Lynden Christian senior Sydney Terpstra may well be the happiest volleyball player in Whatcom County.
Sehome sophomores Dylan Hill and Lil Desler, and Lynden junior Sloan Dickson could well be the most surprised cross country runners.
In the first full week of local high school sports, those athletes found themselves grateful and enchanted by their good fortunes Saturday.
Terpstra, who missed her junior season with a torn ACL, was an ironic hero in LC’s classic 3-1 non-conference win over visiting Ferndale. The event matched teams that both endured the sadness of seeing long state tournament qualifying streaks ended last year.
“I’m feeling very strong this season,” said Terpstra, whose artful leaping dink scored the match point as LC (2-1 overall) beat Ferndale 25-15, 25-15, 23-25, 25-23. “I’ll never forget the day I was injured — Sept. 6, 2023, first game, third set. I was broken-hearted. We were sad as a team not to get to state, but nobody talks about it any more.”
Ever-hustling setter Ella Fritts, perhaps LC’s most experienced player despite being a junior, displayed her versatility with 36 assists, two blocks, eight digs and two aces.
“There definitely was a lot of emotion in losing our 20-year trophy streak at state,” said Fritts, who like new coach Dennis Janzen is excited over the potential of the Lyncs.
“I’m excited to see what this team can do,” said Janzen, who was enthusiastic that his team showed spunk despite losing to state playoff contender Cedar Park Christian 25-16, 27-25, 25-23 later Saturday at LC. Cedar Park also swept Ferndale in three sets.
Terpstra and Etta DeJong led the Lyncs with 10 kills against Ferndale. Sophomore Jocelyn Eshuis and junior Allison Wright had three blocks each, while Lyla Parriera had 21 digs and sophomore Eliana Meyer had four aces.
Ferndale, which will host LC Oct. 4 in a Northwest Conference league match, was led in kills by Lay Williams and sophomore Svetlana Baydak with 10 apiece. The Golden Eagles, whose 10-year 3A state qualifying streak ended last season, got 56 assists from Brooklyn Larrabee, 39 digs and 6 aces from Katrina Ferry, and 2.5 blocks from Amelie McKeon.
Ferndale coach Michaela Tanis said she was “proud of the team” for adjusting well mentally after the first two sets against LC.
In the first round of league play, five county teams pulled out wins as Ferndale beat 2023 state 1A fifth place Meridian, 25-10, 25-23, 31-29 in a classic third set; third-place state 2A trophy winner Lynden swept Squalicum 25-12, 25-7, 25-20; sixth-place state 1A trophy winner Nooksack Valley topped Oak Harbor 25-17, 25-18, 25-20; Sehome defeated Mount Baker 25-16, 25-10, 25-17; and LC beat Mount Vernon 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19.
Sehome coach Clayton Sin was excited by 22 aces, with nine by freshman Jillian Parfet in her varsity debut and six by Anya Winter. Other Sehome leaders were eight kills by junior captain Hayden Niewadomski, Leah Lockwood with four blocks; Makenna Andrews with five digs; junior captain Emmy Lee with 15 assists and freshman Taylor Turrell with 11 assists. Mount Baker had 10 digs by Kylee Bruland and 10 kills by Annalee Cohn.
LC’s Terpstra opened her season with 16 kills and seven digs and libero Parriera had 23 digs, while Eshuis had a remarkable seven blocks, Fritts had 45 assists and DeJong had 12 kills and seven digs.
Ferndale’s Baydak and Williams combined for 11 kills against a Meridian team that Tanis called “stellar.” Ferry had 11 digs while Larrabee had 19 assists.
Longtime Lynden coach Chris Elsner was encouraged by 18 kills, 12 digs and three aces by junior Rian Stephan, along with eight kills, nine digs and six aces by Finlay Parcher, 13 digs from Kamryn Hermanutz, and 29 assists from freshman Izzie Stephan.
Nooksack Valley had good numbers from Grace DeHoog with 12 kills; 10 kills and three blocks from Elizabeth DeLange; eight digs from Avery Juergens; and 27 assists from Payton Bartl.
Blaine fell to Lakewood 25-19, 25-23, 25-18, and Bellingham lost to Sedro-Woolley 28-26, 25-10, 25-19.
Blaine’s Kaitlin Harrington had 11 kills, 13 digs and three aces, while Teia Dube had 16 digs and Brie Smith had 14 digs and 19 assists.
Week 2 football roundup: Mariners finish strong in loss to defending 2A state champs
Cross Country
Sehome’s Hill and Desler and Lynden’s Dickson were the county winners in the season-opening Sehome Invitational on a 2-mile course in and around Civic Stadium. More than 1,500 boys and girls from more than 50 schools ran in eight class races.
