Category Archives: wiaa

State Swimming & Diving Finals thread

The second day of the state girls swimming and diving championships are underway at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

The Class 2A meet is underway and top qualifier Port Angeles won the 200-yard medley relay with a hard charge from Liberty, 1:50.76 to 1:51.31.

Port Townsend was named the academic champion with a team grade point average of 3.508 for 1A and head coach Peter Braden.

200 freestyle final: Klahowya junior Kira Crane placed fifth in 1:57.39 and North Kitsap’s Isabel Hendryx was sixth in 1:59.90.

200 IM consolation final: Olympic sophomore Chloe Partsch finished 10th overall in 2:16.82, well ahead of her prelim time of 2:20.54 from Friday.

50 free final: North Kitsap freshman Eleanor Beers won her first state title in the 50 freestyle in 23.36. That’s the second fastest all-time in 2A and she tied with Missy McIntyre of Oak Harbor for the top 10 all-time.

100 butterfly final: Klahowya’s Crane finished second to Alexis Schmidtt of Cheney, 58.21 to 58.24. Partsch of Olympic was sixth.

100 free final: Beers claimed her second individual title with a time of 50.98, a state record by one-one hundredth of a second. Amelia Messegee held the record of 50.99 since Nov. 10, 2007.

500 free final: Kingston’s Claudia Velie finished fifth.

200 free relay final: Liberty edged North Kitsap to win the relay, 1:39.45 to 1:39.84.

100 backstroke final: North’s Isabel Hendryx finished second to two-time state champion Taylor McCoy of Pullman. McCoy will swim at WSU next year. Hendryx’s had a time of 59.58 to McCoy’s 56.40.

400 free relay: North Kitsap won in a time of 3:14.36, holding off Liberty in 3:14.71.

North Kitsap finished fourth overall. It’s the first Greg Braun-led Vikings team to podium at the state meet in his 26 years as head coach.

Class 3A

Bainbridge senior Zora Opalka receives her gold medal from Spartans head coach Sarah Bullock at the Class 3A state swimming and diving meet. Opalka is the first female diver to win a state championship for Bainbridge. (Annette Griffus/Kitsap Sun)
Bainbridge senior Zora Opalka receives her gold medal from Spartans head coach Sarah Bullock at the Class 3A state swimming and diving meet. Opalka is the first female diver to win a state championship for Bainbridge.
(Annette Griffus/Kitsap Sun)

1-meter diving: Bainbridge’s Zora Opalka won the school’s first girls title with 422.10 points to hold off Lakeside’s Amber Chong, 421.70. Bainbridge’s Cammy Rouser was fifth.

200 IM final: Central Kitsap sophomore Taylor Sims placed eighth in 2:14.03.

NK relays ranked No. 1 heading to 2A state swim meet

nkswimThe North Kitsap 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays are ranked No. 1 heading into the Class 2A state swimming and diving championships this week at the King County Aquatic Center.

The 200 free relay, which won the West Central District title last weekend, set a district record in 1 minute, 40.54 seconds. The winning relay included Isabel Hendryx, Dannica Hennings, Izy Iral and Eleanor Beers. NK coach Greg Braun uses the same lineup for the 400.

It was also during the district meet that NK set four school records, and three meet records, on the first day and then five school records and five meet records the second day.

Swim dad RJ Iral put together a great little video of the relay win.

Bonus: I’ve mentioned the name Eleanor Beers before on The Blogstroke, as an age grouper, but this will be her first high school state finals. Beers, a freshman from North Kitsap, anchored both relays for the Vikings at district and then just destroyed the field in the 100 freestyle (which you can watch here). Will be fun to see what she can do Friday and hopefully Saturday.

Olympic-ATM football thread

We’ll have game updates for the big Olympic and Archbishop Murphy (cue Empire Strikes back theme) game today.

We’ll also post social media mentions here as well as links to how other outlets view this story.

ATM 48, Olympic 0 (Final): Trojans had a chance to score late in first quarter but an interception by ATM sets up the Wildcats touchdown as they lead 21-0. Wildcats add another TD leading up to the end of the first half.

Click here to read the Seattle Times story by Jayda Evans

Here is our story, by Jeff Graham, and photos from Larry Steagall of Saturday’s game

 

 

WIAA executive board makes changes to state hoops format, using RPI

On Monday the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Executive Board voted to increase the number of teams at each state basketball championship site from eight to 12 and approved the use of a Rating Percentage Index (RPI).

The updated format, which will go into effect for the 2016-17 season, will keep regional sites for the first round. Final tournament sites are staying the same with 4A and 3A at the Tacoma Dome, 1A/2A at the Yakima Valley SunDome and 2B/1B at Spokane.

The RPI system will be used to seed the 16 teams that qualify for the first round (regionals). The system will not be used in the qualification to regional sites, only for seeding purposes after the qualifying teams are in place. The State Basketball Format Committee will continue to refine the details of the RPI system, the WIAA said in the release.

The WIAA said each district will continue to control its respective tournaments to determine the 16 teams for each classification.

You can find an example of the new 16-team bracket here.

The board voted on the changes after garnering feedback from administrators and coaches around the state via an online survey, and from different communities. The format chosen was the most popular with 71 percent in favor of using an RPI to seed tournaments.

WIAA concludes investigation into Bellevue football program

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association completed its fact-finding investigation regarding the Bellevue High School football program on Thursday and presented it to the school district.

Here is the press release in it’s entirety;

Fact-Finding Report for Bellevue High School Complete

RENTON – The results of an independent fact-finding of alleged violations toward the Bellevue High School football program are complete.  The fact-finding report has been presented to the Bellevue School District for them to review.

The fact-finding examined five specific allegations as requested by the Bellevue School District in August 2015.

The results of the independent fact-finding of the alleged violations include facts regarding four of the five allegations that:

  • Coaches directed athletes to attend the Academic Institute
  • Boosters paid for tuition of athletes at the Academic Institute
  • False addresses for athletes were utilized to gain eligibility
  • Coaches coordinated tuition payments for athletes

The fact-finding concluded that there was not sufficient information to support the fifth allegation that athletes received subsidized housing to gain eligibility.  The report also details additional areas of concern that arose during the course of the fact-finding.
 
The Bellevue School District is committed to a thorough review and a timely response to all information included in the fact-finding report.  Per WIAA process, Bellevue High School will report on the findings to the KingCo League. 
 
“Our mission is to ensure that all students in the state are competing on a fair and level playing field,” said WIAA Executive Director Mike Colbrese.  “The Association provides structure and process for schools and districts to ensure there is accountability.”
 
Due to the ongoing process of review, the WIAA and the Bellevue School District will not provide additional comments or statements at this time.