Community Sports
Super Seniors | Peninsula High School girls
With the high school sports season completed, Gig Harbor Now presents our Super Seniors for the 2025-26 sports year.
Super Seniors recognizes seniors who had huge impacts on their teams during their careers at Peninsula and Gig Harbor high schools.
From left, Janelle Ramones, Nora Sutherland, Bailey Parker, Beverly Dover and Suri Sardinia.
Although many senior athletes excel at multiple sports, an athlete can only be selected once on our list. The award is based on the athletes’ complete high school careers rather than individual seasons. It includes Puget Sound League-sanctioned sports as well as water polo and lacrosse if those teams’ rosters included contributing seniors.
More Super Seniors
The following are the Peninsula High School girls Super Seniors for the 2025-26 sports year, starting with fall sports participants.
Soccer: Nora Sutherland
Nora Sutherland. Photo by Peninsula High soccer
Sutherland played soccer like a Stealth Bomber gliding around the pitch. She seemed quiet and harmless until she spotted an opening, and then boom. Goal!
Sutherland was a two-time Most Valuable Player in the Puget Sound League Nisqually Division.
She possessed serious ball skills, sprinters’ speed and a thunderous right foot. Sutherland also had a deep understanding of offensive soccer, which helped her anticipate openings. She was often in the right place and rarely missed an opportunity to score.
The four-year varsity player contributed to three state tournament teams, a district championship team and two division championship teams. The Seahawks went 46-18 during those seasons.
Sutherland has the skill to play collegiately, but she chose to hang up her cleats and pursue a degree at Boise State University. “I loved soccer and it was a big part of my life,” she said. “I’m looking forward to a new chapter in my life but I will always remember my teammates, all of our success and the good times at Peninsula High.”
Swimming: Ryan Garrels
Ryan Garrels. Photo by Athena Petterson
The Seahawks were a young team last year and needed the experience and leadership of team captain Garrels. She specialized in the 200 freestyle as well as the backstroke and butterfly events on teams that went to the state tournament over the past three seasons.
Garrels only started swimming competitively as a freshman. She made huge leaps in just a couple of years.
Coach Athena Petterson said Garrels “took it upon herself to make sure the dynamics on the team were what they should be and also managed the boys team all four years that she was in high school. She has contributed so much to both team cultures and has changed both of them for the better.”
Volleyball: Emma Young
Emma Young. Photo by Peninsula High volleyball
Young was a 6-foot-1 kill and block machine for the Seahawks. Her leaping ability allowed her to “roof” players while also smashing spikes as the Seahawks reached the state tournament in two of her four seasons.
Young’s quick feet, excellent timing and court awareness made her stand out. Her leaping was next-level, though. She finished second at the state high jump finals during her track and field career.
Young played with emotion and grit and was a team captain and mentor as an upperclassman.
Wrestling: Bailey Parker
Bailey Parker. Photo by Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun
Parker won three Class 3A state championships to become one of the most accomplished athletes in Peninsula High School’s history. She closed out her career by going 40-0 as a senior in the 155-pound division, pinning every opponent at state. Only one of those state opponents even lasted to the second round.
Parker is as soft-spoken and kind off the mat as she is tough and brutal on it. She didn’t lose a single Puget Sound League match over the last three years.
Seahawk head coach Gary Griffin knows how rare, talented and selfless Parker is.
“Bailey’s dominance on the mat is undeniable, but her legacy is defined by more than just the three state titles and numerous tournament championships,” Griffin said. “From the first day in the room, she was our hardest worker who always had an unmatched work ethic. Bailey will be missed for her success, but even more for the character she brought to our entire program.”
Basketball: Beverly Dover
Beverly Dover. Photo courtesy Peninsula basketball
Dover, Peninsula’s lone senior, led the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game while snagging 5.2 rebounds per game. The 6-foot Dover transferred from Gig Harbor to lead a young Seahawks team to a 9-12 record.
Dover was one of the tallest players in the league but rarely was a back-to-the-basket type of player. She lived on the 3-point line and had face-up ball skills. She led the Seahawks in 3-pointers made.
Dover also also led the Seahawks in blocked shots and was always a tough matchup for opposing league coaches, who voted her first-team All Nisqually Division.
Bowling: Janelle Ramones
Janelle Ramones. Photo courtesy of Kristy Whitcher
Ramones bowled a 552 over three games at the Puget Sound League championships as a senior, knocking off a favored opponent by six pins for the individual title.
Ramones made district and state tournament appearances as a junior and a senior. Coach Kristy Whitcher, a former pro bowler, said Ramones’ desire to improve surpassed any high school bowler that she has ever coached.
“She always wanted to get better and improve. She asked thoughtful, technical questions and then went out and put that information to use,” Whitcher said.
Flag football: Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith. Photo courtesy Brent Campbell
Smith was a running back who could flat-out fly. She led the Seahawks in rushing for two straight seasons and was also an effective receiver out of the backfield.
“Sydney was a very gifted athlete with exceptional speed,” Seahawk coach Brent Campbell said. “Her low center of gravity, evasive moves and blazing speed made her a menace to opposing team’s defenses.”
Smith’s talents weren’t reserved for the offensive side of the ball. The linebacker was one of the Seahawks’ best flag-pullers and used her speed to cover tight ends and inside slot receivers. “She was a terror on the defensive side of the ball as well,” Campbell said.
Tennis: McKenna Baurichter
McKenna Baurichter. Photo by Bryce Carithers
Baurichter became one of the most accomplished Seahawks tennis players with her automatic ground strokes, consistent serve and an improved net game.
Baurichter won the South Sound Conference singles championship as a sophomore, then came close to a state appearance with a run through districts. She and partner Margaux Mayer won a Puget Sound League doubles championship and reached the state tournament the next year.
Baurichter returned to singles as a senior and qualified for the state tournament.
Fastpitch: Meghan Webster
Meghan Webster. Photo by Ben Griffin
Webster was a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher whose three varsity seasons included a district title as a senior and a Class 3A state appearance. Webster, the team captain, led the Seahawks to a 21-6 record and a top five in-season ranking in 2026.
She also played a solid second base for the Seahawks with a .938 fielding percentage when she wasn’t pitching. She was good in the batters box as well, with a .348 average and 26 runs batted in.
Webster had a big, late-inning hit to seal a win over Timberline in the district championship game. Coach Mike Paul credited Webster’s leadership: “Without a leader like Webster being a rock, we do not have the same success.”
Track: Suri Sardinia
Suri Sardinia
Sardinia won the school’s first state championship in the discus this spring. She almost pulled off a second title, finishing second in the Class 3A shot put.
Sardinia stacked long days in the Peninsula weight room to become a powerful and explosive athlete in both throwing events. Known for a work ethic that was second to none, Sardinia finished third in the discus at state as a junior. She worked hard in the summer to have a chance at a state championship, and her efforts paid off.
“She will be remembered as an incredibly driven young woman, that always expected to achieve greatness,” coach Dylan Hall said.
Water polo: Olivia Gaston
Editor’s note: Unfortunately, no photo of Olivia Gaston was available.
Gaston was an attacking player who swims with explosive power and finds the net for scores against defenses that were designed to neutralize her.
Gaston was a captain and instrumental in the Seahawks’ run to a Division Two state tournament berth. She was a first-team Puget Sound Water Polo League performer as a senior.