BY HEIDI SANDERS
hsanders@kentreporter.com
Auburn Mountainview High School senior Ki’Jan Weisinger exited the locker room last Saturday following a 62-49 victory over Enumclaw with a piece of the net tucked behind his ear as a memento of the program’s first district basketball title.
“It is unbelievable,” Weisinger said following the win. “It has set in a little bit but not all the way. It is awesome coming back from the season we had last year. We were a little disappointed with how things ended (last year), but guys were very dedicated in the gym all the time, working in the weight room, just trying to get back.”
The Lions fell out of the district tournament last year.
“Our thing was we have three check boxes,” Weisinger said. “One’s league. Next is district. Next one is state. We got two so far, so we are definitely playing to check off that third one.”
Auburn Mountainview (23-1) faces Rainier Beach at 8 p.m. Friday at Rogers High School in Puyallup in the state regionals. A win will advance the Lions to the 3A Hardwood Classic at the Tacoma Dome.
Ryan Lacey scored 25 points and Robbie Wilson had 10 to lead the Lions to the district crown and extend their winning streak to 13 games.
“I think the dream of all high school athletes is to be able to play at state in a sport at least once,” Weisinger said. “I think we are really going to enjoy this, especially with this group of guys.”
Weisinger was a part of Auburn Mountainview’s football team, which lost in the first round of the state playoffs last fall.
“It felt great to come off some success like that and go steamrolling into even more success with a great group of guys,” he said. “Football didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but we had a lot success and did a lot of things people didn’t expect us to. Now people are surprised to see Auburn Mountainview popping up all over the place.”
Weisinger recently committed to play Division II football for the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
“Obviously, winning the district championship, everything is going accordingly to having a great senior year,” he said.
After last Saturday’s victory, members of the team took turns climbing a ladder to cut pieces of the net, a tradition for the district champion.
“I told the kids in the locker room, I played a lot of sports in my life but I never got to cut down nets,” coach Thomas Ostrander said. “I told them this is all them. It is a huge accomplishment to win any title, whether it be a league, district title. I’m super proud of the kids.”
The Lions’ only loss this season was to Peninsula in January.
“My philosophy has always been as a coach we have one goal every day, whether it be a game, practice, whatever, and that is to get better,” Ostrander said.
