10
February
Sports
ports'
ote?
Il Svi
J ennifer S itton
If you have any interest
in Oregon sports teams,
you have heard about the
disastrous debacle that
became the Oregon State
Women's Basketball Team.
You read The Oregonian article
illustrating how former head
coach LaVonda Wagner threw
chairs in the locker room,
created a culture of fear in
her program and ordered
players to take part in Weight
Watchers. Her harassment
led them to seek counseling
after playing for her. After the
2009-2010 season, the team
was left with no head coach,
no assistant coaches and
fewer than four players. Many
believed the program had
reached the point of no return.
After hiring head coach
Scott Rueck from Division
III George Fox University,
holding open tryouts to find
players who knew what to
do with a basketball and
taking part in what must
have been one of the most
frantic recruiting sessions
a Division I coaching staff
has ever participated in, the
OSU Women's Basketball
Team finally had enough
girls to field a team. The next
questions was: Can a team
of freshmen, community
college transfers and walk-ons
possibly have what it takes
to compete at the Division I
level?
So far, they're competing.
Barely. They finished pre
season with a 7-4 record. But
so far, the Pac-10 Conference
games have yielded nothing
but losses. I personally
watched them lose to a
Washington State team that
had only previously won two
games all season. On the plus
side, at least they have enough
girls to field a team, right?
Athletic programs go
through ups and downs and
the Oregon State basketball
programs, both men's and
women's, have been in some
serious crevasses lately. The
men are rising up with two
early Pac-10 wins against
Arizona and Arizona State.
We can hope that it won't take
the women as long to earn
Photo courtesy of Alyssa Martin
Alyssa Martin, Oregon State University freshman guard, shoots a
three-pointer over a defender in one of the team's first games of the
year. The OSU Girls' Basketball Team suffered a tumultuous few
years under the questionable leadership of LaVonda Wagner, but
has surpassed many fans' expectations simply by fielding a team for
the 2010-2011 season.
Swim Team prepares for Districts
while overcoming new challenges
E ta S antoro
With the addition of Canby
and Grant to the Three River's
League, the Swim Team is fac-
ally, they were able to practice
M ondays, W ednesdays and
Fridays at the Tualatin pool and
at Lewis & Clark on Saturdays,
The team consists of many club
Lindsey Gilmore, junior,
has also made an impression
during the season, accord-
ing to Wilson. Gilmore's first
individual win was the 200
Photo by Andre To
Adam Oldenkamp, senior captain, races in the 100 yard butterfly against Lake Oswego. Oldenkamp
took third place, however, the team as a whole lost to the Lakers, the boys 112-58 and the girls in a
close 86-83 contest.
ing new obstacles this season.
According to Adam Olden
kamp, senior captain, those
two schools, along with Lake
Oswego, will be the team's
toughest opponents. Despite
th is, O ldenkam p rem ains
confident.
"We lost our last two meets
unfortunately, but we're going
to win the next one," Olden
kamp said.
Earlier in the season, the
girls beat Grant 103-65 but
lost to Canby 98-72. The boys
lost two competitive matches
against Grant and Canby, but
bounced back on Jan. 6 to beat
Oregon City 104-56. The girls
also won against Oregon City
98-56, with both teams win
ning the majority of the events.
Scheduling pool time for*
practices was another chal-
lenge for the team. Eventu-
swimmers and others who have
been devoted to the team since
they started swimming.
"We have a really evenly
spread team and since everyone
swims at different speeds, we
have people from different class
es and levels. The JV and varsity
practice together," Katie Wilson,
Varsity swim coach, said. "They
all do the same amount. It makes
the JV stronger so they can see
where to improve. We're good
at relays, because they like to do
that. They're all really competi
tive: they want to win."
