7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017
• 2 LOCATIONS •
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Cannon Beach
256 N. Hemlock
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OVER 50 YEARS OF
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MEMORIES!
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SEASIDE WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS
Seaside boys set to defend the crown Small numbers,
still high hopes
for Seaside girls
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
D
efending state champions.
That’s a pretty nice
title to enter a season
with, as the Seaside boys bas-
ketball team will.
The Gulls certainly earned
it last year, winning 23 of 24
games, including their final
six, which included a 71-63
victory over Valley Catholic in
the state championship game.
Now comes the tough part
— keeping the title while
every team you play is trying
to take it away.
“We had a target on our
back all last year, from what
we had done the previous
year,” said Seaside coach Bill
Westerholm, entering his 20th
year. “We know (the target) is
going to be there. Teams are
going to come after us, because
we’re one of the teams that has
shown to be successful the last
five or six years and can com-
pete, year in and year out. It’s a
good position to be in.”
And keep in mind: Seaside
is still the best in the Cowapa
League, and for the last three
years, the best in the Cow-
apa League has ended up in
the state championship game.
So don’t be surprised to see
the Gulls right back in Forest
Grove playing for another state
title in March.
THE COWAPA
The toughest part for Sea-
side may be winning a league
title. It’s all downhill once they
get to the state tournament.
“Once again, it will be a
tough league,” Westerholm
said. “Valley Catholic has a lot
back — they’re going to be tall
and physical; Banks has some
of their big guns back, Dalton
Renne and Blake Gobel, and
they’ll be in the running for
one of the top spots in state.
“Tillamook finished strong
last year and they get most of
their team back. Scappoose has
some good athletes and lost
only two seniors. Astoria has
good height. We should be right
in the mix in league, and right in
the mix of the state playoff run.”
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
Seaside coach Bill Westerholm hopes to hold another state championship trophy come March.
SEASIDE BOYS BASKETBALL
Coach: Bill Westerholm, 20th year
2016-17: 23-1 (9-1 league)
Playoffs: State champions. Defeated Gladstone, North Bend, Valley
Catholic in state tournament.
All-league losses: Jackson Januik (MVP), Attikin Babb, Hunter
Thompson
All-league returners: Chase Januik, Jr.; Payton Westerholm, Jr.
THE GULLS
Seaside spent most of the
boys soccer season ranked No.
1 in the state, and most of the
football season ranked in the
top five. Most members of the
basketball team played one of
the two sports.
The Gulls came up short of
state championships in both,
which could serve as an inspi-
ration for basketball.
“They had a bit of disap-
pointment from not going as
far as they had hoped,” Wester-
holm said of the fall sports ath-
letes. “They all wanted to go a
little farther, but that may ben-
efit us this winter.”
First off, the Gulls will miss
last year’s seniors — Jackson
Januik, Attikin Babb, Hunter
Thompson and Otto Hoekstre.
But, the Gulls still have a
Januik (Chase), and a Thomp-
son (Duncan), with returners
who experienced last year’s
state title.
“Colton Carter is a natu-
ral leader,” Westerholm said.
“He’s a senior who hasn’t
played much varsity, but he
leads us in practice. Then we
have Payton (Westerholm)
and Chase — they know the
routine and played significant
roles on last year’s team.
“Payton is going to be the
point guard, and Chase is still
in the off-wing role. Then we
have Duncan Thompson, who
will move into a starting spot
at low-post. He can step out
and play the wing, too.
“Colton will be a low-post
who provides some toughness
and rebounding inside.”
The Gulls are not very big,
but they were the smallest
team in the state tournament
last year, so no worries.
Coach Westerholm said,
“Payton is 6-1, Chase 5-10,
Duncan 6-1, Ryan Hague is
almost 6-2 — he will be start-
ing at wing; Brayden John-
son is 6-foot, a sophomore
with good basketball skills;
Beau Johnson (So.) can shoot
it from the outside; Dylan
Meyer (Jr). has more of a big
frame, with a good mid-range
game; and Rafi Sibony is a
solid 5-11, can come in and
hit perimeter shots, with good
athleticism.”
Rounding out the roster are
seniors Ashton Boyd, Astor
Landwehr and Camdon Rit-
terby (6-3), in his first year of
organized basketball.
Januik, Thompson and
Westerholm are all juniors,
so the Gulls might as well
include their annual trip to
Forest Grove on the schedule.
“One thing I know is that
we’ll be able to score the bas-
ketball,” coach Westerholm
said. “Once we get every-
thing together, we’ll make a
good run at the league cham-
pionship, and make a run at
another state championship.”
Prediction: League cham-
pions, and another three-day
stay at the state tournament for
the Gulls.
Seaside swim team rebuilds, refills the pool
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
While Seaside will see
the return of a couple of
state-qualifying girls swim-
mers, the Gulls will have to
replace some high-powered
boys, including their entire
200-yard freestyle relay team.
Will Garvin, James Ken-
nedy, Luke Liljenwall and
Brad Rzewnicki played a big
role in helping Seaside to a
second-place team finish at
districts last year. But the Fab
Four has graduated, forcing a
quick rebuilding job for head
coach Shane Spell.
Daily Astorian
Kendy Lin is in the senior
year of a very successful
high school swimming ca-
reer at Seaside.
And rebuild they did.
From a total of 18 swim-
mers last year, to 34 this year.
