Boys Basketball vs Lake Stevens, Jan 30, 2009

It was not a good night at OHHS as the boys basketball teams went a combined 0-3 against their Lake Stevens counterparts.

In the field house, Cavelero (the Lake Stevens 8th & 9th grade school) at both breaks in the first half, 7-4 at the end of 1, and 17-10 at halftime. In the 3rd, Oak Harbor closed to within 5, 31-26, and in the 4th, made it a 4-point game. However, time was running out, and the ‘Cats had to resort to fouls to stop the clock, and Lake Stevens was shooting sharp from the line, winding up with a 52-37 win.

The offense did fairly well in the 1st half of the JV game, scoring 20 points, but on defense allowed 38 points. The roles were reversed in the 2nd half, with the Wildcats able to score 5 points in the 3rd and only 2 points in the 4th, a last-second shot by Chance Gill. The defense did much better, holding Lake Stevens to 6 points in the 3rd and 11 in the 4th, but it was still all Vikings in a 57-29 win.

There were a lot of faces missing from the varsity squad for the game. Jimmy Edens is out for the rest of the season with a broken hand, Josh Fikse has been ill and has been troubled by his knees, Aaron Boesch is out for a while with an injured knee and Zac Cole has been out most of the week with illness. Coach Washington had his players slow the game down on offense, telling them to take their time and make sure of shots rather than shooting right away. It seemed to be working, as even missing some key players the Wildcats ended the 1st period tied 12-12. It was still close at halftime, with Lake Stevens holding a slim 23-18 lead. The teams played fairly even through the 3rd, and the Vikings added 2 points to their lead at the end of the 3rd. The Wildcats were able to close the gap to just 1 point, but Lake Stevens showed why they are the class of the WESCO North, winning the 4th period 21-11 and the game 52-37. The Wildcat scoring was spread among 6 players, none in double figures. Rashaad Smith, a rebounding machine in this game, was also top scorer with 9. Steven Bratt in his first varsity start scored 8, Jay Stout 7, Mike Washington, Jr 6, Colby Anter 3 and Phil Nadeau 2.

The boys have only one home game next week, on Tuesday vs Arlington, but will be at Stanwood on Friday. The following week the boys have two home games, on Monday against Monroe and on Wednesday the 11th against Marysville for Senior Night.

Just 39 images from these games, most of them pictures of the JV players and the JV team. There’s also a few ‘Faces in the crowd” photos as well. They can all be found by clicking HERE.

Video clips, when posted, can be found HERE.

Girls Basketball at Lake Stevens, 1-30-2009

It was an up and down evening in Lake Stevens for the girls basketball teams, with only 1 of the 3 teams leaving with a win.

The freshman game took place at Cavelero Mid-High, which is an 8-9th grade school that feeds into Lake Stevens HS. It’s a new school, having opened just a year or two ago. It wasn’t a good day for the freshmen, as Lake Stevens jumped to an early 10-0 1st period lead, extending that lead to 24-4 at the half. The Wildcats regrouped a little in the 2nd half, but eventually lost to the Colts 49-17. Lia Pantoleon led the Wildcat freshmen with 7 points – the only player to score more than two. Erika Flores, Kaileen Burleson, Emily Hunt, DJ, and Kristen Winston each scored 2 points.

Over in the main Lake Stevens gym, it was an exciting, close game for the JV girls. Oak Harbor won the 1st period, 14-10, and both teams exploded in the 2nd, scoring 41 points between them. When the dust settled for halftime, it was still OH in the lead, 34-31. Both defenses stiffened in the 3rd, with Oak Harbor allowing 11 points and Lake Stevens keeping all but one Wildcat from scoring. Molly DeLeon hit all 5 of the Wildcat 3rd period points, and it put the girls in a 42-39 hole to start the final period. In that final period, the Vikings were able to maintain their lead, ending the game with a 51-47 win. Molly scored big for the 2nd game in a row with 17 points. Yoshi scored 14 and Shantae hit for 11. Tatiana Cumming filled in the rest of the Oak Harbor scoring with 5.

Coach McLeod missed most of the 2nd half of a wild varsity game, being banished to the locker room by the officials with about 2 minutes left in the 3rd period. It all happened with the scored tied, when the Wildcats got a shot off with just 4 seconds on the shot clock, and even though the ball clearly bounced off the rim, the shot clock didn’t get reset. Oak Harbor got the rebound and just as they were setting up to run a play, the shot clock buzzer sounded, and the refs were giving the ball to Lake Stevens on a shot clock violation. Coach McLeod protested, saying the shot hit the rim. The officials huddled (without consulting the table), and stood with their original call. Coach McLeod continued to protest, and was given a technical. All this time the table was trying to get the lead official’s attention, saying that yes, they did (by mistake) not reset the shot clock. Even after being given this info, the lead official didn’t want to change his call. While that discussion was taking place, Coach McLeod was on the floor discussing the situation with another official. The lead official then came over to Coach McLeod, issued him a second “T”, and ejected him from the gym. After the ejection, the Wildcats got fired up, going on a 19-8 4th period scoring spree to win the game 44-34. Waiting in the locker room for the girls to come in, McLeod literally jumped in the air when told the girls had won. Jessica Denmon led the ‘Cats with 13 and Nikki Mowbray scored 10. Jen Jansen had 8, Cheyenne Tubo 7, and Cori Henricksen, Clarissa Abadesco and Kathryn Fisken all scored 2 points each.

The girls play next at Arlington on Feb 4th, and are at home Friday the 6th vs Stanwood for senior night. They finish out the regular season the following week on the road with games at Monroe and Marysville.

Timeout with...Tina Alter, Wrestling

Christina Lynn Alter (Tina) is a senior on the OHHS wrestling team, in the 160-lb weight class. She was born January 24th in Yokosuka, Japan and has lived in Oak Harbor since 1994. She is the daughter of Nimfa, a manicurist, and Gene, a Master Mechanic. She has two sisters, Natalie, 24 and Cassy, 16.

The solid “C” student likes her Sports Medicine class, as it has two things she likes – learning anatomy and helping others. Of course, her favorite teacher so far has been Mr. Reed, who she says makes learning fun.

She is in her 4th year on the wrestling team, and is one of the few sports that requires little running, which suits her just fine. She decided to give wrestling a try back in middle school, when she and some of her friends were play wrestling, and she was beating everyone else. She has set a goal of at least getting to the girls state tournament at the Tacoma Dome in March. She’s also active in judo and likes to watch ‘real’ wrestling on those rare occasions when it’s on TV. She’s not much on spectator sports, but does like to watch people she knows when they play their sport, so she can be found in the gym or stadium cheering for her friends in other sports. Her most memorable sports moment came in her freshman year, when the coach told her she was the first girl ever to complete an entire wrestling season without quitting. Tina says she was actually quite shocked when she found out.

Tina likes rock music, and will watch just about any musical movie. A couple of her favorite movies are “Little Nicky” and “Aladdin”. On TV, she LOVES “House”, and also likes to watch “Bleach”. She can often be found in the company of longtime boyfriend Ben Page.

After high school, Tina thinks she would like to become a massage therapist or athletic trainer. Her dream job would be working for the men’s national soccer team, or some other national team in an Olympic sport.

21 questions with Tina:

Xbox, Playstation, or Wii – Playstation
McDonald’s or Burger King – BK
Comedy or Horror – Comedy
OHMS or NWMS – NWMS
Seahawks or Mariner – Seahawks
Shop class or Art class – Art
iPhone or Blackberry – iPhone
Coke or Pepsi – Pepsi
House or Lost – House
Army or Navy – Army
Boating or Camping – Boating
Running or Swimming – Swimming
Ford, Honda, or VW – Honda
MAC or PC/Windows – PC
Jumbo Buffet or Happy Dragon – Happy Dragon
Math or Science – Science
Walmart or Kmart – Neither – The Dollar Store!
Cats or Dogs – Cats
Red or Blue – Blue
NY or LA – LA
Purple or Gold - Purple

Wrestling vs Lake Stevens, 1/29/2009

For their final home dual meet of the year, the Oak Harbor Wildcat wrestling team hosted the Lake Stevens Vikings, and the Vikings showed once again why they are the #1 ranked team in the state.

Of the 15 JV matches, the Wildcats were able to win only 4: Justin Everett got a hard-won pin over Olliges, Nick Farrell pinned Carrico with just 5 seconds left in the 2nd period, Collin Higinbotham pinned Svlte in 1:32 and Josh McVey, in his 2nd match of the day, beat Meerkat 11-7. Most of the JV losses were via pin.

First up for the varsity squad was senior John Tuttle at 140 pounds. John is one of the few wrestlers you will ever see that actually went DOWN in weight classes each year. He started his freshman year at 160lbs, and worked his way to his current 140. John was up against BJ Alewine, currently ranked 5th in the state, and Alewine had Tuttle’s number early, getting takedowns that helped him beat Tuttle 7-5. Senior Pen Page was next at 145 and was pinned by Pennington.
Senior Jarred Tyson went up against Anderson, ranked 5th in his weight class, and was on the short end of an 11-6 score. He was followed by Kyle Magana, wrestling George King, the #1 ranked 4A wrestler in the state, and although Kyle fought hard, King won by pin.

Zach Loescher went against #8 LeHuquet and lost 16-0; Jake Lundstrom wrestled #11 Grow and got pinned.

Oak Harbor avoided a possible shutout when senior Brian Howard, down to his fighting weight of 215 pounds pinned Dinh in 2:37. First-year wrestler Phil Rodgers faced off against #4 ranked Truber and was pinned.

Down to the lightweights, Corey Trimbur earned Oak Harbor’s 2nd and final win by beating Reynolds 9-1, Ben Pralle got pinned by Majors, as did Royce Cardwell, by #1 ranked and returning State Champ Josh Heinzer. Connar Zimmerman lost to Stilwell 7-2, Josh Barton to the other Anderson 19-5 (working hard and avoiding the tech fall), and Colton Elliot, returning to the mat for the first time after breaking his thumb in December, wrestled well, but was defeated by Johnson 13-8.

This ends the dual meet season for the Wildcats, and they are now preparing for Districts and then Regionals. Next weekend, the top two wrestlers in each weight class that have enough weigh-ins move on to the District meet, which combines the WESCO North and South school, and the top 8 wrestlers move on to Regionals.

37 prematch and JV photos are posted HERE.

Video highlights, when posted, will be available HERE.

Girls Basketball - Everett, 1-28-2009

After losing their first meeting, the Oak Harbor girls basketball team was looking forward to the home game against Everett with revenge on their minds.

The freshman girls had a similar result, as the Everett freshmen team is very good, and won the game 41-19. While they are not having a very successful year score-wise, the girls have won some games, and most importantly, are building individual skills and having fun doing it. Coach Showalter says they are a great group of girls and he’s having fun coaching them.
Erika Flores had 5 to lead the Wildcats, Lia Pantoleon 4, Rayan Russell 3, Kristen Winston and Kaileen Burleson 2, and Heavenly Cooper, Regina Carter and DJ scored 1 each.

