By Greg Farrar
Josh Gordon (left), Liberty High School senior, gets the baton handoff from teammate Hiron Redman for the anchor leg of the 4×400 3A state championship relay race May 26 in Tacoma.

Hiron Redman could barely believe it.

“Wow,” he thought. “This is it.”

After knowing one another since middle school, which they attended together, Liberty High School’s Redman, Hamilton Noel, Joe Bergmann and Josh Gordon would race together for the last time.

Bergmann and Redman are juniors, but their two pals are graduating. And the 4×400 relay race at the state meet May 26 was probably the last time they would all suit up in uniforms of the same color.

To boot, it had not been their finest meet, so they all felt extra pressure to put on a good show at their farewell race.

“None of us did as well as we wanted to this weekend,” Noel said. “So we were trying to make this one count.”

That, they did, earning third place at state, among what Noel called the highest level of competition they had faced this year.

“We won this last year, and we were hoping to repeat,” he added. “But third is not bad at all.”

Neither is fifth, the overall finish for the Liberty boys at state.

Gordon finished tied for fifth in the high jump with 6 feet, 4 inches. He won the long jump with 22 feet, 8 inches, but still had his heart broken by the triple jump, which he finished in third place and in tears.

Bergmann finished 11th in the high jump, with 6 feet. Noel finished seventh in the pole vault, with 13 feet. Trevor Merritt finished 10th in the javelin with 166 feet, 8 inches.

Redman finished fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1 minute, 54.21 seconds, a second shy of his personal best.

“I wanted to stay with (race-winner) Izaic (York) for as long as I could,” Redman said. “Then, I just blew up at the end. I didn’t have the kick.”

Still, the duel with the record-setting York, from Lakes High School, proved fruitful for Redman.

“It was fun to go up against him and realize that maybe next year…” he said, leaving that thought hang in the Tacoma breeze.

That same breeze made Liberty pole vaulter Danielle Richards a little nervous at first.

“The wind was a little iffy,” she said. “But once I started running, I didn’t feel it.”

Richards set a personal best and a school record in the pole vault with 10 feet, 6 inches. She finished in a three-way tie for fourth place.

“I feel very good,” she said. “But also a little sad because the season is ending and this is my senior year.”

The girls finished tied for 28th overall.

Alexis McGinnis finished 15th in the shot put, with 31 feet, 1.25 inches. Anna Frodsham finished 15th in the javelin, with 101 feet. Emily Pestl-Dimmitt finished one spot below.

The 4×400 team of Ryker, Kelley Johnson, Michaela Chucka and Aimee Christensen finished fifth with 4 minutes, 2.54 seconds. The 4×100 relay team of Cherelle and Danielle Demps, Elizabeth Ryker and Richards finished sixth, in 50.12 seconds.

Lastly, Richards’ last state go-round was Megan Chucka’s first. The long distance runner finished 14th in the 1,600 meters and 15th in the 3,200 meters.

The junior said she felt kind of tired during the races, but would still cherish her first long season with the track team.

“Even if I’m not running with the top dogs, I can look at them and aspire to go faster,” she said.

Four of said dogs marveled at how six years of friendship had translated into state medals.

“We had the biggest chemistry,” Redman said. “We love each other.”

Josh Gordon, a standout athlete in track and football, Eagle Scout, honor student and brother, identified himself as a competitor at a young age.

Gordon and his father were attending a University of Washington football game and Josh pointed to the field.

Josh Gordon

“Someday, I’m going to make a touchdown there,” Josh told his father.

Now 17 and attending his final year at Liberty High School, Gordon is working hard to make good on that promise. He’s the leading receiver for King County in 3A football, and if football doesn’t work out, Gordon will look to track and field. As a junior, he won first place at state in the long jump and 1,600 relay, adding to the second-place medal he earned as a sophomore.

One would think his success might change his personality, or make him susceptible to the culture of boastful talking.

Not Gordon.

