Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2009)
& 009 Um.., 15 f À ^a» **- Shin captures State title as teams cap off season _ G unnar W olfe _____________ Staff Reporter After the girls team blew away the competition and the boys finished second in Districts, the pressure was on for the State competition, where the Lions would match up against the best of the best in the State meet. The girls won Districts, but it was not easy. The Lions barely edged out Lake Oswego, winning by a single stroke. The Lions' top performers were Sharon Shin and Morgan Thompson, sophomores, who placed second and third overall, respectively. "They both have a great competitive spirit and have risen to the occasion to help the team every match," Bob Tumquist, head girls golf coach said about Shin and Thompson. The boys team finished second, with impressive performances from Zachary Foushee, freshman, who placed second and Joshua Peterson, senior, who came in fourth. They finished only six strokes behind Lake Oswego 4 \ and just edged out Lakeridge by three strokes to take second place. "We knew we could do it all along. We just had to play our game and the results paid off," Foushee said. On the first day of the State " r «¡983 Varsity golfers Tyler Barker, junior, Christopher Stuart, sophomore, Zachary Foushee, freshman, Joshua Peterson and Conner Olsen, seniors, prepare for Districts. Foushee and Peterson led the team to a second place finish and a trip to State. Photo by Wiliiam Thompson tournament on May 18, Shin finished an even par round of 72, placing her tied for first place. "I wasn't worried. I just tried not to think about it," Shin said about her first day. On the second day, Shin performed well coming from behind in the last nine holes to pull out a victory. Two strokes over after the round finished, she had to wait in the clubhouse for over an hour to find out who was champion. Her competition, Ashlee Pickerell, a freshman out of West Salem, finished out her last nine holes with five bogeys. This determined that Shin was the champion and opens up the possibility of a three year state title reign. Shin called the potential three- peat "definitely possible. Now I want to win it for two more years," Shin said. Thompson ended her tournament as the second placed West Linn golfer, earning 18th place overall. For the boys, Foushee ended his first day in seventh place, but was only one stroke off of second place, behind a five player log jam. Foushee knew what he had to do for the second day. Foushee shot the needed one under par his second day, leaving him at two over par after both days. This was good enough to earn him third place. Even though this was a great achievement for the freshman, he still found some room for improvement. "I felt pretty good about myself, but I could've dropped more putts," Foushee said. These strong showings from the underclassmen bodes well for future teams. Blazers begin off-season preparation to win championship _ A shley S heron _____________ Staff Reporter After waiting six seasons, the Blazers finally stepped it up, clinching the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Playing Houston who won the regular season series, 2-1, provided a challenge for the Blazers. In front of 20,329 dedicated fans, the home team was outscored by the Rockets in jjh e first game. In game two, lazer Lamarcus Aldridge scored 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Brandon Roy added to the high scoring list by dropping 42 points to fuel the win for Portland. The Blazers then headed to Houston for game three and four of the playoffs. In the first away game, Houston led in the first half and the Blazers managed to come back in the second half but were not able to complete the come back and fell short in the end. In game four, the Blazers once again fell short, falling behind 3-1 in the series. Rick Adelman, Rockets coach, and Nate McMillan, Blazers coach, were both fined $25,000 for publicly criticizing game officials about the referring being unfair towards their centers. Back in Portland, the Blazers scored a satisfying win over the Rockets in game five. In game six, the Blazers started strong in the first quarter but then couldn't get back on defense or knock down a much needed shot. With about three minutes left in the third quarter the Blazers replaced all the players on the floor with bench players ending their playoffs for the season. Looking toward next year, Kevin Pritchard,'Blazers general manager, is thinking Rudy Fernandez, Blazers guard, perform s a reverse dunk against the Los A ngeles Lak ers. The Blazers tied the season series with the Lakers, 2-2. Photo by Ashley Sheron about trade possibilities. This year the Blazers have one restricted agent, Frye, and three unrestricted agents, Raef LaFrentz, Shavlik Randolph and Michael Ruffin. The Blazers will have seven million dollars with which to attain a free agent. The Blazers also have the 24th pick in the first round of the NBA draft and 32nd, from the LA Clippers; the 38th pick from New York; the 55th pick from Denver and the 56th pick to use in trades in the second round. The Blazers had 12 second round prospects participating in a pre-draft workout May 11 and 12. The Blazers will hold most of their workouts in June, including workouts for first round prospects, during the weeks leading up to the draft on June 25. One dilemma the Blazers are facing is the need for a stable point guard. With Rodriguez looking to leave, Jerry d Bay less is the one to step up. The decision to trade Rodriguez is unsure but with his inconsistency on the court the chance is high. The Blazers could also use their money and draft picks to lure a veteran point guard. There are many options in trade for the Blazers but many would like to see the team stick together and grow. Even though the season ended sooner than the team and its fans would have liked, the Blazers accomplished their goal of being in the playoffs. The goal for next year is to once again make it in the playoffs and maybe even win a championship. During the offseason there will be hard work and possibly some new players. Either way the Blazers have made a comeback in Portland. < - .
