Announcing the winners of the E-prizes

Hollywood might have the Oscars and Broadway might have the Tonys, but we all know which awards are the most eagerly anticipated every year.

We know which awards attract the most attention and spark the most heated and animated discussions.

Of course, we’re talking about the annual Enterprise’s E-prizes, the most prestigious and honored newspaper awards in the state.

It wasn’t easy for the highly overworked and undercompensated Enterprise sports department to narrow down the hundreds of nominees. Hours and hours of debate ensued, most but not all of which was civilized.

The votes were then tallied and the results sealed.

The envelopes, please.

MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Edmonds-Woodway’s Tony Heard. If you haven’t heard of junior running back Tony Heard then you obviously aren’t a football fan. The 5-foot-11, 225-pound standout either ran right by or through the opposition during an incredible 2007 season that saw him rush for more than 2,200 yards. Heard averaged 8.0 yards per carry and 172 yards per game. He scored 31 touchdowns, which amounted to more than two touchdowns per game. What’s scary, at least for the rest of the league, is that Heard should be an even better player in 2008 with more speed and strength, according to Edmonds-Woodway head coach John Gradwohl. Heard already has an offer from the University of Washington. The conventional wisdom is that Edmonds-Woodway is going to be down a little bit after graduating some of its key players, but we wouldn’t count on it. Not with Heard in the backfield. We can’t wait to see what he’ll do in 2008.

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: We doubt we’ll ever see as dominant and versatile an athlete as Jackson’s Kristi Kingma. The Wolfpack athlete earned 12 varsity letters at Jackson High School, which as far as we know has never happened before. Certainly, there are few athletes who have been to state in three different sports as Kingma has – soccer, basketball and track. Kingma helped to bring both the Jackson soccer and basketball teams to prominence. Her final basketball game was one for the ages as Kingma scored a state tournament record 43 points in a loss to Skyview. Her comments after the game reflected what the Jackson standout always has focused on. She wasn’t concerned about personal accomplishments but rather wished that the Timberwolves had been able to pull out a victory. We’re eager to follow Kingma’s future exploits as a Washington Husky.

BOYS TEAM OF THE YEAR: King’s boys soccer. The second time proved to be the charm for the Knights who made it all the way to the Class 1A championship game in their inaugural season last year before losing to Highland of Cowiche, 1-0. With almost everybody back, the still youthful Knights got on a hot streak at the end of this past season, just like the year before. They won 11 consecutive games to set up a rematch against Highland, the two-time defending champs. The Scotties struck first in the 55th minute when junior forward Jesus Silva, the 1A player of the year, drilled in a right-footed shot. But four minutes later, King’s first team all-stater Michael Kenyon evened the score with a right-footed shot off a pass from defender Alex Masaki. The game stayed deadlocked until the final minute. The Knights drew an obstruction foul in the penalty box, resulting in an indirect free kick. Defender Sam Hauck came up to take the kick and tapped it to forward Brett Simons. Simons lofted the shot to the far post and it curled in for the game-winner. King’s claimed its first state title in the second year of the program. In the end, it came down to a play off a free kick, which Somoza, the 1A coach of the year, had emphasized to his team all season.

“You’re scrounging, clawing, fighting, whatever it takes to win a state championship,” he said.

Runner-ups: King’s boys track. Meadowdale baseball. The Knights won their second straight Class 1A track and field title, easily outdistancing the competition by 50 points. Meadowdale advanced to the final four of the Class 3A state baseball tournament for the second straight year. Unfortunately the Mavericks didn’t win either of their games but that doesn’t diminish the fact that few teams have had the success Meadowdale’s experienced the last two years.

