[14] www.federalwaymirror.comApril 24, 2010

SPORTS

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ay Federal Way lands ‘12 Olympic Diving Trials

Stanford University’s Tommy Fraychineaud, a Beamer grad, competes at the Pac-10 Diving Championships at the King County Aquatic Center earlier this year. The facility has hosted numerous national and international events and will host the 2012 US Olympic Diving Trials file PhOTO

King County Aquatics Center will host event for the first time since 2000, organizers expect trials to bring millions into the cityBy CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The road to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London will go through Federal Way.

The Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center was of-ficially selected Tuesday to host the 2012 United States Olympic Diving Trials.

The Trials will be held June 18-24, 2012. More than 100 of the nation’s best divers are expected to vie for spots on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. The Trials will include men’s and women’s individual events in 3- and 10-meter competi-tions, plus men’s and women’s synchronized events at both heights.

Federal Way, which also hosted the diving trials in 2000, was selected by USA Diving, in conjunction with the United States Olympic Committee, over Indianapolis.

“This is great news for Fed-eral Way and the entire Seattle metro area,” Gov. Chris Gre-goire said. “It means increased tourism for our region. It puts a spotlight on our corner of the world. And, after the state being such a great partner with the Vancouver Olympics, we’ll be

part of the success of the 2012 London games as well.”

The King County Aquatic Center is no stranger to host-ing national and international events.

It was constructed to host the swimming and diving portions of the 1990 Goodwill Games and has since been the home to more than 50 competitions annually.

According to a 2003 article in the Mirror, the 2000 trials infused the local economy with an estimated $2 million in hotel reservations, meals, shopping and entertainment for the hun-dreds of divers, family mem-bers, coaches, staff and media representation who attended.

“You couldn’t find a com-munity that would offer a warmer welcome to the athletes, their supporters and fans.” said Federal Way Mayor Linda Kochmar.

USA Diving will partner with the Seattle Sports Commission, the City of Federal Way and King County Parks and Recre-ation to host the event.

“It was a difficult decision,” said Debbie Hesse, President and CEO of USA Diving. “We’re delighted to come back to Seattle, and we look forward

Beamer sophomore Emma Blauser throws a pitch during Tuesday’s victory over the Decatur Gators. The Titans sit 7-3 in the SPSl South Division. CASey OlSOn, The Mirror

Wrap up: Beamer softball bolts past Gators in SouthBy CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The Todd Beamer softball team remained firmly entrenched in third place in the South Puget Sound League South Division with a 6-3

win over cross-district rival Decatur Tuesday.

The Titans (9-4 overall, 7-3 SPSL South) tallied two huge insurance runs

in the top of the sev-enth inning to turn a 4-3

lead into a 6-3 win. Beamer seniors Sarah Petosa and

Taylor Winton again led the Titans’ offense. The speedy Petosa, who is headed to Seattle University in the fall, finished 3 for 4 and Winton, a Marshall commit, knocked in two big runs with a double in the top of the fifth.

Sophomore Emma Blauser picked up the win on the mound for Beam-

er. Blauser allowed two earned runs in seven innings of work. Shelley Van Wagner took the loss for Deca-tur (3-11 overall, 2-8 SPSL South).

• Thomas Jefferson bounced back after a tough loss to first-place Ta-homa to shut out Federal Way, 11-0, Tuesday afternoon.

The Raiders (10-3 overall, 8-2 SPSL North) racked up 15 hits against the Eagles (3-9 overall, 2-8 SPSL North), including five from Allie Crowe. Crowe finished 5 for 5 with four RBIs. Alyssa Keyes threw the complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out four.

Christi Bruin, Hannah Kiyohara, Alex Rodriguez and Reno Whitcomb all had two hits apiece for the Raid-ers.

TennisThe Thomas Jefferson Raid-

ers remained in first place in the South Puget sound League Central

PreP SPOrTSwrAP

[ more WrAp Up page 15 ]

[ more DiviNG page17 ]

The state’s most popular fishing season opens April 24, when hundreds of thousands

of anglers will head to lakes and ponds stocked with millions of trout by the

washington Department of fish and wildlife (wDfw).

Although many lakes are open year round, the last Saturday in April marks the traditional

start of the lowland-lakes fishing season, which extends

through October.with lakes in every county of

the state well stocked, anglers can keep travel costs down by enjoying good fishing close to home, said wDfw inland fish

Program Manager Jim Uehara. he reports that more than 20.5

million trout will be stocked in lakes and streams for this

year’s fishery, including those planted in waters that opened earlier this spring or are open

year-round.A washington freshwater

fishing license, valid April 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011,

costs $26 for resident adults (16-69 years old). fifteen-

year-olds and persons with disabilities can buy a license

for $11, and seniors (70 years and older) can buy an annual

fishing license for $8. Children 14 years and younger do not

need a fishing license.A new two-pole endorsement

— which allows anglers to fish with two rods in most

lakes — costs an additional $24.50 for adults and $6.50 for

seniors.All licenses can be purchased

on the internet (fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov), by telephone (1-866-

246-9453), or at hundreds of license dealers across the state

(listed on the wDfw web site at wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/

vendors).

lowland lake fishing opens Today around

washingTon sTaTe

[17]www.federalwaymirror.com April 24, 2010

to a great partnership with the community, fans and sponsors. This could be one of the most exciting and competitive Trials we’ve had, given the current depth and recent success of our athletes.”

“We are excited about our strong partner-ship with Seattle Sports Commission and Federal Way,” said King County Executive Dow Constan-tine. “This gives us the opportunity to provide a world-class facility for the best divers in the country to compete for a spot representing our country in the Olympics. We’re honored.”

NBC owns broadcast rights for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials giving this event and the Puget Sound region national media exposure.

“As a region, we are thrilled to participate in the Olympic movement as our athletes prepare for London,” said Ralph Morton, Executive Director for the Seattle Sports Commission.

[diving from page 14] the win. The Eagles outhit the Falcons, 12-7, and got two hits and two RBIs from Terin Beck and Brett Evans. One of Evans’ hits was a home run.

