Snohomish’s days as a one-high-school town are nearly over.
Snohomish High’s final day of classes for the 2007-08 school year is June 17. When the bell sounds that afternoon, it will mark the end of one era and the beginning of another.
Glacier Peak, the district’s new high school, opens this fall. What will that mean for athletics at Snohomish, which over the years has consistently fielded some of the state’s strongest sports teams?
Here is a closer look at Glacier Peak, which already has several teams practicing, and the impact its opening might have on Snohomish’s success.
The new school
Since Snohomish opened in 1891, it has been the town’s only mainstream high school.
It finally has company.
Glacier Peak students will be those within the district boundaries who live south and west of the Snohomish River. Students living north and east of the river will attend Snohomish.
There are some exceptions, but transfers for athletic-related reasons are not allowed. And students who are granted a variance can’t participate in varsity sports for a year.
No one will confuse the schools’ uniforms. The Snohomish Panthers’ well-known colors are red, white and black. Glacier Peak Grizzlies will be clad in navy blue, white and silver.
Several of the new school’s head coaches — including Dan Parker (cross country), Rory Rosenbach (football) and Melinda Torre (girls soccer) — have coached, taught or competed at Snohomish High, which they say will provide a sense of continuity. Even so, Glacier Peak-bound athletes and coaches say they are eager to create new traditions.
The biggest challenge for Glacier Peak’s teams next year will be competing without seniors. The Grizzlies will immediately field varsity teams in every sport, but the oldest students on campus will be juniors. This year’s juniors at Snohomish will finish at the old school.
Glacier Peak teams will be in the 3A classification and compete in the Western Conference South Division. The exception is football, where for at least two years the Grizzlies will be part of a five-team Wesco 3A league with Everett, Lynnwood, Meadowdale and Shorecrest.
There won’t be an instant cross-town rivalry. Snohomish will continue to be a 4A member of the Wesco North.
Although the schools won’t go head to head in league games, they will share Veterans Memorial Stadium. It will be their home field for varsity football, soccer and track events.
At Glacier Peak, turf is being installed on a practice field surrounded by a track. It’s expected to be ready this fall. A grass soccer practice field is scheduled to be ready by next spring.
The school also will have a 2,500-seat main gym, a 250-seat auxiliary gym, a wrestling room and a full weight room.
Eight tennis courts should be ready for use this fall, and baseball and softball fields are on the way.
Thanks to the recent passage of a construction and renovation bond, the schools eventually will share a new pool at a site to be determined.
Inside the numbers
During the 2007-08 school year, Snohomish High School won more than 82 percent of its Wesco North games and won outright or shared seven league titles (boys tennis, girls soccer, boys basketball, wrestling, boys soccer, girls tennis and baseball).
The school earned Class 4A team state championships in boys swimming and baseball. Wrestler Brad Perry won an individual state title, and his team ended Lake Stevens’ 15-year league dual-meet victory streak.
The Panthers did it with a student body of 2,858, based on an October census that included Snohomish’s freshman campus.
Next school year Snohomish is projected to have 2,058 students and Glacier Peak, with no seniors, will house 993, said Karen Riddle, the district’s executive director of business.
What will that do to Snohomish High athletics? Team sports like football will be hit the hardest, administrators and coaches said, but the Panthers still expect to be competitive.
“Will it equate into no-win seasons? No, that’s not what it means. We’re still going to be successful,” district athletic director Mark Albertine said.
The main issue will be depth.
The goal is to continue to have three squads (varsity, junior varsity and freshman) in sports that have traditionally had them, Albertine said. But the boys and girls basketball programs will no longer offer four teams.
A bright spot, Albertine said, is that adding a new school creates more opportunities for athletes in sports such as soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball.
“I know for sure that we’ll be able to keep more kids involved because we cut kids every year,” he said.
New school, high hopes
Senior leadership is invaluable, coaches often say. Glacier Peak won’t have any its first year.
“Obviously the first season is going to be a little tough. You’re competing in one of the toughest leagues in the state in just about every sport,” said Glacier Peak athletic coordinator Bob Blair, who will coach the Grizzlies’ baseball team.
“But we think we have good kids and they will be competitive.”
Like Snohomish, Glacier Peak hopes to field three squads in sports such as football, basketball and baseball, but initially that will be tough for the Grizzlies to achieve in other sports, Blair said.
Some athletes could do well immediately in individual sports. For example, Parker, Glacier Peak’s cross country coach, said his teams should be strong right away, particularly the boys squad.
Looking back
In Snohomish County, prep sports programs at Mariner took a hit when Kamiak opened in the Mukilteo School District. Further back, the same thing happened to Arlington when Lakewood opened across I-5.
Steve Barker was a teacher and coach at Arlington when Lakewood fielded its first varsity teams in the 1982-83 school year. Arlington made five straight trips to the state football playoffs from 1979-1982 and won two championships. But after Lakewood’s arrival, Arlington didn’t return to state until 1997.
“We went into sort of a tailspin,” said Barker, who was a longtime Arlington football assistant before he became head coach from 1987-1991.
Arlington’s depth suffered greatly and the team missed talented, well-coached Lakewood-area kids who would have attended Arlington, he said.
Lakewood started without seniors, as Glacier Peak will. In the fall of 1983, Lakewood’s first senior-led football team reached the state semifinals.
Barker, now in his 17th year at Lakewood, said he doesn’t expect Glacier Peak’s opening to have nearly the impact on Snohomish High that Lakewood had on Arlington. The reason, he said, is Snohomish’s combination of accomplished coaches and strong youth programs.
“I think they’re going to continue to have success,” Barker said.
A fitting ending
Throughout the current school year Snohomish High seniors talked about making the most of their role in the town’s last days with one high school.
Goalkeeper Madison Goverde said it motivated her during the girls soccer season. This spring, Jessica Yates said a similar feeling pushed her and her fellow track and field jumpers to excel.
Blair, Glacier Peak’s athletic coordinator and baseball coach, said he noticed a comparable sentiment on the Snohomish baseball team when he served as an assistant for the Panthers this spring.
“They’re very proud, I think, of being the last of the legacy and dynasty of kids who have gone through being in a one-high-school town,” Blair said.
It couldn’t have ended any better for Snohomish’s baseball team, which capped its season — and, in a way, a 117-year era — by winning a state championship at Safeco Field.
No matter what happens now at Snohomish and Glacier Peak, their achievement will endure.
Said Blair, “It’s something people in this community will remember forever.”
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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