PREP NOTEBOOK: Local athletes ready to sign on dotted line

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, November 10, 2009

It’s a special week for many local college-bound student-athletes.

The NCAA early signing period for several sports (including basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball) begins on Wednesday. High school competitors can officially accept athletic financial aid by signing a National Letter of Intent. The early signing period runs through Nov. 18.

Students have a holiday on Wednesday because of Veterans Day so many local athletes will delay their letter-signing ceremonies until Thursday.

Among those expected to sign on Thursday are:

n Jackson High’s Erin Feeney (Western Washington University women’s basketball), Dani Jackman (Grand Canyon University softball), Courtney McDermott (Emory University women’s swimming), Alana Pazevic (University of Florida women’s swimming) and Ryan Todd (Seattle Pacific University men’s basketball).

n Cascade High’s Danielle Love (University of Oregon women’s basketball).

Look in The Herald later this week for reports on local signings. To see an updated list of athletes’ verbal commitments, go to Heraldnet.com/doubleteam and search “Class of 2010”.

If you know of other commitments and signing ceremonies, e-mail mcane@heraldnet.com.

M-P football twins make it big

At Marysville-Pilchuck football games, the public-address announcer says the last name “Tamaivena” A LOT. Unbeaten M-P’s strong linebacker group features twin brothers Suli and Siti Tamaivena (pronounced Tom-uh-vain-uh). Last year as sophomores the twins played on the Tomahawks’ sophomore team, but this fall the juniors skipped junior varsity and jumped into the varsity starting lineup.

“They’re pretty special players,” M-P coach Brandon Carson said. “When you go back and watch film, if they’re both not making the play, one of them (is) around the ball.”

In M-P’s 49-24 win over Graham-Kapowsin on Saturday, Siti had seven tackles (one for a loss); Suli had five tackles and forced a fumble.

“They’ve really stepped it up this year. They’ve gotten bigger (and) stronger and they just play hard and they play fast,” Carson said.

Area runners set for BorderClash

The 2009 Washington vs. Oregon BorderClash is Nov. 22 in Beaverton, Ore. These local boys and girls qualified for the annual cross country event by meeting qualification standards Saturday at the State Cross Country Championships in Pasco: Boys — Oak Harbor’s Tyler King, Jackson’s Sean Roe, Jackson’s Mitchell Briggs, Jackson’s Connor Frederickson and Lakewood’s Taylor Guske; Girls — Stanwood’s Minna Fields, Stanwood’s Natasha Verma, Arlington’s Teresa Wadey, Glacier Peak’s Amy-Eloise Neale, Granite Falls’ Rhiannon Alexander, Cedarcrest’s Cara Strodel and Sultan’s Rici Morrill.

More state cross country notes

Before postseason races began, the Everett boys were not even listed as a team to watch in the state coaches’ poll. But Everett surged to Wesco North and Northwest District titles, and then placed eighth out of 16 3A teams at state in Pasco. The Seagulls “brought their lunch pail and ran their best race of the season to finish only seven points out of seventh, an absolutely unfathomable achievement just a couple of weeks ago,” Everett coach Bruce Overstreet said. … Everett junior Chelsea Dowdell’s 11th-place showing in the 3A girls race was the best state performance by a female Seagull runner since 1994. … Stanwood senior Natasha Verma placed seventh in 4A for the second straight year. She played soccer as a freshman but switched to cross country after former Stanwood cross country coach Paul Johnson recruited her. “I fell in love with running,” Verma said, “and I’m really, really happy that I stuck with it. I’ve had more success at running than I ever would have at soccer.” … When Oak Harbor’s Tyler King blazed to a fifth-place 4A finish in a personal-record time (15 minutes, 33 seconds), his brother, Kyle King, watched with pride at Sun Willows Golf Course. Kyle King placed 11th for Oak Harbor at state in 2007 as a senior. He now runs for Eastern Washington University. … It was a bittersweet 2A state meet for outgoing Archbishop Murphy coach John Moir. He watched junior Conner Ballew place 14th and become the first Murphy boy to make the awards podium as a top-16 individual. This is Moir’s third and final year as the Wildcats head cross country coach. In January he will move to Spokane because of his wife’s new job.

Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.