It was an odd first half in the JV game. Although the Wildcats dominated defensively, holding Everett to just 4 points through a combination of pressure and speed, they could score only 6 points of their own, and in the 2nd period, nobody scored until the 5:15 mark, and with just 3:27 to go until halftime, Oak Harbor led by only 1 point, 8-7. The ‘Cats opened the game a bit, leading 13-9 going into the last two minutes of the half, but then Molly DeLeon got hot, and the team scored 8 points in those last two minutes to lead at halftime 21-11. The girls woke up in the 2nd half, smoking the Seagulls 20-2 in the 3rd period and 12-6 in the 4th to win a runaway game 53-19. Aided by her 9 2nd-period points, Molly led the scoring with 18, followed by Yoshi with 10. Shantae scored 7, Mariah 6, Jessica James 4, Kate Rossman and Addy Royal 3 and Tatiana Cumming 2. Next week, freshman Gloria Lonsdale, who has been sidelined with a broken foot, will be back at practice and hopes to play before next week ends. Welcome back Gloria!

With the embarrassing loss to Everett just over a week ago still fresh on their minds, the Varsity girls were determined to make sure it didn’t happened again, and they succeeded. Jumping out to a 19-4 1st period lead, the Wildcats never looked back as they held Everett to single-digit scoring in every period but the 4th. Jessica Denmon again led the ‘Cats, with 18 points, Nikki Mowbray hit for 14 and Jen Jansen 12. Chey had 8, Clarissa 7, Cori 4 and Mariah 2.

57 pregame and action photos can be found HERE.

Coach Washington wins Sportsmanship award

Coach Mike Washington of the Oak Harbor High School boys basketball team earned an award from the Snohomish County Basketball Officials Association as a result of his commitment to sportsmanship in the Wildcats' game against Snohomish on January 23rd.

With the award comes a nomination for the Norm Lowery Sr. Coach of the Year award from the SCBOA.

Wrestling vs Stanwood, 1-27-2009 - Senior Night

It was Senior Night last Tuesday as the Wildcat wrestlers hosted the Cascade Bruins in a dual meet.

There were 10 JV matches, 9 of them won by pinfall. The two teams split the matches, each winning 5. The Oak Harbor JV winners were Ben Pralle, a 1st-year wrestler, who got his first pin of the year, over Jackson in 1:29. Ian Cardwell scored an 18-2 tech. fall over Anmen, Matt Bistline pinned Redford in 3:04, Justin Everett, in a hard-fought match was able to pin Nguyen in 3:48, and Hunter Vail took only 55 seconds to pin Saunders. Jaron Strickland, Zach Van Pelt, David Payne and Phil Rodgers also saw mat time against Stanwood opponents. There was on exhibition match, with two OH wrestlers, Jesse Tucker and Nick Farrell going against each other. Nick was able to get a in with just 4 seconds left in the 2nd period.

Before the start of the varsity match, time was taken to recognize the senior wrestlers and their parents. The 9 seniors were Tina Alter, Matt Bistline, Royce Cardwell, Jarrod Green, Brian Howard, Kyle Magana, Ben Page, John Tuttle and Jarred Tyson. These seniors are the first group that started at freshman the same year Coach Crebbin started as Head Coach, so it was an emotional night for all involved.

On the mat, Oak Harbor got things started early, with Brian Howard, recently back from a shoulder injury, pinning Reining in just 1:12, then Sophomore Corey Trimbur at 103 lbs pinned Henshaw in just 36 seconds. Brandon Strickland got a forfeit at 112 lbs, giving OH an early 18-0 lead in the team scores. Freshman Ben Pralle, filling in for an injured Royce Cardwell, took the 119 lb varsity spot, fell to Larsen by pin.

Connar Zimmerman pinned Loehr in 1:43, then two Cascade brothers won back-to-back matches, with Z. Duncan beating Josh Barton 6-2, and L. Duncan getting a 1-point decision in a very close match over Brandon Stratton.

Oak Harbor then got 3 straight wins to secure the team victory. John Tuttle pinned Quinlan in 2:53, Ben Page beat Ho 9-6, and Jarred Tyson pinned M. Ahmad in 1:19. Kyle Magana got pinned by N. Ahmad.

Zach Loescher got a pin over Hjort in 3:29, Jake Lundstrom, in another very close match beat Evans 8-7, and Jarrod Green was pinned in the night’s final match.

Bunches of photos of JV action, plus photos of most of the wrestlers and some photos of the entire team before the meet can be found HERE.

Ben Pralle’s pin over Jackson, plus other OHHS sports clips can be found HERE on YouTube once they are posted.

Timeout with...Matt Bolte - Boys Swimming

Matt Diedrich Bolte is a junior on the OHHS swim team, specializing in sprint races. He was born December 21st in Winter Park, FL and has lived in Oak Harbor since 1995. He is the son of Becky, a librarian at the OH library. He is an only child.

The A-B student loves his math classes, as he finds math an easy subject, being very logical and following set rules. He favorite teacher so far has been Mr. Plumly at NWMS, as he is a ‘good guy’ and as an athlete himself, understands the athlete’s motivations.

Matt likes swimming as it’s an individual sport, and requires a high level of fitness. He feels his strongest stroke is his freestyle, and would like to improve his butterfly. His swimming goal this year is to get to districts in the 50 and 100 freestyle and the 100 fly. In addition to swimming, Matt is a key member of the Cross Country team, and will be running the 800 meters this spring in track. On the side, he likes to get to the mountains and get in some snowboarding whenever possible. One of his most memorable sports moments occurred last year when, as a sophomore, he went to districts in swimming.

Matt usually listens to Alt rock and gangsta rap, and his favorite movie is “A Knight’s Tale”. When he has a chance to watch TV, he can be found watching “Scrubs”, often with new girlfriend Ellie Silveira.

He doesn’t have any post high school plans at this time, but would like to be able to travel. When asked if there was anyplace in particular he would like to live, he said Australia, because “I like their accents”.

Something you might not know about Matt: “I’m an incredible singer”

21 questions with Matt:

Xbox, Playstation, or Wii – Wii
McDonald’s or Burger King – Neither – he doesn’t like fast food
Comedy or Horror – Comedy
OHMS or NWMS – NWMS
Seahawks or Mariner – Seahawks, but doesn’t care much for pro sports
Shop class or Art class – Shop
iPhone or Blackberry – iPhone
Coke or Pepsi – Neither – he drinks milk!
House or Lost – Lost
Army or Navy – Navy
Boating or Camping – Boating
Running or Swimming – This took him a while, but he chose swimming
Ford, Honda, or VW – VW
MAC or PC/Windows – Mac
Jumbo Buffet or Happy Dragon – Jumbo
Math or Science – Math
Walmart or Kmart – Neither – Fred Meyer
Cats or Dogs – Cats
Red or Blue – Blue
NY or LA – LA
Purple or Gold - Gold

Girls Basketball @ Stanwood, 1-26-09

In their final make up game from all the weather cancellations, the Oak Harbor girls basketball team finally got around to playing Stanwood for the first time. The game was a rare Monday event, at Stanwood High School.

The freshman game was tight through the first 3 periods. Oak Harbor was down 9-8 at the end of the first, but led by 1, 16-15 at the half. Stanwood grabbed the lead again by scoring 8 to the Wildcats’ 5, but in the 4th, Stanwood broke it open, going on a 15-5 run to win 38-26. DJ was the top scorer in the game with 6, Kristen Winston, who has been playing some very good basketball recently, hit for 5, Kaileen Burleson scored 4, Lia Pantoleon 3, and Emily Hunt, Rayan Russell, Heavenly Cooper and Erika Flores had 2 points each.

Stanwood won the JV game in the 2nd period, outscoring the Wildcats 15-8 on their way to a 50-41 win. The JV girls led in the 1st period, and played with the Spartans throughout the 2nd half, but the 2nd period knocked them out of the game and they just couldn’t get back in. Molly DeLeon topped the scoring with 12 and Yoshi had 10. Shantae Young knocked down 7, Tatiana Cumming 5, Kate Rossman and Jessica James 2, and Addy Royal 1.

The Oak Harbor varsity girls outscored Stanwood in 3 of 4 periods as they whipped the Spartans 47-37. Good defense held Stanwood to just 4 points in the 1st period and 13 at the half. It’s a good thing the defense was on, as the offense wasn’t clicking very well. Oak Harbor only scored 9 in the 1st and 12 in the 2nd for a 21-13 halftime lead. The two teams played some close basketball in the 2nd half, but the ‘Cats were able to maintain their lead through the end of the game. The Wildcats had 3 girls in double figures - Denmon with 14, Mowbray with 14 and Jansen with 10. Others scoring were Chey with 6, Cori 3 and Clarissa 2.

The girls at home tonight, Wednesday the 28th against Everett, and will be at Lake Stevens on Friday.

Cheerleaders win 2nd at State!

The below communication about the Wildcat performance at the Cheerleading State Competition is from head coach Pam Headridge.

The Wildcat cheerleaders took second place at WIAA State in the combined category of medium/large/super large coed division finishing behind Heritage High School from Vancouver, WA.

The Cats competed first up in their division performing a high-energy routine, sticking all their stunts and tumbling passes. The judges comments included, “ strong partner stunts”, “great incorporation of single basing stunts in your pyramids”, “stunts flow with routine nicely”, excellent crowdleading”, “great voices”, “solid tuck tumbling” , “ very fun, strong, routine”.

This is a very young team with 14 cheerleaders out of 24 new to competition arena this year including all of our guys. They performed a very difficult routine that impressed both the fans and judges scoring 229 out of 300.

Two other highlights of the day was Lauren Aguirre, a junior at Oak Harbor High School sang the National Anthem and also Oak Harbor exhibited a new state division called Crowdleading.

This year’s team included Meghan Rikard, TracyAnne Vessels, Cassie Gianino, Jessie Gulizia, Lauren Aguirre, Beckie White, Lindsey Vessels, Kasey Roberts, Willysha Shaw, Bri Peterson, Dejon Pruitt, Joe Pogacsas, Briana Sokoloski, Shani King, Courtney Tuttle, Josh Higbee, Ashley Bass, Kaylee Meders, Stephen Lewis, Rebekah Nickerson, Jessica Larson, Jacob Moody, Cailey Bolander, and Emily Hoyt. Also added to the crowdleading team was Jessica Foster, Jaime Mason and Holly Hernandez.

Boys basketball @ Snohomish on 1/23 and vs Stanwood on 1/26

Last Friday, the boys basketball team was at Snohomish for their 2nd meeting of the year, and it did not go well for any of the 3 teams.

The freshman team just couldn't get any offense going, scoring only 28 points for the game. The defense didn't do too bad, holding the Panthers to 36 points. Kevawn Brooks scored 8 for the 'Cats, while Michael Mack and Ed Denmon scored 7 each. Josiah Miller and Elias Whitefoot rounded out the scoring with 3 each.

The 1st quarter of the JV game was close, with Snoho leading by only 2, but the Panthers kicked it into gear and left the Wildcats in the dust, finishing up with a 64-40 win. Steven Bratt was the force for Oak Harbor, scoring 14, and Josh Evans also got into double figures with 10. Nate Young tallied 5, Trace Paul and Ryan Fakkema 4 each, Connor Paul 2 and Justin Counts 1.

While Snohomish led 18-13 at the end of the 1st period and 29-21 at the half, things didn't look too bad for Oak Harbor. They were playing decent basketball against a good Snohomish team. The 3rd period, again, was the Achilles Heel for the Wildcats, as Snohomish scored 17 to Oak Harbor's 10 and increased their lead to 46-31. In the 4th, the 'Cats would close to within 13, but that was it as the boys lost to Snohomish 54-41.

