February 2011

Press Release:

On Thursday, February 17, 5-8pm, at AllStar Fitness there’s a 'Spinathon' (basically a three-hour-long cycling spin class!) to raise funds for the Cascade Bicycle Club's Major Taylor Project, which is expanding to Sealth High School. Named after Marshall “Major” Taylor, a turn of the century African-American bicycle track champion, the Major Taylor Project reaches diverse students and provides them with unique opportunities for personal growth and empowerment through cycling.

Funds raised at the Spinathon will pay for the project’s expansion to Sealth High School and other sites in South King County. The goal is to raise $5,000. The Major Taylor project started two years ago, it has sites in White Center at The YES! Foundation/Evergreen High School, Global Connections High School in SeaTac and at Sand Point Transitional Housing. The program now serves 150+ kids.

Delridge Playfield at 4458 Delridge Way s.w. is finally complete with the fences set to come down today and tomorrow. A community celebration is set for Sat. March 12 from 12:30 – 2:30 on the north field.

The renovated fields now support baseball, softball, Ultimate Frisbee, soccer, men's and women's lacrosse.

The size of the the field complex accommodates several of these sports at the same time.

Seattle Parks and Recreation awarded the construction contract to A-1 Landscape and Construction, Inc. Construction began in early July.

Several community meetings on the project improved the design which now incorporates two striped soccer fields, one softball field, one baseball field, one woman’s lacrosse field overlaying the north soccer field, one men’s lacrosse field overlaying the south soccer field, two striped Ultimate fields overlaying the south soccer field, and one smaller Ultimate field demarcated with ‘cone dots’ overlaying the north soccer field.

The ADA accessibility to the north has been maintained and ADA access to the south was added from the south parking lot.

All the Kennedy Catholic's boys basketball team needed was a stern talking to.

The Lancers looked like they were going to let another game slip way, watching Auburn-Mountainview nearly erase an 18-point lead in the second quarter in a district-playoff opener.

"We've had some games during the season where we would be on a low and lost to some teams we shouldn't have," said Kennedy captain Mitch Penner. "At halftime, coach (Don Hoffman) motivated us by telling us to start out at 0-0 in the third quarter and bring the same intensity we brought in the first quarter."

Penner, who scored a game-high 27 points, helped engineer a third-quarter rally with some slick passing and hit important free throws at the end to lift Lancers to a 69-59 win over Auburn-Mountainview in Class 3A District play at Kennedy.

The Lancers had lost five straight postseason games spanning two years, including a heartbreaking 78-77 loss to Pierce (Tacoma) deep into the playoffs last year.

Kennedy (13-7) now faces Greater St. Helens League champion Camas (15-6) Wednesday at Clover Park at 6 p.m. It was the Papermakers' first league title since 1962.

LAKEWOOD - With the No. 1 seed and a first round bye at West Central/Southwest bi-district on the line, No. 4 state- ranked Seamount League girls basketball champion John F. Kennedy Catholic held off No. 6 state-rated SPSL 3A titleist Auburn Mountainview, 70-58, at the Class 3A/Seamount/Olympic sub-district tournament. The Lancers now stand one win away from the state tournament regionals of the 2011 state Hardwood Classic.

"This was a typical playoff game of runs," said first-year Lancer head coach John Barbee. "Auburn Mountainview is a good team and well coached. I'm proud of how our team played down the stretch, working, making free throws and doing the little things that don't show up in the statistics. It was just on the edge of being a blowout, but they (the Lions) kept coming back. That's the way they've played all year and why they're ranked No. 6 in the state. This was also beneficial for us to get a first round bye at district."

Rarely challenged strongly in the Seamount League, the Lancers roared to an unbeaten 14-0 record while establishing a full three games distance from the second place team.

AUBURN - Last Saturday was a final night of game situation preparation for the rugged road to the state girls basketball tournament.

State 10th-ranked Mount Rainier tuned up for the Class 4A West Central/Southwest bi-district tournament by destroying South Puget Sound League South No. 3 Rogers of Puyallup, 63-28, to claim the fifth seed from the SPSL sub-district tournament on the court of Auburn High School.

Sometimes, maintaining great intensity and focus against outgunned opponents can be a demanding task.

In the case of SPSL North No. 3 Mount Rainier (18-3), playing hard, no matter what the situation may be, comes naturally.

"It's not hard," said Ram head coach Bob Bolam. "We've played the same for every game and stayed after it all year. The girls really like to get after people."

In this instance, the running Rams from Des Moines settled the issue immediately. Led by 10 inside points from forward Brittany McPhee, the Mount Rainier contingent raced to an 18-7 lead near the end of the first quarter.

