See you in May: District athletes excel at tourneys, now wait until spring

The wait is now on for high school golfers.

Ten golfers from the Federal Way School District qualified for the Class 4A State Championships Thursday at the Gold Mountain Golf Complex in Port Orchard, which won’t be played until May.

On the boys’ side, Jefferson’s Charles Lee led a group of four Raiders to qualify for state. Lee finished in fifth place overall with a two-day total of 149. Kentwood’s Kent Hagen won the tournament with a 145 at Gold Mountain’s Cascade Course.

The top 18 finishers at the two-day South Puget Sound League Tournament qualified for state, which will be held in the Tri-Cities. The Raiders will also be sending Keenan Darrow, who finished in a tie for 10th place with a two-day total of 155, Erik Jarvey (15th, 157) and Brent Brown (17th, 158). Teammate Quinn Hildebrandt ended up as the first alternate in 19th place with a 159.

The Beamer boys will send a pair of boys to state, led by the sixth-place finish of Broc Johnson. The runner-up at the state tournament last year, he fired a two-day total of 151 at Gold Mountain. He will be joined by Tyler Collins, who tied for 10th with a 155 total.

On the girls’ side, Decatur will be sending freshman Amanda Beyke, Stacey Blunt and Samantha Zeeb to the state tournament. Beyke finished in third place at the SPSL Tournament with a two-day total of 159. Kentridge’s Lauren Sewell won medalist honors with a 143.

Blunt, a sophomore, will be making her second-straight appearance at state after finishing in a tie for fourth with a 162 total; Zeeb ended up 17th with a 185 on Gold Mountain’s Cascade Course.

The Decatur threesome will be joined by Jefferson’s Jayme Carbon, who qualified for her fourth appearance at state by finishing sixth overall with a two-day total of 163.

The boys state tournament will be held at the Canyon Lakes Golf Course and the girls will play at the Sun Willows Golf Course May 27-28.

The Todd Beamer Titans ended up in second place at last weekend’s SPSL Boys Tennis Tournament thanks to the play of freshman Joseph Dela Cruz. Kentridge won the SPSL title after rolling through the SPSL North Division unbeaten.

Dela Cruz won the SPSL South Division singles championship by beating teammate Colin Zalewski in the title match, 6-2, 6-0, at the Bally’s in Federal Way Saturday.

Dela Cruz went on to lose in the SPSL championship match to the two-time defending state champion, Kentwood’s Max Manthou, 6-1, 6-2. Mathou won the North Division title.

Zalewski eventually lost the third/fifth match in the SPSL crossover Saturday after getting beat by Kentridge’s Matt Overland, 6-1, 6-2.

Both Dela Cruz and Zalewski will now have to wait six months until playing high school tennis again. The top-10 finishers at the SPSL Tournament advanced into the West Central District Tournament, which is held in May.

Beamer will also be sending the doubles team of Chase Friedrich and Sean O’Bryan. The team finished second in the SPSL South with a rugged three-set loss to the Puyallup team of Michael and Brian Pinkard, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. Friedrich and O’Bryan went on to lose to an Auburn team in the third/fifth crossover match, 6-1, 6-1.

Jefferson will also be well represented at the district tournament. The Raiders qualified two doubles teams, along with Joe Lee. Lee finished seventh in the SPSL crossovers.

The doubles team of Makoa and Kainoa Rosa ended up sixth in the SPSL after losing to Federal Way’s Jake Stewart and Max Ward in the fourth/sixth match Saturday, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

TJ’s other doubles team, Branden Muraki and Brandyn Gomez, ended up seventh.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com