But it was Nick Tanielu who had a monster game for Fed-eral Way. The junior shortstop finished 4 for 5 with a double, triple, three runs and two RBIs. He also picked up the victory on the mound, throwing the seventh inning.

Tuesday it was all about the bottom of the sixth inning for both teams. The Raiders (7-5 SPSL North) rolled out to a commanding 6-2 lead, after scoring two runs in the first and fifth innings and single runs in the second and fourth.

But the powerful Eagle of-fense exploded for seven runs in the sixth after TJ’s University of Washington-bound right-hander Jeff Brigham was pulled after five innings of work.

Federal Way’s Elliot Morris finished 3 for 3 with two RBIs and a run and Austin Webber was 2 for 4 with three RBIs and a run. TJ Horsfall threw the first four innings, followed by Webber, who picked up the win.

Harold Adams and Mitch McQueen both homered for the

Raiders and both finished with two RBIs each. Eric Lindenauer took the loss on the mound.

• The top-ranked Puyallup Vikings handed Beamer its fifth loss in a row Wednesday, 14-1, in five innings. The Vikings racked up 16 hits against Titan pitching.

Beamer’s lone run came on a solo homer by Jeff Apigo. The Titans had only two hits.

• The Decatur Gators (3-12 overall, 3-9 SPSL South) handled Beamer Tuesday, 7-2. The Gators’ got a big offensive game from Gavin Cuddie, who finished 3 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. Ofero Taitano ended up 2 for 4 with two runs and a double. Zach Jacobs picked up the win on the mound.

Beamer’s Richard Apigo and Travis Crumb both finished with a pair of hits for the Titans (6-10 overall, 4-9 SPSL South).

• Jefferson got some solid pitching and timely hitting Monday night during a 3-2, extra-inning win over the Kent-lake Falcons.

The Raiders scored a single run in the top of the eighth inning and Brigham held Kent-lake scoreless in the bottom of the inning to give TJ the win.

In the top of the eighth,

Brigham led off the inning by getting on base on a muffed popup by Kentlake’s second baseman. Adams followed with a bloop-single to left to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Kentlake (8-5 overall, 5-5 SPSL North) responded with a double play, leaving Brigham at third with two outs. But Brett Fitzgerald came up huge, lining a double down the left-field line to drive in the go-ahead run.

Kentlake took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it could have been more. The Raiders converted a perfect outfield relay to throw out a Kentlake baserunner at the plate.

Jefferson then responded with two runs of their own in the top of the sixth to tie the game. Brigham drove in Travis Quakenbush with a double and Oakley Murphy followed with an RBI single up the middle.

Lindenauer pitched two in-nings of shutout relief and got the win for the Raiders. Austin Campbell threw the first five innings for TJ, allowing the two runs.

Doug Christie, Kentlake’s hard throwing righty went 7-plus innings and took the loss.

[ wrap up from page 14 ]

By CaSEy OLSOn

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The Twin Lakes Penguin summer swim team is hosting a sign-up from 9 to 11:30 a.m. on May 15 at the Twin Lakes Country Club.

The swim team is available to swim-mers up to 18 years old who carry a Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club membership. Swimmers must be able to swim the length of the pool (25 yards) for safety reasons.

The cost is $90 for the first child and $35 for each additional child with a cap of $160. Practice begins on June 1.

For more information, email Shannon at churchpunks@comcast.net for more information.

• The Federal Way High School dance team will be hosting a dance showcase at 6 p.m. inside the school’s gymnasium on May 14. The showcase will also feature guest dancers and costs $5.

For additional information, contact Pat Adkins at (253) 945-5519 or padkins@fwps.org.

Send Sports Briefs to sports@fedwaymir-ror.com

Sports Briefs: Twin Lakes penguins signing up swimmers for summer program

[12] www.federalwaymirror.comOctober 30, 2010

SPORTS

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ay Esekielu running, throwing into SPSL history

Todd Beamer senior quarterback T.J. Esekielu has led the Titans into the postseason for the first time in the school’s history thanks to both his running and throwing. Beamer will play the Greater St. Helen’s League champion Friday night in Vancouver. caSey oLSon, The Mirror

Playoff-bound Beamer QB looking to be first to throw and run for 1,000 yards in a season

By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The Todd Beamer Titans were chasing history last week against the Puyallup Vikings and not having much luck catching it.

A win over Puyallup meant the Titans’ foot-ball program would earn its first-ever postseason appearance, while a loss essentially meant Beamer would be “playing out the string” once again.

And things were pointed squarely toward the Titans missing the playoffs one more time after Puyallup had rolled out to a 17-6 lead entering the fourth quarter on the turf at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

But that’s when Beamer’s senior, do-everything quarterback T.J. Esekielu did what he’s been doing all year long. Esekielu basi-cally put the Titans on his back and carried them to 22 fourth-quarter points and into the playoffs for the first time in school history.

“He’s super tough and super competitive,” second-year Beamer head coach David Sundheim said. “He just wants to be good at everything.”

Esekielu finished the Puyallup game with 358 to-tal yards and accounted for three touchdowns. He had 159 yards and two touch-downs on 25 carries and was also 12 for 18 through the air for 199 yards with a touchdown pass.

“That’s the big thing for us. He can throw and run,” Sundheim said. “That gives us an extra man in stuff we do, if that makes sense? It’s really an X’s and O’s deal.”

The 6-foot, 185-pound-er’s versatility is a huge reason why the Titans (4-3 SPSL, 4-4 overall) will be taking on the champion of the Greater St. Helen’s League (Union or Skyview) in the preliminary round of the Class 4A playoffs Friday night in Vancouver. The winner advances into the 16-team state playoffs.

“Our goal was to go to the playoffs this year and

then continue on to state,” Esekielu said.

The senior has quietly put together a historic season in the South Puget Sound League. Through Beamer’s first eight games, he has ac-cumulated an eye-popping 2,353 yards of total offense and is vying to become the first player in the history of the SPSL to throw for over 1,000 yards and rush for over 1,000 in a year.

Entering the Titans’ final regular season game, Esekielu has thrown for 983 yards and nine touchdowns and rushed for 1,370 yards

[ more ESEkiELu page 13 ]

By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The Todd Beamer Titans girls soccer team clinched the South Puget Sound League South Division championship

with a 10-0 thrashing of Spanaway Lake Tuesday at Federal Way Memorial Sta-dium.

