All Peninsula Winter Sports, 2011

All-PeninsulA

Winter 2011

Peninsula Daily newsFriDay, March 18, 2011

Jessica MadisonPort Angeles

Girls Basketball MVP

Drexler DohertyNeah BayBoys Basketball MVP

Nathan Cristion Port Angeles Wrestling MVP

Peninsula Daily newsall-Peninsula winter 2010-112 FriDay, March 18, 2011

Drexler DohertyNeah Bay (Senior)Guard (5-10) — MVP

The four-year starter led Neah Bay to the brink of a state title, scoring an area-best 22.2 points per game to close out his career at 1,449.

Corbin WebbSequim (Junior)Guard (6-1)

Sequim’s top scorer (14.0 ppg) shot 47.9 percent from the field and dished out 3.1 assists per game as a first-team All-Olympic League selection.

Seiji ThielkPort Townsend (Senior)Guard (6-3)

PT’s top defender averaged 11.8 points, 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game as an honorable mention All-Olympic League player.

Nick CamporiniSequim (Senior)Guard (6-0)

The senior sharp shooter (70 3-point-ers) was named a sec-ond-team All-Olympic League player after averaging 11.7 points per game.

Brandon BancroftQuilcene (Senior)Forward (6-1)

Quilcene’s No. 1 scorer (22.1 ppg) hit the 1,000-point mark this year and was selected a first-team All-Sea-Tac Leaguer.

Colin WheelerPort Angeles (Senior)Forward (6-3)

Named a first-team All-Olympic League player, the PA senior did it all, averag-ing 13.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

Players were selected by area basketball coaches and the sports staff of the Peninsula Daily News.

All-Peninsula Boys Basketball

Gabe CarterSequim (Soph.)Forward (6-3)

Carter took the Olympic League by storm as a sopho-more, averaging 12.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

Dylan BrownChimacum (Senior)Forward (6-2)

The 6-foot-2 pivot nearly averaged a double-double (14.0 ppg, 9.8 rpb) as a sec-ond-team All-Nisqually League selection for Chimacum.

Frank NolesForks (Senior)Forward (5-11)

Forks’ undersized post hung with the big boys, averag-ing 12.2 points and 9.8 rebounds as a second-team All-Ever-green selection.

Ian WardPort Angeles (Senior)Post (6-3)

Ward came on strong his senior year, leading the Riders in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg) as a second-team All-Olympic Leaguer.

Joel WilliamsCrescent (Junior)Post (6-1)

The NOL’s offen-sive player of the year averaged a double-double for the Log-gers with 19.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

Gerrad BrooksNeah BayCoach of the Year

Brooks pulled off the unthinkable in his first year, guiding the NOL champs to their first state title game appearance and a 23-6 record.

Honorable Mention: Jacob DeBerry (Port Townsend), Hayden McCartney (Port Angeles), Braden Decker (Forks), Quinn Eldridge (Chimacum), Jayson Brocklesby (Sequim), Jacob Portnoy (Clallam Bay), Emmett James (Clallam Bay), Titus Pascua (Neah Bay), Ken Meier (Sequim), Michael Dulik (Neah Bay).

Peninsula Daily news FriDay, March 18, 2011 3all-Peninsula winter 2010-11

Jessica MadisonPort Angeles (Senior)Guard (5-9) — MVP

PA’s all-time lead-ing scorer (1,896 points) pushed the Riders to their first state trip in 7 years and earned her third Olympic League MVP.

Mallori CossellChimacum (Soph.)Guard (5-3)

The Cowboys’ top scorer (10.2 ppg) likely broke an area record with a 45-point game this winter. She was a 2nd-team All-Nisqually player.

Rebecca ThompsonNeah Bay (Junior)Guard (5-8)

The NOL’s defen-sive player of the year also got it done on the other end as well, averaging 13.3 points and 3.1 assists a game.

Alison KnowlesPort Angeles (Senior)Guard (5-6)

The four-year varsity contributor capped her career at PA as a first-team All-Olympic selection with 8.9 points and 5.1 assists a game.

Lea HopsonSequim (Senior)Guard (5-5)

Sequim’ revival from also-ran to playoff contender was led by Hopson, a first-team All-Olympic League player who averaged 12.2 ppg.