On Monday the 26th, the boys teams finished their final make-up game from all the wild weather earlier in the month, playing Stanwood for the first time this season.

The freshman team was successful in this meeting, winning 48-36. It was a close game in the 1st, with OH leading 13-10, but the boys went on a 19-7 scoring run in the 2nd to lead 32-17 at the half. Stanwood stayed in the game, scoring 13 to the Wildcat's 8 in the 3rd to close the gap to 10, but the two teams played even in the 4th for the Wildcat win. Kevawn Brooks and Ed Denmon scored 16 and 12 for the team, Josiah Miller and Elias Whitefoot 8 each, and Ben Muyers and Michael Mack hit for two points each.

The JV game was a rout for Stanwood. Leading 12-9 at the end of the 1st period, the Spartans held Oak Harbor to just 2 points in the 2nd to jump to a 26-11 halftime lead. Stanwood maintained the pressure through the rest of the game, winning 62-28. Nate Young scored 10 for Oak Harbor, Trace Paul 6, Blake Schulle 5, Steven Bratt, Michael Harrison and Connor Paul scored 2 each, and David Tillotson sank one free throw.

The first half of the varsity game was typical in that the Wildcats played right with the Spartans, and were down just 6 at halftime. In the 2nd half, however, Stanwood scored 43 points on their way to a 75-54 win. Mike Washington scored 15, Rashaad Smith 9, Beaux Haley 8, Jay Stout and Phil Nadeau 6, Steven Bratt 3, Brooks Waller and Zac Cole 2 each, and Ryan Fakkema, Colby Anter and John Manni one each.


The Wildcat boys are back in action Friday vs Lake Stevens in the OHHS gym.


Photos of Freshman, JV and varsity action, along with some 'faces in the crowd' shots are posted HERE.

Timeout with...Gabe Dye - Wrestling

Gabriel Emmanuel Dye is a freshman on the OHHS wrestling team in the 140-lb weight class. He was born March 27th in San Diego, CA and this is only his 2nd year in Oak Harbor. Gabe also lived in Wisconsin, Illinois and Virginia in addition to California. He is the son of Tonya, a manager at Starbucks and Josh, a personal trainer. Gabe is the oldest of 6 boys.

Gabe’s favorite subjects are math, as he finds it easy, and PE, because it’s fun. He really enjoyed his class with Mr. Nurvic last year at NWMS, as Mr. Nurvic was very helpful.

Gabe wrestled in middle school but at OHHS, originally tried out for basketball. He got cut from the team and moved into the mat room, and has done well. He likes wrestling as its not so much a team as a family. He’s set a goal for himself of getting to districts and advancing far enough to go to regionals.

In addition to wrestling, Gabe was on the football team, and in the spring will move into freestyle/Greco-roman wrestling. You can also find Gabe on the slopes with his snowboard when he has the time, or if the opportunity presents itself, on a surfboard. His most memorable sports moment happened back in Wisconsin, when on a youth football team he had the longest touchdown run in team history.

In music, Gabe likes a variety styles, including hip-hop, R&B and rock. His favorite movie of all time is “Rocky”, and he loves watching reruns of “Friends”. Gabe says his most memorable life moment came 5 years ago when his twin brothers were born.

He doesn’t have any plans after school, but would like to live in the greater Los Angeles area due to the sheer variety and volume of work available.

21 questions with Gabe:

Xbox, Playstation, or Wii – Xbox
McDonald’s or Burger King – McDs
Comedy or Horror – Comedy
OHMS or NWMS – NWMS
Seahawks or Mariner – Mariners
Shop class or Art class – Art
iPhone or Blackberry – Blackberry
Coke or Pepsi – Coke
House or Lost – Lost
Army or Navy – Navy
Boating or Camping – Boating
Running or Swimming – Swimming
Ford, Honda, or VW – Ford
Mac or PC/Windows – Mac
Jumbo Buffet or Happy Dragon – Jumbo
Math or Science – Math
Walmart or Kmart – Kmart
Cats or Dogs – Dogs
Red or Blue – Blue
NY or LA – LA
Purple or Gold - Gold

Timeout with...Justine Bortolameotti - girls basketball

Justine Bortolameotti is a senior exchange student, here from Belgium and member of the varsity basketball team. The 5’2” wing was born in Brussels, Belgium on April 24th, and had been in Oak Harbor since August. Justine has lived in Belgium her entire life, except for her time here in Oak Harbor. She is the daughter of Barbara, who works in a pharmacy, and Jean-Paul, a manager in the electronics industry. She has a twin sister, who is also in the USA as an exchange student, but is in Indiana. She was very happy over Christmas, as her sister came to Oak Harbor so they could spend the holidays together.

Here at OHHS, her favorite class has been Photography with Mrs. Ottenbreit. She’s especially attracted to the wealth of elective classes available in American schools, as most of them are not available to her in Belgium.

Justine played basketball back in Belgium, and last year her team won the league championship. Here, her goal is to be a good teammate and get some playing time, and to improve her English skills, which are quite good already.

When not at basketball practice or doing her homework, Justine enjoys watching the NBA or soccer on TV. She doesn’t watch much TV outside of sports, but really enjoys watching movies, both French and English, with one of her favorites being “Coyote Ugly”.

After she is done with her schooling, Justine thinks she would like to get into business, perhaps following in her fathers’ footsteps. She would like to live in France, especially Paris, or return to the United States.

Speed round questions with Justine:

Xbox, Playstation, or Wii – Playstation
McDonald’s or Burger King – Mickey Ds
Comedy or Horror – Comedy
Shop class or Art class – Art
iPhone or Blackberry – iPhone
Coke or Pepsi – Coke
Running or Swimming – Running
Ford, Honda, or VW – VW
MAC or PC/Windows – PC
Jumbo Buffet or Happy Dragon – Jumbo
Math or Science – Math
Walmart or Kmart – Walmart
Cats or Dogs – Cats
Red or Blue – Blue
NY or LA – NY
Purple or Gold - Purple

Girls Basketball vs Snohomish, 1/23/2009

The Snohomish Panthers came to Oak Harbor Friday night for the 2nd of the two meetings between the teams this year. Wildcat TV (Comcast channel 21) was there, going live for the first time. In the first meeting, the Freshmen lost by a 31-9 score, JV 44-34, and Varsity 56-29. While the overall results were similar, the scores all weren’t.

The freshman team, still missing Kate Rossman who is filling in on JV, played a much better game that they did in the first meeting. Kristen Winston scored 4 points in the 1st to keep the ‘Cats in the game, 12-6, but Snohomish opened it up in the 2nd and 3rd to take a 33-16 lead going into the final quarter. In the 4th, Oak Harbor played their best of the game, scoring 10 points, more than they scored in the entire game against the Panthers 2 weeks ago, but Snohomish did win, 39-26. Coach Showalter was very pleased with the way the girls played in this game. Winston was tops in scoring with 7, JD had 5, Lia and Rayan 4 each, and Heavenly, Emily and Liz scored 2 each.

The JV game was eerily similar to the first meeting, even to the final score. Oak Harbor grabbed an early lead and added to it throughout the first half, leading 21-13 at the buzzer. The 2nd half was all Snoho, going 14-5 in the 3rd and 17-8 in the fourth to end the game with the exact same score, 44-34. Molly scored two 3-pointers on her way to a total of 10 to lead the team, Yoshi and Tatiana scored 7 each, Shantae had 4, while Addy and Kate scored a field goal each.

The varsity team jumped to a 10-6 1st period lead, but allowed 16 while scoring only 9 in the 2nd to go into the locker room at the half down 22-19 – not bad considering what it was like the last time the two teams met. In the 3rd, though, Snohomish again showed why they are at the top of the WESCO North and in the top 10 in the state. Oak Harbor was only able to score 3 points while Snohomish doubled their score, ending the 3rd leading 44-22. Clarissa Abadesco scored 5 of the teams’ 17 4th quarter points, but it was too little, too late, and Snohomish ran away with another win, 53-39. Jessica Denmon scored 16, Jen Jansen 8, Nikki Mowbray 6, Clarissa 6, and Cori & Chey had a pair each.

The girls have two away games next week, Monday at Stanwood and Friday at Lake Stevens, and are at home Wednesday, looking to avenge a loss to Everett.

No video clips yet, but they are coming. They can all be found HERE.

83 pictures from the JV and Varsity games, including Kate Rossman playing on JV and Mariah Ferguson and Justine Bortolameotti playing in the varsity game are all posted HERE.

Youth Boys Basketball, Jan 24th @ OHHS

The 4 Oak Harbor teams in WESCO Youth Basketball League played two games each on Saturday the 24th at Oak Harbor High School.

Full results aren't available, but the 6th grade team looked good against Mt. Vernon, holding 10-point leads at least twice during the game, and even though the Bulldogs mounted a comeback, the 6th grade Wildcats held them off for their 2nd win of the season.

Full results from all games can be found by clicking HERE.

19 5th grade photos are HERE.

48 6th grade photos are HERE.

31 7th grade photos are HERE.

35 8th grade photos are HERE.

Wrestling vs Stanwood and Monroe, Jan 21st & 22nd.

The Oak Harbor wrestlers had back-to-back dual meets last week, hosting Stanwood on Wednesday and traveling to Monroe on Thursday.

The JV wrestlers went 6-3 against their Stanwood counterparts, with one pin recorded. Tucker Lundstrom got the first win with an 8-4 win over Bennett, then Tina Alter took the mat against Candia. Her match lasted only 1:11, as Tina was able to get her first dual meet pin against him. Nick Farrell was all over Jewell 17-2, then Hunter Vail scored a 2-point near fall in the 3rd to break a tie and win the match 8-6. Josh Scrum notched a tech fall vs. Matlier, 17-1 and Tucker Lundstrom hit the mat for a 2nd time, beating Pedroza 8-1. Jesse Tucker and Josh McVey also saw mat time for the Wildcats. Jaron Strickland and Zack Van Pelt held an exhibition match, with Strickland getting the pin in 55 seconds.

Kyle Magana was up first against Aldapa, and although he worked hard, Aldapa got the 10-5 win. Jake Lundstrom got the first win for Oak Harbor, at 189 pounds, with a 14-5 major decision over Ross. Jarrod Green and Phil Rodgers at 215 and 285 were pinned by Pedroza and Hatley respectively. Dropping back to the lightweights, Corey Trimbur pinned Gilfeather with less than a minute left in the match and Ben Pralle was pinned by Duran. Royce Cardwell, at 119 pounds, started off well against the Spartan’s Studley, taking an early lead, but Studley dug in and dominated for the rest of the match, winning 11-4. Connar Zimmerman shut out Bascom 8-0, Mark Pelham (S) beat Ian Cardwell 15-2 and Weinert beat Stratton 9-4. Ben Page, who has been wrestling very well lately, beat the other Pelham, Matt, 5-0, and John Tuttle win 9-4 over Ulrich. Going into the last two matches, the Wildcats were down by 11, and with pins in both matches could win the meet, but Jarred Tyson lost a close 5-3 match to Eidsness and in the final match freshman Justin Everett was tech’d by Barquist, 16-0.

