It’s hardly even summer yet (or maybe never will be if this rain doesn’t let up sometime), but here’s a quick look at the fall football schedule for Mercer Island High School. The team finished the 2009 season 4-6 under first year head coach Brett Ogata, who returns for a second season in the fall.

2010 Varsity Schedule (preliminary)
Home games in bold
• Sept 3: at Seattle Prep (West Seattle stadium)
• Sept 10: Newport
• Sept. 17: at Juanita
• Sept 24: Interlake
• Oct. 1: at Bellevue
• Oct. 8: at Mt. Si
• Oct. 15: Liberty (homecoming)
• Oct. 22: at Sammamish
• Oct. 29: Lake Washington
• Nov. 5/6: Playoff or Metro crossover game

It might be a holiday weekend, but the relaxing barbeques are going to have to wait until Sunday as many of the MIHS teams are in the hunt for state hardware this week.

Things kick off tonight with the boys lacrosse state semi-final game against Issaquah. The game starts at 8 p.m. at Islander Stadium. The Islanders are undefeated this season, 19-0 overall and 14-0 in league. Issaquah, the two time defending state champs are 16-4 overall and 12-2 in league. In the two teams only meeting this season, Mercer Island won the game 9-7 in a rematch of last year’s state final game.

Tomorrow, members of the Islanders track team will travel to Mt. Tahoma High School for the state meet. Molly O’Callahan, Carly Andersen, Lauren Ellis, Cora Miller and Aaron Elefson are all competing at the event.

The girls 3A 3,200 race, which O’Callahan is competing in will take place on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. The boys 3A 3,200 race, which Elefson will compete in, also takes place Thursday at 8:30 p.m.

Andersen and Ellis will both compete in the 3A girls javelin contest, which will take place on Friday, May 28 at 12:30 p.m.

The 300-meter hurdles race, which Miller will compete in, begins with heat 1 at 1:55 on Friday. Heat 2 will race at 2 p.m. The finals will be held on Saturday at 12:15 p.m.

For a full list of the track and field state schedule, and the heat sheets for each competition visit the WIAA track and field page.

The state tennis competition starts on Friday, May 28. Jordan Smith, Max Franklin, Andrew Smith, Chelsea Bailey, Julia Schubach, Kelly Crandall, Julia Zook and Nora Tan will all play for the Islanders. You can find the various doubles and singles brackets here for both boys and girls.

The girls and boys state golf tournament will wrap up this afternoon. Here’s a look at the first day scores for the Islanders and I will be updating the final scores as soon as they become available.

Best of luck to all the MI teams!

In just about two weeks I’m going to be introducing a new feature to the sports section and I need your help! Along with some other new things that we here at the Reporter are going to be doing, I’m going to include a weekly Sports profile in the sports section.

In order to highlight local athletes I need students to fill them out! So that’s where you come in: Anyone who would like to, can fill out the questionnaire at the bottom of this post, and send it back to me at mmanagan@mi-reporter.com

I will be selecting those submitted at random and the first will run on May 19. Thanks in advance for all your help!

Click here to down load the form: MI Reporter sports profile

Here’s a look an example of what the profile will look like in the paper:

Here’s some results update from the last couple of track meets. Space constraints have made it tough to get everything in the print edition so here is the latest on the Mercer Island team:

Thursday, April 29 at Mercer Island HS

Boys results

Bellevue 112
Mercer Island 33

100 meters – 3, Kurtis Rosengreen. 200 meter – 2, Jeff Lindquist. 800 meters – 3, Aaron Elefson. 1,600 meters –  3, William Clausen. 110 meter hurdles – 3, Elliot Blasich. 300 meter hurdles – 2, John Hammerstrom. 4×400 meter relay – 1, Mercer Island (John Hammerstrom, Jeff Lindquist, Aaron Azose, Reid Jackson) 3:53.6. Pole vault – 3, Espen Platou. Shot put – 2, Jonathan Witz. Javelin – 2, Reid Jackson. Long jump – 2, Reid Jackson; 3, Kurtis Rosengreen. Triple jump – 2, Cassidy Kaufman; 3, Keenan Adams. High jump – 2, Jeff Lindquist.

Girls results

Bellevue 88
Mercer Island 54

100 meters – 2, Queen (Abena) Opoku. 200 meters – 1, Laura Harrison 27.1. 800 meters – 1, Lindsay Bentser 2:32.5. 100 meter hurdles – 1, Cora Miller 16.6. 300 meter hurdles – 1, Jordan Peralta 57.07. 4×100 meter relay – 1, Mercer Island (Queen Opoku, Laura Harrison, Cora Miller, Alisha Waggoner) 50.8. Discus – 1, Carly Andersen 83’10; 3, Alfa Hordges. Shot put – 2, Alfa Hordges; 3, Carly Andersen. Javelin – 1, Carly Andersen 100’7; 2, Lauren Ellis. Long jump – 3, Queen Opoku. High jump – 2, Carly Andersen; 3, Jordan Peralta.

Saturday, May 1 at Lake Washington Invitational
Girls Results

200 meters – 27, Alisha Waggoner 27.30; 29, Laura Harrison 27.69. 3,000 meters – 24, Lindsay benster 11:06.73; 27, Molly O’Callahan 11:12.4. 4×400 relay – 13, Mercer Island (Julia Davis, Laura Harrison, Alisha Waggoner, Cora Miller) 4:15.33. Shot put – 18, Alfa Hordges 28’08. Javelin – 14, Carly Andersen 108’01. Discus – 29, Carly Andersen 77’06.

