Winter Sports Night Nov. 21

Ballard Athletics and the Athletic Booster Club are hosting an information night for Winter Sports parents/guardians at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21 in the Gym.

Hear more about the Winter Sports season from Athletic Director Eric Ensign, learn about how the Athletic Booster Club supports Beaver Athletics, and meet Athletic Trainer Loka Murphy.

Boys and Girls Basketball, Girls Bowling, and Boys and Girls Wrestling teams will have breakout sessions following the introductory remarks. (Other Winter Sports team meetings will be separately arranged. Look for messaging from your team coach.) More info.

Pick Up Beaver Gear Nov. 21 at Winter Sports Night!

Beaver Gear representatives will be at the Dam for Winter Sports Night (6:30 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 21, hallway outside Gym)! Come see the new long-sleeve Beaver logo T and cool slides for locker room ease and holiday gifting too. Stock up on tees, hoodies, pajama pants, pom beanies and much more! All sales benefit Ballard Athletics programs.

If you miss us at Sports Night, you can also place orders any time at www.ballardathletics.com/beavergear. Questions? Email [email protected].

Beavers Athletes Participate in National Signing Day

Congratulations to the following Beaver athletes who, joined by their families, participated in the Nov. 9 National Signing Day in the BHS Commons:

Claudia Yovanovich, UCLA swim

Madeleine Koenig, Westmont College track - pole vault

Peyton Nakagawara, USC soccer

Girls Swim & Dive

What a huge season for Ballard Girls Swim & Dive! Ballard had 21 qualifiers to Metros and we finished 7th place overall (out of 14 teams). Claudia Yovanovich took 1st place overall in the 50 Free and Freya Godwin qualified to Districts in 100 Fly and 100 Back. We had 10 qualifiers to Districts this year: Rosie Barba, Mia Onkels, Alyson Chew, Claudia Yovanovich, Maddy Skinner, Daisy Williams, Freya Godwin, Tess Keenan, Sabi Yoon, and Penelope Guist.

Ballard’s medley relay swimmers Alyson Chew, Rosie Barba, Mia Onkels and Claudia made it to the WIAA State Championship Meet! At the State Meet, our swimmers continued to impress with Claudia taking 1st in the 50 Free and 3rd in the 100 Back, Amelia Laing placed 7th in the adaptive 50 Free and 6th in the adaptive 50 Back, and Kaya Scheuerell finished 8th in the adaptive 50 Free and 7th in the adaptive 50 Back. Congratulations to Claudia, who will be swimming for UCLA next year! Photos of state swimmers and Claudia with her medal c/o @bhsgirlsswimanddive

Football

Football had another huge turnout this year with 109 athletes that finished the season. The team was led by senior captains Joe Farley, Ryan Bohannan and Keith Stout. The top division of the Metro League proved once again to be a huge challenge as our players were tested every night this season. While we didn’t get many wins against top-tier Metro teams, those battles paid off in the end with a huge win over rival Lincoln 34-6 in the Metro playoffs, earning a berth into the WIAA state playoffs against Arlington. Photos by Ed Tanaka.

*All Metro selections were not yet been determined at the time of publication.  

Slowpitch

The Slowpitch Beavers were led by second-year Head Coach Dale Griffith who had this to say about the program:

“The success of our program stems from the retention rate of our student-athletes and coaches, the trust factor that has been built over the years, our off-season strength and conditioning program run by Coach (Colin) Matthiesen and we have a 'play until the last out has been recorded' mentality.”

The Beaver Slowpitch team was able to capture the Metro crown for the second year in a row!

*All Metro selections were not yet been determined at the time of publication.  

Cross Country

This fall, Ballard Cross Country fielded 87 athletes, with each getting a chance to race at least 8 times. Both Boys and Girls Teams had strong Metro League performances, with Girls finishing 4th at the league championships and Boys finishing 8th.

The Girls Varsity qualified as a team for the State Meet in Pasco on Nov. 2, while senior Dexter Stevens qualified as an individual. Ballard athletes selected for All-Metro were Cassidy Armstrong, 1st team and Emme Rousseau, 2nd team. Sadie Kibelstis and Dexter Stevens were both selected to 3rd team All-Metro. Cassidy also made the WSCCCA (WA State Cross Country Coaches Association) 2023 All-State Team: the top 50 runners regardless of classification at the State Meet.

Volleyball

Volleyball had another successful season under second-year head coach, Zach Wurtz. We had huge wins against local rivals Ingraham and Nathan Hale, and two nail-biters against Garfield that could have gone either way.

