08
july
vernonia’s
voice schools
2008
VHS Cheerleading Revived
By Scott Laird
It’s been about five years since Vernonia
High School had a Cheerleading Squad, but
a new coach, some enthusiastic team mem-
bers and a new attitude are helping revive the
Vernonia Cheerleaders this summer. It surely
comes at the right time.
“We want to show our teams that people
are rooting for them,” said Sophia Ostrander, a
sophomore member of the new squad.
“We need more spirit right now - in our
schools and in our community” said Kristina
Halverson, another member of the squad.
New coach Cassandra Ashby has her
new team excited about being cheerleaders in
Vernonia. “It’s all I think about right now,”
said Ostrander. “I stayed up all night with my
friends, talking about cheerleading,” added New Vernonia cheerleaders Liz
Halverson. The team will be practicing once a Poulin, Laura Keiser, Kaytee
week all summer to get ready for the fall sea- Burghard, Sarah Miller, Nicki
son.”
Thompson, Kim Allen, and Kelsey
Coach Ashby is trying to instill a sense of Brown practice their stunt routines.
pride and respect in the fourteen team mem-
bers. “I want to give young girls in this community something to look up to,” said
Ashby, who recently moved to Vernonia with her young family. “I am having all
team members sign a contract that clearly spells out how they will conduct them-
selves whenever they are wearing their uniforms or the school name. I want them to
know they are part of team and a representative of Vernonia everywhere they go.”
Ashby was a Varsity Cheerleader and All Star in Banks, and she recently served
as an assistant coach and then the head coach for the Banks High School Squad. She
has lots of plans for developing a quality program and a strong team for Vernonia.
“I want people to realize that cheerleading is truly a sport,” said Ashby. “We are
planning to have all our team members attend gymnastics camp once a week for four
months which should really improve our program by giving the girls better skills. We
are training to develop three stunt teams so the girls can do much more athletic moves
than just lead cheers. We are planning to hold a camp for younger girls in the commu-
nity and start developing skills and interest at a young age, just like they do with Little
Guy Football and Little League Baseball. And I want to get the team members to
coach and work with the younger girls to help build commitment in the community.”
The team will also make their presence felt inside and outside the school by
decorating sports team members’ lockers on game days, marching in parades, and
sending out get well cards to local community members who are ill.
The team held tryouts this spring, and all fourteen girls who stayed through the
tryouts made the team. “I told everyone that I needed to see that they were practic-
ing what I was teaching and really trying to improve,” said Ashby
Because of funding shortages in the school athletic programs, cheerleading will
be a “pay to play” sport which means squad members have to buy their own equip-
ment. That totaled up to almost $800 for each team member. That cost included sum-
mer camp gear such as matching tee shirts, warm up uniforms, shoes, undershell, outer
uniform, spandex, poms, team bag, and gymnastics camp enrollment. The team will
be out in the community looking for sponsors and contributions. They are offering
opportunities to sponsor the team from $50 to $350 levels. The team needs to raise
money quickly as it will take six weeks to get their uniforms once they are ordered.
The girls recently held a successful car wash and a can drive to raise funds.
They have scheduled a Pedicure fund raiser on July 13th at the Vernonia Scout
Cabin from 10:00AM to 7:00 PM. Cost is $15. You can schedule a pedicure with
any of the Cheerleaders on the squad.
“We want to show the school and community we are here to stay,” said Ashby.
“We have received so much support from Principal Underwood, Athletic Director
Jarman and other faculty members and other community members.”
“We know what we need to do,” said Ostrander. “We know if enough girls re-
ally put their heart into this, we can make this a success.”
Banks Christian Academy
5th Annual
Rummage Sale
July 4, 5 & 11,12
8am - 4pm
$5 Bag Sale
Last Weekend
22785 NW Fisher Road
Buxton, OR 97109
503-324-4500
Annabelle
Antiques, Silver,
Jewelry, Furniture,
Collectibles, Art
Featuring...
Handmade Truffles!
The finest chocolate
from Brazil.
866 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR • 503-429-0444
VHS Spring Sports Report
With the ending of the spring sports season, the athletic programs for the 2007-08
year have come to a close. There were varying degrees of success for each of the five
programs that finished in the latter part of May.
