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The Issaquah Press

COMMUNITY

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Michele Bretl

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012

LEO Caring Community Person Award

Larry Schwitters

Environmental Excellence

Barbara de Michele

Ava Frisinger

John Rittenhouse

Bill Mokin

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Golden Apple

BY GREG FARRAR

Renee Zimmerman reacts to a standing ovation May 31 after receiving the Citizen of the Year award from Issaquah Chamber of Commerce board chairwoman Dianna Reely, during the 33rd annual Issaquah Community Awards at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Youth advocates take top honors at Community Awards

By Christina Lords Issaquah Press reporter As Issaquah celebrated its very best at the 33rd annual Chamber of Commerce Community Awards, two residents — celebrated for their lasting contributions to the community — were inducted into Issaquah’s Hall of Fame on May 31.

Barbara de Michele and Master Sgt. Richard “Top” DeMarco received top honors at the May 31 ceremony, which included recognition for Issaquah’s finest in 18 categories, including awards for standout volunteers, businesses leaders, organizations and youth.

Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger said the Hall of Fame awards were based on several criteria, including inspiration, leadership, civic mindedness, fundraising efforts for public good and length of service to the community.

None more so affected by the awardees are Issaquah’s youth.

De Michele, a longtime education and youth advocate, has helped provide a safe place for at-risk youth and create strong families in Issaquah by promoting healthy living as the executive director for the Issaquah Community Network. She also won the Issaquah Schools Foundationsponsored Golden Apple Award

during the ceremony.

DeMarco has proven himself a worthy recipient after instructing the Issaquah High School Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps for the past 10 years, Frisinger said. A 2007 IHS graduate nominated DeMarco for the award, citing his profound positive influence over students’ lives.

“Rick instills in young people a commitment to their community, a strong, strong love of service, a willingness to volunteer for the public good, and he instills in them a love of country,” Frisinger

Human & Spiritual Values

Public Education Advocate

Elliot Roberts

Denise Smith

Joe Forkner

See AWARDS, Page B3

Tucker Goodman LHS, Nicole Migotsky IHS, Audrey Johnson TMCHS Rotary Students of the Year

Barbara de Michele and Master Sgt. Richard ‘Top’ DeMarco

Jeff Anderson – Issaquah Trophy & Awards

Greg Barton

Business Person of the Year

LEO Caring Community Group Award

Parks Sportsperson of the Year

Kiwanis Volunteer of the Year

Salmon Days Spawnor Roll

Allie Lustig

Ileah Hoeke

Vickie Hoffman

Hall of Fame

EFR Lifesaver Award

Parks Youth Leadership

Salmon Days Volunteer of the Year

Parks Volunteer of the Year

Issaquah skaters carve out their niche in roller derby community

By Ana Sofia Knauf

CONTRIBUTED BY SHERI GREENMAN

Sheri ‘Jamaica Hurt’ Greenman (far right) stands at the starting line seconds before the start of a OneWorld league game. As her team’s ‘pivot,’ Greenman is marked with a striped helmet and sets the pace of the 90-second jam.

Maybe you’ve seen “Whip It,” Drew Barrymore’s 2009 film about a fictional, rebellious teen pageant queen-turned roller derby enthusiast. While the film offers a glimpse into the world of roller derby, the portrayal of the sport is a bit exaggerated, according to local residents Beckie Bogart and Sheri Greenman, who both skate in the OneWorld Roller Derby league.

On June 10, OneWorld’s Seattle and Bellevue teams will go headto-head in an old-school roller

IF YOU GO OneWorld Roller Derby 4Skate King 42301 140th Ave. N.E., Bellevue 46:30 p.m. June 10 4Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for ages 6-13, and children 5 and younger will be free.

derby game.

OneWorld Roller Derby was founded in Seattle in 2010 by

former Rat City Rollergirls skater Donna “The Hot Flash” Kay. Instead of forming an exclusively competitive league, Kay developed an instructional side to roller derby for those who were interested in derby, but who may not have the time to dedicate hours to practices or who were interested in the athletic aspect of the sport. Above all, Kay wanted roller derby to become an accessible sport that could be used to build players’ self-esteem See DERBY, Page B3

The Issaquah Press

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SPORTS

Page B4

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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Tastin’ n Racin’ enters its 16th year on Lake Sammamish

By Matt Carstens Issaquah Press reporter Event organizers are crossing their fingers and singing, “Rain, rain go away,” this week leading up to the 16th annual Tastin’ n Racin’ at Lake Sammamish State Park June 8-10.

