Prep Sports Report: Bellingham girls fourth at state swim meet; Sorenson named top athlete
The girls of soccer and swimming gave Bellingham High one of the finest days in its sports history.
The Bayhawks (20-3) earned a thrilling 3-2 win over Bainbridge in the final minutes Saturday to gain their first berth in the state 2A soccer semifinals in 11 years and for the fourth time in school history, much to former Bellingham boys star Spencer Wolfe’s delight as coach.
On the same day, junior Grace Sorensen earned “Swimmer of the Meet” honors with two individual wins and legs on two medal-winning relays to lead Bellingham to fourth place, the highest finish in its history, in the state 2A/1A championships at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.
In volleyball highlights Saturday, Ferndale qualified for the state 3A tournament by taking third place at districts, and Lynden Christian won three consecutive matches in the state 1A tournament after an opening loss, including a three-set victory over Meridian in the seventh/eighth place trophy match.
Throw in a 4-0 sweep by Whatcom County teams in the state football tournament’s opening rounds in 2A and 1A (see separate roundup), and Saturdays just don’t get much better.
Girls Swimming
Sorensen won the state 200 free and 100 fly for the second year in a row. She swam her personal best in the 200 free with 1:51.95 and took the 100 fly in 55.82 to lead Bellingham to 170 points for fourth among the 40 schools that scored, behind only Bainbridge (316), North Kitsap (200) and Nathan Hale (186.5).
Whatcom County also had a champion in Blaine junior Hailey Ferrell, who took the 500 free in 5:22.59 in a thrilling race with Bellingham sophomore Peyton Acord, second in a personal best 5:27.58, and Sehome sophomore Elsa Ethelbah, third in 5:32.91.
Ferrell was also fifth in the 200 individual medley in 2:17.39 to score 34 points, enough to give Blaine 20th place.
Sehome finished seventh with 91 points and also had a third place medalist in Laura Webb, who finished third in 1-meter diving with 239 points. Ethelbah contributed heavily for Sehome, also with fourth in the 200 free.
Lauren Heath of Sehome was named the 2A “Coach of the Year” at the state meet.
The top eight finishers won honors in the A Division and placers 9 through 16 scored in the B Division.
Acord was also an A Division finisher with a personal best 1:13.99 in the 100 breast.
“We also set a school record in the 400 free relay with our second place in 3:49.20,” said Bellingham coach Matthew Buckmaster, whose 400 free relay team is especially promising because it has no seniors.
Bellingham’s 200 medley relay team set the tone when it opened the meet with fourth place in 1:58.49 with Addy Hayes, Acord, Sorensen and June Wilson.
Buckmaster noted that the Bayhawks were especially thrilled to finish higher than any Bellingham team ever has.
“The team’s focus and effort in training throughout the season instilled a resilience that allowed us to compete with large teams and through untimely illness,” said Buckmaster. “This was evident in freshman breakouts Jasmine Garcia and Helaina Taysi. Both surpassed expectations. Helaina learned breastroke at midseason and then placed in a District A final and Jasmine swam two individual events and two relays at state. The team’s models of competiive spirit came from our experienced upperclassmen including Peyton Acord, Addy Hayes, Annika Holland, Grace Sorensen, Iza Wilson and June Wilson.”
“Every one of them stepped in to swim new or challenging events during times of need to ensure that we scored the points needed to win. These efforts, built on a culture of competition, culminated in our undefeated (dual match) season and the team’s highest state finish in school history.”
The following are the winners and the county girls who scored points:
- 1-meter diving: 1. Samantha Mandevill (Archbishop) 344.10 points; 3. Webb (Se) 239; 12. Cora Burns (Se) 189.30; 13. Madeline Fredette (Bell) 186.70; 14. Aviva Weinstein (Bell) 180.75.
- 200 medley relay: 1. Nathan Hale 1:52.92; 4. Bellingham (Hayes, Acord, Sorensen, Wilson) 1:58.49; 10. Sehome (Parnia Gharaei, Priyanka Costanzo, Ayla VanJaarsveld, Taylor Tellefson) 2:07.20.
- 200 free -- Sorensen (Bell) 1:51.95; 4. Ethelbah (Se) 2:03.97; 11. Annika Holland (Bell) 2:08.02.
- 200 IM: 1. Gabbie Patti (Bremerton) 2:07.76; 5. Ferrell (Blaine) 2:17.39.
- 50 free -- 1. Maya Geddes (Bainbridge) 24.26.
- 100 fly -- 1. Sorensen (Bell) 55.87.
- 100 free: 1. Brigid Dinnen (East Valley Spokane) 52.45; 10. Jasmine Garcia (Bell) 58.99.
- 500 free -- 1. Ferrell (Blaine) 5:22.59; 2. Acord (Bell) 5:27.58; 3. Ethelbah (Se) 5:32.91; 12. Holland (Bell) 5:53.72.
