Stories of the Spring | Top athletes strive to be best in state

Jeremy Taiwo once felt a rush of excitement each time he walked through the gates to the Newport High School track. Each day brought the possibility of leaping an inch higher or longer.

Now all he feels is pressure and pain. He senses pressure to live up to the marks he set as a sophomore, before his injury changed everything, and to justify the scholarship Washington offered him as he healed.

He feels pain from his surgery last July, a deep throbbing in his left ankle and a sharp pain every time he jumps. He feels pain from losing a close friend, Newport senior Taryn Gillies, who died in an auto accident April 18.

"It's been hard," Taiwo admitted. "I haven't been motivated."

What Taiwo considers a difficult year would be an impressive one for most. He won three events in the KingCo 3A meet, and then qualified for state by winning the high jump and triple jump in the Sea-King District meet. He has recorded the state's second-best triple jump in Class 3A (47 feet, 3 inches) and is one of four 3A athletes who have jumped at least 6-6 in the high jump. He knows he's capable of winning both events.

"We want to go out with a bang," his father, Joseph, said Tuesday at his son's practice. "This is it. No holding back."

Two years ago, Taiwo won the high jump and triple jump at the Class 3A state meet. He was only a sophomore with a lean, 6-6 frame and perfect genes. His father competed in the triple jump for Nigeria in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.

Jeremy Taiwo began feeling pain before his junior season. At first, it felt like a sprain. But it was far more complicated than that. Taiwo had an elongated talus bone in his left foot, and each time he jumped, the bone got smashed between his ankle and his lower leg. It required surgery to shave the bone to regular length.

"I took six months to get back to competing," he said. "It might take another six months or even years until the pain goes away."

He has a lot on his mind for this weekend, but he thinks some fun can clear that up.

"That's what I'm hoping: to have a good time with my teammates, and maybe catch myself off guard," Taiwo said.

girls track

Charnay Combs

Rainier Beach

She was supposed to rest her ankle for a month, but for Charnay Combs that time was too valuable.

"I knew track was coming, and I needed to get ready," she said.

The Rainier Beach junior had sprained her ankle playing basketball, but when track season neared, Combs grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off her cast.

Months later the only thing she's cutting is her times.

Combs, a four-time state champion, has qualified in three events (100 and 200 meters, and 800 relay) for the Class 3A state meet in Pasco this weekend. One of the more decorated girls track athletes in the state is poised to add more medals.

"I have the same attitude I've had all year," Combs said. "Anything can happen, but I'm going to go out and do my best."

Last week, the Sea-King 3A District meet was a week of survival. When many of the state's top athletes' state dreams were dashed, Combs heeded coach Eric Metcalf's advice and focused on qualifying in all her events — instead of winning.

But Metcalf knows Combs is a big-meet sprinter. Many of her personal bests have come at state.

"I know that she performs when the heat is on," said Metcalf, who noted Combs' times are faster this season than last. "I'm confident when the time comes she'll be ready again."

— Joshua Mayers

baseball

Derek Jones

Snohomish

Snohomish coach Kim Hammons sums up star player Derek Jones best.

"We just kind of saddle him up and ride that horse," said Hammons. "'Cause he's a good horse."

Jones, a Washington State signee, will try to lead a talented — and hungry — Panthers team to the Class 4A state baseball title after finishing second a year ago.

"Coming that close and having that storybook year last year and not being able to finish is kind of a downer," said Jones, who plans to pitch and play outfield for WSU. "We knew we had to get back [to Safeco Field]. It's a hunger."

The senior left-hander, who will start against Olympia in the semifinals Friday at 7 p.m. at Safeco, does it all for the Panthers (21-5). He has a 6-2 record with a 1.75 earned-run average. At the plate, he's batting .351 with eight home runs and 21 runs batted in. In last weekend's first of two wins in the regionals, Jones pitched a complete game and hit two homers with four RBI in a 9-3 win over Puyallup.

After a great run through the state playoffs in 2007, in which Jones pitched a shutout against a powerhouse Tahoma lineup in the semifinals, the Panthers ran up against Richland in the championship game, losing 7-3.

Richland plays Kentlake in Friday's other semifinal.

"We're gunning for that state title," said Jones, an all-area running back in football. "It's nice to get to Safeco, but it shouldn't be an accomplishment getting to the semifinals. It's first or nothing."

— Zach Landres-Schnur

Softball

Karli Merlich

Kennedy

She has been Merlich the Magician for the Kennedy fastpitch softball team the past four years.

This weekend, Karli Merlich hopes she has the chance to wave that "wand" — her left pitching arm — and lead the Lancers to another Cinderella finish at the Class 3A state tournament.

