North Kitsap’s sports were injected with a healthy dose of character in 2006, nearly every high school team found solid ground to rally on. The underlying creation of team unity and determination defined success for the Vikings, no matter how the season records or lists of accomplishments read.

Speaking of accomplishments, there were plenty to go around in the final year of 4A-size Viking sports. North sent athletes to the state tournament in each season, while the Kingston Junior High girls basketball squad sustained their success, completing their third consecutive undefeated season in February.

On the baseball diamond over the summer, the NK 16-year-olds swung into the Babe Ruth World Series, while in the gym during the winter, NK gymnastics nearly topped their Agate rival Bainbridge Spartans.

NK gymnasts snag Narrows League championship

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — Flying through the air, curled in a back tuck, the North Kitsap gymnastics team is focused on a perfect dismount.

Undefeated in league competitions this year, the Vikings endured their only loss of the season Jan. 27 in impressive fashion as they most-closely challenged Metro League-leader and last year’s state champion Bainbridge Island in a four-team meet. The Spartans picked up the overall victory, but not by much.

The top three final team tallies read: Bainbridge 171.6, North Kitsap 168.55 and Olympia 150.55.

On Feb. 4, the Vikings traveled to their league meet in Olympia and returned with a Narrows title and a head of steam for the remainder of the season. North sent four gymnasts — its best count in three years — to the state meet.

Reeves reaches personal best on state swimming stage

TACOMA — As the lone North Kitsap representative in the state pool for the second year in a row, Jeffrey Reeves knew his individual bar had risen.

He climbed to meet the challenge, breaking his personal record on the state stage.

He hit the state-qualifying mark in the 100M backstroke earlier in the season in the NK pool. After hovering from 58 seconds up to 1:00 for most of the season, he whittled that time down to just over 57.50 in practice, but the 57 second mark still seemed unreachable.

That is until he hit the water at Henry Foss High School in Tacoma Feb. 17. In the preliminary swims, he finally broke the barrier as he raced to 11th place overall and shaved his time to 56.99.

Grimes grabs sixth at state

TACOMA — After rugged battling for two days under the lights and sounds of the Tacoma Dome, North Kitsap senior Matt Grimes got a pair of souvenirs; one he had counted on, one he probably hadn’t.

The only thing that could take the focus away from Grimes’ sixth-place medal at the WIAA Mat Classic XVIII state wrestling championships Feb. 17-18 was the shiner he earned Saturday morning en route to placing in the 130-pound weight class — easily one of the toughest in the state.

With just two wrestlers (Grimes and 189-pounder Eric Hedin), North earned nine team points for a 44th place tie of 77 teams at the tournament after another second-place finish in the Narrows League.

North girls basketball

skipper steps down

POULSBO — An impromptu decision to apply for the head coaching spot of the North Kitsap girls basketball team turned into “a great six years” for Dan Weedin. And as he departs the captain’s chair in 2006, his advice to his successor lies in confidence.

“It’s like Shakespeare said, ‘To thine ownself be true,’” Weedin said, offering his wisdom to the next NK skipper. “And keep it real.”

After six years of coaching, accruing a 39-81 overall record, Weedin said he has found that it’s become increasingly difficult to please everyone.

In August 2005, Weedin started his own insurance consulting firm out of his home in Poulsbo. Noting the likenesses of running a 4A high school varsity team to running one’s own business, he said that it had become apparent over the course of the year that there was not enough time for the two to coexist.

Fiery JV coach Kaelea Makaiwi stepped up to replace Weedin. She was appointed head coach in April 2006.

Kingston Cavaliers nail

third perfect season

KINGSTON — The emotional aftermath of an undefeated season and accompanying championship is a scene that the Kingston Lady Cavaliers must feel at home with by now.

Systematically confident, cool as the night air and commanding on the defensive end of the hardwood, the Kingston Junior High school Cavaliers’ game reached regular season perfection for the third year in a row with a win over cross-county rivals the Poulsbo Panthers March 16.

Then, the Cavs calmly crushed the Central Kitsap Cubs 48-24 March 23, completing Kingston’s third consecutive undefeated season and capturing its third consecutive league championship.

“I do feel special, no matter what level you do this at, it’s a very special moment,” head coach Tony Chisholm said. “It’s an honor to be a part of a three-peat … it just doesn’t happen.”

NK alum sets school record

BERKELEY, CALIF. — Nearly a year after setting Washington state’s new standard javelin record with a state finals throw of 202-9 in 2005, North Kitsap High School alumni Ryan Young was back in record-breaking form in 2006.

In his first meet as a Cal Bear, Young accomplished a special start. At the Hornet Invitational, March 25 in Sacramento, Calif., he launched a throw of 232-10, claiming one half of the Cal event sweep as well as a new freshman record for the school.

NK’s Special Olympics

swimmers qualify for state

KELSO — Competition, self-improvement, goal-setting and team-building are all congruent with the construction of oneself. Patience, encouragement, faith and guidance are the tools that shape the process.

The success of such development is readily visible in the results of North Kitsap’s Special Olympic’s swimmers recent medal count from the Southwest Washington Regional swims.

The 12-person swim team traveled to Kelso April 29 with the enthusiasm of a candidate and returned to NK with the pride of a president. Of the 12 NK swimmers, 11 came back with at least one gold medal, Special Olympics swim instructor volunteer Judy Chase said, adding that across the board, high marks and personal achievements were met.

