Cedar Park's Big Enough For Him -- Janes Will Be Part Of School's History

BOTHELL - Dustin Janes knows he could still be playing basketball this season, that he could be suiting up for Lake Washington's Wes-Sea-King playoff game tonight against Franklin.

But Janes figures he'd rather be part of something bigger. Maybe even be part of history.

"I think that's neat," Janes said. "It's been brought up to me a lot. It'll be pretty cool to see how it's going to be in 10 years."

If all goes as planned on this 30-acre site just west of I-405 in east Bothell, an accomplishment that passed largely without notice this month will be repeated in a bigger and more celebrated way year after year.

Because when the Cedar Park Christian School prep boys team made the Northwest B League playoffs two weeks ago, it marked just the first major competitive step in school athletic history to those at the school.

Which prompts two questions:

(1) Cedar who?

(2) What history?

To answer the first, Cedar Park is a 442-student, K-through-11 school located in part on the former Bill's Dairy property that can be seen from 405.

As for the second, the school was founded in 1982 as a seven-student preschool. It has added a grade almost every year since and will have its first senior class next fall.

Enter Janes.

The 6-foot-2 player, who would be a shooting guard in most leagues, represents 10 percent of Cedar Park's junior class and the varsity basketball team's biggest inside threat.

Janes, whose family moved to the area from Huntington Beach, Calif., three years ago, probably would play for Lake Washington High varsity if he attended his neighborhood public school - as he did at the start of last school year before transferring.

Some who watched Janes average 27 points, 11 rebounds, six blocked shots and three steals per game this season say he would be a starter for that Lake Washington team, which would qualify for the AAA state tournament with three victories in its next four games.

But Janes says, "I'm just kind of happy where I'm at."

He cites the disciplined environment, his friends at the school and student-teacher ratio for wanting to remain at the school the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association lists as the smallest among more than 300 member high schools.

Only 49 kids, grades nine through 11, are enrolled at Cedar Park.

In fact, Janes' class is so small, he recently was the only one to show up for his first-period science class after the two other students in the class called in sick.

"I feel comfortable here," he said. So much so he may one day try to return as an assistant coach.

"I don't want to lose him, that's for sure," said Coach Russ Lance, the former King's High boys coach who guided the Eagles to a 14-9 record this season (8-2 in games used to determine playoff qualification), their second as a high-school team. They were eliminated by Everett's Holy Cross in their first playoff game.

Currently housed in what used to be solely a church, the school - under the direction of its founder, Pastor Joe Fuiten - is scheduled to break ground for a new junior high and high-school building within two months.

As for athletics, Cedar Park already offers boys soccer, girls basketball and volleyball, in addition to boys basketball. And this spring first-year programs in baseball, softball and track and field are planned.

"Cedar Park athletically is just a year from being competitive," said Annette Duvall, the Inglemoor High girls soccer coach and first-year athletic director at Cedar Park.

Said Lance: "It's kind of like a mole hill; it keeps building."

In fact, volleyball player Janna Adams just bought the first Cedar Park letter jacket. So far, it's still the only one.

And what kid wouldn't want to play with the homecourt advantage afforded the Eagles by the insulated fabric roof that looms overhead and the gray carpeting that covers the basketball court?

Perhaps the carpet's not something the team wants highlighted in the program's historical notes generations from now.

"That's one thing I can do without," Janes said. "I've got scars on my knees and elbows. It just rips my skin off."