Seamount League

FOOTBALL

First team — DT Paul Charbonneau and DB Marquise Lee

Second team — LB Parker Trewet, C Parker Trewet and RB Marquise Lee

Honorable mention — DB Cody Stillings, WR Eli Azecueta, WR Justin Anderson, RB Kaleb Magee and QB Nolan Hoover

BOYS GOLF

First team — Zach Dea and Nick Yee

Second team — Cooper Page and Spencer Mead

Honorable mention — Ryan Gayte

GIRLS GOLF

Second team — Taylor Jensen and Ana Giron

Honorable mention — Sam Kelly

BOYS TENNIS

Athlete of the Year — Gregg Furumasu

Coach of the Year — Gail Ellis

First team — Gregg Furumasu, Bruno Hernandez and Marcus Lee

Second team — Justin Nguyen, Sonlam Nguyen and David Vaisar

BOYS CROSS-COUNTRY

First team — Graham Manson and Dario Cirlincione

GIRLS CROSS-COUNTRY

First team — Kate Lilly and Daniela Reyna

GIRLS SOCCER

First team — Brook Swensen and Nicole Anderson

Second team — Brittany Dinkins, Emma Lorrigan and Taylor Lenton

Honorable mention — Kierra Lim, Georgia Lawrence, Amy Warmenhoven, Madeline Kaiser, Sarah Hart and Madison Kraemer

GIRLS SWIM AND DIVE

First team — Kourtney Brunings and Kristen LeBar

Second team — Clarissa Mitchell and Emilie Nelson

VOLLEYBALL

First team — Marcela Macias

Second team — Sablena Milinganyo and Alicia Nguyen

Honorable mention — Annie Dang

KingCo 2A/3A

FOOTBALL

Lineman of the Year — Nate Jarvis

First team — C Nate Jarvis and G Mitchell McQuigg

Second team — DT Mitchell McQuigg, OT Quinn Magendanz, P Quinn Magendanz, LB Kacy Thomas, RB Drew Hall, LB Drew Hall and DE Marquel Ellis

Honorable mention — RB Russell Boston, OT Alec Waters, LB Romney Noel and S Max Batali

BOYS GOLF

First team — Ben Graham

Honorable mention — Dexter Simonds

GIRLS SOCCER

First team — Jordan Hemmen and Maddy Mak

Second team — Makenna Carr, Sydney Abel, Sami Harrell and Kelley Johnson

Honorable mention — Melanie Patalano, Jasmine Curl, Laurie Willoughby and Morgan Childs

VOLLEYBALL

Most Valuable Player — Shea O’Brien

First team — Shea O’Brien

Second team — Kenna Hanses

Honorable mention — Kayla Wiscomb and Hayley Ho

GIRLS SWIM AND DIVE

First team — Mackenna Briggs and Abby Russell

Second team — Cecilia Nelson, Lauryn Hepp, Sydney Hartford and Ellie Hohensinner

Honorable mention — Christina Sargent

BOYS TENNIS

First team — Marek Pierepiekarz

Did someone say pool party?

Thanks to numerous donations and widespread fundraising, Hazen High School’s pool has nearly escaped closure for the 2011-2012 school year. The campaign came in the wake of school officials finding themselves without $60,000 needed to operate the pools at Hazen and Lindbergh high schools for the year.

As of Newcastle News’ May 31 deadline, fundraising had yielded more than $58,000 in contributions.

“Everyone is just delighted,” said Chris Carlson, Renton Pools Community organizer. “It’s such an important asset.”

Hazen’s public pool — built in 1969 — hosts swim lessons, the WhiteWater Aquatics swim team, the Shadow Seals swim team, the Issaquah Swim Team and the Bellevue Swim Club, as well as the swim teams from Hazen, Liberty and Renton high schools.

The funding crisis began in 2010, when King County transferred ownership of the Lindbergh pool to the Renton School District. Thus, the school district was tasked with maintaining the pool.

“All of the sudden, it was a new line item in the school district’s budget that wasn’t funded,” district spokesman Randy Matheson said.

For the 2010-2011 school year, the city of Renton contributed $40,000 to operate Lindbergh’s pool — $15,000 less than what was needed to keep the pool open. However, community groups picked up the slack, raising funds to overcome the shortfall.

For the 2011-2012 school year, the city pulled its funding, leaving community groups to close a $60,000 gap instead. However, this time, Hazen’s pool was on the chopping block as well. When he heard the news, Carlson volunteered to help.

Carlson’s son graduated from Hazen in 2009 after four years as a member of the school swim team. With his background as a community organizer and experience as an involved parent, Carlson took charge with Renton Pools Community.

Since October, the group has met several times a month to organize fundraising efforts. Countless groups and individuals stepped up to help, including the Bellevue Club Swim Team,* which donated $10,000 to keep the pools open.

The Hazen Booster Club held an auction, the Renton Civic Theatre held a performance of the play “Here on the Flight Path” and the Hazen pool hosted a swim-a-thon, all to raise money for the cause.

At the swim-a-thon May 14 — at which swimmers collected pledges to swim laps —Hazen junior Blake Baxter swam 336 laps. At 25 yards per lap, he swam roughly 4.8 miles.

Baxter swam the first 285 for a dollar per lap from friends and family members, swimming without a break. After he finished, he found a swimmer from Kentridge High School trying to complete more laps than he did.

