February 2015

By Gerardo Bolong
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

TACOMA - Senior Mt. Rainier gymnast Ava Welch closed out her high school career at the 2015 WIAA 4A state gymnastics championships in intense individual event competition on Sat., Feb. 21.

Welch earned a spot on the podium by earning a bronze medal on the vault in a powerful and artful 9.325 spring at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall to trail only gold medalist Jenna Schlosser of Mead (9.725) and Marisa Savage of Woodinville (9.675). The excellent Ram performer also closed out with a ninth place 8.525 bars performance in an event won by Jenna Schlosser of Mead (9.525).

Tia Thomas of Federal Way celebrated her impressive floor exercise with a fist pump and dance with the knowledge that she had just concluded the performance of her life. It turned into a gold medal winning 9.7 in her third year of the state finals.

Thomas credited hard work and talked about her performance score being, "in God's hands and the judges' hands.".

Freshman Anna Olsen of Skyline took the top medal on the balance beam at 9.325.

By Gerardo Bolong
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

TACOMA - Local athletes gave their best, but were unable to qualify for the Sat., Feb. 21, individual events finals after Fri, Feb. 20 performances at the 2015 3A/2A/1A Washington state gymnastics championships in the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

Try as they might, the Highline High School trio of Katie Gatto, Tanjinique Ruffin and Lydia Mehbrahtom was unable to crack the top 15 for Saturday action.

All three were special qualifiers from bi-district on the vault while Gatto also qualified on the balance beam.

Top finalist qualifiers on the vault were 1T - Nykaela Dodson of Sammamish and Elena Fowler of Holy Names (9.625), 3 - Kiya Bjorge of Southridge (9.55).

On the uneven parallel bars, the top three qualifiers were Kayla Porter of Auburn Mountainview (9.6), Dodson (9.55) and Bjorge (9.4).

The balance beam featured Porter (9.45), Elizabeth Winstead of Kamiakin (9.375) and Dodson plus Enumclaw's Maddison Ward (9.3).

Floor exercise showcased Bjorge (9.7 ), Dodson (9.65) and Porter (9.6).

Dodson took the all-around title with 38.125.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TACOMA - And it came to pass that a season full of obstacles and recuperative resiliency finally came to end on the floor of Dalesky- Black court at Foss High School in a 34-26 fourth round West Central District 1A girls loser-out, winner-to state loss to Bellevue Christian on Sat., Feb. 21.

Seattle Christian closed out with a season record of 17-7 in its return to playoff action after a short absence.

"Welcome back to the playoffs," said Warrior head coach Dave Jansen. "It was awesome and the young players now know the experience. This is one step in the process. This team played all the way to the end."
Although the Warriors lose stellar seniors Taelor Willhoite, Jessalyn Henry, Ashley Schroder and Madelyn Weber, the future looks bright for youngsters like Alexandria Ellis and Kelli Ronish who were starters and the many other non seniors who saw considerable court action, including postseason play.

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Highline Pirates' wrestler Sophia Munoz took second in the state in girls action in the 235-pound weight class at the 2A Washington State Mat Classic Championships at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday.

However, if events transpired differently four years ago, as, they, really, should have, Munoz probably would have taken a different path than she did with sports.

When Munoz was a Pirates' freshman, she decided she was going to play basketball with her sister, Marissa Munoz, and, so, they were filling out the paperwork at school and something happened that changed everything.

"My sister and I were going to both play basketball," said Munoz. "But we got in this huge fight and I decided to mark 'wrestling' instead of 'basketball' on the paper."

And, that was the best mark Sophia Munoz ever made?

"Definitely, it changed me as a person," said Munoz.

And did Munoz ever thank her sister for that argument that became life-changing?

Munoz paused, laughing, saying, "Thank you for making me angry."

By Gerardo Bolong
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

TACOMA - Mount Rainier bettered its 165.3 West Central/Greater Spokane bi-district qualifying score in a 165.75 fourth place team finish at the 2015 WIAA 4A state gymnastics championship meet on Fri., Feb. 20, at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Center.

KingCo powerhouse Woodinville posted 184.225 points to defend its title ahead of Emerald Ridge (171.4), Mead (171.2) and Mt. Rainier.

