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Spikedom's inutterable truth:
?
By STEVE PATCH
Leo notwithstanding, the un-
Speakable happened again last
Weekend.
Indeed, folks could no more
them than beat 'em
four northern visitors
as "Ornsnadwiya" came to
OWn Saturday to defenda:h:a
crown in Shelton s lloll e ball
Coed Outdoor 4-on 4
,. ! Tournament at Lonn'i,l Y
Vat¢i te::rlaying big-man power and
mWise sophistication to turn
00omo-
P' ', --.andout Leo Blakley &
lab, a0mPany, the Port-Angeles-area
"ursome made it through the
l:3U -
-'" 12 team, all da aff
• ssin-le .... - Y air without a
--| ,b, sOatary setback.
j ..... ep: They never lost the
d:p day long," says Climber
_ .l ne.%.°ach Steve Beck, the tour-
rdaY Y long time director.
INDEED, DESPITE the ef-
frtcSo,°,f Blakley and the presence
"ege-calibre talents the likes
of Shelton's own Stephanie Beck
and Kandi Wiggins, the title de-
fense went pretty much according
to plan for the champs - Sequim's
Tom Baermann and Nancy Le-
Blanc, Port Townsend's Kiya
Sequoia and Port Angeles' Tom
Lotz.
They knocked off Piece Com-
munity College coach Clyde
Reise's fresh-from-nationals boys
and tourney veteran Becky Rags-
dale's "Serves You Right" contin-
gent in opening championship-
round action and then made short
work of ex-Climber Blakley's
team in the finale.
"Leo's team kinda got beat fair-
ly handily," says Beck. "But I was
surprised they got to the finals,
actually."
TO BE SURE, the comeback
performance of Leo and wife Beth
along with their teenaged son
Derek and veteran setter Carol
Coughlin was "the surprise of the
urnal
compete
i Don's memory...00 ,.,
racqueteers celebrated
of one of their own
when they hosted the
LUal Shelton Open Tennis
rnament under the commemo-
name of the Don Knudsen
Tournament.
Past champion felled by
in the off season, Knudsen
Well known in local tennis
for his love not only of the
those involved in it.
r of Sheltonians Wound up
divisional thrones this
Middle school teach-
Vernon and Dann Gag-
amed to beat Shelton's
and Olympia's Alan
m three sets in the men's
finale. Another Shelton
past champ Vera Sutton,
up second in mixed dou-
MEMORIAL TOURNEY
singles
Isson beat Drake Nicholson
6-2, 6-4.
Open doubles
Brian Hartley & Chris Madsen beat Jim
Branz & Ron Espedol 6-4, 6-4.
Mixed doubles
Sarah Borkowski & Brian Hartley beat
Vera Sutton & Steve Daniels 6-3, 6-1.
Women's B singles
Laurie Gielbelhaus beat Rebecca Law-
son by default.
Women's B doubles
Ainsley Walden & Connie Lorenz beat
Patty Ktlmer & Phyllis Lindsey (score unre-
ported).
Men's B singles
Paul Fleming beat Steve Thompson 7-6,
6-2.
Men's B doubles
Steve Daniels & Chris Madsen beat Den-
nis Karras & Charlie Gavigan 6-4, 6-3.
Men's C singles
Alan Martin beat John Vernon 6-0, 2-6,
6-3.
Men's C doubles
John Vernon & Dann Gagnon beat Alan
Martin & Andy Harlow 7-6, 5-7, 7-5.
Boys' 18 & under singles
Tim Fill beat Shane Fisher 6-2, 7-6.
Little League Photo
Courtesy of Eaton and Tennefoss Photography of Shelton
|OAT STORE of Mason County Little League: In
are Casey Magee, Cody Barnhart, Robert
Barnhart. Second row: Billy Hewitt, Bo Ti-
or McKay, Shannon Alvarez, David Fitzgerald
Uraham. Back: coaches Ray Putvin and Scott
Bill Hewitt and coach Dale Smith.
are Jacob Hill and Kyle Smith.
tournament," as Beck put it.
"Leo's team finished sixth in
the morning round," says the di-
rector. "Leo had sprained his
ankle, and it looked a little grim
for 'em.
"But when the tournament
'In reality
I think Leo
played some
of his best
volleyball
EVER.'
started those guys got serious.