- 209 free relay: 1. Bainbridge 1:40.49; 11. Bellingham (Garcia, Madeline Nies, Hayes, Holland) 1:50.58; 15. Sehome (Sage Maden, Brielle Hicks, Tellefson, Ethelbah) 1:55.07.
- 100 back -- 1. Ava Field (Steilacoom) 58.25.
- 100 breast: 1. Patti (Bremerton) 1:08.41; 7. Acord (Bell) 1:13.999; 14. Costanzia (Se) 1:17.84.
- 400 free relay: 1. Bainbridge 3:43.19; 2. Bellingham (Garcia, Acord, Sorensen, Holland) 3:49.20; 9. Sehome (Ethelbah, Maden, Costanzo, VanJaarsveld) 4:05.73.
Girls soccer
Wolfe was excited, to say the least, to see his girls -- the last remaining county soccer team still standing -- score the winning goal in the 77th minute (three minutes left in regulation) of a 3-2 win over Bainbridge at Civic Stadium.
“Now we’ll face last year’s champion Ridgefield (and this year’s top seed) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Mount Tahoma High School,” Wolfe said of his fourth-seeded Bayhawks. The other semifinal matches No. 2 West Valley (Spokane) against No. 3 Columbia River, with the winners playing Saturday for the title and the losers bidding for the third place trophy.
“Beckett Ferry scored our winner off a great corner kick by Ivy Newell,” Wolfe said.
“Gracie Gouran scored first to give us a 1-0 lead, but Bainbridge came back with the next two goals,” the coach said. “Then we played some of our best soccer of the season in the last 20 minutes. Sophia Dionne (a sophomore) scored the tying goal.”
Backside defenders Malia Hanks, Kira Carlson, Ruby Jane Brown and Stella Eltrich received special recognition from an appreciative crowd at Civic Stadium and Wolfe in Bellingham’s 3-0 win over Pullman Wednesday in the opening round of the 2A State Tournament.
“They were up to the challenge,” Wolfe said of how they made possible the 16th shutout of the season for Bellingham (19-3) and the fifth consecutive postseason win, along with freshman goalkeeper Uma Bachmeier. “Wind, rain, a state game, all of it.”
Kira Carlson gave Bellingham a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute with a goal in a scramble with the Greyhounds (13-7). In the 34th minute, team scoring leader Newell scored her 16th goal off a corner kick by Brown.
Ella Morrow’s 11th goal, off a nice cross from Ferry, applied the dagger in the second half.
Sehome (14-3-3) saw its season end 2-1 in a shootout with Ellensburg (12-3-3) in the second game of a State Tournament opening round doubleheader.
Junior midfielder Keira Reeves tied the game in the 47th minute with a header goal, her tenth of the season. The key goal came nine minutes after Jamison Philip scored on a drive for the Bulldogs.
There would be no more scoring, including two five-minute overtimes, and the Mariners were destined to lose the shootout 4-3 after five penalty kicks by each team.
Sehome’s three successful kicks were by Reeves, Triya Mitchell and Kylie Ivcevic, but the crossbar stopped one Mariners shot and Ellensburg’s star freshman goalkeeper Katie Burton swatted away another try after making at least ten saves in regulation. On Ellensburg’s fifth kick, Philip made good to end Sehome’s season.
“We have a young group with lots of potential,” said Sehome coach Emily Webster, in her fourth state appearance in as many seasons as coach. “We had great leadership from seniors Triya Mitchell and Clarice Hickey (Sehome’s solid goalkeeper).”
Cross Country
Sehome, for the second consecutive year the 2A state champion for both boys and girls, landed two runners on both the boys and girls all-state teams. The honor squads include runners with the top 50 times in all divisions combined.
Sehome’s Nick Gargano and Skyler Gillham made the boys team and Lil Desler and Sloane Clines made the girls team along with Lynden junior Sloan Dickson.
The top boys time was 14:45.0 for the 5K race by Mercer Island senior Owen Powell/ Gargano ran 15:29.2 and Gillham, both seniors, clocked 15:33.7 to finish second and fourth in the 2A championship.
Desler, a sophomore, won the 2A girls race in 18:09.9 and grabbed a featured slot along with the girl with the top time, Mercer Island’s Sophia Rodriguez in 16:48.2 . The 50 th boys time was 15:51.7.
Dickson ran 18:19.9 to finish second and Clines, a freshman, finished fifth in 18:45.9.
In the final cross country poll, Sehome was first in both boys and girls 2A, with Bellingham fourth among the boys and Anacortes second among the girls. In the 1A poll, Meridian’s boys finished third and the girls were sixth.