The JV wrestlers didn’t do as well against Monroe as they did against Stanwood, losing 5 of 9 matches. Winners were Josh Schrum over Perry 20-5, Matt Bistline over Hansen by pin in 1:34 and Jaron Strickland over “Josh” by pin in the last second of the 2nd period. In a great match, Tucker Lundstrom was losing 4-3 starting the 3rd, but scored 6 consecutive points on a reversal and two near-falls to win 9-4. Ben Pralle, Tina Alter, Jesse Tucker and Nick Farrell were also on the mat for the Wildcats. Ian Cardwell, although not winning, provided an exciting match. Ian was ahead 10-9 in the 3rd when his opponent, Stacker, scored an escape to force overtime, which Stacker won by scoring a takedown.

The varsity side of meet started again with the heavier wrestlers, with Jarrod Green taking the mat first. He was pinned by a very good Ingersoll, and Phil Rodgers was pinned as well at 285 pounds. Monroe was to forfeit at 103 and Oak Harbor at 112, but Coach Crebbin decided to move Corey Trimbur up to 112 pounds and have a double forfeit at 103, preventing Monroe from earning an automatic 6 points. It was a gutsy call, but didn’t work out, as Corey, wrestling at a 15-pound disadvantage, was pinned in the 1st period. Now down 18-0, the Wildcats went on a 7-1 win streak, with Royce Cardwell pinning Saether in the 1st and Connar Zimmerman beating Johnson 16-3 to bring the score to 18-10 in Monroe’s favor. Josh Barton lost a close 5-4 match to C. Curnutt to make the team score 21-10. That was the last lead Monroe would have, as the next four Wildcats each pinned their opponents. Brandon Stratton took 5 minutes exactly to beat J. Curnutt, Ben Page stuck Foster in 2:50, John Tuttle over Dimaggio in 5:06 and Jarred Tyson over Palumbo in 3:04. With the score now 34-21, Oak Harbor need one more win to guarantee the team win. Kyle Magana, who has been struggling a bit this year at 171 pounds dropped to 160 for this meet, and won a hard-fought match 4-3. Freshman Hunter Vail, in his first varsity match, was pinned by Vasquez and in the last match of the night, Jake Lundstrom was pinned by Monroe stud Sam Kenagy, but Oak Harbor won the meet 37-33.

46 photos of JV action vs Stanwood can be found HERE.

Tina Alter’s pin over Candia can be found HERE on YouTube.

Oak Harbor Christian School Basketball, 1-22-09

The Oak Harbor Christian School basketball teams are a little different than the OHMS and NWMS. While the public schools allow only 7th and 8th graders to play, and on separate teams, OHCS has one combined 6/7/8 team, one for boys and one for girls, and they both play at the same time.

On Thursday the 22nd, the Eagles hosted Ebenezer Christian School from Lynden.

The girls team went first at 3:45, and although a little slow at the beginning, the Eagles played to a 6-3 1st period lead, and increased the lead to 19-11 at the half. Things soured in the 3rd, as the Eagles only scored 5 points while letting Ebenezer take the lead by allowing 16 3rd period points. The girls got their game back in the 4th, hitting for 11 points, but it was 4 points too few as the girls fell to Ebenezer 39-35. Morgan Y. led the Eagles with 19 points, Emily scored 8, and Lizzie, Annie, Lindsey and Sydney scored 2 points each.

In the boys game, Ebenezer dominated completely throughout the game. By halftime the score was 31-4 in favor of the visitors and 43-6 at the end of the 3rd. The boys went on a scoring tear in the 4th, dropping in 10 points while holding Ebenezer to 8, but in the end it was all Ebenezer 51-16. Jake was tops with 6 points, Ben scored 4, while Gavin and Caleb netted 3 points each.

The next Eagles home game is next Wednesday the 28th. Admission is free.

As this may be the only chance to get photos at OHCS, more than the usual number of images has been uploaded.

There are 116 images from the girls game, in the order they were taken, and they can be found HERE.

The boys game has 84 photos posted, which you can get to by clicking HERE.

OHHS Boys basketball vs Cascade, 1-20-09

This is a combined report of the boys games at Lake Stevens on Jan 19th and at home against Cascade on the 20th.

At Lake Stevens, all 3 teams fell to the Vikings. The freshman score was 46-30, and none of the Wildcats scored in double figures, and the team not able to score in double figures in any period. Josiah Miller led the team with 7, followed by Ed Denmon with 6. Others scoring were Ben Muyers 5, Elias Whitefoot and Matt Burgoyne 4, Michael Mack 3 and Paul Johanssen 1.

The JV game was also lopsided, 64-42, but Stevie Bratt hit 14 points and Denzel Hardin added another 8, and went 4-4 from the free throw line. Chance Gill scored 5, Connor Paul and Nate Young 4 each, Blake Schulle 3, and Trace Paul and Michael Harrison 2 each.

In the varsity game, there were several notable names missing from the roster. Senior Josh Fikse was out with an injury, and Beaux Haley, Zac Cole and Phil Nadeau were on the bench for team discipline issues. As a result, Colby Anter and Ryan Fakkema moved up to play varsity that game. The Wildcats were just no match for Lake Stevens that night. The Vikings were firing on all cylinders and the Wildcats just couldn’t get anything going. In the end, the Vikings left with a 65-27 win, holding all the Wildcats to single-digit scoring. Jay Stout and Mike Washington tied with 7 to lead the ‘Cats, Anter scored 4, Blake Schulle, Jimmy Edens and Rashaad Smith 2 each, and Aaron Boesch, John Manni and Brooks Waller scores one free throw each. As a result of the game, which was very physical, the team lost Jimmy Edens for the rest of the season due to an arm injury.

On Tuesday, Oak Harbor started the 2nd half of the season, hosting Cascade.

The Freshman rebounded easily from their Monday loss, building an early 17-6 lead and opening to 30-16 at the half and 47-27 at the end of the 3rd. The team stuttered a little in the 4th, scoring only 5 points, but it was enough as the boys went on to win 52-42. Matt Burgoyne led the scoring with 11 and Elias Whitefoot had 10. Kevawn Brooks had, Ed Denmon 7, Michael Mack and Josiah Miller 6 each, and Patrick Bell and Paul Johanssen had 2 each.

The 1st period of the JV game was close, ending with the Wildcats leading 13-12, and then behind 5 2nd-period points by Ryan Fakkema and some tough defense built the lead to 28-19 at the half. The team let up in the 3rd, allowing 17 points while scoring only 5, falling behind 36-33 heading into the final period. Cascade fought back, taking a late 49-47 lead, but Oak Harbor couldn’t get the last second shots to go in and Cascade took the win by 2 points.

As in the first meeting, the Wildcats didn’t seem to have an answer for Cascade’s Chris McGrath. The 1st half was close all the way, with Cascade leading 31-27 at the halftime buzzer. The 3rd period, however, did the Wildcats in yet again, as the team scored only 4 points, and even though OH outscored Cascade 12-10 in the 4th period, it wasn’t enough to overcome the 3rd period slump and the Bruins won their 2nd league game of the season 55-43.

Next up for the boys is a trip to Snohomish on Friday, then at home on Monday the 26th against Stanwood in a weather makeup game.

Photos from the Cascade games are posted HERE.

Select video clips from the Cascade game can be found HERE.

Middle School BB - OHMS @ NWMS, 1-20-09

The OHMS and NWMS boys basketball teams met for the 4th and final time for the season at NWMS Tuesday afternoon.


The NWMS 7th grade team continued to struggle, losing by a lopsided score to a superior OHMS team. However, the NWMS team has improved greatly, and for most of the 1st half was in the game. In the 2nd half, OHMS turned on the jets and ran away with the game.


Coming into this 4th meeting, the teams' records against each other was 2-1 in favor of NWMS. OHMS Coach Marshall's goal was to even the series, and his team was successful. It was a fairly close game, but in the end, the Panters were able to post an 11-point win over their crosstown rivals.


15 images from the 7th grade game, along with 5 team photos of the 8th grade team are posted HERE.

Boys swimming vs Burlington & Sedro, 1-20-09

In their final home meet of the 2008-2009 season, the Oak Harbor men’s swim team hosted Burlington-Edison and Sedro-Woolley in a tri-meet at Vanderzicht pool, soundly defeating both teams to keep their season record perfect.

200 Medley relay
1st Oak Harbor “A” team – J. Hu, Rosen, P. Hu, T. Schell – 1:58.02
2nd Oak Harbor “B” team – Jepsen, Yockey, Brandon Vagt, Bolte – 2:07.63.32

200 free
1st – Devin Schell – 2:12.07
2nd – Bryce Vagt – 2:07.63
3rd – Michael McGinnis – 2:17.97
7th – Ben Cardinal – 2:44.67

200 I.M.
1st – John Hu – 2:11.50
2nd – Price Hu – 2:25.30
3rd – Jacob Jepsen – 2:30.94
7th – Jesus Alvarado – 3:15.83

50 free
2nd – Tyler Schell – 26.80
3rd – Yale Rosen – 27.17
4th – Matt Bolte – 28.11
6th – Bryce Vagt – 28.94

100 fly
1st – Price Hu – 1:01.05
3rd – Brandon Vagt – 1:07.21

100 free
2nd – Cory Blyther – 1:02.82
3rd – Anthony Yockey – 1:06.30
6th – Chris Rankin – 1:07.60
8th – Jarrett Fryberger – 1:29.07

400 free
1st – Tyler Schell – 4:27.23
2nd – Michael McGinnis – 4:50.52

200 free relay
1st – OH “A” – J. Hu, Rose, Bryce Vagt, T. Schell – 1:47.87
2nd – OH “B” – Jepsen, D. Schell, Bolte, McGinnis – 1:53.76
5th – Blyther, Yockey, Cole, Rankin – 2:19.37

100 back
1st – John Hu – 1:03.11
3rd – Jacob Jepsen – 1:11.19
5th – Devin Schell – 1:14.82
8th – Ben Cardinal – 1:44.83

100 breast
1st – Yale Rosen, - 1:15.59
2nd – Brandon Vagt – 1:19.49
4th – Anthony Yockey – 1:24.62

400 free relay
2nd – OH “A” – Bryce Vagt, Rankin, P. Hu, D. Schell – 4:10.70
3rd – OH “B” – McGinnins, Blyther, Alvarado, Brandon Vagt – 4:32.54

68 images from the meet are posted HERE.

Girls Basketball vs Lake Stevens, 1-19-09

The Oak Harbor Wildcat girls basketball team rebounded from an unexpected loss at Everett on Saturday to defeat the Lake Stevens Vikings 49-44 Monday night in the Oak Harbor gym.

Over in the field house, the freshman team was up against the Cavelero Colts. Cavelero is the new Lake Stevens mid-high, hosting 8th & 9th grade students. Behind 4 points by Lia Pantoleon, the Wildcats held a 9-6 1st period lead, and at the half were down by only 1, 15-14. Both teams scored 9 in the 3rd period as Cavelero held onto their lead. Late in the 4th, Oak Harbor tied the game at 27, then the Colts scored to take the lead. Our girls weren’t able to get a shot to go in the hoop, and were forced to foul to stop the clock. Cavelero was able to get their free throws in, and the game ended with a 34-27 Cavelero win. Pantoleon was the lead scorer with 8, then Kaitlynn Rossman with 7. Rayan Russell and Emily Hunt had 4 each, Erika Flores 3, and Kristen Winston 1. Free throws continue to be an issue with the freshmen, again hitting less than 50% from the line.

