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About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2007)
8 — -------------------------------- I-----------------------— ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mardi BasebafTfLacrosse, Softball, Track and Tennis Wrestlers ends year with second place at State I ke M c G innis Staff Reporter The Varsity Wrestling team capped off its season with a second place State finish held over President's Day weekend. The Lions finished behind the Roseburg Indians for the 6A State Championship, The Lions ended up with 171.5 points which barely edged out a tough Redmond team for second place. "We deserved to be top in the State. Second place is really good, but it's disappointing not to be State champions," Ryan Krellwitz, 171 pound senior co-captain, said. Krellwitz ended the tournament with a seventh place finish after being randomly put in a pig-tail match against the number one seed Butch Whitaker from Redmond. Krellwitz ended the tournament with a win in his last match, but came off the mat with a broken foot. Individually, Prescott Gamer, senior, won State at the 119 pound weight class after defeating Kyle Richardson of Canby, 7-0. Gamer was the favorite of the weight class as he received the number one seed. Gamer also pinned his way through the District Tournament for the fourth time in a row. Brandon LaDick, senior, who was mentioned along with Gamer frequently in articles in "The Oregonian," made the finals for the 140 pound weight class. LaDick started the State tournament strong with a first round pin in his first match, but lost in the finals, 6-2, to Austin Enoch from Redmond. LaDick ended with a second place finish. Lane Locke, senior, made the semi-finals in the State championship for the 171 pound weight class. Locke won three matches at the tournament before losing to eventual State champion Other placers at State included Jake Helbling, 215 pound senior who goes to Central Catholic but wrestles for West Linn, fourth, Cameron Callaghan, 145 pound senior, sixth, Krellwitz and Helbling. The Lions finished with 465 team points winning an eleventh straight district championship. Oregon City followed at second with 333.5 points. But the eleventh straight District championship was all but unexpected. "We did what we were supposed to do," Bessa said. The Three Rivers League proved to be one of the tougher leagues in the state as three schools placed in the top ten at the State tournament; the most of any league in the 6A. Eighteen seniors will graduate but the team will be looking for the twelfth straight District championship next season. "I think we have what it takes to take Districts again next year, but we have a lot of work to do," Devan Schiewe, junior, said. G irls' R u g b y team s e ts g o a l to p la y n a tio n a lly Z ak L aster co-Sports Editor Lane Locke, senior, wrestles against Tim Love of Clackamas at the State Tournament. Locke won the match 8-2 and finished in third place at the 171-lb. weight class. The Lions came up short of the State championship, but still capped off a great season with a second place. Photo courtesy of Trade Krellwitz Tanner Marval of Grants Pass. Locke pinned Nolan Bell of Wilson in the first round of his first match and he then won 11-0 against Michael Doman of Canby. Locke ended with a third place finish. The other semi-finalist was John Bartlett, senior, at 152 pounds. Bartlett collected a 10-2 victory in his first match and then a second round pin in his second match. Like Locke, he also ended up losing to the eventual State champion, Justin Marble of Forest Grove. Bartlett finished fifth. seventh, Donald Paulson, 103 pound freshman, seventh, Spencer Hansen, 189 pound senior, seventh, Andrew Kim, 112 pound sophomore, eighth, and Gustavo Bessa, 135 pound senior, eighth. The Lions placed 16 wrestlers in the top three of their weight class in the Three Rivers League District Tournament, which was held the week before State. They had seven first place finishers in their weight class out of the 14 available weight classes. That included Gamer, LaDick, Locke, Bartlett, Paulson, Kim Since establishing the team in 2003, the Girls' Rugby Team has set a higher goal than any other WLHS team. Already, they have been State champions twice, ranked in the top five in the United States twice, and achieved a perfect season. Even with all the success the team enjoys, winning state or the National Invitational Tournament is not the measuring stick for a good season, according to team members. "Usually a good season is when everyone gets along really well and we can come together and play a great game no matter what the score," Megan Hackney, sophomore flanker, said. This mind-set comes from their head coach, Ernie Espinoza. "Our focus each season is to perform well as a team," Espinoza said. This year's team features an upperclass-dominated roster, including Audrey Jones, Amanda Kotman, Kylee Jacobson, Kelsey Mahoney- Wattson, Kayley Dorsa, who are are all seniors, plus Ariel Heston and Alison McDonald who are juniors. Along with these players, they also have ten freshman who are expected to make an immediate impact. This is the third year with a 40- plus roster. Some of the strengths of the team is the experience of winning and knowing what to expect, plus the knowledge of the game and how to play at a high level. The unavoidable weakness - of the team is the lack of ▼ competition in the state of Oregon. "We beat a team in a state match 98-5. It's nice to win but not like that. We don't get a chance to learn anything," Espinoza said. Upcoming games for the Lions' Gold and Green Teams include: March 17, Gold vs. Columbia County at Scappoose Middle School, Green at Corvallis; March 22, Gold vs. Westside at 6 p.m., Green vs. Canby at 8 p.m.; April 7, Oregon Girls Tournament at Lents Field from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A schedule of games is on their website at www. westlinnrugby.com. Lions plan to take another crack at State, dominate league S arah C hicoine Forum Editor Two years ago the Boys' Varsity Baseball team lost to the Sprague Olympians in the State finals. Last year the Lions made it to the semifinals but lost to top ranked Wilson Trojans. This year, they expect to be even better. Last year at this time skeptics were harshly critiquing the boys' team, saying with 12 seniors gone from the previous teams, the '06 season was expected to be a 'rebuilding year'. "We lost in the semifinals for a team that w asn't expected to go far," Mike Lord, head coach, said. The 2006 Varsity Baseball Team celebrates it's playoff win at South Medford. The Lions beat the Panthers 4-3. Last season's team made it to the semi-finals and after graduating only six seniors, the curent team is looking for a State title. Photo courtesy of Mike Lord With only six graduated seniors and an '06 team consisting mainly of underclassmen, this season's team is expected to continue the Lion dynasty. "Our goal this year is to win Three Rivers League and make a run for the State title," Lord said. According to Lord, the Lions will be looking to their seven seniors, Mitchell Bailey, Alexander Edwards, Nathan Gonzales, Michael Loverro, James Loverro, Colby Martzall and Reid Pearson, for leadership. Another key player is Kyle Kraus, junior, infielder. Last year Kraus was named First Team All-State as a utility player. "Kraus will be looked upon heavily to have a good year," Lord said. Other members to receive awards include Martzall, First Team All-State as an infielder, Edwards, Honorable Mention infielder, Bailey, Honorable Mention catcher and Reed Nicholson, junior, Honorable Mention pitcher. The first game is on March 12 against Sunset already under its belt, the players are looking forward to their second game away at Bend tonight. "I think w e’ll be better than last. We were really young last year and now we're more experienced," ^ Nicholson said.
