Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2009)
12 Sports Wrestling Team faces obstacles, expectations M arshall M iller _____________ After dominating the Three Rivers League for many years, the Lions have finished in second place the past two seasons. This young team is looking to rebuild and regain their superior reputation with experienced talent and new potential that has come from the youth program. Monday through Friday, they work relentlessly to make sure they are physically and mentally prepared for the season. This year, the program is lacking in several varied weight classes. The weights 215,103 and 112 lbs. have yet to be filled. Assistant coach Geoff Bingham believes it will be hard to fill these spots. "Nobody has come forward to fill these spots," Bingham said. "There has to be someone out there with Little Man Syndrome who wants to fight." After Mitchell Gaulke, Class of 2009, won the State Championship in the heavyweight class and Donald Paulson, senior, was runner up in his weight class, expectations are high for the eight returning state qualifiers. Wrestlers include Brian Schiewe, Christian Wilson, Anthoney Chay and Travis Schutzler, juniors, and Paulson, Michael Photo by Tracie Kreilwitz, Stop Action Memories Anthoney Chay, junior, battles to pin another wrestler at the Newberg Invitational on Dee. 4. They will face Oregon City in an away dual meet on Dec. 17 and participate in the Canby Invitational on Dec. 19. MacClanathan, Sam Ihrig and Logan Krellwitz, seniors. Other experienced members who have potential to qualify for State include Colin Kelley, junior, and Thomas Rassmussen, senior, according to Head Coach Doug Samarron. "I'd like to believe that there are also some surprises not mentioned," Samarron said. As the team matures, the experience level increases along with the expectations. Bingham said that one of their biggest goals is to improve every week and wrestle for all six minutes in a match. In their first meet of the season at the Newberg Invitational, the Lions lost two duals to Sandy, 48-36, and Newberg, 69-6, and beat Century, 45-33. Despite this, there were some strong individual performances, including both Chay and Paulson winning all three matches. The Lions meet the Pioneers at Oregon City on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. and . will compete in the Canby Invitational on Dec. 19. Their first home meet is Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. against the Milwaukie Mustangs. Samarron added, "I know there is potential walking the halls at WLHS. Why they are not giving it a try is only a guess." December Skiers add freestylers to racing team After last year's successful season, the ski racing team is back for it's third season as a sport with a new addition— a freestyle team founded by Brenner Spear, junior, with Will Sloop, Class of 2004, acting as coach. Freestyle is new to the sch o ol, so m any of the skiers have little or no experience. This season lo o k s to be a le a rn in g experience for m any of them, including those who are par t i ci pat i ng from other schools. " I t ’s n o t a b o u t t he com petitions, but about getting people informed about freestyle skiing," Spear said. Spear, a racin g skier of 13 years and freestyle skier of two and a half years, enjoys freestyle as a new and innovative sport. Twelve skiers have signed up for the team. The freestyle team rides the bus every Thursday .after school to train at Mt. Hood Meadows. g&i 1mm mills freestyle______ continued on page 15 V_______________ J erorr vj c o o p SI SBMIKV S fa«IK W IÍ1 i« m a d li ¡3 The Portland Trail Blazers have had their best start to the season since the 1999- 2000 season. The team was able to pick up a few players from the 2009 draft and. from trades that will keep the bench strong. Despite the powerful start and the new additions, the Blazers haven't had the best of luck keeping their players healthy. Second year player, Nicolas Batum, small forward, is working to keep the starting position he earned last year when Martel Webster, small forward, was out with a stress fracture in his foot. This year, Webster has been starting in place of the injured Batum, who received shoulder surgery during the preseason. Travis Outlaw, small forward, left the court with a stress fracture in his foot at the game against the Charlotte Bobcats. Outlaw is expected to be out until January. Two new rookies will also be gone for the majority of the season. Jeff Pendergraph, power forward, is out due to shoulder surgery and Patrick Mills, guard, is out due to a fractured foot. Most recently, Rudy Fernandez, guard, received an MRI for sciatic pain. He didn't play in the games against the Houston .Rockets and New York Knicks. During practice before the Houston Rockets game, Nate McMillan, head coach, ruptured his Achilles tendon and will receive surgery during the away game stretch. Dean Demopoulos, assistant coach, will be the head coach at the away games. The most tragic injury has been to Greg Oden, center, who fractured his left patella in the opening minutes of the game against Houston. He went up to block a shot when he apparently bumped his left knee on the floor. Oden was taken off the court in a stretcher and is likely to be out for the season. New additions that will be suited up and on the bench include Andre Miller, guard, Dante Cunningham, power forward, and Juwan Howard, power forward. Miller has started 10 games already for Portland and so far averages 4.8 assists and 10.7 points per game. Despite being a second round draft pick, Photo by Ashley Sheron Brandon Roy, Portland Trail Blazer guard, sets up a play against Trevor Ariza, Houston Rockets small forward. The Blazers beat the Rockets 90-89 this season. Cunningham is averaging 9.2 minutes and received his first start in the game against the Miami Heat. As for Howard, you won't see him much of him on the court but you will see him leading the Blazers' huddles. Howard has played 15 years in the league for seven different teams. Although their best start in 10 years, the team lost two of three games played in October. The team rallied m ilS t! back to win 11 of 16 games by a margin of eight or more points in November. The Blazers were first in the league with the highest free throw percentage early in the season but have since dropped to fifth. They were also the number one defensive team, holding opponents to 85 points a game, but have now dropped to eighth in the league. The two toughest losses came in the last two games of November against Memphis and Utah. The Blazers fell 20 or more points to their opponents and weren't able to come within 10 points. They then came close to winning against the Miami Heat but again fell behind by more than 10 points and couldn't recover. The team was able to come back the next game, despite losing Oden, to win 91-89. However, they lost to the New York Knicks, 93-84. The team is going to have to make some changes if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive. They need to involve the centers in the offense, keep up the defense, and continue to keep the three point percentage high.
