One question has loomed over the Mercer Island High School gymnastics team during the off season: How do you replace the best gymnast in school history? The answer is that it can’t.
The Mercer Island boys basketball team played the Wolves Eastlake High School Saturday, but it was the Islanders clawing their way to a heart-stopping 59-58 season-opening victory.
Reporter staff
The blast of snow and ice that wreaked havoc over much of western Washington last week also forced the cancellation of five games or meets for Mercer Island High School athletic teams. But the weather wasn’t the only reason for all the cancellations.
Many great coaches are associated with Washington state high school athletics. But just one has 900 victories.
In a close, regular-season wrestling meet, the slightest mistake, movement of an arm or lifting of the head too high can mean the loss of a match, the meet or even a shot at the league championship. The Islanders capitalized on Skyline’s mistakes during two dramatic match victories Thursday to win their regular season opener in an upset 42-36.
Islander senior Georgia Gier opted out of playing her final season of volleyball to concentrate on basketball. Gier proved that she still knows how to give a thunderous spike, swatting a shot into the back court during the second quarter of the game Wednesday night against Mount Si. But the play was a microcosm within the game, as Gier was promptly called for traveling on the ensuing uncontested lay-up. The Islanders ultimately lost 55-41.
Mercer Island coach Don Papasedero is known for many things. He has been the Mercer Island High School girls golf head coach, assistant girls basketball head coach and a teacher at the high school.
With the increasing competition for college scholarships and athletic fame, the three-sport athlete at the high school level is becoming an endangered species. But one athlete at Mercer Island High School is on pace to earn her 12th varsity letter this spring, one for every season she has been an Islander.
Far from the glamour of LeMans and the pageantry of Indy, a thousand miles of “race track” snakes through dusty towns and endless stretches of nothing. This is the TECATE-Score Baja 1000 - a race disguised as a party in the desert of Baja, Mexico. For Indy 500 veteran and Island resident Dominic Dobson, it’s a very interesting couple of days at the office.
The Mercer Island football team recently had its awards banquet and the following awards were presented to the team members.
Nearly half of Mercer Island was still without power last week when the Islander boys swim team took on the swimmers from O’Dea High School at Mary Wayte Pool. But one sophomore, Beau Riebe, electrified swim and dive fans Thursday as he broke the 31-year-old school record for a six-dive meet.
The 2006 calendar year on Mercer Island was one of the more unusual sports years in recent memory. At the high school, the name Mahony meant greatness, an Islander went pro, two teams shocked the state by making it to the championship finals, and Island golf fans said good-bye to a good friend and coach. Other notable Island happenings included Mercer Island residents playing in the Super Bowl, an MIHS graduate going pro and the Rockers winning another title.
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