Cherish MossNeah Bay (Junior)Guard/Forward (5-8)

Neah Bay’s top outside threat led the Red Devils in scoring at 13.4 ppg and was named the NOL’s offensive player of the year.

Players were selected by area basketball coaches and the sports staff of the Peninsula Daily News.

All-Peninsula Girls Basketball

Kiah JonesPort Angeles (Junior)Forward (6-0)

Jones went from the perimeter to the post for PA and didn’t miss a beat — 10.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 2.6 apg — as a 2nd-team All-Olympic Leaguer.

Taylor MorrisForks (Senior)Forward (5-9)

The Forks senior was the Spartans’ lone all-league selec-tion as a second-team All-Evergreen Division player.

Kerri EvaltPort Townsend (Senior)Forward (6-0)

Evalt led PT in scoring (11.6 ppg) and averaged 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks a game as an honorable mention All-Olympic Leaguer.

Bella FoxPort Townsend (Senior)Post (5-11)

The second part of PT’s twin towers, Fox averaged 10.0 points and 8.8 rebounds a game to get honorable mention All-Olympic League honors.

Leanne WeedQuilcene (Senior)Post (6-0)

The 6-foot pivot helped bring the Rangers back to the playoffs — 12.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg — as a first-team All-Sea-Tac League selection.

Mike KnowlesPort AngelesCoach of the Year

Knowles’ Riders went undefeated in Olympic League play for the second year in a row before winning their first district title in 12 years.

Honorable Mention: Courtney Winck (Neah Bay), Jazzmin Randal (Clallam Bay), Sara Moore (Crescent), Sarah Bacchus (Quilcene), Taylyn Jeffers (Port Angeles), Caroline Dowdle (Port Townsend), Rylleigh Zbaraschuk (Sequim), Haleigh Harrison (Sequim), Jamie Parker (Clallam Bay), Jillian Raben (Forks), Kiley Maag (PT).


Chris TuCker/Peninsula Daily news

Port Angeles senior shooting guard Jessica Madison leaves the Roughrider girls basketball program as its top career scorer at 1,896 points.

Picture perfect for PABy MaTT sChuBerTPeninsula Daily news

PORT ANGELES — The whole routine was nothing new for Jessica Madison.

As she posed for yet another picture for the local newspaper in the Port Ange-les gymnasium, the 5-foot-9 senior shooting guard recounted all of the different places she’d been photo-graphed during her high school basketball career.

There was the picture on the second level of the gym after she’d led the Port Ange-les girls in scoring her fresh-man year.

There was the picture underneath a net in the same gym after she won the first of three Olympic League MVPs as a sophomore.

And then there was the one of her in front of the high school following her junior year, when she passed the

1,000-point mark and was named to the All-State team.

“You’ve got a good smile,” the photographer remarked while snapping shots of Madison in front of the iconic “PA.”

Well, she’s had an awful lot of practice.

For the third straight year she was named the North Olympic Peninsula’s top girls basketball player by the Peninsula Daily News.

During that time, she’s been the key figure on three straight outright Olympic League championship teams (47-1 record), shattered the Rider career scoring record previously held by her

brother, James, with 1,896 points and led Port Angeles to its first district title in 12 years.

“She’s one of the top play-ers that I’ve ever coached,” said Rider girls coach Mike Knowles, who’s coached a handful of players who played in college.

“She’s one of the kids who has the whole package.”

Indeed, to boil down Mad-ison’s talents to just her abil-ity to score would do her a disservice.

She can break a press all by herself with her strong ball handling skills. She can lock down her opposite on the other end with her long arms and nose for the ball.

And she can find open teammates when opposing teams lock in on her.

On top of leading the Rid-ers in scoring all four years on the varsity, she’s been in the top four in rebounding, assists and steals each sea-son.

That includes her senior year, when she was tops in steals (3.3 spg), second in assists (4.3 apg) and third in rebounding (5.7 rpg).

“She had a big impact on the other girls,” Knowles said. “Her talents and what she was able to bring to the floor was high caliber.

“She brought that experi-ence and it helped our pro-gram rise to another level.”

The recipient of an ath-letic scholarship for Univer-sity of Alaska-Anchorage (Division II), Madison her-self will go to another level next winter.

