Congratulations to six West Seattle teens who recently competed in the 2015 Water Polo Junior Olympics in Southern California. From Cori Roed:

Conner Roed​, Josh Tittel​, and Charles Bruchal ​all played in their first Junior Olympics on the Rain City Water Polo 14U team and learned how tough California Polo can be. They hung tough and didn’t give up and on the final day got a victory that left them anxious for another go next year.

Blake Catlow played in his 4th JO for the Rain City 18U. It was a hard-fought tournament for his team after taking 2nd at John Hale the week before.

Silia Bruchal and Nicole Roed played with Seattle Water Polo, each on their 5th Junior Olympics trip. They had a tough first day but clawed their way back with 7 straight wins, then losing by two points in the final to take 2nd in Gold.

This was Nicole’s last JO. She is off to Cal Lutheran University to play soccer and polo as a CLU Regal. Blake and Silia will have one more trip next year following their senior year.

Have a swimmer who might want to play? Rain City Polo has a youth practice group at Evergreen Community Aquatic Center starting in September. Information’s at raincitypolo.com.

Time to think fall sports – including the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) outdoor-soccer program. It’s signing up players ages 3-11 right now:

Our Y soccer leagues provide players with skill-building activities in a variety of subjects such as passing, dribbling, shooting and defense. Appropriately sized soccer balls and fields are used for each age group. We emphasize sportsmanship, skill-building, participation, friendship and fun.

WHEN & WHERE
Practices start the week of September 14th at High Point fields. Games are on Saturdays, September 26th through November 14th, at Roxhill Park or Lincoln Park.

LEAGUES
3-year-olds, Pre-K & Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd Grade, 3rd & 4th Grade

FEES & REGISTRATION
Facility Members $75, Community Participants $132. Register by August 28th – at the Y or online, by going here

Questions? Coach Mike Bober is at mbober@seattleymca.org or 206-937-1000.

Still a few weeks left in summer – and 7-12-year-olds interested in the indoor-soccer game known as futsal are invited to a weeklong camp at High Point Community Center, starting one week from today. David just e-mailed us about it tonight, saying his son is signed up but the camp needs a few more signups by Tuesday or else it’s in danger of cancellation. Information about the camp is here; information about futsal is here; if you have trouble signing up online, David says, you can stop by the community center (6920 34th SW) or call 206-684-7422.

That’s Justin Murphy, who collected baseball gear earlier this year to donate to kids in need in Nicaragua, and now it’s delivery time. From Robin Murphy:

Just wanted to thank the community for all its donations to Justin Murphy’s baseball project. We leave next week for Little Corn Island, Nicaragua to distribute the gear; they know we’re coming and they’re very excited! Justin will make a video while we’re down there.

Here’s a map showing the island’s location.

Thanks to Michelle for sharing the photo and news that the West Seattle Baseball 11U All-Stars swept last weekend’s tournament in Monroe. She says, “The team played great together and it was amazing to see their hard work over the summer pay off (in spite of some wild weather including torrential rain, thunder and lightning that delayed the final championship game by almost four hours!) The tournament saw the All Stars hitting two over-the-fence home runs and a team average of 13 runs per game. Monroe was also a gracious and welcoming host town — in fact the All-Star team had their lunch tab picked up by an older baseball fan who was dining at the same restaurant.”

Thanks to Nikki for one more update on the Seattle United B98 Copa team’s run at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, a regional U16 team featuring three players from West Seattle – (left to right in photos above) Akili Kasim (goalkeeper from WSHS) and Abel Kidane & Miguel Macias Garibay (field players from Chief Sealth IHS)

An update on the US National Championship Game:

The boys from Seattle played hard but lost to Baltimore 2-1 in the final yesterday in Tulsa. The team had an Epic run this year and will have a lifetime of memories.

The three players from West Seattle played outstanding – Miguel had a wonderful goal, Abel with his great passing, and Akili going the week with shutouts during his half of play.

All three boys said they are so grateful for the support they received, they couldn’t believe all the tweets, texts, Facebook posts, Instagram posts, even phone calls, and everyone who was up watching us play all week at 5:30, 6:30 in the morning.

From AKili, Abel, & Miguel, THANK YOU, WEST SEATTLE!

