SportsSection B lyndentribune.com•Wednesday,November11,2015

Obituaries•B4

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Husky-bound Lync

prep football

University of Washington commit Kara Bajema wrapping up illustrious LC careerBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — Kara Bajema’s potential has always been evident. Her upside has always been intriguing. But to turn capability into reality takes dedication and commit-ment. The 6-2 Lynden Christian volleyball standout undoubtedly displays both traits, and yet she’s taken it even a step further. Over the years, Ba-

jema has continually knocked on the ceiling of her potential, stretching it further than anyone had imagined. “Kara’s career has been just an uphill climb toward excellence,” LC head coach Kim Grycel said. “It’s been exciting and fun to just watch her take such big leaps of improvement each year, each season. “We always knew she had talent, but I don’t know if even I could have predicted how great she was going to be. She has just put in a lot of hard work to get to where she is and she just continues to improve each day.” Heading into her senior season this fall, Bajema already had a deco-rated list of accomplishments.

Sedro-Woolley eliminates Lions in district playoff game

Lynden suffered a 21-17 loss to Sedro-Woolley on Friday night in the district playoffs, snapping the Lions’ streak of nine consecutive state playoff appearances.(CameronVanTil/LyndenTribune)

Lynden will miss state playoffs for first time since 2005By Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

BELLINGHAM — Falling short of state is an al-most foreign concept for a powerhouse Lynden pro-gram accustomed to deep postseason runs. After all, Lynden’s seniors were in second grade the last time a Lions football season ended this early. But the manner in which it did was a painfully fa-miliar one. Eleven months after a state title game loss to Sedro-Woolley — and just two weeks after losing to the Cubs in overtime — Lynden was handed another stinging, season-ending defeat by the defending 2A state champions. Northwest Conference No. 4 seed Sedro-Woolley beat the No. 2 seed Lions for the third time in less than a year with a 21-17 victory on Friday night in a winner-

to-state district playoff game at Civic Stadium. It marks the first time since 2005 that Lynden — winners of six state championships in the last decade — has fallen short of the 16-team state bracket. “We were shocked,” Lynden senior quarterback Sterling Somers said. “We were pretty confident going into the game. We’ve never been done that early. “We weren’t expecting to lose there and it defi-nitely wasn’t a good feeling. I was definitely shocked and at a loss for words at the time.” Sedro-Woolley’s deceptive, multi-faceted Wing-T

Mountaineers, trojans advance to state playoffs

The Mount Baker and Meridian football teams both earned blowout wins on Friday

night in the district playoffs. See B4

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prep volleyball

Lynden Christian senior outside hitter Kara Bajema, a University of Washington commit, has helped lead the Lyncs to a 19th consecutive state volleyball tournament appearance.(CameronVanTil/LyndenTribune)

prep cross country

Locals post strong times at state meet Nooksack Valley’s Murphy places fourth in 1A girls PASCO — Nooksack Valley senior Amy Jo Murphy wrapped up an illustrious prep cross country career with a fourth-place medal at the 1A state championships on Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. While it was the second straight year that she earned fourth place in the state meet, Mur-phy shaved more than 30 seconds off of last year’s time. Her time this year of 18:42.9 would have been just one-tenth of a second behind last year’s winning time run by Alexis Redfield of Zillah. Redfield also won this year’s meet, finish-ing the 5,000-meter, 139-runner race in 18:06.6. This year marked the first time in Murphy’s four state meets that she had the opportunity to run with her teammates. The Nooksack Val-ley girls’ team qualified for state the previous week and finished in eighth place on Saturday with 195 points. “It was very nice to have them there and to be able to encourage them and help push them forward,” Murphy said. “That they all got to ex-perience it was really cool.” Nooksack Valley sophomore Alyce Har-lan finished in 31st (20:42.6), senior teammate Pearl Morris earned 57th (21:09.6), sophomore Brooke DeBeeld came in 85th (22:15.4) and ju-nior Michaela Yonkman rounded out the scor-ing for the Pioneers in 89th place (22:22.2). Nooksack Valley was one of three local girls’ teams competing in the race. Lynden Christian placed fifth with 160 points and Meridian came in sixth with 175 points, while Northwest won the team title with 69 points. Both the Trojans and the Lyncs were com-peting in their fifth straight state meet as teams. LC senior Sarah Ball led the Lyncs with a 29th-place finish (20:40.6), followed by senior twins Brianna Bruneau (36th place, 20:46.9) and Brandy Bruneau (40th place, 20:48.1). Ju-nior Taylor Ten Pas came in 52nd (21:00.2) and Brooke Berendsen finished in 61st (21:26.6).

