CHARLES WRIGHT TARRIERS
Head coach: Mike Finch, third season
Coordinators, Sets
O: Neil Biermann, spread
D: Finch, 4-4

Top players: OG/DT Michael Kane, sr., 6-3, 245; WR/FS Patrick Dale, sr., 6-1, 150; RB/WR/CB Marcquel Hawkins, sr., 5-10, 175; WR Alexander Moore, fr., 6-0, 165.

Outlook
One of the smaller teams in the league, much of the Tarriers’ success will depend on whether they can find ways to use their quickness and athleticism to their advantage. A much improved offensive line, led by Kane, should help Charles Wright get the ball into the hands of playmaking receivers Dale and Moore, a 6-foot freshman who has impressed coaches with his speed. Cornerback Hawkins, who missed most of the 2009 season with injuries, will help anchor the experienced secondary of a defense that returns eight starters. It’s not often you see a freshman playing varsity, but Moore could see significant time this year at wide receiver. Granted, speed doesn’t dictate pass-catching ability, but this kid can sure create space.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/02/1324773/cougars-say-theyre-ready-to-handle.html#ixzz0yPgyHigm

Tennis
CWA won the state boys tennis championship in Yakima this weekend and came very close to claiming the girls title too.  Stanley Peterson and Chris Gugliuzza won the state doubles championship title and Daniel Ham took third in the singles bracket.  The girls team came in second at state where Sara Finkleman and Megan Kelley came in second in the girls doubles competition while Sarah Johnson and Sarika Halarnakar took third.

In the first round, juniors Peterson and Gugliuzza defeated a tough team from Cascade 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.  Next they faced a team from Connell and won with scores of 6-1, 6-3.  In the semifinal match they faced a team from University Prep they again won with scores of 6-1, 6-3.  Their final match came against a team from Bear Creek.  The Tarriers lost the first set 5-7 but came back to win the next two, 6-3, 6-2.

Sophomore Ham dominated his opponents in his first two matches at the state tournament.  He beat an opponent from Goldendale 6-1, 6-2, and beat a Tonasket player 6-1, 6-3.  He faced a Cascade Christian player in the semifinal round and lost 6-1, 6-1.  That player went on to win the state singles title.  In the consolation bracket he faced an Omak player and won 6-0, 7-5.

Senior Kelley and junior Finkleman faced a team from Sprague-Harrington in the first round of the tournament and beat that team 6-2, 6-0.  They moved on to play Tenino and won 6-0, 6-4.  In the semifinal round they faced a team from Chelan and defeated them 6-2, 6-3.  In the championship round they faced a pair of sisters from Overlake and lost that match 6-4, 6-2.

Juniors Johnson and Halanakar beat a Tenino team 6-1, 6-3, in the first round.  In the second they faced Omake and won 6-2, 6-3.  They battled against the sister from Overlake in the semifinals winning the first set 4-6 but dropping the next two 6-4, 6-3.  In the consolation bracket they faced the Chelan team Kelley and Finkleman had defeated and beat them 7-6, 6-2, securing their third place finish.

Overlake won the girls title and came in second to CWA in the boys team competition.  CWA also won the boys title in 2007 and 2008.

Track & Field
The girls track and field team finished 13th at state this year and the boys finished in 15th place.

Junior Rachael Williams, freshman Katie Mayer, sophomore Janay Davis and senior Diane Lawrence successfully defended their state champion in the 4×100 meter girls relay with a time of 50:68.  The same four girls came in second in the 4×200 meter relay with a time of 1:47.07.

Mayer also finished sixth in the 400 meter run with a time of 1:02.15 and Williams finished eighth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.83.

Senior Max LaBerge tripped and took a big tumble in the 1600 meter race.  He was flat on his back on the first lap, got up and finished in sixth place with a time of 4:40.33.  He took third in the 3200 meter run with a time of 9:55.57.  Freshman David Goldstone took sixth place in the same event with a time of 10:07.70.  Tommy Wyatt ’04 held onto his state 1A meet records in both of these distance events.

Junior Josh Naon, running with a pulled hamstring, took eighth place in both the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 17.15 and the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 51.27.  Jim Richard ’87 held onto his state record in the 110 meter record.

