November 2014

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

FEDERAL WAY--Mount Rainier swimmers and a diver, all seniors, led the Rams this season to the WIAA 4A Girls State Swim And Dive Championships at the King County Aquatic Center pool in Federal Way on Nov. 14-15.

All are fondly liked by coach Chris Veraya, who called this a "special" team after the district meet, after having watched these senior young ladies grow from freshmen to seniors in his last three years coaching the Rams' swim team.

"It is a special year," Veraya had said following the Rams' fourth place finish at districts a couple weekends ago, prior to state happening this past weekend.

The best placement finishes for the Rams at the state meet this season came from Rams senior captain Kristen Lemley. Individually, she notched a fourth place for the 100-yard backstroke in 59.96 seconds and an eighth place for the 200 individual medley in 2:12.32.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

YAKIMA--Seattle Christian had only a two-and-out stay at the state volleyball tournament, but went down fighting.

The Warriors opened up the tournament played at the Sun Dome in Yakima by taking a 3-1 loss to Cedar Park Christian Friday morning, Nov. 14, then came back and lost that afternoon to Tenino, 3-0.
That sent SCS home from the tournament early, but not without playing tough.
After losing the first match against Cascade Christian by a 25-11 score the Warriors bounced back to win the second, 25-20.

Seattle Christian then lost the third game, 25-14, and the fourth, 25-17.
Tenino won the first two games against the Warriors by 25-14 scores, but SCS played close in the third and final game, only losing by a 25-22 margin.

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

A season cannot be judged by the end.
Sometimes it has to be worth something more, like for the Highline Pirates volleyball team.
They made it to the West Central District 3 Volleyball Tournament for the first time in a long time, having taken place at Franklin Pierce and Washington high schools in Tacoma last weekend, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7-8.

The Pirates lost their first match of the Class 2A tournament to the Liberty Patriots of Issaquah in three sets, 10-25, 9-25, 17-25. They lost their second match to the Sequim Wolves, 18-25, 4-25, 17-25, to end it's district play and season.

But don't look at the play at district, or the short stay. Look at the way the season ended up being at districts and that's getting somewhere good the Pirates have not gotten to in at least four years.
"It's the first time we've made it to districts in years," said Pirates head coach Mary Legate. "They didn't know about districts. The seniors were, like, 'We made it to districts.' They didn't know we had made it."

By Ed Shepherd

SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
What a game, and it all boiled down to penalty kicks -- a shootout.
Highline's Flor Aquino and Makenna Hadaller embraced the moment well, leading their Pirates team to a 3-2 victory that took until the ninth kicker to decide things in a West Central District 3 2A loser-out soccer playoff against host Franklin Pierce Saturday, Nov. 8.
"Great running play. We came back from behind twice, with tenacity," said Jeb Binns, Pirates head coach, afterward.

And the shootout? What about watching Aquino shoot that ninth shot in for the win to state?
"No, I didn't watch," said Binns. "I think, the trick was not watching the last one."
And then Binns let out a "Whooooo!"

Aquino was nervous, wasn't she, taking that last kick?
"Excited," said Aquino. "I took the last penalty kick to get us to state."

by Katy Wilkens, MS, RD
Nutrition and fitness manager, Northwest Kidney Centers

Lots of Asian meals are high in sodium, especially those from your local teriyaki place. The average sodium content for Asian entrees ranges from 4,000 to 6,000 milligrams of sodium in one serving. That’s more than two people should eat in three days!

To cut the salt to keep your heart and kidneys happy, try using sweet, sour, hot, bitter and umami flavors in your Asian dishes. Add color to your meals to appeal to the eyes as well as your palate. For a fast meal, you can’t beat instant rice or angel hair pasta, which boils in 2-3 minutes. Shrimp or tofu cook quickly and are packed with protein. To make stir-fry meals even quicker, buy plastic deli trays of pre-cut broccoli, carrots and red peppers, or get the ready-to-go veggies from the salad bar.

