Brothers compete at regatta in Boston
Brothers Michael Wales, 18, and Chris Wales, 14, recently competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The longtime rowers are Mercer Island residents and attend Seattle Prep. The Lake Union Crew team, of which the Wales brothers are members, sent 19 boats and rowers to Boston from its masters, elite and junior programs.
Despite adverse weather conditions, with pouring rain and a strong Nor’easter, both finished their races with solid times.
Michael, a senior at Seattle Prep, rowed in the youth men’s double with teammate Aidan O’Sullivan and finished first with a time of 17 minutes, 46 seconds. Their gold medal finish was .265 seconds behind the all-time course record.
Chris, a freshman at Seattle Prep, made his first appearance at the event, racing in the youth men’s 4 plus coxswain division. The team put in its best finish of the season and crossed the line 40th out of a field of 75.
Both brothers have been rowing since they were in eighth grade, starting out at the Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Center. Michael has won two national championships and was stroke for the U.S. Junior National men’s quadruple sculls team in France earlier in the summer.
The Head of the Charles is considered one of the foremost events in the rowing world, and this year 8,800 athletes participated, including 210 international teams.
Mercer Island football gains another win
The Mercer Island football team earned another win this season after beating Sammamish last Friday night, 42-22, at the Totems’ home stadium. The Islanders are 1-4 in the league and 3-5 overall this season, heading into their last home game on Friday night against Juanita.
Sammamish started out last week strong, scoring twice quickly in the first quarter to jump to a 14-0 lead before senior Kurtis Rosengreen made a 3-yard run to put the Islanders on the scoreboard for the first time that night. The kick failed and the first quarter ended with Sammamish leading 14-6.
Rosengreen quickly made his second end zone trip of the night in the second quarter after a 26-yard pass from quarterback Jeff Lindquist. With the Islanders closing the point gap, Totems quarterback Andrew Engles found Anthony Do for a 32-yard touchdown pass, and Zack Erickson made the two-point run to give Sammamish a 22-12 lead over Mercer Island in the second quarter. It was the last time that the Totems were able to put a point-scoring drive together that night.
Mercer Island went on a scoring binge for the rest of the game, while the Islanders defense held Sammamish to no new points. Kicker Alex Wood made a 22-yard field goal before time ran out in the first half to narrow Sammamish’s lead to 22-15.
In the third quarter, Lindquist made a 1-yard run in what would become a 13-point quarter for Mercer Island. Later, Alex Rorem caught a 31-yard pass from Lindquist to overtake the Sammamish lead by three points. In the final minutes of the game, Lindquist made two more scoring runs with scoring kicks from Wood for the final score of 42-22.
Cross country heads to districts after second-place finishes in league
Both the boys and girls Mercer Island cross country teams will head to the district meet tomorrow at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah after each team finished second at last week’s KingCo league meet.
In the boys race, Bellevue finished first as a team, with individuals taking the top two spots with the fastest time of 15:36 minutes for the 3.1-mile race. Mercer Island’s Aaron Elefson finished fifth overall — the Islanders’ best boys time — with a finish of 16:09, a personal best for him this season. Nick Ford finished in ninth place with a time of 16:41.
On the girls’ side of the action, Bellevue won for a complete sweep of the meet. The Islander girls finished in second place with 74 points. Despite the fact that the Bellevue girls team won the event, the individual title went to Tansey Lystad of Juanita with a top time of 18:27. Lindsay Benster of Mercer Island finished just moments behind Lystad for second place with a time of 18:30, and her teammate, Molly O’Callahan, finished third with a time of 19:33. The race also represented season best results for Benster and O’Callahan.
Swimming finished regular season with a win
The Mercer Island girls swim and dive team finished its regular season with a win over Bainbridge to extend its unbeaten streak to a perfect 11-0 at the end of the regular season. The team will face off against Bellevue, Ballard and Roosevelt in the KingCo league championship preliminary event on Thursday, beginning at 4:15 p.m. at Mary Wayte pool, head of the finals on Saturday, also at Mary Wayte, beginning at 3:15 p.m. Swimmers who qualify will compete in the district meet during the weekend of Nov. 6.