Hill won the sophomore boys race in 10 minutes, 12.69 seconds (only in modern times have distance races been timed to the one-hundredth of a second). Desler took the sophomore girls race in 11:53.39. Dickson dominated the junior girls race in 11:49.60.
“This morning I wasn’t feeling all that great with a sore throat, but all glory to God, He pulled me through,” said Hill, who was 28th at state 2A last year as Sehome claimed its 12th state boys title since 2002. “This is my biggest win. I did surprise myself because I had to work off shin splints this summer.”
Desler was third at state 2A last year as Sehome claimed its third consecutive title and a record 13th title overall.
“I just wanted to do better than last year,” said Desler, who was second. “It’s a fun atmosphere, and I like seeing all the work I put in over the summer pay off.”
Both Sehome standouts hope to catch the eyes of college coaches. So does Dickson.
“I’m running cross country for the first time to get better at track, so I did surprise myself. I was not expecting to win.” said Dickson, who won the 800 meters at state 2A last spring. “My first cross country race was second last week at the Ellensburg Invitational.”
Dickson and Desler finished third and fourth overall by time. Lynden Christian’s Nickolas Luce was the only Whatcom County boy so high, with third at 9:57.80.
The winner and county placers (ribbon winners) in the Top Ten:
Senior Boys: 1. Otto Erhart, Shorewood, 9:48.51; 4. Sebastien Vahid, Sehome, 10:05.61; 5. Nick Gargan, Sehome, 10:06.50; 9. Skyler Gillham, Sehome, 10:17;85.
Senior Girls: 1. Sophia Bazzi, Holy Names Academy, 1:46.32; 6. Abby Rusk, Sehome, 12:05.04; 7. Zaya Smith, Bellingham, 12:07.01; 8. Sydney Harri, Sehome, 12:12.16.
Junior Boys: 1. Dylan Rowell, Anacortes, 9:47.48; 2. Nickolas Luce, LC, 9:57.80.
Junior Girls: 1. Sloan Dickson, Lynden, 11:49.60; 2. Logan Ignacio, Sehome, 12:01.26.
Sophomore Boys: 1. Dylan Hill, Sehome, 10:12.69; 2. Judson Berreth, Sehome, 10:16.16; 6. Reuben TeVelde, 10:28.40; 8. Baynes Machinski, Bellingham, 10:34.73; 9. Rush Taylor, Squalicum, 10:43.21.
Sophomore Girls: 1. Lil Desler, Sehome, 11:53.39; 2. Samantha Knipp, Sehome, 12:16.94; 5. Nora Alexander, Bellingham, 13:03.13; 8. Whitney Parnow, Sehome, 13:07.08; 9. Helen Buetow, Sehome, 13:11.36.
Freshman Boys: 1. Chase Koenigs, Arlington, 10:58.88; 4. Lucia Burley, Squalicum, 11:07.84; 5. Ezra Bubb, Sehome, 11:07.84; 6. Tarver May, Bellingham, 11:10:33; 8. Jack Stoddard, Bellingham, 11:17.26.
Freshman Girls: 1. Reed Atwood, South Whidbey, 12:18.54; 2. Kjirsten Ludeman, Sehome, 12:08.24; 8. Nora Seltz, Bellingham, 13:03.90; 10. Leah Wagner, Bellingham, 13:06.08.
Team Finishes (only three scored); Boys: 1. Cedar Park Christian’ 2. Shoreline; 3. Sehome. Girls: 1. Anacortes, 2. Sehome; 3. Arlington.
Overall Boys. 1. Rowell; 3. Luce; 7. Vahid; 8. Gargano. Overall Girls: 1. Bazzi; 3. Dickson; 4. Desler; 8. Ignacio; 9. Rusk.
Girls Soccer
Bellingham, Sehome and Lynden were the only county teams with 2-0 league records after the first two rounds of play in the 16-team NWC.
Sehome’s 13-1 scoring margin was the best, followed by Lynden’s 11-3 and Bellingham’s 8-0.
The other county teams with wins were Blaine, Ferndale, Lynden Christian and Squalicum. Still seeking a victory were Meridian, Mount Baker and Nooksack Valley.
Lynden’s Evelyn Saldivar had five goals and three assists. Meg Clark had two goals and Faith Van Brocklin had a goal in each game.
Sehome junior Keira Reeves had three goals to lead 11 different scorers. Bellingham’s Ivy Newell had three goals and Ella Morrow had two, while goalkeepers Uma Bachmeier and Ellen White were not scored on.
