12
Sports
M ard#
Future looks bright as Swim Team sends four to
^ M ax H ays _______________
Staff Reporter
It was a loud and exciting
weekend at the Lake Oswego
pool on Feb. 14, where people
were going crazy according to
Josie Sells, senior captain. It
was a day filled with nerves
and emotion which did not
distract the Lions, who were
on a mission to show that
they could compete with the
always dominant Lakeridge
and Lake Oswego.
The District Meet started
out rough for the Lions, with
the Girls' 200 Medley Relay
team being disqualified. The
boys' relay team of Gunnar
Wolfe, freshman, Kevin
Sellers, junior, and John
Bonoff and Brian Laderoute,
seniors, quickly picked up the
slack, finishing third in the
200 Medley Relay with a time
good enough to qualify for
State. This was the first time
in three years that anyone
from West Linn has qualified
for State.
Wolfe placed second in
an exciting race qualifying
for State and posting a
time of 22.08 in the 50 Yard
Freestyle, he was outtouched
by Caleb Stockwell, senior,
of Clackamas. Wolfe also
qualified in the 100 Yard
Freestyle, once again finishing
second.
Some of the weekends'
best performances came from
Jessica Broberg, sophomore,
who placed third in the 100
Butterfly and fifth in the
500 Freestyle. Sellers also
had a good meet, placing
fourth in both the 100 Back
and 100 Free. Sells had a
strong showing, placing
fourth, they showed they
skills and strength. This year
came in seeded eighteenth,
fourth in the 200 Individual
could hang with the big
was a building year for the
and finished sixteenth, just a
Medley, and third in the 100
powerhouses in the Three
program, and I can only see it second away from qualifying
Backstroke. Haley McCrae,
Rivers League.
improving over the next few
for finals. Wolfe, the Lions
junior, had a pair of fifth
"In the next couple years
years," Skinner said.
only individual competitor,
place finishes, in both the 200
the team is just going to
At the State swim meet
finished sixth in the 50 Yard
Free and 100 Back. Almost
get stronger as younger
the Lions relay of Sellers,
Free and tenth in the 100 Yard
everyone recorded at least
swimmers develop their
Bonoff, Laderoute, and Wolfe
Free.
one personal best by the end
I-------------- !
of the weekend.
"I was impressed with how
close the boys and girls teams
came to finishing third in
the meet," Head swim coach
Phoebe Skinner said.
While the Lions had
■ ■< :
struggled at Districts in past
years, they shined this year,
having at least two athletes
place in the top 12 in 14 of
the 16 individual events.
They also recorded 18 top six
finishes. There were many
i i ■Jai
iliiiii
t
highlights for the Lions at
..iiiliiili
_____
Districts, as the swimmers
left it all in the pool according Brian Laderoute, senior, swims the butterfly leg of the boys 200 Yard Medley Relay at Districts where
the Lions took third place and qualified for State. The team finished in fourth place overall in the Three
to Laderoute. While both the
Rivers League.
League.
• Photo
Photo courtesy
courtesy of Michael Bonoff
boys and girls only placed
Rlvers
iíS í^ íijíííiíííííí
Gaulke wins State title, team takes second at
Staff Reporter
After finishing as District
champion, Mitchell Gaulke,
senior, won the State
wrestling championship in
the 285-lb. weight class last
weekend. Donald Paulson,
130 lbs., followed his District
title as the runner up in his
weight class at State.
"It was exhilarating. This is
my senior year and winning
state was a great way to
finish off my career with my
high school bros," Gaulke
said.
Every Lion faced a tough
opponent in the first round
at State. The team had placed
second at Districts and sent
nine wrestlers to State. Along
with the aforementioned
wrestlers, Brian Schiewe,
Anthoney Chay, Travis
Schultzler, Christian Wilson
and Zach Sramek competed.
Seyeral wrestlers won
their first match but lost
their second. Sramek won
his first match, but lost his
next two matches. Wilson
started off with a victory in
the first round, but then lost
the next match and again
in the consolation bracket.
MacClanathan was too
victorious in the first round,
but suffered the same fate as
Wilson.
Gaulke and Paulson both
had great runs at State.
