2017 was a memorable year for athletes in Kitsap County. In no particular order, here are some of the standout moments and stories from the past year.
Swim state title
A historic swim season for Kingston was capped by the first state championship in school history, for which head coach Mark VanHuis was named coach of the year by the Washington Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association. If you walk into the North Kitsap pool and take a look at the records listed on the wall, you will see every single boys record was set in 2017 by this amazing group of swimmers.
The Buccaneers also had their first two individual state titlists in Ethan Fox and Tim Gallagher. Fox was the first to capture a top spot, winning the 200-yard individual medley. Gallagher later followed with a win in the 100 backstroke in 50.74 seconds, which gave him All-American consideration.
Those two wins, plus a victory for the 200 medley relay team, helped put Kingston ahead of second-place Steilacoom by 9.5 points with one event remaining: the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Kingston lost the event, finishing second to Pullman, but the time of 3:20.91 was good enough to finish ahead of Steilacoom by half a second and win the meet.
Beers, Crane at state
Nine months later, it was the girls’ turn in the spotlight at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. And there was no shortage of successful Kitsap swimmers over those two days in November.
Leading the pack was North Kitsap’s Eleanor Beers, who won two individual titles and two more as part of relay teams. The sophomore sprinter won the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events in 23.65 and 50.99. The latter time was .01 slower than her pace in last year’s event, which is the state meet record.
Later, Beers anchored the 200 freestyle relay team with Anna Schrader, Layna Hart and Brianna Hoffman, which won the event in 1:40.35. The 200 medley relay team of Isabel Hendryx, Izy Iral, Claire Stone and Beers set a new school record (1:50.06) on the way to winning yet another title.
Klahowya’s Kira Crane, who is committed to swim at Wyoming, won two individual championships in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly. The latter event was something of a cathartic victory for Crane, as she lost the previous year in that event by .03.
Van Amen, Stolle
The 4A state bowling championship could not have been more dramatic. Sarah Stolle of South Kitsap bowled a 211 in her final game, giving her a six-game total of 1,253. Would it be enough to give her the championship? Just barely.
Stolle entered the final game down 17 pins, but mounted a furious comeback. Cheyanne Greening of Eastmont was neck-and-neck with Stolle, and it all came down to the final frame. Greening needed a strike or spare, but her first ball left her with a 6-7-10 split. Stolle won the 4A state championship by two pins.
In late May, South Kitsap’s Nolan Van Amen made it back again to the 4A state meet in Tacoma in the shot put and discus events. After losing his title as a junior, Van Amen made a personal best throw of 61 feet, 2.25 inches to recapture the shot put championship.
He hoped to win the top spot in the discus event as well, which would have given him four in a row, but an amazing 183-foot throw by Skyview’s Connor Jensen denied him the opportunity.
Playoff run
It was easy to see the Vikings were the best team in the West Sound — the question was, how far would they go in the state playoffs?
In the previous three years, North Kitsap had exited the playoffs three times, scoring a combined two points. The Vikings lost to Archbishop Murphy 27-0 and 34-0 in 2015 and 2016, and lost to Hockinson, 7-2, in 2014. But this year’s team was rock solid, with an experienced and talented offensive line, an aggressive, hard-nosed defense, and one of the state’s top running backs.
They were also inspired by the memory of teammate Hunter Schaap, who was murdered in January in Seabeck. The players honored him at every game, carrying his picture onto the field. During the playoffs, the picture was held up by a team member for the duration of the captains introductions and coin toss.
The Vikings lived up to expectations, blowing out Eatonville in districts and William F. West in the first round of the state playoffs, setting up a game with Archbishop Murphy for the third year in a row.
North Kitsap led 13-7 at halftime on two field goals by Tainui Elkington and a 4-yard run by senior Dax Solis, who carried the ball 30 times for 180 yards. Quarterback Andrew Blackmore tied the game at 21 with a pass that bounced off Tyler Sloman’s shoulder into the hands of Aidan Allsop.
Kyler Gordon, who recently committed to University of Washington, scored a highlight-reel touchdown early in the fourth quarter to put Archbishop Murphy back ahead. North Kitsap was facing a fourth-and-1 with 1:19 to play, the game on the line, but a pitch to the right was stopped short, ending its season.
Wallis & Loan
Danya Wallis and Tye Loan walked away with state singles championships.
The pair of Kitsap tennis players easily bested their opponents in the finals at the University of Washington in May.
North Kitsap’s Wallis won her third consecutive state singles championship, defeating Tess Tapmongkol of Sehome, 6-1, 6-2. She had rolled through the early part of the tournament, yielding just one point to Kassidee Beuse of Sedro-Woolley in the quarterfinals. All eyes will be on Wallis as she attempts to win a fourth title this spring.
Meanwhile, Loan, of Olympic, swept Gunnar Nelson of Black Hills and then beat Jared Kieser of Selah, 6-4, 6-1 on his way to the finals. Loan had little trouble with Shane Lynette of Sehome, dispatching him 6-1, 6-2.
XC runners
Chris Baldus’s first year as head coach of the Central Kitsap cross country team probably could not have gone any better. The girls captured the South Sound Conference and West Central District 3 titles, and placed ninth at the 3A state meet in Pasco. Meawhile, the boys finished second at the league and district meets, and finished 13th at state.
Some of that has to do with upstart freshman Maya Nichols, who won both of the races at which her team finished first, and then took home ninth place at the state meet with a time of 18:24.40, just missing out on a podium finish — all as a 15-year-old with a bright future ahead.
But the girls team was deep. Molly Fischer, Sophia Kohler, Kara Shepard and Madeline Shetler helped create a formidable top five with only Fischer graduating this year.