GIRLS TEAM OF THE YEAR: King’s girls cross country. The Knights won their second consecutive team championship led by junior Olivia Thomas, who won her first individual title in 19 minutes, 16 seconds, 36 seconds faster than the runner-up. Sophomore Morgan Hamm (12th, 20:33), sophomore Adele Eslinger (26th, 21:17), junior Lauresa Smith (28th, 21:19) and senior Megan Northey (29th, 21:22) also scored for the Lady Knights. Led by coach Rod Wilcox, one of the best cross country coaches you’ll find anywhere training the team, King’s looks almost untouchable next year with only Northey gone. Look for Thomas and her teammates at the top of the podium in Pasco again.

GAME OF THE YEAR: The Shorewood-Todd Beamer 4A boys soccer quarterfinal. With a trip to the final four on the line, the Thunderbirds and Titans battled 90 minutes without either team scoring a goal. Shorewood’s stellar defense held Beamer’s prolific offense in check even playing a man down the final 18 minutes, after its top defender Stefano Johnson received a red card for a foul outside the penalty box. In the ensuing shootout, both teams matched each other, until the 17th round of kicks when Beamer goalkeeper Ben Draeger blocked a kick, Shorewood’s third miss. Beamer’s John Drayer, who had missed earlier, and had been skipped the previous round, came up and booted a right-footed shot off of Shorewood goalkeeper Dorian Lair’s fingertips, ending the game.

“It came down to one blocked shot or goal,” said Lair, who had saved three shots in Shorewood’s shootout win over Thomas Jefferson in the first round.

The 17-round shootout is believed to be the longest in recent memory in a state playoff game.

Runner-up: King’s vs. Colfax in Class 1A state volleyball semifinals. The two unbeatens slugged it out in the most anticipated match of the tournament, but in the end King’s could not put the eventual champions away. Colfax survived 25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 27-29, 21-19. Don’t be surprised if this east-west rivalry continues next year at state.

COACH OF THE YEAR: King’s boys soccer coach Ben Somoza. After a standout playing career at Edmonds-Woodway, University of Washington and the Seattle Sounders, Somoza turned to full-time coaching two years ago. A club coach with Northwest Nationals, Somoza took his first high school job with the brand new King’s program last year. In the first year, Somoza and the Knights overcame a tough stretch in the middle of the season to make the state finals before losing to Highland in the title game. This year with virtually everyone back, under Somoza’s calm guidance the Knights broke out with an 11-game win streak down the stretch to earn a rematch with Highland in the Class 1A final. Despite a subpar first half in the final, Somoza helped refocus his players. After falling behind 1-0, they scored two late goals to win the title. Expect Somoza to guide another contender next year.

PLAY OF THE YEAR: We’ll admit it. As much as we would have liked to see the Edmonds-Woodway football team advance to the Class 4A state semifinals, the prospects did not look good. The Warriors were trailing 21-17 with just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter against Eastlake in a quarterfinal game at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium. Backed up at its own 21 and facing a fourth-and-9, Edmonds-Woodway needed something that had eluded it all game – a big play. Quarterback Kyle McCartney dropped back to pass and had just enough time to loft a pass to wide receiver Antoinne Wafer who was bracketed by two Eastlake players. One of the defenders got a hand on the ball, but somehow it still made its way into the hands of Wafer, who pulled it down at the Eastlake 30-yard line for the biggest catch of his career. On the next play, running back Tony Heard ran for what turned out to be the winning touchdown. The McCartney to Wafer completion will go down as one of the greatest plays in school history.

BREAKOUT PERFORMER OF THE YEAR: Jackson’s Erin Feeney. At first glance, the 5-foot-7 Feeney might not attract much attention from the opposition but watch out. On a girls basketball team loaded with senior talent, the sophomore standout ended up averaging 12 points per game and was one of the Wolfpack’s sharpest 3-point shooters. Feeney also excelled on the softball diamond where she was a solid pitcher and hitter. Both teams advanced to state, due in large part, to the performance of Feeney.