(Rendering by Ryan Applegate)

The Department of Neighborhoods has just officially announced its latest list of “Small and Simple” grants, and one will give a boost to a group working toward building an indoor-tennis center on the former Denny International Middle School site west of Southwest Pool. First, the list of West Seattle projects receiving grants from among 28 citywide getting a total of $467,562 in matching funds:

… These awards are part of the Small and Simple Projects Fund, one of three funds offered by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. It provides cash awards of up to $25,000 in matching funds to community organizations committed to fostering and building a better community. The 2015 June awards range from $4,000 to $25,000, and the organizations pledge to match the City’s $467,562 investment with $600,132 of locally raised money, donated materials and volunteer labor. …

West Seattle Projects

· $24,400 to Chief Sealth Indoor Tennis to conduct a feasibility study and develop a conceptual plan for an indoor tennis center at the former Denny Middle School site. (Community match: $14,720)

· $25,000 to South Park Area Redevelopment Committee to create a design with public input, construction documents, and cost estimates to improve Duwamish Waterway Park. (Community match: $45,575)

· $21,395 to the West Seattle Time Bank to host 20 community events and workshops to promote timebanking and increase participation in West Seattle. (Community match: $22,840)

· $15,000 to Circulo de Mamas Seattle to convene 20 Latina mothers and community members to further develop their community leadership through culturally relevant training. (Community match: $25,550)

… The Small and Simple Projects Fund opens again for applications in September with a deadline of October 5. To learn more visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/smallandsimple.htm.

Back to the proposed indoor-tennis center: The project has a Facebook page, with this note related to the grant: “This grant will pay for a feasibility study and concept design plan for the proposed Indoor Tennis Center. We’ll be selecting a design firm through a competitive process. Much research needs to be done on permitting requirements. When the design review is complete, we will be holding community meetings for input this fall.” A rendering on the page suggests it would be built in the area where outdoor tennis courts were built after the old school was demolished.

Update from Nikki: The Seattle United B98 Copa team with three players from West Seattle – Akili Kasim (goalkeeper from West Seattle High School) and Abel Kidane & Miguel Macias Garibay (field players from Chief Sealth International High School) – won today and made it into tomorrow’s U.S. Youth Soccer Championships final in Tulsa!

The boys won today in the semi-finals against Pennsylvania. Winning 3-0 – giving Seattle United a shutout.

The boys are very thankful for all the support Washington is giving them.

Championship game is tomorrow at 8:30 am [6:30 am Seattle time] and will be livestreamed.

Thank you again, West Seattle, for all the support.

Here’s our Wednesday report – also courtesy of Nikki – about the team reaching the semifinals. As she pointed out, Seattle United club director Jimmy McAlister also is a West Seattleite. Their opponents tomorrow morning are from Baltimore.

The Seattle Pride Basketball 16U boys’ team is in Las Vegas for two national tournaments, and doing well, according to Coach Jason Vann:

The team has 10 West Seattle kids: 2 go to Seattle Lutheran (Josh Meyer and Roberto Duenaz), 2 go to West Seattle (Nate Pryor and Tyler Lenzie), 2 go to Shorewood Christian (JJ Young & Jovi Fevealaki), and then we finish out the roster with Jaxon Woodward (Seattle Prep), Matthew Sassanoff (Kennedy), Emilio Mancol (Kennedy), Evan Moe (Chief Sealth), Shea Carstens (O’Dea).

(On Thursday) they won the AAU championships in Las Vegas and they went 4-0, winning all 4 games by double digits. They beat teams from Texas, Hawaii, Canada, and California en route to the championship. This is coming off a loss in the finals in Bellevue last week (NW summer showcase) versus a very tough Maeko team (Oregon) who was ranked #23 in the nation and #5 in the west coast. However, we were the last Washington team standing.

Right after that, the boys started pool play in the Bigfoot Hoops Las Vegas Classic, which Vann describes as “the top 160 16U teams in the nation. They finished 3-0 and are now “the last Washington team standing to play in the top 32 platinum elite division for 16U. Loser out from here on out… Last 32 out of 160 teams! West Seattle kids hanging with national powerhouse programs!” The bracket shows their next game is 2:30 pm today against a team from Ohio.

(From left – Miguel, Abel, Jimmy, Akili)

Congratulations to four West Seattleites who are part of a regional soccer team that’s had a huge year, culminating in a trip to the national championships in Tulsa. From Nikki:

Would like to share that 3 local players from West Seattle are headed to the semifinals of the US Youth Soccer National Championship on Saturday.

Akili Kasim (goalkeeper from West Seattle High School), Abel Kidane, and Miguel Macias Garibay (field players from Chief Sealth International High School) are all part of Seattle United 98 Copa. The team is led by Coach Jason Farrell and Club Director (also a longtime resident of West Seattle) Jimmy McAlister.

