Harold Doyal, 6-8 Interlake Center, Shows Patience, Heads To Western
The offers weren't exactly pouring in from college basketball coaches for Interlake's 16-year-old center, who suffered from a low scoring average his junior year and low grade-point averages his freshman and sophomore years.
But Harold Doyal just kept pouring in the points and effort until someone noticed.
``I was really skeptical in the middle of the season that I wouldn't get any scholarships,'' the 6-foot-8 Doyal said.
Doyal, who averaged 17 points a game and set school records for rebounds (11 per game) and blocked shots (5.5), this week signed a letter of intent to play for Western Washington University.
``I feel great about, it because I didn't really think I'd get a scholarship,'' he said.
Doyal drew no interest last season when he averaged just six points and seven rebounds per game. And he drew little interest this season until the final weeks of the season.
``Ever since the tournament in Canada (in early January), he hasn't really had a bad game,'' Interlake Coach Jeff Bright said. ``His stock really went up in the playoffs.''
Doyal scored 13 points and grabbed a season-high 19 rebounds in a Sea-King AAA District Tournament opener, a two-point loss to top-ranked Garfield. He followed that with a 28-point, 11-rebound, five-block performance in a victory over Juanita.
Doyal said coaches from Western and Seattle Pacific - both NAIA schools - began showing interest about a week before the regular season ended. Coaches from Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Portland - all NCAA Division I schools - made contact with him during the playoffs.
``I'll have a better chance of getting more minutes at Western,'' he said. ``I think I have a shot to start - not at the beginning of the season, but maybe more at the middle and end of the season as I develop.''
Western graduated its top seven seniors from the 1989-90 team, and several underclassmen played extensively this season.
``He's sort of been our focal point, especially when we made that run in January and through the playoffs,'' Bright said. ``Besides his basketball skills, he has a great attitude and work ethic. He never had a bad practice.
``We're going to miss him. There's no doubt about that.''
REBELS IN THE FAST LANES
The Juanita High School girls bowling team followed its fifth-place state showing two weeks ago with a victory in the Metro Tournament last weekend at Sunset Lanes in Ballard.
Champions from the north Puget Sound region, south Puget Sound region and KingCo Conference compete against each other for highest total pinfall of three games in the tournament, an informal event that isn't sanctioned by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
Juanita, which also won the girls tournament title two years ago, beat Shorewood for the title last weekend.
Julie Pautz, who scored a 159.1 average at state, led Juanita in the Metro Tournament with a 184 average. Jessica Newell, who won the most valuable player award at state for her 186.3 average, averaged 174 last weekend. Other Juanita performances in Metro: Leann Pautz, 168; Cher Standley, 138; and Kerrie Lewis, 132.
The Juanita boys took second in state - after winning it last season - then took second again in the Metro Tournament.
Brian Thomas, a junior, followed his 211.5-average performance at state with a team-high 215 in Metro. Thomas earned first-team all-state honors, as did Josh Bruns, who led the team at state with a 214.3 average.
Bruns rolled a 185 in Metro.
Ballard, led by the 221 aveage of sophomore Jason Lemieus, won the Metro tournament.
Oak Harbor turned in a 193.3 team average to win seven of eight matches in the state tournament, held at SportsWorld Lanes in Federal Way.
``Overall, we've come in second place the last couple of years, and you don't bowl Metro unless you're first,'' Juanita bowling Coach Gary Pautz said. ``It was kind of nice to get both teams there.''
Other KingCo teams that fared well at state:
-- The Inglemoor boys took fifth, led by the 200 average of Craig Shimmins and the 197 average of Jason Peterson.
-- Bothell's girls, led by Apryl Holderby's 170 average, took seventh.
EQUAL PLAY FOR GIRLS
The increase from four to six singles matches per girls tennis team competition this year brings the girls even with the boys for the first time.
Both boys and girls team matches now consist of six singles and three doubles matches.
``I think it's better because it lets more kids play and allows you to play your better singles players in doubles, so they can get ready for tournaments,'' said Mercer Island girls Coach Geoff Mills, who has coached either boys or girls tennis at M.I. since 1961.
``It could lengthen the matches . . . but I don't think very often,'' he said.
KingCo Conference tennis sites can accommodate six simultaneous singles matches.
The increase shouldn't create any wider disparity between the league's top programs, as some have argued, because teams are not required to use any more players (10) than in past seasons.
KARATE WEST BEST
-- Led by head instructor Randy Holeman's black-belt fighting championship in the men's open heavyweight division, Issaquah karate school Karate West earned top honors at the 14th Annual Central Washington State Championships last weekend in Yakima, with 26 overall match victories.
The tournament included more than 1,600 entries.
Tony Volpe of Issaquah took home a first-place trophy in the boys' brown-belt kata 9-10 age division.
Donna Franck of Issaquah earned the school's other championship, winning in the women's open color-belt fighting division. Franck, a yellow-belt competitor, also took third in the color-belt kata division.
Other top Karate West performances:
Women's open black-belt kata - Jan Holeman, Issaquah, third place.
Boys 13-15 brown-belt kata - Derek Anderson, Issaquah, fourth place.
Men's senior (35-over) color-belt fighting - Larry Rude (green belt), Issaquah, second place.
Youth 9-10 color-belt kata - Jullian Cottrell (yellow), Issaquah, second.
Youth 11-12 color-belt kata - Ty Rudolph (yellow), Issaquah, second.
Youth 9-12 orange-belt fighting - Brandon Snyder, Issaquah, second.
Youth 11-12 orange-belt kata - Tyler Matheson, Issaquah, third.
6-year-old yellow-belt kata - Nicholas Tedford, Issaquah, second.
6-year-old color-belt kata - Bobby McWhirter (yellow), Issaquah, third.
Youth 9-10 white-belt fighting - Molly McCormack, Issaquah, third.
6-under white-belt kata - Eric Beard, Issaquah, third.
Open musical division kata - Karate West, second (Brodie Young, Scott Mease, Eric Huebner, Brian Carey, Adam Short, Jacob Hanson, Steven Fogg, all Bellevue; Brandon Snyder, Tyler Matheson, Josh Dazey, Tony Volpe, all Issaquah; Robbie Balukus, Kirkland; Shaun Huff, Renton).