Boys Tennis
Bellingham High senior Jacob Kuhn was recently named one of the WIAA Athletes of the Week. He was the first from Bellingham High to win a Boys District Tournament singles title and posted a 20-0 season record. He will play in the state tournament in May.
Volleyball
Ferndale qualified for 3A state with a four-set win over Edmonds-Woodway at Stanwood, two days after a crucial three-set win over Monroe in a loser-out match. The Golden Eagles lost to Lynnwood in their state opener in five sets.
Ferndale, seeded 18th in the mammoth 20-team tournament, will play a loser-out match at 8 a.m. against No. 15 Bellevue on Friday at the Yakima Sundome. If Ferndale keeps winning, games would follow at 1:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday. The tournament winds up Saturday.
Lynnwood, Stanwood and Snohomish also earned state spots along with Ferndale.
Against Monroe, sophomore Brooklyn Larrabee had one of her best efforts with 21 assists, three aces, 10 kills and 12 digs. Gabby Lenssen had three blocks, while Katrina Ferry had three digs, Svetlana Baydak made eight kills and Caitlyn Berg had three aces and nine digs.
Against Edmonds-Woodway, Lay Williams responded to loser-out pressure with 17 kills and 2.5 blocks in one of her best matches. Baydak had 13 kills and Terrace Hendrickson contributed eight kills. Larrabee was on target with 43 assists, 15 digs and two b locks, while Ferry had 12 digs and Berg had two aces and 10 digs.
In the state 1A tournament at the Yakima Valley Sundome, Lynden Christian lost its opener to Stevenson 26-24, 27-25, 25-23, but the Lyncs came back Friday to beat Kalama 25-17, 25-20, 25-18. On Saturday, LC beat Lakewood (Nine Mile Falls) 25-19, 25-11, 25-14 and the Lyncs took seventh place by beating Meridian 25-19, 25-16, 25-23.
Eighth-seeded LC was in the state tournament after ending a two-decade run of appearances when the Lyncs did not qualify last season. Sixth-seeded Meridian appeared at state for the fourth time in five years.
Meridian opened with a 25-18, 17-25, 15-25, 25-15, 15-9 loss to Bear Creek. The Trojans came back Friday to beat Zillah 25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 25-15 and on Saturday Meridian topped Seton Catholic 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 before falling to LC in the seventh/eighth place trophy match.
In the loser-out pressure against Zillah, Meridian received 19 kills and 14 digs from Melanie Short, 15 digs, 14 kills and seven aces from Eden Bernardy, 22 digs from Rylan Bernardy, and 43 assists from Grace Wells.
For Lynden Christian, seniors Sydney Terpstra and Kenzie Lenssen earned recognition from the Whatcom Preps website for their spirit in helping to beat Lakewood.
Against Meridian, Jocelyn Eshuis was a major force with five blocks, while Tare Dykstra had nine kills and Etta DeJong had eight. Ellie Pierce had 16 digs and Lyla Parriera had 11. Ella Fritts made 29 assists.
“I’m very proud of how the team competed. We’re very excited with the seventh place at state.”
Against Lakewood, Parriera had 14 digs, Ellie Mayer had five aces and Alli Wright made 3.5 blocks.
All-NWC Team
The only seniors among the 15 Whatcom County girls selected for the All-NWC team are Meridian’s Rylan Bernardy, Sehome’s Emmy Lee and Blaine’s Kaitlyn Harrington.
The only freshman to earn honors is Meridian’s Melanie Short.
Player of the Year
- Mia Whitlock, Sr., Burlington-Edison
Coach of the Year
- Tawnya Brewer, Burlington-Edison
First team
Makenna Andrews, Sehoime, Jr.; Rylan Bernardy, Meridian, Sr.; Ella Fritts, Lynden Christian, Jr.; Brooklyn Larrabee, Ferndale, Soph.; Emmy Lee, Sehome, Sr.; Finley Parcher, Lynden, Soph.; Melanie Short, Meridian, Fr.; Lexi Mason, Burlington, Sr.,; Megan Donald, Lakewood, Sr.; Tatum Swapp, Anacortes, Jr.
Second team
Grace DeHoog, Nooksack, Jr.; Campbell DeJong, Lynden, Jr.; Elizabeth DeLange, Nooksack, Soph.; Katrina Ferry, Ferndale, Jr.; Kaitlyn Harrington, Blaine, Sr.,; Hayden Niewiadomski, Sehome, Jr.; Rian Stephan, Lynden, Jr.; Alli Wright, Nooksack, Jr.; Jiana Alcarez-Carter, Oak Harbor; Abby Gardner, Sedro-Woolley, Sr.; Regan Hunt, Anacortes, Sr.
This story was originally published November 18, 2024 at 10:45 AM with the headline "Prep Sports Report: Bellingham girls fourth at state swim meet; Sorenson named top athlete."