Saturday, May 1 at Shoreline Invitational
Boys Results

400 meters – 32, Aaron Azose 54.54. 800 meters – 18, William Clausen 2:01.7. 1,600 meters – 18, Aaron Elefson 4:27.36. 3,200 meters – 35, Nicholas Ford 10:02.7. 300 meter hurdles – 37, John Hammerstrom 43.61. 4×400 relay – 21, Mercer Island (Elliot Blasich,Colin Strong, Aaron Azose, Kurtis Rosengreen) 3:35.18. Shot put – 29, David Kuhn 42’03.5.

• #1        James Suh            Goal Keeper        Lehigh University, PA
• #6        Max Kearfott          Defense              Chapman University, CA
• #7        David Yount           Defense              University of San Francisco,CA
• #9        Kenny Nelson       Defense              Cal Poly San Luis Obispo,CA
• #10      Nick Ward*             Forward             Cal State Monterey Bay,CA
• #11      Ari Langman          Defense              Lafayette College,PA
• #14      Jene Wook Shin Midfield            University of Connecticut,CT
• #17      CT Crow*               Midfield                Kenyon College, Ohio
• #18      Quin Gier                Defense             Bucknell University, PA
• #19      Taylor Ward*           Defense              Humboldt State, CA
• #20      Matt Johnson*        Defense               Haverford College, PA

• #5        James Kashima        Midfield            University of Washington
• #12       Tyler Ybarra*            Forward           St. Martin University, Lacey WA
• #13        Danny Strome        Forward            University of Washington

Here’s a look at the local lacrosse standings as of April 4.

The Mercer Island boys have just returned from a successful 3-0 trip to New York during the school’s spring break. Last year the team lost all it’s matches back East, and this season the captains said winning games in NY was a top priority. Look for a recap of the trip in this week’s issue.

Boys Division I

Girls Division I

The girls, who host Garfield on Thursday at home, are in a three-way tie for fourth place right now, falling from a tie for second place before spring break.

Yesterday, the Mercer Island boys baseball team started their away and home series against Sammamish, playing at Sammamish (they host the Totems tomorrow at 6 p.m.). The Islanders, who are currently 4-1 this season, beat Sammamish 11-3.

Mercer Island scored in every inning, with their highest being three runs in the fifth. A game highlight however came at the top of the 7th when Islander short-stop and captain Willy Reel hit a home run way out over left field. There wasn’t much Reel didn’t do at the game, ending with a 5-5 at bat/hitting record in the game, earning two RBI. Along with the homer he had a double and a triple during the game.

Ben Emanuels was 2 for 4 at bat against the Totems and Evan Thompson was 3 for 3 overall.

The win came a week after the Islanders 13-5 upset against Mount Si, considered one of the top teams in the state this season.

Mercer Island hosts Sammamish on Friday at Island Crest Park beginning at 6 p.m. See next week’s Reporter for a full series recap and pictures.

On a side note: at last night’s game Sammamish’s scoreboard was apparently not working or hasn’t been (it wasn’t electronic, but was the ‘old-school’ kind where the numbers had to be hung up by someone – so I’m assuming it just doesn’t get used). While keeping track of the score isn’t the most difficult thing in the world, several people, myself included, had to ask around during the game to  keep track of what inning it was and what the score was. I know this isn’t professional or college baseball, but a scoreboard would have been a nice addition to the game.

One last note about basketball, with a few of the MIHS players taking part in various post season games this weekend.

Hannah Lilly has committed to play as part of tomorrow nights All-State girls basketball team. She’s the only member of the girls team, who finished sixth at state this year, to play in the all-state game. It will be at Seattle Christian High School, sponsored by the state’s coaches association, with the 3A/4A game starting at 7 p.m. The cost is $7 for adult and $4 for students. Kids under 10 are free.

Also on Saturday, several players from MI will have the chance to take part in the second annual Comcast All-Star Challenge at 4 p.m., this Friday at Bellevue College. On the underclassmen navy team Haley Gullstad and Jae Shin will represent the Islanders, while Lilly will play for the senior team. On the boys side Kaj Sherman will play for the seniors, while Quinn Sterling and Brian Miller will play on the underclassmen team.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students with ASB and seniors. The games will also be available 48 hours after the event on Games Comcast’s On Demand.

Somehow it is that time of year again. It seems like we speed blasted through the last two months and suddenly, and officially this weekend, it’s springtime. That of course means spring sports season (one of my favorites, if only because we move outside once again).

In the next two issues of the Reporter (March 24 and March 31) I’ll be running our spring sports previews. There are just too many teams that trying to squish them into one issue wouldn’t do the athletes justice. Over those two weeks we’ll take a look at boys soccer, boys and girls lacrosse, girls water polo, track and field, girls golf, girls tennis, fastpitch and baseball.

I’ll also be posting the season schedule for each sport on our Web site at www.mi-reporter.com so you can keep track of who is playing where.

Joel Willits, sports editor at the Bellevue Reporter (our sister paper), put up his predictions and a look at the 3A basketball state tournament this week in Tacoma.

Joel, who will be covering the Bellevue boys this week, has predictions for both the boys and girls tournaments, but I felt like his predictions were especially dead-on for the girls tournament – check out what Joel thought here.

The Mercer Island girls will face Mount Rainier tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. A win over the Rams will pit the Islanders against the winner of the Kennedy Catholic/East Valley (Spokane) game on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

A loss to Mt. Rainier pushes the Islanders into the consolation bracket to face the loser of the Kennedy Catholic/East Valley game at noon on Thursday.

From there things get murkier, at least until we know if the team starts off the tourney with a win or a loss.

I’ll be updating live all week from the Mercer Island girls games at the Tacoma Dome on Twitter (MIRsports) and either here or on our Web site .