Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2008)
Sports _ J ennifer S ittqn ___________ Staff Reporter The Girls' Basketball Team will greatly benefit from the leadership of its five seniors. From academic accolades to ASB membership, they have spent the last three years juggling busy schedules and Varsity teammates, but the younger teams as well. "Our seniors this year have been around for quite a while and they know what it takes to be a Lion and their teammates have followed suit. It started last May (when the last year's seniors were gone and year's seniors include Ashley Bruser, Sachie Hopkins, Avary Kolasinski, Brittany May and Hannah Schumaker. "I've been in this program for a long time and I'm excited for this year. Our seniors have very strong leadership qualities that have shown during tryouts and our first few weeks of practice," Kolasinski said. While heavily laden with seniors, the team will also look to underclassmen to step up this year. Returning Varsity sophomores Amy Christensen, Andrea Maleike, Elise Miller and Jennifer Sitton will play a big role in this year's anticipated success along with Karly LeVeque, freshman. As strong as the senior and sophomore classes are, the junior class is what Lee calls a unique year. Morgan Joscelyn is the only junior in the program. "Morgan has been carrying herself well, representing her class. She's a trooper and one that also leads by example," Lee said. Many of the players from her class have pursued activities other than basketball. Even though she’s the only one, the lone junior will also help lead the team this season. "I'm excited about getting back on the court," Lee said. "This last off-season for me has been brutal, watching (my players) play in fall league, not being able to coach. But they really didn't need our coaches' help, as they did very well during fall league. This particular Varsity group is so coachable and it will be exciting having younger, newer players step up. "This season will be great for us to improve and become more comfortable with one another out on the court. We have some tough teams scheduled for the pre-season and I think the challenge will be good for us," Miller said. The Lions began their season with the Seventh Annual WL Tip-off Classic Tournament which included Jesuit, St. Mary's and Benson. After beating Benson 60-37, they faced the number one team in the state, the Jesuit Crusaders. The Lions stayed with them for a half, but ended up losing 41-75. Their first official pre season game will be Tuesday, Dec. 9, at Beaverton High School and then they will take on the four year defending state champions, Southridge Skyhawks, at West Linn on Friday, Dec. 12. "The character of this team is phenomenal. They perfectly exemplify our Gold Paw Vision; a team/program made up of players and coaches dedicated to achieving excellence. I'm excited for the next four months and where they could take us," Lee said. teams were named right after tryouts. Viuhkola also believes that players who started the season on JV can work their way up to Varsity throughout the course of the seniors led the team. The team also has a strong junior class including Jeffrey Bush, Tyler Weber, Michael Fay and Micheál Underriner. The team started out the season. season on a rough note, "If I play on varsity I will have more competition and get a better chance at improving. So knowing that I can work my way up to Varsity, drives me to work harder and reach my goals," losing their first game 51-67 to Wilson. They had a bad shooting night making only 20 out of 73 shots from the field and two out of 30 three pointers. "We need to believe in Viuhkola implements winning attitude; team looks for wins u M ax H ays _________________ Staff Reporter Brittany May, senior, drives to the basket during a game against number one ranked Jesuit. The Lions took on the Crusaders during the second game of the WL Invitational Tournament but lost 41-75. Photo courtesy of Patti O’Mara multiple Advance Placement classes, and this is the year that they will shine by helping and instructing not only their summer basketball officially began) and has followed us through this off-season," Glen Lee, head coach, said. This Wrestling Team in hunt to reclaim Three Rivers title D illon G eorge Staff Reporter Up until last year, The Varsity Wrestling Team had been on a hot streak of 11 District wins. However, at last year's Districts they suffered a loss to Oregon City. A comeback is just what this team needs to return to the top of the Three Rivers League. Practice started Nov. 10 and with many Varsity wrestlers playing football, the coaches were able to give more attention to the younger players. In order to reclaim the District title, the team is working on basic training and tough conditioning every practice. "It's time for West Linn to get back on top" Donald Paulson, junior, said. Paulson placed third in State last year and is seen as one of the team's leaders. Balancing wrestling and golf, he still makes time to run in the mornings, attend extra practices and lift weights as »arly bird elective. Another factor that gives Paulson the edge is that he wrestles year round. Other key seniors include Andrew Kim, who is a returning three time District champion and Mitchell Gaulke who competed at State. Sam Ihrig and Michael MacClanathan, juniors, should also be contributors after making appearances at State last year. Oregon City has more returning District place winners, so the Lions will be the underdogs at Districts. "If we take each day as it comes, if every wrestler allows themselves to be coachable, works hard and brings desire, we can end up on top again," Doug Samarron, head coach, said. He also said that practices are getting harder every day as they approach their first meet. To bring the team back to the top, conditioning will be tough and focus will be key during practices according to Samarron. The Boys' Varsity Basketball Team has a new coach and a new attitude this season and looks to improve upon last year's disappointing 3-9 finish in league and 8-16 overall finish. Eric Viuhkola, head coach, is employing a hard-nosed style of basketball, based around always going hard and making it very difficult for opposing squads to run their offense. "Our number one goal is to improve every day. Our second goal is to be more aggressive and tough- minded while playing. Our third goal is to be playing well at the end of the season so that we have a shot at the State tournament," Viuhkola said. With high intensity practices where there is an emphasis on hustle and getting up and down the floor quickly, if the team can continue to work hard, improve on its basketball skills and make things difficult for other teams, it should be able to reach this goal, according to Viuhkola. After three days of tryouts, the Varsity and JV teams were still not formed; instead Viuhkola named the top 24 players in the program. This way, instead of having to make teams after only three days, Viuhkola could take his time in evaluating talent and in putting together the best possible team for the upcoming season. This is a big change from last year where the Ryan Bames, senior, goes for a lay up during the Lions 51-67 loss to Wilson. Eric Viuhkola, new head coach, hopes to turn the program around and implement a winning attitude. Photo by Zack Muelier Zach Valentine, junior, said. A great group of seniors including Johnel Gray, senior transfer, Josh Oltman, Austin Banta, Ryan Bames, Bryce Baker, and Jacob Fogle, what we are doing, after we started to struggle with our shot, we reverted to not trusting our teammates and we gave up some easy baskets," Viuhkola said.