The victory moved the 10th-ranked Titans to 10-0-6 in the SPSL South and with 36 points. Curtis (10-2-3) could have also garnered 36 points with a win Thursday (after press time) in its SPSL South finale against Spanaway Lake. But the Titans beat the Vikings, 3-0, on Sept. 7 and played to a 0-0 tie in their other meeting, Oct. 5.

Next up for Beamer is a matchup

against Tahoma at 8 p.m. at Federal Way Memorial Stadium Wednesday for the SPSL championship. Tahoma cruised to

the SPSL North title with a flawless 15-0-0 record. The Beamer-Taho-

ma winner will earn the league’s top seed to the West Central District Tournament.

Against Spanaway Lake, the Titans picked up a hat trick from

Breanna Straus, which gave her a team-leading 19 goals on the season. Beamer also got two goals from Tiarra

katya Bixenman

Jenny Hoefel

Beamer girls snag SPSL South soccer titleTitans will face Tahoma in SPSL championship game Wednesday in Federal Way after 10-0-6 regular season

[ more wrAP uP page 13 ]

PreP SPorTSWraP

The Federal Way SLaM! finished with a 5-0 record

recently at the USSSa 14-under Fall State Fastpitch

championship hosted in Federal Way.

The girls got off to a great start with a 6-1 victory over the cobras. next up for the

SLaM! was the South county X-plosion. Dana Jennings and

Maddie rogers combined for a no-hitter as the SLaM! prevailed 15-0. In the third

game of bracket play, the SLaM! beat the Diamond

Dusters Black, 1-0, in a battle between two great pitchers.

courtney Schwan went the distance in the shutout.

The SLaM! beat the Snohomish Shock, 3-2, on

Sunday in seven innings and then matched up with

the Shock again in the championship, where the

SLaM! prevailed 10-1. For the weekend, the SLaM!

pitching staff allowed four runs over five games and

struck out 35 batters. Both Jennings and Faith oiph hit home runs and rogers hit a

pair of triples. The team includes Maddie

rogers, analee Scott, Tris Vanderman, angela Leingang,

Breanna richardson, nicole Jacobson, Faith oiph, Mallori

Joyner, courtney Schwan, McKenzie Schwan, Kylie White

Leanna Tartaglia and Dana Jennings.

federal way slam! wins state 14u

fastpitch title

Sports contact: casey Olsoncolson@federalwaymirror.com

or (253) 925-5565

[13]www.federalwaymirror.com October 30, 2010

and 12 TDs. Beamer took on the second-ranked Curtis Vikings Thursday night in their SPSL finale in University Place (after press time).

Lakes quarterback Drew Miller holds the SPSL record for total offense in a single season. Miller, who went on to play quarterback at BYU and Montana, compiled an astounding 3,309 yards dur-ing the 1995 season. But that number in-cluded 3,366 yards passing and minus-57 yards on the ground.

Esekielu won’t get to Miller’s single sea-son record, but there was a chance that he

could have moved into second place on the all-time list dur-ing Thursday’s game. Esekielu needed 247 yards of offense to pass former Rogers quarterback Jason Johnson’s total of 2,611 from 1996. He entered the game averaging 296 total yards a game.

Esekielu’s best game of the season actu-ally came during an Oct. 8 loss to Federal Way. He totaled 478 yards of offense, in-cluding an SPSL record 392 yards rushing on 27 carries. He also had two TD runs and a pair of touchdown throws during the 40-35 loss to the Eagles.

Even more amazing is the fact that this is Esekielu’s first full season as a starting quarterback because last year was pretty much a throw-away on the football field.

After attending Decatur his freshman and sophomore seasons, Esekielu eventu-ally transferred to Beamer during the early part of last school year.

“I kind of got in trouble,” Esekielu said. “Just stuff that a kid does. But Beamer

gave me a new start. It’s been pretty good. I like the environment. Everyone is nice and respectful and keeps me out of trouble.”

After leaving Decatur, he wasn’t even eligible to play for the Titans until the fifth game of the season in 2009. Sund-heim mostly used him as a running back on the offensive side of the ball and a safety on defense.

“Had he been there from the beginning and I knew what he could do, I’m pretty sure he would have been playing quarter-back,” Sundheim said. “But after com-ing in the fifth game, it wasn’t the right thing to do. But ever since he’s been here, he hasn’t been in trouble one time. His teachers love him. It’s pretty impressive and he’s matured a lot.”

During his junior season at Beamer, Esekielu rushed for 356 yards on just 60 carries for an average of nearly six yards an attempt. He had a pair of 100-yard games against Emerald Ridge (119) and Rogers (118). Esekielu also completed 9 of 20 pass attempts for 196 yards and two touchdowns in relief of starting quarter-back Ben Draeger.

“Even when I was playing running back, I always wanted to play quarter-back,” Esekielu said.

But quarterback is just one of many po-sitions Esekielu could play on a football team. The Beamer senior is the definition of a complete football player.

“He can do anything on a field,” Sund-heim said. “He’s our best wide receiver. He goes against our defense and makes our (defensive backs) look silly. He catches everything.”

Esekielu is also one of the Titans best defensive players. He is listed a safety, but he actually lines up all over the field, in-cluding on the defensive line. Sundheim describes him as the team’s best “cover

guy” and also as Beamer’s top pass rusher. “He would play a lot more defense, but

we don’t want him to get hurt,” he said. “He comes to work everyday. He works super hard and never complains.”

College football is something that is in Esekielu’s future plans. He just doesn’t know where yet. Because of his past, recruiters don’t have much game film to evaluate.

“I just like everything about football,” Esekielu said. “I like the contact and foot-ball gives me something to do after school to keep me out of trouble.”

Fentress and Jasmine Brilliante and single goals from Jenny Hoefel, Avery Salisbury and Katya Bixenman. Goalkeeper Megan Graf picked up her 11th shutout of the season.

The Thomas Jefferson Raiders will join Beamer in the SPSL playoffs. The Raiders will be either the fourth or fifth seed from the North Division, depending on results from Thursday’s games (after press time).

