Envelope, please: Bellevue football was year's top act

As they say in filmmaking, "It's a wrap!" Another year of high-school sports has concluded, and it's time for a look back at highlights, lowlights and oddities:

Story of the year: The Bellevue High School football team snapped the 151-game winning streak of De La Salle of Concord, Calif. The Wolverines went on to win their fourth straight state Class 3A title and made a solid case for being considered the best team in state history.

Ugliest incident: Rick Rae, father of a Peninsula High School girl basketball player, slugged coach Jerrod Fleury after a subdistrict road loss in Sequim. Rae has been charged with fourth-degree assault. Fleury was accused of initiating contact when Rae approached him and lost his job.

Breakthrough of the year: Whitney Conder of Puyallup became the first female wrestler ever to place in a state tournament when she took sixth in the Class 4A 103-pound division.

Saddest disqualification: Leonard Harris, a junior at Kentridge High School, finished second in the triple jump at the South Puget Sound League meet then was disqualified because he had taken some jumps while wearing a Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelet. Harris had forgotten to take the elastic bracelet off until a judge reminded him of the no-jewelry rule. He was allowed to continue jumping, but a rival coach had seen him jump with the bracelet and brought the matter to the attention of officials, who DQ'd him. Kentridge appealed and lost.

Kentridge coach Ken Paul, who thinks Harris would have done well enough at the district meet the following week to get to state, summed up the situation in three words: "A damn shame."

Shock of the year: The Seattle Prep boys basketball team won the school's first Metro League championship but failed to qualify for state despite having likely June NBA draftee Martell Webster and Spencer Hawes, a highly touted 6-foot-11 center, on the roster. The Panthers lost Sea-King District games to Issaquah and Bishop Blanchet. Prep was unable to stop Blanchet junior Taylor Olson, who was 9 for 9 on three-point attempts and scored 34 points in the 65-56 stunner.

Best tournament performance: Richland's Tyler Cheney threw a two-hit shutout in an 8-0 4A semifinal win over Cascade. Then he hit the winning two-run homer in a 2-1 victory over Skyline in the title game.

Worst view of title game: Shorecrest boys soccer coach Teddy Mitalas had to watch his team beat Ferndale 1-0 in the 3A state-title game from across the street because he had received a controversial red card in the semifinal.

Supportive team: The saddest of reasons kept Wenatchee boys tennis coach Ron Zielinski from attending the Class 4A state tournament in Spokane: He had to attend his son's funeral and burial. Matthew, 27, had died Wednesday. Zielinski's boys team went out and did their coach proud, tying for the state championship with Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma. When the players returned from Spokane on Saturday night, they went immediately to the coach's house to show him the trophy and tell him the performance had been dedicated to him.

Better trip this time: Kelsey Walker of Bellevue was leading the 3A girls cross-country state championship in November when she took a wrong turn on the Pasco course and lost the race. Last Friday and Saturday, Kelsey returned to Pasco for the state track meet and won the 3A 1,600- and 3,200-meter titles.

Surprise resignation: Karen Blair, the respected coach of the Meadowdale girls basketball team, quit abruptly last month. She said that dealing with two particular sets of difficult parents had worn her down. Under Blair, Meadowdale appeared in 10 consecutive state tournaments and won two state titles.

Talk about perfect: Peter Kung of 3A Lakeside became only the fifth tennis player in state history to win a state championship four years in a row. The Woodinville fastpitch team finished the season with the 4A state-championship trophy and a 27-0 record.

Year of the Big Mac: The Seattle area had a record three boys in the McDonald's All-America basketball game — Jon Brockman of Snohomish, Micah Downs of Juanita and Webster of Seattle Prep.

Recruit of the year: Jonathan Stewart of Timberline High School in Lacey was the most-hyped football recruit in state history. He was the No. 1-ranked running back in the country, and wound up signing with Oregon. He set the career prep rushing record for Washington backs with 7,755 yards.

Race of the year: In the most anticipated running showdown of the year, Becca Noble of Rogers High School in Spokane beat defending champion Brie Felnagle of Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma in the 4A 800-meter championship in 2 minutes, 8.61 seconds.

Streaks: The Lynnwood football team stopped its on-field losing streak of 47 losses by stopping a two-point conversion attempt by South Whidbey in overtime. The streak had officially ended at 42 when Kamiak had to forfeit for using an ineligible player.

• Enumclaw's seven-year, 54-match dual-meet wrestling streak in league matches was snapped by Auburn in January.

• The Franklin girls soccer team scored its first goal in two seasons last fall.

Strangest playoff team: The Lynnwood baseball team was 0-19 but got in the Northwest 3A baseball tournament by upsetting Cedarcrest of the Cascade League in a winner-to-district/loser-out game.

Diving dynasty: Senior Jonathan Wilcox of Bellevue won his third straight 3A diving title and extended the family streak in the event to eight. Before him, brothers Justin won in 2002 and Zach won four titles from 1998 to 2001.

Shirt of the year: The shirt-making vendor at the Gridiron Classic started printing "DeSales state champion" T-shirts in the fourth quarter with the Walla Walla school ahead 21-6. Lind-Ritzville stormed back to win the B-11 title 25-21. About two dozen shirts were printed and some of them later purchased.

Favorite quotes of the year: Will Foster, 7-foot-2 White River junior: "I'm kind of the ladder around the house."

• Bill Caudill, Eastside Catholic baseball coach, after his team lost the league title game for a third consecutive year: "We're the Buffalo Bills of the Metro League."

• "I'm just happy to be alive and playing basketball," Hanford High School's Admir Beribak, who moved to the Tri-Cities from Bosnia when he was 14.

Big numbers: Thomas Brooks-Fletcher of Interlake rushed for a KingCo-record 444 yards on 43 carries in a 51-16 win over Sammamish. ... Bellevue running back J.R. Hasty scored a state-record 50 touchdowns this season.

Animal of the year: Abraham, a dog owned by Inchelium football coach Brian Myers, ran onto the field during an afternoon football game against Northeast Washington rival Hunters. Abraham started cavorting among the players before being ejected. He spent the rest of the game playing with a plastic water bottle on the sideline.

Surprise award: Sports Illustrated named the athletic program at 2A King's High School in Shoreline as the state's best based primarily on the school's now-24 state championships since 1994.

Strangest title game: Bethel beat Kentwood 33-29 in the 4A state-title boys basketball game. It was the lowest-scoring title game since 1941.

Missed you: For the first time since 1981, neither Franklin nor Garfield was in a state boys basketball tournament.

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com