“She was trying to show me up, so I kind of tried to keep that from happening,” Baxter said with a laugh. “I was feeling pretty good, but after the additional 51, I was pretty dead. I slept really well that night.”

Although his additional laps were not for money, they inspired those in attendance, as he and the Kentridge swimmer swam until the swim-a-thon ended and the pool closed.

“It was pretty cool to see,” said Jen Ben, Hazen pool manager. “He was quite dedicated.”

The swim-a-thon raised $1,200.

Donations were also collected at both pools, with pool users donating as little as $1 and as much as $1,000 at the doors.

Being so close to the goal of $60,000 calls for a sigh of relief, at least for now, as most of the donations flooded in during the spring.

“Back in January, I was biting my nails hoping something would start,” Ben said, adding that she is thankful for the great community support. “Without these pools, people won’t learn how to swim and the drowning rate will go up.”

Although it is almost certain the pools will be funded for the 2011-2012 school year, another round of fundraising will likely be in store for the 2012-2013 year to keep the pools functioning, Matheson said.

However, he said the fundraising goal will likely be less than $60,000, as increases in fees for pool users will help offset the cost.

* This story contains updated information.

Swimmer Chase Onstot and diver Brandon Alexander earned a trip to the state swimming and diving championships in Federal Way Feb. 19, and five Highlanders earned a trip to the state wrestling tournament in the Tacoma Dome Feb. 18.

Basketball

The Hazen High School boys basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 1-point loss in the second game of the state tournament to end its season.

The berth in the tournament followed district tournament wins over Kelso, Bremerton, Camas and Kennedy high schools. Had Hazen lost one of those games, its season would have been over.

The team started the state tournament with a 67-60 victory over Mountlake Terrace High School, senior power forward and center Brandt Graybeal led the team with 22 points in the victory, followed by senior point guard De’corius Sampson, who racked up 17 points of his own. Junior point guard Frankie Johnson also had 11 points.

In the second game of the state tournament, Hazen fell to Glacier Peak High School, 50-49.

The Highlanders were up by 1 point with 15 seconds left, but Glacier Peak picked up a loose ball. Hazen fouled, and Glacier Peak hit both free throws. When Hazen got the ball back, it was unable to score.

Senior shooting guards Michael Dampier and R.J. Magar led the Highlanders in the game with 13 points and 10 points, respectively. Junior center Dawit Kasa and Sampson each had 9 points.

Regardless, head coach Gary Schaplow said the team made a good run.

“I’m really proud of the kids, the way they played down the stretch,” he said. “They bought in and came together and played some pretty good defense.”

Of the nine postseason games Hazen played, three went into overtime.

“I was so impressed with their competitive spirit. I told them that all year,” Schaplow said. “They will just fight and fight and fight until the horn blows.”

The team finished the season with a 21-7 overall record, and a 13-1 record in Seamount League play. Magar led the team in scoring in the year with 355 points and an average of 14.2 points per game. Kasa, Sampson and Graybeal also finished the season with more than 250 points each, averaging 11.8, 11 and 10.7 points per game, respectively.

Schaplow took over as head coach Dec. 13 after the school fired former coach James Olive. Schaplow had coached the Highlanders for two seasons in the early 2000s and served as the school’s athletic director from 2004-2009.

He said he is not sure whether he will coach the team again next year.

The Hazen girls basketball team finished the season with an 11-8 overall record and a 8-6 record in Seamount League play. The Highlanders advanced to a seeding match against Enumclaw High School Feb. 11 to battle for a spot in the district tournament, but they lost 52-44.

The loss marked an unfortunate end to a season that started strong.

“On paper, we should have beaten Enumclaw,” girls basketball head coach Jeff Bernhardt said. “It came down to a couple possessions here and there, and they made the most of them.”

Junior guard Airashay Rogers led the league in scoring during the season with an astounding 448 points and an average of 26.4 points per game. Rogers also racked up 42 assists during the season, as well as 35 blocks, 112 steals and 160 rebounds.

Senior guard Michelle Wnek was second on the team in scoring with 220 points, averaging 12.2 points per game. Wnek also had 34 assists and a league-leading 132 steals.

“They were, no question, the leaders of our team,” Bernhardt said.

With Rogers returning for her senior season next year, Hazen is sure to be a threat in 2012.

Hazen High School junior Brandon Alexander prepares to leap into reverse double summersaults in the first round of the state diving finals Feb. 19. He finished 16th in the event. By Tim Pfarr

Swimming

Sophomore Onstot and junior Alexander advanced to the state swimming championship meet Feb. 19 at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Onstot took 10th in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 51.78 seconds. He also took 11th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:46.87.

Alexander took 16th in state in diving, racking up a final score of 252.7 in the championship round.

Wrestling

Hazen wrestlers Josh Kluth, Derek Coburn, Austin Clark, Daniel Karpman and Kyle Ely advanced to the Mat Classic in the Tacoma Dome.

Ely — a senior in the 189-pound weight class — lost his first match 15-7 to Camoron Babcock, from Shadle Park High School in Spokane, and advanced to the consolation bracket, where he pinned Jake Ferris, from Wilson High School in Tacoma, in 4:33.

However, he dropped his next match against Colton Malek, from Enumclaw High School, 4-0, ending his championship run.

Kluth, Coburn, Clark, Karpman and Ely each lost their first two matches and were eliminated from the tournament.