February 2012

PUYALLUP - Defense spoke strongly in a Seattle Christian 45-32 boys basketball victory at Class 1A two-time defending state champion Cascade Christian on Friday, Feb. 3 in the nightcap of a boys and girls doubleheader that had Nisqually League first place designations on the line.

In a showdown of once-beaten league leaders in a jam packed gym, the Warriors (10-1 league, 15-3 overall) grabbed the inside track to the league regular season championship and avenged a 44-30 home loss to CCHS with outings at Charles Wright and Orting remaining on their schedule.

Cascade Christian (9-2, 13-6) rests in second place with no chance of dropping below this spot.

"They just came out and and played their guts all over," said a pleased SCS head coach Shaun DeYager. "We haven't talked about the stakes, but they knew. In this game, we knew there would be runs. They redeemed themselves tonight. Our goal was to focus on keeping the runs short. That's why we called the timeouts."

PUYALLUP - On senior night blackout for Cascade Christian, the Warriors used tough defense and patient offense to find the light and overcome the league unbeaten Cougars, 41-40, on Friday, Feb. 3, forcing a 1A Nisqually League girls basketball co-championship.

Both teams stand at 10-1 in the league and will engage in a playoff for the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds to playoff competition at Cascade Christian on Thursday, Feb. 9, in Puyallup. Seattle Christian's overall record is 12-7 while CCHS is 16-2.

"We're still continuing to get to know each other since the snow lost us some practice," said Warrior head coach Dave Jansen. "We tried to use more clock on offense. we were able to pass the ball around off the high post and find open players."

Alayna Gleason's breakaway lay up off an outlet pass from Katie Collier with 16.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Warriors a 41-38 margin in the back-and-forth stretch run of the game. CCHS countered with a basket.

Mount Rainier created another magical moment in gymnastics history in front of an appreciative home audience on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Receiving consistently good performances from all its athletes, the Rams shattered their previous school record with an eye-popping 173.575 points to edge out Thomas Jefferson (!72.35) for the Class 4A South Puget Sound League sub-district championship and a berth to West Central District to be held at Mount Rainier on Saturday, Feb. 11. The previous record for Mount Rainier was 169.75 at Todd Beamer on Jan. 4.

Other district qualifiers in the 15-team event were Emerald Ridge (171.7), Todd Beamer (169.35). Auburn-Riverside (162.7) and Kentlake (162.5).

Baylee Hamilton and Cheyenne Gavino finished first and second respectively in all-around competition, spearheading the Ram effort.

Hamilton swung mightily to a 9.025 first place on the uneven parallel bars while also snaring second place rankings on the floor exercise (9.55) and the balance beam (9.525) in featured achievements of her winning 37.375 all around.

Burien Walk –n-Talk organizer Maureen Hoffmann reports on February’s event, held Sunday, Feb. 5:

Today was the seventh, monthly Walk-n-Talk here in Burien; 38 people and 3 dogs came to join the stroll! Of the walkers, 1 person was visiting from Salt Lake City, a family came from Phinney Ridge and others routinely come from Kent, Renton, Bellevue and Lacey. It still astounds me to see how well the idea has taken hold. Some people have only missed one or two walks.

Again, we had a beautiful, sunny, mid-fifties day as we walked west from Town Square, circled around Lake Burien, and then back to the center of town. It was an easy time of conversation and walking.

Next Walk-n-Talk: March 4.
We’ll meet at Burien Town Square at 2:00 and start walking at 2:15.
See you there.

The annual Daddy and Daughter Valentine's Ball took place on Feb. 4 at the Burien Community Center. Photographer Gordon Weeks captured these images.

PLEASE CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR MORE.

The Ballard locks will be closed to all pedestrian traffic Feb. 7 and Feb. 8th to all pedestrian traffic as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is repairing a scour near the small lock wall. Vessel traffic will also be halted from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The 95-year old Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are showing signs of water wear and tear, and repair work is needed.

