Community Sports

Sports Beat | Gig Harbor sixth at girls state swimming meet

The Gig Harbor girls swimming and diving team used their depth and the speed of their relay teams to finish sixth at the WIAA Class 3A state championships held Nov. 14 to 16 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Tides coach Mike Kelly was pleased with the finish and felt his team got the most out of its talent this season. Sometimes those efforts are what longtime coaches like Kelly cherish the most. Not every season brings state-champion swimmers. These Tides finished 10-0 in the Puget Sound League, won the Swimvitational meet at the season’s midpoint, and won the West Central District Championship.

Gig Harbor swimmer Brooklyn Learned competes at the state meet. Photo by Mike Kelly

“I’d be silly to ask for more. We maxed out our potential and the sixth-place overall finish shows that,” Kelly said. “I’m very proud of their accomplishments, which were born from many hours of hard work, dedication and sacrifice.”

Swimmers at this year’s Class 3A state meet turned in several All-American times and a few new state records. The Tides were right there in the thick of it.

Gig Harbor’s Kaitlyn LaTendresse saved her best performances for last, turning in two season-best times to capture sixth in the 500 freestyle and eighth in the 200 freestyle.

Brooklyn Learned had a nice meet as well. She placed eighth in the 200 individual medley and 14th in the 100 breaststroke. Eva Dahlin placed 16th in the 200 freestyle race while Tides diver Julia Davis stuck enough difficult dives to grab 11th place.

The Tides’ 200 freestyle relay team of Learned, Dahlin, LaTendresse and Jenna Nelson finished sixth. The 400 freestyle relay team, with Beau Ensminger replacing Learned, also finished sixth.

Gig Harbor diver Julia Davis competes at the Class 3A state meet. Photo by Mike Kelly

Peninsula swimmers 15th

The Peninsula girls swim and diving team finished 15th at state, up from 23rd in 2023.

Sophomore Lee Gjertson finished tenth in the 100 freestyle race and 14th in the 50 freestyle, which helped Peninsula gather valuable points towards their totals.

The relay teams — senior captains Kate Henkel and Reis Every plus Gjertson and freshman Reese Miller — took home ninth in the 200 freestyle relay and 12th in the 400 freestyle relay.

Seahawk junior diver Jordan Givot, new to the event this season, finished 15th with 236.5 points.

State-qualifying Peninsula swimmers and divers that hold up coach Athena Peterson. Photo courtesy PHS swimming

Spokane Valley teams sweep local teams

The Gig Harbor and Peninsula girls soccer teams’ state tournament appearances were both cut short by teams from the Spokane Valley, who came over Snoqualmie Pass on a mission.

The University Titans upset the Tides 2-1 on Nov. 15 at Roy Anderson Field, while Ridgeline defeated Peninsula 3-1 on the same cold night at Bellevue High School.

Top-seeded Gig Harbor stunned at state

The Tides came into the state tournament as the No. 1 seed and West Central District champions. They sported an impressive 15-1-1 record but seemed surprised by the Titans’ talent and physicality.

The Titans came into the contest with a 12-7-1 record, but were quicker to the ball in the first half. University consistently knocked the smaller Tides off the ball with physical play and limited their shots on goal significantly.

In many sports, referees allow more physicality in playoff games. The officials usually don’t want to call too many penalties that can directly decide a soccer match. The Titans seemed to understand that and took advantage.

If you’ve watched enough soccer you also understand that probably more than any other sport, soccer has a high rate of unpredictability. The ball, which is hard to control, often goes to unintended places.

That was never more true than in the first half, when a Titan forward drew two defenders to the corner before firing a crossfield pass that ricocheted off the far post. The ball bounced off a Titan, hit the back heel of a Tide defender and rolled into the goal.

Was it a lucky goal? Probably. But luck usually favors the aggressors.

University stretched the first-half lead on a corner kick, which a Titan player headed in for a shocking 2-0 lead.

The Tides closed the gap on senior Elise Miller’s penalty kick to make the score 2-1 with 10 minutes to play.

But University closed out the game with aggressive defense. The Tides missed on a couple scoring opportunities in the later part of the game before stoppage time ran out.

The Tides seniors seemed to have the wind knocked from them as the horn sounded. They slumped in disbelief as another promising season filled with talented players and regular-season wins ground to an unexpected halt in the first round of the state tournament.

Seahawks run into a buzzsaw

The same was true for the Seahawks, seeded seventh in the Class 3A state soccer tournament with a 14-3-1 record. They faced a buzzsaw in 10th-seeded Ridgeline, from the eastern Spokane Valley.

Peninsula needed only four passes and 40 seconds to score a goal against a Falcon defense that had been stingy all season.

It wasn’t as if Peninsula did anything extra special to score. Nora Sutherland crossed to Heidi Tenzler in front of the goal. Sutherland repositioned, held off her defender and punched a shot past the Ridgeline keeper for the game’s first goal.

The Seahawks were sprinting to open the game while the Falcons seemed to be jogging. The opening goal put the Falcons on their heels early and they upped their defensive pressure. Ridgeline wouldn’t concede another goal in the 89 minutes and 20 seconds that remained in the game.

The Falcons tied the game around the 38-minute mark after stealing a Seahawk defender’s backwards pass. They took the lead for good two minutes later when two Peninsula defenders tripped over each other while converging to defend a long lead pass. The Falcon player secured the ball and fired to a teammate in front of the goal.

Ridgeline added the coup de grace around the 75-minute mark on a top drawer laser from 20 yards out.

The two local teams went from being ranked first and second in the state a couple of weeks ago to being eliminated in the first round. It was a stunning turn of events that left local soccer fans scratching their heads and looking for answers.

But looking back now won’t do anyone any good. Both teams have multiple underclassmen with loads of talent and experience returning next season.

A talented group of seniors depart from each team. They include the Tides’ Aejanae Humphrey, Elise Miller, Cailey Ridgeway, Isabella Cox, Kennedy Marler, Sarena Thoms and Bailey Schroeder; and the Seahawks’ Hailey Shride and Kenyon Ballard.

Gig Harbor water polo wraps up successful year

The Tides boys water polo team’s goal of earning promotion to Division 1 next year were dashed on Nov. 13, when they finished outside the top 10 at this year’s Division 1 state tournament.

The Tides advanced from the Division 2 state tournament with an 11-7 victory over Shorewood on Nov. 8 at Rodgers High School in Puyallup.

The Seahawks weren’t as fortunate. They lost D2 tournament games to Bellevue, 15-3, and Kentridge, 8-7, ending their successful season under first-year coach James Isom.

The Tides’ win over Shorewood put them in a play-in game to the D1 state tournament. But Alana Ponce’s squad lost to Interlake, 9-6, in double overtime on Nov. 13.

Gig Harbor forced overtime on a goal by Joel Carpmail after Ponce called timeout with 19 seconds to go. Carpmail led the Tides with four goals.

The first overtime was scoreless as both goalies came up with huge saves. But Interlake scored three times in the second overtime to win. Senior Holden Conner and freshman Andrew Garcia also scored goals for Gig Harbor.

“It was a sad way to end our season but I was very proud of them,” Ponce said. “The guy’s played their hearts out in the final game.”

Coach Alana Ponce talks to members of the Gig Harbor boys water polo team. Photo by Dennis Browne