Paulson sped through the
first four rounds, but met his
match in the finals against
Justin Eldred of Grants Pass.
Gaulke took down every
challenger in his path on his
way to the championship.
His first two matches were
pins, the first pin happening
in less than a minute. In the
finals, he faced Centennial's
David Vieru, a junior.
Renegades look to seize sixth state championship
ICO
Staff Reporter
For the past six years
West Linn High School
Club Rugby has been
making itself known
since its establishment in
2003. The girls' team, the
Rucking Renegades, has
won five straight State
Championships and has
been ranked as high as third
in the nation. The boys' team
has held its own as well.
They've reached fourth and
fifth in state in 2007 and
2006, respectively.
The teams consist of
players from West Linn,
Wilsonville, Oregon City,
Lake Oswego and Lakeridge
high schools. Approximately
one third of the players
are from West Linn. The
blending of schools is
embraced.
"I like it. We blend
together well and they really
add to the team," Charles
Stevens, senior co-captain,
said.
The boys' team plans to
improve upon its record
from last year when they
posted a losing record. .
"We don't care so much
about winning as much
as we do keeping a good
attitude," Stevens said.
The boys have been
preparing for their Saturday
games at Athey Creek
Middle School since mid-
February. It seems West Linn
Rugby Club is undersized,
compared to the 24 other
teams in the Rugby Oregon
High School program
according to Stevens.
"To make up for our size
we’ll have to be fit," Stevens
said.
Maybe the boys should
take lesson from the girls.
Their goal is to stay on top
as state champs for a sixth
year in a row. But more
importantly the Renegades
are looking forward to
a good year with good
Alison Lair, Wilsonville sophomore, Mallory Williams and Megan
Hackney, seniors, and Calley Lathrop and Holly Ferguson, juniors,
rally around fallen lock Betsy Luehrs, senior, on Feb. 28 during the
Oregon pre-season tournament. The Renegades won four out of the
five games they played at the tournament which began at 9 a.m. and
ended at 3:30 p.m.
Photo by Mark Popper!
competition according to
Zchonae Jones, junior. Unlike
the boys, the Renegades start
preparing in the off-season
around October and actually
begin practices mid-January.
Even though rugby may
not be as popular as football
in the U.S. or as popular as
soccer throughout the world,
rugby is one of the fastest
growing sports. Each year
West Linn Rugby grows in
members.
"We get new players
every year that have never
seen a rugby game before. So
it's basically like learning the
sport over and over again
every year, because we have
to teach the new players
the game. So it takes a lot of
patience," Jones said.
Despite having to teach
new players the game of
rugby, the girls are expecting
to seize their sixth straight
State title according to Jones.
Tomorrow is opening
weekend for both boys and
girls with Saturday. The girls
will travel to Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada
to face Carson Graham.
The boys will be on their
own turf hosting North
Clackamas at 10 a.m Sat,
March 7.
The team has shown
promise and done well
according to Coach Doug
Samarron. They went 5-1
in the Three Rivers League
while finishing second to
undefeated league rival
Oregon City.
"Oregon City has nothing
onus," Samarron said, but
they showed the Lions that
"sometimes they have to be
more mentally prepared than
physically." Oregon City was
4-0 going into the District
Meet.
The team is young and
still maturing according
to Samarron. This team is
much the same team as last
year, but has many young
wrestlers. Some of the more
inexperienced wrestlers have
developed faster than he
expected because they were
forced to wrestle with Varsity.
Districts were the main
objective for the Lions.
"Everything comes down
to two days," Samarron said.
Every team had an equal
shot at the championship,
regardless of regular season
record. Prior to the meet,
Samarron called it a "pressure
cooker."
Paulson's expectations
were pretty simple going into
it. "To win," Paulson said.
Paulson said he felt a sense of
accomplishment knowing his
hard work paid off.
Early tournaments were
more difficult for the team.
"The team wasn't put
together until mid-January,"
Samarron said. "At some of
the tournaments we were
thumped." Early season
tournaments included the
Newberg Invitational and
the Pac Coast Tournament at
Hudson's Bay High School.
Their improvement over
the season showed as the
team performed close to
what Samarron expected
at Districts, trailing only
Oregon City.
I