Busy weekend for Ballard student-athletes

By Bucky Beaver

Wrestling
The Ballard High School team competed at Issaquah High School for the Kingco Championships Friday and Saturday. Senior Miles Smalls took the tournament by storm and won the 182 pound weight class. He will advance to the district tournament. Also advancing are Seniors Matt Kelly who took 3rd and Dylan Spence who took sixth and will be an alternate. Ballard ended up in 7th place in the tournament. Seniors Kayla Laferty who took 3rd and Maddie Young who took 6th the KingCo Girls Wrestling Tournament also held over the weekend! Kayla will advance to the Regional Tournament this weekend in Bellingham.

Swimming
Ballard competed in the combined 4A, 3A, and 2A Kingco championships at Husky Pool Friday and Saturday. Ballard finished 14th place out of 18 teams. Senior Caleb Jaeger of Ballard finished in 3rd place 0.03 seconds out of 2nd. He will advance to the district competition.

Gymnastics
The Ballard gymnastics team competed in the KingCo 4A championships Friday and Saturday at Roosevelt High School. Ballard finished in 5th place out of 11 teams competing. The top four teams advance to districts so the Ballard team did not advance. However, seven competitors advanced as individuals! Lauren Lee placed 9th in the all-around competition.

Cheer
The Ballard High School traveled to Comcast Arena in Everett Saturday to compete in the State Cheerleading competition. The Ballard Cheer squad did great finishing in second place in the 4A division. Congrats girls!

Girls Basketball (5-10 conference, 6-14 overall)
The Lady Beavers ended the season travelling to Bothell High School Saturday afternoon. The Beavers needed a win couple with a Garfield loss to send them to the playoffs for the first time in four years. Although Garfield won, thus eliminating the Beavers, the Beavers delivered on their end with a decisive 57 to 35 victory. The Beavers dominated the boards and had a season low 8 turnovers. The Beavers were led in scoring by sophomores Imani Bender with 15 points and 6 rebounds and Beverly Verduin who added 11 points and 3 assists. Junior Samantha Hall collected 10 rebounds. The Lady Beavers double their victories from last season and had the most victories in the last four seasons. The Beavers, who started a freshman and four sophomores towards the end of the season, will be back next year to continue building on the foundation they set this year. (Photo of Imani Bender courtesy Alan Russo and BHS Athletics.)

Boys Basketball (8-7 conference, 10-10 overall)
The boys finished the evening at Bothell as well. The game would determine who would be the third place seed from the Crown division of Kingco.

Ballard was never behind in the game jumping to as much as a 20 point led in the first half behind some hot shooting and good ball movement. Bothell got the score within 10 points early in the fourth quarter but Ballard pulled away for a 74 to 58 victory. Ballard was led by juniors Johnny Verduin with 21 points and 13 rebounds and Nate Rauda who had a career high 14 points and 5 rebounds. Senior Brad Baker added 11 points and 4 assists. Ballard opens Kingco tournament play against Redmond at Redmond on Tuesday night at 7:30. The Kingco tournament bracket can be found here. (Photo of Nate Rauda courtesy Ed Tanaka and BHS Athletics.)

GO BEAVERS!