Marketing Coordinator Craig Cooke, who has been with the festival since its inception in 1996, knows that weather is always a determining factor in how the weekend goes.

“You figure that weather’s always going to be chancy,” Cooke said. “And if luck is on your side you’ll have decent weather during the event, because weather is always key to outdoor festivals.”

Tastin’ n Racin’ was designed to showcase hydroplane racing on Lake Sammamish, but also features quite a bit of land-based entertainment — everything from food booths and rides to a music stage and a beer garden.

For Cooke, his dreams came true when he was able to introduce Lake Sammamish to his favorite boats.

“When we started the event I always wanted to dump a couple of the old unlimiteds on the water,” Cooke said.

Unlimited hydroplanes are the boats that are used in Seafair.

They use turbine engines from Vietnam War-era helicopters. The engines allow the hydroplanes to keep up their high speed in turns, as opposed to the old World War II airplane engines that used to be deployed.

The hydroplanes that will be featured this year are known as Grand Prix hydroplanes. They are slightly smaller, and slightly slower, but make up for it in the noise department.

“The cool thing about them is that they are loud,” Cooke said.

“That’s why you call Lake Sammamish State Park ‘Thunder Valley’ during our weekend, because you can hear those boats from miles away.”

The proximity of the boats to the shore also makes Lake Sammamish a thrilling venue.

“When you get six of those Grand Prix coming down the starting line, you feel them,” Cooke said. “If the wind is just

IF YOU GO Tastin’ n Racin’ 49 a.m. to 7 p.m., June 9 49 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 10 4MGD Hydro Happy Hour: June 8, 4-8 p.m. — free admission 4Lake Sammamish State Park 2000 N.W. Sammamish Road 4General Admission: $10 5 years and younger: free Juniors (ages 6-16) and seniors (65 and older): $5 4Learn more and purchase tickets at http://tastinracin.com.

right, some of the mist will actually make it to the shore.”

This year, Tastin’ n Racin’ will feature the Mastercraft X-Treme Wakeboard Exhibition for the first time. Cooke said he is excited to see what they bring to the already jam-packed weekend.

“They’re just wild men on water with their flips and stuff like that,” Cooke said. “And they’ll be very close to the shore. It’ll be an awesome sight to see that. I’m anxious to see what that looks like.”

Proceeds from the event will benefit the H.I.D.R.O.S. Inc. and the Issaquah Explorers, which bring awareness to recreational activities in the Issaquah area.

With the state park system losing funding, the parks are dependent on Discover Pass sales. Discover Passes will be available at a discounted price of $20 instead of the usual $30.

“The state park is really trying to get people to come enjoy the park,” Cooke said. “And it’s looking beautiful. They really got that place looking nice and they’re just hoping to inspire people to make the park a monthly visit for picnics and things like that.

“So we like putting on our show and hopefully people are impressed and enjoy the family outing, and want to come back for weekends in July and August and September and enjoy the state park.”

Skyline High School sophomore Kara Alden wrestles Dec. 1, 2011, in a match against a wrestler from Issaquah High School.

Skyline sophomore wrestles her way to state

By Matt Carstens Issaquah Press reporter

Matt Carstens: 392-6434, ext. 236, or ipsports@isspress.com. Comment at www. issaquahpress.com.

Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park hosts bike festival June 9 See bike demos and races, and shop vendors June 9 at the Evergreen Mountain Bike Festival at Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park in Issaquah.

The free event is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There will be races and competitions; free bike demos all day; fun events for kids, both on and off bikes, including prizes and a special kids raffle; all the big bike brands with the latest bikes and gear for guests to check out; a beer garden with beer available for sale from the Snoqualmie Brewery; and food

available for sale from local vendors.

The competition schedule is: 48-10 a.m. — “Duthie Dash” Cross Country Time Trial Race, courtesy of Project 529 410:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — “Dueling on Deuces” Dual Slalom Race (Pro/Open & Amateur classes) 41:30-3:30 p.m. — Jump-Off Huck Contest courtesy of Go Huck Yourself (Pro/Open & Amateur classes) Learn more about the Evergreen Mountain Bike Festival at www.evergreenmtbfestival.com.