Golf
CWA sent four golfers to the state tournament.  All three boys – senior Kirby Milgard, senior Chris Panagiotu and junior Nathan Fisher – scored an 84 on the first day of competition and missed the cut to play the second day.  Senior Georgia Wade was the only Tarrier to compete in the final round and she finished in 12th place with a two-day total of 182, 28 strokes behind the state champion from Chelan.

Rounding out the honors for the soccer team as they head to the state quarterfinal this weekend: senior Nathan Ip, junior Alex Benfanti and junior Colin Kodama were named first-team all-league players; junior Charlie King was named to the second-team all-league; and seniors Spencer Scholes and Rafael McCauley got honorable mention.

2010 was also a great year for the baseball team.  They brought home the most all-league honors the team has won in at least the past three years.  Senior Kit Banko, the team’s catcher, was named to the first-team all-league.  Senior Colin MacLeod, sophomore Alec Dennis, freshman Colin Reynolds and freshman Nate Mondou won second-team honors.  Senior Stanley Peterson received honorable mention.

All of these honors are bestowed on players by a vote of the league’s coaches.  By comparison, track and field, tennis and golf all-league honors are awarded based solely on who advances in the post-season.

In the championship round, Jean Kim of Charles Wright beat teammate Julia Donner 7-6(4) and 6-3 to win the league singles title. After losing her quarterfinal match to Donner, Nicole Schmiedl defeated Louisa Corley of Cascade Christian to capture third place.

In doubles competition, Sarika Halarnakar and Sarah Johnson beat Sarah Finkleman and Megan Kelley with scores of 6-2, 2-6 and 10-5 for the doubles title.  After losing to Halarnakar and Johnson in the quarterfinal, Natalie Weyerhaeuser and Jackie Kirschner beat Amy Kriss and Leslie Green from Cascade Christian, 6-2 and 6-0, taking third.

Kim, Donner, Halarnaker, Johnson, Finkleman and Kelley will compete in the quad-district tournament at the University of Washington this week.  They’ll play indoors at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.

The boys team, which won its won league championship last fall, will also compete in the quad-district tournament. Daniel Ham, Tim Chang, Stanley Peterson, Chris Gugliuzza, Evan Valentine and Austin Kelley will all compete.

The boys play Thursday and the girls play Friday.

Other Teams
Boys and Girls golf enter the post season Monday when they compete at the Eagles Pride course in Fort Lewis.  The first teams will t-off at 11:30am in the league tournament.  Those who advance to districts will play the same course Tuesday.  The tri-district track and field meet will be held at King’s High School in Shoreline Thursday at 3:30pm.  After dropping a game to King’s last weekend, the boys soccer team will play Stevenson at Orting on Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament.  The time of the game is TBD.

“To give you an idea of the the scope of this tournament, the winning team in 2009 went on to win the world championships in their age division,” said Coach Christopher Hoppin.  The world championship event is only held once every three years, further elevating the importance of the Spring Reign event to Ultimate teams.

Charles Wright’s ultimate program was created in 2001 and has grown with vigor ever since.  This year over 70 Middle School and 40 Upper School students are playing interscholastic, club and international tournaments.

Ultimate combines the non-stop movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football.  A game of Ultimate is played by two seven-player squads with a high-tech plastic disc on a field similar to football. The object of the game is to score by catching a pass in the opponent’s end zone. A player must stop running while in possession of the disc, but may pivot and pass to any of the other receivers on the field.  Ultimate is a transition game in which players move quickly from offense to defense on turnovers that occur with a dropped pass, an interception, a pass out of bounds, or when a player is caught holding the disc for more than ten seconds.

There are no referees at any level of ultimate.  The sport is governed by Spirit of the Game™, a tradition of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the players rather than referees.

“The best part of coaching ultimate is watching kids compete with incredible passion and determination.  I love to see how they develop the patience and understanding to play honestly and referee their own games,” says Hoppin.  “It is wonderful to see two opposing players stop and work out a foul call, decide who was at fault, work out how to deal with the offence based on the rule book, all without adults.   I have never seen a sport that builds better sportsmanship.  There is no one to blame in ultimate!”

The school’s first official Upper School Ultimate club formed in 2008.  2009 marks the first year Charles Wright has multiple interscholastic Middle School games scheduled as well as tournaments.