The JV girls took quite a while to get into the game, not scoring until almost 5 minutes into the 1st quarter. Fortunately the Wildcat defense wasn’t completely absent and the period ended with a 12-6 Viking lead. The 1st period scored were reversed in the 2nd, as Oak Harbor, behind post play by Mariah Ferguson, scored 15 points and held Lake to just 8, and went into the locker room at the half leading 21-20. In the 3rd, it seemed like our girls forgot how to play basketball. Tatiana Cumming scored 2 halfway through the period and Mariah scored with 15 seconds left, and that was it. Lake Stevens doubled their score from the 1st half, hitting for 21 points and leading 41-25 going into the 4th. The Oak Harbor girls just couldn’t get things going, even with eight 4th-quarter points by Molly DeLeon, and lost 54-35. Mariah led scoring with 12 and Molly finished with 10. Yoshi and Tatiana had 4 each, Shantae Young 3 and Adrianna Royal 2. The JV had an unusually poor day at the line, completing only 5 of 13 attempts.

Jessica Denmon scored a free throw only 15 seconds into the game, to start the Wildcats early 6-0 lead, and the defense prevented Lake from scoring for half of the 1st period. The Vikings chipped away at the early Wildcat lead and took an 11-10 lead with 2 minutes left in the period. They held that lead until the final second, when Denmon let loose from the top of the key and gave OH a 15-13 1st period lead. The 2nd went back and forth, with Lake Stevens leading by 1 or 2 points for most of the period, but late scores by Denmon and Jen Jansen, along with a pair of free throws by Nikki Mowbray let Oak Harbor take a 24-20 lead into the half. Mowbray hit another pair of free throws to start the 3rd period scoring and the Wildcats outscored the Vikings 12-9, and held a 12-point lead at the 5:40 mark. The Vikings crept back in the 4th, closing to within 2 with 6:25 remaining, but the Wildcats were able to pull back away and finished with a 49-44 win. Denmon was tops in scoring with 19, while Jansen and Mowbray had 11 each. Cori hit for 4, Cheyenne for 2, and Clarissa and Tiff sank one free throw each.

The girls are away on Wednesday, at Cascade, then play league-leading Snohomish on Friday. Come out and make some noise to support our girls!

Just 17 photos, all of the freshman game, are posted HERE.

A few video highlight clips are HERE.

At Everett on Saturday night for a makeup game from before Christmas, the Oak Harbor girls basketball teams lost two of the 3 games, one of them an unexpected loss.

The freshman team was totally dominated by Everett, especially in the 1st period, when the Seagulls jumped to an 11-0 lead. The Wildcats started scoring in the 2nd, but could only keep even with Everett, who pulled away in the 4th to win 34-20. The girls were 3-for-15 from the free throw line, but did get scoring from 7 different players, led by Kaitlynn Rossman with 7. Coach Showalter has been impressed by her play, saying she has shown a lot of progress since summer basketball. Rayan Russell scored 4, Liz Hedderman 3, Kristen Winston and Erika Flores 2, and Lia Pantoleon and DJ 1 each. From talking to several Everett fans, the Everett Freshman team is quite good, and better than the JV team.

It was the opposite on the main floor for the JV game. Oak Harbor blew out the Seagulls, holding them to single digit scoring in each period. Behind 6 points by Molly DeLeon, the Wildcats led 11-1 at the end of the 1st and 22-9 at the half. The girls let up a little in the 4th; allowing Everett to score 6 points in the last few minutes and build their score to 20. The final was Oak Harbor 51, Everett 20. Molly hit for a game-high 15 points and Yoshi had 11. Shantae Young scored 8, Tatiana Cumming 6, Adrianna Royal 5, Jessica James 4 and Mariah Ferguson 2. The girls were a very respectable 7-for-12 from the line, but Mariah Ferguson fouled out near the end of the game.

In varsity action, the Wildcats were up against an 0-6 Everett team, a team that lost to Monroe by 30 points. The game started out looking like it would be an Oak Harbor rout, as the girls led 17-8 behind 6 Jen Jansen points at the end of the 1st, but in the 2nd, defense faltered a bit and Everett scored 17 points, more than half of them off 3-point shots, and Everett cut the OH lead to 30-25 at the half. The Seagulls came out on fire, showing hustle and crisp passing in the 2nd half while the Wildcat offense stuttered, scoring only 10 points in each of the last two periods, and with Everett leading by 1 starting the 4th period. With time running down, Oak Harbor took a 1-point lead, but Everett hit a 3-pointer, then sank a couple of free throws when the Wildcats started fouling to stop the clock, and the Wildcats lost a heartbreaker 54-50. Jessica Denmon led the ‘Cats with 17 and Jansen added 11. Nikki Mowbray scored 8, Cori Henricksen 5, Cheyenne Tubo 4, and Clarissa Abadesco and Kathryn Fisken 2 each. The Wildcats hit two 3-pointers, both by Jansen, while Everett hit 7 for the game.

The Wildcat girls have two home games this week, on Monday the 19th against Lake Stevens and Friday the 23rd vs. Snohomish. They have an away game at Cascade on the 21st.

Just 11 photos of the games, and they are posted HERE.

A few video highlight clips are HERE.

Whidbey Wildcat Youth Wrestling 1-17-2009

The Whidbey Wildcat Wrestling Club held their second tournament of the year this past Saturday and did well.

As a team, they placed 4th, and out of 36 wrestlers entered, 17 placed 3rd or higher. There were 5 age/weight class champions, 6 second place finishers and 6 third place finishers.

Over 130 images of the wrestlers in action can be found HERE.

For complete results, click HERE. The link takes you to the Whidbey Wildcat website message board post on that subject.

Boys Swimming vs Cascade HS 1/15/09

Chalk up another big win for the Wildcat swimmers as they beat Cascade 118-65 in Everett. While the Wildcats didn't win every event, they did win 7 of 12, and their depth gave the team lots of extra points. Below are the complete results.

200 medley relay
1st - OH "A" - J. Hu, Rose, P. Hu, T. Schell - 1:48.06
3rd - OH "B" - D. Schell, McGinnis, Vagt, Blyther - 1:59.55
5th - OH "C" - Paculdino, Alvarado, Yockey, Cole - 2:14.40

200 free
2nd - John Hun 1:48.04
3rd - Devin Schell - 2:02.00
4th - Michael McGinnis - 2:07.22

200 I.M.
1st - Jacob Jepsen - 2:10.55
3rd - B. Vagt - 2:22.79
4th - Ben Cardinal - 2:41.02

50 free
1st - Tyler Schell - 24.35
3rd - Chris Rankin - 25.20
4th - Matt Bolte - 26.17

Diving
2nd - Price Hu - 109.25
3rd - Anthony Yockey - 104.3

100 fly
1st - Price Hu - 59.95
2nd - B. Vagt - 1:00.09
3rd - Matt Bolte - 1:12.03

100 free
1st - Yale Rosen - 54.84
2nd - Cory Blyther - 59.61
3rd - Chris Rankin - 58.64

500 free
1st - Tyler Schell - 5:10.80
2nd - Devin Schell - 5:38.70
3rd - B. Vagt - 5:51.18

200 free relay
2nd - Rosen, Jepsen, Ranking, Vagt - 1:42.05
3rd - Vagt, McGinnis, Bolte, blyther - 1:48.91
5th - Cardinal, Cole, Alvarado, Paculdino - 2:04.43

100 back
2nd - John Hu - 56.61
3rd - Jacob Jepsen - 1:04.32
5th - Ben Cardinal - 1:15.76

100 breast
2nd - Yale Rosen - 1:09.04
3rd - B. Vagt - 1:11.62
4th - Anthony Yockey - 1:15.50

400 free relay
1st - T. Schell, Jepsen, P. Hu, J. Hu - 3:38.52
2nd - Vagt, Rankin, Blyther, Schell - 3:59.88
4th - McGinnis, Cardinal, Cole, Bolte - 4:16.98

OHMS boys basketball vs Cascade MS 1/15/09

The Oak Harbor Middle School boys basketball team has been busy since the end of Christmas break, playing 4 games between the 6th and 15th of January.

On the 6th, the teams played at North Whidbey Middle School. OHMS crushed NWMS in the 7th grade game 59-8 while the OHMS 8th grade team pulled out a close victory over the Cougars 47-45.

January 13th saw Burlington-Edison come to OHMS with both games going to the Tigers. The 7th grade score was 73-35 and the 8th grade team score was 53-27. Although both the 7th and 8th grade teams were beaten handily, both improved from the first meeting with the Tigers. Coach Marshall was impressed with the effort the 8th grade team put out in that game.

OHMS and NWMS met again on the 14th, the 2nd of 3 straight days of basketball. The 7th grade score was similar to the score on the 6th – 59-10. The OHMS team shut out the NWMS team in both the 1st and 4th periods. The 8th grade game was again close, but NWMS won this one, 46-35.

Finally, in games vs Cascade Middle School on the 15th, both teams provided entertaining and exciting play. The 7th grade game came down to the final seconds. With just 15 seconds left in the game, OHMS held a 1-point lead after leading 23-14 at the half and 31-24 after 3 periods. The Panthers were able to hold on for those final seconds and won the game 39-38. The 8th grade game was very physical and fouls mounted up quickly for both teams. OHMS led in the 1st 11-5, and at the half were down only 2, 21-19. It was still close at the end of the third, 35-31, but the Panthers were only able to put 5 more points on the board while allowing 10 by Cascade, who won the game 45-36.

No video from the Cascade game, but lots of photos.

The 7th grade photos can be found HERE

The 8th grade photos can be found HERE

Girls basketball vs Marysville, 1-14-2009

The girls varsity basketball team won an important victory Wednesday vs Marysville on January 14th, and hope to carry that momentum through this Saturday’s game at Everett.

The freshman team, which has struggled lately, won their game 30-23. The game was close until the 4th period, when the girls were able to build and hold onto a late lead. Good defense and an insurance score secured the win. Kaitlynn Rossman scored 12 to lead the ‘Cats, and DJ had 9. Lia Pantoleon and Kristen Winston had 3 each, Erika Flores 2, and Heavenly Cooper 1.

The JV girls are also struggling, especially since the Christmas break, and they just could not get any offense going in their game. The first quarter ended in a tie, 8-8, but the Tomahawks broke away with a 13-point 2nd quarter, and held the JV squad to just 2 points in the 3rd on their way to a 48-20 win. Yoshi and Mariah scored half the points with 6 each. Molly added 4 and Tatiana and Shantae 2 each. The girls are looking to turn things around Saturday with better ball handling to reduce turnovers.

The Wildcats were in complete control of the varsity game from beginning to end. An aggressive defense prevented Marysville from scoring until halfway through the 1st period. M-P scored again at the 3:00 mark to double their score, and did not score again until 3 minutes into the 2nd period, and by that time the Wildcats were ahead 10-4. The girls increased their lead to 25-16 at the half and led by 10, 34-24 at the end of 3 periods. The Wildcats got a lot of scoring in the final quarter, including Jessica Denmon, who hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 1:03 to ensure the win. Marysville big girl Britt Harris, who normally hits double digits in scoring, was held to just 4 points for the game. Denmon scored 13 for the game, with Jen and Nikki right behind with 11. Cori Henricksen scored 7, Tiffany Earnhart 5, and Cheyenne Tubo scored 2 with her patent flip shot from under the basket.

