Thursday, January 28, 2003 - 9 p.m.
 

Class 4A

Gustavo Palhares, Hudson's Bay boys swimming: Palhares, an exchange student from Brazil, picked up the slack after his Vancouver team was struck by illness, winning two races in a meet against Camas. He won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.16 seconds and the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.67, a personal best by three seconds.

Nicki Mosman, Mountlake Terrace girls basketball: The 5-foot-5 sophomore guard averaged 20 points, 3.5 steals and 2.5 assists in WesCo victories over Mariner and Shorewood. She made five three-pointers, shot 65 percent from the field (15 of 23) and was 5 of 5 at the free-throw line.

Class 3A

Brian Sawyer, Sammamish boys swimming: The Totems' senior won four events in state-qualifying times and swam on four winning relays in KingCo 3A victories over Bellevue and Interlake. His times in the 100 butterfly (51.98 seconds) and 500 freestyle (4:43.03) earned him All-American consideration and are the fastest reported Class 3A/2A times in the state this season.

Lauren Olander, West Valley (Yakima) girls basketball: Olander, a senior, helped the second-ranked Rams improve to 12-2 overall and 8-0 in the Mid-Valley League. She had 15 points and nine rebounds in a 68-67 overtime nonleague loss to Central Valley of Veradale, ranked No. 7 in Class 4A this week by The Times. She had 10 points in only 13 minutes in a 60-26 rout of Wapato, and 11 points and 14 rebounds in a 37-28 win over Hanford.

Class 2A

Steev Turner, Cashmere wrestling: Turner, a 119-pound senior, won four matches, one by pin and the others by scores of 9-1, 9-2 and 11-6. Three of his wins came in the Washington Dream Duals tournament at East Valley of Spokane. He has beaten two previous state champions the past two weekends.

Lauren Smith, Lakewood girls basketball: The Cougars lost 63-58 to South Whidbey in a North Cascades Conference game despite a big performance from Smith. The Lakewood senior had 24 points, 14 rebounds, four blocked shots, two assists and two steals.

Class 1A

Beckley Mason, Overlake boys basketball: Mason, a 5-9 senior guard and the school's career scoring leader, turned in his best games of the season in three victories by the Owls. He had 24 points in a 58-39 win over Seattle Academy, 26 points and eight assists in a 63-42 win over Bush, and a career-high 33 points in a 59-49 victory over Charles Wright. Mason leads Emerald City League scorers at 19.8 points per game.

Leslie Walker, Forest Ridge girls basketball: The senior guard averaged 16.8 points and 13.5 rebounds per game as the Raiders won three of four games. Her best game was a 17-point, 17-rebound effort in a loss to Seattle Christian. She scored all but eight of her team's points in that 45-25 loss.

Class B

Jordan Doucet, Snohomish County Christian boys basketball: The 5-11 senior forward scored exactly 30 points in three consecutive Northwest B League games — victories over Skykomish and Grace Academy and a loss to Mount Vernon Christian. He raised his scoring average to 21.8 points per game.

Kara Weed, Quilcene girls basketball: Weed, a senior, had 19 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots in the Rangers' 52-51 overtime win against Crescent, the two-time defending North Olympic League champion. Two days later, she had 20 points, 21 rebounds and three steals as Quilcene got its first win at Neah Bay in at least six years, 49-39.

The WIAA/Seattle Times State Athletes of the Week are selected by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and The Seattle Times from nominations by athletic directors around the state.