-6.
The Hazen girls basketball team got the season started on the right foot by beating Ingraham 57-29 in a non-league game Tuesday night.
The Highlanders (1-0) got out to a quick start and led 10-0 as Ingraham struggled with Hazen’s full-court press. Hazen led by as many as 16 in the first half and finished the half with a 29-18 lead. The Rams never got closer than seven points.
There’s high school sports. Then there’s everything else. Striking a balance between the two is rarely as hard as it was for the Hazen girls soccer team this season.
“This season’s honestly been like an emotional roller coaster,” said senior Sarah Schoville. “You want to do so well every time out, but each team is going to have its downfalls and you have to learn from them.”
Hazen’s Airashay Rogers signed her Letter of Intent to play basketball at the University of Washington Monday.
Rogers, a senior, was an all-Seamount League first team member last season and led the league scoring at 26 points per game. She was second in the league in blocks and steals.
With the state title on the line, the Liberty girls soccer team came up just short, losing to Seattle Prep 3-2 Saturday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
“We talked about whoever makes the least amount of mistakes is going to win the game and we made a couple of big errors in the first half,” said Liberty coach Jamie Giger. “I can’t say enough about these girls, they worked so hard.”
One more game.
This Liberty girls soccer team has certainly had their share of accomplishments. Now, they’ve got one game left to determine if they can get the biggest one of all: a state title.
“From our goalkeeper all the way to the front, we’re gelling,” said Liberty coach Jamie Giger. “We came out tonight and stuck with the game plan.”
Josh Gordon, Anthony Olobia and Jalen Robinson all made the KingCo 3A/2A all-league first team offense for football.
Alex Bitali, Gordon and Olobia made first team for defense.
Lindbergh’s Tianna Banfro and Shayna Magat, plus Hazen’s Annie Phan and Brittany Feist made the Seamount all-league first team in volleyball.
Renton’s Alina Chuong, Hannah Franceschina and Jazzlynn Joshua all made the second team. Kate Huffman of Lindbergh also made the second team.
After winning a boys 2A state title and taking sixth at the girls 2A state meet, Lindbergh garnered most of the Seamount League awards.
Both the boys and girls teams went undefeated and won league titles. Luke Garcia is the Boys Runner of the Year. Sarah Reiter is the Girls Runner of the Year.
Hazen’s Talisa Wibmer is the Seamount’s Most Valuable Swimmer.
Lindbergh’s Roger Miron is the Coach of the Year and the Eagles earned the league’s sportsmanship award.
Lindbergh senior Whitney Hilde is the Seamount’s Player of the Year.
Hilde led the Eagles with 11 goals and 10 assists. The league-champion Eagles also placed senior defender Kimi Girmus and senior forward Jordyn McLuen on the first team all-league.
