Sports Report

Author’s note: This sports section has information as of September 25th. To get more updated information about Bush athletics, you can go to BushBlazersAthletics.com. For more information on sports, you can go to ESPN.com. 

Welcome, Blazers, to the first Sports Report of the 2024-2025 school year! In this sports report, I’ll go over the start of the Bush fall sports season, give a recap of this summer's sports, and wrap up with a national baseball and football update.

Girls’ Soccer: The Varsity Girls’ soccer team has dominated the start of the season. Their first game had them heading to Lake Chelan High School, where they smoothly won 6-0. Since then, conference games have begun, with multi-goal wins over Granite Falls and Overlake and a tie against Northwest. At a record of 3-0-1, they remain undefeated and have games against Bear Creek on September 27th, East Jefferson on October 5th, and Eastside Prep on October 8th coming up. The JV team is 2-1 after dismantling Granite Falls 7-0, and looks to continue that success against Cedar Park Christian and King’s.

Girls’ Volleyball: Girls’ Varsity Volleyball is currently 2-2; however, they’re 2-0 in conference. With a big win in the home opener against Granite Falls and another in-conference win against Northwest, they prepare to face Summit Sierra on September 26th and Sultan on September 28th. Girls’ JV Volleyball has started 0-3, with a matchup against Northwest coming soon. Finally, the Girls’ JVC team comes in with a record of 1-3.

Boys’ Golf: The Boys’ golf team is off to a great start, with a current record of 1-1. The first match of the season was a tight showdown at home against Bear Creek, where they lost off of a double tiebreaker. However, they bounced back with an upset win against UPrep, ending a losing streak from previous years. “It was a good team win, everyone played their part,” said a member of the team. There is certainly an atmosphere of optimism around the current state of the Bush golf program.

Boys’ Ultimate: Boys’ Varsity Ultimate has had a shocking start to the season, currently at four wins and just one loss. Coming off of a defeat of Summit Sierra 12-1, they are preparing to face Eastside Prep at home on September 26th before heading to Northwest on September 30th. JV is also crushing it with a 3-0 record and a combined score of 39-11 over their first three games. They face Eastside Prep on September 26th and Northwest on September 30th. 

Boys’ Tennis: The Bush Varsity Tennis team is 3-4, but is currently on a two-game win streak with victories over South Whidbey and Bear Creek. They’ll prepare for a road match against South Whidbey on September 26th and a match against UPrep on September 30th.

Cross Country: Finishing with the Cross Country teams, the Blazers are coming off of their first big invite of the season, Fort Steilacoom. Bush finished 7th out of 18 teams, with Benjamin Hester ‘24 coming in with a Personal Record 5k time of 16:34. Nearly the entire Boys’ team PRed, and both teams look like they’re primed for extremely competitive seasons. Both Varsity teams are now preparing to head to Portland for another invite on September 28th. That recaps the start of the Bush fall sports season. Now, let's move to national sporting news.

Olympics: The most noteworthy sporting event this summer was the Olympics, held from late July to early August in Paris. 12 world records were broken, 7 countries won their first gold medal, and around 15,000 athletes competed across the 56 venues. Team USA tied with China for the most gold medals, finishing with 40. They had 126 total medals, by far the most out of participating countries. Some highlights for Team USA were Simone Biles leading the gymnastics team to gold with three medals, Katie Ledecky getting two gold medals out of four total, and Noah Lyles winning the 100-meter dash, earning the title “world’s fastest man.” Team USA saw lots of success in track and field, with standout performances from Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone in the 400-meter hurdles, Rai Benjamin in the 400-meter dash, Grant Fisher in the 5 and 10-kilometer races, and Cole Hocker in the 1600-meter dash. In Men’s Basketball, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Lebron James teamed up to lead Team USA to a gold fueled by a marvelous performance from Steph Curry. 

Baseball: Another notable summer storyline was the Seattle Mariners’ roller coaster 2024 season. At one point, the Mariners were leading the sub-par AL West by 10 whole games and seemed to be a shoo-in for the playoffs with their historic pitching rotation. Since then, the offensive production has plummeted, and the Mariners have been one of the worst offenses in baseball. This led to a shocking climax, as longtime manager Scott Servais was fired and former Mariners’ catcher Dan Wilson was hired as the new manager. The Mariners made up some ground in the playoff race. However, with just three days left in the regular season, they were eliminated. In the wider MLB landscape, playoffs start in October and Dodgers’ phenom Shohei Ohtani became the first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in just one season.

Football: The University of Washington’s first football season in the Big Ten has seen a dramatic start, as they currently have a record of 3-1. They are coming off of a big conference win against Northwestern after a heartbreaking rivalry loss to the Washington State Cougars. In the NFL, the Seahawks are boasting one of the best defenses in the entire league under new head coach Mike Macdonald. This has led to them starting 3-0 with big wins against the Broncos, Patriots, and Dolphins, and allowing an average of just over 14 points per game. They’re one of the five remaining undefeated teams alongside the Steelers, Vikings, Chiefs, and Bills.