As a special treat, the halftime pizza shootout contestant was Jimmy Edens, who won by hitting the layin.

Photos from the freshman, JV and varsity games can be found HERE.

A few video highlight clips are HERE.

Wrestling vs Marysville - 1-13-2009

The wrestling JV team didn’t fare well against Marysville last Tuesday at home, winning only two of the 10 bouts. Gabe Dye was one of the winners, and started his scoring with a hard takedown of Cynker, and was leading 14-8 when Gabe was able to finally pin his man in 5:16. The other winner was Hunter Vail, who pinned Hagen in 4:45. Ben Pralle, Josh Schrum, and Jaron Strickland each got to wrestle twice against Marysville opponents, while Justin Everett and Josh McVey wrestled once each. Also in JV action, there were two exhibition matches featuring two Oak Harbor wrestlers facing each other. In the first, Tucker Lundstrom was fully in control, defeating Nick Farrell 14-2, and in the other match, Jesse Tucker scored an escape right at the buzzer to take a hard-fought 3-2 win over Collin Higinbotham.

Royce Cardwell started things off with a bang in the varsity portion of the meet, scoring a 15-0 technical fall over Belvins, then Connar Zimmerman scored an 11-0 major decision over Zaborowski to give OH an early 9-0 lead. Josh Barton was next at 130 lbs, and although he lost, it was only a decision, leaving OH in the lead 9-3. The Wildcats then scored 3 straight wins, with Brandon Stratton pinning Shumaker in 2:24, John Tuttle pinning Wallace in 3:01, and Ben Page getting a 12-2 major decision over Haughian. Unfortunately, Marysville got a close 4-2 win over Jarred Tyson, then recorded 5 straight pins to take the lead. Corey Trimbur kept it close with a pin over Cardona in 1:39, but Brandon Strickland, who weighs in at about 99 pounds, moved up to fill the 112-pound class and got pinned to give Marysville a 36-25 team win.

Some YouTube video clips are posted HERE.

51 photos of the guys having fun before the meet, and of JV action are posted HERE.

Boys Basketball vs Everett - 1/12/2009

It was a wild day of basketball in the Oak Harbor gym Monday night against Everett, with lots of highs and lows from all 3 teams. The game was a makeup from a snow-canceled game in December.

The freshmen got 5 points each from Ed Denmon and Josiah Miller in the 1st period but were behind 20-16 at the buzzer, and by halftime had taken a 1-point lead, 33-32 behind 5 points by Elias Whitefoot. The Wildcats broke the game open in the 3rd period, going on a 24-15 run to increase the lead to 10. Everett was able to crawl back into the game, outscoring Oak Harbor by 6 in the final period, but the Wildcats held on for a 74-70 win. Kewawn Brooks led the scoring with 19, and 3 other players were also in double figures - Matt Burgoyne with 15, Elias Whitefoot with 12 and Josiah Miller with 11. Ed Denmon had 9, Michael Mack 6 and Matt Reith 2 to round out the scoring.

6 players scored in the 1st period of the JV game as the boys held a 9-point lead for most of the period, leading 18-11 at the buzzer. Trace Paul hit a shot as the 2nd period opened to make it 20-11 for the Wildcats, but Everett came back, tying the game at 28 with 1:37 left in the half. A couple of badly-timed passes later, the Seagulls had taken the lead 34-30, and after the halftime break, increased their lead to 11 with 5:14 left in the 3rd. From there to the end of the period the Wildcats played even with Everett, but at the buzzer Everett still led by 10, 50-40. Opening the 4th, 5 straight points by Blake Schulle cut the Everett lead to just 4, and a shot with 33 seconds left by Stevie Bratt cut it to just a single point. As Everett had the ball and a lead, the Wildcats were forced to foul. Everett made 3 of 4 FT attempts, and a last second bomb my Hardin missed, and the putback by Michael Harrison left the Wildcats with 2 points too few and on the short end of a 60-58 score. Almost every player got in on the scoring, with Blake Schulle tops at 12. David Tillotson and Steven Bratt had 8, Denzel Hardin, Colby Anter and Nate Young 6, Trace Paul 4, and Justin Counts, Ryan Fakkema, Michael Harrison and Connor Paul had 2 each.

The varsity also started out strong, building an early 9-2 lead and led 14-3 at the end of the 1st, but in the 2nd, Everett turned on their press, causing a lot of problems for the Wildcats, and halfway through the 2nd Everett tied the game at 17 each. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the half which ended in a 25-all tie. The ‘Cats regained the lead after halftime, and led by 4 after a Mike Washington, Jr. 3-pointer at the 4:24 mark, and as the period ended, Washington hit a pair of free throws to give OH a 39-37 lead going into the 4th. Two quick Wildcat scores made the lead 43-37 with 6:44 left in the game, but the Wildcats could not score again until halfway through the quarter, but by then Everett had scored 12 to lead 49-44. More pressing by the Seagulls pushed Oak Harbor into making some unfortunate passes and Everett capitalized on them running away in the final period to a 60-46 win. Jay Stout led the Oak Harbor scoring with 12, followed by Washington with 11. Aaron Boesch and Rashaad Smith had 7 each, Josh Fikse 4, Beaux haley 3 and Jimmy Edens 2.

71 photos are posted HERE. The photos include not only action pics, but several freshman team photos, and individual pictures of most of the freshman players. There are also photos of each of the coaches.

Select video clips can be found HERE.

Girls Basketball @ Snohomish - 1/12/2009

It was a cold day offensively for all 3 Oak Harbor teams Monday at Snohomish as all 3 teams went down to the Panthers.

Not much will be said about the freshman game, except that the final score was 31-9, and the team went 1-for-13 from the free throw line. Kaitlynn Rossman scored 6, DJ 2 and Lia Pantoleon 1.

JV did better, holding a 12-8 1st period lead, and was down only 2, 20-18 at the half. Snohomish built their lead slightly in the 3rd, which ended 29-23. However, the girls just couldn’t cut the lead and lost 44-34, going just 9-20 from the line. Mariah Ferguson and Molly DeLeon led the JV squad with 9 each. Shantae Young had 7, Jessica James 3, while Yoshi, Tatiana Cumming and Adrianna Royal scored 2 each.

When the varsity game started, Snohomish was 5-0 in league, and at the end was 6-0 while the Wildcats fell to 2-2. The girls just couldn’t get things going in the 1st period, falling behind 15-2. Things got better in the 2nd as the team scored 11 points, but were still behind 27-13 at halftime. The girls at one point closed to 8 points, but another poor offensive output in the 4th sealed the Panther win, 56-29. 3 players tied for high score honors with 7 points each – Kathryn Fisken, Jennifer Jansen and Jessica Denmon. Nikki Mowbray added 6 and Clarissa Abadesco 2.

The girls are at home vs Marysville on Wednesday the 14th.

Wrestling at Everett - 1/12/2009

In a makeup dual meet from back in December, the Wildcats were at Everett High School Monday evening and came away winners. The team scores were 34 each, but Oak Harbor was declared the winner on tiebreaker criteria. A lot of credit goes to Brandon Strickland. Normally in the 103lb weight class, Brandon stepped into the 112 pound spot. He did this to avoid giving Everett a forfeit and an automatic 6 team points. Brandon lost by decision, 8-3, but gave only 3 team points to Everett. Another match of note was the final match of the night. Josh Barton lost by major decision, 19-7, but avoided the pin or tech fall to secure the Oak Harbor victory.

The meet started out with Brandon Stratton going into overtime before finally pinning Palabrica give OH the early lead. The next 5 matches were all decided by pins as well, with Ben Page, John Tuttle and Jarred Tyson pinning their opponents and Kyle Magana and Zach Loescher getting pinned. At 189 lbs Jake Lundstrom lost a 6-1 decision, Jarred Green got pinned at 215 as did Phil Rodgers making his varsity debut. Back to the lighter weights, Corey Trimbur won his match by a low 2-0 score, Royce Cardwell pinned his opponent at 119 lbs, Connar Zimmerman won 9-0.

The wrestlers will be at home Tuesday, Jan 13th against 3-1 Marysville-Pilchuck and travel to Kelso this weekend for a tournament.

Boys Basketball at Monroe - Jan 10, 2009

Last Saturday the boys basketball teams were back in action, taking the long trip to Monroe to take on the Bearcats.

In the Freshman game, the it was close in the first, with Monroe leading 5-4, but the Bearcats went on a 22-11 2nd-period sprint and never looked back, running away with the game 42-33. Matt Burgoyne, Josiah Miller and Kevawn Brooks tied for high scoring honors with 6 each, followed closely by Elias Whitefoot and Edward Denmon with 5 each. Also scoring were Michael Mack 1, Matt Reith 1, Paul Johannsen 3.

The JV team won their first game of the year by a 55-46 score. The Wildcats jumped out to a 12-4 1st period lead and played even with the Bearcats in the 2nd to continue leading, 25-18 at halftime. By the end of the 3rd the ‘Cats built the lead to 10, and held on for the 9-point victory. Colby Anter and Ryan Fakkema had 10 points each to lead the JV squad, followed by Michael Harrison and Nate Young with 9 each. Others on the board were Denzel Hardin 4, Stevie Bratt 2, Trace Paul 2, Connor Paul 3, David Tillotson 1 and Chance Gill 5.

Varsity also jumped to a 1st-period lead 15-10 and held the lead at half 29-26. In the 3rd, however, the Wildcat offense cooled off, scoring only 6 points. The defense was consistent, allowing 14, but the lack of scoring put Oak Harbor into a 40-35 hole at the end of the third. The boys battled back, and with about 30 seconds left were down by only one and had possession of the ball, but intense defensive pressure by Monroe prevented a last-second shot, leaving the final score 50-49 in favor of Monroe. Mike Washington Jr. scored 17 for the Wildcats, with Jay Stout close behind with 15. Aaron Boesch, Beaux Haley and Josh Fikse had 4 each, Phil Nadeau 3 and Rashaad Smith 2. The boys did well from the line, missing only 2 free throws all night.

Swimming full results from last Thursday, Jan 8th

Here are the full results from last Thursday’s swim meet vs Everett.

200 Medley relay
1st Oak Harbor “A” team – Hu, Rosen, Hu, Vagt – 1:51.58
2nd Oak Harbor “B” team – Jepsen, Vagt, Bolte, Rankin – 1:59.32
3rd Oak Harbor “C” team – Paculdino, Cole, Yockey, Fryberger – 2:23.85

200 free
1st – Tyler Schell – 1:57.16
2nd – Devin Schell – 2:02.10

200 I.M.
1st – John Hu – 2:03.91
2nd – Jacob Jepsen – 2:14.16

50 free
1st – Yale Rosen – 24.93
2nd – Chris Rankin – 25.30
3rd – Cory Blyther – 26.08

Diving
3rd – Price Hu – 155.1
5th – Anthony Yockey

100 fly
1st – Price Hu – 56.97
2nd – Brandon Vagt – 1:00.05
4th – Bryce Vagt – 1:08.17

100 free
1st – Chris Rankin – 56.61
2nd - Matt Bolte – 56.89
3rd – Cory Blyther – 57.86

500 free
1st – John Hu – 4:54.16
2nd – Tyler Schell – 5:08.53
4th – Devin Schell – 5:31.30

200 free relay
1st – OH “A” – Jepsen, Rosen, T. Schell, J. Hu – 1:40.84
2nd – OH “B” – Brandon Vagt, Blyther, Bolte, D. Schell – 1:48.15

100 back
1st – Jacob Jepsen – 1:05.38
2nd – Bryce Vagt – 1:13.78
3rd – J. Paculdino – 1:18.14

100 breast
1st – Yale Rose, - 1:07.61
2nd – Brandon Vagt – 1:12.30
3rd – Anthony Yockey – 1:20.70

400 free relay
1st – OH “A” – T. Schell, P. Hu, D. Schell, Bryce Vagt – 3:50.55
2nd – OH “B” – Blyther, Rankin, Bolte, Yockey – 4:07.28

Winter Sports Schedule changes

It was a crazy two weeks, with snow and/or flooding causing many events to be rescheduled, but things have appeared to have settled down.

