Community Sports
Sports Beat | Gig Harbor girls second at state
The Gig Harbor girls golf team finished second at the Class 3A state tournament, with the five-player Tides team tallying 653 strokes over two 18-hole rounds.
Gig Harbor senior Carly Ikei finished third individually, just eight strokes behind the winner at Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane on May 20 and 21. Ikei’s two-day total of 149 was just two strokes over par. She was in the hunt for the individual state title deep into the second round.
Ikei will go down as one of the best golfers in school history after leading teams that finished fourth, third, fourth and now second in the state during her four years on the team.
“I am very pleased with my third place finish individually and our second place finish as a team. It was a great way to end our season this year.” Ikei said. “I’ve been able to see my personal improvement along with our team growing and connecting and I feel the Gig Harbor community helped foster the athlete that I am today.”
Carly Ikei
Gig Harbor freshman Myla Louch finished 10th in her first state tournament with a 161 and freshman Kaliya Ikei was 19th with a 171. Juniors Sofia Skogen posted a 174 for 25th place and Laila Douglas shot a 175 for 27th place. All should be back with the Tides next spring.
Add those players to incoming freshman Olivia Snyder, who previously won a Washington Junior Golf Association state title last year, and Layna Louch, who is already shooting in the low 70s, and it may just be a matter of time until the Tides hoist a 3A state championship trophy.
GH boys sixth as team; Snyder fourth individually
The Gig Harbor boys golf team finished sixth at the Class 3A state tournament with a final tally of 625 strokes. That was 20 strokes behind champion Mercer Island at the Creek at Qualchan Golf Course in Spokane on May 20 and 21.
The Tides expected more though and may admit to going through a somewhat disappointing end to their season. After winning the Gamble Sands Invitational at the midseason point the boys looked like they would be in contention for a state title, but golf is a fickle game. They suffered an upset to Bellarmine for the league championship before finishing third at the district tournament.
Junior Theo Synder did his part at state. He shot a one-over round of 73 on opening day, good for third place individually and just two strokes off the lead.
Theo Snyder of Gig Harbor. Photo by Dennis Browne
Snyder was even better in the final round with a sizzling 1-under 71. But Calvin Cakarnis from Liberty shot up the leaderboard with a 4-under-par 68 to win the tournament. Snyder finished fourth, just two strokes behind Cakarnis.
“Honestly, it was a tough one because I felt like I was hitting it really well from tee to green both days,” Snyder said. “I just couldn’t get those putts to drop — they kept burning the edge, especially as it came down to the last few holes. But that’s golf.”
Four Tides seniors closed out their high school careers at state. Davis Dansie and Liam Dalbec both shot 160 to tie for 45th. Henry Wilsie’s 161 was good for 50th while Timmy Quirk shot a 168.
Fastpitch teams advance
Both local fastpitch teams qualified for the state tournament at the West Central District Tournament in Lacey last week. State tournament play is May 22-24, back at Lacey’s Regional Athletic Complex.
Gig Harbor advanced to state after finishing second at the district tournament.
The Tides (19-5) are getting stronger as they go and showed a potent offense. They entered districts seeded fourth and defeated Decatur, 16-6, and Central Kitsap, 12-7, on May 15. The Tides and CK tied for the Puget Sound League Narrows Division crown.
The Gig Harbor High School fastpitch team
The Tides returned a couple of days later and upset No. 1-seeded Prairie, 4-1, in a semifinal game. Gig Harbor fell to Enumclaw (22-2), 8-3, in the district finals.
Peninsula (17-10) dropped their tournament opener to that same Enumclaw team, 11-1. The Seahawks then defeated Decatur, 8-3, and Auburn Mountain View, 10-8, to return to the Class 3A state tournament.
The Seahawks were seeded 13th at state and play a loser-out game against No. 20 Southridge (14-13) at the RAC at 3 p.m. May 22.
The Tides earned the seventh seed and play No. 10 Snohomish (17-8) at 9 a.m. Friday, May 23, at the RAC.