Water has caused erosion along a portion of the small lock wall creating a scour. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official say the lock is safe and there is no immediate danger of failure, but the repair is needed to maintain the safe waterway and stop further erosion.

“There have been scour problems documented in a nearby area for 30 years. The first major repair was done in 1985 to the apron,” said Marian Valentine, a hydraulic engineer in charge of operations and maintenance of the facility, in a statement. “Water is very destructive so we actively monitor the locks and make interim repairs where necessary.”

A 2009 sonar survey detected an elongated scour hole and during a subsequent dive inspection, a void was noticed under the small lock foundation.

Jail time for candy bars
Two Admiral Safeway security officers called 911 in the early afternoon of Jan. 26 to report they were following a theft suspect north on California Ave S.W. The suspect had entered Safeway and stolen two to three candy bars. The security officers confronted him before he entered a 2300 block California Ave bar, and the man became hostile: He asked the officers if they wanted to perform a sexual act for him, threatened to punch them in the face, and finally spit in a female officers left eye before entering the bar. Police arrived and employees of the bar said they saw the man walk into the bar and out the back door. Looking southbound down the alley, the officers spotted and arrested the man.

Jumped on California Ave

It was a good weekend for Ballard athletics. In addition to two basketball wins, gymnastics, cheer, and wrestling all saw successes.

The Ballard gymnastics team competed in the KingCo 4A championships at Roosevelt High School and took fifth out of 11. Seven gymnasts will move on to the districts championships at Sammamish High School on Saturday.

At the KingCo 4A championships, Newport took the win with a team total of 175.55 points, followed by Woodinville with 174.45, and Bothell with a score of 164.625.
Inglemoor took fourth with 163.95, and Ballard fifth with 157.775, beating Roosevelt, Issaquah, Redmond, Skyline, Garfield, and Eastlake.

"This was a great showing for a young Ballard team," said Stephanie Gundel.

Seven gymnasts qualified individually to districts. Ballard's Maria Volk, Lauren Lee, Maureen Sturgeon, Laila Lee and Jaemi Salazar qualified to districts on all four events, Sophia Pierce qualified on beam and Ariel Noltimier qualified on floor.

Cheer:

The Beavers basketball teams played on the road against Bothell on Saturday for the last game of the regular season. It was a good night for Ballard as both the girls and the boys team won.

The Lady Beavers payed first and ended their season with a victory.

Ballard quickly took control of the game against Bothell on Saturday afternoon.

They gained the lead in the first quarter and maintained it for a half time score of 27 to 22.

The Beavers continued to outscore Bothell and increase their lead to secure a win of 57 to 35.

Imani Bender led the Lady Beavers team in scoring with 15 points, followed by Beverly Verduin with 11 points. Samantha Hall was strong on the defense with eight defensive rebounds.

This concludes their season as the girls basketball team will not be going to the playoffs.

The Lady Beavers were a young team this year, playing on freshman and four sophomores.

They ended up with a season of six wins and 14 losses, doubling their total from last year. 
They scored 11 points per game more than last year and increased their team shooting almost 20 percent.

Boys win, head to playoffs

On Sunday, February 12, the Sunset Hill Community Association Board of Trustees will put the future of their operations and clubhouse before the community.

Formed in 1922, SHCA is one of Seattle's oldest neighborhood associations and has played a key role over the last 90 years in shaping Sunset Hill and Ballard. But a decline in community involvement in recent years is prompting the board to reconsider the role of the association in the community.

"Our revenue is decreasing, our expenses are increasing, and we don't have enough actively involved members.This direction is not sustainable, and we need to look ahead to the role of the association going forward" said SHCA president Lois Spiegel. 

The board is asking all of their members as well as the community to help determine the next 90 years of SHCA and its clubhouse.

"The association wants to know in this day and age, what role the association still has to play in the community," said Spiegel. 

Member Carole Bears believes the association still plays a role in today's community but said the decision is ultimately up to the members and the community.