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Track Team exceeds expectations in growing season
B S ean P ebler ______________
Staff Reporter
The Track Team consists
mainly of sophomores in what
is considered to be a growing
year. They are graduating very
few seniors this year, as only
Varsity athletes Bryce Baker,
Alexander Schlitt, Tremayne
the time, John Othus, social
studies teacher, was the
distance and cross country
coach, but when he was
diagnosed with colon cancer,
he asked Linman to take over
coaching.
It is a wide-held belief that
Linman has done a stellar job,
is Linman's ability to
communicate with his runners.
"He's a really good coach,
and he knows how to push
each person as an individual,"
Chelsea Ollar, sophomore,
said.
The leaders of the distance
crew are Cullen Wannarka,
Erin Morrow, sophomore, and Kelsey Guerins, junior, run in the 800 meters at a home meet against
Rex Putnam on April 8. The Lions split the meet, with the girls edging out the Kingsmen and the boys
falling.
Photo by Jessica Broberg
Phillips, Ian Markstaller and
Taylor Nowlin will be leaving.
Part of the Lions success
has to do with both the boys'
and girls' distance crews
coached by John Linman.
"I haven't been surprised.
They've done exactly how
I expected them to do. One
person who has surprised
me is Zach Boyd-Helm,
running faster in the 800 than I
thought," Linman said.
Linman has lived in West
Linn since 1984 and raised
both of his children here. At
as many of his young runners
have been successful in past
years. Linman deflects most of
this attention to his runners.
"They're talented, and they
work very hard. One of my
favorite quotes is 'the desire
to win is nothing without the
will to train'. You can't do that
(win) unless you put the two
together," Linman said. "We're
lucky to have so many kids at
the sophomore level that run
this fast."
One of the things that
runners cite as a strength
sophomore, and both Kathryn
Flyte and Kelsey Guerins,
juniors, for the girls.
On April 4, the team took
all Varsity athletes to a 16 team
meet in Sisters. The boys' side
took home first place out of
all 16 teams. The girls' placed
sixth.
Wannarka placed first out
of 27 runners in the 1,500
meters with a time of 4:17.16.
Other first place finishers
included Max Hays, junior, in
the long jump, Erin Morrow,
sophomore, in the 800 meters,
and the boys' 4x100 Meter
Relay Team of Jake Gianuzzi,
junior, Keaton Hedman,
sophomore, Mason Finnerty,
freshman, and Baker.
Some second place finishers
included Baker in the 300
meter hurdles, Gianuzzi in the
javelin, Nowlin in the 1,500
meters, and Ollar in the 3,000
meters.
On April 8, the Lions had
their first dual meet since the
Sister's Tournament. They
faced Rex Putnam at home,
with firsts from Schlitt in the
110 meter hurdles, Baker in
the 300 meter hurdles and
Gianuzzi in the javelin.
Girls' first place finishers
were Casey Livesay,
sophomore, in the 100 meters,
Madeline Wise, freshman,
in the 400 meters, Morrow
in the 800 meters, Nowlin in
the 3,00 meters, Maria Green,
freshman, in the high jump,
and Danica Jungerman, junior,
in both the 100 and 300 meter
hurdles.
The following week, the
Lions took on a quality Oregon
City team. Some highlights
from the meet included first
placers Wannarka in both the
1,500 meters and 3,000 meters,
Baker in the 300 meter hurdles,
Green in the high jump,
Morrow in the 800 meters, and
Ollar in both the 1,500 and
3,000 meters.
After a bye week, the Lions
took their select athletes to
a Centennial Tournament,
where the guys placed ninth
out of 40 other teams. One
Top seeded Lions hope to make play for State
, M ax H ays _________________
Staff Reporter
The Varsity Baseball Team
has established itself as one of
the top teams in a Three Rivers
League that contains three of
the top 10 teams in the State.
They have beaten Clackamas,
the defending State
champions, twice; Sunset, the
fifth ranked team in state; and
South Salem.
"At the beginning of the
season we wanted to win the
TRL and be one of the top
seeds in the playoffs," Mike
Lord, head coach, said. "We
finished second in league, but
we ended up still getting one
of the top seeds for playoffs."
