After several months of searching, Kent-Meridian High finally landed a new head football coach on Monday night.
Brett Allen, who coached wide receivers and linebackers at Kent-Meridian from 2001-2004 and who is an English teacher at Mill Creek Middle School, was officially announced as the new coach on Monday after several weeks of speculation.
After sputtering somewhat toward the end of the season, the Kentwood High baseball team needed an offensive lift.
The Conquerors got one on Saturday at Everett Memorial Stadium in the first two rounds of the Class 4A state tournament.
Behind a slew of home runs, the Conquerors easily dispatched of both Skyline and Mountlake Terrace — 16-4 and 13-2 — to earn a berth in the state semifinals on Friday afternoon at Safeco Field in Seattle. Kentwood (19-3) will play Federal Way (18-5) at 4 p.m. on Friday in the first semifinal while Richland will take on Shorewood in the other half of the bracket. The Class 4A state championship is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday at Safeco.
Getting out to a quick start on Saturday proved to be key for the Conquerors.
“All the offense was pretty nice considering we had lost three games in a row coming into district and state," said Kentwood's Austin Voth, who went five innings on the mound to pick up the win over Skyline. "We really needed to boost our confidence up again and get us going.”
Consider it done.
The fourth-ranked Conquerors (19-3) pounded out 15 hits in the win over the Spartans, including a home run by shortstop Bryant VanEngelenburg. Zach Corpuz added three hits, including a double, while Avery Kain delivered three more hits and three RBIs.
But Kentwood was only getting started, socking three more long balls in its win over Mountlake Terrace. Cash McGuire, Avery Kain and Voth all homered in the semifinal-clinching victory. Kain also worked six strong innings on the mound to earn the win.
"He pitched his best game of the year," said Kentwood coach Jon Aarstad. "It was nice to see that."
Corpuz and Voth collected three hits apiece in the win over Mountlake Terrace.
Kentwood, which is making its sixth state appearance in the last seven years, will be making its first Final Four appearance since 2006. Interestingly, the Class 4A semifinals will have a distinctively South Puget Sound League North Division flavor as the Conquerors will play Federal Way (18-5) for a berth in the championship game. The surprising Eagles knocked off Kamiak (12-6) and Redmond (6-5) on Saturday. Kentwood has beaten Federal Way twice this season. The Conquerors throttled the ninth-ranked Eagles in the season opener March 23, 9-1. In that win, Voth delivered five scoreless innings, allowed just one hit and struck out 10. Kentwood beat Federal Way 7-2 on April 14. Kain went the distance on the mound, allowing two unearned runs and striking out 8.
"It's very hard to beat a good team three times, and we beat them twice," Aarstad said. "We definitely can't look past them."
There is reason for the Conquerors to enter the semifinal contest overconfident.
"It's something we're going to have to deal with this week," Aarstad noted. "Federal Way is a much different team than the one we saw four weeks ago. They're playing a much better brand of baseball now."
Indeed. Since falling to Kentwood in April, Federal Way (18-5) has won 11 straight games. The Eagles will be making their first appearance in the state semifinals since 2003.
As of Sunday night, the plan was to start Voth on the mound Friday and go with Kain on Saturday.
The Seattle Thunderbirds Street Team is entering its sixth summer of promoting the teams. The T-Birds Street Team is a volunteer program that promotes the team at fairs, festivals and parades in the greater King County area during the summer.
MEGAN MCNALLY
Kentwood
Grade: Sophomore.
Sport: Track and Field.
ZACH CORPUZ
ZACH CORPUZ
Kentwood
Grade: Senior.
Sport: Baseball.
KIM CONCILLADO
Kentridge
Grade: Junior.
Sport: Track and Field.
BRANDON HARRIS
Kent-Meridian
Grade: Junior.
Sport: Track and Field.
SHAD HALL
Kentlake
Grade: Junior.
Sport: Track and Field.
More than 1,000 track-and-field athletes from 26 Kent elementary schools competed in the Junior Olympics May 8 at French Field next to Kent-Meridian High School.
The numbers are in.
And for the four Kent School District prep track and field programs, that proved to be a good thing in regards to the South Puget Sound League meet at French Field, which was held last Wednesday and Friday.
The top 10 individuals in each event — boys and girls — earned berths to the West Central District meet at Tacoma’s Mount Tahoma High, which is slated for Friday and Saturday (May 21-22).
Kentridge High junior Kevin Brown is a bit new to this track thing.
Last week during the league meet, however, Brown hardly looked like a relative newcomer to the sport. Brown, who throws the javelin, came into the meet ranked 16th in the event. With the top 10 individuals advancing, the Charger appeared to be on paper to be a long shot.
That long shot, however, uncorked one of the meet’s biggest gems.
For more than a year, Kentlake high jumper Shad Hall was stuck on a personal best of 5-feet-10 inches.
That all changed for Hall two weeks ago, when the Kentlake junior uncorked a mark of 6-feet even against Auburn in the final dual meet of the season.
Brandon Harris sat out Kent-Meridian’s final dual meet of the season to rest some aches and pains.
The rest apparently did Harris some good.
The Kent-Meridian junior uncorked the best mark in the long jump (22-08.25) and the second best mark in the triple jump (45-08.50) during last week’s meet.
The Kentwood High baseball team didn’t wait Saturday afternoon to clinch a state berth.
Behind home runs by Zach Corpuz and Avery Kain along with a steady performance on the mound by ace Austin Voth, Kentwood knocked off Olympia 7-3 at Heritage Park in Puyallup to claim its sixth Class 4A state berth in seven years.
KELLI SUGURO
Kentridge
Grade: Senior.
Sport: Fastpitch.
AUSTIN PERNELL
Kentlake
Grade: Sophomore.
Sport: Baseball.
Accomplishment: Xx.
Favorite class: Math.
If you could invite anyone in the world to dinner, whom would you invite, and what would you serve: I would invite Kobe (Bryant) and LeBron James and I would serve hot wings with a side of salad and Kool-Aid.
Favorite Movie: Remember the Titans.
Most recent book read/author: "Macbeth" by William Skakespeare.
What's on your iPod?: "Super Hyphy" by Keak Da Sneak.
BRITTANY STYGER
Kentlake
Grade: Junior.
Sport: Fastpitch.
DERRICK DAIGRE
Kent-Meridian
Grade: Junior.
Sport: Track & Field.
AIESHA GOODLOW
Kentwood
Grade: Senior.
Sport: Track & Field.
First came the jam, and then came the throw.
Behind a pitching gem by Nikole Weber and the defensive play of the year by center fielder Erin Crowley, Kentlake hung on to beat Puyallup 3-1 for the South Puget Sound League title on Friday evening at Service Club Ballfields in Kent.
