Community Sports

Sports Beat | Gig Harbor golfers come home with second-place trophies

Gig Harbor placed second at the Class 3A girls golf state championship May 19 and 20 at Deer Park Golf Club near Spokane, finishing behind a Bellevue team that had two players tie for the individual state title.

Tides freshman Olivia Snyder finished fifth individually, shooting a 73 on day one and a par round of 72 on day two.

Sophomore Kaliya Ikei was ninth with a 76-72, while sophomore Myla Louch was 12th with a 74-78. Her sister, freshman Layna Louch, had twin 77s to finished 15th while senior Sofia Skogen was 25th with rounds of 81 and 79. The Tides’ Laila Douglas shot rounds of 86 and 83.

That adds up to four Tides underclassmen in the top 15. They will take another run at a state title in 2027, after Bellevue graduate fours of its top five players.

Gig Harbor finished second at the Class 3A girls golf state tournament. Photo courtesy of Jeff Milbourn

Theo Snyder one stroke behind

The Gig Harbor boys placed fifth as a team, while senior Theo Snyder came oh-so-close to winning an individual title.

Snyder finished second, just one stroke behind winner Brayden Anderson from Cheney High School. The state tournament was at Indian Creek in Spokane — which happens to be Cheney High’s home course.

One can easily envision Snyder winning the Class 3A state championship but for that coincidence. Experience on a course is easily worth a few strokes per round.

Snyder shot a 69 followed by a 68 and walked off the course with his head held high after completing a fantastic high school career.

Gig Harbor freshman Zane Allred was in second place after day one, when he scorched the course with a 68. Allred cooled a bit on day two with a 73 to finish eighth.

Gig Harbor sophomore Charlie Eichenberg had a 75-84, senior Max Ferrier shot back-to-back 80s and junior August Schaumburg provided rounds of 79 and 82. Gig Harbor sophomore James Burleigh, competing as an individual, fired a first-day 76.

Peninsula senior Christian Callan closed his high school career with a round of 79.

Peninsula’s Baurichter to state

Peninsula senior McKenna Baurichter qualified for the Class 3A state tennis tournament with two lopsided victories in the District III championships at the Boeing Tennis Center in Kent on May 16.

After opening the tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 victory, Baurichter provided a complete performance in a 6-0, 6-1 win to clinch a berth in the state tournament May 22 and 23 at the Vancouver Tennis Center.

Peninsula sophomore David Ghazaryan will join her on the trip. He qualified for state during boys district tournament play last fall.

District track

Plenty of Peninsula and Gig Harbor competitors will run, jump and throw at the Class 3A District III track and field championships May 21 through 23 at Kent Meridian High School.

Top contenders for Peninsula include Suri Sardinia in the discus and shot put and Emma Young, who finished second in the high jump at state a couple years ago.

Sardinia, a senior, won Puget Sound League championships in both events on May 14 at North Thurston High School. Young also grabbed a league title with a jump of 5-0.

Emma Young of Peninsula won the Puget Sound League high jump championship. Photo courtesy of Tyler Nugent

But the Gig Harbor girls ran away with the league team title, compiling 168 points and outdistancing second-place Bellarmine by 32 points.

The Gig Harbor boys finished third with 84 points.

The Peninsula girls were fourth with 66 points and the Seahawk boys finished 11th.

Gig Harbor individual champions

Tides freshman Violet Lester won the PSL 400 meter championship with a sprint of 59.08 seconds. Teammate Lejla Carlsson won the 800 meters in a time of 2:17.22, holding off Tides freshman Maya Crane (2:18.99).

Those two runners went at it again in the 1,600 meters, with Carlsson winning with a 5:14.68 to Crane’s 5:15.50.

Lejla Carlsson of Gig Harbor won the 800 and the 1,600 meter races at Puget Sound League championships. Photo courtesy of Gig Harbor track

Tides sophomore Ella Savage won the 3,200 meters after a 11:28.59 effort.

Gig Harbor’s reigning state champion 4×100 relay team looked sharp in winning a league championship with a run of 48.81. Relay members included Eisley Hering, Karin Heikkila, Addison Sullivan-Glennon and Isabelle Harruff.

Harruff and Sullivan-Glennon won a second championship in the 4×200 relay, when they shared batons with Lester and Kennedy Collins and turned in a blazing time of 1:43.55.

Gavin McKeegan of Gig Harbor won the 3,200 meters race with a time of 9:24.19.

Tides fastpitch season over

Gig Harbor’s season ended with a 9-0 loss to Southridge at the Class 3A fastpitch state tournament on May 21 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey. The Tides (16-6) will lose the services of seniors Payton Cantrell and Savanna Newville but will return several talented freshmen.

Third-seeded Peninsula (22-4) opened state tournament play against No. 14 Kennewick (15-10) at 9 a.m. May 22 at the RAC.

The Gig Harbor fastpitch team. Photo courtesy of Gig Harbor fastpitch

Water polo teams on to state

Gig Harbor defeated Peninsula, 16-4, on May 18 in water polo.

Both teams are already headed for state, though in different divisions. Peninsula is the No. 2 seed in the Division II tournament. A top-four performance there would earn the Seahawks an invitation to the District I state tournament a few days later at Curtis High School.

The Tides will play the winner of the District II championship in the first round of the Division I tournament.

Alex Ensminger of Gig Harbor shoots during the win over Peninsula. Photo courtesy of Mike Kelly

The Tides (9-6) celebrated senior day before playing the Seahawks, honoring seniors Jenna Nelson and Lauren Elliott.

Eva Dahlin and Naomi Crosby scored four goals each for Gig Harbor in the win over Peninsula. Elliott had three goals and Meiya Overland added two. Tides goalkeeper Annika Shearer had six blocks and Gig Harbor registered 22 steals.

Big weekend ahead

Several local teams launch state tournament runs this weekend. They include:

Gig Harbor boys soccer (14-2-1): The No. 4 seeds in the Class 3A state tournament host No. 13 Walla Walla (13-7) at 7 p.m. Friday, May 22, at Roy Anderson Field.

Peninsula baseball (19-6): The 12th-seeded Seahawks play No. 5 Snohomish (18-5) at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23, at Auburn High School.

Gig Harbor baseball (19-8): The No. 3 Tides baseball team face No. 14 Liberty (18-7) at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23, at Lincoln High School.

The Peninsula baseball team. Photo courtesy PHS baseball