The Lions have also
suffered losses to some of
the top teams in the state
including Lake Oswego and
Wilson, and a middle-of-the-
road Oregon City team.
After dropping the series
to Lake Oswego, the Lions
coasted through the rest of
the season, sweeping Putnam,
Milwaukie and Lakeridge. In
the last month of the season,
they dropped games at Oregon
City, Wilson and the last
contest of the season against
Clackamas.
"The first two wins against
Clackamas were huge because
they gave us the tiebreaker
over them, and the three wins
against Milwaukie were huge
for us too," Lord said.
The Lions had an
opportunity to prove
themselves against a couple
of non-league teams: South
Salem and Wilson. Against
the South Salem Saxons,
the team came out on top,
winning in impressive fashion
10-6 at home. The Lions were
competitive with the Trojans,
but couldn't pull out the
victory, losing 4-7 at Wilson.
A big part of the Lions
success this season is
attributed to the team's top
players Eliot Smith and Ryan
Barnes, seniors. Smith has
been the Lions ace this season,
pitching in all the big games
and finishing the season with
a 7-1 record. Barnes has been
batting over 400 and has hit
eight home runs. Mitchell
Locke, junior, and Riley
Wilkerson, sophomore, have
also been cited by Lord for
their contributions.
Entering the playoffs, the
Lions are hoping to make a
the team will need to rely on
good pitching and defense,
but said," Good pitching will
always beat good hitting.
The Lions opened the
playoffs with a win against
Sprague by a score of 8-1,
Ryan Barnes, senior, slides into second base during one of the Lions
home games against Oregon City. The Lions won two out of three
games in the series and finished in second place in the Three Rivers
League.
Photo by Carly Halverson
run at the championship game
for the first time since they
lost to Sprague in the 2005
State finals. Lord believes that
the team took on Barlow in
the next round on Tuesday.
Results were not available as
of press time.
major highlight from the meet
was Wannarka's 3,000 meters
in nine minutes flat, good
enough for second place.
After that, the Lions headed
to Lakeridge for a dual meet
against the Pacers were they
recorded many personal
records and highlights.
Hedman won first in both the
100 and 200 meters, and Ian
Monihan, junior, placed first
in the 400 meters. Jefferson
Chandler, sophomore, came
back from an injury to take
first place in the 1,500 meters.
Graham Frank, sophomore,
also placed first in the 3,000
meters. Schlitt once again
took first place in both
hurdle events. Justin McKee,
sophomore, ended up taking
first in the boys' javelin.
Markstaller again won both
the long jump and triple jump.
Nowlin had another strong
showing, placing first in both
the 1,500 and 3,000 meters.
Another first place finisher
included Jungerman in the
girls' pole vault.
At the Jesuit Twilight
Relays held on May 1, West
Linn faced some of the best
competition in the state. Schlitt
ended up taking fifth place in' _
both the 110 meter hurdles and
the javelin.
In their last regular
dual meet the Lions faced
Milwaukie at home. Both the
girls and boys performed
very well at the meet, and one
surprise was Corinne Carver,
freshman, earning first place in
the girls' long jump.
The Lions were successful
at Districts, sending many
athletes to the State meet.
For the boys, Hedman won
first place in the 100 meters,
earning him a spot at State.
Other athletes that will be
moving on to the State meet
for the boys are Wannarka in
the 3,000 meters, Schlitt in the
javelin, and the 4x100 meter
relay team of Baker, Finnerty,
Hedman, and Gianuzzi. The
girls sent only Green in the
high jump.
Linman held high
expectations for his distance
crew at Districts, and for those
runners who moved on to
State.
"I think everybody will run
their fastest time at the District
meet, unless they made it to
the State meet, they'll run their
fastest time there. And then
we'll take a couple weeks off,
and start training for cross
country!"
At State, Green placed
eighth in the high jump,
scoring the only points for
West Linn, clearing five feet
three inches. Wannarka almost
placed in the 3000 running an
impressive 8:53.