Rowers pull Everett to prominence

EVERETT — Working his boat's motor with one hand and a giant megaphone with the other, Matt Lacey alternates deftly among instruction, explanation and navigation — in the middle of the Snohomish River.

The late-afternoon sun breaks through a patch of clouds. A bald eagle flies overhead. Interesting smells waft from a nearby dump. Lacey, the program coordinator for the Everett Rowing Association, navigates next to the women's varsity boat.

"Don't overreach it," he says, the words echoing through the megaphone. "Keep those bodies up."

The boat comes to a stop, but Lacey's job is never done. He turns to a guest and starts to explain how they got here — to sending three boats to junior nationals this weekend, a who's-that-to-who's-who transformation.

"There was no rowing history up here," he says. "There was no rowing community. They started this club in 1982, and it just kept growing. Now, we're that community, we're that history.

"Success breeds more success, and the kids are starting to realize we can be successful. So this year, they made a real statement."

You have to go back decades to find the seeds, but the garden — and the recent surge in growth and success — are proudly displayed at the association's boathouse and at rowing competitions across the country.

Everett sent boats to nationals for years but only rarely in the premier eight events. Three years ago, the women's lightweight eight won a national championship. Last year, the men's and women's lightweight eights and women's varsity eight finished second at the Northwest Regionals.

This year, the same three boats won championships at the regional competition, qualifying for nationals this weekend in Cincinnati and prompting team members to toss Lacey in the drink to celebrate.

"When I first started, Everett wasn't really well known in rowing circles," says Courtney Plitt, a captain and senior at Jackson High School in Mill Creek. "Now, people are like: 'There's the Everett crew. They're really building something.' "

The rowing association draws a mix of athletes from as far south as Lynnwood and as far north as Anacortes. Lacey is the only full-time employee, but seven assistants provide instruction for 120 juniors in the program.

They train about half the year, including a 12- to 14-week season in the spring, a six-week season in the summer, a 10-week season in the fall and winter conditioning.

Relationships with the University of Washington rowing program and Pocock Racing Shells, an Everett company that builds some of the fastest boats in the world, created the blueprint for the Everett association's current success.

It works like this: Draw money through a variety of fund-raisers. Get the best equipment. Do well in regional and national competitions. Get scholarships. Get more students to turn out. Go faster. Get more scholarships, more donations and even better equipment.

"The kids see the success, and it builds," says Ben Tweedy, an assistant coach who works with the men's teams. "They get excited about going fast, and then it's kind of an expectation."

Word has spread, and so many athletes have turned out that the club doesn't have enough varsity seats for its qualified rowers.

When some of the country's top collegiate rowing programs, such as Washington and Stanford, start offering scholarships, that raises the profile.

And when Kelly Foster, a Lake Stevens junior, sets a 2,000-meter World Indoor Rowing Championship record, that raises the profile even higher. And when three boats go to nationals in premier events — well, you get the picture.

"You can just tell the program is on the rise," says Adam Quast, an Everett senior on the men's lightweight boat. "Last year, we just wanted to get into the grand final at nationals. This year, we want a championship."

State track wrap-up

WesCo's best snagged their share of honors in Pasco last weekend.

None stood out more than two individual state champions. Whitney Hooks, a freshman at Cascade of Everett who first tried the shot put at the beginning of this season, won the Class 4A title in the event. Tiana Roma, an Edmonds-Woodway junior, fought off a nagging leg injury and won the high jump, edging Everett's Sharon Bjella, who finished second for the third consecutive year.

"It feels great," Hooks said. "I can't wait to get started for next season."

Snohomish, the defending two-time 4A girls champion, finished second this year to Curtis of Tacoma. Emily Kling (second in the triple jump, sixth in the long jump) and Emily Enders (second in the pole vault) capped stellar careers for the Panthers, and Lucy Miller finished fourth in the 3,200 and sixth in the 1,600.

"Our goal was to do as well as we could," coach Dan Parker said. "We couldn't have asked for anything more."

Among the boys, Inglemoor of Kenmore took the team title, Brandon Myers of Jackson finished third in the 110-meter high hurdles, and Marques Lang of Kamiak finished fourth in the 400 meters.

Snohomish in second

After coaching Snohomish's boys soccer team through two shootouts in the two biggest games this season, Dan Pingrey slept in Sunday.

"I guess subconsciously I was a little stressed," he said. "Two shootouts will do that to you."

The Panthers beat Gig Harbor 1-0 in the Class 4A state semifinals, a game that wasn't decided until goalkeeper Ryan Cochran stopped two penalty kicks. In the championship, Snohomish lost to Richland 2-1, again after penalty kicks.

In the past five years, the Panthers have advanced to the quarterfinals twice before losing, made it to three final fours and won a title in 2000. Next year's team, which will return several varsity players, will be "as good, if not better, than this year's," Pingrey said.

Scholarships awarded

Coaches and student athletes were honored last week at Edmonds-Woodway High School during the second annual district scholarship banquet.

The coach winners were Chad McGuire and Mark Stewart from Meadowdale, Jim McKinnon and Angela Stark from Lynnwood, Rob McMains and Kolleen Seals from Edmonds-Woodway, and Heidi Mercer and Susie Miller from Mountlake Terrace.

Seventeen athletes received scholarships worth a total of $26,000. The big winners were Mountlake Terrace's Annie Everett, Edmonds-Woodway's Erin Sieh, Lynnwood's Astri McCartney and Meadowdale's Chris Rohrbach. And Rohrbach was all smiles, despite a recent doctor's notice that he had played most of last football season and all of last basketball season with a broken wrist.

"They deserved this," said Terri McMahon, the district's athletic director. "And nothing speaks louder than some extra bucks when you're going off to college."

High-school legend leaving

The day after her last day coaching high-school softball, Margo Leiter had summer team practice, worked on highlight tapes and started on the awards for Lake Stevens' banquet.

So even though she's done coaching at the school, it's safe to say the local legend isn't anywhere near done with softball. The Vikings just finished fifth at state, their fourth top-10 finish in as many years, and Leiter's youngest daughter, Kristi, is off to the University of Oregon next season.

"It might sink in when I start cleaning out the batting cage," Leiter said. "But I feel real good about it. So that must mean I made the right decision."

Around the county

• The Stanwood doubles tennis team of Lauren Mickels and Liz Currey finished second in the Class 4A state tournament.

• After making the Class 3A state playoffs for the first time in more than two decades, the Meadowdale boys soccer team beat North Thurston 2-0 for third place.

• Lynnwood wrestler Reese Cogdill signed a letter of intent to wrestle at Dana College in Blair, Neb., next season. He'll study pre-med and wrestle in Division I tournaments.

• Shorewood golfer Kim Shin won a four-hole playoff against defending 4A champion Renee Skidmore of Cascade to win this year's state championship. Last year, Shin finished second.

• The Sultan boys soccer team finished second at the Class 2A state tournament, losing 2-0 to Connell of Franklin County. It marked the highest finish in Sultan history. Lakewood finished fourth.

Greg Bishop: 206-464-3191 or gbishop@seattletimes.com