somers commits to play basketball at spu LYNDEN — Lynden senior Sterling Somers has committed to playing Divi-sion II basketball at Seattle Pacific University, the two-sport athlete announced on Sunday. “I’ve always wanted to play college basketball, so it felt really good to finally commit that I’m going there,” Somers said. “I’m very excited.” A 6-5, 205-pound small forward, Somers averaged a team-high 17.6 points per game last season for the Lions and earned first-team All-Northwest Conference honors. Somers was also the starting quarterback on Lynden’s football team and wrapped up his high school career on the gridiron last week. Somers received an offer from SPU after playing in an AAU tournament in Bellevue over the summer. He also received an offer from Central Washington Uni-versity shortly afterward. “I went on an official (visit) to SPU and loved it there,” Somers said. “They were my front-runner and I just decided it was the place I wanted to be. “It was a great fit for me and I couldn’t be more excited.” SPU won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament last season and finished the year with a 24-8 record.

prep soccer

By Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — It was a historic season for the Lynden girls’ soccer program. And one that carried a very special meaning after tragedy struck over the summer. Sofia Milstead, a graduated teammate, passed away in a car accident in late July. Milstead had been a senior for the 2014 Lions, a team that came oh-so-close to making history. Lynden had tied Sedro-Woolley for the final spot, but fell just short of the program’s first-ever district

tournament berth by way of the head-to-head tie-breaker between the two teams. After the season, Milstead had a message for her teammates that would be returning in 2015. “She told us that she couldn’t wait to come watch us make district,” team captain and senior goalkeeper Emily Holt said. “So we made that our goal. We played for her this season and we dedi-cated our season to her. “And I think we made her proud.” The Lions sure did, all the while playing with

Lions’ historic season ends after first-ever district berth

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015 • lyndentribune.com • B3

rushing attack had given the Lions (6-4, 5-2 NWC) problems in their previous two losses to the Cubs, and that trend continued on Friday. Despite being without injured star run-ning back Carter Crosby, Sedro-Woolley (7-3, 4-3) totaled 303 yards on the ground at an av-erage of 6.3 per carry. The Cubs had four play-ers tally at least 45 yards rushing, led by Quinn Carpenter’s 103 yards on 12 carries. The methodical efficiency of Sedro-Wool-ley’s attack was never more evident than on its final drive, after the Cubs had taken over at their own 3-yard line with a four-point lead and more than eight minutes remaining. Lynden never got the ball back. Sedro-Woolley mounted a 16-play, 88-yard drive that ran out the clock, killing the Lions’ hopes of a 10th straight state berth in a slow and excruciating fashion. Yet it was a rare passing play by the Cubs that kept the drive alive. With Sedro-Woolley facing a third-and-11 at its own 28, junior Bryce Hornbeck hauled in a pass over the middle and broke free for a 43-yard gain to the Lynden 29. Carpenter powered up the middle soon after for a first-down run on fourth-and-3, and then ran for another first down two plays later to seal the win. “I want to give all the credit to Sedro-Woolley,” Lynden head coach Kramme said. “It’s playoff game, they had all the adversity that they faced without their leader (Crosby), and they found a way to get the job done. So I tip my hat to those guys.” The Cubs struck first on a 29-yard touch-down run early in the second quarter, three plays after converting a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-2. Lynden answered with an 11-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, scoring on a 16-yard touch-down pass from Somers to Jordan Wittenberg on third-and-8. Somers lofted a fade route to the back-left corner of the end zone for Witten-berg, and the senior receiver hauled in the pass while keeping his feet inbound to tie the game. The Lions then forced a Sedro-Woolley punt, but the Cubs stripped the ball loose from Wittenberg on the return and recovered at the Lynden 16. Sedro-Woolley capitalized two plays later on an 11-yard touchdown run to take a 14-7 lead.

After a Lynden turnover on downs and a Sedro-Woolley punt, the Lions took over at their own 36 with 24 seconds left in the half. Sparked by a 22-yard completion to Witten-berg, Lynden drove 35 yards in 21 seconds and senior kicker Per Wolfisberg booted a 46-yard field goal as time expired to make it 14-10 heading into halftime. The Lions earned excellent field position at the Sedro-Woolley 40 after a three-and-out and a short punt by the Cubs to begin the sec-ond half. But Lynden was unable to convert a fourth-and-5 on the Sedro-Woolley 22 and handed the ball back to the Cubs. Carpenter broke free soon after for a 51-yard run, setting up a 15-yard rushing touch-down on the ensuing play by Hornbeck — his second of the night — that extended Sedro-Woolley’s lead to 21-10 near the midway point

of the third quarter. Lynden responded once again, this time with an 11-play, 84-yard scoring drive. After a long Somers touchdown run was called back by a holding penalty, the senior quarterback connected with Wittenberg on the next play for a deep 45-yard touchdown pass that cut the deficit to 21-17 late in the third. The Lions then forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Sedro-Woolley possession and got the ball back on their own 46 early in the fourth quarter. Lynden picked up a pair of first downs, but the drive stalled, setting up a fourth-and-10 on the Sedro-Woolley 22. Scrambling away from pressure, Somers launched a desperation heave to the end zone that was intercepted, and the Cubs ran out the clock with their game-sealing drive of more than eight minutes.