“Josh is the most humble kid you will meet,” said Mike Smith, the boys coach for track and field at Liberty. “He wants to be on the relay, not just individual sports, and if someone needs help, he’s the first one to jump in, taking time out of his own practice.”

It’s a trait that has won him the respect and admiration of his teammates on both fields of play, said Steve Valach, Liberty football coach.

“When we were down 21 and four in with Juanita, we had seconds on the clock. Josh caught the ball and ran it back for the game-winning touchdown,” Valach said

No jumping up and down. No grandstanding.

“He didn’t say a word,” Valach said.

One of the crowd

Gordon’s drive is self-motivated, according to Valach and his parents, though some of his athletic prowess is inherited. His father has been an athlete his entire life, and his mother was a three-time state champion in swimming events who still holds several school records.

“I used to tease my mom that I was going to get more medals than her,” Gordon said, recounting how often he watched her old swimming videos to see how she handled herself.

Her quiet, determined demeanor and grace under pressure influenced him as he progressed in his sports.

That’s the type of leadership others in the community have come to expect from the young man who spent his summer drumming up school supplies for the Seattle Children’s Home. He placed posters around the community, collaborated with his football team and the owners of a swimming pool in Seattle to collect supplies. By the end of summer, he’d met his goal of providing enough supplies for every student, as well as raising about $500.

“Here’s a kid that gets up at five every morning, goes to his seminary before school, gets his Eagle Scout and never says a word of any of it,” Smith said. “He just does it.”

That type of demeanor has endeared him to other players, Smith said, “who look up to Josh and follow his example.”

Gordon deflects the praise, putting it back on his parents and his mentors at school.

“One of the best things coach Valach taught me is that high school football lasts three years, but the lessons we learn in football can be used for life. That’s real world,” Gordon said. “Sometimes, no matter how hard you train or practice, sometimes it’s just not going to be enough.”

His parents and coaches don’t complain about him lacking motivation. They worry he’s not enjoying the moment because he’s so focused on “doing it all.”

“I call him my border collie,” Smith said. “He’s always herding. The hardest thing for him to do is sit still and be patient. When the practice is over and everyone is gone, Josh is still on the field, wanting to do more and learn more. I have to tell him to go home.”

Gordon hasn’t let his focus on athletics detract from academics or service work in the community. He holds a 3.5 grade point average and recently submitted the forms for his Eagle Scout award. This balanced scorecard has made Gordon a viable candidate for scholarships. He is being recruited by several universities, including the University of Washington and Brigham Young University.

For now, Gordon’s plans are modest.

“Keep training,” he said. “Keep studying.”

Sarah Gerdes, who wrote this article, is a freelance writer.

Gordon, a junior, took first in the 3A long jump with a 22-10 1/2 jump and second in the high jump, clearing 6-6.

The latter set a new personal best and a school record.

Devin Bennett, Liberty High School senior, flies in the air for his 44-foot, 8 1/2-inch triple jump, to take fifth place at the 3A state track championships May 28 in Tacoma. By Greg Farrar

“The last few weeks, I’d been really down, only clearing 6, 6-2, so to come out on a nice day and get that was really great,” Gordon said about the high jump. “It just felt really good. I just came off just flying through the air. I’m over the bar and I don’t feel it yet. It was just really a great feeling.”

The 4×400 team — Gordon, Devin Bennett, Joseph Bergmann and Hamilton Noel — took first place with a time of 3 minutes, 22.08 seconds.

Also, Liberty’s Hiron Redmon, a sophomore, took third in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:56.1; Bennett took fourth in the 400 with a time of 51.01; and Noel took sixth in the pole vault with a jump of 13-6.

Bennett ran in lane seven for the 400, which he said helped eliminate distractions at the start of the race, given that he started in front of most of his competitors.

“You don’t have somebody to pace you,” he said. “The competition is all on your inside. It makes you work harder.”

