2008
Tennis Teams move into TRL play with league title in sight
KELSEY SCHRADER
4 »
Staff Reporter
The tennis team s opened
their seasons w ith m atches
against som e o f the best
squads in the state w ith
im pressive victories and
hard-fought losses.
The girls began the
season w ith a tough 5-3
loss to Beaverton. Victories
w ere posted from the
second doubles team of
C atherine Broadhurst and
Taylor C ornel, juniors,
along w ith w ell-fought
losses from their num ber
ones. A t singles, D anika
Tonning, junior, fell in
a tough three set effort.
Tonning, w ho placed fifth
at State last year, fell to an
opponent w ho reached
the quarterfinals herself.
A lthough the loss w as
tough to swallow, she
rem ained positive.
"A m atch like this ju st
helps m e prepare for
State." Tonning said. "I
w ant to b eat the best kids
but I know it's going to be
tough."
The num ber one doubles
team of A lix Sm ith, senior,
and K ellie Kaw asaki, junior,
also took their opponents to
three sets before declaring
victory.
The girls took on
Lakeridge next, one o f tw o
other team s that w ill be
com peting w ith W est Linn
for the Three Rivers League
title. The girls cam e out
firing from the first point
to last, as they dom inated
Strong work habits guide
Track Team's improvement
M ax H ays
have been Sydney Veenker,
Staff Reporter freshman, in the 100 and in
Strong work ethics
the 200, Diana Crane, senior
captain, in the 800, Danica
and positive attitudes, are
Jungerman, sophomore, in
hallmarks of both the Boys'
the 300 and 100
hurdles, and
Mallory Griffith,
sophomore, in the
discus.
" I feel that the
workouts and
progress of the team
will lead to success
during league meets
and at Districts,"
Sarah Chicione and Amy Kestek, seniors, and Crane said.
Danica Jungerman, sophomore, jump over
The next
hurdles in the 100 meter event. Both the boys’ home meet is on
and girls' teams lost their first meet against Lake ]y[arch 30 against
Oswego.
Photo by Malia Chong Milwaukee at 4
and Girls' Track teams
according to Joe Cemy, head
coach, who said if the team
continues to work hard they
will be a competitive team in
league meets.
"Right now we are meeting
and going beyond my
expectations at the beginning
of the season. We have a
lot of newcomers who are
contributing and learning how
to compete at a high school
level. We also have great
veteran leaders," Cemy said.
In the Lions Mar. 19 meet
against Lake Oswego and Apr.
9 meet against Clackamas, the
girls' and boys' teams came
up short, but won the Sisters
Invitational meet at Sisters on
Apr. 5. Overall, the season has
been good for the Lions and
many athletes have turned in
personal records.
Individually this season,
the boys have seen great
performances from Michael
Bemert, senior captain, in the
1500 and 800, Ben Morrow,
senior captain, in the 3000,
Justin McKee, freshman, in the
400, Mitch Gaulke, junior, and
Tommy Patrick, senior, in the
discus, and Jacob Gianuzzi,
sophomore, in the javelin and
100 .
For the girls, top performers
p.m. Districts will
be held on May 14 and 16 at
Clackamas High School.
the Pacers 7-1. The top
players for the Lions scored
easy victories, as w ell as
w ins from the doubles
team s of K atherine M illage,
junior, and Lisa Kirkem o,
sophom ore.
"Being on this year's
experienced their first
victories on the year, as the
team im proved its record
to 1-0 w ith a victory over
the W arriors. The Lions
kicked off the m atch w hen
Collin Bundy, senior, and
Bret W right, junior, w on at
Danika Tonning, junior, waits for a shot during her singles match
against Lakeridge. Tonning won her match 6-0,6-0, leading her team to a
7-1 victory.
Photo by Chelsea Callas
team has been a great
experience," K irkem o
said. "The team is full of
am azingly talented players,
and it's ju st an aw esom e
thing to be a part of."
The girls team continued
their dom inance in league,
sw eeping past M ilw aukie,
Putnam and O regon City,
all w ithout losing a single
m atch. This sets up a
show dow n at hom e against
Lake O sw ego, a team that
h a s y e t to lo se th is year, it
w ill be played today at 4
p.m.
The boys' team faced a
tough non-league schedule
as w ell, as they took on
Beaverton, C leveland and
Sunset, all of w hom are
expected to send m ultiple
players to State this year.
A gainst Cleveland,
the m ajority of the team
first doubles 2-6, 6-2,10-7.
M iles Rifkin, junior, put the
team further ahead w ith a
7-5, 6-2 victory at second
singles. The team also
picked up w ins from the
tw o freshm en on the team.
Andrew Brow n, freshm an,
w on at fourth singles 6-3,
6-4, w hile Ken Tsuruta,
freshm an, paired up w ith
Blake Beehler, junior, to w in
at fourth doubles 6-3, 6-2.
"It's cool to be on the
te a m as a fre sh m a n ,"
Tsuruta said. "Every time.
I w in it's not necessarily
expected, so it's a good
position to be in for me."
The boys final w arm
up prior to TRL play w as
against Sunset, a team that
is ranked in the top 10 in
state. The m atch got off to
a bad start, as the Lions
lost three of their first four
m atches. The lone w in cam e
at second doubles, w here
Sam Tingey and Ryan
N esbit, juniors, squeaked
out a 6-2, 0 -6 ,1 0 -8 victory
despite som e controversial
line calls. Shortly thereafter,
rain forced the team s to
postpone the match.
The boys opened their
TRL cam paign against a
solid Lakeridge team , and
fell behind before they even
took the court w hen Rifkin
had to pull out due to a
pinched nerve in his back.
W hile this required the
m ajority of singles players
to play one position up
from norm al, C hristopher
Erbin, junior, w as the lone
singles player w ho did not
need to m ove up a spot due
to Rifkin's injury, and w on
6-2, 6-3. The rest of singles
struggled to step up, as they
all fell in close matches.
The Lions fought back in
doubles however, led by the
efforts of Bundy /Wright,
w ho w on their m atch 6-4,
6-2. The Lions w ent on to
sweep doubles, w hich tied
the m atch at 4-4. The Lions
fell in the tiebreaker though,
putting them a step back to
begin the season.
The team responded,
however, defeating
Clackam as 5-3. The
Cavaliers w ere predicted to
take the TRL title this year,
but the Lions proved they
belong w ith the league's
best, as the w in moved
them back into a tie for first
w ith Lakeridge
"We cam e into this season
w ith the goal of w inning
league," W right said. "We
have w orked hard and
played w ell to rem ain in
that position."
~Ton d e i
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