“It just comes down to making plays, and I have to say that (the Cubs) were the play-makers tonight,” Kramme said. “We had our chances — we had multiple chances. We did not make the play and they did.” Somers finished 11-of-24 passing for 128 yards and two touchdowns, while running for 98 yards on 17 carries. Wittenberg led the Lions with six catch-es for 106 yards, hauling in both of Lynden’s touchdowns. Senior running back Dalton Ohligschlager added 78 yards on 13 carries. “It’s not the outcome that we expected, but I don’t doubt these kids’ effort,” Kramme said of his team. “They played hard, and for whatever reason it wasn’t our night. “The bottom line was they made plays and we didn’t. That’s sports.”

She had earned Northwest Conference Most Valuable Player honors last year while leading LC to its first-ever state championship. She had committed to play at the University of Washington, home to one of the premier col-legiate volleyball programs in the country. And Bajema was already considered by Grycel as the most talented player to ever come through the LC program during her ten-ure — a statement that speaks volumes com-ing from a coach who has now led the Lyncs to 19 consecutive state tournament appear-ances. Yet given how incredibly dominant Ba-jema was her junior year, even Grycel was un-sure if the star outside hitter would be able to top that her senior season. Any doubts she had were shot down. Bajema has totaled 435 kills this season at a whopping average of 6.5 per set. She’s also demonstrated her defensive prowess with 212 digs. “She’s gotten (even) better,” Grycel said. “It’s just a credit to her — she’s just willing to go out, work, keep practicing and play all the time.” That dedication is what Bajema has been demonstrating ever since she discovered that volleyball — not basketball — was her true love. Bajema’s athletic pursuits originally cen-tered on basketball, and she’s had ample suc-cess in the sport throughout her high school career. Bajema helped lead LC to a state bas-ketball title in 2013-14 and has been a first-team all-state selection the past two seasons. “Ever since I was little, it was basketball,” Bajema said. “I wanted to play basketball in college. But things can change.” Bajema began playing volleyball com-petitively in middle school under Grycel, who originally taught her the sport. Then came the turning point. After her freshman season on the high school team, volleyball had become her primary sport. “I got to experience a little bit of a higher-caliber volleyball with high school,” Bajema said. “I think that’s when it started to change. “I was like, ‘this is what I want to do.’ I just liked the volleyball environment and the game.” During her freshman year, Bajema began training and playing with the Puget Sound Volleyball Academy, a club team located in Puyallup. Twice a week, she would make the approximately three-hour trip south to the team’s facility. “I was like, ‘Okay, I want to get a little bit more experience. I think this is what I want to do,’” Bajema said. As Grycel explains, that was when her vol-leyball career really took off. “I think (it was) when she just decided, ‘I’m going to go for this,’” Grycel said. “She has such determination and she’s not afraid of putting in the work and doing what it takes. “She decided, ‘I really like this sport and I’m going to see how far I can take it.’ She got on some great club teams and she just really put her mind to it.” As she did so, Bajema developed into a fearsome outside hitter with a thunderous spike. Meshing her tall frame, impressive ath-leticism and smarts into one fluid, expertly timed motion, Bajema pounds out kills with a ferocity and frequency that’s eye-opening even to the most casual observers. Yet what makes Bajema truly a unique tal-

ent is her versatility. As a freshman on the LC team, she origi-nally began by playing on the back row, a rar-ity for a player of her height. It ended up being beneficial, both for Bajema’s personal devel-opment and for the team. “To have someone who’s 6-2 who can jump and hit in the front row, and then go in the back and move so well and play defense, I think is really what makes her such a tremen-dous all-around player,” Grycel said. “We’ve had a lot of great hitters and a lot of great defensive players, but putting it all to-gether in a complete package is what college coaches have seen in her and what we’ve seen in her development over the years.” Bajema agreed that it definitely helped separate her while being recruited. “Coaches want more than just a hitter and more than just a blocker,” she said. “I feel like

being able to serve-receive and to dig a ball re-ally caught their eye. It’s really important to be an all-around player.” Bajema’s versatility has certainly been beneficial to the Lyncs, recently evidenced by her 20 digs in LC’s sweep of King’s in the Oct. 31 district championship match. “She just really switched it into another gear,” Grycel said. “I call it ‘Kara’s Beast Mode.’ She just turned it on defensively and made some huge digs to really help our team get that district championship.” Yet while Bajema’s defensive ability tends to get overshadowed by her offense, perhaps the least recognizable aspect of Bajema’s game is the mental side. “She sees the defense and is really smart with the ball,” Grycel said. “(She has) the abil-ity to read and anticipate what the opponent is going to do, and then put herself in the posi-