And in reality I think Leo played
some of his best volleyball ever,
because he had to really focus on
doing things right instead of just
athletically."
A basketball standout at SHS
in the Eighties, the 6-3 Blakley
has been the local spike commun-
ity's acknowledged power leader
for years, adds Beck, who encour-
aged Leo and late-Seventies'
Climber Coughlin to join him on
the now-legendary Union City
Plumbing team that went on to
enjoy rec-league preeminence for
a decade here and in Olympia.
"AND I STILL put Leo as the
number-one slugger," says Beck,
referring to the prevailing spike
talent in Mason County. "He can
still hammer the ball hard.
"But what I really like about
Leo, besides his athleticism, is
he's a real gentleman on the
court."
Quick-tempered though he is
' not, adds Beck, L/0 'Is anytliig
but slow in all other respects.
"His reflexes still amaze
people," intones the Climber
coach. "Ya know, he'll block one
and then he'll turn and dig it up
when it's coming so fast. I mean,
the things you don't think about -
that just happen - still blow peo-
ple away all the time.
"Besides the raw power, that
pure athletic reaction time is
amazing."
SO WHAT DID Port Angeles'
inutterable "Omsnadwiya" have
over Leo's Team in Saturday's
finale?
"They had three weapons all
the time," says Beck. "The girls
hit a little bit better than the
Shelton girls; they had two guys
that were hitting the ball really
well, and the group not only hit
the ball hard but they ran some
option kinds of plays, ya know.
And nobody all day long could
pick up the defense on that."
Of course, not everybody got
the chance to try. The winner-
meets-winner format effectively
isolated the lower-bracket entries
- among them the team featuring
the aforementioned Climber all-
leaguers, Stephanie and Kandi,
along with another Beck off-
spring, Daniel, and Climber Class
of '97 football/baseball star Tim
Arndt.
STEPHANIE, THE '99 grad
fresh from a starring role in the
prestigious all-state tour that
played in three venues across
Washington recently, is soon to
jet off to New Mexico Highlands,
where she's accepted a locally un-
precedented full-ride scholarship
to play Division II volleyball.
And '98 grad Wiggins, like
Stephanie a withering hitter, is
bound for Central and the NAIA
spike program there after lan-
guishing on the bench as a fresh-
man at Lewis Clark College last
year.
Alas, though, neither college-
bound ex-Climber had much suc-
cess Saturday - frustrated as
they were by the vagaries of the
outdoor game and the added chal-
lenge presented by Saturday's un-
seasonably strong wind.
"IT NEVER QUIT - the whole
day long!" intones Coach Beck. "It
really did change the tempo of the
game, caused some funny things
to happen.
"And Stephanie's team never
actually showed any real talent,
anyway. They just goofed
(Please turn to page 24.)
Decathlon stunner:
Sells
soars
over
6,500
Soon-to-be collegiate decathlete
Doug Sells returned to his ten-
event forte for the first time in
three years last weekend and
promptly shot to the number-two
spot among high-school athletes
in the entire nation.
On a pace to break the all-time
U.S. high-school record of 7,359
points till subpar performances in
the final two events, the Universi-.
ty-of-Oregon-bound Highclimber
grad nonetheless finished the
British Columbia Provincial
Championships in Abbotsford,
BC, with a first-place total of
6,515 points - second most by any
American prepster in 1999.
THE LAST TIME the multi-
ple SHS recordholder and two-
time state shotput champion com-
peted in the decathlon - way back
in the summer following his
freshman year - he broke 1956
Olympian Des Koch's school
record with a total of 5,207
points. Last year brand-new grad
Scott Armstrong upped the all-
time Climber mark to 5,413 -
more than a thousand points shy
of Doug's total this past weekend.
En route, the 6-2, 195-pound
Sells registered fully five personal
bests, including a scintillating
10.8 in the 100 meters. Hand-
timed, the clocking moves him to
number two on the all-time
Climber list - behind the intrinsi-
cally superior 11.00 registered by
automatic timing by Scott
"Scooter" Craig back in 1985.
OTHER SELLS' PRs in Brit-
ish Columbia included a 20-11
leap in the long jump, a 5-11a
mark in the high jump, a 53.61
clocking in the 400 meters and a
14-1a mark in the pole vault.
The long jump and quarter-
mile efforts are the best by any
SHS athlete this year, and the
vault mark moves him into the
number-four spot on the all-time
Climber list.