Against Bainbridge, the Islanders won 101-85.
Mercer Island won their first event of the meet in the 200-yard medley relay, with Grace Wold, Danielle Deiparine, Madeleine Chandless and Jennifer Pak finishing first with a time of 1 minute, 55 seconds. Wold also went on to win the 50-yard freestyle race with a time of 26.27 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 57.40 seconds. The team of Wold, Christina Williamson, Stephanie Hammond and Pak won the 200-yard freestyle race in 1:45.16 to qualify for the state meet. Pak also qualified in the 100-yard breaststroke event at 1:12.47, behind her teammate Lauren Poli who won the event with a 1:09.53 time.
MIHS grad assistant coach for Spokane Shock
Alex Sirianni, a Mercer Island native, recently concluded his third season as a member of the Spokane Shock arena football team’s coaching staff.
Sirianni is currently the assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the Shock, which won 2009 ArenaCup Championships. During the 2009 season the defensive line allowed the fewest points per game in the arena football league.
Before joining the coaching staff in Spokane, Sirianni was a position coach for two season at Anderson University, in Anderson, Ind. where he also played linebacker for four years. During the Shock’s off season Sirianni helps at Spokane’s Ferris High School.
MIHS boys swim earns national honors
The Mercer Island High School boys swim team earned a national award from the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA), following the team’s fourth consecutive state title last winter.
The NISCA ranks high school swim teams across the country based on the size of the school and whether or not it is a public or private institution.
Mercer Island was named the 2008-2009 National Dual Meet Champions for class 2 public high schools, which includes schools with between 901 and 1,400 students. The swim team also won this same title three of the last four years, in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Mercer Island had a total of 5725 points in the ranking to win the title, beating Pomperaug High School of Southbury, Conn. which placed second with 5,342 points.
The 2009-2010 MIHS boys swim season will kick off Nov. 16.
Islander volleyball blanks Liberty
The Mercer Island girls volleyball team beat the Liberty Patriots last week in a 3-0 rout. The games’ final scores were 26-24, 25-19 and 25-17.
Ariel Dewey recorded 27 assists during the game and had five kills against the Patriots, while Sabrina Rasmussen earned eight kills. Islander senior Kaylia Balinbin had 15 kills, the most for the team that night, and 10 digs. Alisa Owens had 12 digs, while Erin McKiernan and Lorial Yeadon each had five kills.
The team plays at Interlake tonight in the last game of the regular season, before the KingCo tournament, which begins on Friday at Sammamish High School. The Islanders are slated to play the winner of the No. 6-No. 3 match earlier on Friday. The top four teams will earn a spot in the district tournament, which will be played at West Seattle and Sammamish High Schools beginning Nov. 5.
Mercer Island Junior Hoopsters winter camp
Junior Hoopsters, a camp for Mercer Island girls in grades 1-6, is an opportunity for young players to improve their basketball skills while being coached by positive female role models in the community. While attending camp, players will learn the fundamentals of basketball, improve footwork and defensive positioning, practice proper shooting and ball handling form, develop ball movement in a game setting, participate in mini-tournaments and learn plays that the high school team uses in game situations.
The Mercer Island Junior Hoopsters camp is run entirely by the Mercer Island High School coaching staff and players. Proceeds will directly benefit the MIHS Girls Basketball Program. This winter’s camp will be held on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12, Jan. 9, 23, 30, Feb. 6 and 13 at MIHS. Girls in first through third grade will attend camp from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and the fourth- through sixth-grade girls camp will be held from 1 to 2 p.m.
Basketball benefit concert
See the Beatles tribute band, Creme Tangerine at 7 p.m., Nov. 14, at the Mercer Island Community Center during a benefit concert for the MIHS girls basketball team. There will also be a silent auction and raffle during the event.
For more information and to learn how to register, visit www.migb.org.
