Prep notebook: Roosevelt losing boys basketball coach, Sarmiento

The separation wore on them both until it became clear a long-distance marriage was something neither wanted.

So Rob Sarmiento decided to eliminate the gap, resigning yesterday after three seasons as boys basketball coach at Roosevelt High School and announcing plans to join his wife in Chicago after the school year.

"It was tough last year being apart," said Sarmiento, whose wife, Jennifer Pelleriti, is an assistant field hockey coach at Northwestern University.

They met while teaching at Roosevelt and were married last November.

Sarmiento said he told the team after the last game in February that there was a possibility he would not return and reiterated the point at the end-of-the-season banquet.

The Roughriders were 26-38 overall under Sarmiento, but improved every season, going 6-14 his first year to 11-11 last season.

They return one of the state's top players, 6-foot-6 guard Marcus Williams, who is drawing recruiting interest from college programs from Arizona to Texas to Washington.

"It was a good time," Sarmiento said of his tenure. "I really appreciate the players and their parents and all they've done for the program."

Sarmiento, a social studies teacher, was an assistant at Roosevelt from 1995-98, and an assistant at Ballard for two seasons before being named Roughriders coach in May 2001.

Notes

• P.J. Ross, an All-Metro League football and baseball player at Eastside Catholic, will attend Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., and play both sports. Ross was the Metro co-lineman of the year in football last fall. He hit a league-leading seven home runs in baseball last spring.

• Bothell senior Bart Ward has signed a letter of intent to play football at NAIA Southern Virginia University. Ward, 5-11 and 200 pounds, was an all-conference running back for KingCo 4A champion Bothell.

• Allison Ritchie of Seattle Christian, who has placed second at the past two Class 1A state girls cross-country meets, has agreed to sign a letter of intent to run at the University of Portland. Ritchie, one of the most successful runners in Seattle Christian history, is seeking her third straight trip to the state track-and-field meet. As a junior, she was second in the 3,200 meters and third in the 1,600.

• Gonzaga Prep's eight-year undefeated streak in Greater Spokane League girls tennis ended with a 5-2 loss to Lewis and Clark Tuesday. Gonzaga Prep's last GSL loss came in 1996, against Ferris. Lewis and Clark (4-0) has a good chance to end a streak of seven consecutive league titles by G-Prep (4-1).

All-State game basketball rosters in ScoreIt, this page.