Today marks the final installment of the three annual honors we hand out here at the Kent Reporter.
Like the Male and Female Athlete of the Year honors, I do not take the Coach of the Year award lightly. First and foremost, it must be understood how much time and effort the local coaches put into each and every season. And while coaches get paid a stipend for their work, it hardly accounts for the countless hours they put in during — and outside — the season.
The coaching business has changed vastly since I was a senior in high school nearly 20 years ago. These days, it seems coaches spend as much — if not more — time in the offseason breaking down film as they do planning for the upcoming season. In addition, I can’t overlook the fact that these coaches wear more hats than their title suggests. They serve as mentors, counselors, teachers and, in some instances, parents throughout the course of the school year for the student-athletes.
Trainer Doris Harwood announced that she and husband/owner Jeff Harwood have nominated Washington-bred Noosa Beach to the 2011 Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 4-5 at Churchill Downs.
Planning is an art form to Aaron Radford.
A blueprint for higher achievement. A roadmap to achieving a goal.
Properly implemented and with enough effort, success will follow. To Radford it all makes perfect sense, whether it be in his math class at Kentwood High or on the soccer field, where he coaches the school’s boys and girls teams.
The big payoff for Radford isn’t necessarily winning, either. Instead, like discovering the answer to an equation that has taken hours to solve, it’s about seeing it all come together on the field.
And this school year, there wasn’t a single coach in the Kent Valley whose plans came together better than Radford’s. Last fall, Radford guided Kentwood’s girls soccer team to a 18-3-1 overall record, a mark which included the program’s first-ever Class 4A state championship. The Kentwood coach nearly duplicated that feat in the spring, leading the boys team to a 17-2-3 overall record and a third-place trophy at the state tournament, which tied for the best finish in program history.
Zayda’s late rally fell a neck short in the $50,000 Pepsi-Cola Handicap, but the strapping 3-year-old was promoted to first place via disqualification in a wild finish Sunday at Emerald Downs.
Two Seattle Thunderbirds were selected in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft Saturday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Center Colin Jacobs and left wing Marcel Noebels were both taken in the fourth round of the draft, nine spots apart.
The pressure is on Lisa Ashley.
Ashley, 45, recently was named the new girls basketball coach at Kentwood High, a position vacated by Dean Montzingo in late March. Montzingo, who spent two years at the helm of the Kentwood program, left with a solid 42-15 overall record and two state berths. Montzingo took over for Keith Hennig after the 2009 season. In six years with Kentwood, Hennig compiled a 136-25 record, a mark that included four straight state berths and a Class 4A title in 2009.
Ashley knows all about the history and expectations of taking the Kentwood job.
The Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team announced Thursday a six-game preseason schedule, including one home game at 7:05 p.m. Sept. 17 against the Everett Silvertips at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
Holly DeHart didn’t want to have any regrets.
Not at the conclusion of her senior year.
Not ever.
So when the Kentwood High sprinter’s friends were enjoying the final days of their high school lives — hanging out with peers, staying up late to watch movies and essentially being teenagers — DeHart remained intently focused on a single goal. And a golden one at that.
“There were nights when I wish I would have been able to go out,” admitted the recent graduate. “My senior year, I wanted to go have fun, but I also didn’t want to have any regrets at the end of the state (track) meet. I didn’t want to wish I did this or that. At the beginning of the season, when I wasn’t performing as well as I could, it was a wake-up call.
“I didn’t want to be stuck losing at the end.”
A week ago, when debating the merits it takes to win our Athlete of the Year honor, I noted that typically those who compete in more than one sport stand a better chance of bringing home our final prize.
This week, however, as we honor our Female Athlete of the Year, we’re going against the grain. Kentwood track standout Holly DeHart has hauled home the big prize. The recent graduate’s exploits on the oval proved to be too much to overlook.
DeHart won Class 4A state crowns in the 100- and 200-meter dashes by establishing new personal records. In addition, she ran a leg on both of Kentwood’s gold-medal winning 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relay teams. DeHart’s Herculean performance essentially put the state team title out of reach well before the final whistle of the year sounded.
Sophomores stretch out around two turns when Emerald Downs presents a stakes double-header for 3-year-olds Sunday, June 26. Colts and geldings race one mile in the Pepsi Cola Handicap and fillies take their turn in the Irish Day Handicap.
Outing Mail powered past the leaders into the stretch and scored a 2-¼-length victory Saturday in the Johnsonville Purse for fillies and mares at rainy Emerald Downs.
He has been described as a “nightmare.”
The kind of kid who “commands” attention.
Yet, for all the sleepless nights and gray hairs Kent-Meridian High’s David Jones has caused for those outside the East Hill school, one thing remains clear:
The recently graduated senior has been a dream come true for the Royals.
I’ve lost sleep and pulled out plenty of hair since the prep season officially came to a close May 28.
Why, you ask?
It all boiled down to our choice for the Kent Male Athlete of the Year. In the end, Kent-Meridian High’s David Jones won out.
A two-sport star (track and football), Jones narrowly edged the competition. And when I say narrowly, I mean by the slimmest of margins. I’ve been putting together year-end honors for more than a decade. During that time, there have been several close calls and lengthy debates with colleagues.
This year’s debate takes the prize. It’s not because Jones wasn’t deserving – clearly, he is. However, an argument could be made for a number of local athletes. I take this decision seriously. A lot of time — more than some realize — goes into it.
There’s no set-in-stone criteria for the eventual winner. However, a few key traits do come into play. After all the statistics are boiled down, I look at how many sports each individual competed in. Those who compete in three sports always gain a slight edge over those who may have participated in just one. In addition, character and leadership play a paramount role, as do the opinions of local coaches.
All told, this process is considerably more complex than simply flipping a coin — though my sleep pattern of late makes part of me wish that I had done just that.
Steve Konowalchuk had no plans to leave his job as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League until the Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team asked him to be its new coach.
Everything came full circle for the Thorp family of Kent two weeks ago.
Keeping with a family tradition that was established well before they were born, Kennedy Catholic’s Mitchell and Jamie Thorp brought home a state boys doubles tennis championship. The Thorps — Mitchell, a junior, and Jamie, a freshman — knocked off Seattle Prep brothers Evan and Drew Beckam, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6, to capture the Class 3A state title on May 28 at Kamiakin High in Kennewick.
That capped a perfect season for Kennedy’s dynamic duo, which finished the year 17-0.
The Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team will name their new head coach in a 3 p.m. press conference Thursday in the Club Lounge at the ShoWare Center in Kent, according to a Wednesday T-Birds media release.
The Tri-Cities Fever clobbered the Seattle Timberwolves 86-59 in a professional Indoor Football League game Sunday night at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