While the Gulls have
restocked the pool, they will
have to wait before they can
use it, as a remodeling project
has closed Sunset Pool tem-
porarily. As a result, the entire
team has to hop on a bus four
times per week and travel to
either Nehalem or the Astoria
Aquatic Center for practices.
In the meantime, Sea-
side has “lots of young, new
swimmers who have been
working hard and having a
great attitude about hopping
on that bus each day,” Spell
said. “I’m pretty confident
we’ll have some big surprises
before the season is over.”
The first month of the sea-
son will be all road meets for
the Gulls, “and then every
Thursday in January we’ll be
at home,” Spell said. “We’re
looking forward to practicing
in our home pool, once the
Sunset Empire remodeling
project is complete.”
Currently, the team has
“more bus time than water
time, but we’re appreciative
of everyone who has made it
possible for us to get that prac-
tice time,” said Spell, refer-
ring to the Astoria Aquatic
Center, and Nehalem’s North
County Recreation District.
Seaside girls basketball
coach Mike Hawes doesn’t
pull any punches when
talking about the upcoming
season: “We’re going to be
thin, no doubt about it.”
Seaside’s best player
over the last four years,
their all-everything, is well
on her way to a promising
hoops career at Fresno State
University. Maddi Utti has
graduated, but life goes on
for the Lady Gulls.
“Obviously this is the
transition year without
Maddi, and there’s no way
that we can replicate all the
things that she did,” Hawes
said. “But at the same time,
these girls want to establish
their own identity.”
And establishing any
kind of identity in Cowapa
League girls basketball is
never easy.
THE COWAPA
“Banks will be good,
Astoria should be better, and
you never know what Valley
Catholic might have,” said
Hawes, while it’s hard to
imagine the Gulls not being
a part of the state tourna-
ment, which they’ve played
in every year for the past
four years.
Over that same time
span, Seaside has a league
record of 35-5.
“I’m sure there’s some
teams out there that would
happily like to get back at
us,” Hawes said.
THE LADY GULLS
Utti graduated from Sea-
side as the all-time team
leader in career points
(1,794), assists (504) and
steals (503), and season
record-holder in all three.
She will be impossible to
replace, and the Gulls can’t
THE SWIMMERS
Girls
Yaneli Aguilera, Jr.
Sierra Bailey, So.
Xcaret Bello, So.
Cailin Bennett, Jr.
Brooke Blankenhorn, Fr.
Maddy Brown, Jr.
Ashley Conrad, So.
Jacie Gregory, So.
Anna Huddleston, Jr.
Vanessa Hughes, Jr.
Kaisa Liljenwall, So.
Kendy Lin, Jr.
Kimberly Mella, Jr.
Tyler Miller, So.
Riley Mitchell, So.
Lola Paser-Johnson, Fr.
Key returners for the Gulls
this season include state qual-
ifier Kendy Lin in the girls’
200-yard freestyle, while Isa-
SEASIDE GIRLS
BASKETBALL
Coach: Mike Hawes, 2nd
year
2016-17: 20-5 (9-1 league)
Playoffs: Third place at
state. Defeated Cascade
and Marshfield, lost to
Sutherlin.
All-league losses: Maddi
Utti (MVP), Sydney Villegas
All-league returners: Bryre
Babbitt, Sr.; Jetta Ideue, Sr.
even begin to try.
“We still have some kids
who can shoot the ball, and
we’ve got some quickness,”
Hawes said. “We’ll just try
to play to our strengths. The
idea is to have some differ-
ent people who can han-
dle the ball. Whoever gets
the dang rebound — which
will be a challenge, because
we’re really short — we can
spread and go, and hope-
fully fire away. I’m as curi-
ous as anyone to see how
we’ll do.”
There’s still plenty of
varsity experience on the
roster, with seniors Bryre
Babbitt, Jetta Ideue and
Anesha Smart; and juniors
Annaka Garhofer and Emy
Kiser.
Junior Gretchen Hoek-
stre is dealing with a shoul-
der injury and hopes to
be back by January, while
junior Trinity Turner suf-
fered a recent knee injury,
and may be lost for the sea-
son, Hawes said.
Making the jump to var-
sity will be juniors Jessica
Angulo-Joli, Alyssa Goin
and Katie Zagata. Sopho-
more Ruby Davis rounds
out the roster.
“We’ve had some inju-
ries and sickness, so we
were running about 20 play-
ers,” Hawes said after two
weeks. “The numbers have
been challenging. It’s leav-
ing us pretty thin.”
Emily Philbrook, Fr.
Aviana Pierce, Fr.
Bella Samuelson, So.
Lisette Santiago, So.
Peyton Sims, Fr.
Kara Spell, So.
Anastasia Tarvin, So.
Boys
Dawson Blanchard, Sr.
Isaiah Collins, Sr.
Shawn Collins, Fr.
Leif DeWinter, Fr.
Henry Garvin, Fr.
Nick Konya, Jr.
Axel Martinez, Jr.
Lucas Nagle, Sr.
Joao Pedro Polles, Sr.
Chris Quashnick, Jr.
Josh Shipley, Jr.
iah Collins returns for the
boys, after swimming the lead
leg for the state qualifying
200-yard medley relay team.
S ERVING S EASIDE S INCE 1936
CELEBRATING
S
OVER 80 YEAR
E
D
SERVING SEASI
GO
SEAGULLS!
Good Luck
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We Wish You the Best this Season