THE ISSAQUAHPRESS
Section
B
COMMUNITY
Wednesday January 30, 2013
Liberty hosts daughterfather dance By Hannah Grandine news@isspress.com Dads, it’s time to ask your daughters to dance. Liberty High School is inviting elementary school students and their fathers to a Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance in the Liberty Commons on Feb. 8.
IF YOU GO Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance 47-9 p.m. Feb. 8 4Liberty High School 416655 S.E. 136th St., Renton 4Cost: $15 per couple 4Purchase tickets at the door.
BY GREG FARRAR
Finn, a 6-year-old springer spaniel, contentedly observes houseguests while lying next to an ottoman at the High Point neighborhood home of owner Bobbie Daniel.
PRINCELY PEDIGREE
Issaquah breeder hopes springer spaniel’s last finish ranks as best By David Hayes dhayes@isspress.com
O
fficially, his name is American Canadian Grand Champion Darkover Don’t Dream It’s Over. But Bobbie Daniel knows him simply as Finn. Daniel, of High Point (just east of Issaquah), has bred nearly 30 champions since the 1980s, mostly springer spaniels. However, she sees Finn as her best chance to have a champ at the Super Bowl of dog shows, the 137th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Feb. 11-12 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Daniel has bred her current, successful bloodline of springers, and named each after characters from the television show “Grey’s Anatomy.” Finn was a character who briefly appeared in the first couple of seasons. Other than a fine pedigree, she said,
BY MEG CALLEA PHOTOGRAPHY
Ellen Cottingham, of Amboy, Wash., Finn’s trainer and Bobbie Daniel’s longtime friend, poses with him as he received the 2011 best of breed prize in Portland, Ore. from the Willamette Valley English Springer Spaniel Association.
SLIDESHOW Find more photos of Westminster Kennel Club Show-bound champion springer spaniel Finn at www.issaquahpress.com.
WHAT TO KNOW Watch sporting dogs compete in the second night of the Westminster Kennel Club Show live from 8-11 p.m. Feb. 12 on the USA Network.
Finn has two things going for him — at age 6, this will be his last show. “Many of the breed champions retire at Westminster,” she said. Second, Daniel has scouted the judges and feels the right combination has aligned this year in her favor. “This is our first trip to Westminster, because, for whatever reason, the judges have not been right for us,” she said. Like other sporting competitions that leave a lot of interpretation of a performance in the judges’ hands, such as gymnastics or ice skating, canine experts each have their own mental image of the perfect dog within a specific breed. Daniel said it’s then the judges’ job to find the dog that comes closest to that ideal. To bolster their chances, Finn has won enough competitions to rise to the No. 2 springer in the country (points are awarded for beating all of the other dogs at a show, including within breed, group and overall winners). Standing in their way, the
BY GREG FARRAR
Bobbie Daniel gives an air kiss to Tansy, one of her cats, as Finn sits in her lap in the dog rec room beneath a wall covered with competition ribbons. No. 1 springer in the country also just happens to be the No. 2 overall dog when it comes to best in show. Finn’s best finish came as best in show in 2011 at a competition in Moses Lake. As a training coordinator for the King County Library Service Center, Daniel can hardly pay the travel costs See SPANIEL, Page B3
Studies abroad take sophomore to Sweden By Hannah Grandine news@isspress.com Claire Good, 15, a sophomore at Liberty High School, spent fall far away from home, studying abroad at the International School of the Gothenburg Region in Gothenburg, Sweden. Claire, who has always had dreams of traveling and studying abroad, was encouraged by her father Jerry Good, who has also traveled. “Developing friendships at a young age with people in other countries, by living in their country, creates a lifetime of rich memories that remain vivid in your mind forever,” Jerry Good said. In Gothenburg, Claire lived with her father’s friend from college, Håkan Nilsson, and his wife Ellen Boonprasit, who is Thai. Claire, who is half Thai herself, felt at home with the couple.
