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.

The Gig Harbor girls soccer team stamped its ticket to the Class 4A West Central District playoffs.

The Gig Harbor volleyball team beat Olympia last Saturday in the Narrows League tournament championship at Mount Tahoma High School in five games, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17, 15-12.

Peninsula senior running back Darrian Creamer feels pain; he just doesn’t complain about it.

The Gig Harbor vs. Olympia volleyball match last Thursday authenticates my love for competition.

The Gig Harbor and Olympia volleyball teams didn’t disappoint in the Narrows League championship match.

The Gig Harbor cross country team doesn’t know anything different except winning the Class 4A Narrows League meet.

The Peninsula boys cross country team won the Class 3A South Puget Sound/Western Cascade Conference sub district cross country race at Fort Steilacoom last Saturday by placing five of its seven distance runners in the top 10.

The Peninsula Seahawks boys golf team has proven to be among the best in school history. Call it a year-long brotherhood.

Elizabeth Betterbed is the quintessential student-athlete. The 2006 Gig Harbor High School graduate — currently a senior at Army University in West Point, N.Y. — is one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in NCAA Division I women’s soccer.

BUCKLEY — Peninsula head football coach Ross Filkins said something strange always happens when the Seahawks travel to White River.

Gig Harbor senior volleyball player Kelsie Jenkins’ eyes began to fill up with tears after the Tides swept Bellarmine Prep in three games last Wednesday in a Class 4A Narrows League contest at Gig Harbor High School.

Running is an innate ability on the playground. It doesn’t require hand-eye coordination or a specific skill set.

The Peninsula Seahawks played hard, but they needed more than effort against the perennial powerhouse Bonney Lake Panthers.

High school lacrosse is coming to Gig Harbor. Members of the community were accepted for provisional membership in the Washington High School Boys Lacrosse Association last month.

Lacrosse is considered to be the “in” sport, and that’s changed just in the past two decades.