Jefferson (6-6-3) lost to the North-cham-pion Tahoma Bears Tuesday, 2-1, despite getting another goal from Lindsey Dahl. The TJ junior leads the Raiders with 20 goals.

Decatur (6-3-0) downed the Lakes Lanc-ers Tuesday, 5-1, to remain in second place in the SPSL 3A Division with one match remaining in the regular season.

The Gators got goals from Abby McFaul, Victoria Braun, Allison Lewis, Hannah Her-bert and Sierra Shugarts.

VolleyballThe Todd Beamer Titans ended their

season Tuesday with a three-game sweep of Federal Way, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19. The vic-tory was the first SPSL win of the year for the Titans (1-7, 6-9).

Beamer got 29 assists from Sophie Miller, eight kills and 10 digs from Lexie Jones, seven kills, five blocks and three aces from Megan Stumpf and five kills and 13 digs from Sam Williams.

Mount Rainier swept Jefferson (0-8, 1-11) Tuesday in the Raiders’ last match of the season, 25-17, 25-15, 27-25. Megan Levesque led TJ with nine kills and Allie Crowe chipped in 18 assists.

The Decatur Gators (1-9, 2-13) finished off their year with a loss to Auburn Mountain-view Tuesday, 25-18, 25-18, 25-15. The Ga-tors got five kills and three aces from Alishia Wilson and 12 digs each from Christina Sessoms and Rhoni Radcliffe.

[ wrap up from page 12 ] [ esekielu from page 12 ]

“He can do anything on a field. He’s our best wide receiver. He goes against our defense and makes our (defensive backs) look silly. He catches everything.” David sundheim

Beamer’s TJ esekielu needed 247 yards Thursday against Curtis to move into second place on the all-time SPSL total offense list. He entered the game averaging 296. CaSey oLSon, The Mirror

[10] www.federalwaymirror.comNovember 3, 2010

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Thomas Jefferson High School graduate Kenny Mayne is currently in the midst of his fifth season of the Internet series, ‘Mayne Street,’ and also continues to produce off-beat pieces for ESPN’s ‘Sunday NFL Countdown.’ Photo CourtESy ESPN

By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

Kenny Mayne spent two days last week talking with two of the biggest names in sports and entertainment.

The current ESPN personality and Thomas Jefferson High School grad was in Los Angeles on Thursday, tap-ing an interview with teenage heart-throb Justin Bieber before jetting across the country the next day to converse with “The Ultimate Male” Tom Brady.

But Mayne wasn’t discussing Bieber’s upcoming performance on the American Music Awards or his 5.9-million Twitter followers. He also wasn’t talking about the Patriots opening the season with a 6-1 record with Brady.

Mayne was jet-setting from coast to coast to discuss Bieber’s and Brady’s hair styles. In his newest recording, “Speaking in Tongues,” the teen idol calls out Brady’s new Bieber-esque hairdo.

But that’s just another week in the life of Mayne. The 1977 TJ grad has developed into the resident class clown at ESPN.

“I’m really like a salesman with this stuff,” Mayne said about his NFL pieces. “It seems like half my job is trying to talk people into doing this stuff. You just have to hope these people are into our pitch.”

The Bieber-Brady piece is slated to air Sunday morning on the “Sunday NFL Countdown” pregame show, which runs from 8 to 10 a.m. Mayne has been doing the weekly segment that includes offbeat feature stories, titled “The Mayne Event,” for nearly a decade.

That work he has been doing on

1977 tJ grad is midway through his fifth season on Internet-based series, which airs on ESPN.com

“Countdown” turned into the origi-nal scripted Internet series, “Mayne Street,” which has been running since 2008. Mayne plays himself in a fic-tionalized version of life at the center of sports television in the Emmy-nominated series.

This year’s season of “Mayne Street” is a little different than the first four, according to Mayne. This

season features one big story spread out over six episodes, which premiere every Wednesday on ESPN.com through mid-November.

During the first three shows, Mayne has met his new ESPN boss, Jack Bagg, who gets fed up and sends Kenny to a new assignment cover-ing Minor League baseball for the

[ more MAyNE page 12 ]

X-country: TJ, Eagles headed to state meet

Cratsenberg, Kim snag a pair of district swim titles

By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

Amber Cratsenberg and Rachel Kim proved to be the class of the West Central District Swim-ming and Diving Championships.

Cratsenberg, a Thomas Jefferson junior, and Kim, a Beamer senior, both won a pair of individual district swimming titles Saturday at the Rogers High School pool. The twosome now hopes to continue their dominance at the Class 4A State Girls Swimming Championships Nov. 12-13 at the King County Aquatic Center in

Federal Way. Cratsenberg, the defending state champion

in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, won the same events Saturday at Rogers. Cratsenberg finished first in a stacked 50-free field by out-touching Kentridge’s Em-ily Mohr, Federal Way’s Kaia Barth and Kentlake’s Taylor Bouffard. The four racers were separated by only one second at the wall. Cratsenberg won in a time of 24.17.

The TJ junior also won a tight 100-free Saturday. Cratsenberg finished in a time of 52.51, followed by Kent-Meridian’s Jo-anna Wu just .31 seconds behind. Barth finished fourth in 54.42.

Kim, who swam state-qualifying times in all eight individual events during the regular sea-

son, finished first in both the 200-yard individu-al medley (2:09.03) and 100 backstroke (58.16). Kim won the individual medley by nearly four

seconds. But Cratsenberg and Kim

weren’t the only Federal Way School District athletes to snare an individual district champi-onship Saturday at Rogers. Jef-ferson’s Madi Kellar led a very strong contingent of divers at the West Central District Meet.

Kellar won the title with an impressive 355.30 points

and was followed by Beamer’s Elizabeth Wiley (328.15), and Jefferson sisters Shelby Church (298.85) and Monica Church (287.55).

Federal Way High School picked up the win in the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:41.36. The

Amber Cratsenberg Rachel Kim

Jefferson finishes behind Mount rainier; Kellar wins diving and Eagles take 200-free relay

[ more SwiM page 11 ]

By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The Thomas Jefferson Raiders girls cross country team is heading over the mountains once again. The Raiders finished in fourth place in the team standings Saturday at the Westside Classic 4A district meet at American Lake Vet-erans Golf Course to earn an automatic berth to the state championships, which will be held Saturday in the Tri-Cities.

