STUDDED WITH AREA TALENT

By Tim Clinton

No matter what league they were in, Federal Way School District teams rose toward the top this spring.

The same can be said for the athletes who were selected to the South Puget Sound League North and South Division all-star teams in sports where they were selected -- baseball, fastpitch softball and boys soccer.

Five players were selected for the SPSL North first team for baseball from the three teams involved -- Federal Way, Decatur and Thomas Jefferson, and five more made the second team. Three of the five players picked to the first team were from TJ. Four more were selected from Todd Beamer to the SPSL South baseball first team.

Selections were made by the coaches in the respective sports.

Baseball

Thomas Jefferson senior Kyle Ashton was named to the SPSL North first team outfield, with senior teammate Jordan Beers chosen as a pitcher and senior teammate Derek Voigt picked for the utility position.

Decatur had senior Alex Bailey named to a first team pitching position and Federal Way senior Shane Elliott was picked for an outfield position.

Carson Wolbert of Todd Beamer earned a South Division first team pitching position as a junior and senior Sean Goforth was named as a first baseman.

Senior Justin Lee of the Titans made the first team outfield in the South and junior Brian Corliss earned his first team spot at utility.

Named to the North second team outfield were senior Justin Southern of Federal Way, junior Justin MacDonald of Decatur and Decatur junior Kyle Font.

TJ junior Johnny Palko was chosen as the second team second baseman and Federal Way freshman Nick Tanielu as a second team shortstop.

Honorable mention choices from Federal Way were Jarred Lee, Mike Vlahovich, Taylor Horsfall and Brandon Robbins.

Justin Reed and Ryan Kim were honored from Decatur. TJ choices were Andrew Jones, Taylor Stark, Jerett Hardy, Michael Sigafoos and Kramer Thompson.

The South honorable mention picks included Kelvin Ketchum and Nick Edwards from Todd Beamer.

Fastpitch

Seven picks were named to the first team from the district in fastpitch softball, including six from Thomas Jefferson. Raiders head coach Chad Fahnlander was named as the Coach of the Year for the North Division.

Junior Jessica Dickson of TJ was honored as a first team pitcher and the first team infielders included senior Stephanie Ogle, sophomore Hannah Kiyohara and junior Jayme Carbon.

First team outfielders included senior Sara Byrne and Erin Fujita from TJ and senior Lindsey Bright of Decatur.

First team choices from Beamer in the South Division were catcher Taylor Winton and utility player Sarah Petsoa -- both sophomores.

Second team selections included Jennifer Haltstrom of Beamer as a junior outfielder and Christie Bruin as a sophomore catcher from TJ. The honorable mention list included Kendal Nakashima and Lindsey Dickinson from Decatur and Britni Racus from Federal Way.

Boys soccer

Six area players were selected for the SPSL North soccer first team and three from Beamer were chosen from the SPSL South.

The Beamer choices were junior defender Jordan Hale, senior forward Daniel Nam and freshman midfielder Troy Peterson.

Chosen as first team defenders in the SPSL North were senior Omar Cruz from Federal Way, senior P.J. Dewaele from Thomas Jefferson, junior Cam Schilling from Decatur and junior Chris Miller from TJ.

Andrew Hair made the first team from Federal Way as a sophomore forward and TJ senior Tyler Hanson as a midfielder.

Second team picks in the North included four local midfielders -- junior Ernan Roman from TJ, junior Amos Nistrain from TJ, freshman Chase Brewer from Federal Way and freshman Chase Hanson from TJ. Raiders defender Nick McNew was named as a senior defender.

South second team choices included senior defender Travis Campbell from Beamer, sophomore midfielder Brendt VanWechel from Beamer and freshman forward Ugo Okoli from Beamer.

Honorable mention in the South went to Beamer's Ben Draeger, while honorable mention choices in the North went to Vinton Lake of Federal Way and Derek Moore of TJ.