TAHOMA — New season. Old problem.
The North Kitsap wrestling team kicked off the season last Friday with a dual meet with Tahoma and Kentwood, and while the season started well for a few individual wrestlers, a lack of competitors in the lower weight classes hurt the Vikings, just as it did all of last year.
POULSBO — Larry Maguire, the head coach of the North Kitsap High School wrestling team, is a practical man. He knows what his goal is, and he knows he’ll need four wheels, and engine, and a lot of seats to get there.
Maguire recently said, “I want to take a busload of kids to state. I don’t know how many that’ll be just yet, but I think we have the ability.”
POULSBO — Last year’s North Kitsap boys’ basketball season resembled that of a certain Northwest baseball team: an awe-inspiring regular season, followed by a playoff fizzle.
After winning 15 games in a row last year and going 15-5 overall, the Vikings dropped two straight in the playoffs, losing to Kentwood and Federal Way.
FEDERAL WAY — A short-term solution has become a long-term success for NKHS swimmer Jacklene Salwei.
When Salwei developed rheumatoid arthritis in her right ankle early this swimming season, she was not allowed to swim her usual long-distance events. Salwei, undaunted, trained with coaches Greg Braun and Marilyn Grindrod to master the short events instead.
PASCO — North Kitsap High School was proud to send a pair of cross country runners, Jim Robson and Michael Chuol, to the state competition last weekend in Pasco.
Unfortunately, only one of the runners made it to the starting line.
BETHEL — With North Kitsap now a member of the Narrows League, the Vikings volleyball team was promised more of a taste of competition from across the water this season.
At the West Central District competition this weekend, that taste proved to be a bitter pill.
POULSBO — For the followers of North Kitsap High School girls’ swimming, the fact that sophomore Jacklene Salwei qualified for state is not surprising. What’s surprising is how she got there.
ATLANTA — The questions came to Scott Shipley from across the world.
Shipley, Poulsbo’s own Olympic kayaker, maintains his own web site (scottshipley.com) where he writes about his career and kayaking. As the 2000 Olympics approached, amateur kayakers deluged him with questions: what’s the best way to train? What workouts should I use? How do I progress from a beginning paddler to a speed-oriented racer?
POULSBO — If the Viking volleyball players had a lot on their minds during Thursday’s match with Capital, they didn’t let it show.
POULSBO — Usually cross country runners have to worry about other runners.
But at last week’s district cross country meet in Tumwater, North Kitsap’s Jim Robson, Michael Chuol, and Robyn Embrey had another opponent to keep in mind — the course itself.
POULSBO — Football is usually a male-dominated sport, but a pair of North Kitsap girls, Indika Bray and Sarah McMullen, are breaking the glass end zone.
True, the girls have spent this season playing Pee Wee flag football. It’s not always the most intense brand of football — players inquire about postgame snacks as much as defensive assignments, and one huddle spontaneously broke out into a game of duck-duck-goose.
But you wouldn’t have noticed that had you watched the 7-year-olds, Bray and McMullen, play against East Bremerton last Saturday.
PORT ANGELES — The North Kitsap High School football team is still winless after Friday’s 28-26 loss to Port Angeles.
But, unlike previous losses, this one gave coach Jerry Parrish reason for optimism.
POULSBO — In Thursday’s match between the North and South Kitsap soccer teams, South struck first. Then they held on.
Despite a sharper offensive game from the Vikings in the second half, and one goal that managed its way past the Wolves’ keeper, South Kitsap garnered the one-goal win, 2-1.
KINGSTON — Kingston Junior High may have lost its first football game Thursday afternoon, but the team still has high hopes.
“Our goal was to go undefeated,” head coach Tony Chisholm said after the 26-12 loss to the Fairview Falcons. “Now our goal is to go 6-1.”
Several big plays by the Falcons did in Kingston.
First league volleyball game a loss for NKHS.
Cougars manage 1-0 win over NK.
No matter what the score, homecoming is always a big night in North Kitsap.
“POULSBO – The North Kitsap girls’ basketball team stopped one Cougar Tuesday night, but they couldn’t stop them all. The Vikings went into the game hoping to contain the Cougars 15-PPG scorer, Adria Layne. Coach Dan Weedin even started two of his taller players, Sheena Brundage and Shennell Harris, to try to neutralize the Cougars’ tall front line, which includes the 5’11 Layne. “
“POULSBO – Bobby Thompson, a ninth-grader on the Poulsbo Junior High wrestling team, knows what he needs to work on. Thompson, a third-year wrestler who will play a big part on the team this year, was asked what he needed to work on to become a better wrestler. Staying off my back, Thompson said, laughing. Actually Thompson, at the 175-lb. weight class, has been working to do just that. Along with the rest of the team, Thompson has been working on his conditioning for weeks, doing pushups, situps, and working on his moves. “
“POULSBO – Five North Kitsap wrestlers will travel to regionals this weekend, with two more on tap as alternatives. The wrestlers competed in a tournament in Puyallup last weekend to earn their spots. The regional competition will be held in Vancouver, and those wreslters who do well enough to go to state will take part in the Mat Classic in Tacoma. “