It will be the Jefferson team’s ninth trip to the state meet in the past 10 years. The Raider girls’ streak of eight straight was cut short last year.

The 2010 edition of Jefferson was led by Leah Kiyohara. The junior finished 10th overall over the 5,000-meter course in Lakewood in a time of 19:11.9. Skyview’s Priscilla Timmons won the race in 18:24.5.

Kiyohara will also be joined at state by team-mates Brianna Calveri (21st place), junior Amanda Ditzhazy (36th), Lindsey Jackson (38th) and Vanessa

Meron Simon

[ more XCOuNTRy page 11 ]

By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

For the first time since 1997, the Thomas Jefferson Raiders beat their cross-district rivals on the football field at

Federal Way Memo-rial Sta-dium.

The Raiders got a 13-yard touch-down

run from quarterback K.W. Williams late in the fourth quarter Friday night to cap a 31-28 win over the Eagles. Jefferson safety Dylan Cooper intercepted a Federal Way pass to wrap up the game for TJ.

The game-winning touchdown came with 1:40 left in the game and ended a huge perfor-mance from Williams. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior finished with 289 yards of total offense and four total touchdowns.

The win improved the Raiders to 3-6 overall on the season and they will take on Spanaway Lake Thursday night at Art Crate Stadium in Spanaway in an SPSL crossover game. The loss dropped Federal Way

TJ downs Fway for first time since ‘97

[ more FOOTBALL page 11 ]

Kw williams

[12] www.federalwaymirror.comNovember 3, 2010

network. Bagg pulled the plug and faded to black during a story Mayne produced about Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gal-lop’s new life as a thorough-bred “stud.”

“The closest thing to having a real boss take me to black was when I was fired in high school from a produce stand,” Mayne said. “The manager said I wasn’t gentle enough with the fruit. As it turns out, the day I was fired I won $200 at Longacres race track, which softened the blow.”

Although Mayne looks pretty natural in front of a camera, acting doesn’t come as easy as reporting sports highlights.

“The closest thing I did to acting at TJ was in debate or speech classes,” Mayne said. “But it’s really not that hard to play yourself. What I’ve figured out is it’s not too hard to deliver your lines. The hard part is what you do while you don’t talk.”

Before hitting the big-time at ESPN, Mayne was just like any other kid growing up in South King County. He frequented Jack in the Box and Herfy’s in Federal Way and enjoyed “cruising” at the newly-constructed SeaTac Mall.

“When that place opened, I was probably in

junior high,” Mayne said. “That was the big shiny thing. We would go down there a lot. We would also go to Redondo and hang out.”

While at TJ, Mayne was known more as the Raiders’ quarterback than anything else and losing to Federal Way High School, which featured one of his best friends, Darryl Bell.

“We would meet at IHOP by SeaTac Mall every Sat-urday morning and review our games from the night before,” Mayne said. “We thought we were pro play-ers or something when we were meeting at the time.”

But Mayne’s Jefferson football team was never able to beat Federal Way during his tenure at TJ.

“They kind of overpow-ered us,” he said. “It was probably my fault. But when I think back on high school football, it was a great time. We had some success. We were good, not great. For some reason, I always look back to games were I didn’t succeed and think if I knew then what I know now.”

Mayne also remembers playing at Federal Way Memorial Stadium, which had just been fitted with Astro-Turf.

“It was like playing at (Cowboys Stadium in Dal-las) back then,” Mayne said.

“It was state of the art with the turf and covered seats on both sides. It was a blast. I’m really happy that I got to play with those guys.”

Following high school, Mayne took his talents to Wenatchee Valley Com-munity College. While in Wenatchee, Mayne was named an honorable men-tion junior college All-American in 1978 before moving on to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. After graduating from UNLV in 1982, he signed a free agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks. They eventually cut him.

Mayne’s journey into the television business started after he graduated from UNLV. He began at KLVX-TV (a PBS affiliate) in Las Vegas before moving back to the Seattle-area to be-come a production assistant at KSTW-TV (Channel 11).

It wasn’t until 1986 that Mayne finally got the op-portunity to get in front of the camera. He started working as the weekend sports anchor at KSTW, which lasted three years. Mayne remained at KSTW until 1989.

During that time, Mayne worked several odd jobs, but never stopped pursu-ing his dream of working at ESPN.

ESPN brought Mayne on to the fledgling ESPN2 net-

work where he hosted RP-M2Night, a show for auto racing devotees, although

he didn’t know much about NASCAR and hadn’t ever been to a race. Mayne paid

his dues on ESPN2 before being promoted to hosting Sportscenter on ESPN.

[ mayne from page 10 ]

[10] www.federalwaymirror.comSeptember 25, 2010

SPORTS

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By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

Corey Obungen had just accomplished what every teenager dreams about.

The 2008 Todd Beamer High School graduate had recently finished his first year at the Univer-sity of Puget Sound and just moved out of his parents’ Federal Way house. Obungen was also preparing for his second season on the Logger football team.

The undersized, 5-foot-6, 150-pound defen-sive back played in five games his freshman year, totaling three tackles.

Everything seemed to be rolling right along for Obungen, who snared 11 out of a possible 12 letters while at Beamer.

But that newly-acquired independence didn’t last too long.

“I had just moved into a house in Tacoma,” he said with a laugh. “I stole all my parents’ food and was on my own. I was very, very excited. Then I left for Hawaii.”

It was that trip to the island paradise that would change Obungen’s life forever. Just two days after arriving on Oahu and watching his cousin’s graduation, Obungen went to Lanikai Beach with a couple of buddies from the Univer-sity of Puget Sound football team.

“I just went there to hang out with friends from UPS,” Obungen said. “We went to the

beach. We were having a good time, doing nothing out of the ordinary.”

Obungen then did something he had done a hundred times before. He ran into the surf and dove into the ocean. But this dive wasn’t like all the other ones. Obungen, a Hawaiian native, didn’t pop out of the water.

