2008
7
R
Swim Team falls just short of State
u C hris E rbin ________________
Staff R eporter
The fear that dogged the
Swim Team becam e reality at
D istricts on Feb. 9 when the
top two team s from the Three
Rivers League, Lake Oswego
and Lakeridge, advanced to
State leaving the third place
Lions behind.
At D istricts, the Lions
finished a solid third, but
were far from com peting for
the state slots. In order for
individuals to qualify for
State, they had to win their
respective com petition, a feat
no West Linn swimmer was
able to accom plish.
The Lions' best result
of the day came in the 200
meter backstroke, when Josie
Sells, junior, finished a close
second to Lake Oswego's top
swimmer, a senior. This offers
Sells a good opportunity to
make the prestigious trip
to State next year. She also
finished third in the 50 m eter
freestyle. Many girls also
recorded some of their best
results of the year. Hayley
M cCrae, sophomore, reached
the finals in the 200 freestyle,
.as did Rosa Bhutarak,
Other standouts included
Alexandria Namhie, senior,
and Jessica Broberg, freshman.
'W e had a good finish to
the season," Namhie said,
"As a senior, it’s sad to
see it all go by so fast,
but it was an amazing
season."
Much like the
girls, many of the
boys realized new
personal records. Many
com petitors swam their
best races in the final
meet of file season.
Thomas Lord and
Thomas Lord, senior, engraves the West Alexander Jonsson,
Linn emblem onto the head of Kenneth seniors, also recorded
Salkoski, sophomore. Head shaving was
impressive tim es in
one of many pre - district festivities.
their final races as
Photo submitted by M ary Milton
Lions.
The swim teams
sophomore, in the 200 in the
earned a split in a meet
Individual Medley.
against Putnam prior to
"The w ater was freezing!"
D istricts to conclude the
said Bhutarak, who was
regular season. The Kingsmen
com peting in Varsity D istricts
possessed a surprisingly
for the first tim e, "Our girls
did great. We had more people strong team this season,
particularly on the boys side.
make it to the finals this year
The boys squad defeated
than last."
Lakeridge earlier in the year,
a team that was projected
to finish first in the TRL this
season.
It was a com pletely
Boys' Basketball Team falls
in away game at Milwaukie
m N icholas A rntz
c o -E d ito r-in -C h ie f
o
The Boys' Varsity
Basketball Team hope
to m ake the "elite eight"
in playoffs, but lost to
M ilw aukie, 59-70, on Feb. 15
in an aw ay contest.
Aaron Dow ns, head coach,
is still optim istic about the
team 's chances of reaching
the playoffs prior to the
gam e. Their trem endous
efforts and ability to "gel" as
a team , according to Dow ns,
m akes them very talented
athletes.
"Their ability to play
together as a team m akes
them one of the m ost skilled
team s I've ever coached. They
get along on and off the court
and play w ell off of each
others strengths," Downs
said.
Currently, Justin
M onahan, senior, leads
the team in average points
per gam e w ith 17.3 points.
According to Downs,
Spencer Flores, senior, and
Ryan Barnes, junior, have
stepped up, along w ith Jeff
Bush, sophom ore, who has
really advanced the team
throughout the last couple
gam es.
W est Linn, after a back- %
and-forth battle against
Lakeridge on Feb. 5, squeezed
out a 59-55 w in, in w hat w as
a m ust w in gam e for the
Lions. M onahan carried the
team w ith 34 of the 59 points,
w ith the rem aining points
sp lit betw een Flores, Barnes,
Bush and Ryan Cathcart,
senior. W ith that w in, the
team m oved into fourth
place, still in contention for
the final playoff spot.
However, the Lions did
not fare as w ell against the
Oregon C ity Pioneers on
Feb. 12. W ith the first quarter
yielding only five points for
W est Linn, their com eback in
the rem aining quarters came
too late. Barnes and Bush
tied for point leader w ith 10
points each. W est Linn lost to
Oregon City, 48-70, dropping
them to fifth in the league
and tem porarily suspending
their playoff spot, this was
a good effort against the
num ber one ranked team in
the TRL.
"It has been a good season.
They're fun to coach," Downs
said. If the team trium phs
in the next couple of gam es,
they w ill earn a fourth place
standing in the league, and
w ill l?e w ell on their w ay to
the playoffs and their goal of
the 'elite eight."
The next tw o gam es,
against Lake Oswego on Feb.