]]> http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2010/05/10/cwa-wins-middle-school-title-and-high-school-spirit-award-at-spring-reign/feed/ 2 http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2010/05/06/chris-panagiotu-oregon-bound/ http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2010/05/06/chris-panagiotu-oregon-bound/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 15:23:49 +0000 Althea Cawley-Murphree http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/?p=1716 A Charles Wright Tarrier since the age of four, student body president and captain of the boys golf team, senior Chris Panagiotu has received a lot of advice about the college admissions process.  It turned out that the very best piece of advice came from a fellow student: “You should look at Oregon.”

“My freshman year I had no idea where I was going to go to college and people kept throwing out all these crazy ideas,” says Chris.  “I was like ‘oh, East Coast schools sound cool.  Harvard sounds cool.’  I just had no idea.  My junior year, I started looking at California schools.  I wanted hot weather and I wanted to get as far away as possible, while still being on the West Coast.”

During the break in classes during experiential ed week, Chris visited some of the schools in California he was considering, but something just didn’t quite click.  “The first couple days of school this year I heard from a couple friends about the University of Oregon and Oregon State.  One was particularly enthusiastic about U of O.  She was applying there and said it was just an awesome place.  I thought I might as well go look at both of them on a faculty in-service day,” he recalls.

Within a week of his visit, Chris had applied to both schools.  Four days after his application was complete he was accepted by Oregon State, but his early application was deferred by the University of Oregon giving him some time to think things over.

“As I did more research, I found out that Oregon’s business school is larger so you have more options within the program.  They also offer an entrepreneurship major which is a unique degree not offered at most colleges.  Since I’m planning to major in business or communications that really struck my interest,” Chris says.  “I also liked that it is a larger school.  I love how at Charles Wright you know everyone, but I’m also ready to just have a totally different experience.  I thought a lot about both schools.  Initially Oregon State made a stronger impression, but Oregon really grew on me.  As the weeks went by, Oregon just kept popping into my mind every day.”

“Of course,” Chris jokes, “my uncle went to UW and he told me ‘whatever you do, don’t be a Duck’, so I had some stuff to deal with.”

The first week of April, Chris got an email from the University of Oregon.  The email was supposed to arrive after the US Postal Service delivered his acceptance letter, but the letter came three days later.  “Those were the most confusing three days of my life,” says Chris.  “I was really excited but wasn’t sure I’d really been accepted so I didn’t show it to my mom or dad, just my brother Tyler (class of 2012).  I knew I could trust him not to tell anyone.  He’s my best buddy.”

Once he was certain he’d been accepted, he committed to the University of Oregon right away.  “College changes everything, not just where you are but who you are going to be.  I am so pumped,” Chris says.

Although he expects his experience on a campus with more than 22,000 students to be very different than the past fourteen years at Charles Wright, Chris plans to keep up some of the interests he developed at CWA.

This spring he hopes to make a second trip to the state golf tournament and although he won’t be competing in college he plans to play with friends for many years to come.

“I was also convinced to do one acts this year and loved it,” says Chris.  “I was in The Tale of Johnny Elgan, directed by Toby Shorin.  It turned out to be one of the highlights of my year.  I’ve participated in improv theater at Charles Wright and may look for a way to continue something like that just for fun in college.”

In the coming months, Chris will also be interning and then working at the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties.  He has spent more than 125 hours volunteering with the organization over the past year.  “I discovered the Fit for Fun program and I absolutely love it and working with the kids,” Chris explains.

“The thing I found that colleges look at the most is community service and other outside of school activities,” he says.  “It’s a really big deal to state schools that you do community service and exceed your school’s requirement.  I got a little scholarship and I think that my commitment to community service really gave me the extra edge in that process.”

The sprint medley relay is not a WIAA track and field event, so the girls won’t get to compete for a state title, but all are expected to contend in the post season in other sprint and distance events.

Other top CWA finishes included Mayer’s fourth place win in the 400 meter dash.  She had the best finish of any freshman in that event.

The 4×100 meter girls relay team of Davis, Lawrence, sophomore Emma Levant and junior Rachael Williams took sixth.  Williams also placed seventh in the triple jump and eighth in the 100 meter dash.  Junior Josh Naon was the top finisher about CWA boys.  He placed eighth in the 110 meter hurdles.

Post season play begins May 6 for soccer, May 7 for baseball, May 12 for tennis, May 13 for track and field, and May 17 for golf.  For all the latest schedules, visit www.charleswright.org/gametime.