“I hit the bottom kind of awkwardly,” he said.

“The bottom looked deeper than it was.”During the dive, Obungen’s head landed

perfectly on the bottom of the ocean and the fall broke his neck, shattering his C-5 vertebra and basically severing his spinal cord. The injuries left Obungen without any movement in his legs and very limited movement in his upper body. He now faced the likely possibility of never being able to walk again.

“When I went down, I felt a big shock,” he said. “I couldn’t flail my arms and I was just hoping that somebody would pull me up. I knew right away that I broke my neck. Luck-ily, the guys on the team pulled me up before I drowned.

“It was weird because the day before I was jumping off cliffs at a different beach. I was jumping off the rocks from 20 feet up.”

In the three and a half months since the life-changing injury, Obungen has made some progress. Immediately following the accident, he was forced to stay in a Hawaiian hospital for three weeks until doctors deemed him healthy enough to fly back to Seattle.

“I flew on a commercial flight in first class,” Obungen said. “I was in a neck brace and could hardly move my arms. I came to the airport on a

stretcher. It was pretty intense, but I made it.”After landing at SeaTac, Obungen was taken

directly to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where he spent the next five weeks in rehab doing adaptive therapy for his injuries, which required the fusing of a massive metal cage over four vertebras in his spine. The surgery, which also included having a cadaver bone inserted to replace his shattered vertebra, was necessary to stabilize his neck.

“It’s actually pretty crazy when you think about it,” he said.

Obungen was initially bound to a power wheelchair, “which is some-thing you never want to be in,” he said. He didn’t have any flection in his wrists and could barely lift his arms. After two months of therapy, doctors moved Obun-gen to a manual wheelchair. He can now flex his wrist and thumbs, and has movement in his shoulders, biceps and triceps.

“Things are coming,” Obun-gen said. “The one thing I didn’t like was that doctors don’t tell you much and they are kind of negative. But they will tell me that every spinal cord injury is different. My goal is to walk again. Crazier things have happened.”

Doctors aren’t making any promises, in terms of Obungen’s ability to walk or being totally independent in the future. But just being alive is enough to keep him moving forward.

“I’m just lucky to be alive. That’s what keeps me going.”

But that wasn’t always the case. Immediately following the accident, there were days that

Obungen wondered how he would make it through.

“Being in the hospital and seeing myself in the mirror for the first time was tough,” he said. “I went from being really fit to having no function below my waist. I went from being completely independent to fully dependent. That kills you. Every now and then I still have some dark days. But then I think, ‘I’m still young and I could have died.’ I allow myself only to be mad for 10 minutes or so.”

Obungen wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill athlete during his time at Beamer. He was selected as an

All-City defensive back during his senior football sea-son after intercept-ing four passes for the Titans. He was also named first-team, All-South Puget Sound League South Division by the league’s coaches.

But football wasn’t the only sport he excelled at. Obungen was a rare three-sport athlete. Obungen was a district qualifier as a long jumper for the Beamer track team

and wrestled at the Mat Classic state wrestling championships as a 130-pound senior.

“I think being an athlete helped me,” Obungen said. “I have that notion of always pushing my-self. I think that gives you an advantage. I think the wrestler mentality sets me apart.”

Obungen has already accomplished one of his goals following the injury. He’s currently enrolled in one class at UPS and on his way to getting his exercise science degree. The school is providing him a note taker.

“The school has taken care of everything and

Obungen: ‘I’m just lucky to be alive’

Beamer graduate Corey Obungen earned 11 letters during his tenure as a Titan, including a trip to the Mat Classic state wrestling tournament. He was a first-team, All-SPSL South defensive back and played as a freshman at UPS. fiLe PHoTo

Beamer grad, UPS football player suffers severed spinal cord injury while diving into the ocean in Hawaii, but vows to walk again

Corey Obungen (right) poses with former Seattle Seahawk Mac Strong and his sister, Codie, at a recent fundraiser. CoUrTeSy PHoTo

“I went from being completely independent to fully dependent. Every now and then I still have some dark days. But then I think, ‘I’m young and I could have died.’ ” Corey Obungen

[ more OBuNgEN page 11 ]

By CASEy OLSON

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The Thomas Jef-ferson Raiders boys tennis team remained unbeaten in the South Puget Sound League Central Division with two more wins Monday and Tuesday.

The Raiders (6-0) beat Auburn Riverside Monday, 4-1, and swept Beamer Tuesday, 5-0. Jefferson didn’t lose a set against Beamer and got singles wins from Brandyn Gomez and Tyler Hamashima.

Against Auburn Riv-erside, TJ got victories from Kainoa Rosa at No. 1 singles and Brandyn Gomez and Alex Lee, Makoa Rosa and Cam-eron Sharpe and Andrey Streltsov and Connor Howard in doubles.

The Decatur Gators swept a pair of SPSL 3A matches this week. The Gators beat Auburn Mountainview Tuesday, 4-1, and Enumclaw Wednesday, 3-2.

Against Enumclaw, the two teams played an astounding four three-set matches with the Ga-tors winning two. De-catur’s wins came from Abishak Murali at No. 1 singles, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, Christian Scognamiglio at No. 2, 6-1, 6-3 and Darrel Delvin and Peter An at No. 1 doubles, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Jefferson boys tennis remains unbeaten with a pair of wins

For a complete recap of all the week’s prep action, see

federalwaymirror.com

[11]www.federalwaymirror.com September 25, 2010

that feels really good,” Obungen said. “Seeing familiar faces on campus is awesome. It felt like I needed to be here.”

Obungen was already planning on the exercise science degree before the accident, but he is even more passionate now about getting into the field.

“Now that I’m injured, there are so many differ-ent kinds of therapy and exercise to help gain func-tion back,” he said. “That is

something I would really like to get into.”

The University of Puget Sound is also hosting “Team Corey Day” during today’s (Sept. 25) home football game against Whittier. Proceeds from the game will be donated to the Corey Obungen Trust to help with medical costs, as well as his potential enroll-ment into Pushing Bound-aries, a Redmond-based facility that offers people with spinal cord injuries a

place to go to become more independent.

“Right now that place is doing amazing things,” Obungen said.