For the Liberty girls, senior Madison Birdsall took seventh in the 400 with a time of 58.78; sophomore Jessica Pickering took 12th place in the pole vault, jumping 8-6; and freshman Amy Broska took 15th in the 3,200 with a time of 11:51.73.

Softball team falls in first round

Liberty’s softball team advanced to the 3A SeaKing District Tournament, falling to Bishop Blanchet High School, 5-2, in the first round. The Patriots entered the game as a No. 4 seed from 3A KingCo; Bishop Blanchet entered as the No. 4 seed from Metro.

In the final game, both teams’ offenses were cold through the top of the fourth inning, when the Braves managed to score a run on a single to left center field. The Patriots struck back in the top of the fifth, when junior centerfielder Ana Faoro drew a two-out walk and freshman second baseman Liza VanCamp made it to first base on a dropped fly ball to third base.

With runners on first and second, junior shortstop Denise Blohowiak came to the plate. After a wild pitch allowed both runners to advance, Blohowiak hit a ground ball to third. However, the Braves’ third baseman stepped on the bag, mistakenly thinking there was a force-out on the bag that would end the inning. Faoro scored on the play to tie the game, and VanCamp made it to third without being tagged.

A foul-out ended the top of the fifth, and Bishop Blanchet just as quickly regained control of the game in the bottom half of the inning. The Braves opened with a single, and after a strikeout and a fielder’s choice, they racked up five straight hits, driving in four runs.

Liberty added another run in the sixth inning, but it was too little too late.

“My team has grown so much from the beginning to the end,” softball head coach Jessica Johnson said. “They’ve done everything I’ve asked them, from mental toughness to physical ability.”

The loss brought the Patriots’ final record for the year to 8-10. However, most of the team will be back next year, as the team has only three graduating seniors.

The Liberty baseball team’s season was cut short in the first round of the KingCo 3A tournament after a 10-1 loss to Mercer Island High School on May 10.

Liberty entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed on the heels of a five-game winning streak that included a 3-0 victory at home against No. 4 seed Mercer Island.

“We ran into a tough team tonight,” Liberty baseball coach Steve Darnell said after the game.

The Patriots baseball team lost 13 seniors after the 2010 season, and they entered this season with only five returning varsity players. The season began as an uphill battle, and Liberty entered the final five games with a 4-10 overall record.

“A few weeks ago, we couldn’t even talk about playing in this game,” Darnell said after the game. “It was really tough getting everybody to believe and play through that 21st out, but once we started doing that — scratching and clawing at all 21 — we really got it going.”

The boys soccer team did not advance to the playoffs, finishing the season 4-9-2.

Hamilton Noel, Liberty High School junior has the top position on Enumclaw’s Josh Musick early in their 152-pound state 3A championship match Feb. 19 at the Tacoma Dome. By Sebastian Moraga

For as long as he can remember, Liberty High School wrestler Hamilton Noel has learned from the best. His father, Wright Noel, was a state championship high school wrestler and an NCAA First-Team All-American wrestler at Brigham Young University.

With the lessons learned from his father — and his own strength and determination — Hamilton Noel took second place in his weight class at the state wrestling championships for the past two years.

Building on the foundation of wrestling, Hamilton — now a high school junior — has become a dangerous football player and a dominating track-and-field athlete.

“It’s a competitive-natured sport, and if you bring that to other sports, it helps,” Hamilton said about wrestling.

He said that applies both mentally and physically, and the physical core strength gained in wrestling provides a solid physical foundation for other sports.

His supreme drive has earned him widespread respect at Liberty.

“He’s very highly respected by players, teachers and coaches,” Liberty football coach Steve Valach said. “You’d have to stretch a long way to find somebody who would have something bad to say about Hamilton.”

A record that speaks for itself

Hamilton Noel first began wrestling with his brothers at home before joining his middle school wrestling team. He was on the track-and-field team throughout middle school, and joined the football team in eighth grade, thanks to encouragement from his friends.

