Cycling

Zach McDonald continues to dominate on the bike.

The 2009 graduate of Bainbridge High School, now a sophomore at the University of Washington, won his second straight Division I national title Dec. 11-12 at the 2010 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Bend, Ore.

McDonald beat out second place finisher Chris Hurst from the University of Colorado by eight seconds with a time of 41:30.

McDonald started in second but overcame the leader, Braden Kappius from the University of Colorado, after the second lap. He also caught a break when Eric Thompson, from Lees-McRae College, had to drop out after his derailleur gear system broke. He had been neck and neck with McDonald for the first half of the race.

McDonald also helped UW place fifth overall in the team omnium with 107 points.

McDonald nearly pulled off another victory over the weekend at Bend, but lost the U23 title to Danny Summerhill.

The two riders were neck and neck for much of the race. Both also dealt with crashes. Summerhill went down just 30 seconds into the race after a rider crossed the track while heading into the pits, while McDonald went down midway through the race after two spectators were slow in getting across the course path.

The two kept it close through a tight last lap, but Summerhill took advantage of a mistake by McDonald to take the lead for good.

Most recently, McDonald finished 17th in the men’s U23 race Dec. 27 at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Heusen-Zolder, Belgium.

Gymnastics

The Bainbridge gymnastics team won its 18th meet in a row Dec. 17 by placing first with 149.6 points, beating out Mercer Island, Squalicum, Sehome and Bellingham.

Rachel Kaminer was the top finisher for the Spartans in the all-around with a score of 31.9. Adrienne Palay and Grace Allen took fourth and sixth, respectively, in the all-around with scores of 31.35 and 29.6.

Depth was once again the main factor in the Spartan’s victory. Two or more Bainbridge tumblers finished in the top six in every event.

Palay and Kaminer took first and second in the beam event, respectively, with scores of 8.45 and 8.15.

Allen was sixth with a score of 7.3.

Four Spartans placed in the parallel bars. Palay was second with a score of 7.7, while Anne Schwartz was third with a score of 7.3. Kaminer was fourth with a score of 7.1 while Allen took sixth with a score of 6.5.

Allen was fifth in the vault with a score of 7.8 while Laura Hilst was sixth with a score of 7.6. Kaminer was fourth in the floor exercise with a score of 8.4 while Allen tied with Megan Duncan for fifth with a score of 8.0.

Bainbridge hosts its next meet at 6 p.m. Friday when Holy Names, Ingraham and Nathan Hale come back to the island.

Wrestling

The Bainbridge wrestling team scored another dual meet victory with a 43-27 win over Eastside Catholic Tuesday.

Caleb Samson won by pinfall over West Seattle’s Truong Nguyen in the 135-pound category in 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

Dylan Read also scored a win via pinfall over West Seattle’s Travis Duell in the 119-pound category in 3:20 while Bill Hepworth won a 9-7 decision over Mark Dollente in the 152 pound category.

Alex Hoover, Henry Wienkers, Corey Touchette and Connor Kenyon all won by forfeit.

The Spartans took on O’Dea Thursday, but results were not available as of press time.

Bainbridge travels to the Rainshadow Tournament in Sequim over the weekend. They return home to face Franklin/Rainier Beach at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Table Tennis

The Bainbridge Island Grange Hall is hosting a table tennis tournament Jan. 29 at the Grange. It will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The entry fee is $20 and is due by Jan. 20. You can mail it to: BI Grange, P.O. Box 130, Rolling Bay, WA 98061.

For more information, call 206-659-7197 or email secretary@bainbridgegrange.org.

Tennis

Island resident Patrick Galbraith is beginning his third term as the director at large on the United States Tennis Association Board of Directors. The term lasts for two years. Galbraith will be the Vice Chair for the budget committee and the Vice Chair for the Investment Committee. He previously served on the ATP Player Council.

Born in Tacoma, Galbraith grew up playing junior tennis in Pacific Northwest Tennis Association Tournaments and was a three-time state champion in boys’ singles at Bellarmine Prep. He was a three time All-American at UCLA, winning a national doubles championship in 1988.

Galbraith then moved on to the pro tour, where he became one of the top doubles players in the world. He won 38 doubles titles in his 12 year career. Galbraith’s biggest wins came in mixed doubles at the U.S. Open where he won two titles in three years with two different partners.

He also was a finalist in men’s doubles at Wimbledon two different times and made the mixed doubles finals at the French Open. In 1993 Galbraith finished the year at the top of the ATP doubles rankings. He retired in 2000 with over $2.5 million in earnings.

Galbraith is currently a vice president of investments at UBS Financial Services and works with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Washington. He is in the USTA Pacific Northwest Hall of Fame and is a honorary tennis professional at the Bainbridge Athletic Club.

Swimming

Several Bainbridge Island Swim Club members performed well at the Washington State Senior Championships Dec. 16-19 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Spencer Alpaugh came home with a title in the 1650 yard freestyle while Andrew McCarthy won the 1000 yard freestyle. Andrew also won a silver in the 500 freestyle and finished fifth in the 200 butterfly. Alpaugh finished fourth in the 400 individual medley.

Todd McCarthy finished eighth in the 500 freestyle and the 50 backstroke while Sarah Grundman was fourth in the 1650 freestyle and finished fifth in the 1000 yard freestyle.