CONTRIBUTED
Clarie Good, 15, a Liberty High School sophomore, experiences Sweden as part of a study-abroad program. “It was nice because Ellen would cook Thai food,” Claire said. “They were both generous and really kind to let me stay with them.” Claire arrived in Sweden on
Aug. 16, and started school at the International School not long after. The school, filled with students from different places all around the world, was exciting. “I remember walking in and
seeing all these different ethnic cultures, and I was so liberated,” Claire said. While at the International School, Claire took classes similar to what she would have taken as a sophomore at Liberty. Her biggest surprise was how well she connected with the other students. “When I first went there, I was kind of warning myself that I may not have friends, or I might not fit in,” Claire said. “But, when I was going to a school that had people of all ethnicities and all backgrounds and stories, everybody was different, and so it was easy to make friends because there was less judging and labeling.” While studying abroad, Claire was allowed a lot more freedom than she was used to at home. She used the trams and busses in the city of Gothenburg to get See STUDY, Page B3
Father-Daughter Valentine Dance 47-9:30 p.m. Feb. 9 4Community Center 4301 Rainier Blvd. S., Issaquah 4Cost: $20 per father and daughter(s) 4Register online and learn more at www. issaquahparks.net. There’s also a fatherdaughter dance, for girls in grades one through five, at the Issaquah Community Center on Feb. 9. The Liberty dance is an annual event open to students and their fathers from Apollo, Briarwood, Maple Hills and Newcastle elementary schools. “The past two years there have been over 300 people that have come,” Liberty freshman class advisor and P.E. teacher Emily Linke said. “The same people come back year after year.” Besides dancing, this year at the event there will be food and drink, a cake walk, drawings, both a hula hoop and a limbo contest, and more. However, Liberty’s event is not to be confused with the Father-Daughter Valentine Dance put on by the City of Issaquah that will be held at the community center the following night. Liberty’s event is hosted by the freshman class ASB and is a fundraiser for the Class of 2016. Tickets can be bought at the door for $15 per couple. Pictures will be taken and sold at the dance for an additional fee. Linke hopes that as many people as possible will attend the event. “It’s a great opportunity for dads and daughters to have a special night,” Linke said. “We try to make the girls feel really special.” The annual dance at the community center is for firstthrough fifth-graders and their dads. Couples can come casual or dress up. Cookies and punch will be provided, and photo packages will be available from Sportraits. That dance is preregistration only. Names will then be on the roster at the entrance.
Maple Hills students visit state Capitol The fourth-grade students of Maple Hills Elementary School got an inside look at how laws are made Jan. 17 when they visited the state Capitol in Olympia. While there to learn about state government, the children met up with state Rep. Chad Magendanz, of Issaquah, and asked him questions about his new job. See a photo of their visit on The Issaquah Press’ Facebook page, www.facebook.com/issaquahpress.
THE ISSAQUAHPRESS
SPORTS
B4
Wednesday January 30, 2013
MAKING A SPLASH Diver Max Levy prepares for state championship BY GREG FARRAR
By Lillian O’Rorke ltucker@sammamishreview. com The end of the diving board at Julius Bohem Pool flutters under Max Levy, who bounces more intently every time until finally he lifts off, the line from his pointed toes to his up-stretched hands forming an arrow. In the air, he flips his body backward, spins and he enters the water facing the same direction that he started. He has several more dives to run through before practice is over. Levy has spent the last several weeks preparing for the boys state swimming and diving championships. While the big day is not until Feb. 15, the Skyline senior has had his ticket to high school’s culminating diving competition since Jan. 5. Heading to state qualifier that day at Juanita High School, Levy needed a score of 300 to secure a spot at state. But by the time he had finished his 11th dive, judges had awarded him 516.2 points. “I just focused on getting the motion correct and making it so that my dives were as fluid as possible and that when I went in the water there wasn’t a lot of splash,” Levy said. Despite his high marks, the 17-year-old thought he could have done better. After reviewing a recording of his dives, he said he thought some were off — one was a bit short and his splash was too big on a couple others. Levy explained that the better the dive, the smaller the splash. Other elements, he said, include your approach to the end of the board, the first jump, then the second. “All those have to be in a cohesive manner to be able to do the dive correctly and be close enough to the board without actually hitting it, or going too far,” he said. When Levy switched from gymnastics to diving three years ago, he already had good balance and was comfortable doing all the flips and twists. He had started gymnastics when he was 10, a year after his family moved from California to Sammamish, but after a shin fracture limited his progress, Levy traded gymnastics for diving. “It was starting to get really repetitive and that just really isn’t what I wanted,” he said. “Also, I wanted to try a school sport since they didn’t have a guys’ gymnastics team for Skyline. So, diving was the next best thing.”
