The calendar may say “Summer” and the weather persons are predicting 90 degrees in the next few days, but it really is time to think Fall sports.

Signups for Vashon High School Fall sports begin next week, Aug. 17 through Aug. 23.

Football practice starts Aug. 18 and the other sports start Aug. 23. Athletes must have all paper work and fees paid before they can practice with the team, and missed practices the first two weeks can mean delayed eligibility and missing early competitions. The school office will be open starting Aug. 17. Check the school web site for hours. All the necessary forms are available on the web site.

Football coach Clay Eastly is optimistic about the coming season and urged me to make the trip to Chelan for the Sept. 3 season opener. Chelan was beaten in last year’s state semi-final by champion Connell. Eastly says this year’s Pirates will be a match for the Goats. The trip might be worth it just to see the only high school I know of whose fight song is to the tune of “Anchors Aweigh.”

Cross country coach Kevin Ross is excited about the boys team this year, with a lot of returning veterans and some incoming freshmen and transfer students. The harriers open with a home meet Sept. 16.

There is a chance Vashon could host the Nisqually League Meet in October. With the 2A schools moving to another league, the regular season meets will be a good indication of the team’s strength against 1A schools when regional and state meets come up.

Girls soccer lost a lot of strong players to graduation, but there are some strong players coming up from last years JV and, I’m told, a good group of freshmen.

I’ve retired from coaching so I hope to get to competitions for all the Pirate teams and get some good photos this Fall.

Robert Bennedsen was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Vashon Island has lost one of her best.

I remember Robert as an outstanding athlete, a state champion wrestler and record-setting football player, as well as one of the best young people I have ever met.

Among my memories of Robert is a running joke we had about my never showing his face in photos in The Beachcomber. Since he wrestled and played football, most of the action pictures I had of him showed a face-plant on a muddy football field or his face buried in an opposing wrestler’s back.

Robert was also a Fire District Explorer, and from what I heard, one of the best there also.

I remember when Robert was credited with saving a pumper truck from serious damage. While preparing to hook the hose to a hydrant at a restaurant fire, He found gravel someone had apparently put in the hydrant. Had he not checked before hooking up the hose, the gravel would have destroyed the pump.

At a Pirate football game at North Mason I was taking pictures and trying to take notes on the game at the same time. Around the end of the first half I checked back through my notes to see if I was getting a cross section of the Pirate players and I realized that almost of the pictures were of Robert. That was the night he ran for more than 400 yards, still one of the top five games for all classifications in the state.

Robert was made an honorary member of the Othello High School wrestling team at the State Tournament one year.

Halfway through the championship round Othello and Mt. Baker were the only teams with a chance to win the State Championship. All the Othello wrestlers were done and a win by Mt. Baker’s last competitor would give the Mountaineers the title. But the Mt. Baker wrestler had to defeat Vashon’s Robert Bennedsen.

Every Vashon, Othello and Mt. Baker fan was watching the mat. When Robert won, the Vashon and Othello fans exploded. At the awards ceremony the Othello team dragged Robert into their state championship team picture.

I read that the family has suggested that memorials go toward improving the high school football field. That would be a fitting memorial and lasting legacy for this outstanding Islander.

Is anyone interested in forming a team of septuagenarians for the HOTS triathlon July 25? I’ve already got a team name: Old Enough To Know Better (OETKB).

I will take the bike or run leg. A swimmer and another bicyclist/runner are needed.

Our objective would be to finish in a vertical posture, being faster than a few young teams would be a bonus.

Octogenarians or even a mature sexagenarian are welcome.

If you are interested see www.hotstriathlon.org for information on the race and e-mail me at rik4sch@mac.com.

My calendar says six more days until summer and that means I should have been training for the Bill Burby Run, coming up July 17. Actually I have been getting out on the road for short runs between World Cup games.

June 26 is the first Vashon Ultra 50K and 10-mile run. Limited to 120 entries, it was full a month before the race. See www.vashonultra.com for information. The race starts and finishes at Paradise Ridge Park.

The Heart of the Sound triathlon returns to Jensen Point July 25. See www.hotstriathlon.org for information.

Will the hydroplanes be out on July 4? I hope so. It’s hard to know ahead of time as most of the drivers pull their boats out of the blackberries about a week before. I know some people think we should ban the hydros and be quiet and genteel. After all, who ever heard of making noise on the Fourth? Ask my dog, Bogey. He is a bundle of nerves for two or three days as islanders set off all the fireworks that they can’t bring to the Island or use in King County.

For quieter water sports there is the rowing race, quieter but the competitors are more serious than the hydro folks.

Have fun this summer, and don’t just watch.