The first round scores: Lynden 6, Lakewood 0; Sehome 5, Meridian 0; Bellingham 5, Nooksack Valley 0; Squalicum 1, Ferndale 0; Anacortes 5, Mount Baker 1; Oak Harbor 6, Blaine 2; Sedro-Wooley 1, LC 0.
Freshman Siri Hoglin scored in Squalicum’s win. Faith Wilson-Bowman, assisted by Ari Woodin, scored Mount Baker’s first goal of the season.
The second-round scores: Sehome 8, Mount Baker 1; Lynden 5, Squalicum 3; Ferndale 1, Meridian 0; Bellingham 3, Sedro-Wooley 0; Lynden Christian 1, Mount Vernon 0; Blaine 2, Lakewood 0; Oak Harbor 4, Nooksack Valley 1.
Hoglin had two goals for Squalicum while Saldivar scored three for Lynden. Kayla Yun scored LC’s winning goal. Ferndale won on a goal by Kasey O’Niell with a corner kick assist by Josie McClellan and goalkeeper Jaiden O’Neill stopped a penalty kick.
Girls Swimming
Bellingham extended its dual-meet win streak to 10 with a 116-50 victory over Lynden to open the season, coach Matthew Buckmaster noted.
Bellingham swept every event, with a personal best in the 100 free by Jasmin Garcia of 1:03.70.
The winners: 200 medley relay: Bellingham 2:02.63 with Addy Hayes, Peyton Acord, Grace Sorensen and Iza Wilson. 200 free: Sorensen 2:03.34. 200 IM: Acord 2:34.82. 50 free: Dela Windrem 29.53. 100 fly: Sorensen 1:00.33; 100 free — Garcia 1:03.70. 500 free: Hayes 6:39.06. 200 free relay — Bellingham (Acord, Garcia,,Windrem,June Wilson 2:00.31. 100 back: Anika Holland 1:17.89. 100 breast: Acord 1:22.97. 400 free relay: Bellingham (Windrem, Sorensen, Fridette, Holland) 4:20.26.
Squalicum 73, Sedro-Wooley 59
The county winners: 200 medley relay: Squalicum (Truemper, Warolin, Ravitsky, Molina) 2:26.72. 200 free: Juliette Kahn (Mount Baker) 2:44.80.200 IM — Mars Molina (Sq) 2:59.14; 50 free: Hailey Ferrell (Blaine) 26.18. 100 fly: Fiona Hamai (Sq) 1:41.46. 100 free — Truemper 1:10.13; 500 free: Natalie Ravi sky (Sq) 8:06.99. 100 back — Molina 1:14.84. 100 breast: Ferrell 1:19.18. 400 free relay: Squalicum: (Truemper, Hamai, Ravitsky, Molina) 5:09.87.
Mount Vernon 120, Ferndale 39
Local winner: 200 IM: Nevaeh Kidd 2:39.70. Ferndale had 17 personal bests and finished in the top three in five events to make progress.
Boys Tennis
Bellingham and Sehome are 2-0 after the first two rounds.
Sehome 7, Ferndale 0. Sehome winners: Harley Kaiser, Zachary Chai, Justin Barras, Jae-Youn Lee, Christian Leon/Sean Lane, Andrew Mao/Enzo Lin, Joshua Friesen/Quinn Crocheron. Sehome 6, Anacortes 1. Winners: Kaiser, Chai, Barras, Lee, Lane/Lane, Ethan Kuzin/Grady Boudreaux.
Bellingham 7, Lynden 0. Winners: Nate Lyon, Caleb Imbach, Aaron Minter, Marqui Hinderman, Jacob Kuhn/Leo Kuhn, Taylor Watts/Colin Mannen, Kaiden Whitmore/Owen Bloom
Bellingham 5, Squalicum 2.
Winners: J. Kuhn, L. Kuhn, Colin West (Sq), Benjamin Ahn (Sq), Lyon/Imbach, Watts/Mannen, Whitmore/Bloom. Squalicum 7, Lakewood 0. Winners: Ethan Oscarson, Andy Trink, West, Ahn, Owen Slind/Christopher Le, Alvin Le/Noah Schmidt, Soheil Hildebrand.
Ferndale 6, Lakewood 1. Ferndale winners: Jonas Carpenter, Aaron Longwell, Mason Helt, Jack Wasilewski/Trey Bisson, two defaults. Oak Harbor 5, Lynden winners: Declan Hurley, Jack Van Kooten.
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