“I think she’s got the tal-ents to play there,” Knowles said. “She’s got to get stron-ger and bigger, and I think that’s one of the things they’ll start working on.

“As she develops stronger and gets more physical in that way, then those talents she already has are going to flourish.”

She may even have to pose for a few more pictures.

Girls MVPMadison makes mark with Riders

Peninsula Daily news all-Peninsula winter 2010-11 FriDay, March 18, 2011 5

Scoring points for Devils

keiTh Thorpe/Peninsula Daily news

Neah Bay senior guard Drexler Doherty led the North Olympic Peninsula in scoring each of the past three seasons, including this winter.

Doherty provides lift for Neah BayBy MaTT sChuBerTPeninsula Daily news

NEAH BAY — Drexler Doherty made his name on scoring.

He led the North Olympic Peninsula in that very statistic each of the past three seasons.

That the Neah Bay senior would display that ability on the state’ biggest stage — scor-ing a Class 1B record 31 points in the Red Devils’ first champi-onship game in school history — shouldn’t have been much of a surprise.

As first-year Red Devils head boys basketball coach Ger-rad Brooks said, Doherty just has a knack for putting the ball in the basket.

“Big players step up in big games and he definitely did that,” Brooks said of Doherty’s championship game perfor-mance against Sunnyside Christian, ultimately a 55-50 loss. “They just flat out couldn’t guard him.”

It certainly wasn’t the first time.

With an ability to score inside and out, Doherty pun-ished defenders from all over the court during his four years on the Neah Bay varsity.

The 5-foot-10 shooting guard amassed 1,449 career points in that time, placing him second behind Bob Moss on the Red Devils’ all-time scoring list. This despite missing a handful of games as a junior and senior.

He once dropped 48 points on North Sound Christian his junior season.

And during Neah Bay’s dream run to the state final in Spokane, he was the tourna-ment’s No. 2 scorer at 22.4 points per game.

Still, Doherty bristles at the thought of just being known for his point totals.

That’s just not the player he aspired to be when he was a

grade-schooler shooting baskets every morning before school on the out-door court across from his Neah Bay home.

“I didn’t want to be just a scorer so that I’m not contrib-uting to my team in any other way,” Doherty said.

“I wanted to be a really good all-around player, so if my shot is off I can help on the defensive side or I can help passing the ball or I can help rebounding the ball.”

According to Brooks, that’s what Doherty became as a senior.

On top of the myriad of offensive duties that he had — and they were many as the team’s top scorer (22.2 ppg) and playmaker (2.8 apg) — he often accepted the task of locking down the other team’s No. 1 scoring threat while also apply-ing pressure at the top of Neah Bay’s zone press.

He embraced those roles well enough to be the team’s steals leader (3.0 spg) and a competent rebounder (3.6 rpg).

“He was definitely the cor-nerstone of our team,” Brooks said. “His presence on defense and his offensive ability and also creating shots for others was invaluable.”

Doherty said he hopes to get a chance to play college ball next winter. Soon to be a father of two, however, he doesn’t want to stray too far from Neah Bay.

“I think getting in another system and getting more time to mature physically as well, I think he would be great,” said Brooks, a former college player himself in Virginia.

Boys MVP


Nathan CristionPort Angeles (Senior)189 pounds — MVP

Cristion went 41-4 on the year while claiming a regional title and taking fourth at 189 in Class 2A for his second state placement.

Cutter GrahnForks (Junior)119 pounds

Grahn claimed a 1A regional crown and his second straight state medal (fifth) on his way to a 34-4 record on the season.

Tyler CortaniForks (Senior)125 pounds

The Spartan se-nior made his third straight trip to state, earning his second placement (seventh) and finishing the year 31-11.

Austin MiddletonSequim (Junior)130 pounds

Middleton made his first trip to the Mat Classic after taking third at 2A regionals. He put up a 21-15 record for the season.

Derek FruinSequim (Soph.)135 pounds

A Rainshadow champion, Fruin also placed fourth at 2A regionals and reached state for the first time with a 22-14 record.

Andrew SymondsPort Angeles (Senior)140 pounds

Symonds came back from a season-ending injury his junior year and went 30-9 on his way to a state appearance.

Players were selected by area wrestling coaches and the sports staff of the Peninsula Daily News.