Congratulations to Pirate Tyler Stoffer. The Vashon runner took seventh place in the 110-meter hurdles at the State Track Meet at Eastern Washington University in Cheney today. Stoffer stopped the clock at 17.13, a tad slower than his 16.40 in yesterday preliminary heat but fast enough to earn the Pirates’ only medal at this year’s meet.

Corrected at 9:15 p.m.

Just looking at the results from day one at the State 1A Track Meet.

Vashon’s Tyler Stoffer high jumped 5 feet, 10 inches for seventh place to earn his first state medal today.

Correction: Applying the tie-breaker for the high jump, Stoffer placed ninth in the event, based on the number of missed jumps before clearing the final height.

Stoffer also guaranteed himself another a medal by qualifying for tomorrow’s final in the 110-meter hurdles. Stoffer’s time in his preliminary heat was 16.40 seconds, making him the 8th fastest qualifier. All eight finalists will get medals.

Vashon’s other State entrants, Kate Straube in the 100 hurdles and James Spencer in the 400, didn’t qualify for the finals.

Three serious Pirates are ready for State. From left, James Spencer, 400-meter dash; Kate Straube, 100 hurdles and Tyler Stoffer, high jump and 110 hurdles.

They ran, they jumped, and two of them did both to earn a trip to the State Track Meet at Cheney next weekend.

Vashon senior Kate Straube and juniors James Spencer and Tyler Stoffer qualified for State at Saturday’s Tri-District final meet and freshman Landon Summers is an alternate.

Stoffer was the first Vashon qualifier of the day with a fifth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. The top five boys in each event qualified for State. After the hurdles, Stoffer returned to the high jump pit to register a vertical leap of 5 feet, 8 inches for a three-way tie for second in the event.

Straube followed up with a sixth-place in the 100-meter hurdles. The top six girls qualified for State.

Spencer concluded the Pirate run with a blazing 51.5-second PR in the 400-meter dash for third place.

Summers was the last high jumper to be eliminated when he missed his third attempt at 5-8. His successful 5-6 jump earned him sixth place and the alternate spot. If one of the top five should scratch before Thursday Summers will join his teammates for the trip to Cheney.

Landon Summers cleared 5 feet, 6 inches to earn an alternate State spot.

Vashon track and golf athletes are still competing while it looks all other sports are wrapped up for the school year.

Congratulations to Scott Smith and Cole Devereau, who qualified for the State Golf tournament. The pair of Pirates tee off for the first round next Tuesday, May 25, at Columbia Point Golf Club in Richland. Golfers who make the cut play the championship round the next day on the same course.

James Spencer, right, competes in the Sub-District Meet at Orting last week.

Four track athletes compete tomorrow, Saturday, May 22, in the Tri-District Meet at Kings High School. Still alive in the quest for a State berth are James Spencer, 400-meter dash; Tyler Stoffer, 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and high jump; Kate Straube, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles; and Landon Summers, high jump.

The top five boys and top six girls in each event qualify for the State Meet next Friday and Saturday, May 28 and 29, at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

Good luck to all the Pirates tomorrow and next week.

Will O'Neil shoots for Vashon's only goal.

The Pirate boys soccer season ended Wednesday when Meridian beat Vashon 2-1 in a Bi-District game at Whatcom Community College.

The Trojans struck first with a looping shot from about 20 yards that just cleared goalkeeper Robert McGinnis’ fingertips. Meridian carried the 1-0 lead into the break.

Pirate coach Paul Beytebiere’s half time talk got the Pirates fired up and they answered the second-half whistle running. In the third minute of the half Will O’Neil took a feed from Elias Weston and beat the Trojan keeper to even the score.

Neither team could gain an advantage until late in the half when a Meridian player won a foot race with a Vashon defender and put the ball low in the right side of the net.

The win qualified Meridian for State. They play Coupeville, winners over Orting, on Saturday to determine third and fourth state seed. Charles Wright, the only surviving Nisqually League team, plays Kings for first and second seed.

While Vashon’s season is over the Pirates won’t hang up their cleats until after the June 5 Alumni Game. The game is 1 p.m. at Vashon High School Stadium. The season wraps up with the annual awards banquet and potluck at 6 p.m. Sunday June 6.

Elias Weston beats a Meridian player near the touchline.

May 8, 2010.

Vashon 4, Port Townsend 1. Two goals each by Will O’Neil and Elias Weston. Goalkeeper Robert McGinnis got an assist on one of Weston’s goals.

More details and a picture later.

The Pirates advance to Bi-Districts playoffs. The next game is 4:40 p.m. Wednesday at Whatcom CC, Bellingham against Meridian.