Caleb Walin, Issaquah High School junior, swims to a victory in the 200-yard freestyle race with a time of 2 minutes, 4.40 seconds Jan. 24 against Liberty at Julius Boehm Pool.
Issaquah dunks Liberty at meet By John Leggett ip-sports@isspress.com
BY GREG FARRAR
Max Levy stretches his body straight as he enters the water Jan. 9 during diving practice with his teammates at Julius Boehm Pool. Levy’s coach, Ellen Owen, who works with Skyline, Issaquah and Liberty high schools’ divers, said that for the short number of years that he has been competing, Levy is phenomenal. “What makes him good is certainly his body awareness,” she said, adding that a lot of time gymnastics does not transfer very well to diving. In the air, the twists and flips transfers, but the mechanics are completely different. “He picked it up real quickly because he can imitate what they [other divers] are doing and he’s got great balance….He just wants to do it,” Owen said. Now, in a few weeks time, Levy could be Skyline’s next state champion. For the last two years, he has occupied second place, and he said he is ready to move up and take the title this year. Coincidently, Levy said he is best at the dive that robbed him of first place last year — the inner-oneand-a-half pike. “I got distracted before. I was
BY GREG FARRAR
Max Levy, Skyline High School senior, hits a backwards 1 ½ somersault dive from the pike position at Julius Boehm Pool on Jan. 9 during a team diving practice. talking, laughing — I wasn’t completely in my zone,” he said. “Then I got up on the board and lost my balance and fell back. And I had to tuck over my inner one-and-a-half pike to make it, which is breaking form.” Levy lost the championship by three points, but he is not nervous about this year. “ Just keep practicing. Perfect See LEVY, Page B5
Issaquah girls give Skyline a scare, then lose By John Leggett ip-sports@isspress.com When two squads lock horns in an intense local rivalry, especially when the moon is as full as it was Jan. 25, hovering over Skyline High School like a spotlight, one should always expect the unexpected. That was exactly the spectacle that those fans assembled in the Skyline gymnasium beheld recently when a feisty 10-4 Issaquah girls basketball bunch invaded the 12-2 Spartans’ fortress and nearly upset the vaunted Skyline cagers on the road, but instead succumbed to the pressure of being the visitor in hostile territory to and eventually lost 48-45. “We definitely came into their house with a chip on our shoulder,” admitted Issaquah junior dynamo Mandie Hill, who leads the KingCo 4A in scoring, averaging a sweet 16 points per contest.
“We nearly beat them on their own floor, but with all the noise in that place and with them rapidly shaving down our lead in the final couple minutes of the fourth period with that aggressive full court press of theirs, our young team kind of just buckled under the pressure. We learned a valuable lesson though, that won’t happen again,” said Hill, the game’s leading scorer with 20 points. As the fierce encounter began to unfold, both squads appeared to have icicles hanging from their digits, and at the conclusion of the first eight minutes of play, Issaquah had a modest 10-6 upper hand. While Skyline’s band of giants wisely preferred use its overwhelming size to methodically work the pumpkin down low for the easy bucket, Issaquah’s players are renowned for their sharpshooting from outside the arch, so it was just a matter of time before they would be wow-
ing the throng of Eagle rooters on hand with their mortar shots from Sammamish. Midway through the second frame, Issaquah’s Quincey Gibson decided it was time to get the party started, as she loosed a picturesque three pointer from the top of the key that hit nothing but net to put the Eagles up 15-10. Hill touched off more fireworks in the initial five seconds of the third stanza, as she electrified the crowd with a bomb from way outside the perimeter and followed that up by stealing the ball, dribbling it coast-to-coast, maneuvering through the paint and making a classic backhanded lay-up. Issaquah appeared to be clicking on all cylinders. Suddenly, the smoothrunning, Issaquah Ferrari morphed into a back-firing clunker though, as halfway through the fourth quarter Skyline began to employ its intimidating, relentless, mistake-creating