Pushing Boundaries describes itself as a facility that preaches repetition. According to its mission statement, Pushing Bound-aries “combats the inactiv-ity that has traditionally been the ‘norm’ for those living with paralysis. New research shows that the more time a person is out of their chair and engaging in

aggressive, repetitive move-ment, the better the chance a person will have at recov-ering the most function.”

Seattle University’s wom-en’s soccer team has also jumped on board, thanks to Obungen’s old Beamer classmate Jordan Salisbury. Salisbury convinced Seattle U to donate a portion of their ticket sales to Obun-gen’s trust. Salisbury and

the Redhawks play at home at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 26 against Sacramento State.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody. I’m very lucky and very fortunate to have my mom around,” Obungen said about his mother, Shari, who is a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way. “But also everybody in the Federal

Way community, Beamer and Sherwood Forest (Elementary). I just want to say thanks.”

Tax-deductible donations can also be made to the Corey Obungen Supple-mental Needs Trust at any Bank of America Branch or send to Bank of America, Corey Obungen Trust, 2100 SW 336th St., Federal Way, WA 98203.

[ obungen from page 10 ]

[6] www.federalwaymirror.comJanuary 29, 2011

SPORTS

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As a sports reporter at a commu-nity newspaper with an email ad-dress, I get plenty of requests from people to put their information into the paper. And I’m more than happy to publish pretty much everything I receive.

But the one thing that always sets off some alarms in my head is when I get tryout notices for “select” programs for kids as young as 8 years old. And it’s not just one particular sport either. There are “select” teams associated with everything these days.

I’ve never understood this. Why does a 10-year-old need to be play-

ing “select” sports? And “select,” in most cases,

means that every kid who tries out, and is willing to pay the money, makes the team. So, please don’t

believe that since your 10-year-old is “selected” to play on a “select” team, that they automatically have a Division I scholarship in the bag.

It seems like I’m in the minority on this subject. As parents, we have lost sight

of what youth sports are supposed to be about. Youth sports are sup-posed to be about having fun and hanging out with buddies from the neighborhood.

“Select” sports do have their place in today’s youth athletics world. But their place comes in high school, particularly during an athlete’s junior or senior year. And I’m not talking all juniors and seniors who play a particular sport. I’m talking the best of the best, ath-letes who will be playing in college.

I feel confident saying that 99 percent of the professional and even Division-I full-ride college athletes were going to be elite, regardless of whether they played “select” sports in middle school.

Those types of athletes are just born with that “it factor” and are just better at sports than everybody else. They simply run faster, jump

higher, throw farther and compete harder.

Depending on the sport, only a tiny few — 2 to 5 out of 1,000 high school athletes — ever achieve professional status.

Sure, there are great “select” programs for elementary and middle school athletes. They have great coaching staffs that teach kids how to play the game the right way, while focusing on their academics.

But there are also “select” programs out there looking for a money grab from naive parents by making false promises about get-ting their kid a college scholarship.

Here is a promise I can make: If

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Sidelines: Be selective when selecting a ‘select’ team

[ more SidelineS page 7 ]

By CASey OlSOn

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The top-ranked Federal Way Eagles seem to be firing on all cylinders heading into the latter part of the season. The Eagles are still undefeated in the state of Washington after beating Bethel Tuesday night, 77-50.

Federal Way (14-1 overall, 11-0 SPSL South) finished with five play-ers in double figures against the Braves, led by the 18 points of senior guard Brittany Barrington. Sophomore Raven Benton and junior Darah Huer-tas-Vining both finished with 14, Dyesha Belhumeur ended up with 12 and Talia Walton finished with 11 points.

The Eagles outscored Bethel, 27-6, in the first quarter and led 68-33 after the third quarter.

at Beamer 77, Curtis 50 — The Titans continued their impressive season Tuesday with a win over the Vikings in Federal Way. Beamer jumped out to a 14-7 lead after the first quarter and cruised from there.

Meghan Graf led the Titans with 22 points, Shyla Akins finished with 19 and Megan Huff chipped in 16.

Beamer (9-6 overall, 6-5 SPSL South) currently sits in the fifth and final playoff position in the

Top-ranked eagle girls sink BethelWrap up: Beamer stays in South playoff chase

Brittany Barrington

Thomas Jefferson junior Madi Kellar won three individual events during Wednesday’s all-city gymnastics meet at Federal Way High School. Keller finished second in the all-around and Beamer won the four-way meet with 175.2 points. caSey olSon, The Mirror

Titans finish season perfect

By CASey OlSOn

sports@fedwaymirror.com

The Todd Beamer gymnastics team is primed for another run at a Class 4A state championship.

The Titans, who finished second during the 2010 State Gymnastics Meet in Tacoma, scored a season-high 175.2 points to win the four-way all-city meet Wednesday night at Federal Way High School. Beamer’s chief rival in the South Puget Sound League, Thomas Jefferson, finished in second place at the all-city meet, also with a season-best total of 172.9 points.

Decatur edged Federal Way for third place. The Gators finished with 158.25 points, compared to the Eagles’ 157.05.

But the story Wednesday night was the impressive performance by the Titans. The sweep not only gave

Beamer the SPSL regular season championship for the second year in a row, but also its second-straight unbeaten record.

Last year, the Titans (19-0) were perfect during the

Beamer finishes 19-0 for the second year in a row after sweeping all-city meet; Sam West wins all-around title

Beamer junior Sam West tallied a career-high 37.55 points to win the all-around competition Wednesday night.

[ more WrAp up page 7 ][ more gyM page 7 ]

The Federal Way Public Schools will induct its third class into the

district’s athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 1. The class of 2011 will

be honored at halftime of a boys basketball game between

the Decatur Gators and lakes lancers. The game will be

played at Decatur and starts at 7 p.m. The ceremony will be

held to introduce and induct the individuals who had a major

impact on the district’s athletic programs. also, prior to the

game, a reception will be held in the Decatur cafeteria starting

at 5:30 p.m.nominees to the Hall of Fame

are evaluated based on the following criteria: The nominee

has served the district for a minimum of 10 years, has been

retired for at least five years or deceased, and has made a

significant impact on an athletic program in the school district.