"That would mean everything to me," she said.

But after hyper-extending that left arm last week during batting practice, Merlich's availability is up in the air. On Wednesday, coach Dino Josie said he thought the odds were "better than 50-50" that his ace would be able to pitch. Merlich agreed, adding it would be a game-day decision. Without her, the defending champions are a different team. They lost twice with her on the bench last Saturday to fall to 21-3 this season.

"With her in the [pitcher's] circle, we have a chance to win it," Josie said of a state title.

Merlich, who committed last year to play at Texas Tech, has enjoyed a sensational career as a pitcher (59-10 record, 0.60 ERA, 782 strikeouts) and at the plate (.591 batting average, 73 extra-base hits, 123 RBI). She and her coach agree the best word to describe her is "competitive."

"I'm a very, very bad loser," Merlich said, "and I wouldn't want to be a good one."

— Sandy Ringer

boys soccer

Tyler Klein

Eastlake

Tyler Klein wasn't simply one of the Crossfire Premier Soccer Club's best players. He was a veteran. He had been with the club since he was 10.

But this spring, when Crossfire moved its season to conflict with the high-school season, he had to make a decision: leave the club or leave his classmates at Eastlake. He was torn. But he ultimately decided to play with his high school.

"I think I made the right decision," Klein said.

His teammates wouldn't disagree. In postseason, the defender has asserted himself as one of the state's best talents while leading Eastlake to the 4A semifinals.

It wasn't an easy road, either. Eastlake had to win against Evergreen in Vancouver, then win at Pasco and in Spokane against Mead.

Klein, who had scored only two goals in the regular season, had a goal in the Wolves' winner-to-state game in Vancouver, had an assist against Pasco, and then scored two goals and assisted on another in the 3-2 win at Mead.

Klein, a four-year starter heading to Washington next year, accomplished all that without compromising his defense, which teams have been unable to solve so far.

"You don't go down the middle with him," Eastlake coach Adam Gervis said.

— Tom Wyrwich

boys tennis

Davis Mangham

Lakeside

Whenever the phone or doorbell rings at the Manghams and someone asks for Davis, the answer is always the same.

"Playing tennis," replies his mother, Maggie.

The Harvard-bound Lakeside senior will try to win his third consecutive 3A singles title this week.

Mangham hasn't lost a high-school match since the 3A state singles final in 2005 against Peter Kung, a Lakeside teammate who was completing a run of four state titles. Mangham was extended to three sets by Skyline's Nick Kamisar in a Sea-King semifinal last week.

If Mangham prevails at state, this will mark seven consecutive years of a Lakeside player winning the 3A title.

Mangham, whose best weapons are his serve and forehand, has been winning and doing it with class. He won the Metro League coaches' Jill Curran Sportsmanship Award this season.

"I was really happy about that," Mangham said of the award honoring the late Seattle Prep player. "A lot of people have told me it means more than all the other stuff."

Davis' twin sister, Hannah, who will attend Williams College in Massachusetts, also is in the state tournament. She qualified with her Lakeside doubles partner, Caroline Daly.

— Craig Smith

girls tennis

Nikole Novikova

Bellevue

Nikole Novikova had to serve underhanded.

Last week before the SeaKing 3A District tournament, the Bellevue junior of Russian descent suffered a shoulder injury and couldn't lift her arm over her head.

But the painful injury didn't keep Novikova from competing. Or winning.

In a grueling two days, Novikova advanced all the way to the district championship to qualify for state, even boasting four championship points in a three-set thriller against Holy Names' Natalie Allen, before eventually suffering her first high-school defeat.

Despite the pain, quitting was never an option.

"I just wanted to prove to myself I could do it," said Novikova, who immigrated to the United States when she was 4. "Sometimes you can't just withdraw and say it hurts."

Two years ago as a freshman, Novikova was inflicting the pain as she swept through the season. She didn't lose one set all year en route to the state singles championship.

Now a junior, Novikova is back after a year in the USTA circuit, where she once reached a No. 2 ranking in the Pacific Northwest. More mature, more tactical and now with a powerful backhand, it appears nothing — not even an anguishing injury — will hold her back.

"She missed playing for her school and the team camaraderie, but she came back to win," said coach Eric McDowell."

— Joshua Mayers

Girls track

Charnay Combs

Rainier Beach

Baseball

Derek

Jones

Snohomish

Softball

Karli

Merlich

Kennedy

Boys soccer

Tyler

Klein

Eastlake

Boys tennis

Davis

Mangham

Lakeside

Girls tennis

Nikole

Novikova

Bellevue

Inside, D8

Boys track

Jeremy Taiwo

Newport