Prep Beat: Coach swaps teams

Bellevue High School has a new boys basketball coach, and he is coming from rival Sammamish High School. Chris O'Connor is leaving his alma mater after four seasons to coach the Wolverines.

O'Connor put together three consecutive winning seasons at Sammamish, including a 16-9 mark last season with a senior-dominated team that came one game from reaching the Class 3A state tournament. He was 48-46 overall.

"When I took the job at Sammamish, the program was struggling," O'Connor said. "I felt that in the four years I was there we rebuilt the program and built a solid foundation."

Asked why he is leaving Sammamish, O'Connor said, "I felt it was time to make the switch." He said he was impressed with the returning talent at Bellevue and players in the Wolverines' pipeline.

O'Connor, 35, is the son of Bill O'Connor, who coached at Seattle University from 1972-78 and had a 72-89 record.

After playing at Sammamish, O'Connor was a college point guard at Division I New Hampshire and stayed in that program for three years as an assistant coach. He then was a regional scout for the NBA Vancouver Grizzlies. He works in property management for Courter Corp.

O'Connor replaces Jeff Altchech, who was 29-41 in three years at Bellevue, including 11-13 last season. Altchech's contract wasn't renewed.

The Bellevue roster next season is expected to include the sons of two former Sonics — 6-foot-6 senior-to-be Luke Sikma (father Jack), and 6-4 sophomore-to-be Alex Schrempf (father Detlef).

Lake Stevens

soccer player out

Lake Stevens, ranked 15th by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and Adidas, received a big blow to its state-title hopes Thursday.

Senior forward Wes Vanhooser, who leads the Vikings with 17 goals, will miss the remainder of the postseason with a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. Lake Stevens plays at Auburn at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the state quarterfinals.

Vanhooser, who will play for Seattle University next year, suffered the injury in practice on Monday and missed his team's first-round playoff win over Curtis Tuesday. He had an MRI Wednesday and received the bad news Thursday.

"It's disappointing," said Vanhooser. "But now I'll just have to support my team and cheer them on."

101 Club Scholarships announced

Five Seattle high-school athletes were honored with $1,000 scholarships Thursday at the 101 Club's 73rd annual Scholar-Athlete Luncheon at the Washington Athletic Club.

The scholarship recipients were Mohammed Logman, Mapili Talakai and Lori Nguyen of Chief Sealth and Gaybrielle Holbert and Joann Ucol of Franklin.

The five also were among the group of three boys and three girls from the senior class of each Seattle Class 3A and 4A school, plus Eastside Catholic, that was honored at the luncheon for their combined excellence in academics and athletics.

Note

• Three boys basketball players from Cascade High School of Everett have signed college letters of intent. Sean Carter will play at Bellevue Community College, and Mike Matson and Marcus Guffey at Highline CC. The trio helped Cascade go 24-6 in WesCo Conference games the past two season and reach the state tournament last season.