When he started high school, he went straight to the varsity wrestling squad, taking to the 135-pound weight class. He finished the season with a 25-9 record, advancing to the Mat Classic state tournament in the Tacoma Dome. He won his first match in the tournament 14-1, but he lost his second match in triple overtime and his third by just four points, which ended his championship run.

With just one more win, he would have placed in the top eight in the state.

By his sophomore year, Hamilton had moved to the 145-pound weight class, improving his record to 30-5 and again advancing to the state tournament, and falling just six points short of a championship. He further improved his record to 33-2 his junior year, advancing to the championship match again but failing to win by four points.

Hamilton also competed in this year’s National High School Coaches Association High School Wrestling Nationals Championship in Virginia from March 29 to April 3. Noel wrestled in five matches, boasting a 3-2 record against the county’s strongest. He fell just short of placing.

Early in his high school career, Hamilton worked his way through the football program, advancing to the varsity team his junior year, getting considerable playing time as a fullback, outside linebacker and safety.

“It’s a great team sport. I really like the coaches,” he said about Liberty’s football program. “Games are obviously super fun.”

In his junior season, Noel had 69 carries for 616 yards — an average of 8.9 yards per carry. His longest run was 77 yards, and he recorded six touchdowns. Defensively, he racked up 44 tackles — the second-most on the team — and a team-leading four interceptions.

Valach said Hamilton is a quiet leader, although one with tremendous heart.

“The best thing about Hamilton is he leads by example,” Valach said. “He’s not only tough and determined, he’s really talented. He’s a guy that lets his plays speak for him.”

Hamilton took his freshman year off from track and field, and when he joined the team his sophomore year, he finished ninth in state in the pole vault with a 12-foot 6-inch leap. He also ran in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints.

This year, he dropped the individual sprints to join the team’s 4×400 relay team with Joshua Gordon, Hiron Redmon and Devin Bennett. The team runs the event in 3 minutes, 32.5 seconds — the third-fastest time in the state.

“He’s like a cannonball. He’s just solid,” Liberty track-and-field coach Mike Smith said. “Hamilton, not even training with the runners, blasts one of the fastest 400s on the team.”

Smith said the team also had to buy new, stronger poles to accommodate Hamilton’s ever-increasing strength.

“He’s just gotten so strong that we didn’t have anything that he could use,” he said.

A family affair

Wright and Hamilton Noel are not the only ones in the family who know how to wrestle. Hamilton’s brothers — Wright Jr., 19, and Romney, 14 — also began wrestling informally at home before joining teams in middle school.

“It started as young boys just rolling around on the carpet,” said Wright Noel, an assistant coach for the Liberty wrestling team. “With three young boys, there’s a lot of rolling around on the carpet.”

As the boys grew older, Wright began joining in on the wrestling, which he said now takes place whenever somebody wants somebody else to move out of the way.

Hamilton agreed.

“It’s pretty much always a wrestling match around the house,” he said.

However, Wright Noel has an advantage of 35 pounds and more than 20 years of experience.

“Hamilton is very gifted. The sport is natural for him, but I’ve been doing it a lot longer,” Wright Noel said with a laugh. “I have a lot of tricks.”

When Hamilton reached high school, he spent two years wrestling alongside his older brother. Wright Jr. qualified for the state tournament while at Liberty, but he never placed in the top eight.

At first, Wright Noel said there used to be tension between the boys when one would do better than the other, but the relationship has since matured.

“Now I think Wright is Hamilton’s biggest fan,” Wright Noel said about his sons. “One of the reasons Hamilton is as good as he is is because of his brother. He wanted to keep up with his brother.”

Wright continues to coach on the Liberty team, but he said he will always be a father first and coach second, and he tries to not bring his coaching duties home with him at night.

A big senior year ahead

On the football team this fall, Hamilton may take the role of the team’s leading rusher, since running back Chandler Jenkins will graduate in June.

“Certainly when we talk about running the football, he’ll be the backfield,” Valach said.