All-Peninsula Wrestling

Kris WindlePort Townsend (Senior)152 pounds

Windle claimed a 1A sub-regional championship and finished 18-7 on the season to lead Port Townsend.

Trevor LeePort Angeles (Senior)160 pounds

The Port Angeles senior reached the 2A state tournament with a fourth-place finish at regionals and went 20-10 for the season.

Dakota HintonSequim (Junior)171 pounds

Hinton reached the Mat Classic for the first time as part of a 29-10 season, his second straight year with 20-plus victo-ries.

Emilio Perete-ColinSequim (Senior)215 pounds

Perete-Colin closed out his career with a trip to state and a third-place showing at 2A regionals. He was 28-15 on the year.

Amariah CliftSequim (Soph.)285 pounds

Clift won her 2A sub-regional and took second at regionals to punch a ticket to state, where she fell just one win short of a medal.

Len BorchersSequimCoach of the Year

A year after not sending any wres-tlers to state, Borch-ers had the most qualifiers (five) of any program on the Peninsula.

Honorable Mention: Nick Atkins (Forks), Daniel Jenkins (Port Angeles), Jacob Dostie (Port Angeles), Kody Steele (Port Angeles), Ozzy Swagerty (Port Angeles).

Peninsula Daily news all-Peninsula winter 2010-11 FriDay, March 18, 2011 7

Chris TuCker/Peninsula Daily news

Port Angeles senior wrestler Nathan Cristion honed his craft over four years, eventually becoming a state contender at 189 pounds.

Beginner to big winnerBy Brad LaBrie

Peninsula Daily news

PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles freshman foot-ball coach Erik Gonzalez liked what he saw in fresh-man linebacker and full-back Nathan Cristion and asked him to come out for the wrestling team four years ago.

“He told me at the time that he didn’t even know

wrestling existed,” Gonzalez, the school’s head wrestling coach, recalled.

Cristion went from not knowing a thing about wres-tling to being one of the top wrestlers in the state his junior and senior years.

The 189-pounder con-cluded his high school career with a fourth-place finish at the state Class 2A tourna-ment and an outstanding 41-4 record.

He also captured eighth place at the 3A tourney his junior season to become one of only four Roughriders to place twice at state.

“Placing twice in state is quite a feat,” Gonzalez said.

Cristion, though, wasn’t happy with his state finish. His goal was winning the title.

“I feel like I should have been in the finals,” he said.

The senior was derailed in the semifinals, getting upset 7-4 by Joey Gomez of Othello.

“I had a bad match,” Cris-tion said. “Something was off for me.”

He said he wanted

another shot at eventual champion Easton Hargrave of Tumwater.

Cristion has never beaten Hargrave but has come close a couple of times including at a freestyle tournament in Tacoma last weekend.

“Nathan was killing [Hargrave] in the first round,” Gonzalez said. “Nathan threw him twice to his back.”

Freestyle is different than high school wrestling, though, in that scoring goes by rounds like in boxing.

Hargrave was able to get the advantage in the final two rounds. But not by much.

“It would have been fun to see them wrestle in the high school championship match,” Gonzalez said.

Cristion keeps improving and right now he is wres-tling full time, aiming for a college program.

“He’s got a couple of offers and one of the best ones is at Dubuque, Iowa, a Division II school with a solid wrestling program.”

Gonzalez is confident that Cristion will excel.

“He is looking to wrestle at the next level and I believe he can wrestle at that level,” Gonzalez said. “Nathan is one of the most coachable kids I have ever had.

“He’s a great kid, and I know this is a cliche but it’s true, he’s literally the real deal. He would run through a wall for you. He’s a great leader and has been voted team captain by his team-mates the past two years.”

And Cristion is a good citizen, Gonzalez said.

“We had a middle school wrestling meet at Stevens last weekend, and Nathan was there helping out.

“I can always count on him. And he’s a great role model for the younger kids.

“They look up to him.”

Cristion turns into contender for PA

Wrestling MVP

robert DeFlin

lonnie archibalD

All-PeninsulAWinter 2011

Nathan Cristion Port Angeles Wrestling MVP

the associateD Press

Jessica Madison, Port AngelesGirls Basketball MVP

Drexler Doherty, Neah BayBoys Basketball MVP

All Peninsula Winter Sports, 2011

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