According to Wilson, Braden
Brooksby, ju nior, and O ld
enkamp are some of the best
swimmers who don't compete
for a club. Some of the newer
sw im m ers are Ciara Wolfe,
freshman, and Ryan O'Leary,
sophomore. They have been
impact swimmers as well.
freestyle against Oregon City,
and then proceeded to win a
100 freestyle.
"Even though she's a club
swimmer, she's willing to do
more for the team," Wilson
said.
On Jan. 13, the boys lost
against the Lake Oswego
Lakers, 112-58. The girls also
fell in a close one, 86-83. A
week later, the team took on
Clackamas and secured two
wins. The boys won 87-80 and
the girls dominated 102-67.
Recently against Lakeridge
the boys lost 82-86 and the
girls won 86-81. Both teams
beat Clackamas, the boys 84-
80 and the girls 100-70.
The Swim Team will com
pete today and tomorrow at
Districts. Wilson hopes the
team will finish in the top three
and continue to State.
respect in the Pac-10 as it did
the men.
It's a fascinating story.
What kind of Division I
basketball team holds an open
tryout to recruit players? What
athlete goes into her summer
break not knowing if she will
have a team to play on the
next year? It has the makings
of a Cinderella story that we
might find at a movie theater.
The only problem is, they
haven't yet proven themselves
as serious contenders. While
Rueck and his players deserve
applause for surviving and
keeping their program alive,
it isn't a winning program yet.
This is real life.
While it would be nice to
say that I watched the Oregon
State Women's Basketball
Team claw its way from the
depths of program destruction
and come, back to win a
National Championship,
that's not realistic. Leave
the Cinderella stories to the
movies; all we need in real life
are survivors.
Ski Team's expectations for
upcoming races set very high
D erek F eldhouse
Making it to State and
performing well there are
common team goals. However,
they are rarely attained.
The Ski Team, which has
aspirations of placing in the
top three at State, proved in its
opening competitions just how
attainable that goal may be.
In the most recent
competition on Feb. 5, it
was all Lions. The girls and
the boys both took first.
Individually, West Linn skiers
were the top performers on
both sides. Stephan Splitstoser,
junior, and his first place finish
led a group that dominated
their peers, with six athletes in
the top ten. Mackenzie Bums,
senior, continued a successful
season with a first place finish.
The competition prior to
this was also successful, with
the boys taking first and the
girls ending up in second.
These two successful weeks
followed a competition where
the girls and boys both won.
Alec Ramsey, senior, and Burns
finished first in their respective
competitions. This competition
was considered the Ski Team's
first league race of the season,
due to the fact that the original
first league race on Jan. 15 was
canceled due to abnormally
warm temperatures.
"The competition on Jan.
8 went very well. There were
several surprising finishes
on both the JV and Varsity
teams," Cooper Raasch, head
coach, said. This was the first
race that the Ski Team has
participated in since the season
began and not all members
competed because the boys'
Varsity team was attending
different competitions at the
time and so others were given
a chance to test their skills.
"If was more of a fun
competition than a serious
one and I found it quite
an experience for the first
competition this season,"
Carson Pike, freshman, said.
The girls placed second
overall, with Jesuit winning
the competition. According
to Raasch, this competition
was filled with many skilled
racers. Burns placed third and
Madeleine Martus, senior,
finished 14th. Ski races are
scored by adding up the top
times of a competitors best
three races. The lower thé time,
the better.
"The team did very well,
but there is always room to
improve as the season goes
on," Raasch said.
The team will be working
on its balance and strength,
which according to the head
coach, will be incredibly
beneficial during this
upcoming season.
Along with having a
plethora of new skiers, the
team also has a new coach,
Raasch. He has coached two
other teams and comments on
how "bonding with this large
and diverse group of ski racers
has been fun and exciting."
This diversity, or depth as
Raasch says, is one of the
strongest aspects of the team.
It will allow them to race no
matter what the conditions.
The team will have a
competition every Saturday for
the next six weeks and Raasch
suggests coming to watch one
to better grasp how exciting ski
racing is.