Community Sports

Sports Beat | Gig Harbor wins 11 of 12 swimming events against Peninsula

The Gig Harbor (4-1) girls swimming team hosted Peninsula for a duel in the pool that’s the “real” Fish Bowl, according to Tides head coach Mike Kelly.

Kelly’s team came away with a 116-67 victory over the Seahawks on Thursday, Oct. 3.

Kelly was impressed with his team’s determination, refuse-to-lose attitude and recovery between events. Several of his swimmers swam four events without any significant decline in their performances.

The Tides won 11 of the 12 events. Gig Harbor swimmers also finished second in five of the 11 victories.

The Tides remained perfect in the Puget Sound League’s Narrows Division. Their only setback of the season was a nonleague loss to Bainbridge Island, 94-86. Gig Harbor has overwhelmed four league opponents by a combined score of 517-189.

In the dual meet against Peninsula, the winners for the Tides included:

• Jenna Nelson in the 200-yard freestyle.
• Kaitlyn Latendresse in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke.
• Beau Ensminger in the 200-yard individual medley and the the 500-yard freestyle.
• Brooklyn Learned in the 100-yard breaststroke and the-100 yard freestyle.
• Diver Julia Davis, whose combined score of 207.6 edged Jordan Givot of Peninsula’s 191.6.
• And three Tides relay teams.

One of the closest races of the day involved Peninsula’s Kate Henkel and Gig Harbor’s Latendresse churning for home in the 100-yard butterfly. Henkel powered down the last 50 yards to secure a win for her team by out reaching Latendresse by just 0.12 of a second, 1:09.32 to 1:09.44.

The Seahawks are 2-2 in dual meets and will be eyeing an Oct. 19 rematch with the Tides and several other teams at the Swimvitational in Bremerton.

Peninsula coach Athena Petterson was upbeat after the meet and liked the fight she saw in her team.

“I saw the competitive fire that I wanted to see in my girls and in almost all of our individual varsity events, we went for season-best times,” Petterson said. “There were some very close races and this made made me very excited for the postseason.”

Gig Harbor’s Hammer commits to Cal

Aiden Hammer, a two-time state champion for Gig Harbor, announced a commitment to swim for California. Hammer, a junior at Gig Harbor, competed in the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials this summer.

Cal now strangely competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference because of its unfortunate departure from the Pac-12, but the Golden Bears bring a national reputation to their new league. Cal has eight NCAA men’s swimming team championships.

Hammer will still swim for the Tides this winter with the goal of adding more state championships to the Tide trophy case.

Volleyball teams eye rivalry match next week

Both local volleyball teams lost matches 3-1 on Wednesday, Oct. 2. But both teams probably felt like they could have just as easily won those matches if they had sustained momentum late in games.

Peninsula (4-4) hosted Lincoln (4-4), which came across the bridge looking for a sweep of Gig Harbor-area teams. The Abes rallied to defeat the Tides on Sept. 10, winning the final three games after Gig Harbor took the first two.

On Wednesday, Peninsula jumped out to a quick lead thanks to a string of excellent serves by Emma Young and explosive kills by Ziah Sneva.

But then the Seahawks committed several serving errors in a row, allowing Lincoln to claw back to take game one.

Senior Sarah Hurn played well in the second game, receiving pinpoint passes from senior setter Georgia Buckland. But it wasn’t enough as the Abes hit shots with velocity and took game two.

The Seahawks got their serves in play and started feeding Sneva in the third game. The senior and Washington State commit emphatically answered with hard kills and a few blocks for scores.

Young and sophomore Leah Schmidt — who, with Sneva, form one of the tallest front lines in the conference — helped the Seahawks take game three. But Lincoln survived with a close game-four win to take the match.

The Seahawks play at Central Kitsap on Tuesday, Oct. 8, before a much-anticipated home game against Gig Harbor at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10.

Capital rally zips Tides

Those Tides were, oh so close to forcing a fourth game against Capital in Olympia on Wednesday, Oct. 2. But Capital repeatedly found its best player, Devyn Zipperer, down the stretch to turn a 23-20 deficit into a 26-24 win in the decisive fourth game.

Gig Harbor received some excellent serves by Aspen Greene and some timely kills by freshman Kylie Goranson and the hard-hitting Maggie Maharry. Returning all-conference libero Payton Heim was all over the court and Hannah Artman was playing well above the net.

But Capital got the crucial points when they needed to in the fourth game, despite some incredible saving shots from senior Bridget Bender who was doing magic tricks.

Gig Harbors hosts Timberline at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, before the showdown at Peninsula.

Tides tennis second in league

The Gig Harbor boys tennis team is in second in the Puget Sound League at 9-1, with a loss to Silas the only blemish. The Tides are a deep squad with doubles teams that produce points. Their top singles player, Hugh Vicente, has a ton of game and all the required shots that a returning two-time state participant should have.

