Matt Phelps
Sports Beat

The 2006-2007 athletes of the year for Mercer Island High School wont be known for another week. But while this year had some great performances on the field there were also some great performances on the sidelines.

I don’t like to choose a coach of the year. It is extremely difficult to do choose one with all of the variables that go into each different sport during the school year. Plus, every person who takes on the responsibility of being a high school coach, with next to nothing as pay and the very long hours that go into the job, should be thanked. And while the coaches take all the blame when a team loses, the coaches whose teams overachieve should also get a mention.

The first on my list is Mercer Island girls lacrosse coach Megan Elston. The former Mercer Island High School graduate took over for Sarah Milo just before the season and guided her team to the state semifinals. But the thing that made her job difficult was the exodus of nearly half the team from the prior year. She admitted during the preseason that the team was in a “rebuilding year” with all of the changes. But Elston brought the team together and made them believe in a simple slogan: “16 strong.” That team mentality brought the third best record in the state, an East Division title and the program’s second ever trip to the state semifinals — and that was in a rebuilding year. The league honored her and the Varsity B coach, Craig van der Horn (who also lost half of his squad thanks to attrition) Coach of the Year honors.

Three Mercer Island High School teams won state titles this year. Boys water polo, boys tennis and boys swimming. Every coach of a state championship team has to be doing something right and Lauren Ayers, Joyce Hedlund and Jeff Lowell know how to win. Lowell, who passes off the success of his teams to the players every time, deserves as many accolades that this community can give for his work over the years. The boys swimming championship this season, the second in two years, was again fueled mainly by underclassmen. But Lowell’s ability to motivate has become legendary. He has won a state title in nearly every season he has coached at Mercer Island and it is no coincidence. Motivating young kids and knowing to keep their minds focused on the prize during a state meet is not easy. The intensity and grandness of a venue such as the King County Aquatic Center can be daunting for a young kid. But Lowell does it while also acting as the schools Dean of Athletics, teaching at the school and coaching two or three sports.

Another teacher at the high school whose team had great success this year and often gets overlooked is Dino Annest. The long-time head of the Islander volleyball program guided his varsity team to the state tournament despite losing one of the greatest athletes in the school’s history, Georgia Gier. But while Gier concentrated on basketball and still supported the volleyball team from the sidelines, Annest quietly guided the team to eighth in state. Annest has a track record of great success at Mercer Island High School but it has been a lean few years. Of course the term “lean” is relative in this case. Most schools would give anything to have a volleyball program that makes it to state nearly every year. But what Annest has done in getting his young team to state this past season is set up the potential for greater success in years to come. After all, he will have nine returning varsity players next year, the majority of which are juniors.

There is one coach who deserves special consideration at the end of this school year — Dick Nicholl. The longtime football coach decided to retire from the sidelines, leaving a legacy that few will be able to live up to.

While other coaches have taken money from booster clubs Nicholl stayed true to his values — win or lose. He cares about winning, but he cares more about teaching through sports. That is what high school sports are supposed to be about. His career spanned four decades and he has had an impact on more kids than any coach at the high school. I can’t count how many times former players, non-players and even parents have commented to me how much Nicholl changed their lives for the better — and I have only been here for five years.

Nicholl’s last five or six years of coaching were not easy. None of the coaches in 3A KingCo had it easy with Bellevue tearing through the league. But even with all the losses to Bellevue, during the 2003 season Nicholl had one of the best years of coaching I have seen. His team finished with an 8-2 record, the best of any team not to make the post-season. The only teams that beat Mercer Island were Issaquah, which finished third in state, and Bellevue, which was the state champion.

But this coach was not about one football season. He built a body of work over 33 years at Mercer Island High School that should be remembered. This year was not only the end of an era, but it marked the loss of a Mercer Island coaching legend.