PHOTO BY ROCKY ROSS

The Fife Trojans softball team, pictured here playing against North Mason in the district finals, saw its season end with a 3-1 extra-inning loss to Steilacoom in the West Central District tournament consolation finals. The Trojans missed out on the state tournament for the sixth consecutive season.

Spring sports coming to a close

By Ben Miller

Memorial Day weekend marks the end of the spring sports season, with the state championships going on for every sport. For Fife High School, though, there are just a few athletes left to do their thing with the final weekend upon us. But even so, there was plenty of success to be had for the Trojans in spring of ’08.

Track and Field

We’ll start with track and field, since that is the one sport at Fife with a large number of athletes that will be competing this weekend. The Trojans girls team sends four individuals and three relay teams to compete for state titles at Mount Tahoma Stadium May 23 and 24.

Thanks to a roster loaded with juniors and seniors, the Trojan girls won the West Central District team title May 17. Three individuals and two relay teams took home district titles of their own at the meet. Gena Gaylord won the 400-meter dash, Laurie Kilcup took the high jump title and Sarah Chester was the top performer in the triple jump.

Those three will be competing at State in the events they won at district, and Kaylee Kramer run for the 800-meter title. Fife will also be sending its 4 by 100, 4 by 200 and 4 by 400 relay teams to the championship field.

The boys team did not fare as well this year, with no athletes going on to the state championships. Sophomore Devan Bennion was the highest finisher for the boys at districts, snagging the No. 3 spot in the pole vault with a height of 11-feet-6-inches.

Baseball

It was an historic year for the Fife baseball team. The Trojans won both the Nisqually and West Central District championships en route to earning only the second bid to the state playoffs in school history. The league title was the team’s first since 1963.

“I think with having 11 seniors, they do realize they accomplished a lot,” said coach Shane Nixon. “They’ll come to realize the importance of what they did. They’re all friends, and they created a strong group of friendships on the team and later in life.”

In the first round of State, though, the historic achievements came to a halt. Nixon said that the things that had gotten the Trojans there in the first place, their pitching and defense, vanished at exactly the wrong time. “We picked the wrong day to have a bad day,” Nixon said.

After taking a 7-2 lead into the third inning against Lynden, the Trojans gave up six runs in the third before eventually losing 14-8. “They just kept coming at us and we couldn’t recover fast enough,” Nixon said about Lynden.

Softball

The Trojans softball team opened up the West Central District tournament May 17 in style. They thumped Klahowya to the tune of 10-0 in just six innings. After that, though, things got dicey.

Against North Mason, in the district finals, Fife was only able to get four hits against the defending 2A state champion. The two runs that the Bulldogs got in the second inning were all they needed to push the Trojans to the brink of elimination.

Playing Steilacoom in the consolation, a team that was on its fourth game of the day, the Trojans just couldn’t get it done again. Though Fife was able to defeat the Sentinels three times during the regular season, Steilacoom got its revenge in the game that mattered most, winning 3-1 to send Fife home before State.

Boys Soccer

In fall, the Trojans girls soccer team set a high standard, winning the 2A state championship. The boys team, however, was not able to match that feat this spring.

After going 9-3-1 in the regular season and finishing second behind Foster in the Nisqually League, the Trojans failed to get it done at districts. Fife lost 1-0 to Kingston – the No. 1 team out of the Olympic League – to see its season end right before the state playoffs.

Golf

The Fife boys and girls golf team sent just a handful of competitors to the state tournament May 20 and 21. Three boys and one girl made the trip up the Bellingham for a shot at a state title, but all four came home after missing the cut on the first round of play.

Patrick Oakley led the way for the Trojans, carding an 84 on the first day to take 46th place. Keynan Fanslow was in 70th after shooting a 90, and Kevin Cox took the 80th and final spot with his first-day entry of 106. On the girls side, Jessica Christoe finished in 50th with a 107.

Tennis

The Fife tennis team has one entry into the state tournament. The Trojan boys doubles pairing of Taylor Benge and Jerry Arroyo finished the West Central District tournament as alternates and will face Bellingham High School’s Kyle Buckham and Andrew Troutman in first round action.

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