The Charles Wright boys tennis players won the league championship outright for a second year in a row.  Six Tarriers now advance to the district tennis tournament in May.  This was a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing at the varsity level.  “They worked very hard to win this championship,” said Coach Reini Vanderheyd.

CWA had an undefeated 13-0 record going into the league tournament and had outscored opponents 52-4.  The CWA JV was also undefeated this year.  The league tournament is made up of five rounds of play over two days.  CWA hosted the first round of the tournament on Thursday, October 15.  The second day of play was rained out on Friday and the tournament resumed on Monday, October 19.

“Our only loss in the first round was freshman Kyle Jiganti.  He fought very hard but lost 2-6,6-1,10-5,” said Vanderheyd.  “It was a heart breaker match as it was the last match of the day and had to be played in fading light.”  Jiganti’s opponent finished fourth in the tournament.

CWA’s other two singles players had no problems in the first round. Sophomores Daniel Ham won 6-1, 6-0 (vs a player from Cascade Christian) and Tim Chang also came through in flying colors with a 6-0, 6-3 win (vs a player from Vashon). The Tarriers doubles teams did even better, recording double bagels. Juniors Stanley Peterson and Chris Gugliuzza won 6-0, 6-0 (vs a team from Vashon) and freshmen Evan Valentine and Austin Kelley followed with the same scores (vs a team from Northwest Christian).

In the quarter finals, Ham and Chang squared off and Ham defeated his teammate in two sets with scores of 6-2 and 6-0. Ham advanced to the semifinal match where he lost to Nathan Anderson of Cascade Christian, the league champion singles player in two sets, 6-2, 6-1.  Meanwhile, Chang competed against a player from Vashon and finished third in the tournament after defeating him 2-0 with scores of 6-3, 6-4.  Both Ham and Chang with advance to the district tournament in the spring.

In the quarter finals of doubles competition, Peterson and Gugliuzza faced a team from Cascade Christian and defeated them 2-1 with scores of 6-1, 5-7, 10-7.  Valentine and Kelley faced a team from Vashon and defeated the Pirates in three sets, 7-5, 2-6, and a grueling 12-10.  That set up a final match pitting both CWA teams against each other.  Peterson and Gugliuzza won 2-0 with scores of 6-2, 7-6 (6).  They won the second set at 8-6 in a set tie break.   Both teams advance to districts.

Congratulations to all the Tarrier tennis players and their coaches!  We’ll look forward to catching up with them again in the spring as they prepare to compete at districts.

Volleyball
The Upper School’s volleyball teams faced Chimacum on Wednesday, October 14, and Cascade Christian on Monday, October 19.  CWA’s JV team defeated Cascade Christian 2-1 with scores of 19-25, 25-23, and 25-13.  The varsity squad was defeated 0-3 with scores of 11-25, 19-25 and 18-25.

The Middle School’s varsity volleyball squad played Tacoma Baptist on Wednesday, October 14.  Tacoma Baptist defeated CWA 2-1: 20-25, 22-25, 15-10.

Cross-Country
Charles Wright’s last regular season cross-country meet was held Thursday, October 15, at Fort Steilacoom.  CWA won both the Middle School boys and girls races and the Upper School varsity boys and girls races.  The Tarriers came in second in the boys JV race.

Senior Max LaBerge won the varsity boys race with a time of 16:17, nearly a full minute faster than his closest competitor.  Freshman Ruben Riordan finished second with a time of 17:14.  Rounding out the top five scorers for CWA were junior Nick Flood, senior William Livingston and freshman David Dennis.

Junior Emily Harper led the girls team with a second place finish in 20:09.  Sophomore Rie Nordestgaard, senior Sarah Lee, senior Karolina Koperwas and sophomore Brooke Murphy also scored for CWA.

Sean Olsen was the top finisher for CWA’s boys JV team.

Olivia and Sara were the top finishers in the Middle School girls race with times of 10:12 and 10:15, respectively, on the X course.  Sophie, Hanna and Siri helped their team to the victory.

In the Middle School boys race, CWA recorded nine of the top ten finishes.  Zach won the race with a time of 9:09.  Rex and Patrick came in second and third.  Adam and Nick placed fifth and sixth, rounding out the Tarriers top five scores.

Soccer
CWA’s girls soccer team suffered a tough lost on Thursday, October 15, losing 2-0 to Seattle Christian.  Their playoff hopes are still alive, however.  The Middle School boys varsity soccer team also faced Seattle Christian on Thursday and defeated them 4-0.  They are undefeated with a 7-0 record.

Football
The Upper School’s JV football team got their first win of the season on Monday, October 19.  They defeated Cedar Park Christian by a score of 42-14.  The varsity team lost to Cedar Park on Friday, October 16, 30-14.  The Tarriers did all their scoring in the fourth quarter.  Senior Cory Barrett caught a 21-yard pass from junior Colin MacLeod and sophomore Alec Dennis kicked the field goal.  Then senior Rafael McCauley ran 61 yards with the ball and Dennis make his second kick of the game.

This Week
Tuesday, 10/20
US Girls Soccer (JV/V) vs Orting (East Soccer Field/Stadium Field) 4:00
MS Football @ Tacoma Baptist 3:30
MS Boys Soccer (V) @ Annie Wright 3:30
MS Volleyball (JV/V) @ Cascade Christian 3:30/4:30

Wednesday, 10/21
US Volleyball (JV/V) @ Annie Wright 4:00/5:30
MS Boys Soccer (JV/V) vs Showalter (East Soccer Field/Stadium Field) 3:30

Thursday, 10/22
US Cross Country @ Spanaway (League Championships) 4:00
US Girls Soccer (V) vs Life Christian (Stadium Field) 4:00
US Volleyball (V) @ Life Christian 5:45
MS Volleyball (JV/V) vs Life Christian (Dome) 3:30/4:30

Friday, 10/23, HOMECOMING*
US Football vs Port Townsend (Stadium Field) 7:00
*(Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame Reception/Bruce Haertl Recognition (LaPAC) 5:00 – 7:00)
*Bumble Bee Football at halftime