Mercer Island High School graduate Rendy Opdycke swam the Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to the California mainland, in eight hours and 28 minutes on Aug. 9. It is the third fastest time for a woman and the sixth fastest time overall, out of 145 people who have swam the channel solo since 1927.
The Olympics have a little something for every sports fan — casual or diehard. Watching Michael Phelps has been great theater. Although there is no relation to myself as far as I know, I do get a kick out of seeing “Phelps wins gold” flash on every news and sports Web site on the Internet. But Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals, the most won at one Games by an Olympian in history, brings the best of sports to the forefront of our culture. I haven’t heard much talk of steroids at these games — the only time was when previous world record holders hailed from the former East Germany.
Mudville tryouts
Mercer Island head football coach, Bill Heglar, resigned on Thursday, taking the athletic director’s position at Kentlake High School because of a lack of teaching opportunities at Mercer Island High School.
Two things have been constant in Hugh Miller’s life — Mercer Island and bowling. And while he has drifted away from each at one time or another, he has returned to both. Miller grew up on the Island and graduated from Mercer Island High School in 1975. That was when the lane of life rolled him into stardom.
In most communities, summer is a time for relaxing. Organized sports fall to the wayside in favor of vacations and recreation. But Mercer Island doesn’t fall into that category.
Former Mercer Island High School graduate and coach Brad Rorem has had a lot of experience with parents and adolescent athletes. He has played and coached football and wrestling for the Islanders and is currently a high school teacher. Rorem will use his experiences to teach a class at Bellevue Community College and help parents through this phase of their child’s life, starting on June 26 for five Thursdays.
