Threesome headed to state tourney
May 14, 2013
The two-day District 2 Tournament, at the par 72 Coyote Creek at Willows Run golf course May 7, was a success for both Issaquah and Skyline high school golfers.
Going into the 18th hole the second day, Issaquah High School sophomore Mersadie Tallman was leading by one stroke, before a double bogey bumped her final score to 157 for third place and a ticket to the girls golf 4A State Championship.
“It was good. I’m not disappointed, but I would have liked to have done better on the last hole,” Tallman said. “I had a great time, and it was nice out here and I got to miss school.”
Issaquah finishes 9 strokes short of Eastlake
April 9, 2013
The weather wasn’t fooling around April 1 when the sun gleamed above the Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course as the Issaquah High School girls golf team hosted the Eastlake Wolves.
“The season has been really good and the weather has been really good, too, which has helped,” Issaquah head coach Tom Bakamus said. “I am really proud of the girls. They shot really well today. I know they were a little scared of this team, but they knew what they were up against and they performed really well under pressure.”
By Lillian O’Rorke
Mersadie Tallman, Issaquah High School sophomore, eyes her ninth-hole drive during the April 1 match against Eastlake.
Issaquah’s No. 1, sophomore Mersadie Tallman, finished first that day with 37 strokes on the par 36. Eastlake’s top three golfers, all tying for second place with 39s across the board, however, countered her lead. The Wolves won, 214-223.
Freshman Zachary Overstreet leads Eagles with third at state
July 31, 2012
Zach Overstreet (right), 15, of Issaquah High School, watches his golf ball on the first hole July 25 during the first round of the WJGA District 2 championship at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent. Taylor Swingle (left), 15, of Issaquah High School, follows through on his tee shot on the first hole. By Greg Farrar
Going into the final round July 27 of the Washington Junior Golf Association, Zachary Overstreet was leading the 14-15 boys division by two strokes.
This was the Issaquah High School freshman’s fourth appearance at state but the first time he made it out of the second-day elimination round.
“Going into the third day was an accomplishment itself,” he said. “But being the leader the third day was shocking and exciting at the same time. It felt really good.”
Out of the gate July 25 at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Overstreet was pulling ahead with a birdie on the third hole. Having finished the first nine with three bogies he was able to make up for it by birdying holes No. 15-17 and finish the round in first place at 72 strokes.
When he finished the second round July 26 at Renton’s Fairwood Golf and Country Club he still had a tight grasp on the lead after shooting 75. Even though Overstreet still has not tried out for his new school’s team, he was walking both courses with an Issaquah Eagles golf bag.
Issaquah High School golfers stand with Mersadie Tallman at state
May 29, 2012
For Mersadie Tallman, going to state isn’t just about representing the Issaquah High School Eagles; it’s also about representing the Tallmans.
Her older sister Brittany, who is currently playing for the University of Washington, won the 3A state championship in 2005 and 2007.
Now that Issaquah has moved to 4A, the competition has risen.
“Mersadie did pretty well,” Issaquah head coach Tom Bakamus said. “She followed in her sister’s footsteps, which is pretty tough. She probably had a lot of pressure to live up to that.”
Issaquah High School golfers on par to raise awareness of rare disease
May 22, 2012
Calvin sits with his mom Trisha Bertsch after the Cheryl’s Garden Angels finished their gift basket project. By Krista Mui
It was last fall when Issaquah High School student Weston Mui first met his neighbor Calvin Bertsch, a 4-year-old who has mitochondrial disease.
The illness results from mitochondria failure and delays development growth, and can cause strokes, seizures, heart and kidney problems, and immune- system failures among children.
Inspired to raise support and awareness for the disease, Mui and his longtime friend Bryan Jung, also an IHS student, collaborated to organize a golf tournament to benefit the Northwest Mitochondrial Research Guild. It was a natural for the two teens, who play on the high school’s varsity golf team.
The tournament is at 1 p.m. June 2 at the Willows Run Par 3 Course in Redmond. A full 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the guild.
“Bryan and I wanted to combine our passion of golf with our desire to help Calvin and other children with this disease,” Mui said. “We hope to help raise awareness about it to raise funds for mitochondrial research.”
Skyline girls golf team finds silver lining in loss to Redmond
April 24, 2012
While it was not a winning day for Skyline High School’s girls golf team, or the weather, last week it was a victory for Layla Hiramoto.
Ignoring the rain that poured down on her and everyone else playing the 2,731-yard course at the Bear Creek Country Club in Woodinville on April 19, Hiramoto shot a 53. With an improvement of six shots, the No. 5 varsity golfer earned her season best and the top score of the day for Skyline.
“It took a lot of mental toughness to play well in that weather,” Skyline’s head coach Erik Hanson said. “She got it done. She looked beyond the weather and didn’t make excuses.”
Hanson was thrilled. Hiramoto had been struggling with her putting, he said, so much that in one match she used two different putters.
“For me, as a coach, I am always happy to see a kid work to improve their weakness,” he said.
Retiring Sports Editor Bob Taylor shares milestones from a long career on the sidelines
March 6, 2012
Kasen Williams, then-Skyline High School senior, makes his winning triple-jump leap of 45 feet, 5 1/2 inches, during the KingCo track and field championships May 13, 2011, at Juanita High School. File
I kind of know how Bill Gates must have felt when he made his first million. When I joined The Issaquah Press news staff May 22, 2000, I struck it rich, too!
Five days after being hired at The Press I covered my first Issaquah School District state championship team. Actually, it was inevitable that an Issaquah team would win when Issaquah and Skyline met for the 3A state baseball title in Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium. Issaquah won 5-3.
Tallman earns No. 2 spot at PNGA championship
August 30, 2011
Brittany Tallman, of Issaquah, finished second Aug. 28 in the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at The Links at Moses Pointe in Moses Lake.
Tallman, a former high-school state champion golfer at Issaquah, had a two-day total of 1-over par 145. She finished just two strokes behind Kate Hildahl, of Tualatin, Ore.
Now a member of the University of Washington women’s golf team, Tallman shot the best single round of the championship Aug. 28 with an impressive 4-under par 68.
Tallman’s younger sister Mersadie, who will be a freshman at Issaquah High this fall, finished in a tie for 17th with a 165 total. Laura Risher, of Issaquah, was 24th at 169.
Lakeside, Cannons baseball teams head to state
July 28, 2011
NEW — 11:30 a.m. July 28, 2011
The Lakeside Recovery U-17 baseball team and the Renton Cannons are headed for the AA state American Legion baseball tournament Aug. 2-6 in Spokane.
Both teams were victorious Wednesday in second-round district tournament games at Bannerwood Park.
Lakeside, composed mostly of Issaquah and Newport high schools’ players, and the Cannons, composed of Liberty High players, meet at 4 p.m. Thursday in the district championship round.
Lakeside defeated Bellevue Legion 15-5 on Tuesday and edged Woodinville 4-3 on Wednesday.
Local teens fare well in junior golf district tourney
July 26, 2011
Sammamish’s R.P. McCoy watches his drive from the first tee box. By Christopher Huber
The Washington Junior Golf Association District 2 Championship tournament didn’t go quite as well as Li Wang would have hoped.
Over the two weeks prior, the incoming Eastlake High School junior had placed sixth and tied for fifth in two national American Junior Golf Association tournaments in Texas and Oregon and was ready to take this one by storm on the not-so-difficult Mount Si Golf Course.
After shooting a disappointing plus-4 76 on July 19, Wang managed to shoot on par (72) in the second round. But it wasn’t quite enough to take the title in his age group — the 16- and 17-year-olds.