The Peninsula High School fastpitch team
Baseball teams open state play
The West Central District baseball title game was a local affair. Seventh-ranked Peninsula upset No. 1 Gig Harbor, 4-2, at Auburn High School on May 17.
The Seahawks (17-7) used quality pitching from freshman Daniel Sleeter and timely hitting from senior Isaac Schultz-Tait to avenge an earlier season loss to the Tides and bring home the district title trophy.
The Peninsula High baseball team
The Tides (23-2) won the division and league titles, but the Seahawks have plenty of talent too. Their district tournament performance showed they are a serious contender for the 3A state championship.
The Seahawks earned the fifth seed for the state tournament. Peninsula will face twelfth-seeded Eastside Catholic (16-9) in a loser-out game at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 24, at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue.
The Tides earned the second seed at state and face a loser-out game against No. 15 West Seattle (15-9) at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 24, at Lincoln High School.
The Gig Harbor High baseball team
GH soccer rallies for state berth
The Gig Harbor (13-4-2) boys soccer team advanced to the state tournament by rallying after losing an early game in the district tournament, 1-0, to eventual champion Heritage.
The Tides, battle-tested after playing in the rugged Puget Sound League, beat Enumclaw 5-1 on May 13 in a loser-out game. They then survived a wild 5-4 victory over Mountain View on May 15 at Stadium High School to advance to state.
Tides coach Joe Ross described the win over Mountain View as an “insane game.” The Tides’ Jack Learned scored within the first 20 seconds and added another goal near the end. Henry Blake, Eli Hanson and Jackson Powell also added goals as the Tides qualified for state for the 10th consecutive year.
The Tides are seventh in the WIAA’s Class 3A RPI rankings.
They earned a 10th seed at state and will open up against seventh-seeded Seattle Prep (8-5-6) at 7 p.m. Friday, May 23, at McKenzie Stadium in Bellevue.
To defeat Seattle Prep, Ross said, “we will need to be disciplined, work as a team and take advantage of our scoring opportunities when they present themselves.”
Gig Harbor High School boys soccer
GH girls win league track championship
The Gig Harbor girls won the inaugural Puget Sound League track and field conference championship during the league meet May 13 to 15 at Mount Tahoma High. The Tides scored 137 points to beat second place Central Kitsap, who scored 128 points. Peninsula accumulated 49 points and finished seventh.
The Tides boys team finished third with 81 points while the Seahawks boys team finished seventh with 46 points which took seventh place out of 12 competing teams.
The district meet is this week at Kent-Meridian High School and Star Track, the state championships, is May 29-31 at Mount Tahoma High School.
The following local athletes won Puget Sound League conference titles.
Girls
100 meters: Isabelle Harruff, Gig Harbor, sophomore, 12.42
200 meters: Harruff, GH, 25.61
800 meters: Lejla Carlsson, Gig Harbor, junior, 2:15.29
1600 meters: Carlsson, GH, 4:57.85
3200 meters: Taylor Sletner, Gig Harbor, senior, 10:45.99
100 meters hurdles: Easley Hering, Gig Harbor, sophomore, 15.27
300 meters hurdles: Karin Heikkila, Gig Harbor, junior, 45.38
4×400 relay: Gig Harbor (Sofia Simmonds, Sletner, Bailey Schroeder, Carlsson), 4:06.72
Shot Put: Suri Sardinia, Peninsula, junior, 39-06.25 feet
Discus: Sardinia, Peninsula, 127 feet, 10 inches
High Jump: Emma Young, junior, and Elsie Leavengood, sophomore, both Peninsula, 5 feet, tie
Boys
High Jump: Asher Finch, GH junior, 5’-10” feet- PSL Champion
Tennis
The Class 3A tennis state tournaments are this week. Peninsula’s Makenna Baurichter and Margaux Mayer, the Puget Sound League championship doubles team, will compete on the girls side. The Gig Harbor doubles team of Chase Horrocks and Colin Nelson and Gig Harbor singles player Braden Smee will compete on the boys side. The tournament is May 23 to 24 at the Vancouver Tennis Center.