Doug's other performances in-
cluded a 46-2 effort in the shot
put (collegiate 16-pound imple-
ment, not the 12- of prep competi-
tion), 132-8 in the (two-kilogram)
discus, 15.20 in the 42-inch high
hurdles (roughly equivalent to a
14.2 over the prep ranks' 39-inch
hurdles), 123-1 in the javelin and
5:30.04 in the 1500 meters.
ALAS, THE LATTER two
were rather poor, relatively
speaking, says Doug's dad, Climb-
er shotput coach John Sells.
Otherwise the '99 SHS grad
would have wound up tops among
all prepsters in America this year
and might well have threatened
the all-time U.S. high-school
mark as well.
All in all it was a most encour-
aging return to the sport, though,
added John, noting that Doug's
100-meter performance was espe-
cially significant and shows that
indeed he "has the speed to devel-
op into a good decathlete."
OUTDOOR SPIKE TOURNEY action Saturday on Loop Field finds Shelton's own
college-bound all-stater Stephanie Beck sprawling for a dig (near) after an earth.
shaking kill by teammate and fellow Climber grad Tim Arndt (top). Looking on in
both shots is Steph's older brother, Daniel Beck. Inset, top to bottom: Hometown
collegian Kandi Beck offers teammate Arndt some midmatch congratulatory skin;
the champs' 6-5 Tom Baermann pounds a winner, and hometown hammer Leo Blak-
ley blocks a shot off the fist of the "Beckster" - aka tourney director Steve Beck.
Umpire
tourney
on tap
Local rec softball's third an-
nual Umpires Invitational is this
weekend at MCRA on Johns
Prairie.
Set to start at 8 a.m. sharp
both Saturday and Sunday, this
year's donnybrook boasts a 24-
team field - a dozen squads in the
men's division and an equal share
in the coed.
Back to defend its title in the
latter, by the way, is Shelton's
own PCFCU contingent. Alas, the
men's two-time defending champ,
HairSmith out of Port Angeles, is
a no-show this time, reports tour-
ney director Phil Harraves.
ll,ursaay, July 29, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 23
Spikedom's inutterable truth:
?
By STEVE PATCH
Leo notwithstanding, the un-
Speakable happened again last
Weekend.
Indeed, folks could no more
them than beat 'em
four northern visitors
as "Ornsnadwiya" came to
OWn Saturday to defenda:h:a
crown in Shelton s lloll e ball
Coed Outdoor 4-on 4
,. ! Tournament at Lonn'i,l Y
Vat¢i te::rlaying big-man power and
mWise sophistication to turn
00omo-
P' ', --.andout Leo Blakley &
lab, a0mPany, the Port-Angeles-area
"ursome made it through the
l:3U -
-'" 12 team, all da aff
• ssin-le .... - Y air without a
--| ,b, sOatary setback.
j ..... ep: They never lost the
d:p day long," says Climber
_ .l ne.%.°ach Steve Beck, the tour-
rdaY Y long time director.
INDEED, DESPITE the ef-
frtcSo,°,f Blakley and the presence
"ege-calibre talents the likes
of Shelton's own Stephanie Beck
and Kandi Wiggins, the title de-
fense went pretty much according
to plan for the champs - Sequim's
Tom Baermann and Nancy Le-
Blanc, Port Townsend's Kiya
Sequoia and Port Angeles' Tom
Lotz.
They knocked off Piece Com-
munity College coach Clyde
Reise's fresh-from-nationals boys
and tourney veteran Becky Rags-
dale's "Serves You Right" contin-
gent in opening championship-
round action and then made short
work of ex-Climber Blakley's
team in the finale.
"Leo's team kinda got beat fair-
ly handily," says Beck. "But I was
surprised they got to the finals,
actually."
TO BE SURE, the comeback
performance of Leo and wife Beth
along with their teenaged son
Derek and veteran setter Carol
Coughlin was "the surprise of the
urnal
compete
i Don's memory...00 ,.,
racqueteers celebrated
of one of their own
when they hosted the
LUal Shelton Open Tennis
rnament under the commemo-
name of the Don Knudsen
Tournament.