2 2,7 :1 5 p.m . at Lake Oswego
and Putnam on Feb. 2 8,7:15
p.m . at hom e should be really
close and intense, according
to Dow ns. W inning these are
vital to the success if they
hope to m ake the playoffs.
different story for the girls,
as they routed the Kingsmen,
winning 98-62, but the
Kingsmen boys earned an 87-
77 victory over the Lions.
The girls won all but two
events in the victory. The
Lions got off to a strong start
w ith a win in the 200 medley
relay. The team of W hitney
Finnerty, junior, along with
Sells, Bhutarak and Broberg,
got the meet off on the right
foot.
McCrae followed with a
win in the 200 freestyle and
Bhutarak picked up her first
individual victory in the 200
individual medley.
Broberg then cruised to a
j^ictory in the 100 butterfly
w hile Sells captured the 100
freestyle.
Sells swam in three
consecutive events. After
winning the 100 freestyle she
was on the second place 200
freestyle relay team along
with Kaytlin Coffman, Anna
Koll, seniors, and Sara Lord,
freshman.
She then swam her best
event, the 100 backstroke, and
won it easily.
Finnerty followed with a
win in the 100 breaststroke
and the 400 freestyle relay
team of Mary M ilton, senior,
Coffman, Namhie, and
Karleen Schuler, junior, won
the final event of the day for
the girls.
‘1 think everyone's done a
good job keeping up with the
rest of the league, we all did
awesome this year," M ilton
said.
On the boys side, Putnam's
depth was evident early
on, and dominated the
com petition throughout.
Lord took second in the 50
freestyle and Brian Laderote,
junior, was the runner up in
the 100 freestyle. Arthur To,
freshman, also recorded a
second-place finish in the 100
backstroke.
But, even though Putnam
had clinched the meet at that
point, the Lions finished w ell,
winning the last two events of
the day.
Kevin Sellers, sophomore,
won the 100 breaststroke just
one event after competing on
the 200 freestyle relay.
Finally, the 400 Freestyle
Relay Team of Lord, Jonsson,
A nders K oll, sophomore, and
Hans Fam bach, junior, won
the final event.
Wrestlers surprise opponents at Districts
u J on H elmkamp
__________ _
S taff R eporter
A fter predictions the
V arsity W restling Team
w ould m ost lik ely reach no
higher than fourth place in
D istricts, the team cam e out
in the highly com petitive
Three R ivers League. G iven
the toughest schedule in '
the state, this young team
decided to do w hat it does
b est and fight through itA
w hich proved challenging.
Donald Paulson, sophomore, grapples with a Clackamas Cavalier
wrestler during Districts. Paulson took first in his weight class at
D is tr ic ts an d e a rn e d h im s e lf th ird o l a c f a t , St at e.
Photo b y iracie Krellwitz
and pu t on a show , earning
a second place finish to
O regon City.
'T h e Lions have not
placed low er than second
since 1984. This year is a ,
rebuilding year and w e w ere
still able to take second in
D istricts," G eoff Bingham ,
assistant w restling coach,
said .
D ue to a lack o f seniors,
underclassm en have borne
the burden o f com peting
D espite their record,
Bingham is optim istic. "O u r
kids took their lum ps this
year and w ill be better for
next year," he said.
E ight grapplers earned a
trip to State, the lone senior
being D evan Schiew e at 140
lbs. The other seven include
A ndrew Kim at 119 lbs.,
M itchell G aulke at 285 lbs.,
ju n iors, Sam Ihrig at 103 lbs.,
D onald Paulson at 112 lbs.,
M ichael M acC lanathan at
171 lbs., sophom ores, and
Travis Schutzler at 130 lbs.,
freshm an.
Last year in State, Paulson
took seventh and Kim took
eighth. A ll eight o f this
year's com petitors had to
place in the top three in their
w eight classes at D istricts to
advance to State. A ccording
to Bingham , the eight State
qualifiers have the potential
to place high.
"I think w e did really
w ell this year, b etter than
expected because w e're so
young. To get ready for
State w e've been doing a lot
o f live w restling, trying to
im prove our skills before
this w eekend," Schutzler
said.
There is a great am ount
o f pride in being a Lion
w restler. The Lions have a
long trad ition of success—
an 11 year streak o f w inning
D istrict and a 23 year streak
o f finishing second or higher.
State w as held last
Thursday, Friday and
Saturday at the M em orial
Coliseum in Portland. The
State Tournam ent is set up as
a double elim ination bracket
system . Paulson had lost in
the sem i-finals, and after
w inning his next m atch, took
third in his w eight class. H e
w as the only w restler this
year w ho placed.