For many years, “As a matter of courtesy” the State Board of Education, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, your tax supported watch dogs for education, have been very reluctant to categorize the quality of any of the schools in this state. Platitudes such as “All of our schools are _______ (you fill in the either vague or positive” adjectives) were the common utterance.

Along comes the Feds and they want the states to identify the “Drop-out factories!” Mercy! An actual rating system for local schools in a state that is 35th in the nation in high school completion!

Recently the Washington Policy Center, under the Freedom of Information Act pried out the actual “ratings” of all of the public schools in this state. I might point out that Fraser Institute who rates all of the Provincial schools in Canada had done a similar rating system for several years but that could be ignored as it “wasn’t official.”

The terminology that the State Board of Education has chosen is typical for educators. They don’t want to portray any schools as “bad.” I refer to this as “Pouring maple syrup on lutefisk.”

Monday, Feb. 7
Girls basketball
Kennedy 92, Tyee 52
Alli Madison led the Lancers to victory against Tyee with 20 points and Aminah Williams backed her up with 19. Mayah Williams swished in 16.

Tuesday, Feb. 8
Girls basketball
Mt. Rainier 66, TJ 46
Mount Rainier of Des Moines was led to victory by Brittany McPhee with 21 points and Kristy Kullberg led Thomas Jefferson with 15.
Boys basketball
TJ 88, Mt. Rainier 73
Deone Davis scored a game-high 24 points for the Raiders in their Tuesday, Feb. 8 season finale against Mount Rainier.
SCS 59, Orting 36
Cody Miller managed 15 points as the Warriors posted a victory last Tuesday.

Thursday, Feb. 10
Girls basketball
Evergreen Lutheran 56, Crosspoint 51
The Eagles of Des Moines prevailed against Crosspoint in playoff action Thursday.
White River 50, Foster 43
White River washed Foster aside in a seven-point playoff game Thursday.

Boys basketball
Clover Park 64, Foster 59
Foster fell to Clover Park in its playoff opener Thursday.
Sequim 61, Evergreen 60
The Wolverines lost to the Wolves by only one point in Thursday playoff action.
White River 46, Tyee 44

Monday, Feb. 7
Girls basketball
Kennedy 92, Tyee 52
Alli Madison led the Lancers to victory against Tyee with 20 points and Aminah Williams backed her up with 19. Mayah Williams swished in 16.

Tuesday, Feb. 8
Girls basketball
Mt. Rainier 66, TJ 46
Mount Rainier of Des Moines was led to victory by Brittany McPhee with 21 points and Kristy Kullberg led Thomas Jefferson with 15.
Boys basketball
TJ 88, Mt. Rainier 73
Deone Davis scored a game-high 24 points for the Raiders in their Tuesday, Feb. 8 season finale against Mount Rainier.
SCS 59, Orting 36
Cody Miller managed 15 points as the Warriors posted a victory last Tuesday.

Thursday, Feb. 10
Girls basketball
Evergreen Lutheran 56, Crosspoint 51
The Eagles of Des Moines prevailed against Crosspoint in playoff action Thursday.
White River 50, Foster 43
White River washed Foster aside in a seven-point playoff game Thursday.

Boys basketball
Clover Park 64, Foster 59
Foster fell to Clover Park in its playoff opener Thursday.
Sequim 61, Evergreen 60
The Wolverines lost to the Wolves by only one point in Thursday playoff action.
White River 46, Tyee 44

On a clear day last week, Sea-Tac Airport was busy as usual. Mt Rainier was showing off her lenticular cloud cap. Those air traffic controllers must have been happy to have the extended visibility after our recent period of rainy days. This photo was taken near 8th Avenue South and South 144th Street.

Art
No Boundaries Metamorphosis Open House-- The No Boundaries exhibit was created to showcase the artwork of established and emerging artists with disabilities. The title of this year's theme "Metamorphosis" represents a stage of heightened development discovered through experience, experimentation, and ultimately, expression. The exhibit will be on display for the month of February at City Hall, 801 SW 174th St, Normandy Park.

Auditions
ChoralSoundsNorthwest/SilverSoundsNorthwest-- Rediscover the fun of singing traditional choral music as well as new arrangements with a decidedly theatrical style in ChoralSounds Northwest (a 60+-member mixed adult chorus) or the new SilverSounds Northwest (primarily retired individuals.) To schedule a CSN audition email info@nwassociatedarts.org or call 206-246-6040. To schedule a SilverSounds audition email prhawkeye@yahoo.com or call 206-719-1179.

Exhibits