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The MIHS Girls Swim/Dive team captured their third consecutive 3A State Championship Saturday with a 381-point total and Alexa McDevitt won the 200 free (1:46.71), 500 free (4:52.91), and swam on the triumphant 200 free relay (1:35.24) on 16 November at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Islander swimmers set seven school records, including McDevitt in the 200 free (also a 3A state meet record) and 500 free and the 200 free relay, which consisted of McDevitt, Tatum Enge, Hope Enge and Meg Dahlin. All three state title times are Automatic High School All-American marks.

Also setting school records were the 200 medley relay (Clare Watson, Gracyn Kehoe, Tatum Enge and Hope Enge) with a third-place time of 1:42.97; Watson in the 100 fly with a second-place time of 52.90; Watson in the 100 back with a third-place time of 54.99; and the 400 free relay (McDevitt, Dahlin, Kehoe and Watson) with a second-place time of 3:22.55.

Additional Automatic High School All-American times were registered by the 200 medley and 400 free relays, Watson in the 100 fly and Kehoe in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.30, second place) and 200 individual medley (2:01.38, third place).

McDevitt, who was the entire meet’s only double-event winner, is proud of her team and its efforts all season.

Mercer Island High School radio station 88.9 KMIH The Bridge was named the nation’s best high school radio station on November 2 at the annual John Drury High School Radio Awards hosted by WONC-FM at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.

In addition to best station, KMIH.org was also named the Top High School Radio Website and senior Chloe Yang was honored as the country's Top Student Podcaster for her series Emerald City Echoes. Other KMIH broadcasters recognized were Sophia Loiselle and Kate Lenington who placed as runners up for Best Promo. Losielle also placed second for Best Public Affairs Show and the KMIH social media team earned second for the 88.9 The Bridge Instagram.

Mercer Island High School senior cross country runner Owen Powell won the Doug Speck Sweepstakes race at the Woodbridge Cross County Classic at Great Park in Irvine, California, on Saturday with a national record breaking time. Powell was neck-and-neck with Josiah Tostenson from Crater, Oregon as they came to the finish line. Powell pulled out the win with a time of 13:30.3 to Tostenson’s 13:30.5, which are the two fastest times ever recorded on a 3-mile high school cross country course.

Sophia Rodriguez, a sophomore at MIHS, and Victoria Rodriguez, a senior at MIHS, both competed at the Woodbridge Classic in the Bob Day Sweepstakes race. Sophia finished in seventh with a time of 15:47.5 and Victoria finished tenth with a time of 16:08.6.

For the second consecutive year Sam was named a winner in Annual New York Times Student Podcast Contest, now in its seventh year. In this year's entry Sam took a deep dive into the history of protest songs with a podcast titled "Singing Songs and Carrying Signs: How Protest Songs Changed America."

In addition to Sam’s winning entry three other current or former MIHS students received recognition in the annual competition, which drew more than 1,100 entries this year. Class of 2024 graduates Grace Go and Luke Gollin were named runners up for their podcast “A Roof For Everyone” which explored solutions to Seattle’s widespread homelessness.

MIHS junior Alanna Larson was also named a runner up for her entry “Music: A Bridge From Loneliness to Connection” which is an exploration of loneliness, music, and social bonding using her experiences in the MIHS high school band community.

Mercer Island High School boys basketball coach Gavin Cree was selected as the Washington State John Wooden Award winner by the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association (WIBCA) at their Hall of Fame Banquet on Wednesday, July 17 at the Cowlitz County Event Center in Longview.

"It is a great honor and very humbling to receive this award from WIBCA,” said Cree. “To me, this is a community award. The student-athletes, assistant coaches, families, administrators have all played a major role in building a program that is a true brotherhood across generations."

To foster a better learning environment, desiring and promoting healthy social and emotional development, Mercer Island High School and Islander Middle School will restrict access to personal cell phones and smart watches during the school day, from "bell-to-bell," in 2024-25. Using secure YONDR Pouches, we will be creating distraction-free campuses to increase engagement and learning.