The boys might not have had an individual runner in the mold of Nichols, but Andrew Simon, Joshua Geiser, Ian Nye, Louis Gannon, Zach Green and Lucas Bertnik were a smart, solid group of runners that worked extremely well as a team, helping to maximize their respective potential.
For much of the season, the South Kitsap girls looked destined for a high finish at the 4A state meet with juniors Paxton DePoe, Kristina Ihlen and Eugenia Palko leading the way. The team got a boost from the emergence of freshman Evelyn Collins-Wynn, but she became ill at the end of the season, and although she ran at the district and state meet, she did not perform as well as she had earlier in the year. The girls finished sixth overall, but the good news is they will get another chance as their top six runners all return next season.
The South Kitsap boys returned to the state meet for the first time since 2004, and finished 13th after qualifying with a sixth place performance at the district meet. Their top seven runners at states — Zach Grams, Jacob Laws, Jacob Simon, Shawn Clough, Kevin McDermott, Jacob Rowen and Jacob Geiger — will all be back next year as well.
Two more standout freshmen made headlines in their own right.
North Kitsap ninth-grader Madison Zosa won the Olympic League and 2A district titles before going on to finish in fifth at the 2A state meet. Zosa blew away the competition at districts with a time of 19:03.10, bettering her league meet time of 19:19.70.
Klahowya’s Rachel Newhard also burst on to the cross country scene with a win at the 1A district
meet. A relative newcomer to running, the diminutive freshman ran away with the 1A race at Chambers Bay, finishing in 20:27. She then finished in 21st at the state meet in 19:42.60.
On the pitch
No team had a tougher end to the season than Central Kitsap. Against Bonney Lake in the district round, a shot by Lauren Hudson ricocheted off the crossbar and bounced down at an angle that suggested the ball went in the net. No one was in a great position to judge whether or not it was a goal, though the Cougars sideline vehemently argued it should have counted. The goal would have made the score 3-2 and Hudson would later score again and perhaps should have tied the game. Instead, Central Kitsap lost 3-2.
Klahowya made a terrific run to the quarterfinals of the 1A state tournament before losing to King’s 3-2 in the quarterfinals. The Eagles led at halftime on goals by Alyssa Peters and Tyler Townsend, but the Knights made the most of their opportunity, scoring the go-ahead goal on a corner in the 65th minute. Klahowya has to replace just two players next year and are looking forward to another deep run in 2018.
On the same day, North Kitsap was also eliminated by Liberty in a 3-0 loss. The Vikings ran into a team that would eventually win the state championship behind its senior captain Makena Carr. Myka Carr, Makena’s younger sister, broke a scoreless tie four minutes into the second half. North Kitsap had done well to defend Makena Carr, but once they went down a goal, they had to open up the field to get the equalizer, giving her room to score two more.
But the Vikings are also responsible for one of the most iconic moments of 2017. Ninety seconds from a loss against Olympic on a rainy evening at home in Poulsbo, Emily DeLay’s free kick landed just over the outstretched hands of the Trojans keeper to tie the game. Alaina Marcotte scored on a penalty kick to win the match.
North Kitsap also displayed a flair for the dramatic in the first round of the state playoffs against Hockinson. Charlotte Bond scored a 78th-minute goal to send the game to extra time. Then Jamison Jacobson tallied the shootout winner to send her team on to the match against Liberty.
2A volleyball
Both North Kitsap and Kingston saw plenty of each other on the volleyball court this season. The two teams squared off in a pair of league matches, the finals of the Olympic
League volleyball tournament and the district semifinals. North Kitsap won all four games, but both teams had successful seasons on the court.
Kingston surprised many with a second place finish at the Olympic League tournament and a fourth place finish at districts. A strong senior contingent led by hitter Jane Hermanson, setter Cece Mercado and libeiro Ryley Tellinghuisen, along with junior Ava McCabe powered Kingston to some big victories, including one over Bremerton that propelled the team to the Olympic League tournament finals.
Kingston drew a brutal first round match in the state tournament, having to face eventual champion Burlington-Edison. The Buccaneers fought gamely, but lost 3-0 and then lost their subsequent match to Selah.
Meanwhile, the Vikings won an emotional victory over Fife in the district finals, capturing their first title in three years, each point drawing out a louder and more enthusiastic response from the players. Once North Kitsap scored the final point, it was bedlam.
Unfortunately, they could not translate that success to the state tournament. The team was looking “a little lethargic” in the words of head coach Tim French at the 9 a.m. start time against eventual second-place finisher Lynden. North Kitsap rebounded to sweep a traditional power in Tumwater, but the season came to an end with a 3-1 loss to East Valley of Spokane.
HammerHead title
It just happened on Dec. 16, but South Kitsap’s early season results have been excellent thus far. The Wolves opened the season with a big win at home in a dual meet against Curtis, one of the top teams in Washington, and followed that up with a primetime performance at HammerHead. South Kitsap had four individual champions in Mason Eaglin, Xavier Eaglin, Davonn Keyes and Sebastian Robles, and a fifth wrestler, Nathan Marin, reached the finals and lost to his teammate.
Two of the wins came in last-second ditch-efforts to score: freshman Xavier Eaglin was down 5-1 to his opponent, Anjelo Pangelinan of Olympic, when he came up with a reversal and near fall to score five points in the final seconds of the third round of the 106 finals.
A few matches later, Keyes earned a takedown just before the buzzer to knock off John Bittinger of Gig Harbor, 8-6 for the 160 title.
For their exploits, South Kitsap finished with 267 points, earning the team title ahead of second-place Sumner, which earned 253 points.
2017 was a memorable year for athletes in Kitsap County. In no particular order, here are some of the standout moments and stories from the past year.
— Mark Krulish is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at mkrulish@soundpublishing.com.