Past champion felled by
in the off season, Knudsen
Well known in local tennis
for his love not only of the
those involved in it.
r of Sheltonians Wound up
divisional thrones this
Middle school teach-
Vernon and Dann Gag-
amed to beat Shelton's
and Olympia's Alan
m three sets in the men's
finale. Another Shelton
past champ Vera Sutton,
up second in mixed dou-
MEMORIAL TOURNEY
singles
Isson beat Drake Nicholson
6-2, 6-4.
Open doubles
Brian Hartley & Chris Madsen beat Jim
Branz & Ron Espedol 6-4, 6-4.
Mixed doubles
Sarah Borkowski & Brian Hartley beat
Vera Sutton & Steve Daniels 6-3, 6-1.
Women's B singles
Laurie Gielbelhaus beat Rebecca Law-
son by default.
Women's B doubles
Ainsley Walden & Connie Lorenz beat
Patty Ktlmer & Phyllis Lindsey (score unre-
ported).
Men's B singles
Paul Fleming beat Steve Thompson 7-6,
6-2.
Men's B doubles
Steve Daniels & Chris Madsen beat Den-
nis Karras & Charlie Gavigan 6-4, 6-3.
Men's C singles
Alan Martin beat John Vernon 6-0, 2-6,
6-3.
Men's C doubles
John Vernon & Dann Gagnon beat Alan
Martin & Andy Harlow 7-6, 5-7, 7-5.
Boys' 18 & under singles
Tim Fill beat Shane Fisher 6-2, 7-6.
Little League Photo
Courtesy of Eaton and Tennefoss Photography of Shelton
|OAT STORE of Mason County Little League: In
are Casey Magee, Cody Barnhart, Robert
Barnhart. Second row: Billy Hewitt, Bo Ti-
or McKay, Shannon Alvarez, David Fitzgerald
Uraham. Back: coaches Ray Putvin and Scott
Bill Hewitt and coach Dale Smith.
are Jacob Hill and Kyle Smith.
tournament," as Beck put it.
"Leo's team finished sixth in
the morning round," says the di-
rector. "Leo had sprained his
ankle, and it looked a little grim
for 'em.
"But when the tournament
'In reality
I think Leo
played some
of his best
volleyball
EVER.'
started those guys got serious.
And in reality I think Leo played
some of his best volleyball ever,
because he had to really focus on
doing things right instead of just
athletically."
A basketball standout at SHS
in the Eighties, the 6-3 Blakley
has been the local spike commun-
ity's acknowledged power leader
for years, adds Beck, who encour-
aged Leo and late-Seventies'
Climber Coughlin to join him on
the now-legendary Union City
Plumbing team that went on to
enjoy rec-league preeminence for
a decade here and in Olympia.
"AND I STILL put Leo as the
number-one slugger," says Beck,
referring to the prevailing spike
talent in Mason County. "He can
still hammer the ball hard.
"But what I really like about
Leo, besides his athleticism, is
he's a real gentleman on the
court."
Quick-tempered though he is
' not, adds Beck, L/0 'Is anytliig
but slow in all other respects.
"His reflexes still amaze
people," intones the Climber
coach. "Ya know, he'll block one
and then he'll turn and dig it up
when it's coming so fast. I mean,
the things you don't think about -
that just happen - still blow peo-
ple away all the time.
"Besides the raw power, that
pure athletic reaction time is
amazing."
SO WHAT DID Port Angeles'
inutterable "Omsnadwiya" have
over Leo's Team in Saturday's
finale?
"They had three weapons all
the time," says Beck. "The girls
hit a little bit better than the
Shelton girls; they had two guys
that were hitting the ball really
well, and the group not only hit
the ball hard but they ran some
option kinds of plays, ya know.
And nobody all day long could
pick up the defense on that."
Of course, not everybody got
the chance to try. The winner-
meets-winner format effectively
isolated the lower-bracket entries
- among them the team featuring
the aforementioned Climber all-
leaguers, Stephanie and Kandi,
along with another Beck off-
spring, Daniel, and Climber Class
of '97 football/baseball star Tim
Arndt.
STEPHANIE, THE '99 grad
fresh from a starring role in the
prestigious all-state tour that
played in three venues across
Washington recently, is soon to
jet off to New Mexico Highlands,
where she's accepted a locally un-
precedented full-ride scholarship
to play Division II volleyball.