The team was led by All-Metro Sound Division first team selections Violet Martel, and Coco Otto, both juniors and senior captain Natalie Bauer, who made the second-team Sound Division. Also, congratulations to Honorable Mention All-League Selections, seniors Makenna Meyer and Lily Huber, and junior Francesca Siciliano. 

Golf

In Boys and Girls Golf, senior captains Justene Li and Joey Bunich both led their respective teams to 5-5 seasons and with only one senior girl and two seniors on the boys’ team, watch out for Beavers next year! Other season highlights included junior Max Henderson’s hole in one! Sophomore Lucas Williams led the team in scoring with a 38.8 scoring average followed closely by Joey Bunich’s 40.4!

On the girls’ side, Justene Li, Elsa Sand, Abby Dutton, and Georgia Preston all qualified for Metro Championships where Justene and Elsa both advanced to District Championships in the Spring. All in all, it was another great season of BHS golf and we’re looking forward to many more!

Girls Soccer

BHS Girls Soccer was loaded with talent this year and although there were some tough injuries to overcome, we battled it out against some very talented competition all season. Ballard had huge wins against Chief Sealth, Franklin, West Seattle and Ingraham and was able to tie against Holy Names and Seattle Prep, while playing very well against Lakeside and Blanchet, two of the state’s top teams. Congratulations to senior Peyton Nakagawara who will be playing Division I soccer for USC next year. *All Metro selections were not yet been determined at the time of publication.

We thank our families, spectators and fans for supporting us throughout our entire season. We also thank those who donated to our program through Snap Raise - with our donors we were able to purchase brand new jerseys and support our program for years to come!

We also thank our seniors (pictured in closeup) who have fearlessly led our program throughout the course of their 4-year soccer career at Ballard. We could not be prouder of our soccer players for their resilience, dedication, work ethic and positivity. All three teams in our program (V, JV, JVC) finished the season with a winning record. We have so much to be proud of for our accomplishments this season and looking forward to preparing for another great season next year. Photos c/o Lisa Vanderford-Anderson.

Boys Ultimate Frisbee

This fall Ballard Ultimate Frisbee (BUF) had 57 Bx (Boys and Non-binary) players join our varsity and jv teams.

We had 10 seniors on the teams: Danny Potharst, Dexter Stevens, Eli Graham, Etienne Redpath, Henry Perkins, Isak Synnestvedt, Krystian Tamondong, Logan Plesko, Nathan Williams and Zach Guce. Among 57 players, we had over 20 freshmen.

One of our best memories this varsity season was having a win against the undefeated Cleveland on the Universe point.

Boys Lacrosse Fall Ball Registration

Registration is open for Boys Lacrosse Fall Ball! Season is the month of November and ends with the Space Needle Shootout tournament the first weekend of December!

Follow along @ballardlacrosse and register online via TeamSnap.

Please reach out to Coach Ray with any questions [email protected]. Everyone welcome & scholarships are available. 

Dance Team Winter Showcase

Please join the Ballard HS Dancers as they host their Annual Winter Showcase at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 in the PAC!

The Showcase features over 20 individual student choreography pieces in various styles of dance, including jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, and hip-hop.

There will also be special presentations from Lincoln High School Dance Team, Ballard Academy of Dance and Music, and our Ballard HS Student Dance Workshop participants!

Everyone is invited! Tickets: $20 (adults), $15 (senior citizens), $10 (children under 18).

SUPPORT BALLARD ATHLETICS!

ATTEND OUR NEXT MONTHLY BOARD MEETING:

Monday, December 11 at the Ballard Elks Club, 6411 Seaview Ave. N.W.

I want to support BHS athletes! What can I do?

• Please support the Athletic Booster Club by donating! As a team parent/guardian, you are already a member of the Athletic Booster Club! Your kind donations (via link or use the easy QR code) directly support our efforts to support all student athletes.



• Buy and wear Beaver Gear, especially when you are out supporting our Beavers at sporting events.

• Plan on attending the various social and fundraising events we host throughout the school year. Help us build community while we celebrate our athletes! This includes our Winter Sports Trivia Night, coming Jan. 31 at the Ballard Elks Club! (We'll share more details as able! And will the BHS coaches' team, pictured, repeat as trivia champs?)

• Become a team parent or offer to help your existing team parent -- volunteering to help out with a team's administrative, fundraising, or communications means the coach has more time to focus on athletes.

• Make a direct donation to your team!

Questions? Email Community Outreach Chair Beth Sylves at [email protected]. Go Beavers!

Follow @bhs_athleticboosterclub on Instagram!