However, Valach said Hamilton will continue to be a key defensive and special teams player as well. Defensively, he will continue to drop back as a safety on coverage plays and creep up as a linebacker on four-linebacker formations.

“He’s the kind of guy when you think, ‘If we have 11 Hamilton Noels out there, who’s going to beat us?’” Valach said. “Wrestlers are so dog garn tough that they can do pretty much anything.”

On the mat, Hamilton said he hopes to win a state championship, and Liberty wrestling coach Manny Brown will be there to help get there.

“He’s determined. He loves the sport,” Brown said. “He’s just an athlete no matter what he does, and he wants to be the best at it.”

Brown said he will need to seek tough competition for Hamilton next year.

“Every time I’ve got to schedule something, I’ve got to think kind of in 3-D,” he said. “I can take the team here, but I’ve got to send Hamilton there.”

He said he hopes to give Hamilton enough competition next year that he has at least one loss during the season.

“Not that I want him to lose, but I want him to be able to challenge himself,” Brown said. “It really helps mentally. You’re not going to win every match, not going to win every point. It preps you mentally to know how far your body can go.”

He said Hamilton Noel will be the team captain next year, as he was in the 2010-2011 season.

“He’s just a natural athlete,” Brown said. “You don’t run into those every day.”

Liberty’s baseball team went 4-8 in April, bringing its conference record to 3-8 and its overall record to 6-10.

The softball team went 4-5 in April, bringing its conference record to 5-6 and its overall record to 6-6. The boys soccer team went 2-5-1 for the month, bringing its conference record to 3-7-2 and its overall record to 4-8-2.

In track and field, junior Josh Gordon led the way, setting three personal records in the long jump, beginning with a 22-foot, 7-inch jump April 8 at the Arcadia Invitational just outside Pasadena, Calif. He followed up the performance with a 22-foot, 8.5-inch jump April at the Eason Invitational at Snohomish High School, and a monstrous 23-foot, 7.5-inch jump at the Viking Relays April 23 at Curtis High School in University Place.

The latter was the longest jump recorded by a 3A athlete in the state this year.

Senior Madison Birdsall followed Gordon’s lead, setting school records in the 400-meter April 21 and 28 with times of 58.7 seconds and 58.3 seconds, respectively. The latter set a state 3A record for the year.

Meanwhile, junior Hamilton Noel set a school and state 3A record for the year with a 13-foot, 6-inch pole vault.

Sophomore Rachel Shaw became the second Liberty runner to ever break 12 minutes in the 3,200-meter, recording a time of 11 minutes, 53.96 seconds.

Liberty track and field also competed in the Issaquah School District meet May 5, after Newcastle News’ deadline. The team will next compete in the KingCo 3A championship meet at 3 p.m. May 11 at Juanita High School in Kirkland.

Liberty’s softball team was in fifth place in the 3A KingCo conference as of the News’ May 3 deadline. Liberty’s soccer team was in sixth place and the baseball team was in seventh place.

The soccer team started off April with a bang, whipping past Lake Washington High School with a 4-0 victory. However, after a 1-0 loss to Juanita High School and a 1-1 tie with Interlake High School, the team dropped four straight games. The team finished the month with a 1-0 win over Juanita.

The Patriots took on Mercer Island High School May 3, also after the News’ deadline.

Head coach Darren Tremblay said the loss against Juanita early in the month was a head-scratcher. It marked the Rebels’ first conference win of the season.

“It was a tough loss,” he said. “I really thought we played well enough to win the game. We just couldn’t put the ball in the net.”

The Patriots outshot the rebels 10-2 in the contest, and the Rebels’ goal came from a penalty shot with 15 minutes left in the game.

Senior forward Aaron Potoshnik leads the team with five goals for the year, followed by senior midfielder Blake Kessler, senior midfielder Danny Dapper and senior midfielder Riley Mackey. Kessler leads the team with five assists.

Liberty’s soccer team wraps up its season with a match against Interlake on the road May 6.