Seattle should be proud: This team has won some great titles in the last 10 months. From the far west title, Division 1 state title, Dallas Cup champs, and in June, won US Youth Region 4 title, now headed to the semi-finals of the us youth soccer National Championship.

Seattle United is the group champs – they have won all three games this week and will head into the semi-finals Saturday at 8 am (6:00 am Seattle time).

The photo above was taken after today’s game, which was delayed for more than three hours because of thunder and lightning. You can see the scores and track their progress on this page of the national-championships website.

Another big achievement for a local youth-baseball team – from Eric Olson of West Seattle Baseball:

The West Seattle Baseball 10U All-Stars went 5-0 in the PONY NW Regional Championships, earning their way to play in the PONY West Zone Championship next week in Los Alamitos, California. The team mashed their way through the tournament, beating every team by 10 or more. They beat Seattle Pony in the championship game, 11-1.

Pictured left to right: John Cahill, Chase Clifton, Joel Clark, Jack Cahill, Brendan Johnson, Eric Olson, Jimmy Zeissel, Patrick Galvin, Jing Gardner, Tyler Eisenhut, Pat Galvin, Kai Perala, Ryan Moore, PJ Barton, Brody Olson. Not pictured: Elliot Paskett

Their tournament in California starts one week from tomorrow.

9:41 AM SATURDAY: It’s the opening act for the West Seattle Grand Parade, and it gets wilder every year. This year’s Float Dodger 5K is on now – new starting line this year, outside the new location of West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor), within view of the spot at California/Lander where the runners and walkers “dodge” the West Seattle Hi-Yu float. Our video shows all of this year’s Float Dodgers, recorded as they arrived at (and rounded) the float. Results, and photos, later! The parade’s still an hour-plus away, so lots of time to go find a spot along California between Lander and Edmunds (and WSR has a post-5K beer garden in its store at 2743 California SW, if you’re looking for a unique place from which to watch).

ADDED EARLY SUNDAY: Results for this year’s Float Dodger are here. The top finisher was Brett Winegar, at 16:27 – we photographed him (and other course leaders) as they rounded the float the second time:

Kelly Spady was next, at 16:54:

The first female finisher, Kristi Houk, was fifth overall, at 18:31:

According to the online results, 331 timed participants finished. And of course it was about fun, too – perhaps the most creative costume, a fleet-footed luchadore:

WS Runner’s Lori and Tim McConnell are back there somewhere; the race’s starting line shifted north this year because their shop moved (to 2743 California SW):

A team from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest (WSB sponsor) dodged the floats:

This was the fourth Float Dodger 5K – the first one was in 2012.

From left in the photo are Sam Carballo, Cole Carden, and Thomas Mensing – when they get back home to West Seattle, you can congratulate them on being national champs! They’re part of the <strong>Pacific Northwest Soccer Club‘s ’98 Blue team, which played for the National Youth Soccer Presidents’ Cup U-16 title in Kansas this morning (as previewed here last night), and won a heartstopper, according to Cole’s dad Todd Carden – 2-1 over Virginia, with the winning goal scored in the last seconds of double OT!

10:31 PM SATURDAY: Three West Seattle soccer players have a huge game hours from now – they’re on the Pacific Northwest Soccer Club’s ’98 Blue team, shown above, set to play a national championship game tomorrow morning. They’re in the U-16 finals of the National Youth Soccer Presidents’ Cup in Overland Park, Kansas – the PacNW club’s first team to advance to a national title game.

Thomas Mensing (outside back), Sam Carballo (goalkeeper), and Cole Carden (center back) are the local players, comprising “the defense that’s been tough to score on,” says Cole’s proud dad, Todd Carden. They made it into the championship after tying Florida 1-1, beating Virginia 2-0, and tying Wisconsin 1-1; Virginia is who they’re facing tomorrow. He says the final is at 8 am our time; you can watch the live stream here.

10:31 AM SUNDAY UPDATE: They won! Separate story later.

One week from today, the West Seattle Little League 11-12 Majors team starts play at the state tournament in Woodinville, after becoming the latest WSLL team to win the district title. Thanks to Laurie Rasmussen for sharing the news (and the photo above, by parent Jim Burgess). She says the Majors went undefeated in the District 7 tournament. Here’s who’s in the photo:

WSLL 11-12 team

Manager Stan Debiec
Coach Brian Pare
Coach Steve Joseph

Players

Max Debiec
Chase Eldredge
Nate Rasmussen
Reece McAllister
Dylan Mastroianni
Jaden Sadis
Spencer Burgess
Sam Pare
Nat Ardales
Jasper Mors
Gabe Palmer
Diego Contratto
JP Dufour

Thanks to Deborah Hazlegrove for the photo and report:

The West Seattle Little League 10/11 All-Star team won the District 7 Championship and is headed to state! The state tournament is in Vancouver (WA) this year and begins on July 18. The team was led by Manager Isaiah Brent and Coaches Steve Savage and Ted Godwin.

