This year brought unchartered waters in the sports arena for the North Kitsap School District. Never before has the district had to decide how — or whether to — develop a brand-new athletic program to accompany a brand-new high school. But the focus remained on the athletes and their accomplishments, and there were many in the first half of 2007.
Breaking up is hard to do
In the beginning, the North Kitsap School District created two separate high schools. And they saw, for the most part, that it was good. The trouble was with the athletics. The challenge board members faced was satiating the community by giving Kingston High School its own, independent athletic program without hindering the competitive edge of either KHS or North Kitsap High School.
Enter the district-led, community-involved Athletics and Activities Committee, which recommended a split of most all North Kitsap High School sports.
Not everyone agreed.
“What I would hope you would consider when you make the decision is that we not think of it as an either/or,” NKHS cross country parent Ben Stampard told the NKSD in January. “Maybe consider a transition period where we’d allow the programs to combine working to that ultimate goal of separate teams.”
The AAC recommendation created separate programs at each high school in every sport except girls’ and boys’ swimming, gymnastics and boys’ and girls’ golf — to be run as combined programs because of facility constraints. At soon-to-be middle schools, the plan created a team for each sport offered at the junior highs except for baseball and fastpitch in the spring — due to lack of competition in the newly formed West Sound Middle School League.
I’ll be your shelter
POULSBO — North Kitsap’s outdoor sports athletes got a roof over their heads this year.
After years of searching for an alternative to the absence of field availability during the wintertime, North Kitsap’s outdoor sports community now has a gem in its backyard — more specifically off Finn Hill Road in Olhava.
The Zone Sportsplex opened in February, offering indoor recreation and fitness options on a grand scale.
The facility boasts a 15,700 square-foot soccer/football field and a near 10,000 square-foot baseball/softball infield, along with three token-operated batting cages, a pitchers’ tunnel, four rooms of office space and 12 flat-screen TVs.
Timing is everything
POULSBO — A dose of “perfect timing” led North Kitsap educator Bill Hobaugh back out into the Vikings’ athletic field.
After more than a decade hiatus, Hobaugh returned to the scene as head coach on the Viking fastpitch diamond to replace Dan Kolda, who resigned in spring 2006.
Early in his career at NKHS, Hobaugh was head coach of the softball team when it was still slowpitch. He also helped coach basketball and soccer for the Vikings during the 1980s and 1990s and now the self-professed sports nut is at it again.
“When I first came here, I coached for 11 years, then I had to make a decision: Am I going to coach or am I going to watch my kids play?” Hobaugh said of an all-too-familiar conundrum for a coach.
Gymnasts stretch
to state meet
TACOMA — Both ends of the NKHS gymnastics spectrum experienced the air of the state meet as freshman Melissa Kunold and senior Kai Morrow made the trip.
According to head coach Kris Goodfellow, both took the season’s culminating event in stride.
“I was especially pleased with Melissa, going in as a freshman, that she wasn’t a bundle of nerves,” Goodfellow said. “All in all, it was probably the most relaxed I’ve been and most fun I’ve had going into the state meet.”
The competition at this year’s 4A stage was elite. The 3A/2A combined meet took the two session format this year while the 4A meet was just one, leaving fewer allocations but increasing the talent in the pool.
North’s Morrow and Kunold were right in the mix. Each Viking competed in two events as they qualified individually from the Region III meet Feb. 9-10 — Kunold on vault and bars, Morrow on beam and bars.
KJH winning streak ends at 40-plus
POULSBO — The Kingston Junior High girls’ basketball winning streak, spanning three-plus years and more than 40 consecutive games, was broken this season.
It all went down, almost fittingly, in the typical overtime period of the first meeting of the year with their rival Poulsbo Panthers. It was one of those games that defies explanation.
“We’re all pretty speechless,” Poulsbo head coach Karla DeVries said in the aftermath of the 55-53 historic victory.
After leading the game most of the way, the Panthers nearly missed their opportunity to unseat the 41-0 Cavaliers.
Nearing the end of regulation play, Kingston eighth-grader Sophia Baetz hit one of two free throws with 18 seconds left, putting the Cavs up 46-43. On the ensuing possession Poulsbo turned the ball over, then fouled Baetz, who finished the game with 22 points, once again. This time, she missed both.
The Panthers rebounded and hustled down court, setting up a final play to give Ritter a three-point shot from the wing.
Kingston had game,
but no coaches
KINGSTON — In March, KHS’s athletic department consisted officially of one man, planning athletic director Scott McKay, and was completely devoid of coaches.
The school opened in September with a full slate of athletic programs, and had a successful fall sports season.
NK fastpitch has
picture-perfect season
POULSBO — NKHS coach Nancy Williams didn’t think an undefeated season was possible — but was happy to be proven wrong.
When practice started in late February, Williams knew her JV fastpitch team would be good, but she couldn’t even envision a perfect season on the horizon when the dust settled in early May.
A little more than two months later, the Vikings had beat every team on its schedule, compiling a 16-0 regular season record. The Vikings outscored its opponents 209 to 62, averaging 13 runs per game.
“I didn’t think we would be anywhere near an undefeated record,” Williams said. “Everyone just stepped it up for us this year.”
The bus still stops
here, for a fee
POULSBO — After having a proposal to cut bus runs in an effort to reduce students’ fees kicked back to it May 24, the NKSD Athletics and Activities took a new route with the NKSD board June 7 as it looked toward 2007-08.
Instead of taking another shot at lessening the athletic and activities fees, the AAC let the fiscal ball be, recommending the current fees of $60 per sport for high school athletes and $35 per sport for middle school athletes remain.
NKSD Director of Student Support Services Gregg Epperson said the new recommendation came to fruition after a meeting with various sports coaches.
“We went to the coaches and asked them how many participants they thought they would have in their programs during the 2007-08 school year,” he told the board.
After weeks of debate at during school board meetings, the NKSD approved the AAC’s recommendation to continue current participation fees for athletes.
Synchronized swimmers
earn trip to nationals
POULSBO — The Water Blossoms synchronized swim team made the trip across the country for the ESYNCHRO Age Group National Championships in Oxford, Ohio. The team advanced in team routine, trio and duet portions after a strong performance at the West Zone Regional Synchronized Swimming Championships on May 19 and 20 in Portland, Ore.
The team included Stephanie Balk, Julianne Gurnee, Amy Martin, Ramona Morshead, Kathryn Surber and Kat Weiner. The team was coached by Lynn Hovde, Lindsey Erickson and Marina Morshead.