"We knew it was possible," said Ram assistant coach Reid Sundblad. "I'm so proud. They've come a long way. It'll be fun, tomorrow."

The fun for tomorrow referred to the state individual event finals.

Senior Ava Welch scored 36.1 in an eighth-place all-around performance while qualifying for individual event finals with a tie for fourth place at 9.55 on the vault and a tie for fifth place on the uneven parallel bars (9.125).

"I'm proud of all our team," said Welch. "I'm looking forward to the finals."

Hailey Sagmoen was pleased with the competition, as well.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Tommy Thach of Kennedy Catholic captured two first place finishes to lead the Lancers to a fifth-place team finish at the state Class 3Aboys swimming and diving finals Saturday.

Thach won the 200-yard freestyle race in an All-American Automatic time of 1 minute, 38.47 seconds and took first in the 100 backstroke with an All-American Consideration effort of 51.19.

The Lancers scored 142 points as a team in the competition held Saturday morning at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Kennedy Catholic came in second in the opening 200 medley relay in 1:38.93 and third in the 400 free relay in 3:14.50.

The Lancers placed 11th in the 200 free relay in 1:33.05.

Ian Olufson swam with Thach in the 200 free finals and finished fifth in a time of 1:47.29.

Olufson was also 12th in the 100 free in 49.92 ahead of teammate Jack Fenster's 50.09. Dylan Jergens was 16th in the 100 free in 51.03.

BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

LAKEWOOD - Speed spurred Kennedy Catholic to a 60-41 destruction of Auburn Mountainview in a loser-out game of the 2015 West Central/Southwest bi-district boys basketball tournament on Thurs., Feb. 17, on the court at Clover Park High School to earn a Feb. 21 winner to state regionals, loser-out match up against Peninsula.

"We executed better in the second half," said Lancer head coach Don Hoffman. "We attacked the basket, got to the rim more and were quicker."

Auburn Mountainview shot well to take a 12-4 lead in the first quarter, but, beginning with Michael Sasonoff's quarter ending 3-pointer, and concluding with five straight points by A.J. McGrew to open the second quarter, the running Lancers tied the score at 12-all.

Scrapping evenly, the teams fought on until James Jolly's driving basket sent Kennedy into the intermission with a 20-18 lead.

As a resident of north Burien/Highline, I call upon the Burien City Council to secure continuous King County Library Services for the new White Center Library, the Boulevard Park Library and the current White Center Library, until replaced.

Inasmuch as the location of the new White Center Library places it within unincorporated King County and with the apparent intention of Seattle to annex that area, an agreement with KCLS as to the disposition of the assets and services of these libraries, now within Burien jurisdiction, needs to be established. All of Burien, especially those living in North Burien, have a right to expect the benefits of KCLS services that have been important to the well-being of nearby communities and have been supported continuously by a dedicated property tax.

By Alice Day, Reporter
WNPA Olympia News Bureau

OLYMPIA—Local communities could have more access to water if legislators succeed in implementing a new system of leasing surplus state-owned water rights.

A bill proposed by Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, would require state agencies to more clearly identify, hold and reassign unused water rights associated with agency-held land. Sen. Doug Erickson, R-Ferndale, is the bill’s co-sponsor.

Affected agencies include the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Natural Resources and the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Honeyford says many agencies are purchasing land with water rights attached and not using the water.

“It impacts the economy of the local community and I’d like to see that water return to productive agricultural use,” he said.

Senate Bill 5016 would create a Local Economy Trust Water Rights Account within the Department of Ecology, which holds the water rights temporarily until they are transferred for commercial or economic use.

By Alice Day, Reporter
WNPA Olympia News Bureau

OLYMPIA—Advocates for minority and low-income students are urging legislators to take a closer look at the state’s McCleary obligation to ensure that all students are given equal and ample opportunity to achieve in school.

One bill would require state agencies to assess the potential negative impacts of education policies on minority and low-income students, and another would require the state to take measures to closing the education opportunity gap.

“A lot of the discussion focused around education and McCleary is just about the money and how do we satisfy our constitutional and moral obligations,” said Sen. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, a first-term state legislator and long-time civil rights activist. “Not enough discussion is around targeting the areas of vulnerability that we have within the system.”

Jayapal is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5718, which aims to measure, identify, evaluate and communicate the impact of proposed education policies on education equity.