DAZZLING DEBUTS: Jackson’s Brett Kingma, Edmonds-Woodway’s Alec Fellows. Shorewood’s Erin Johnson. Shorecrest’s Emily Corona. Shoreline Christian’s Angela Woods. It’s rare for a freshman to make varsity but even rarer for him to have a major impact. Kingma clearly is not your average freshman. The 6-foot guard averaged a team-high 17 points per game and helped lead the Timberwolves to the district playoffs. Kingma had 32 points in his first varsity game and then proceeded to score in double figures in all but two of the Wolfpack’s other games the rest of the season. Kingma already is one of the top 3-point shooters in the league. Jackson basketball fans are lucky that they will be able to follow Kingma for the next three years.

We knew a little bit about Fellows from his Junior Olympic competitions. We have a feeling we’ll be learning a lot more about the Edmonds-Woodway track and field standout. In his first year of high school, Fellows finished sixth overall in the high jump at the Class 4A state championships. Fellows also competes in the hurdles and triple jump. By the end of his senior year, Fellows might end up being one of the most talented and versatile athletes to come out of Edmonds-Woodway.

Johnson, a freshman cross country and track standout, arrived from Einstein Middle School with big expectations and lived up to them. She placed 28th out of 143 runners at the state 4A cross country meet in November and then qualified for the state 4A track meet in the 400 meters. Johnson is a fierce and focused competitor and looks like she’ll only get better. Across town at Shorecrest, Corona showed a glimpse of what she’s capable of in track and field during her first year of high school. Corona stunned herself and her fellow competitors by winning the high jump with a personal best of 5 feet, 4 inches in the 3A District 1 meet. She placed eighth at state in the long jump and finished out of medal contention in the high jump. Woods averaged about 20 points a game as freshman guard for the Shoreline Christian girls basketball team, helping the Crusaders to a fifth-place finish at the state 2B tournament. Woods, an all-state tournament second team selection, will be a player to watch the next three years.

BLUE COLLAR: Edmonds-Woodway’s Kyle McCartney. McCartney might not be the most imposing football player in the state at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, but he was one of the most dominant players in the Western Conference South Division. McCartney led the Warriors to back-to-back state semifinal appearances. As a quarterback and defensive back, McCartney was equally imposing on both sides of the ball as evidenced by his first-team, all-league offensive and defensive honors as a junior and senior. With a 3.969 GPA, McCartney might be the smartest quarterback in the state and we’re not just talking about on the field. Edmonds-Woodway coach John Gradwohl declared that McCartney was the best quarterback he’s ever coached in large part to his tireless work ethic. McCartney is headed to Washington State where he will walk-on, most likely in a defensive role. The trend these days is to covet quarterbacks that are physically imposing, such as University of Washington quarterback Jake Locker, who is 6-3, 222 pounds. We wish new Washington State coach Paul Wulff would take a look at McCartney at quarterback. McCartney possesses that intangible quality that all coaches covet – the kid’s a winner.

CRAZIEST WEATHER: After several inches of snow fell on Friday, April 18, the Eason Invitational track meet in Snohomish had to be cancelled, but the King’s Invite in Shoreline went on as scheduled. Despite the odd spring snowfall, the latest in recent memory, King’s track coach Daunte Gouge and his volunteers were out at 7 a.m. on Saturday, April 19, shoveling snow off the FieldTurf at Woolsey Stadium. In the meet’s 23-year history it had only rained once, in the first year. It had never snowed of course. The meet went off without a hitch and despite temperatures in the low 40s, several meet records were set. The memorable sight of the day? A snowman built next to the javelin area.

COACHES WE’LL MISS: Edmonds-Woodway’s coach Gail Pintler. Lynnwood’s Landon Porter. Shorecrest’s Jon Rasmussen. Edmonds District athletic director Terri McMahan. In his two years as head boys basketball coach, Pintler led the Warriors to back-to-back state tournament appearances. The long-time coach surely would have been welcomed back for a third season but decided to stick to his original plan of coaching only two years. Win or lose Pintler’s demeanor didn’t change very much. Edmonds-Woodway certainly benefitted from his 19 years of coaching and 40 years of teaching experience.