DEcatur wILL hoSt DaNcE, DrILL mEEt

Decatur High School will host the fourth annual Decatur

Dance and Drill competition on Feb. 5 inside the school’s gym. The 22-team competition will

feature schools from around the state in several categories,

including kick, pom, show, dance, hip-hop and military. The event will start at 1 p.m.

other Federal Way high schools represented at the event include

Todd Beamer and Federal Way. Decatur will only be performing

exhibition routines.

fEDEraL way haLL of famE cLaSS of 2011

INDuctIoN oN fEb. 1

Sports contact: casey olsoncolson@federalwaymirror.com

or (253) 925-5565

[7]www.federalwaymirror.com January 29, 2011

your kid is good enough at a particular sport to get a scholarship to play in college, they will get one. I guarantee it. If they aren’t good enough, they won’t. Simple as that. And I’m not even going to charge you for that “select” advice.

The “select” phenomenon goes hand-and-hand with another relatively new trend of specializing in one sport as a pre-teen. I don’t know where the misconception started that if you don’t play a sport 12 months a year at 10 years old, you won’t excel later in life.

It’s just not true. In fact, it’s actually more dangerous on a child’s body to play the same sport year-round. This is coming from people a lot smarter than me.

The American Acad-emy of Pediatrics’ Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness noted in a report back in 2000: “Those who participate in a variety of sports and specialize only after reaching the age of puberty tend to be more consistent performers, have fewer injuries, adhere to sports and play longer than

those who specialize early.”In a second report in

2007, the council said over-use injuries, overtraining and burnout among child and adolescent athletes were growing problems. Specifically, roughly half of all injuries in pediatric sports medicine were re-lated to overuse, as opposed to traumas like a collision that leads to a broken arm. Overuse injuries tend to be more serious in young ath-letes than in adults because their growing bones can’t handle as much stress.

The academy recom-mends young athletes limit any one sports activity to a maximum of five days per week, while taking at least one day off from any organized physical activity. It also recommends they take two to three months off per year from a par-ticular sport, giving them time for injuries to heal and the mind to refresh, and to work on strength and conditioning to reduce injury risk.

The goal of youth partici-pation in sports, the council said, “should be to promote lifelong physical activity,

recreation and skills of healthy competition.”

“Unfortunately,” the council went on, “too often the goal is skewed toward adult (parent/coach) goals either implicitly or explic-itly. As more young athletes are becoming profession-als at a younger age, there is more pressure to grab a piece of the ‘professional pie,’ to obtain a college scholarship or to make the Olympic team.”

In his book “Until It Hurts: America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids,” sports journalist Mark Hyman cites statistics that “every year more than 3.5 million children under 15 require medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse.”

In conclusion, don’t believe everything you hear from some coaches and parents around town. Just let your kids enjoy the life lessons and fun that come with playing organized sports. Don’t get caught up in looking to the future before your kid even steps on a high school campus.

SPSL South Division. The Titans won only two games last season, including one in the SPSL South.

Auburn 33, at Jefferson 28 —The Trojans won a low-scoring battle Tuesday night over the Raiders. Auburn outscored Jefferson 18-10 in the second half.

Jefferson (5-10 overall, 5-7 SPSL North) is current-ly tied with Auburn for the fifth and final playoff berth from the SPSL North. Jada Piper led the Raiders with 11 points Tuesday.

Boys BasketBallThe Federal Way Eagles

used an impressive second quarter Tuesday night to get past the Bethel Braves in Graham, 68-58.

After falling behind

11-10 in the first quarter, Federal Way outscored the Braves, 25-6, in the second to take a commanding 35-19 lead into the locker room.

The Eagles were led by 16 points each from senior guards Jerry Duckworth and Deshea Bell.

Jalen Mefi finished with a career-high 11 and freshman Eugene Artison chipped in 10.

The win moved Federal Way to 8-7 overall and 7-4 in the South Puget Sound League South Division, which is good for fourth place behind Rogers, Curtis and Puyallup.

Decatur 92, Bonney Lake 62 — The Gators (12-5 overall, 6-1 SPSL 3A) scored a season-high 92 points during a blowout of

the Bonney Lake Panthers Tuesday on the road.

Decatur’s all-time leading scorer, Jerron Smith, added 35 more points to his total, including 29 in the first half. Austen Wilson fin-ished with 15 and Markus Rawls chipped in 12 for the Gators.

Decatur sits one loss back in the SPSL 3A Division of first-place Lakes, who will come to the Gator Dome Tuesday night in a battle that will, most likely, decide the league championship. The third-ranked Lancers (13-1) handed Decatur its only SPSL 3A loss of the year in Lakewood earlier this month, 96-75.

For complete coverage of all high school events, see fedwaymirror.com

SPSL South season before winning the West Central District team champion-ship and finishing as the runner-up behind Wood-inville at state.

Beamer (18-1) junior Sam West was the indi-vidual star of the four-way meet, winning the all-around title with a career-best 37.55 points. West narrowly edged Jefferson junior Madi Kellar, who finished just one-tenth of a point behind West with 37.45 points.

West finished second in the all-around at state last year and Kellar ended up fifth for TJ.

West was just slightly more consistent on the night than Kellar. West had three second-place finishes and a third on vault during the individual events. Kellar, on the other hand, won the uneven parallel bars (9.4), balance beam (9.6) and floor ex-ercise (9.6), but ended up sixth on the vault.

West tallied a 9.45 on the vault, 9.3 on the bars, 9.2 on the balance beam and a 9.6 on the floor exercise.

Jefferson sophomore

Monica Church finished third in all-around with 36.25 points. She was second on the vault with a 9.45 and third on the bars (8.6).

Beamer teammates Cassie Peterson (36.1 points) and Kasey Johnson

(35.4) followed in fourth and fifth, respectively. Peterson was also third on the floor exercise with a 9.5.

Anna Paradee was the star of the meet for Deca-tur after finishing in first-place on the vault (9.6).

Beamer’s Jessica Freeborn flips over the vault during Wednesday’s all-city meet at Federal Way High. casey olson, The Mirror

[ gym from page 6 ] [ wrap up from page 6 ]

[ sidelines from page 6]