SportsSection B lyndentribune.com•Wednesday,February10,2016

Sports Briefs•B2

Legal Notices•B3

Classifieds•B4

Construction Loan Permanent Financing

The Skagit Bank One-Step Construction Loan

(800) 246-4402 | SKAGITBANK.COM

Genuine Lasting Relationships

Building a home?Get a loan that goes the distance, with one rate, one closing, and one lender, only at Skagit Bank.

Lyncs race past Mount Baker to clinch share of conference title By Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — The Lyncs made Northwest Confer-ence history on Friday night. And they did so in trade-mark LC fashion. 1A top-ranked Lynden Christian showcased its depth on both sides of the ball and routed seventh-ranked Mount Baker for a 72-49 senior-night win to clinch a share of the NWC title and become the first 1A boys basketball champion in the 10-year history of the conference. The Lyncs (19-1, 11-1 NWC) also became the first 1A team in league history to finish conference play with fewer than three losses. LC will share the NWC crown with the winner of Tuesday night’s Lynden-Squalicum contest. “It’s a pretty special deal for these kids,” LC head coach Roger DeBoer said. “To see them be able to ex-perience this is really neat for us.” Mount Baker (13-7, 7-5) had a massive size ad-vantage with 6-10 Timothy Soares, 6-5 T.J. Bass and

6-9 Ethan Gates, but the Lyncs largely negated it with a high-pressure defense that swarmed Mountaineers guards all night and forced 21 turnovers. “Soares is an amazing player,” LC senior guard Jake Poag said. “He’s got a lot of talent. So we tried to put pressure on their guards so that they couldn’t get it in to him and tried to force a lot of turnovers.” The Lyncs’ depth proved key in their ability to sustain high-energy defensive pressure throughout the game. “That was very important,” DeBoer said. “If you play at that frantic of a pace, you hope you’re in good enough shape to continue to handle it. And I thought that was a strength for us tonight. “We had a chance to show great depth and play nine guys, and we seemed to have a lot of energy.” And offensively, the Lyncs put together yet anoth-er classic display of efficient, team-centered basket-ball that resulted in a 29-of-60 (48.3 percent) shooting performance and four seniors scoring in double fig-ures. Tanner Bouma led LC with 15 points on five 3-pointers, Josiah Meppelink added 14 points, Poag scored 13 — all in the first half — and NWC scoring

prep boys basketball

LC makes history as NWC’s first-ever 1A champion

Zach Roetcisoender helped Lynden Christian clinch a share of the Northwest Conference title on Friday with a win over Mount Baker. The Lyncs are the first 1A boys basketball champion in league history.

(CameronVanTil/LyndenTribune)

alumni

Former Nooksack Valley standout having strong senior season at WWUBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

BELLINGHAM — Kyle Impero was a must-see attraction during his time at Nooksack Val-ley. A multifaceted scoring machine, he capti-vated Whatcom County high school basketball fans on a nightly basis. Now the former Pioneer star is showcasing his talent in the upper ranks of the collegiate game. Impero, a versatile 6-4 guard, is putting together a strong senior season at Division II Western Washington University. In addition to averaging 15.5 points per game as the team’s third-leading scorer, Impero is recording a team-high 6.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest. “Kyle adds a lot to our team,” Western head coach Tony Dominguez said. “He’s not just a one-dimensional player. He can score, he re-bounds, he gets assists and he fills up the stat sheet in a lot of different ways. “Being a player who can defend multiple positions and do everything really helps your team be successful.” Impero’s path to this point, however, has been a somewhat unusual one — a route that’s taken him from Everson to Western to What-com Community College and back to Western. Impero long maintained Division I aspira-tions, and, given his illustrious career at Nook-sack Valley, such dreams weren’t outside the realm of possibility. Following a junior season in which he scored 15.8 points per game and helped the Pi-oneers to an eighth-place finish in the 1A state tournament, Impero had a legendary senior

Impero excelling at Western

Western Washington senior guard Kyle Impero, a former Nooksack Valley standout, is averaging 15.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists this season for the Vikings.(Courtesyphoto/WWUAthletics)See ImperoonB2

T-shirt sales raising money for Ruben Bosscher, who was diagnosed with leukemiaBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

EVERSON — The Nooksack Valley community has rallied in support of sophomore basketball player Ruben Bosscher after he was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia on Jan. 28. The Nooksack Valley Athletic Club sold white T-shirts with the slogan “Ballin for Bosscher.” All proceeds went to the Bosscher family to help with medical costs. Bosscher began intensive chemotherapy treatment on Jan. 31. It was announced during the Pioneers’ Feb. 4 home

game against Blaine that roughly $11,000 had already been raised. The club distributed more than 400 pre-or-dered shirts at the game. The Blaine team also took part in the fundraiser, or-dering shirts and wearing them along with the Pioneers during pregame warm-ups. And during Nooksack Valley’s Jan. 30 home game against Lynden Christian, LC fans made donations and presented a special gift to the Bosscher family by way of Nooksack Valley principal Matt Galley. Any donations to the Bosscher family can be sent to the Nooksack Valley Athletic Club at P.O. Box 4491, Ever-son, WA 98247. “The community rallied,” Nooksack Valley head coach Chris Scrimsher said. “Not just our community, (but) the Lynden community, the Blaine community. They’re trying to fill a need for the family.”

Current AD, former legendary girls basketball coach has spent 41 years at LCBy Cameron Van Tilsports@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — Former legendary Lynden Christian girls basketball coach and current athletic director Curt De Haan has announced plans to retire at the end of the school year. “If I could have a do-over, I couldn’t ask for anything better,” De

Haan said of his 41 years at LC. De Haan, who has spent the past nine years as LC’s athletic director, wrapped up a storied head coaching career in spring 2014. De Haan posted a career re-cord of 772-149 in 34 seasons as the LC girls basketball head coach and holds the record for most victories in Washington state girls basketball history. He led the Lyncs to 31 state tournament berths, 23 state semi-final appearances and eight state titles. Following the conclusion of his coaching career, De Haan was

community community

De Haan to retire at end of school year

See De HaanonB3

Community rallies to help Nooksack hoops player after cancer diagnosis

See Bosscher onB3

See LyncsonB2

B2 • Wednesday, February 10, 2016 • lyndentribune.com

TroyTaubenheim

Lynden Branch 360.756.7639

NMLS#: 1013919

Your hometown Real Estate lender!

Whether you’ve found the perfect new place, or you’re planning big changes for your current home, a Real Estate loan from

WECU® can help make your dream home a reality.

Federally insured by NCUA.

360-223-0330

Carpet Cleaningin Lynden

“Best Customer Experience”

Call Henry & see for yourself

360-223-0330 www.truenorthclean.com

AUTO | HOME | LIFE | BUSINESS | RETIREMENT

Let my family help protect yours

360-354-4197102 Grover St., Ste 209 | Lynden, WA 98264

Len Corneto0914-212

year. While demonstrating a smooth outside shot, polished dribbling skills and a knack for athletic fin-ishes around the hoop — all in a controlled, fluid manner — Impero compiled stats that were nothing short of eye-popping. He averaged 26.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He reached the 30-point mark on 10 occasions. He dropped a school-record 49 points in a game against Bellingham. And he capped it off by averag-ing 30.2 points per game at the state tournament while leading Nook-sack Valley to a sixth-place trophy. His stellar season resulted in 1A State Player of the Year honors from the Washington Interscholastic Bas-ketball Coaches Association. It didn’t materialize into Divi-sion I offers, though. So Impero headed to Western, where he red-shirted his freshman season while watching the Vikings win the Divi-sion II national championship. Sensing limited playing time the following year, Impero elected to transfer to Whatcom Community College.

“We had guys in his position,” Dominguez said. “We had a ton of players. He saw that he wasn’t going to play for a year, maybe two. So he went to Whatcom to see if he could get maybe even Division I interest.” Impero excelled the next two seasons at Whatcom, putting up massive numbers. As a freshman, Impero aver-aged 20.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and was the Northwest Athletic Conference’s seventh-lead-ing scorer. In his sophomore year, Impero bumped his scoring average up to 28.3 points (second-highest in the conference) and earned NWAC North Region MVP honors. “I learned some things that I didn’t necessarily learn before in high school, just because it’s a little bit higher competition,” Impero said. “The coaches at Whatcom did a really good job of teaching me new things. It was a good experience.” But when he still didn’t garner any significant Division I interest, Impero turned his attention back to Western. “I always told coach that if I was to go anywhere in Division II, I wanted to come back to Western,” Impero said. “And I’m happy that I did.”

Impero had an up-and-down season for much of his junior year at Western, finishing with 7.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 23 minutes per game. But he turned a corner toward the end of the sea-son, averaging 10.8 points per game over the final 10 contests. As Dominguez explains, it was largely just a matter of Impero get-ting acclimated. “There’s always an adjustment with junior college or Division I transfers — just getting adjusted to the league, the style, the speed,” Dominguez said. “I think once he got (adjusted), he had a really good second half of the season last year.” Impero has built on that suc-cess this season. While starting all 23 games for the Vikings (14-9, 8-6 Great Northwest Athletic Confer-ence), Impero has scored in double figures 16 times and has upped both his points per minute and rebounds per minute. In spite of his rising point to-tals, however, Impero said that an increased focus on other aspects of his game has been key to his strong season. Impero has typically recorded relatively high numbers in non-scoring stats such as rebounds,

assists and steals. But being sur-rounded by similarly capable scor-ers has allowed him the opportu-nity to become even more of an all-around player. “In high school and when I was at Whatcom, I was in the role of scoring,” Impero said. “Last year and this year (at Western), we’ve got a bunch of guys that can do that. So it’s just been learning the role and switching it up a little bit — just do-ing a little bit of everything.” Impero enjoys sharing the scoring spotlight. “We’ve got so many options,” Impero said. “If anyone wanted to, they could score 25 a night. But it’s kind of fun to see one guy go off one night, and then the next night we have another guy go off. It kind of takes the pressure off always having to score.” Of course, Impero still has his share of big-time performances, such as his career-high 37-point night on Thursday, Feb. 4, in a dou-ble-overtime loss to Alaska Anchor-age. Impero exploded for 33 points in the final 15 minutes of the con-test. “There are nights when he can score a bunch,” Dominguez said. “There are nights when he rebounds

a ton. Some nights, he doesn’t do ei-ther and he just gets other people involved.” Yet regardless, Dominguez knows what to expect from Impero. “He’s a calm player and he’s just very consistent,” Dominguez said. “You know you’re going to get a strong defensive effort and you know he’s going to rebound. “And I think he really helps chemistry, because he’s not con-sumed with an exact number of points that he needs to average. Winning is what he’s concerned with.” Impero only has a limited num-ber of games left in his collegiate basketball career, but he’s not plan-ning on hanging up his sneakers anytime soon. And while he enjoys the perks of playing close to home — the occasional home-cooked meal by his mother, for instance — his future basketball dreams lie far beyond Whatcom County. Following graduation, Impero aspires to play professionally over-seas. “That would be my first op-tion,” Impero said. “I want to go travel the world for free and play basketball, which I think would be pretty cool.”

champion Zach Roetcisoender finished with 12. Senior guard Nate Hielkema chipped in eight points, while junior guard Grant Rubbert provided six points and team-highs with four assists and three steals. “It sounds like a stuck record, but these kids genuinely don’t care who gets the glory,” DeBoer said. “It’s just not how these guys are. It’s just such a joy and a blessing to be able to coach a group of guys like that.” After LC built an early 14-6 lead, Mount Baker cut the deficit to 22-18 in the second quarter. But the Lyncs closed the final five minutes of the first half on a 15-4 run to take a 37-22 advan-tage into halftime. The Mountaineers never got closer than 15 points for the rest of the game. Soares finished with a team-high 20 points for Mount Baker, scoring 10 in the first quarter and 14 in the first half. The versatile forward demonstrated

his immense talent and athleticism all night and threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk late in the first half. Sophomore guard Thomas Barbo and Bass, a junior, added seven points apiece for the Mountaineers. Mount Baker was missing its second-leading scorer, senior guard Grant Balvanz, who returned for the Mountaineers’ opening-round district win over Sultan on Monday. For Poag, one of seven seniors on the defending 1A state runner-up Lyncs, the senior-night win — and the history that came with it — carried ex-tra significance. “It means a lot, because we have all these alumni who’ve been a part of this legacy,” said Poag, who then named graduated seniors from last year’s team. “We did it for them. Those guys got it all started and got the fire going.” LC opens its postseason slate by hosting Cedar Park Christian in the 1A district semifinals at 7 p.m. on Wednes-day.

Northwest Youth Volleyball League registration open LYNDEN — Registration for the Northwest Youth Volleyball League is open until Feb. 19 (or until the league is full). The league is open to all high school students (grades 9-12) and will feature boys and girls divisions, with A and B divi-sions within each. Adults (high school graduates) and eighth-grade school or club teams are also welcome. All matches will be held at Cornerstone Christian School. The league will feature eight regular-season match-es, held every Thursday from March 10 through May 3, except for April 7 due to spring break. The league will also include a ninth week of single-elimina-tion playoffs. For more details, visit www.nwyouthvolleyball.com.

