It’s been a busy year in Kirkland sports. The year of 2010 saw some amazing performances, personal bests and school records. Here’s a look at some of the top sports stories of this year:
Lake Washington boys basketball makes first state appearance since 1997
Under a first year head coach the Lake Washington boys basketball team made their first visit to the state tournament since 1997. The team shared the KingCo Crown Division title with Woodinville and earned the No. 1 seed going into the 4A KingCo tournament. Wins in the tournament pushed the Kangs into the state tournament, with a 17-7 record.
The team played two games at state in early March, falling its second game to Lincoln High School to end the record setting season. See the story here.
Kangs take second at wrestling tournament
The Lake Washington High School wrestling team got a good start to the post season by finishing second at the 4A KingCo tournament held at Juanita High School. But the heartbreak of the Kangs (191) finishing two points behind Woodinville (193) for first place was tough to take. The next closest team was Inglemoor with 172 points. See the story here.
Macartney misses cut in 2010 Olympics
Kirkland’s Scott Macartney missed the cut for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver after failing to make the U.S. Olympic team.
Macartney, who participated in the 2002 and 2000 games was not among the 22 skiers named to the team in early February.
The past three seasons were tough for Macartney, who was besieged by injuries. In 2008 he suffered a severe brain injury on the Kitzbuhel downhill course in Austria and a year later blew his knee out in Switzerland.
Macartney, born and raised in Redmond, grew up skiing at Crystal Mountain, where his parents John and Laurie worked as ski patrollers. See the story here.
Juanita’s Treddenbarger wins state heavy-weight title
Juanita High School’s Cody Treddenbarger won the 3A state wrestling title in the heavy weight division, after sweeping through the postseason. He won the title at the Mat Classic in Tacoma by pinning all of his opponents in the first round over two days. Earlier in the season he won the KingCo 3A title by pinning Bellevue’s Jin Park in just 34 seconds, followed by a win at the regional competition.
Dylan Ullery, a student at Lake Washington, won a regional title in the 140-weight class in the 4A classification. He won the title on a 17-9 major decision. See the story here.
Juanita girls advance to post season, win first district game in two decades
The Juanita girls basketball team advanced to postseason, winning the Rebels first district game in 20 years.
The team lost two games in the KingCo tournament, losing to Bellevue and Mount Si, but beat Franklin in the SeaKing district tournament. The season ended at the district tournament held at Bellevue College. See the story here.
Twitter suit
A Lake Washington High School student sued in April to get to the bottom of an apparent impersonation on Twitter after he received threats from students at a rival high school in Seattle.
The LWHS student received threats from students at a Seattle high school after he allegedly made racially charged comments to another individual on Twitter. The LWHS student said the comments were not made by him, nor did the comments come from his Twitter account, but an account with a similar name to his. Both students involved are members of their high school basketball teams, and the comments were made following a game between the two schools in which Garfield lost. See the story here.
Kirkland curler heads to Russia for World Championship
Two days before leaving for the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Mike Calcagno was pinning down last minute details and working on preparing himself for the 13 hour time change sitting on his horizon.
The time change was likely to be one of his most significant challenges of the trip, not to mention just physically getting to the competition, and then facing the best mixed curling teams in the world, but Mother Nature had other plans. Thanks to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajškull volcano in Iceland, many teams were unable to make it to the competition at the last minute, but Calcagno and his team made the competition and competed at the tournament.
Former Juanita football player drafted by Chargers
Kirkland native and former football athlete at Juanita High School Bryan Walters, who played at Cornell University, was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in April.
Walters said he ended his college career the previous November appreciating every minute he played, only to find out he would be able to continue playing in the NFL. See the story here.
Lake Washington forms new boys lacrosse team
With the explosion of lacrosse throughout the area, the Lake Washington boys team became the newest team in the Division II league. The team, split off from the Redmond team, featured many underclassmen and a few upperclassmen who choose to switch. Despite being a first-year team, the Kangs won their conference and advanced to the playoffs, falling in the state semifinals to San Juan. See the story here.
Juanita softball earns co-third place finish at state
After sweeping the regular season and blowing through the postseasonb the Juanita softball team earned a co-third place finish at the state tournament, after unprecedented weather forced an early end to the tournament.
The team won the KingCo and SeaKing titles before playing in the state tournament. Wet weather delayed games and swamped fields at the state tournament, forcing a five-way tie for third place. See the story here.
Juanita tennis player earns sixth at state, LW duo takes eighth
Juanita High School’s lone tennis player at the state tournament, Maria Jouravleva won sixth place at the 3A tournament in May, in the single competition.
The Lake Washington duo of Kelly Wantanabe and Jess Lund earned the eighth place trophy at the 4A state tennis tournament in the doubles competition. See the story here.