Baseball
In the Tarriers most recent appearance they defeated Seattle Christian 7-3.  The Warriors are currently ranked second in the league and this was only their third loss of the year.  Sophomore Alec Dennis pitched the full game.  Senior Mike Mayer was two for three with one run scored and an RBI.  Freshmen Colin Reynolds and Nate Mondou were both two for four with an RBI.  Reynolds also stole a base and scored a run.

Varsity
4/19/10: CWA 7, Seattle Christian 3
4/16/10: CWA 1, Cascade Christian 11
4/14/10: CWA 5, Vashon 1
4/9/10: CWA 4, Orting 3
4/5/10: CWA 4, Steilacoom 5
3/26/10: CWA 12, Washington 2
3/25/10: CWA 7, Rainier Christian 2
3/24/10: CWA 6, Life Christian 3
3/22/10: CWA 0, Seattle Christian 4
3/19/10: CWA 5, Vashon 20
3/17/10: CWA 7, Cascade Christian 11
3/16/10: CWA 11, Seattle Lutheran 15
3/13/10: CWA 19, Tacoma Baptist 0

JV
4/14/10: CWA 15, Vashon 0
4/9/10: CWA 7, Orting 5
4/5/10: CWA 12, Steilacoom 3
3/24/10: CWA 1, Seattle Lutheran 18
3/22/10: CWA 0, Chimacum 19
3/19/10: CWA 9, Vashon 4

Boys Soccer
The varsity team’s most recent game resulted in a 9-0 victory over Life Christian.  Senior Dillon Truscott, who has scored 16 goals this season and contributed six assists, scored four goals for the Tarriers in this game.  His first goal came on an assist from fellow senior Cory Barrett in the first minute of the game.  He also made an unassisted goal, scored on a penalty kick, and assisted junior Alex Benfanti.   Senior Rafael McCauley also scored with an assist from Barrett.  Freshman Justin Fey scored on a penalty kick.  Junior Charlie King scored twice with assists from Benfanti and Frey.  Senior goalkeeper David Dennis got the shutout.

Varsity
4/22/10: CWA 3, Vashon 0
4/20/10: CWA 9, Life Christian 0
4/15/10: CWA 4, Cascade Christian 0
4/13/10: CWA 7, Chimacum 0
4/9/10: CWA 5, Orting 1
4/6/10: CWA 0, Steilacoom 2
3/23/10: CWA 5, Vashon 1
3/18/10: CWA 3, Life Christian 0

JV
4/20/10: CWA 6, Vashon 1
4/15/10: CWA 1, Cascade Christian 3
4/6/10: CWA 1, Steilacoom 5

Girls Tennis
CWA’s most recent victory was a 3-2 win over Steilacoom, a nonleague opponent.  In singles competition, Junior Jean Kim won her match 6-1, 6-2.  Juniors Sara Finkleman and Sarika Halaranakar, competing together as a doubles team for the first time this year, won 6-0, 6-1. Juniors Jackie Kirschner and Natalie Weyerhaeuser won 6-1, 6-0.

Varsity
4/22/10: CWA 3, Steilacoom 2
4/19/10: CWA 4, Washington 1
4/15/10: CWA 3, Seattle Academy 2
4/14/10: CWA 5, Cascade Christian 0
4/12/10: CWA 4, Fife 1
3/24/10: CWA 5, Steilacoom 0
3/22/10: CWA 4, Washington 1

JV
Also undefeated

Girls Golf
The boys and girls golf teams’ most recent match was against Washington.  The Tarrier won 215 to 232.  Senior Georgia Wade was the medalist with a match-low score of 46.  Wade has already qualified for post-season competition, as have her teammates junior Stephanie Friend and senior Jenny Lee.

4/22/10: CWA 215, Washington 232
4/20/10: CWA 230, Vashon 270
4/15/10: CWA 213, Cascade Christian 209
4/13/10: CWA 226, Orting 259
3/23/10: CWA 241, Seattle Christian 239
3/15/10: CWA 228, Orting 239

Boys Golf
Senior Chris Peterson led the undefeated Boys Golf team to its seventh victory of the season on Tuesday. After narrowly beating Chimacum at home on Monday the Tarriers traveled to Vashon to play on Tuesday. They came away with a 177 to 189 victory. Peterson led all golfers with a 5 over par 40. He was followed by fellow senior Kirby Milgard, junior Nathan Fisher, and sophomore Hunter Robertson.

