Prep notebook

Nathan Lozeau and Jared Stohl will be teammates for one more season, but there’s a good chance they’ll compete against each other after high school.

Last winter Lozeau, a 6-foot-10 center, and Stohl, a 6-2 guard, teamed up to give the Marysville-Pilchuck boys basketball team one of the state’s highest scoring boys hoops duos. They’ll unite again this winter as seniors.

But Lozeau, who averaged 17 points per game last season, verbally committed to play basketball for Eastern Washington University on Sept. 30. Meanwhile, Stohl (21 ppg last season) has trimmed his search to two schools: the University of Portland and Portland State University.

If Stohl ends up at Portland State, he’ll compete against Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Conference. And if Stohl chooses Portland, he’ll play in the West Coast Conference, but the Pilots have a history of playing non-conference games against Eastern Washington. This season Portland plays host to Eastern on Dec. 9.

Stohl visited UP two weekends ago and plans to check out Portland State this weekend. He said he’s leaning towards Portland.

Marysville-Pilchuck coach Bary Gould said he is 90 percent sure Stohl will pick Portland and expects the guard to decide by Sunday.

A Stohl-Lozeau college clash would be entertaining, Gould said: “I think that they would have a lot of fun with it. I foresee Jared getting into the lane and Nathan trying to come up and check him.”

For a while the M-P teammates hoped to play together in college, Gould said, but Portland State was the only school which actively recruited both of them.

Stanwood makes a splash

For years the Stanwood girls swim team had low turnout and struggled mightily, especially against league foes. But this fall the Spartans are 2-3 in the Wesco North, 6-3 overall and rapidly building confidence.

Improved depth has been key. Forty-five girls compete for the team this year, compared to 30 in 2005 and 25 in 2004, said second-year coach Rita Brennan. “When we swim (against) teams that don’t have that kind of depth, that makes a big difference,” said Brennan ,whose team defeated Marysville-Pilchuck 92-77 on Thursday – Stanwood’s first victory over the Tomahawks since it became a 4A school in 2001.

The addition of a pool at the Stanwood Sports Club in 1997 helped launch Stanwood’s program and benefited the town’s youth programs, Brennan said: “We’re seeing the results of it now.”

Stanwood’s leading swimmers include: junior Kara Koetje, who owns several school records and returned from injury (two broken fingers) two weeks ago; senior Katelyn Shallow (butterfly specialist); and senior Becky Hammer, (distance).

Noted sports supporter dies

George Carberry of Sultan, winner of the Herald’s Larry Hanson Community MVP award in 2001 for his contributions to local athletics, died Thursday. He was 76. Carberry, born in Everett, served on the Northwest Interscholastic Activities Association board and avidly supported youth sports. He purchased land that was used to build the Sky Valley Sports Complex in Sultan.

Mike Cane, Herald Writer