And '98 grad Wiggins, like
Stephanie a withering hitter, is
bound for Central and the NAIA
spike program there after lan-
guishing on the bench as a fresh-
man at Lewis Clark College last
year.
Alas, though, neither college-
bound ex-Climber had much suc-
cess Saturday - frustrated as
they were by the vagaries of the
outdoor game and the added chal-
lenge presented by Saturday's un-
seasonably strong wind.
"IT NEVER QUIT - the whole
day long!" intones Coach Beck. "It
really did change the tempo of the
game, caused some funny things
to happen.
"And Stephanie's team never
actually showed any real talent,
anyway. They just goofed
(Please turn to page 24.)
Decathlon stunner:
Sells
soars
over
6,500
Soon-to-be collegiate decathlete
Doug Sells returned to his ten-
event forte for the first time in
three years last weekend and
promptly shot to the number-two
spot among high-school athletes
in the entire nation.
On a pace to break the all-time
U.S. high-school record of 7,359
points till subpar performances in
the final two events, the Universi-.
ty-of-Oregon-bound Highclimber
grad nonetheless finished the
British Columbia Provincial
Championships in Abbotsford,
BC, with a first-place total of
6,515 points - second most by any
American prepster in 1999.
THE LAST TIME the multi-
ple SHS recordholder and two-
time state shotput champion com-
peted in the decathlon - way back
in the summer following his
freshman year - he broke 1956
Olympian Des Koch's school
record with a total of 5,207
points. Last year brand-new grad
Scott Armstrong upped the all-
time Climber mark to 5,413 -
more than a thousand points shy
of Doug's total this past weekend.
En route, the 6-2, 195-pound
Sells registered fully five personal
bests, including a scintillating
10.8 in the 100 meters. Hand-
timed, the clocking moves him to
number two on the all-time
Climber list - behind the intrinsi-
cally superior 11.00 registered by
automatic timing by Scott
"Scooter" Craig back in 1985.
OTHER SELLS' PRs in Brit-
ish Columbia included a 20-11
leap in the long jump, a 5-11a
mark in the high jump, a 53.61
clocking in the 400 meters and a
14-1a mark in the pole vault.
The long jump and quarter-
mile efforts are the best by any
SHS athlete this year, and the
vault mark moves him into the
number-four spot on the all-time
Climber list.
Doug's other performances in-
cluded a 46-2 effort in the shot
put (collegiate 16-pound imple-
ment, not the 12- of prep competi-
tion), 132-8 in the (two-kilogram)
discus, 15.20 in the 42-inch high
hurdles (roughly equivalent to a
14.2 over the prep ranks' 39-inch
hurdles), 123-1 in the javelin and
5:30.04 in the 1500 meters.
ALAS, THE LATTER two
were rather poor, relatively
speaking, says Doug's dad, Climb-
er shotput coach John Sells.
Otherwise the '99 SHS grad
would have wound up tops among
all prepsters in America this year
and might well have threatened
the all-time U.S. high-school
mark as well.
All in all it was a most encour-
aging return to the sport, though,
added John, noting that Doug's
100-meter performance was espe-
cially significant and shows that
indeed he "has the speed to devel-
op into a good decathlete."
OUTDOOR SPIKE TOURNEY action Saturday on Loop Field finds Shelton's own
college-bound all-stater Stephanie Beck sprawling for a dig (near) after an earth.
shaking kill by teammate and fellow Climber grad Tim Arndt (top). Looking on in
both shots is Steph's older brother, Daniel Beck. Inset, top to bottom: Hometown
collegian Kandi Beck offers teammate Arndt some midmatch congratulatory skin;
the champs' 6-5 Tom Baermann pounds a winner, and hometown hammer Leo Blak-
ley blocks a shot off the fist of the "Beckster" - aka tourney director Steve Beck.
Umpire
tourney
on tap
Local rec softball's third an-
nual Umpires Invitational is this
weekend at MCRA on Johns
Prairie.
Set to start at 8 a.m. sharp
both Saturday and Sunday, this
year's donnybrook boasts a 24-
team field - a dozen squads in the
men's division and an equal share
in the coed.
Back to defend its title in the
latter, by the way, is Shelton's
own PCFCU contingent. Alas, the
men's two-time defending champ,
HairSmith out of Port Angeles, is
a no-show this time, reports tour-
ney director Phil Harraves.
ll,ursaay, July 29, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 23