A8
FRIDAY
March 12, 2021
SeasideSignal.com
Parker leads Seaside cross-country, choir
By GARY HENLEY
Seaside Signal
If Kimber Parker’s life
was an album, the title track
would be something like
“Seeking Seaside.”
It’s the perfect place,
right now, for Parker and
her husband, Jesse. The
Parkers moved to Seaside in
2017, when she landed a job
as choir teacher at the high
school.
Music has been a big part
of Parker’s life, along with
running. And it’s all come
together in Seaside, where
Parker is also the new
cross-country coach for the
Seagulls.
Kimber Parker, Seaside
High School’s choir teacher,
is also their new co-coach in
cross-country.
Running and music,
music and running. Parker
grew up with both, and now
— just four years out of col-
lege — she is teaching teen-
agers both subjects. Her
dream jobs come true.
“I come from a running
family,” she said. “I’ve been
running since I was old
enough to walk.”
She ran for coach Billy
Snow at Sweet Home High
School, just east of Corval-
lis, where the family moved
from Los Angeles when
Parker was 12.
As an athlete at Sweet
Home, Parker said, “One of
my fondest memories was
running the 3-Course Chal-
lenge,” the annual event at
Camp Rilea, hosted by the
Gulls. “I always associated
Seaside with a really fun
race.”
Parker and co-coach
Brett Duer — who built a
strong cross-country pro-
gram at Neah-Kah-Nie
— took over the coach-
ing duties in Seaside after
Frank Januik stepped down
last spring.
Kimber Parker
Kimber Parker, Seaside High School’s choir teacher, is also
their new co-coach in cross-country.
Godogredo Vasquez/Albany Democrat-Herald
Kimber Parker in a 2016 Oregon State University production of “Kiss Me, Kate.”
The Gulls have a small
team this season — just
seven runners — but it’s a
good year to break in a new
coach and a new school, and
possibly a new course.
“We’re working out at
the new campus, which is
really awesome,” Parker
said. “There’s some really
nice hills here, so we’re get-
ting a lot of hill workouts.
There’s still a lot of con-
struction going on, so we
haven’t taken full advan-
tage of the trails. Hopefully,
we’ll get to this fall. We’d
like to eventually have a 5K
course up there.”
That’s the outside part of
the new campus.
Inside, for Parker, it’s
time for music — which
also runs in the family.
“My dad is an incred-
ible pianist — he can pick
up any instrument,” Parker
said. “I learned to play the
piano early, and started
singing in a choir. My first
year in choir was the sev-
enth grade. I decided then
that I wanted to be a choir
teacher.”
Along the way, Parker
sang at Oregon State Uni-
versity with Bella Voce
in chamber choir. Parker
taught men’s choir for
a term and was in opera
and musical theater. She
is active in music at her
church.
While Parker was also
working on her athletic
career as a triathlete at Ore-
gon State, she was well on
her way down the music
road.
Looking for work after
graduating, a job interview
for choir teacher brought
Parker to Seaside.
“My husband and I saw
that Seaside had a job open-
ing,” she said. “We thought,
‘Seaside’s fun, let’s just go
for the interview and spend
the day.’ (Principal) Jeff
Roberts offered me the job
the next day. We thought
about it, and decided it was
the best move for us. Jeff
was ultra helpful. He said
he really wanted us as part
of their school community.
Rzewnicki runs in Pac-12 championship
NEIL BRANSON
For Seaside Signal
Bradley
Rzewnicki
became the first runner
from Seaside High School
to compete in the Pac-12
cross-country champion-
ships, held last Friday on a
blustery day at Chambers
Creek Park, south of Seat-
tle, for the COVID-delayed
championship event.
Rzewnicki was the indi-
vidual state 4A cross-coun-
try champion in 2015, lead-
ing Seaside to the team
title. Rzewnicki competed
for Gonzaga University for
three years.
After three years he
decided it was time for a
change. Though he enjoyed
his team at Gonzaga, cold
winters made for challeng-
ing training. After due con-
sideration, he entered his
name in the transfer por-
tal and went looking for
another university.
Several schools wanted
Rzewnicki to join their
squads, most notably the
University of Nebraska,
where he would be jump-
ing from the icebox to the
freezer, and the University
of Arizona. He chose the
warmth.
At
Arizona,
Rze-
wnicki encountered what
he described as “an insane
semester trying to navi-
gate college athletics in this
time (COVID)” and “my
coaches are now gone,”
with the head coach retir-
ing and the assistant not
returning.
The plus side, five-time
Olympian Bernard Lagat
stepped in as the interim
coach. After an easy 5K
time trial of 15 minutes and
35 seconds Rzewnicki said,
“I haven’t been this excited
about running in quite some
time.”
Following the time trial,
Rzewnicki placed third for
Arizona at the Dave Mur-
ray Invitational, running
the challenging 8K course
in 25:48.7.
The Pac-12 had three
teams ranked in the top nine
nationally (Stanford, Wash-
ington, Colorado) so there
was no doubt the race was
going to be fast as teams
fought for the conference
title and the opportunity
to compete in the National
Championships on March
15 in Oklahoma.
Rzewnicki
got
out
decently, yet could not hold
a strong pace. He finished
66th in 26:06.
His coming to me and ask-
ing what we needed was so
reassuring.”
And now Parker teaches
choir for both Seaside mid-
dle and high school students.
The choir numbers at the
high school are smaller this
year — 40 students, down
from 65 — most likely
because of more online
schooling.
“We go back for in-per-
son on March 16, but we
won’t be using our brand
new choir room,” Parker
said, “so we’ll be singing
in the auxiliary gym, which
has ample spacing between
singers,” along with good
acoustics.
Meanwhile,
Parker’s
husband works at the mid-
dle school, is head life-
guard for Cannon Beach in
the summer and volunteers
with the Cannon Beach fire
department.
Both love the outdoors,
and Parker will love it even
more as the Gulls get deeper
into the cross-country and
track seasons.
The view from the new
track is “gorgeous,” Parker
said. “If you run count-
er-clockwise around the
track, it’s the most beauti-
ful curve, and it feels like
you’re running straight off
a cliff towards the ocean.
It’s a million-dollar view up
here.”
The rest of her family
remains in the Willamette
Valley.
“My parents (Scott and
Miriam Swanson) bought a
small weekly newspaper in
Sweet Home,” said Parker,
explaining the reason for
the move from Los Ange-
les to Oregon. “My dad was
a journalism professor, and
now runs two weekly news-
papers in the Willamette
Valley. I grew up in a news-
paper office.”
Warrenton defeats
Seaside in volleyball
Seaside Signal
Warrenton
outlasted
Seaside in a lengthy non-
league volleyball match
last Saturday at Warrenton,
23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 19-25,
15-8.
The Warriors held a
2-to-1 lead in sets before
the Gulls won Game 4 to
force a fifth set.
After losses to Seaside
every year since 2016, War-
renton won Game 5, 15-8,
improving to 2-0 in the first
of seven home matches in
the shortened season.
In their first victory over
the Gulls since 2015, War-
renton’s Avyree Miethe
pounded out 16 kills to go
with 29 digs and five saves.
Teammate Mia McFad-
den added nine kills and
four ace serves to lead
the offense while Brenna
Bemus had a team-high five
of Warrenton’s 13 aces.
Jaime Annat had 18
assists and Bemus finished
with 10 assists and nine
digs.
The Gulls were set to
play Thursday at Banks.