Spicy noodle stir-fry

This is an eye-catching meal that can be fixed in under 15 minutes. The orange peel adds a bitter tone, the red peppers add natural sugar, and the jalapeno adds heat.

1 package whole grain angel hair pasta
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools
Boys basketball
Chief Sealth is hosting a preseason jamboree in its gymnasium Saturday.
Evergreen will take on Tyee at 3 p.m. followed at 4:30 p.m. by Chief Sealth taking on Franklin.
Mount Rainier and Foster, meanwhile, will be playing in the Garfield Jamboree.
Evergreen will then go to Auburn for 7 p.m. action Monday and Highline visits Ingraham at 8 p.m.
Tuesday Foster is at Chief Sealth for a 6:15 p.m. game, with Highline hosting South Kitsap and Mount Rainier entertaining Auburn-Riverside at 7 p.m.

Girls basketball
Mount Rainier journeys to White River for jamoboree action starting at 12 p.m. Saturday and Monday's schedule has Highline at Ingraham at 6:30 p.m.
Chief Sealth hosts Foster at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Mount Rainier travels to Graham-Kapowsin at 7 p.m.

Wrestling
Foster will participate in the Roosevelt Tournament that starts at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Pros and college
Seahawks
Seattle plays its Thanksgiving Day game at San Francisco starting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

At approximately 2:13 p.m. today, Seattle Police Officers responding to a robbery at a bank on the 8500 block of 15th Ave NW.

The Ballard News-Tribune is waiting on details of the robbery, but can disclose that the suspect is described as a white male, five foot five inches tall, age 20 to 30, brown hair and unshaven. The suspect was wearing a navy blue jacket with a white stripe, black pants and was carrying a plastic bag.

Police ask to call 911 if anyone recognizes the suspect.

information from King County

King County Metro Transit reminds riders that buses will operate on Sunday and reduced weekday schedules over the Thanksgiving holiday and during several holiday periods through January – including a full week of reduced service at the end of December.

On Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 27, Metro will operate a Sunday schedule. On Friday, Nov. 28, Metro will operate reduced weekday service, which offers more service than on weekends, but somewhat less service than on normal weekdays.

Using a limited schedule over holiday periods from November through January is estimated to save Metro about $1 million each year. These are planned reductions for holiday periods when Metro has historically seen a reduction in the number of weekday riders – estimated to be 15 percent or more systemwide. Details are posted on Metro’s holiday and reduced service page.

By Matt Parker

Dear Fellow 12’s,

I wanted to let you know that I can perfectly predict both the Seahawks results and the Washington State real estate market; they are directly mathematically linked.

Pundits blame supply and demand, perhaps Wall Street manipulation or maybe the interest rate for the diabolical real estate implosion of 2008. They are wrong.

(From a local real estate broker, “thank God” for Russell Wilson.)

Consider the prosperous 2006 and 2007 real estate markets in Seattle; Residential real estate price appreciation, about 9% average for those two years, occurred in (about) 9 win seasons (9 and 10, to be specific).

The 2008 Seahawks (all due respect to former players and staff) lost 8 more games then they won (4-12). Subsequently, the local real estate market hit the turf, falling 8%.

Coincidence? Ha. Read on.

The 2009 Seahawks lost 11 games, and so did, of course, the local real estate market fall 11%.

The Holidays are expensive. Indeed, making just one special meal is a burden for some people, not just in cost, but time and stress. Making a Thanksgiving dinner at home can drive some people to go out rather than spend the hours looking at recipes, buying the groceries, and slaving in the kitchen checking the turkey, deviling the eggs and baking pies.

According to American Farm Bureau Federation the price for purchasing ingredients for a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people is approximately $49.41. That's 37 cents higher than in 2013. At $49.41 for dinner, why not go out for the holiday feast? Add the hours it takes for preparation, and some people are looking at more that $100 for the meal. Factor in low fuels prices and for some going out is a no-brainer. They might even end up with leftovers.

The Ballard News-Tribune has gathered a few potential options in the Ballard area so readers don’t scramble looking for a place to dine Thanksgiving Day. Good Luck!

Dinners:

Argosy Cruises: