Illahee Middle School wins 2007 Big Climb with over 200 runners

By CASEY OLSON

The Mirror

Illahee Middle School recently won the 2007 Big Climb, an event that benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The annual climb to the top of the Columbia Center, the tallest building west of the Mississippi, raised $465,000 in 2006.

Teams and individuals raced 69 flights of stairs to the top of the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle.

Sara Mussa took first place in the 8-12-year-old girls division with a time of 11:14 and Emily Eilertson was the first-place winner of the 13-17-year-old girls division with a time of 11:18. Emily, Sara and Andrew Sweeting (9:49) accepted the top honors for all middle schools. Coach Tom Eilertson has inspired participation in the Big Climb for 20 years. Illahee was again the largest team with over 200 participants.

• Thomas Jefferson High School graduate Tony Barnette was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week for the week ending April 22. Barnette is a right-handed pitcher in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ minor league organization. Barnette pitches for South Bend (Ind.), which is a Class A team.

During the week, Barnette worked 14 scoreless innings in two starts for South Bend. He finished the week 1-0 with a 0.00 earned-run average, gave up 11 hits, two walks and nine strike outs.

On the season, Barnette is currently 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 34 innings. Barnette was a 10th round draft pick of Arizona last year after his senior season at Arizona State University.

• Federal Way native Danny Wenzel will be playing with the United States Under-17 Men’s National Team at the World Cup in South Korea. The US qualified by winning the CONCACAF Final Round Qualifying Tournament last weekend. The US team finished the tournament with a 3-1 record.

Wenzel is a defensive midfielder for the US team and has recently committed to play next season at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

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