Five Islanders complete Arizona Ironman competition

“You are an Ironman,” is what five local members of the Iron Crew from Club Emerald heard as they crossed the finish line of Ironman Arizona in Tempe, Ariz., on April 13. The Iron Crew included Shawn LeProwse, Nancy Urner, Ginny Pietela, Kim Sharman and Foster Boone.

“I find that achieving greatness in athletics transfers confidence to all areas of your life,” said LeProwse.

The group trained together for five months under the direction of Pietela, the owner of Mercer Island’s Club Emerald. The majority of the training sessions took place on and around Mercer Island in early morning winter hours.

An average weekly training schedule consisted of Tuesday morning tempo or track workouts, Wednesday morning group swim sessions, Thursday morning group “long” runs and Saturday morning group brick (ride/run) outings. This test of a 2.4-mile swim, 112 mile-bike ride and 26.2-mile run brought out every possible human emotion as the group trained for and ultimately conquered this unbelievable race of all races in 96-degree heat and 35-mph winds.

“We are all capable of way more than our heads will let us believe,” said Pietela.

Island girls U-11 soccer team wins Rainier Challenge

Piper Casey and Katie Bernardez, Mercer Island fourth-graders, are members of the Premier Eastside FC GU11 White soccer team, which won the GU11 Copa Division of the 16th Annual Rainier Challenge Tournament in Puyallup during Memorial Day weekend.

This is the second Premier soccer tournament that the team has won together, as they were also the champions of the GU11 Division of the Skagit Valley Tulip Tournament held in Burlington at the end of April.

Girls basketball team wins championship

The Mercer Island seventh-grade girls basketball team won the Silver Division Championship in the Western Washington Premier Basketball Association 2008 Spring League Tournament despite entering the tournament as the No. 3 seed on May 18. The girls came back from a nine-point deficit to beat the No. 1 seeded team, Issaquah, with a score of 47-42. The tournament was held at Edmonds-Woodway High School.

MI team advances to U.S. Youth Soccer Championship

By winning the recent U.S. Youth Soccer Washington State Championship, a U16 Mercer Island soccer team has qualified to compete in the U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV (West Regional) Championships.

The Eastside FC 91 Red will be among the more than 248 top boys and girls U.S. Youth Soccer teams from the 14 state associations competing for the regional title, June 16-22, at the US Youth Soccer Region IV Championships at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Boyd commits to Oregon State

Matt Boyd, a junior at Eastside Catholic High School, has verbally committed to attending Oregon State, the two-time defending NCAA National Champions and pursuing construction management and education.

He was named to the 2008 Seattle Times All-Area High School Team.

Boyd was also the 16 and under Mantle State Champions Most Valuable player last summer, ranked No. 8 in his graduating class on the top 160 list of baseball players in the state, and was a big part of Eastside Catholic’s ranking as the No. 1 team in the state in 3A at the end of the regular season.

2008 Mercer Island girls Summer Hoop Camp

The MIHS girls basketball coaching staff and players will be running a camp for Mercer Island girls in grades 1-6 this fall.

The dates of this camp will be June 16-19 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Go to www.migb.org to download the registration form and details. The deadline for registration is June 9.

For information, e-mail the Mercer Island High School varsity coach, Jamie Prescott, at jamiemprescott@yahoo.com.

Summer Celebration 3-on-3 registration

Registration will start soon for the 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The tournament is on Saturday, July 12, at the Farmer’s New World Life parking lot.

Registrations will be accepted for boys and girls teams in grades 3-8 (fall 2008).

To register, call Mercer Island Parks and Recreation at 236-3545, Christa Lilly at (206) 818-7622 or Mike Huber at 232-3342 to get information.