Father son duo post victories at swimming championships

a swimming scholarship.

Willy Gevers came home with age-group gold medals in the 50 and 100 breast stroke and has recorded the fourth-fastest age-group times in those events in Pacific Northwest Association history. They were also the only father-son duo at the meet and the high point scorers in the family division.

“It was a real treat to race with my son, and a family memory I’ll never forget,” Willy Gevers said.

The Gevers family are longtime Issaquah residents, with their four children all competing in swimming and track at Issaquah High School.

Father and son duo Willy and Gentry Gevers recently competed in the Pacific Northwest Association Masters Regional Swimming Championships at the King County Aquatic Center and each came home with first place finishes.

The younger Gevers, Gentry, won gold medals in the 100-yard back (55.69), the 100-yard butterfly (55.31), and the 50-yard back (25.73). Gentry was a four-year star at Issaquah High School, going to state in four events in his senior year. He will attend Concordia College in California on

PHOTOS BY DEBBIE ALDEN

Alden had no qualms wearing a dress for a Christmas party, even though her arms were covered in bruises from wrestling.

For Skyline High School sophomore Kara Alden, it’s not that she’s a girl participating in a sport dominated by guys or that she’s the only female on a male wrestling team. Rather, it’s the fact that her desire to compete and her passion for the sport have allowed her to succeed despite a lack of experience and physical disadvantages.

“Wrestling guys is harder as a girl since we don’t have as much muscle mass as they do,” Kara said. “You have to have really perfected technique to do well against a guy.”

On a daily basis and throughout the season, she faces adversity in the form of her male opponents. At practice and during dual meets, her options are often limited to wrestling just guys, unless it’s the postseason.

But for Kara, the option to wrestle both guys and girls presents a unique catch-22. Facing girls means a higher probability of winning. Wrestling guys, however, is where she can gain the most experience and learn technical moves she wouldn’t otherwise be afforded.

Although her win-loss record in two years of competition tells one story, her wrestling ability and results reveal another.

In two years of wrestling she has advanced to the state tourna-

ment twice, finishing sixth overall in her division at the Mat Classic XXIV earlier this year.

Nervous because she’d be the only girl, Kara convinced a female friend to join the team during her freshman year. Now a sophomore, she has accepted the “only” position and so have her teammates and coaches.

“My teammates are very supportive. We’re all in the same boat together, go through the same issues and deal with the same problems,” she said. “To them, I’m not a girl, I’m just another wrestler, another teammate.”

In his nine years as head wrestling coach at Skyline, Gus Kiss said he isn’t surprised that girls come out for the team and he doesn’t believe in preferential treatment.

“We’ve had female wrestlers in the past,” Kiss said. “We say as soon as you walk into the room, ‘You’re on the team and we treat you no differently.’”

Kara’s parents, Marcus and Debbie Alden, were caught a little off-guard by her decision to wrestle, but they agree that the team structure and camaraderie fit her well, and now they can’t imagine her doing anything else.

Though her parents can’t attend every match, they go to as many as they can and especially the all-girl See WRESTLER, Page B5

Fourth-grader shreds competition on slopes

By Matt Carstens Issaquah Press reporter Isabella Gomez is just a normal fourth-grader. Just your average, everyday, run-of-themill, bilingual, award-winning, national snowboarding champion fourth-grader.

Growing up in Minnesota, Gomez was involved in a multitude of sports, including hockey, soccer and skateboarding. Just after starting kindergarten, Isabella and her father Alex were looking for a winter sport and decided to give the slopes a try.

Despite Minneapolis’ reputation for freezing temperatures, the flat terrain isn’t ideal for skiing or snowboarding. Most of the snow is manmade and the runs consist of smaller hills.

“It’s quite amazing how many

ON THE WEB Watch Isabella Gomez snowboard at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JxRwWPmTGOw.

good snowboarders come from that region because there’s so much repetition,” Alex said. “There aren’t really any chairlifts, it’s all tow ropes, so they just go up and down, up, down, up, down. So the repetition gives them a lot more runs rather than going on the chairlift.”

Bringing home the hardware After learning the ropes for a year, Isabella got her first taste See SNOWBOARDER, Page B5

CONTRIBUTED

Isabella Gomez hits a jump with the Oregon Cascades in the distance in February during the USA Snowboard Association Slope Style Competition at Timberline Mount Hood.