Notebook | Referee Al Leonard to coach Bothell girls basketball

After 30 years as a basketball official, Al Leonard was ready to stand on the other side of the sideline.

Leonard accepted the Bothell High School girls basketball coaching job this week, taking over a team that went 2-19 last season but has been to the state tournament as recently as 2007.

"This opportunity just kind of presented itself, and there are some girls there that are dying to win and have some great leadership," Leonard said. "It's just one of those things that was tugging at me, and I jumped on it."

Leonard, a Bothell graduate, has had several stints as an assistant football coach at Bothell. He has officiated high school and college basketball since 1978, and he refereed the Class 3A boys state championship game in 2007 and the 4A championship game last February.

He has been around the game for decades, but this will be his first basketball coaching job.

"I just need to surround myself with some good people," he said. "What I lack in X's and O's, I'll make up in desire and intensity. I didn't take the job to be average. I took the job to really be a top-flight program."

Riverside pair commits

Auburn Riverside senior guards Nichole Jackson and Amanda Thomson recently made oral commitments to play basketball at Division I colleges.

Jackson, who was instrumental in Riverside's run to the past two Class 3A state championships, chose Portland State over San Diego State and Pepperdine. Thomson, who transferred this school year from Kentwood, picked Cal State Northridge over Northern Arizona. That makes seven D-1 scholarships for Riverside players over the past four years.

Jackson joins former teammate Stephanie Egwuatu, a 2008 Riverside graduate, at Portland State. She said staying close to him was a factor along with the possibility of immediate playing time.

"It's a team that's up and coming and I feel I can really make an impact there," she said.

Thomson said she likes to Cal State coaching staff and she expects to get plenty of family support there as her father makes frequent business trips to the area and her sister plans to move to the area. She and Jackson both said they were happy to make their college decisions before the season started.

"I just want to focus on my season," Thomson said.

Baumgardt's jersey to be retired

Justi Baumgardt-Yamada, one of the state's top all-time soccer players, will have her high-school jersey retired at halftime of Federal Way's girls soccer match against Kent-Meridian Tuesday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

Baumgardt, a 1993 Federal Way graduate, was a four-year, South Puget Sound League first-team selection who was named to the Parade Magazine All-America team her senior season, when she led the Eagles to a second consecutive Class 4A state championship. She holds school records for goals (98) and assists (50). Baumgardt went on to play at the University of Portland and made several appearances with the U.S. women's national team, then played three years in the WUSA women's professional league before it folded.

Baumgardt-Yamada and her husband, Tote Yamada, a former star at Jefferson High School, have sons ages 4 and 1. She coached the Federal Way girls team in 2003 and currently coaches Crossfire youth teams. Jason Baumgardt, her brother, coaches the boys and girls teams at Federal Way.

Eastlake softball coach named

Eastlake has named former assistant Al Leaverenz its softball coach. Leaverenz had been an assistant to George Crowder the past six years. Crowder resigned after leading the Wolves to the Class 4A state championship last May.

"It's something that I've always wanted to do," Leaverenz said. "It was kind of the next step."

Leaverenz, 50, has had two daughters go through the Eastlake program, and he has been involved in the Sammamish school's youth and select programs for more than 10 years.

Wrestling Hall to induct coaches

Coaches Paul Jackson, David Carlile, Gary Hackney and Rick Rakevich will be induced into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Nov. 1.

Ceremonies honoring the 25th class of inductees will be part of the annual WSWCA coaches clinic at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound.

Jackson coached 24 years at Mercer Island, where he produced four state champions. Carlile has coached at Battle Ground since 1979. Hackney, Pasco's first state-champion wrestler in 1962, coached at Kennewick and Pasco. Rakevich coached 11 state champions at Elma.

Former coach and official Randy Audette of Mount Vernon will also be honored for his contributions to the sport.

Invitationals lure top runners

Many of the state's top boys and girls cross-country runners will gather in Richland or Lakewood Saturday.

The 40th Richland Invitational will include a particularly strong boys field, including top-ranked Jackson of Mill Creek and second-ranked Eisenhower of Yakima in Class 4A, and No. 1 North Central of Spokane and No. 2 Seattle Prep in 3A.

Forty schools are expected to send runners to the 25th Hole in the Wall Invitational at Lakewood High School, near Tacoma.

Times staff reporter Sandy Ringer contributed to this report.