Charlie Young finished second in the slalom and second overall at the Pacific Northwest Ski Association’s Buddy Werner Championships at Mount Bachelor in Oregon. This United States Skiing Association racing competition is for boys and girls 12-and-under. Young’s performance earned him a spot on a team of three boys from the northwest (Oregon, Washington and Idaho) to compete at the Junior Olympic J4 Festival in Snowbird, Utah on March 18, 19 and 20. This competition brought teams of the three best J4 Skiers (12-and-under) from each region together for Slalom, Super G and Giant Slalom races. Young finished seventh in the Super G (a giant slalom race at downhill speeds) and seventh in slalom. The Giant Slalom was canceled due to too much new snow.

Young is a seventh-grade student at Islander Middle School. He is a member of Team Alpental Snoqualmie ski team. He trains with his team three to four days a week in the winter (snow permitting) at Snoqualmie Pass and competes at ski areas around the northwest and Canada. This year his team has trained or raced in McCall and Bogus Basin, Idaho, Mt Hood and Mt Bachelor, Oregon Whistler and Apex, British Columbia and Crystal Mountain, Mount Baker and Stevens Pass finding snow where it could.

Island Thunder places fifth at national qualifier

The Island Thunder Volleyball Club’s 14-and-under Mark team finished fifth in the prestigious Pacific Northwest national qualifier held at Eastern Washington University March 19, 20 and 21. Over two days of pool play, the team faced squads from Washington, Utah and California before qualifing for Sunday’s championship round. On Sunday, they beat The Force and Vision Blue, both of San Jose, Calif. before falling to eventual second-place finisher City Beach of Santa Clara, Calif.

“We started out slow on Friday but still won,” said head coach Mark Carlsen, who in his fifth year with Island Thunder. “We came together the second day and third day and played our best match of the year so far Sunday morning against Vision, one of the top teams in Northern California, to get into the Gold division. I’m very proud of this team who played their best against some giants.”

The players on the team are: Maria Boyle, Allison Bray, Janelle Chow, Ali Ehrig, Elizabeth Litzow, Lauren Rambaldini, Kelsey Salvo, Shayda Sanii, Sara Scott, Christina Weed and Caitlin Wood.

Islander girls basketball place fourth at Tourney

Mercer Island seventh-grade select girls basketball team placed fourth in the Tulip Festival Tournament in Mount Vernon March 19-20.

The team was coached by David Michaelis who was the Mercer Island High School girls varsity assistant coach this past season. The tournament drew 10 of the top teams from the Pacific Northwest, both school feeder programs, and club teams. Mercer Island lost just two games to the eventual first- and second-place finishers. Both losses were close games and came against year round club organizations. The seventh-grade team beat all the school feeder teams they played. Players included:

Ashleigh Diamond, Alex Paul-Hayter, Blue Gaston, Hannah Lilly, Kaylia Balinbin, Kristy Kaiser, Carolyn Straughan, Hana Potter and Leah Hochberg.

Islanders finish strong at HotSpot competition

Four Islanders placed at the state wide HotSpot competition March 13 in representing the Mercer Island Parks and Recreation department.

Michael Bantle took first place in the 7 and 8 age level with a score of 65 points.

Will Taylor took third place in the 9 and 10 age bracket with a score of 71 points.

Lori Kelton was third in the girls 13- and 14-year-old level with a score of 49 points.

Savana Reid was fourth in the girls 9- and 10-year-old level with a score of 61 points.

All four athletes competed January 29 on Mercer Island in the regional brackets for a shot at the Washington competition.