Chisholm takes reins of NK boys basketball program

POULSBO — From the ground up is how a program is built, luckily for North, the Vikings’ newly appointed head boys basketball coach Tony Chisholm has been involved at the base level.

Chisholm will be NK’s third new head coach in four years, but along with him he brings the consistency of having been a focal point in North Kitsap athletics for more than 10 years.

Head coach of both boys and girls basketball at Kingston Junior High since 1993, he helped to teach the game to many of the purple and gold players he will be coaching in 2006-2007.

North’s soccer season

comes to disappointing end

TACOMA — Good things always come to an end.

For the North Kitsap Vikings, one of the best seasons the team had seen in two decades came to an end on the turf of the Mount Tahoma Stadium May 13 as the South Puget Sound League’s No. 4 seed, Decatur, advanced into the state tournament on the leverage of one goal and a little luck.

When the Vikings pelted the Gators’ net within the first five minutes of the game, one could see NK’s enthusiasm beaming through its celebration. Unfortunately for North, after the jubilee of Carlos Portillo’s opening goal in the 3rd minute, there wouldn’t be another.

Viking fastpitch returns to state

TACOMA — It was a roller coaster weekend for the Lady Vikings at the 2006 WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington 4A State Fastpitch Tournament. Then again, the entire season was a fast-paced ride of ups and downs for NK.

Every step of the way the Lady Vikes locked in and stepped up in the face of adversity to overcome.

The state tournament was a showcase for that NK resiliency, May 26-27 at the SERA complex in Tacoma. It was also a chance for the Lady Vikes to prove that their seventh place finish in 2005 was no fluke.

The Vikings kicked off 2006 competition in great form as they put together a shining game to beat Everett by a tally of 7-4, before losing to Prairie 4-0 in their second game of the day.

North defied elimination with a win in its third game that day before Woodinville stole an 8-2 victory May 27, leaving the Vikings once again in seventh place.

Dak Kongela surprises

100M field at state finals

PASCO — In the 100M dash state finals, Dak Kongela exhibited the epitome of taking advantage of opportunity.

After missing the cut by one place at the Narrows League meet May 13, Kongela’s 100M dash days seemed to be over. Then at the West Central District meet May 20, two 100M contestants were scratched from the line-up and Kongela — along with CK’s Danny VanDatta — were surprised with a second chance in the race. Both qualified onto state.

In Pasco May 27, it was the 100M field which was surprised by the man in gold in lane number eight.

By the lean of his chest, Kongela took the state 100M title with a time of 10.95 seconds.

Kongela also turned a personal best length in the triple jump with a leap of 45-1.25 while North’s 4x100M relay team sprinted to their best performance on the year, breaking the 43 second barrier, taking sixth place with a time of 42.90 seconds.

Viking Cup suffers 50 team

decline in attendance

This year on Memorial Day Weekend, North Kitsap’s 22nd annual Viking Cup youth soccer tournament hosted the same fun-loving competition as it has for the past two decades. However, there were 45 less teams joining in the games.

The drop came in the same year that the North Kitsap School District has raised the tournament field usage fees from $5 to $35. The North Kitsap Soccer Club feels that the 700 percent jump is what has prompted the decrease in Viking Cup team registration.

Little Leaguers win District 2

OLLALA — In the Little League All-Star postseason, everything boils down to the amount of heart a team is willing to offer. No longer can players get by on talent alone — focus and sheer faith are the fuel for success.

Throughout the District 2 tournament in Ollala, North Kitsap’s 11- and 12-year-old Americans have learned the lessons of determination. After an undefeated four-game jaunt into the District 2 championship, the NK Americans wouldn’t allow what manager Eric Milyard called one of the team’s worst showings to spell disaster in the title game against South Kitsap Southern.

What North lacked in execution it made up in desire, capturing the District 2 11- and 12-year-old championship by a count of 9-8.

NK Babe Ruthers

return to World Series

CAMAS — Two years removed from their first trip to the World Series, which the then-14-year-olds attended in awe of its magnitude, the North Kitsap 16-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars are headed back.

On the strength of five straight victories in pool play at the Pacific Northwest Regional tournament in Camas, followed by a double dose of destruction in the semi-final and finals, North Kitsap secured it’s plane tickets for the Babe Ruth World Series which began Aug. 11 in Monticello, Ark.

After winning its first four games of the World Series tourney, North ran into a Newark, Ohio offensive juggernaut which blasted a 14-7 season-ending loss for NK, Aug. 17.

Newark, which entered the game on a two-game losing streak, jumped out to an 11-0 lead through five innings thanks to three lead-off home runs and a throwing error by the NK 16s.

The Zone enters final

phases of construction

POULSBO — As early as January of next year, the Zone Sportsplex may take North Kitsap out to a whole new place for the ball game — indoors.

The $3.5 million indoor sports complex project wrapped up its final stages of construction during the final week of November while its sporty amenities were installed in early December.

Featuring baseball, fastpitch, soccer and lacrosse — the Zone is a climate controlled multi-sport arena that will allow athletes a winter season venue and beyond.

The Sportsplex will feature three automated batting cages, a live pitching/hitting tunnel, a 10,000-square-foot baseball/softball turfed in-field/shortened outfield and a 15,000-plus-square-foot soccer field off of Urdahl Drive in Olhava.