Here are the latest schedule changes.

Swimming - An invite on Jan 10th in Federal Way was canceled and will not be made up.

The Competition Cheer squad had to move their annual Oak Harbor Spiritfest from Dec 20th to Jan 17th. In addition, due to a prior commitment, the site was changed from OHHS to North Whidbey Middle School.

Wrestling missed 2 dates and had a pair of weekend tournaments canceled.
The dual meet at Everett was changed from Dec 18th to today, Jan 12th.
The home meet vs Stanwood was changed from Jan 9th to Jan 21st.
The Graham Morin tournament at Squalicum and the JV Everett tournament, both scheduled for Dec 20th were canceled and will not be made up.

Boys Basketball only missed 3 dates.
Everett is at Oak Harbor today, Jan 12th, changed from Dec 19th.
The boys will be at Lake Stevens on Jan 19th instead of Dec 20th and will be at home against Stanwood on Jan 26th, making up the Jan 8th game.

Girls Basketball - The girls have to make up a total of 4 events.
The Dece 17th game at Snohomish will be played tonight, Jan 12th.
The Dec 19th game at Everett will now be played on Jan 17th.
The home game against Lake Stevens scheduled for Dec 20th is now on Jan 19th, and the game at Stanwood was changed from Jan 8th to Jan 26th.

Girls Basketball vs Monroe - 1/10/2009

The freshman game was strange. At the end of the 1st period, the Wildcats led 5-0, but in the 2nd scored only 2 points while allowing the Bearcats to hit for 17, putting the girls in a deep hole at the half, 17-7. Monroe continued to increase their lead in the 2nd half, running away with the game, 39-20. Leading the Wildcats was Kaitlynn Rossman with 6. Kaileen Burleson, Rayan Russell and DJ had 3 each, Lia Pantoleon and Emily Hunt 2 each, and Erika Flores hit one free throw. Again, as a team, the girls did not do well from the line but improved from last week, going 6-for-15 against Monroe.

In what seems to becoming a pattern, the JV game started out slow, with only Tatiana Cumming and Molly DeLeon scoring once each in the 1st period which ended with a Monroe lead 6-4. Monroe increased their lead to 20-14 by half. Mariah Ferguson scored the only Wildcat points in the 3rd as Monroe continued to build their lead, and the game looked lost. However, the JV girls rallied, and behind 10 4th quarter points by Adrianna Royal (6 from the free throw line) and 6 more by Molly, the Wildcats cut the lead to just 47-41. But with just 33 seconds left, there was just too much of a gap, and Monroe went on to win 49-42. DeLeon and Royal shared high scoring honors with 10 each, Yoshi had 7, Tatiana 6, Jessica James 1, and Shantae Young and Ferguson 4 each. The girls didn’t do badly from the line, going 14-21 as team, helped by Adrianna’s 6-8 and Molly’s 3-3.

The varsity team was all over Monroe from the start, and didn’t let up. The Wildcats led 18-6 at the end of the 1st period, and the lead would not get much smaller. Twice Monroe closed the gap to 9 points, but Oak Harbor kept the pressure on and went into the half leading 36-24. Oak Harbor increased the pressure in the 3rd, with Nikki Mowbray scoring with 1 second left in the 3rd to make the Wildcat lead 18. Oak Harbor let up a little on offense, scoring only 11 points, but held Monroe to 10 and went on to win 64-45.

Mowbray was hot on Saturday, scoring a game-high 27 points, followed by Jessica Denmon with 17. Jen Jansen scored 8, Cori Henricksen 5, Kathryn Fisken 4 and Cheyenne Tubo 3.

The girls play at Snohomish on Monday, Jan 12th and will be at home vs Marysville on Wednesday the 14th.

Photos from the freshman, JV and varsity games can be found HERE.

A few video highlight clips are HERE.

Varsity wrestling at the Everett Classic - 1/10/2009

At Everett this Saturday, the varsity wrestlers faced off against 19 teams from around the Puget Sound area, including WESCO opponents Lake Stevens, Everett, Mariner and Arlington. The boys did well, taking 7th place with 89.5 points. The Wildcats had wrestlers in all the weight classes except 112 and 285 lbs.

At 103 lbs, Corey Trimbur was the Oak Harbor representative, and he won his first match, against Issaquah’s Max Tickman by tech fall 15-0. In the 2nd round, Corey lost to eventual champ Ren Bishop of Squalicum, then lost a close 9-7 match to James Nguyn of Westview.

The next weight class with an Oak Harbor wrestler was 119 lbs. Royce Cardwell pinned Justin Hartinger of Decatur in 2:36 then pinned Issaquah’s Brandon Pearson in 3:27. In the 3rd round, Royce wrestled last year’s 103-lb state champ, Josh Heinzer of Lake Stevens. Royce did well, but lost 9-5. In the consolation bracket, Royce got back to pinning his opponents, sticking Everett’s Anthony Lucero in 3:28 to move to the 3rd place match. He wrestled against Vashon Island’s Eduardo Protzeller, but the results of that match were not available.

Connar Zimmerman, at 125 lbs, provided the Wildcats with their only tournament champion. His first match was a pin in 3:59 over Austin Anderson of Squalicum, then beat Kameron Sullivan of North Thurston 5-1. In the semi-final match Connar beat Decatur’s Tyler Thomas 3-0 before beating Mt. Vernon’s Levi Koetje 4-1 for 1st place.

The 130 pound bracket featured Josh Barton who lost his 1st round match 10-1 to Mt. Vernon’s Jordan Watts. Josh then went on to win 2 in the consolation bracket, beating Joe Franco of Decatur 9-8 and Cameron Olson of Emerald Ridge by pin in 1:58. Josh lost his final match of the day 13-0 to Sam Terry of Westview.

Freshman Brandon Stratton wrestled at 135 lbs, also losing his 1st round match, 7-4 to Joe Venskus of Mariner. Brandon won his first consolation match, taking just 21 seconds to pin Joshua Clark of North Thurston. The score in his final match was 805 with Issaquah’s David White the winner.

Senior John Tuttle dropped another 5 lbs, moving to the 140 pound bracket. He won his first match, pinning Mariner’s Chance Cook in 4:04, then beat Decatur’s Greg Bull 7-4 to advance to the semifinals. John then beat Rogen Lopez of Vashon 8-6 to go to the final match. Ryan Makela of Mt. Si won the championship, 5-1, with Tuttle taking 2nd place.

Ben Page, moving up to 145 pounds, lost his first match to Adolph Rivas 9-7, then pinned Everett’s Zach Skorrka in 4:00 even and pinned Mt. Si’s Conner Deutswch in 2:27 before being pinned by Decatur’s Eric Godfrey in 1:27.

At 152 lbs, Oak Harbor entered two wrestlers, Jarred Tyson and Justin Everett. Both wrestlers were beaten in the 1st round, Tyson by Everett’s Cary Irwin in 4:29 and Everett by Mt. Vernon’s Joe Barrington by tech fall, 16-0. Justin lost his consolation match, but Tyson pinned Emerald Ridge’s Mike Munizza in just 25 seconds and beat Mariner’s Alex Coffman by a close 9-8 score before losing to Joey Mahn of Lake Stevens.

Kyle Magana, again at 160lbs lost to Connor Johnson of Mt. Vernon 12-4, but won 2 in the consolation bracket. He first beat Decatur’s Kieron Bronson-Doherty 10-4, then got a forfeit against Josh Fleming of Mt. Rainier. Kyle was finally pinned by Cameron Miller of North Thurston.

Junior Zach Loescher lost at 171 lbs in the 1st round to Mt. Rainier’s Chase Hanlon, and couldn’t advance in the consolation bracket, falling 7-5 to Tom Halsey of Emerald Ridge.

There were two Wildcats in the 189 lb bracket – Alec Castillo and Jacob Lundstrom. Both were pinned in their first round matches and only Lundstrom could advance in the consolation bracket as Alec lost to Josh Mani of Arlington. Jake won 8-7 over Steven Gmazel of Bothell but was pinned by Alex Gonzalez of Lake Washington.

Jarred Green, now wrestling in the varsity 215lb weight class, did not have a good day, getting pinned twice in the first period.

Boys Swim vs Everett 1/8/08

Again, the Oak Harbor swimmers dominate in the pool, beating Everett 136-48. Full results aren't available at this time, but the Wildcat swimmers won all but one event (Diving). The win takes the Wildcats to 4-0 in league, 8-0 overall.

Full results will be posted as soon as they are available.

Timeout with... Cailey Bolander

Cailey Marie Bolander is a junior at OHHS and a member of the cheer squad. The 5’2” “base” was born in Oakland, CA on December 27th, and has lived in Oak Harbor for the past 9 years. In addition to OH and Oakland, Cailey also lived in Ogden, Utah. She is the son of Blaine and Melanie, and has one brother and 3 sisters. One of the sisters, Sasha, is a freshman at OHHS.

Cailey is an average student, with her favorite classes those involving science, as she enjoys the ‘hands-on’ aspect of the classes. Not surprisingly, her favorite teacher teaches science – Mrs. Billiter.

When asked why she enjoys cheer so much, Cailey says it’s fun, and she feels the other cheer girls are more than just teammates, but family.

When not cheering, Cailey spends a lot of time texting her friends, but enjoys listening to country music and watching CSI. She says her favorite movie is “The Wedding Planner”.

As of now, Cailey is thinking of becoming a nurse or perhaps a veterinarian, and if she does get that ‘dream job’, she thinks she would like to go back to Utah to live.

Something you probably didn’t know about Cailey: She loves teddy bears!