BELLINGHAM — Mount Baker placed first as a team with 205 points in the sub-re-gional tournament on Saturday at Bellingham High School. Fourteen Mountaineers finished in the top six of their weight class to advance to this Saturday’s regional tournament at Squalicum High School. Natalie Smith (125 pounds) won Mount Baker’s lone individual title at the sub-regional event, but was one of six Mountaineer finalists. Earning second-place finishes for Mount Baker were Korbyn Cadle (120), Taylor Van

Brocklin (135), Aniecea Camacho (145), Shelby Sears (170) and Akemi Schwinden (235). Placing third for the Mountaineers were Maria Torrero (100), Michelle Mata (105) and Rachel Nichols (145). Gabrielle Mata (105) and Marissa Ama-rando (140) earned fourth-place finishes for Mount Baker. Esperanza Torrero (100), Teagan Manzo (115) and Jada Tarvin (190) each placed sixth for the Mountaineers. Lynden finished second in the sub-re-gional tournament with 176 points. Nine Lions

earned top-six finishes to advance to region-als. Lynden sisters Senaida Veliz (140) and Thalia Veliz (190) both won individual titles. Teammate Kali Spady placed second after be-ing defeated by Senaida, 10-7, in the finals. Lynden’s Emily Gallegos (110), Karina Martinez (125) and Kailey Gee (235) each placed third. Stephanie Carillo (100) earned a fourth-place finish, Natalie Schweigert (135) came in fifth and Aaliyah Gallegos placed sixth for the Lions.

Nooksack Valley finished third in the sub-regional tournament with 150 points and ad-vanced eight wrestlers to regionals. Emma Bruntil (130) was the Pioneers’ lone individual champion. Julie De La Cruz (125) placed second and Lynette Samano (115) came in third for Nooksack Valley. Earning fourth-place finishes for the Pio-neers were Nicole Whittern (110), Miana Ra-bang (135) and Becca Averys (145). Nooksack Valley’s Alexcina Coleman (110) placed fifth and Emily Parson (135) finished sixth.

Impero: State Player of the Year as senior at Nooksack ValleyContinued from B1

prep girls wrestling

Baker wins sub-regional title, advances 14 to regionals

SULTAN — Nooksack Valley placed second out of five schools in the 1A sub-regional tournament on Saturday at Sul-tan High School. The Pioneers finished with 227 points, well behind first-place Sultan. Eleven Nooksack Valley wrestlers earned top-four finishes in their weight classes to advance to this Saturday’s re-gional tournament at Klahowya Second-ary School in Silverdale. Brennan Blankers (113 pounds), Val-entin Villalobos (120) and Tyson Mergel (285) each earned individual titles for the Pioneers. Placing second for Nooksack Valley

were finalists Uriel Lopez (113), Jared Par-son (160) and Luke Winter (220). Marvin Calmo (106) and Joseph Jef-ferson (145) each finished in third place for the Pioneers. Nooksack Valley’s Leonard Gladstone (132), Gabe Forsee (160) and Eric Avila (195) advanced with fourth-place finishes. Mount Baker placed third with 169 points and advanced nine wrestlers to re-gionals. Jeremiah Cronk (152) was the lone Mountaineers individual champion, but one of five Mount Baker finalists. Placing second for the Mountaineers were Skyler Isaacson (120), Jesus Torrero (132), Jacob

DeCook (182) and Ethan Valum (285). Mount Baker’s Jonathon Sanchez (138) and Braxton Shannon (220) ad-vanced with third-place finishes. Carson Brandland (145) and Sabino Herrera-Vargas (285) finished fourth for the Mountaineers. Meridian placed fifth with 82 points and advanced five wrestlers to regionals. Jake Cheney (126) was the lone indi-vidual champion for the Trojans. Merid-ian’s Noah Richardson (145) was also a fi-nalist, earning a second-place finish. Manuel Sabalza (170) and Jackson Day (195) each placed third for the Trojans, and Kenny Barnes (152) came in fourth.

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Lynden placed fourth in the 2A sub-regional tournament on Saturday at Sedro-Wool-ley High School. The Lions finished with 198 points, well behind first-place Blaine. Six Lynden wrestlers earned top-four finishes in their weight class to advance to this Saturday’s regional tournament at Bremerton High School. Brody Weinheimer (220

pounds) was the lone indi-vidual champion for the Li-ons. Lynden’s Isaac Bueno (152) was also a finalist, earning a second-place fin-ish. Placing third for the Lions were Primitivo Cruz (126), Payton Peterson-Scot-ter (145) and Jonathon Lara (152). Pablo Martinez (113) advanced with a fourth-place finish.

prep boys wrestling

25 local 1A wrestlers advance to regionals Lions place fourth, advance six wrestlers

prep boys wrestling

Lyncs: Balanced scoringContinued from B1

LC senior Tanner Bouma finished with a team-high 15 points on five 3-pointers. (Cameron Van Til/Lynden Tribune)