4/20/10: CWA 177, Vashon 188
4/15/10: CWA 163, Orting 193
3/25/10: CWA 181, Seattle Christian 197
3/22/10: CWA 170, Fife 182
3/17/10: CWA 165, Cascade Christian 181
3/15/10: CWA 179, Orting 198

Track & Field
Tarriers have record 15 of the top-ten 1A finishes in track and field events so far this spring.  Junior Rachael Williams has the fourth best time in the 100 and 200 meter sprints and the seventh longest leap in the triple jump.  Freshman Katie Mayer and senior Diane Lawrence are ninth and tenth, respectively, in the 200 meter.  Mayer is also fifth in the in the 400 meters.  The girls 4×100 meter relay team is second, the 4×200 meter relay team is third, and the 4×400 meter relay team is eighth.

The boys team is excelling in the distance events.  Senior Max LaBerge is tenth in the 1600 meter.  Freshmen David Goldstone and Ruben Riordan are fifth and tenth, respectively, in the 3200 meter run.

4/15/10: Boys – Steilacoom 86, Cascade Christian 60, CWA 56, Orting 46
4/15/10: Girls – Orting 89, CWA 67, Steilacoom 56, Cascade Christian 44
4/8/10: Boys – CWA 91, Eatonville 49
4/8/10: Girls – CWA 75, Eatonville 60
3/25/10: Boys – Fife 99, CWA 78.5, Orting 68.5, Life Christian 8
3/25/10: Girls – Fife 102, CWA 85, Orting 69, Life Christian 7

]]> http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2010/04/23/tarrier-sports-update/feed/ 0 http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2010/03/30/track-and-field-team-led-by-three-state-champs/ http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/2010/03/30/track-and-field-team-led-by-three-state-champs/#comments Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:47:42 +0000 Althea Cawley-Murphree http://cwablogs.org/blogs/wrightblog/?p=1604 Track and field attracts more athletes than any other spring sport at CWA.  This year 60 Upper School students – 22 girls and 38 boys – have turned out for the team to compete in sprint, relay, hurdle, distance, jumping and field events.  Leading the team are co-captains senior Diane Lawrence, a sprinter, senior Max LaBerge, a distance runner, and junior Rachael Williams, a sprinter and jumper. 

All three co-captains won state championships last year.  LaBerge won the 3200 meter race.  As relay team members, Lawrence and Williams came home with the 4×100 meter title and took second in the 4×200 meter.  All three hope to defend their titles this year and help develop the talents of young teammates.

SPRINTS & RELAYS
For both boys and girls, the sprint events include the 100 meter, 200 meter and 400 meter dashes.  400 meters is a full quarter-mile lap around the track.  CWA lost several gifted sprinters to graduation last year after sending four boys to the 100 meter dash finals at the district meet.  It’s a rebuilding year, especially for the boys squad, but the Tarriers still have a lot of talent to showcase.

On the girls team, Williams ran the 100 meter and 200 meter dashes at state last year and Lawrence ran the 200 meter.  They are joined this year by freshman Katie Mayer and sophomore Janay Davis.    Williams won the 100 meter dash at the first meet of the year and Mayer won the event at the second meet.  Williams won the 200 meter dash at the second meet.

Many sprinters are also able to contribute in relay events.  Lawrence and Williams were members of the relay teams that set school records in the 4×100 and 4×200 meter relays in 2008 and that took first and second at state in those events in 2009.  They plan to be contenders again this year.  Coach Michelle Ripple anticipates that Mayer will run with them.  Davis and freshman Destiny Sweeney have also run legs of those events at the first two meets of the year.  CWA won the girls 4×200 meter relay on both occasions.  CWA may also have a competitive girls 4×400 meter relay, in which each team member runs one lap around the track.  They’ve won that event this year as well.

The boys team will likely be most competitive in the 4×400 meter race.  They won that event at the first meet of 2010.  Sophomore Blake Greene competed at state in the 4×400 relay last year.  Junior Lucas Agnew was out with an injury last season but may run with the relay this year.  Both boys are expected to compete individually in the 400 meter race as well.

Mike Finch and Ripple are coaching the sprinters and relay teams.