tion to make the dig. “That’s just from her hard work of study-ing and really being a student of the game. She just has that natural ability to anticipate — she understands the game and what her oppo-nents are doing.” In all, it adds up to an elite talent. Prior to this season, Bajema was named to the Under Armour’s national class of 2016 “Watch List,” placing her among the top high school volley-ball players in the country. Yet not even Bajema imagined this level of success. “Originally, I didn’t exactly know what my potential was and what the top school was that I could get into,” she said. So Bajema began by looking into Divi-sion II schools and some smaller Division I programs. Pretty soon, however, she began receiving letters from the likes of Washington, Florida, Michigan and UCLA.

Bajema contacted the University of Wash-ington and she drew enough interest that the program began sending coaches to her matches. In the summer prior to her junior year, she was invited to the program’s four-day individual camp, where she got the oppor-tunity to work with the coaches and demon-strate her abilities. “I fell in love with the campus, I fell in love with the atmosphere, the coaching — every-thing about it,” Bajema said. “I was like, ‘This is where I want to go. This is what I want to do in my future.’” A few weeks later, she made her verbal commitment. Her collegiate career is now just around the corner, but Bajema isn’t focused on that just yet. She’s been intent all season on help-ing LC get back to state and make another run at the title.

Bajema figures to be in better condition this time around after battling mononucleosis on the first day of last year’s state tournament. Her valiant performance that day is one of Grycel’s lasting memories of Bajema. “Every time she would fall on the floor, I was worried she wasn’t going to be able to get back up,” Grycel said. “She was just so sick, but she wasn’t going to let her team down and was still an effective player out there. “I’m hoping that she gets a chance to show everyone at state what she can really do while healthy. I’m excited for her to do that and make some new memories there.” What would it be like to win back-to-back championships? “It would be so cool,” Bajema said “I feel like people underestimated us (this year), los-ing seven seniors. Our goal every year is to get to state and see what happens, so losing all those seniors, we wanted to get these younger ones ready and prepared. “And I think we did that throughout this season. I think they’re ready and now that it’s time, I think we have a good shot.” As Grycel explains, Bajema has played an integral role in readying of the underclassmen. “You’re somebody who during the off-season has been playing in national tourna-ments, and all of a sudden (you) come back down to that level,” Grycel said. “I think it’s a credit to her leadership that she’s been able to help these freshmen and sophomores along. “It’s been a key to our success, because we wouldn’t be where we are with just a couple of players. We needed those younger kids to re-ally come along. Kara knew that and has really helped to guide them.” Sometimes she evens beats Grycel to the spot in offering helpful tips. “I don’t know what she’s going to do in her lifetime,” Grycel said. “But she definitely has some coaching skills, too.” Bajema, meanwhile, is quick to praise Grycel’s coaching and support. “She was originally the one that taught me my skills, taught me volleyball and made me fall in love with the game,” Bajema said. “So I owe a lot to her and her commitment to me. She’s one of my biggest supporters. “She’s one of the main reasons I’m getting the opportunity I am.” After all, it was Grycel who first saw Ba-jema’s potential. Yet not even she could have anticipated the heights Bajema has reached. “She has just continued to improve and improve,” Grycel said. “So far, I haven’t seen a limit on her. She just keeps getting better and better.”

Lyncs win bi-district title; next up: Yakima REDMOND — The Lynden Christian vol-leyball team won the bi-district title with a 25-16, 25-16, 25-19 victory over Annie Wright on Saturday at Overlake High School. Kara Bajema led the Lyncs (15-2) with 14 kills and four aces, while Hannah Rusnak add-ed eight kills and three aces. Carli Tjoelker tallied 23 assists and Em-malee Bailey recorded 11 digs. 1A No. 2-ranked LC will face Montesano in the opening round of the state tournament at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in the Yakima Valley SunDome. With a win, the Lyncs would advance to the quarterfinals and face the Cascade Chris-tian vs. Columbia (Burbank) winner at 8:15 p.m. Friday.

Lions: Sedro-Woolley salted game with eight-minute driveContinued from B1

Bajema: Versatility is what sets LC star outside hitter apartContinued from B1

Lynden senior receiver Jordan Wittenberg keeps his feet inbound while hauling in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Sterling Somers in the second quarter that tied the game at 7 apiece. (Cameron Van Til/Lynden Tribune)

Bajema (far right) has helped guide a young LC team to the program’s 19th consecutive state tournament berth. (Cameron Van Til/Lynden Tribune)