At the 3A district boys basketball playoffs, there was an unusual sight on the Lynnwood bench. Head coach Porter was conspicuously silent. Porter had injured his vocal cord during a spirited discussion with a player and his doctor instructed him to give his vocal cords a rest. It wasn’t easy for the often animated coach, whose enthusiasm for the game was infectious.

For the last eight years, four at Lynnwood and the last four at Shorecrest, Jon Rasmussen has been a fixture in Western Conference South Division girls basketball. Known for his animated style on the sideline, waving his arms as he encourages his players, Rasmussen was always entertaining to watch. Shorecrest’s wild comeback from 21 points down in the fourth quarter against Mountlake Terrace in 2006 was a signature win for a Rasmussen-coached team. We wish him the best as he watches his daughter play for Glacier Peak of Snohomish next year.

Though she wasn’t a coach at the time of her retirement, McMahan definitely left a lasting legacy throughout the state most recently as the Edmonds District athletic director and as a member of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the Northwest District Executive Board among a multitude of other sports-related endeavors. One of her major accomplishments was starting the Edmonds District Scholar-Athlete program in 2002. To date more than $200,000 in scholarships have been awarded to the best and brightest high school athletes. McMahan described herself as a straight shooter and that’s how we’ll remember her.

PROGRAMS ON THE RISE: Archbishop Murphy wrestling and volleyball. Don’t look now but Archbishop Murphy High School is becoming known for more than just having a perennial top football team. The Wildcat wrestling team advanced a record five individuals to the state tournament and had its first finalist, Brad Gee, who ended up placing second. The unranked Archbishop Murphy volleyball team made the most of its appearance at the state tournament, coming home with a fifth-place trophy, its first-ever hardware. The Wildcats will go for a third straight state appearance next fall.

GLASS SLIPPER AWARD: The Shoreline Christian boys soccer team had never won a state playoff game and was coming off a 2-13 season entering this season. Enter Peter Thomsen, a select soccer coach with FC Shoreline, who took over from previous coach Deanna Kirk, a week before the season started. Thomsen led the Crusaders to the state semifinals for the first time in school history where they upset Bear Creek, the defending 2B/1B champions, 2-1. Midfielder Matthew Sink scored the game-winner in the 62nd minute and Nathan Novion scored the Crusaders’ first goal. The ride ended with a 3-0 loss to Northwest Christian (Colbert) in the state final but the loss couldn’t dampen the accomplishments of the Crusaders.

“A bunch of us have been playing together since junior high and some of us longer than that, so this is a great experience for all of us to end our year on this high note,” senior defender Remy Hudson said. “It could’ve been a little better, but I’ll take this any day. It’s a great feeling.”

MOST CONTROVERSIAL MOMENT: The forfeits that ended Archbishop Murphy’s football season prior to the first round of the state playoffs were a heart-wrenching end to a season played in memory of coach Terry Ennis who died of prostate cancer in September. Patti Means, who took over athletic director duties from Ennis as his health took a turn for the worse, discovered in November that junior J.D. Melton’s physical had expired in September. According to Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules a player with an expired physical is ineligible and any games he or she plays are to be forfeited. The school self-reported the violation to the Cascade Conference and an appointment was made for Melton to get a physical. The school hoped for mercy given the circumstances of Ennis’ death and its impact on the program and the school as well as the fact that Melton was living with friends because his mom was away in Yakima working to support the family. But it would get none. The appeals at the conference, district and state executive board level were denied. Archbishop Murphy sought a court injunction as a last resort, but that too fell short.

When told what had happened, the players were left stunned and sobbing when they would not be able to finish the season they had dedicated to Ennis.

“A lot of effort and a lot of appeals,” interim coach Rick Stubrud said after the meeting, as he hugged Melton and the other players. “The kids are devastated.”

The WIAA stood firm believing the school had time to catch the error.

“The school administrators understand it tugs at everybody’s heart but the board did the right thing because of the situation,” WIAA director Mike Colbrese said at the time.