20 questions with Cailey:

Xbox, Playstation, or Wii – None, but would probably choose Wii
McDonald’s or Burger King – Mickey Ds
Comedy or Horror – Comedy
OHMS or NWMS – NWMS
Seahawks or Mariner – Seahawks
Shop class or Art class – Shop
iPhone or Blackberry – Blackberry
Coke or Pepsi – Coke
House or Lost – House
Army or Navy – Army
Boating or Camping – Camping
Running or Swimming – Swimming
Ford, Honda, or VW – Ford
MAC or PC/Windows – PC
Jumbo Buffet or Happy Dragon – Jumbo
Math or Science – Science
Walmart or Kmart – Walmart
Cats or Dogs – Cats
Red or Blue – Red
NY or LA - LA

Wrestling vs Arlington - 1/7/09

It was not a good week for Oak Harbor vs Arlington sports. On Tuesday, both the boys and girls freshmen, JV and varsity basketball teams all lost to their Eagle counterparts, and the Arlington streak continued Wednesday with a 45-20 win over the wrestling team.
Oak Harbor put 15 JV wrestlers on the mat, and won 9 of the matches. Several matches were very exciting, starting with Justin Everett at 152 lbs vs Himmelspach. At the end of the 1st period it was 10-2 against Justin, and with the score 12-2 in the 2nd Justin got an opening, scored a reverse, and got the pin at the 3:54 mark. Another come-from-behind winner was Josh Schrum, who was down 5-2 before pinning Thompson in 1:48. Pins were also recorded by Jaron Strickland, Gabe Dye, Tucker Lundstrom, Alec Castillo and Collin Higinbotham. Steven Souza scored an 8-2 win and Hunter Vail beat Irwin 12-0.
Varsity started with the 215 lb weight class, Jarrod Green moving up to varsity in place of Chris Neumiller. Jarrod wrestled hard, but got pinned. The Wildcats had to forfeit at 285lbs, but received a forfeit at 103. Next up was Corey Trimbur at 112 lbs. Corey actually weighs only about 95 lbs, so he was giving up some poundage to Reandea. It didn’t matter, as Corey was able to stick him in 4:53. Royce Cardwell beat Goheen 8-5 and Connor Zimmerman (who is leaving OH at the end of the year to move to Maryland) beat Amundson 21-8.
Things were looking good for the Wildcats with a 19-12 team lead, but Arlington won the next 4 matches and 6 of the final 8 matches, including an unexpected pin of John Tuttle. Late in the meet Jarred Tyson beat McPherson 11-5 and Zach Loescher beat Henderson 8-6 to add some points to the OH total.
The wrestling team is scheduled to wrestle at home against Stanwood on Friday, Jan 9th, but with the flooding in the Stanwood area, including canceled school on Jan 8th, the meet may possibly be canceled on short notice.

Some photos of both JV and Varsity action can be found HERE.

A few video highlight clips are HERE.

Girls Basketball vs Arlington - 1/6/09

On January 6th, the OH girls basketball team played only their 2nd league game of the year, 3 other game being canceled due to snow. The game was against Arlington, which seems to have Oak Harbor’s number this year when it comes to sports.

The freshman game was close through halftime, with Arlington holding an 8-4 1st period and 17-13 2nd period lead. In the 3rd period, the Eagles, which Coach Showalter called one of the best freshman teams in the area, opened the game up, and by the end of the 3rd had moved their lead to 31-17 by scoring 14 points in the 3rd and allowing only 4 OH points. The Arlington push continued in the 4th as they added another 15 to cruise to a 46-22 win. Rayan Russell led in scoring with 7, followed by Lia Pantoleon with 5, Kaitlynn Rossman with 4, DJ 3, Emily Hunt 2, and Erika Flores 1. Coach Showalter said the girls didn’t play badly, but that Arlington is just that good. However, out of 19 free throws attempted, the girls hit only 3 for a .157 free throw percentage.

The JV game was exciting. Oak Harbor came out flat, not scoring until almost halfway through the 1st period, then didn’t score again until Adrianna Royal hit a pair of free throws with just 33 seconds on the clock. They woke up a bit in the 2nd, scoring 8 but allowing 9, so at halftime it was 17-13 in favor of Arlington. The Wildcats tied the game just over halfway through the 3rd with a basket by Molly DeLeon, and a score by Janelle Yoshimoto (Yoshi) with just over 1 minute gave OH their first lead of the game. It didn’t last, but the two teams went back and forth, trading the lead 6 times in the 4th. With just 1:38 left in the game, Yoshi tied the game at 32, but a basket by Arlington with 1 minute left forced the Wildcats to foul to stop the clock, and the Arlington free throw shooters went a perfect 4-4 in that last minute to win 38-32. Mariah Ferguson put in 10 points, Yoshi 8 and Molly 7 to lead the team. Tatiana Cumming, Adrianna Royal and Shantae Young had 2 each, and Jessica James made one free throw.

Things didn’t look good early in the varsity game, as Arlington led 7-2 just 2½ minutes into the game, but scores by Nikki Mowbray, Jessica Denmon and Cori Henricksen tied the game at 9 halfway through the 1st. The two teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the first half, with Arlington scores in the last 2 minutes resulting in a 26-20 halftime lead for the Eagles. In the 3rd, Arlington’s lead continued until the last minute of the 3rd, when Denmon scored twice and Mowbray hit a pair of free throws to cut the Eagle lead to just 2 points, 35-33 at the end of 3. Arlington sank a 3-pointer to start the 4th period to lead by 5, a lead that would stand for most of the period until Jen Jansen hit on a fast break from an inbounds pass with 27 second left, cutting the Arlington lead to just 2 points, 49-47. But, Arlington was able to score 3, and a last-second shot by Kathryn Fisken, while good, wasn’t enough and Arlington won 52-49.

The girls would have played at Stanwood on Thursday, but flooding resulted in the closure of Stanwood HS, so the game will be rescheduled to another date, along with the other 3 games missed due to snow. The next scheduled game is this Saturday at OHHS against Monroe.

45 photos from the Freshman, JV and Varsity games can be found HERE.

A few video highlight clips will be posted HERE.

Boys Basketball @ Arlington 1-6-08

In Arlington, the OH boys teams played their second league game of the season.

In the freshman game, Arlington played hard, and was able to build a 20-point lead by the end of the 3rd period. It was barely enough, as the scrappy Wildcat freshmen battled back, but time ran out before they could close the score closer than 6, and lost 49-43. Coach Ronning said that Kevawn Brooks was a force on offense, and Matt Reith provided the 4th period spark with super hustle and a lot of energy on both ends of the court.

The JV team kept it close for most of the 1st half, being down by just 3, 12-9 at the end of the 1st period, and were down only 6 at the half, but Arlington poured it on in the second half and won by more than 20 points.

The first period of the varsity game, according to Coach Ronning, went pretty much as planned. The boys played well, and were down 14-12 at the first buzzer, but in the 2nd period, Arlington started to put pressure on the Wildcats and built a 36-20 halftime lead, scoring 22 to Oak Harbor's 8. Arlington continued playing near-perfect basketball in the 3rd, scoring another 20 while holding the 'Cats to 9. Arlington brought in the subs in the 4th, scoring only 4 points, but it was enough, as the Eagles won 60-35. Mike Washington again was Oak Harbor's top scorer with 12 points while Jay Stout had 7. Phil Nadeau hit for 6, Josh Fikse for 4, Rashaad Smith 3, and Colby Anter, moving up from JV for the game, put in 3 points.

The Boys would have played at home Thursday against Stanwood, but in yet another of a string of weather-related cancellations, the game will not be played, as Stanwood HS is closed for school and in use as a Red Cross shelter due to flooding.

Right now, the next game scheduled is away at Monroe this coming Saturday.

Timeout with... Corey Trimbur

Corey Christian Trimbur is a sophomore on the OHHS wrestling team. He was born at the Oak Harbor Naval Hospital on May 12th, and has lived in Oak Harbor his entire life. He is the son of Gene, who works at a dairy and is a member of the US Army Reserve, and Michelle, who works for Island Disposal. Corey has two brothers, Chad, 18 and Caleb, 21.

Corey is a decent student with mostly “B” grades. His favorite class has been middle school health with Mr. Smith, as he really enjoyed the group setting and Mr. Smith was very helpful.

In addition to wrestling, Corey also plays football in the fall. When asked why he wrestles, Corey said it keeps him fit for football, and he enjoys the challenge. He feels his strength on the mat is his speed, but he wants to improve his skills when he’s the bottom wrestler. His wrestling goal for the year is to be the varsity wrestler at every meet for the rest of the year. Wrestling, unlike other sports, has no set JV or varsity. Any wrestler in a weight class can challenge the current varsity wrestler, and the winner of a wrestle-off wins the varsity position. Wrestling is one of the few sports where you can find a freshman on varsity and a senior on JV in the same weight class.

His most memorable sports moment to date didn’t involve only him. He recalls being in a particularly unusual position and someone got a great picture of it. Outside of sports, he says his most memorable moment came after Corey came home from a Christmas trip to see his father in Kentucky. He says he’ll never forget the expression of happiness on his mother’s face when she saw him.

When he’s not on the mat, Corey likes watches movies (Quarantine is one of his favorites), and sitting in front of the TV (usually Family Guy).

Right now, Corey doesn’t have any post-high school plans, but says if he does land that dream job, his dream place to do it would be Hawaii.

Something you probably didn’t know about Corey: He can flip his eyelids inside out.

20 questions with Corey:

Xbox, Playstation, or Wii – Xbox
McDonald’s or Burger King – BK
Comedy or Horror – Horror
OHMS or NWMS – OHMS
Seahawks or Mariner – Seahawks
Shop class or Art class – Art
iPhone or Blackberry – Blackberry
Coke or Pepsi – Pepsi
House or Lost – Lost
Army or Navy – Navy
Boating or Camping – Camping
Running or Swimming – Swimming
Ford, Honda, or VW – Honda
MAC or PC/Windows – PC
Jumbo Buffet or Happy Dragon – Happy Dragon
Math or Science – Science
Walmart or Kmart – Walmart
Cats or Dogs – Dogs
Red or Blue – Red
NY or LA – NY

JV tournament results from Saturday, Jan 9th.

On Saturday, January 3rd, the JV wrestling team went to Arlington HS for a double-elimination tournament, and results are in.
Tina Alter, coming off an injury, beat the other two girls in the tournament, one in a higher weight class to take home 1st place. She pinned the first girl in 3:30, the won a close 6-5 match for the championship.
Alec Castillo pinned Winston of Monroe in 2:42 then beat Bates of Squalicum 9-5 and Evans of Cascade by pin in 1:57 to go undefeated.
Gabe Dye pinned his first two opponents, Dorscher of Meadowdale in 1:42 and White of Mariner in 1:50. There was some controversy in the final match when Gabe got pinned in just 8 seconds, but the referee’s ruling stood.
Nick Farrell won his first match, against Mariner’s Regcondia by pin in 2:18, but lost his 2nd match by pin to Carlin of O’Dea. He recovered and won his final match, tech falling Pedroza of Stanwood 15-0.
Collin Higinbotham was also a 3-match winner. He started by defeating O’Dea’s Carlin by pin. He then had two quick matches, pinning Candia of Stanwood in 1:18, and Kovich in 1:16.
Tucker Lundstrom lost his first match to Jess of Everett 6-2, then beat Palumbo 9-2 before falling to Auburn’s Burger 9-5.
Josh McVey was a two-match winner, beating Scalante of Everett in the 1st round by a 6-3 score, lost to Hernandez of Auburn, then won 4-1 over White of Mariner.
Josh Schrum lost his first by pin, then won a close 6-5 match over Perales of Meadowdale then pinned Poldatz of Burlington in 3:53.
Brandon Strickland had a bye in the 1st round, then lost 9-0 in the 2nd but pinned his final opponent in 2:23.
Brandon’s younger brother, Jaron lost his first and pinned Lubug of Lynnwood in 3:54 in the final match. There is no score in the scorebook for his 2nd round match.
Finally, Jesse Tucker (JT) is only in the scorebook once, wrestling Winnie of Monroe, pinning him in an unrecorded time.
2 OH wrestlers went winless in the tournament.
The wrestling team has a home meet this Wednesday, Jan 7th against a tough Arlington team and another home meet on Friday, Jan 9th against Stanwood. Come on out and show your Wildcat Pride!!!