Sports
10
Octob
Debs hope to improve on sixth place State finish
K aitlyn R agan
Staff Reporter
The Debs are back for a
new and promising season
after receiving sixth place at
State competition last March.
They have big plans for the
upcoming year and are off to
a good start.
The Debutantes will
be dancing at half-time at
several home sports events,
throughout the fall and winter
season. Their first competition
will be on Nov. 3 at Gladstone
High School.
At this competition, the
team plans on participating
with four routines: jazz,
lyrical, kick and hip hop. The
members competing lyrical
will be chosen on a try-out
basis since only sixteen girls
will be performing that
particular routine.
"Trying out for routines
makes us all work a lot harder
to perfect the choreography
and really perform at
practice," Katie Warmack,
senior captain, said.
The team began practices
in late August with a week
of daily doubles where
they learned two football
routines and a kick routine for
competition. However, each
dancer was required to take
at least 20 classes at Dance
Vision studio in Clackamas
throughout the summer to
improve skills in a variety of
areas all the way from ballet
to hip hop.
There are 34 girls on the
team and they practice three
days a week for three to four
hours, working on learning
choreography and improving
technique. The team has four
coaches, Amanda Wilcox,
Geoff Wishart, Angie Sharpe
and Karissa Peterson. They
each incorporate their own
unique choreography and
style into the team's various
routines.
Each of the coaches
participated in their high
school's dance teams at
various schools around the
state and continue their
passion for dance through
coaching their own team.
"Practices have been going
really well. The girls are
working really hard and we
have already improved a lot,"
Mindy Orolin, senior captain,
said.
Near the end of December
the team will be learning its
State routine. The routine this
year is based on the historical
figure Marie Antoinette, and
the theme's name is "Let
them eat cake." They will be
dancing a 4-6 minute routine
Kathryn Warmack, senior captain, practices the team's fall hip-hop to the song "Like it or not"
routine. The Debs have been practicing in preparation for their first by Madonna. State will take
competition in November.
Photo by Kira Matsuoka place on March 12-13 at the
Memorial Coliseum.
Blazers suffer devastating loss
I saac C allagan
Staff Reporter
After another off-season
filled with wheeling and
dealing, the Portland Trail
Blazers are set to embark on
year two of their rebuilding
One Sport or 3 Sports
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SPORTS APPAREL • SPIRITWEAR • CUSTOM ORDERS • GUARANTEED SATISFACTION
program. Expectations for
the team were high before
the loss of Greg Oden. With a
busy draft night punctuated
by three trades, the Blazers
are ready to set out with a
new cast of players towards a
common goal.
Bolstered largely by the
addition of Oden, profiled
by many, including ESPN
and other scouting web sites,
to be the best big man in a
decade, the Blazers secured
several other solid additions
in Josh McRoberts, Taurean
Green, James Jones, and
Charming Frye. In a case
of addition by subraction,
the Blazers traded Zach
Randolph to the New York
Knicks. That move has
received positive reception
from some Blazers fans
around the school.
"I'm glad we got rid of Z-
Bo. In fact, I'm stoked," Chase
Gray, senior, said. "Z-Bo" of
course, as die-hard Blazers
fans know, is the nickname
of former Trail Blazer
Randolph. This move brings
complications as Randolph
averaged a walloping 23.6
points and 10.1 rebounds the
previous year. The scoring
burden will have to be picked
up by second-year players
Brandon Roy and LaMarcus
Aldridge.
The drafting of Oden with
the first pick was easily the
highest profile move the
Blazers made this summer.
The big man's arrival has
generated considerable
interest around the school.
Students such as Blake Ford,
senior, have been observed
sporting Oden T-shirts and
voicing their support.
"Oden to the Rose City,"
Jordan Hongo, senior, said.
The expectations on Oden for
his rookie season were rather
large.
"Second straight rookie of
the year," Gray said, referring
to the award given out to the
best rookie of each season.
For someone with such high
expectations, Oden's career
has started roughly. During
the summer league he missed
60% of the games due to a
nasty case of tonsillitis, and
just recently was scheduled
for arthroscopic knee
surgery at a Washington-area
hospital. The main concern
was pain and swelling during
practice, and no injury was
expected to have occurred.
However, on Sept. 13,
after Oden came out of
surgery, the news was grim.
Doctors operated on Oden
with a procedure called
microfracture surgery. The
procedure involved drilling
into Oden's knee, after which
the surgeon then tore a
small hole into the bone in
Oden's knee. The goal of the
procedure was to stimulate
bleeding in the knee. After
the wound clots, a new, albeit
not as effective, layer of
cartilage is formed.
The typical recovery time
for a surgical procedure such
as this is six months up to
a year. The news came as
a shocker to Blazers fans.
On one Blazers fan site,
BlazersEdge.com, within
10 minutes of the notice
being posted, many people
had commented on the
unfortunate situation. The
mood among some students
is somber after hearing the
news.
"I was excited about
Oden," Ryan Connolly, senior,
said. However, expectations
for the team remain high
for the coming season. After
the evident success of last
season, (the Blazers finished
11 games better, at 32-50),
people have been looking
forward to this year.
"I'm predicting 55-27,"
Gray said. While most
expectations are not that
grand, people still are
excited.
"I expect the rookies from
last year to step up and take
leadership roles," Connolly
said. It is evident from the
reactions of these students
that a positive vibe has
surrounded the upcoming
season. It will be up to the
Blazers, old and new, to fu
them.