Jackson boys hoops coach honored by officials association
Jackson High boys basketball coach Steve Johnson was named Coach of the Year at this year’s Snohomish County Basketball Officials Association banquet.
Sean Counley of the Granite Falls boys hoops team was named Player of the Year and Granite Falls High was named Host School of the Year March 24 during a ceremony in Everett.
The SCBOA awards are based partially on athletic/coaching ability but the main factor is sportsmanship. Members of the association nominate candidates throughout the season and pick the winners at a season-ending meeting.
Jackson’s coach Johnson guided the Timberwolves to a Wesco South championship. They were one victory away from a trip to the Class 4A state tourney and finished 17-7.
Johnson said that he is flattered to be honored for his sportsmanship, especially by officials, who obviously have an up-close perspective on how players and coaches behave and represent their communities.
Wipf, Follis top locals at Seattle charity climb
Alex Wipf of Edmonds and Laura Follis of Mill Creek captured top honors among Snohomish County climbers at the 21st annual Big Climb for Leukemia on March 18 at the Columbia Center in Seattle.
Wipf, 17, placed first among local men by scaling the 1,311 steps in 8 minutes, 51 seconds. Follis, 43, reached the 73rd-floor finish line in 11:32, first among local women.
The annual event, one of fewer than 150 competitive skyscraper climbs worldwide, brought more than 4,000 participants to Seattle to benefit The Leukemia &Lymphoma Society.
Sixteen-year-old Jacob Chek of Snohomish finished second among local males in 9:14. Camari Ferguson, 42, of Everett was second among Snohomish County females in 13:32.
Everett’s Anders Jacobsen, 82, was one of three octogenarian climbers to take part in the event, finishing in 24:21 in his eighth Big Climb for Leukemia.
“I hope to get better at this as I get older,” Jacobsen said in a press release.
A former logger, Jacobsen trains weekly in the eight-flight stairwell of Providence Hospital’s Colby Campus.
“At 82 you don’t go as fast as you did when you were younger,” Jacobsen said. “I took it two steps at a time for the first 10 flights then paced myself.”
Jesse Lucas Berg of Chicago was the men’s overall winner, finishing in 7:32. Georgia Sanz Daniel of Enumclaw, who earlier in the month scaled the same Columbia Center steps in 50 pounds of firefighting gear to win the women’s title at the Scott Firefighting Stairclimb, finished first overall among women in 9:53.
The climbers ranged in age from 8 to 82 and came from 19 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Italy and Belgium. The event is expected to raise more than $450,000.
Complete results are available at www.bigclimb.org.
Team Washington takes nationals
The Brady Clark Rink defeated Team California 9-5 March 24 to win the 2007 U.S. Mixed National Curling Championship at the Grafton Curling Club in Grafton, N.D.
Brady Clark of Lynnwood and his wife, Cristin Clark, and lead Bev Walter of Seattle have won five of the past six mixed national titles and three straight. Joining them in the second position for this year’s title was Leon Romaniuk of Redmond.
Team Washington jumped out to an early lead with two points in the first end but California rallied and took a 4-2 lead with three points in the fourth end. Brady Clark scored five points over the next two ends to seal the victory.
Scores, standings and photos from the 2007 Mixed Nationals can be found at www.usacurl.org.
Wolfpack captures traveling league title
The Wolfpack girls basketball team avenged an earlier loss by defeating Skyline 38-36 to win the Puget Sound Traveling League’s Winter Championship tournament on March 4 at Hidden River Middle School in Monroe.
Comprised of fifth- and sixth-grade girls from Mill Creek, the Wolfpack finished with a 15-1 league record — their sole loss a one-point decision to Skyline — and a 25-1 overall mark.
The Wolfpack also won the Snohomish Basketball Association’s Martin Luther King Tournament in February and the Washington Tournament Association’s Holiday Classic and Cold Turkey tournament in December.
Members of the Wolfpack are Kelli Kingma, Rachel Nies, Allie Weathersby, Becca Carnevale, Callie Bircher, Beth Carlson, Marie Michael Carroll, Anna Maher, and Anna Warriner. They were coached by Mark Bircher and Luther Weathersby.
Nile Shrine Center hosts boxing card
The spring “Saturday Night at the Fights” will be held on Saturday, April 14th at the Nile Shrine Center at Lake Ballinger. The public is invited to see the upcoming boxers of this sport. It is being sponsored by the Shurtah Unit of the Nile Shriners, and sanctioned by the ABA, American Boxing Association.
The doors open at 4:30 p.m. with the opening bout at 6 p.m. Admission will be $12 for adult, with children over 12 being $6. Children under 12 will not be admitted.
The boxers will be coming from all parts of the state, with matches based upon age and weight.
Safety gear will be worn by all boxers.
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