2010
Sports
Tennis teams avoid shanks , find "sweetspot"
After losing many seniors, Boys'
Tennis Team looks to rebuild »
M ary E arp
With a record of 3-1 to
begin the season, the Boys'
Tennis Team started out
with high-quality play.
Their main problem, Ward
Lewis, head coach, said has
been the weather.
"Now the big obstacle
to overcome is the weather,
and how that's going to
affect us. I think whoever
can adapt to the conditions
will be the winner," Lewis
said.
This year's team is very
young. Having graduated
nine seniors last year, the
team faces a major barrier in
its playing and leadership.
They need to work on
consistency as well, which
will come with more
practice time, according to
Lewis, but this has been
hard to come by because of
the weather.
"I think everyone
should be more consistent.
Everyone is good; but
overall we could get a lot
better," Ian Risenhoover,
sophomore, said. "The
conditions were pretty off;
it was tough to play in the
wind."
Their first game against
Lake Oswego was close, but
the Lions were defeated 3-5.
Though their first game was
lost, they pushed through to
win their next three games,
beating Oregon City 6-2,
Clackamas 6-2 and Putnam
7-1. The team's only loss
came against Lakeridge,
where a 4-4 game resulted
in a loss after a tiebreaker.
The team has already had
three matches cancelled due
to weather. The core goal
this season is for the team
to "win it all," Lewis said,
referring to the Three Rivers
League.
.ac| Girls' Tennis Team finds tough
match-ups in league competition
T y C larke
Photo by Libby Kara
Lisa Kirkemo, senior, hits a shot in
a recent match. The G irls' Tennis
Team has struggled this season,
but m ade a run in its recent gam e
against M ilw aukie, w inning 8-0.
The Girls' Tennis Team
is struggling in and out
of league. Sam antha Ing,
junior, said the season
"has been rough trying
to get all the players to
practice." Ing and Lisa
Kirkemo, seniors, are
the team captains. Ke
O unaphom , head coach,
is in the m idst of his
second year coaching
at West Linn after
previously coaching at
Clackam as.
On April 14, the Lions
beat M ilwaukie 8-0 for an
im pressive league win.
Unfortunately, a string of
losses preceded this win.
Before the M ilwaukie
match, the Lions fell
to Lakeridge, 1-7,
Clackam as, 1-7, and Lake
O sw ego, 1-7. However,
the team found a win
over Rex Putnam during
the m iddle of this streak.
"It's been tough this
year all the team s have
im proved," Ing said. "It
also w orks the other way,
though. Our team has
im proved as well."
The Lions won the
match over the Kingsm en
8-0. On April 7, the
team beat Oregon City
in im pressive fashion,
winning 7-1. This w as a
rebound match for the
Lions after they fell to
Lake O sw ego, 1-7. For
the upcom ing stretch of
matches, Ing said that
the team should work on
"communication between
players," which w ould
help solve what she called
the biggest obstacle; "time
m anagem ent with the
team."
FROM THE VAULT
Located in the basement, through a series of storage rooms and locked doors lies the Vault. The Vault holds
school records going back decades, including Amplifiers from as far back as 1921. Our editors have sorted
through the papers to reprint past articles, bringing you an interesting view of life from students of another
generation.
"From the Vault" articles will appear in the corresponding section in which they were originally printed. Check
each issue of the Amplifier to find more treasures from the Vault.
X-country runners find adventure in
K im B arker _________________
J anuary
29,1988
On December 25, four
West Linn cross-country
runners boarded the plane
for China to participate in
an international race on
New Year’s Day.
Junior Scott Spear (next
season's boys' captain),
senior Mike Cobb
(last season’s boys’ co
captain), senior Donalda
Sugden (last season's
girls' captain), and junior
Nicole Woodward were
invited to attend the race
by the Amateur Sports
Development Program (a
non-profit organization).
Four other WLHS cross
country team members
(senior Jeff Day, junior
Kevin Buse, junior Denny
Baldrey, and junior Pat
Bassett) were also asked
to participate but couldn’t
because of finances and
other obligations.
There were five
other runners and four
tennis players from
Oregon attending this
international event.
(Besides the cross
country race, there was
an international tennis
tournament held.) Oregon
was the only state from the
United States attending the
competition.
Sugden and Woodward
fared well in their 9K
run, which took place on
the Kowloon peninsula.
Woodward placed sixth and
Sugden finished tenth in
an international field of 60
runners, who were made
up of mostly high school
and college athletes. Sugden
stated, "I didn’t expect to
place as high as I did." The
women's race began five
minutes after the men's,
and Sugden and Woodward
found themselves catching
many of the men who had
fallen behind. According
to Sugden, the race began
on a dirt road and was
compromised of many hills.
Eventually, the course led
through a cobblestoned
area where traffic wasn’t
cooperating. Sugden said,
"You had to weave your
way through the cars and
people; no one would move
out of your way." (She
admitted to knocking over a
lady in a tight situation.)
Spear and Cobb didn't
place near as well as the
girls did on the New
Year's Day race; in fact,
they couldn't even find it.
When the girls took one
taxi to the event, the boys
took another whose driver
falsely claimed that he
knew where the race began.
After a half-hour of futilely
searching at a fitness center
for the race and three more
taxi rides, Spear, Cobb, and
two other Oregon runners
gave up.
However, their trip
to China was not for
nothing. Beaverton
cross-country coach Bill
White (an amateur Sports
Development Program
representative) entered the
boys in a 17.5k road race
scheduled for January 3; the
day the team returned to
America. Cobb commented,
"It turned out for the
better of me. It was a really
punishing race, butvit was
more rewarding, because
the tougher competition
was more worthwhile.
It was my kind of race."
Cobb placed seventh in
the event, while Spear
brought home a trophy with
a fifth place finish. Four
minutes separated the two
competitors.
Both Cobb and Sugden
felt the race was only of
secondary importance;
they felt the culture was
the biggest benefit of their
trip. Other than shopping,
which, according to Cobb
the team did for 70% of
the time; the runners
toured the area, spending
time and money in the
Hong Kong, Macau,
the "new" territories,
and communist China.
(Hong Kong remains
under British control until
1997). They visited Sin
Yat Sen high school in
"Red" China, and toured
through Dr. Sin Yat Sen's
house. Cobb stated, "The
students were extremely
disciplined. We were
in the library, snapping
pictures, and none of
them would ever look
up."
In general, Cobb felt
the Chinese were very
friendly, content, and
interested in their visitors.
Sugden thought that
the American visitors
were regarded as "rich,
American snots" by many
Chinese; they were even
thrown out of a store.
Cobb felt another
interesting place they
visited was the People's
Market. Animals were
slaughtered right in
front of the customers.
Cobb stated, "People
bought anything - - livers,
badgers, house cats, goat’s
heads- - to eat right after
they were killed."
Cobb didn't try the
goat's head, but did eat
some dried squid, which
was a "cross between
smoked salmon and beef
jerky." Main courses were
served with the head still
attached.
An interesting sidenote
about Chinese culture is
that there are no copyright
laws, and therefore fake
"FILA" and "Adidas"
apparel was everywhere.
Cobb was "suckered in"
on buying a David Bowie
tape for $1.25, but ended
up listening to "David
Bowrie", a Bowie imitator.
For Cobb, the only
. bad part of the trip was
the fligth home. "After
running in a 17.5K race,
being cramped up on
a 22 hour flight was
painful." Sugden liked *
everything, and stated, "I
learned about the Chinese
culture, and competed
with the Chinese. It was
an experience I'll never
forget."