The Tides used their depth to defeat Peninsula High (4-4) 4-1 on Sept. 22. Results included:

• Vicente defeated Seahawks ace Adam Massey by the score of 6-1, 6-0.
• Gig Harbor’s first doubles team of Colin Nelson and Chase Horrocks won 6-1, 6-3.
• The Tides’ second doubles team of Jonah Eilers and Luke Jolibois won a tight match over Peninsula’s Kim brothers (Gabe and Hunter) 6-3, 6-4.
• Peninsula’s win came at second singles, where Corey Wisner defeated Braden Smee in three-sets thriller, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
• Gig Harbor closed the match out with a victory by third doubles team Jaron Simler and Parker Bare, 7-5, 7-6, (9-7 tiebreak).

Vicente’s lone league loss came to Brady Acklin of Silas. The Tide had 10 break points but only managed to win one. A possible key to victory in a rematch will be for Vicente to take more chances during those points and go for more winners in decisive points.

Peninsula loses a heartbreaker

Peninsula (1-3, 0-1 Puget Sound League Nisqually Division) football plays at North Thurston (1-3) on Friday, Oct. 4, looking for a win after a heartbreaking, 24-21 loss to Capital on Sept. 27.

The Seahawks surrendered scores in the closing seconds of both halves in the three-point loss to Capital (2-2, 1-0).

At the end of the first half, it was a hook-and-ladder play. Then, with less than two minutes left in the game, the Cougars scored on a 35-yard touchdown pass.

That only tied the game, though. It appeared the two teams would need overtime to settle matters.

But Capital soon found itself with the ball at its own 6 yard line with 22 seconds remaining. A Cougar running back gained 54 yards, followed by their quarterback scrambling for another 20 before going out of bounds with a single second left.

Capital made a 34-yard field goal on the last play to provide the winning margin.

The Seahawks got fine games from Mana Smythe, Wyatt Abrigo, Carson Zimmermann, Nehemiah Grandorff, Royal Charles, Kobe Dejohnette and Jake Akiskalian. All played with maximum intensity but the Seahawks just couldn’t get a stop when they needed it most.

Tides’ skid hits three games

Across town, Gig Harbor is on a three-game skid after opening up the season with a 14-10 Fish Bowl win. The Tides’ most recent loss was to Lincoln on Sept. 27, 26-6.

The Tides concentrated on containing Lincoln’s college-prospect quarterback Sione Kaho. But they also had to deal with explosive running back Jadeon Scranton, who rushed for three touchdowns.

Gig Harbor moved the ball at times but had to settle for just two Boone Leverett field goals against a quick and physical Abes defense. The Tide defense eventually wore down and succumbed to the Abe’s offensive attack.

Gig Harbor hosts Silas (1-3) on Oct. 4.

The Tides have absorbed the intermittent loss of one of their best receivers in DJ Darling, who has battled Achilles soreness. They have a freshman starting quarterback in Sawyer Hayes, a talented gamer who is still learning on the job without his best receiver.

The Tides have received inspired play from Ryland Geldermann, Peyton Howard, Liam Greene, Troy Arnold, Keegan Johnson and newcomer Cole Krilich, who has led the Tides in tackling in several games.

It looks like the Tides could use another running back to spell Geldermann, who handles a high percentage of carries but also plays middle linebacker on defense. Both positions are important and among the most physically demanding on the field. It seems almost impossible for Geldermann, who is very tough, to remain fresh in the fourth quarter, without some other Tides running backs taking pressure off.

Soccer teams still cruising

Gig Harbor girls soccer (6-1-1, 5-0-1 Narrows) came away with a scoreless tie against Central Kitsap on Oct. 1. But they certainly had their chances to win.

In a very well-played game between Narrows division leaders, the Tides out-shot the Cougars 16-6 with a couple of attempts barely missing. An Oct. 17 rematch could very well decide the division champion.

The Tides rebounded nicely with a 6-0 drubbing of Bellarmine Prep on Oct. 3 at Roy Anderson Field. Elizabeth Hayes scored two goals and Molly Leverett, Sage Sturrock, Taylor Sullivan and Elise Miller had one each.

The Tides play at Silas on Oct. 8.

Seahawks get crucial win

The Peninsula Seahawks (7-1, 5-0, Nisqually League) put themselves in the drivers seat in the Nisqually Division with a 5-4 victory over Lakes on Sept. 26. The Seahawks also defeated Capital (by a 7-4 score) and Timberline (3-0) this week.

Ella Coates had two goals and an assist against Timberline, while Nora Sutherland scored the third goal. Maya Rogers and Kayla Johnson notched assists while goalie Brooklyn Finch recorded her third shutout of the year.

Peninsula is ranked No. 5 and Gig Harbor No. 7 in the WIAA’s latest RPI rankings.

The two schools are not currently scheduled to play each other. They could meet in divisional crossover games in late October or in the postseason.

The annual games between these two rivals were exceptional over the last few years and must-see games for the large local soccer community.