Juanita track athlete wins state triple jump title
Juanita sophomore Alanna Coker won the state title in the girls triple jump in late May. Her teammate Rachel Richardson took eighth in the competition. Coker, who blazed through the regular season, earned a fifth place finish in the 200-meter race, and was third overall in the long jump. As a team, the Juanita girls finished ninth. See the story here.
Lake Washington golfers earn state academic title
The Lake Washington girls golf team was the recipient of the 2010 spring academic title for the 4A sport.
The team, coached by Fred Mabbott, had a collective grade point average of 3.870 for the six participants. It is a first for the team.
Mabbott was also recognized as the co-KingCo coach of the year. See the story here.
University of Washington rower earns Pac-10 honors
Four members of the No. 1-ranked University of Washington men’s varsity rowing team earned Pac-10 honors, including Hans Struzyna, a junior from Kirkland. See the story here.
New Lake Washington gym opens
In late June Lake Washington High School opened the doors to the latest piece of the school’s renovation: the new gym. The new space hosted its first basketball tournament in the Kang Klassic at the end of June. See the story here.
Ashenbrenner drafted by Tigers
Kirkland native and Lewis and Clark State infielder Josh Ashenbrenner was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball draft on June 18.
The second and third baseman said he was watching the draft on TV when he saw his name come up on the reader board. The player spent the summer playing for minor league teams on the East Coast. See the story here.
Finau commits to University of Washington
Juanita High School senior football player Jarrett Finau verbally committed to attend the University of Washington, accepting an athletic scholarship offer to play for the football team.
Finau, who plays tight and defensive end, had several offers on the table, according to Rebels head coach Shaun Tarantola, but felt the Huskies vibe and being close to home was the best fit. See the story here.
Synchro swimmers
The Kirkland-based Seattle Synchronized Swim 11-12 Team returned from National ESynchro Age Group Competition in Buffalo, N.Y. June 29-July 2 where they placed 5th in the United States Team competitions. See the story here.
Junior Softball World Series returns to Kirkland for 12th year
Since 1999, hundreds of softball players from across the world have descended on Kirkland in late August. Teams from Italy, Puerto Rico and Guam, as well as across the U.S. played in the week-long tournament at Everest Park. This summer’s winner was Puerto Rico, who beat the U.S. Southeast team from West Tampa, Fla. Puerto Rico also won the 2009 tournament. See the story here.
ESPN documentary on Kirkland baseball team’s Little League World Series win airs
An ESPN documentary about the 1982 Little League World Series, which was won by the Kirkland Americans, aired in August. The documentary, titled “Little Big Men,” was part of the 30 for 30 series and talked about not only the team’s historic win over Taiwan, but looked at the players lives after the tournament. See the story here.
Triathlon has another successful year
The Kirkland Triathlon had another successful run this fall, with more than 700 athletes competing in the ninth annual event. See the story here.
JHS football gets to 5-0
All along the Rebels knew they needed to play their game this season on the football field. They had the potential, the talent and the know-how to get it done, they just needed to put it into action.
The Rebels passed a major test in their season, beating Liberty 28-14 at home to advance to a 5-0 record. They faced Bellevue next and lost. See the story here.
Juanita golfer earns district win
Juanita underclassmen Frank Garber earned the district title at the SeaKing District tournament at the Snohomish Golf Course in the fall. He was two under par for the win, and the team cruised to a second place finish overall. See the story here.
Juanita volleyball team falls game short of state appearance
After a second place finish in the KingCo 3A volleyball tournament, the Juanita Rebels barely missed out on a trip to the state tournament, finishing sixth overall at districts. The Rebels, in the program’s best finish in years, lost at districts to Holy Names to end the season. See the story here.
Juanita soccer heads to first state tournament since 1980s
It was a blazing hot season for the Juanita girls soccer team winning the KingCo title, advancing through districts to play in the program’s first state game since the 1980s.
The Rebels beat Nathan Hale in overtime to earn the state berth, but fell to Camas in the first round of the tournament. See the story here.
Rebels football smashes records, plays at state
The Juanita Rebels football team left the 2010 season one for the record books, finishing in the second round of the state tournament with a 9-2 record, the team’s best since 1989.
The team blazed through KingCo, losing just once, to Bellevue, the eventual state champions. In the post season the team beat Shorecrest in the first round and headed south to Camas. In their first playoff trip since 1994, the Rebels couldn’t surpass the Papermakers, unable to make a comeback in the last minutes of the game. See the story here.
Juanita diver takes state title for second straight year
Juanita diver Celia Pinczower won her second straight 3A diving competition this November at the King County Aquatic Center. As a team, Juanita finished ninth overall. Pinczower won with a final score of 404.3 and will attend the University of Southern California. See the story here.
Coaching changes at Lake Washington and Juanita:
LW football – Steve Supple
Juanita basketball – Derek Witt
Juanita baseball – Sherman Leach
Juanita boys soccer – John Buttle