Good luck to them, and to the 13-year-olds who (as noted here) are state-bound too!

Thanks to West Seattle Little League president Michael Grienauer for sharing the photo and the big news:

The 13-year-old team from West Seattle Little League (WSLL) won the District 7 championship. The WSLL team went undefeated in regular-season play and in the All Star tournament as well. They beat the team from South Highline National Little League 6-4 to take the crown. With the win, they earned their place in the Washington State All-Star tournament, which starts next week in Port Orchard.

Players and coaches in the photo above:

(Left to right) Ben Trigg, Coach Mike Messinger, Eli Markham, Konrad Gerhardt, Manager Rick Southall, Dylan Pool, Jackson Grienauer, Isaac Patchen, Dominic Taylor, Will Holmes, Adam Chin, Justin Murphy, Coach Mike Murphy, Cole Stephenson

You can check on the tournament bracket here.

Thanks to Erik Ricard for sharing the news (and the photos):

This past weekend the 8-year-old All Star team from West Seattle Baseball
won the Northwest Region Championship for Pony Baseball, representing Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon & Washington.

This 4 day tournament was hosted in West Seattle at the Pee Wee Fields last weekend. The West Seattle 8U All Stars swept their games in the round-robin section Thursday, Friday and Saturday with an average margin of victory of 11 runs.

The team continued to roll in the semi-finals on Sunday winning 16-6 over Maltby All-Stars and then beat South Sound 13-3 to claim the Region Championship for Pony Baseball. Congrats to all the boys in a great effort over a long hot weekend.

In the official photo below:

– Front Row (L-R): Jake Kent, Marek Hall, Jacob Kriley, Reece Holmes, Seth Clark, Sam Krische
– 2nd Row (L-R): Jesse Dabbs, Ollie Ricard, Bridger Kyle, Teo Perala, Lukas Cheha, Greyson Romas, Sam Waskowitz
– Back Row, coaches (L-R): Coach Lance Kyle, Manager Erik Ricard, Assistant Coach Dan Krische (not pictured: Assistant Coach Greg Holmes)

Thanks to Todd Carlsen for the photo and report:

“Wish U Could Swish,” a team made up of 4 soon-to-be 7th graders at Our Lady of Guadalupe School, finished in 2nd place in the 12 and under girls’ division at the 26th annual Spokane Hoopfest 3-on-3 tournament. The girls finished the 16-team bracket with a record of 6-2 and had to endure temperatures both Saturday and Sunday of 105-plus degrees. They fought their way through the losers’ bracket and ended up playing 5 games on Sunday before losing in the championship game Sunday afternoon. Team members include Mary Carlsen, Daniella Colberg, Eva Flanagan, and Dominique Monroe. The team is coached by Daren Monroe.

(2012 photo by Gary Jones)
It’s been a fixture for years on Alki Beach, right next to the Seafair Pirates’ Landing (which is coming up this Saturday)- the Alki Swashbuckler Beach Vault pole-vaulting competition. 19 years, according to its website, which is where we found out that it’s NOT happening this year for the first time since 1996. The website mentioned only the Pirates’ Landing date change as a reason, but this is the second year since the landing moved up to late June, so we contacted the presenting group to find out more.

Becca Gillespy Peter of Pole Vault Power explained in response to our inquiry, “The early date is bad for us, we have multiple conflicts, primarily the USA National Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and our local Junior Olympic Association Championships.” She said that while one of those conflicts existed last year, they made the choice to give it a try anyway, but the weather was iffy – more of a risk in June than July – and the turnout seemed lower. With all that and some communication challenges with the Seafair Pirates organization, they decided to cancel: “We are bummed to have to cancel the event after 19 years, but hope to return next year … We do hope to return next year, it may conflict with the Olympic Trials, depending on what date they choose, but I should be able to find enough volunteers to run the event in my absence, if necessary …” And if you just want to get your annual fix of pole-vault spectating, Becca reminds us, “We also have a beach vault every year on July 4 at the city of Tacoma’s Freedom Fair Festival; this will be the 21st year in a row for pole vaulting at that event.”