Coaches are notorious planners, especially in individual sports, such as golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming. These amazing aquatic mentors can usually anticipate what may or may not transpire down to the tenth of a digit. At the annual swim meet between the Issaquah Eagles and the Liberty Patriots held at Julius Boehm Pool on Jan. 24, what unfolded in front of the unsuspecting audience was not only in the realm of the uncharted, but was entirely unexpected with the element of surprise and was outrageously humorous. With Issaquah owning a commanding advantage heading into the final event of the afternoon, the 400-yard freestyle relay, swimmers from both squads manned the starting blocks, displaying their best stern and stoic game faces, but a funny thing happened on the way down to the water. When the horn sounded to initiate the proceedings, the participants began to churn the water with every imaginable myriad of swim stroke possible in rather comical fashion. “With a combined total of 80 different swimmers in the pool area, I am really surprised that those guys were able to keep it a secret from [Issaquah coach] Laura [Halter] and myself,” Liberty coach Kris Daughters said. “But the kids from both teams know each other very well, from the clubs they’ve swam in together and they just love to have fun by messing with Laura and I. Last year they scrounged up a water polo ball from somewhere and broke out in a game after hitting the water…again, unbeknownst to anyone but
UP NEXT
KingCo Championships 46:30 p.m. Feb. 1 47:45 p.m. Feb. 2 4University of Washington 4Hec Edmundson Pavilion Pool 43870 Montlake Blvd. N.E., Seattle the guys competing.” The teams’ swimmers have been showing their serious side all season long as many participants from both clubs, young and old alike have already qualified for the state tournament in mid-February. Additionally, Liberty’s adroit crew dominated most of the Class 3A Seattle-area teams it faced during the regular season. Issaquah was one of the more formidable contingents in the KingCo 4A during the 2012-13 rigors, finishing with an accounting of 6-2 in league action. The only blemishes on the Eagles record during the regular season came against a vaunted Mercer Island bunch and a highly touted Newport group, which the purple and gold lost to by a mere six and nine points, respectively. As Issaquah’s meet with Liberty got under way, the score was fairly close initially, as Issaquah’s 200-yard medley relay foursome, consisting of three upperclassman and one outstanding sophomore, Gabe Florsheim, won by tenths of a second with a clocking of 1:43.36 and also struck gold in the ensuing event, the 200 yard freestyle, which was claimed by junior Caleb Walin. By turning in a time of 2:04.40, Walin won the first event of his high school swim career. See SWIM, Page B5
UP NEXT
Liberty vs. Bellevue 4Jan. 31 4Girls: 5:45 p.m. 4Boys: 7:30 p.m. 4Liberty High School 416655 S.E. 136th St.
full court press, and as a consequence, the Spartans rapidly caught up to and passed the purple and gold with some incredible domination on the boards as well. Skyline’s supremacy under the glass was allowing Issaquah a paltry single shot in the waning moments of the wild finish. One of the Skyline’s six-footers (either Haley Smith, Bryn deVita or Shelby Kassuba) would simply snare the carom and toss the orb to an outlet girl, who would then fly down the parquet for the easy deuce. See BALL, Page B5
BY GREG FARRAR
Connor Biehl (right), Liberty High School junior, shakes hands with Issaquah senior Austin Melody after edging him out in the 100-yard butterfly by .16 seconds.
Liberty has perfect week on the basketball court The Liberty High School boys and girls basketball teams combined to go a perfect 4-0 last week against both Interlake and Lake Washington. Liberty girls struck first, defeating Interlake, 57-31, on Jan. 23. The Patriots went into halftime down to the Saints, 28-27, but a second half Liberty defensive surge saw to it that
Interlake would score only three more points the rest of the game. The Liberty boys beat Interlake, 72-61, in a game that remained relatively close until the Patriot offense emerged with a 28-point third quarter. The boys then defeated Lake Washington, 41-38, on Jan. 25. The girls captured their second win of the week with a 61-40 win against the Kangs.