Competition brings out the best in high school athletes.

The final play of Wednesday night’s Gig Harbor Tides girls basketball game against the undefeated South Kitsap Wolves was a reoccurring theme.

It was a game the Gig Harbor Tides girls basketball team needed to win.

High school freshmen rarely have a chance to play for their school’s varsity teams, but next year, Fischer Gallinger may have a shot.

Fischer Gallinger, an eighth-grade club soccer player from Kopachuck Middle School in Gig Harbor, has a leg up on his elite competition. The left-footed defender for the boys Washington Premier ’95 Black — last year’s state cup champion — was selected earlier this month for the Under-14 national team.

Some clutched their cell phones at the Hi Joy bowling alley in Port Orchard, awaiting their chance to hit their mark.

It was more of a mental lapse than a competitive struggle for the Gig Harbor Tides boys basketball team last Wednesday against the speedy Lincoln Abes at Gig Harbor High School.

Gig Harbor Tides senior cross country runner Conner Peloquin placed 29th at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals last weekend at Morley Field in Balboa Park at San Diego.

The Peninsula Seahawks boys swimming and diving team believes this year’s season has a strong upside, because nearly the entire group that competed at last year’s Class 3A state meet returns.

It’ll be a difficult task for the Gig Harbor boys swimming and diving team to have the same success they did last year — a third-place state finish behind Kamiak and Shorewood.

The Gig Harbor-based NASA Gymnastics club won this year’s Level 4 junior Olympic state championship on Saturday at Auburn Mountainview High School with a team score of 111.725.

The Peninsula Seahawks wrestling team began the season last week with a 55-19 Class 3A South Puget Sound League victory over the Lakes Lancers at Peninsula High School.

Gig Harbor senior distance runner Conner Peloquin qualified for the 31st annual Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships by placing sixth in the West Regional qualifier last Saturday with a time of 15 minutes, 38 seconds at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif.

Gig Harbor Tides senior guard Chris Repar said he knew Wilson was going to make a run. It was just a matter of time.

There weren’t many bright moments for the Seahawks girls basketball team Friday night against the top 10 pre-season ranked White River Hornets.

A Baseball Pitchers School is taking reservations for class sessions during December for the 2010 baseball season.

Gig Harbor High School junior Teddy Weaver isn’t a mind reader. He specializes in reading water. The 16-year-old has a natural talent for predicting puffs of wind and knowing how it will affect tidal movement.

The Gig Harbor Tides boys basketball team simply had more talent than the Peninsula Seahawks on Saturday night.

If you attended one or both of the Gig Harbor-Peninsula basketball games last Saturday, you got a feel for the kind of product each team will put on the floor this season.

If Gig Harbor’s Cassi Fawcett is left open from behind the 3-point line, you can bet she’ll take the shot.

Since the Gig Harbor Canoe & Kayak Racing Team formed in 2002, it has conducted a number of different fundraising projects.

Peninsula wrestling coach Ron Powers — along with an experienced group of assistants — are drilling one message into the minds of Seahawks wrestlers.

When you don’t have a large group of tactical wrestlers, the best way to win is by outlasting your opponent.

The Peninsula Seahawks girls basketball team returns three of its five starters from a team that finished 11-10 and reached the Class 3A West Central District tournament last year.

There aren’t many familiar faces returning to the Peninsula Seahawks boys basketball team.

Remember going to the drive-in and watching two movies for the price of one? This Saturday, the Gig Harbor and Peninsula high school basketball programs will face off against each other on the same evening in the same building.

The Gig Harbor Tides girls basketball team has advanced to the West Central District tournament in each of the past four years.

The Gig Harbor Tides boys basketball team will compete in a filled-out Class 4A Narrows League which advanced three teams to the state tournament last year.

The fifth-grade Gig Harbor Bulldogs football team culminated their 2009 season as champions.

On doors and hallways throughout Vaughn Elementary School on the Key Peninsula, a common slogan urges the students to compete, exercise and strive to be their best.

FEDERAL WAY The Gig Harbor Tides girls swimming and diving team set expectations to win the Narrows League and West Central District championships and place in the top 10 at the Class 4A state meet at the King County Aquatic Center.

FEDERAL WAY Peninsula sophomore Casey Penrose earned two top-five finishes to lead the Seahawks’ swimming and diving team to 15th on Saturday during the Class 3A state finals at the King County Aquatic Center.

Gig Harbor senior Jeremy Hurdus’ senior project is a mixture of sports with a Spanish kick. The varsity soccer and tennis player will travel to Honduras next month to hand deliver soccer gear to the less fortunate who live in the port city of La Ceiba.

Successful high school programs begin with their head coach. If you don’t believe me, look at Gig Harbor and Peninsula high schools. The most well-coached teams draw the best talent and are developed into college-bound athletes.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and so is the Gig Harbor Turkey Trot.

PASCO — They came. They ran. They overachieved. Peninsula senior Chris Borg led the Seahawks boys cross country team to a second-place finish on Saturday at the Class 3A state meet at Sun Willows Golf Course, tying their school-best finish from 1978.

PHOTO GALLERY: View more photos from Saturday's state championship event.

PASCO — The Gig Harbor Tides’ emotions rode high during the Class 4A state cross country championships on Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course.

The Peninsula Seahawks were exuberant. Then they were tested. And when it came down to the final play Saturday night at Roy Anderson Field, there wasn’t much that separated them from the Glacier Peak Grizzlies.

PHOTO GALLERY: View more photos from Saturday night's Peninsula-Glacier Peak football game.

This was an incredibly busy weekend for Gig Harbor and Peninsula high school sports.

Federal Way’s run-pass combo was too much for Gig Harbor.

LAKEWOOD Nobody on the Gig Harbor Tides cross country team expected Maureen Tremblay to be this good.

LAKEWOOD The Peninsula Seahawks boys cross country team placed five of its seven runners in the top 16 to claim the Class 3A West Central District championship last Saturday at American Lake Golf Course.

Gig Harbor and Peninsula high schools have exceptional cross country programs. The quality of talent starts at the top and works its way down to the incoming freshmen from the surrounding middle schools.

Gig Harbor junior Troy Castle’s eyes lit up when the score of the Olympia-Foss football game was announced over the intercom during the celebration of the Gig Harbor’s 49-6 homecoming victory over Shelton last Thursday at Roy Anderson Field.

PUYALLUP The Gig Harbor Tides girls swimming and diving team won its fourth straight Class 4A West Central District meet last Saturday at Rogers High School.