The school administrators, who make up the WIAA membership, had said in the past they wanted penalties to stick and Colbrese said that directive had been followed in the Archbishop Murphy case.

“The membership of the association has discussed waivers of situations where a clerical error was made. Membership has said no to that,” Colbrese said.

Teams had forfeited regular season games because of clerical errors, but no one could recall a state playoff game being forfeited or in the circumstance when a coach and athletic director, who normally handled those things had died in the middle of a season.

The story became national news. Sports Illustrated’s back page columnist Rick Reilly, in his next-to-last column ever for the magazine, wrote in a piece headlined, “The Punishment is the Crime,” that the decision was like “giving a jaywalker the chair.”

One good thing did come of the incident, however. Several Wildcat players met with Colbrese and discussed changing the rule that resulted in the forfeitures. In April, the WIAA’s representative assembly agreed to allow appeals of unintentional clerical errors that cause a player to be ineligible and result in forfeits. The new rule goes into effect for the 2008-09 school year.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Archbishop Murphy football coach Terry Ennis. No look back at the 2007-08 school year could be complete without a few words about Terry Ennis, the legendary coach and mentor who passed away last September. His list of accomplishments, which includes two state titles at Archbishop Murphy and one at Cascade, is virtually endless. But if the measure of a man is his impact on others then Ennis is, without a doubt, one of the top coaches ever to grace the sidelines. The positive impact Ennis had on his players is his true legacy. The respect his former players and colleagues had for him is unparalleled. Even as his body was starting to fail him, Ennis continued to coach his players and influence lives. Ennis was first and foremost a teacher. He will be missed.

FAVORITE STORIES: Archbishop Murphy volleyball coach Sister Miriam James Heidland; Shorewood basketball player Stuart Harvey; Shorewood wrestler Tim Hester; Jackson softball player Brooklyn York. Ever talked to a 31-year old Roman Catholic nun, who moonlights as a junior varsity volleyball coach? Neither had we and frankly, we weren’t sure what to expect. What we found was an intelligent, energetic and caring woman, who was more than happy to share her fascinating transformation from an out-of-control college athlete to the thoughtful teacher/coach she is today.

When Shorewood basketball player Stuart Harvey arrived on the scene last winter, few in the Western Conference had heard of him. When he dropped what is believed to be a school and conference record 54 points on Jackson Jan. 8, 2008, his days of anonymity were over. University of Washington standouts Jon Brockman and Ryan Appleby never scored 54 in a Wesco game. What was more amazing is that Harvey had never played organized high school basketball until last season. He dropped out of school his junior year and played pick-up games at Green Lake before coming back to Shorewood. That missed semester provided another twist to the story. WIAA rules require a player to be in school the semester prior to the semester he plays, so Harvey was ineligible on his big night. Harvey wasn’t aware of the rule and it slipped through the cracks so Shorewood had to forfeit two wins. Harvey had to sit out a few games but finished out the year. He’s back on track academically to graduate and he could be on the court again for Shorewood or a community college sometime in the future.

Shorewood wrestler Tim Hester developed a deceptive move a few years ago that helped him vault to the top of his sport. Hester ties his opponent’s arms up, overhooks one arm and underhooks the other, and snakes his leg around his opponent’s nearest leg. Then he entices his opponent to move forward and go for his free leg. If the opponent does so, Hester shifts into a take down and flips on top of his opponent using the opponent’s momentum. Hester won the Class 4A 189-pound title this year, owing much of his success to that unique move.

At first glance, Jackson’s Brooklynn York would appear to be a typical high school girl, who loves softball. And she is just that. But York is much more. During her sophomore year York developed epilepsy, a serious brain disorder that causes seizures. It took about 10 months for doctors to stabilize her condition. York handled what could have been a tough situation with humor and made her teammates and coaches feel at ease. York’s strength inspired her teammates and touched the lives of people she doesn’t even know.