In Sammamish Sports: Skyline Boys Basketball Beat IHS, Eastside Swimmers do Well for Week Ending Jan. 9

With three high schools in Sammamish and multiple sports taking place during the Winter season, it can get pretty difficult to keep track of each and every team's week-to-week performances.

Well, relax. We here at Sammamish Patch want to make it easy for you. Every week, from now through the state tournaments in February, we will write a "Week in Review" sports piece, summarizing the accomplishments of every winter sports team for all three Sammamish high schools (, and ).

 In this inaugural article, as we will probably find common for the next couple of months, we see a mixed bag of success. Skyline's basketball teams went 3-1 for the week while their wrestling squad finished third in an invite at Liberty High School. However, both Eastlake and Eastside Catholic saw their basketball squads struggle as well as their swim and gymnastics squads.

Without further ado, here's a short and simplified breakdown of each school and team and their accomplishments for the week.

Eastlake High School

The boys basketball squad lost to Woodinville 81-63 despite the effort from Brandon Lester who led the way with 20 points. It was a disappointing effort in the eyes of head coach Brian Dailey who felt the team was entering a measuring stick game after coming off a successful tournament run in San Diego.

"In the next two weeks we play six games ... so it's really going to test us, we get a chance to see who we are," Dailey said. "I would like to see us play the game with a sense of urgency and hunger for the entire 32 minutes."

The girls team also had a rough week, falling to both Woodinville and Issaquah. Bella Zennan was leading scorer for the Wolves against the Falcons and Kendra Morrison carried the team against Issaquah, Saturday, with 21 points. The Wolves will face Skyline on Friday night in a critical league battle.

"We need to continue to work hard and rally back from the week," head coach Sara Goldie said. "In this tough league there is no time to think about what happened in the past. We need to remain focused and look forward one game at a time."

Then there was the boys swim team which tied Redmond 93-93 in their only meet for the week. Edward Kim stood out for the Wolves, with two state qualifying times in the 200 IM (2:01.20) and 100 fly (53.13).

"We are hoping to take the energy and excitement from this meet and carry it over into next week as we have two big meets," coach Kate McCary said.

The Wolves gymnastics squad traveled to Inglemoor for a four-school meet at the Vikings gym and placed fourth overall. Bianca Barr once again stood out for coach Jennette Fuller.

"She's our rock," Fuller said simply. "No matter what happens ahead of her, if a girl falls or not, she always sticks (to) her routine."

The Wolves wrestling team, meanwhile, traveled out to Issaquah for the Liberty Invitational where they finished second to Inglemoor High School with 154 points. Chris Dallas (103 pounds), Max Benjamin (130 pounds) and Nyk Peterson (140 pounds) all won their respective divisions.

Skyline High School

The Spartans boys basketball squad had a strong week with a 68-60 win over Ballard on Tuesday which they then followed up with a 69-46 win over Issaquah on Friday night. Bryan Cikatz had perhaps the best week for the Spartans, dropping 37 points over the course of the two contests led by his 21 point night versus Ballard.

The girls split their two contests for the week, earning a 48-33 win over Ballard, Wednesday but then falling to Issaquah 47-44 on Friday. Megan Weideman led the team over the course of the week with 25 combined points. The Spartans only game next week is against Garfield, Wednesday.

Skyline's wrestling team joined Eastlake and six other schools at the Liberty Invitational in Issaquah. The Spartans finished third with 136 points and were led by Jay Chakravarty who finished first in the 160 pound division by earning a 7-0 decision win over Liberty's Shane Small.

Meanwhile, the Spartans gymnastics squad lost their only meet of the week. Head gymnastics coach, Debbie Gliner singled out Amy Bearman as the squad's top performer of the week for her consistency.

"Being a very young team, with 25 out of 32 performers being underclassmen, I am looking for continual improvement as the season progresses," said Gliner. "The girls are working hard and as they learn new skills and polish their routines, I hope to see our team scores rise."

Eastside Catholic

The Eastside Catholic boys swim team had a bittersweet meet with Bainbridge. Despite falling to the Spartans 111-58, the Crusaders had "a fabulous meet" according to their head coach Rick Wertman.

Of the 29 times recorded at the Bainbridge pool, 26 were personal bests for the Crusaders led by Joe Mahan who qualified for state with his time in the 100 freestyle. Ethan Hallowell, meanwhile, set three pool records in a pool that has been hosting meets for over 30 years with his times in the 200 free, 100 back and lead leg in the 400 free relay.

"We learned  a bit about ourselves and of our team," added Wertman.

The boys and girls basketball teams at Eastside Catholic, meanwhile, had mixed success over the course of the week. While the boys went 0-3 for the week, falling to Nathan Hale 48-38 on Tuesday, 79-69 to Rainier Beach Friday night and finally a 65-53 loss to Lakeside, Saturday.

A couple boys stood out for the Crusaders over the course of the week. While Joey Schreiber finished with the most total points, 45, it was Skyler White who posted the week's high total with 22 against Rainier Beach.

The girls, though, earned double-digit wins over both Hale (53-38) and Rainier Beach (54-21) before falling to Lakeside 52-32, Saturday. Michaela O'Rourke led the Crusaders all week and finished with 47 points through the three games.