The spring season provided a bountiful harvest of honors and accolades for high school teams and individual athletes in the area.
In both the Class 3A and Class 2A ranks, accomplishments were many and varied at Enumclaw, Bonney Lake, White River and Sumner.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights.
ENUMCLAW FASTPITCH
The squad posted a perfect 14-0 mark during league play and eventually battled to the final contest, falling to Meadowdale in a battle for the state championship.
The final tally showed 21 victories against only two defeats. The regular season loss was a nonleague defeat at the hands of Tahoma High, a team that went 18-0 in league and advanced to the Class 4A state tournament.
But this season’s success only tells part of the story. The team’s graduating seniors were part of a program that – through the course of four seasons – compiled a South Puget Sound League 3A record of 55-2, scoring 622 runs while allowing just 97.
On a team loaded with talent, the player shining the brightest was Quinn Breidenbach, who will take her game to the University of Massachusetts. She was a first-team all-league selection as a freshman, took the league’s Most Valuable Pitcher award the next three years and capped her junior campaign by being named the Washington Gatorade Player of the Year.
Hope for the future? Leading a bevy of underclassmen is Madelyn Carlson. The junior is a three-time, first-team, all-league performer. As a pitcher, she has a career record of 18-0; at the plate, the Whitworth College signee hit better than .500 this season.
ENUMCLAW GIRLS TRACK
As if one state title isn’t enough, the Enumclaw High program sprinted its way to a pair of championships. The quartet of Taylor Tandecki, Josie Neu, Nikole Schroeder and Taliah Olson won the 4×100 relay; Aleea Gwerder joining Tandecki, Neu and Olson to capture the 4×400 title.
ENUMCLAW WATER POLO
Another year, another state placing for the Hornets.
This year’s EHS squad capped an undefeated (10-0) league season by advancing through regionals and earning a berth in the state tournament. At state, the Hornets placed seventh.
The bigger story is the continued run of success under coaches Bob Averill and Ken DeMan. Just looking at recent history, the program was third at the 2012 state tourney, 11th in 2013, eighth in 2014 and fourth a year ago.