HURDLES
Sweeny is also making her mark as a hurdler.  She has won the girls 300 meter intermediate hurdles twice and has won the 100 meter hurdles too.    Senior Bailey Murray and sophomore Emma Levant are also competing in hurdle events.  Levant was an alternate for the relay team at state last year.

Junior Josh Naon is returning to hurdles as well.  He won the 110 meter high hurdles and 300 meter intermediate hurdles at the second meet this year after placing second in the 300 meter race at the first meet.

The hurdlers are coached by Jon Flies.

DISTANCES
LaBerge did not run in the first two meets of the year but he’s expected to run the 3200 meter and possibly the 1600 meter.  Even without him, the Tarriers’ distance team is looking strong in the 800 meter (half-mile), 1600 meter (one mile) and 3200 meter (two mile) events.  Many of the athletes running these events competed in the fall with the cross country team and performed very well.

In the 800 meter run, freshman David Goldstone finished first and senior William Livingston finished second competing against Cascade Christian and Orting.  Goldstone also won the 1600 meter race the same day and freshman Ruben Riordan finished second.  Riordan won the event at the second meet, competing against Fife, Orting and Life Christian, while Goldstone won the 3200 meter.  Junior Nick Flood took second in the 3200 meter at the first meet.

Junior Emily Harper ran the 3200 meter race for the first time this spring and won the first meet.  Sophomore Rei Nordestgaard and freshman Sarah Dimakis are also running distances.  Dimakis won the 1600 meter race at the first meet.

Ryan Johnson and Jaime O’Dell are coaching the distance runners.

JUMPS & THROWS
In the field events, the girls team has several athletes who will compete in jumps including Mayer, Sweeney and Williams.  Williams won the long jump at the first meet and has won the triple jump twice this year.

For the boys team, junior Marcquel Hawkins placed second in the long jump, just ahead of junior Nylson Ho, at the first meet and won the event at the second meet.

Senior Andrew Gapsch has placed second in two throwing events, the javelin and shot put.

Jumpers are coached by Neil Bierman with assistance from Jeff Brunage in the high jump event.  John Lawrence coaches throwers for CWA.

Leading the Tarriers this year is senior Georgia Wade who qualified as an alternate for the state tournament last year and junior Stephanie Friend who made it as far as districts last spring.  Friend and Wade are the only team members who played before turning out for the sport at school.  Both are long-ball hitters.   “They’re both capable of succeeding at state if they focus,” says Coach Peggy Topel, “and right now they’re both very determined to win.”

Seniors Lisa Roenings and Jenny Lee are also returning to the varsity squad.  Lee qualified for the league meet last year.  Both players were brand new to the game their junior year.  Both are developing their skills and confidence this season.

These four returning players are joined by five players who are all brand new to the game of golf this year.  Freshmen Coco Roenings and Chapman, and sophomores Monica Kim, Sophia Shin and Kajsa Mayo are all showing real potential, according to Topel.

“The second time she every played nine holes, Kaity hit a 60 and we were all so excited,” says Topel.

During the regular season, six players compete in each match and the four lowest stoke-totals are combined for the team score.  Up to six players can compete in the post–season league, district and state tournaments, but first they must each must record three scores under 60 over nine holes in league matches to qualify.  In competition players pick up their ball after reaching double-par, but that’s a tie-breaker in league matches and doesn’t count toward qualifying for the post-season.

“Hitting under 60 is not easy to do,” explains Topel, “but last year Jenny Lee did it after picking up a club for the first time on March 1st.  I think Kaity can do the same thing this year.  Coco will be a contender too.”

JV players often get to play a practice round during matches.  This helps them get experience in match situations.

“Golf is an emotional game and you can defeat yourself by being too sensitive to one bad shot,” says Topel.  “Getting experience in match situations really helps with that.”

Throughout the season, parents and fans are welcome to walk the course during matches and quietly support the players.  The Tarriers usually compete at two local courses, even during “away” matches, so the only time they’ll be far from campus is when they travel Vashon.  They play one or two matches every week, so Topel encourages fans to pick a nice sunny day and come watch them play.  Observers are also welcome during the nine-hole league tournament and 18-hole district tournament.  The state tournament, held in Eastern Washington, is two rounds of 18-holes.

Find all the Tarriers schedules at www.charleswright.org/gametime.