Tessa Anastasi and Jack Sievers were selected as the KRKO Russell & Hill Student Athletes of the Month for October.
Soccer goalkeeper and basketball guard are two positions Tessa Anastasi has dominated in her four years at Lake Stevens High School.
Currently in her senior year, Anastasi recently concluded her soccer season in the fall where the Vikings finished with 17-2-1 overall and 12-0 league records. Lake Stevens placed fifth in the 2025 District ½ 4A tournament and lost in the state quarterfinals. But as a junior in 2024, Anastasi’s efforts in-between the posts not only helped the Vikings claim the league title and advance past districts, but her clean sheets in the state quarterfinals, semifinals and championship matches secured Lake Stevens’ first title in program history. It was also the Vikings’ first state berth since 2018 and second-ever state placement since finishing fourth in 2005.
Until the 2024 campaign, there hadn’t been a Snohomish County girls soccer team that won a 4A title since Shorewood in 1999. The last Wesco team to ever win a title across all classifications was Archbishop Murphy in 2A in 2021, and the last time any local team across all classifications played in a title match was Shorecrest in 3A in 2023.
Anastasi served as Lake Stevens’ starting goalkeeper all four years, and she also compiled several accolades during her high school career, including All-Wesco first-team honors in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2024 Everett Herald Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
In the winter, Anastasi switches from turf to hardwood. In her freshman year, the Vikings lost in the 2023 District ½ 4A winner-to-state, loser-out game but rebounded her sophomore season by advancing to the 2024 Hardwood Classic, narrowly losing by three points in the Round of 12. Lake Stevens returned to the Hardwood Classic in 2025 after earning a sixth-place finish in districts but lost again in the Round of 12. Currently, the Vikings hold 6-2 overall and 2-0 league records.
After graduating, Anastasi will attend Point Loma College in San Diego, California, where she’s committed to playing soccer for the Sea Lions, a program that was eliminated in this year’s NCAA West Regional First Round but was crowned NCAA Division II champions in 2023.
Jack Sievers is finishing his senior year at Archbishop Murphy High School. He was a four-year starter on the Wildcats football team, and he’s a prime example of what it’s like to stick with it through thick and thin.
His freshman season in 2022, Archbishop Murphy went 0-8 overall and 0-7 in league play and finished last in the Northwest Conference 2A (NWC 2A). His sophomore season in 2023, Sievers compiled 54 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 11 sacks as the Wildcats improved to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in league play, but the team still didn’t advance to districts.
It wasn’t until his junior season in 2024 that Archbishop Murphy was slotted second in the NWC 2A with 10-2 overall and 7-1 league records, but it also topped Bremerton in the 2A District 1/2/3/4/5/6 game to advance to the state tournament for the first time since 2019. The Wildcats made it to the semifinals but fell to Tumwater, which finished runner-up to Anacortes in the championship game.
But for his final season in 2025, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound tight end and defensive lineman got his moment. After going 8-0 in league play, Archbishop Murphy continued its dominance by beating Pullman in the district tournament and eliminating last year’s champion, Anacortes, in the state semifinals. The Wildcats then got their revenge over Tumwater in the championship game, which took place under the lights at Husky Stadium. And Sievers also tallied a 35-yard touchdown for the last score of the game, helping to end a perfect season: 13-0. The state title was Archbishop Murphy’s first since 2016.
Sievers concluded the season with 14 sacks, 32 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles, and played a big role for the defense, which only conceded 9.9 points per game. His accolades include being ranked as a four-star athlete by ESPN, selected as the 2A Overall State Player of the Year by the Washington State Football Coaches Association and earning the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year honor by The Everett Herald.
After graduating, Sievers will make his way to the Midwest to continue playing football at the University of Wisconsin.