In Equestrian, four all-league athletes represented the Vernonia team at State:
Brianna Carr, Mackenzie Tarkalson, Jamie Benes, and Bryan Benes. These four
athletes competed on the drill team at Redmond in the state competition. The eques-
trian season started in December and actually went through two seasons-- winter and
spring--winding up their competition in May. At the awards dessert held Wednesday
May 28th, several student athletes were honored. The most improved awards went
to Chantel Szlavich and Alee Chadek. The most valuable went to freshman Brianna
Carr. Jaime Benes received the most inspirational award while Marissa Clement and
Bryan Benes received four-year plaques. These student athletes not only work hard
to keep themselves in shape but also must look after their horses, making the sport of
equestrian doubly hard on them ensuring that they and their animals are well cared.
Their new coach, Diane Benes, has been very busy this year arranging transportation
and arenas for practice. In spite of this she cannot say enough good things about this
year’s group of student athletes and believes they were a joy to coach.
In golf, coach Rod Devine honored three athletes with Jacob Alf and Calvin
Barnes being named Most Improved and freshman Paul Whiteman being named
Most Valuable. Thirteen athletes finished the season for the Vernonia Loggers golf
team; this is about the same number we have carried in the past. Coach Devine was
happy with the prospects for the upcoming years because eleven out of the thirteen
athletes are underclassmen.
Softball had a new coaching staff this year but continued their winning ways.
They finished fourth in the league and made the league play-offs. Unfortunately,
they bowed out of the league tournament early with a first round loss to Warrenton.
This team was a young team and the future looks very bright. The team was load-
ed with sophomores, and their talent showed through by having three sophomores
and one junior named to the all-league team. Selected to the first team all league
were Karly DeWitt and Bonnie Birkmaier while the second team all-league honors
went to Souvanny Miller and Brittney Paden. Outstanding seniors that played for
the Lady Loggers were Tarra Johnston, Jennifer Castro and Lindsey Shaw. At the
awards dessert, sophomore Souvanny Miller was named the team’s Most Valuable
Player and senior Jenifer Castro was named the most inspirational. Breonna Mal-
dinado was selected as the team’s most improved player for this year. Adrian East
was the starting pitcher most of the season for the team and turned in some bright
moments on the mound. Coach Dahlstrom was very impressed with the girls’ level
of play given the fact they were loaded with so many underclassmen. If these girls
continue to play and practice hard, there is no telling what they can accomplish in
the next few years. They will be a team to watch in the future. They finished with
nineteen girls on the roster and sixteen of them will be back for next year’s team.
The Logger Track and field team was impressive this year with the most number
of athletes involved in all of spring sports and sending the most number of athletes to
State since this year’s wrestling team. The track team finished the season with thirty-
four athletes. Leading the Loggers this year for most of the season was the short relay
team consisting of: Blake Moeller, Justin Caputo, Mat Krause and Shelby Grittman.
The relay team qualified for State but with one change in the line-up. At the district
meet Justin Caputo pulled a hamstring in his heat of the 100 meters and had to be
replaced on the team. Tommy Carr stepped up and did the job which helped qualify
the relay team to state. In the end, junior speedster Blake Moeller, the team’s anchor
man, had to pass several opponents to get the team in position to go to state. Blake also
qualified for state in the 200 meters and just missed going in the 100 meters.
The team consists of both boys and girls, and junior Samantha Lee represented
the girls at State. Samantha qualified in the high jump event placing second in the
district meet. The all-league athletes consisting of Blake Moeller, who placed 7th in
state in the 200 meters, Shelby Grittman, Matt Krause, Tommy Carr, and Samantha
Lee did an excellent job of representing Vernonia in the biggest meet of the year.
Blake was an all-state athlete as well as all-league by placing in the 200 meters.
There was a very close finish to this race with only four tenths of a second separating
the third place finisher from the 7th place position.
At the awards dessert the team awards went to: Freshmen Nora Hieronimus and
Shelby Grittman for Best First Year. The Most Inspirational awards went to Benni
Scheytt and Megan Hieronimus. Most improved award went to Justin Caputo, and
the Most Valuable and Most Dedicated awards went to Blake Moeller and Michael
Calhoun. Michael finished his senior year as co-captain and an excellent leader on
the team. Michael has worked hard on the track team for four years and was also
awarded his four-year plaque for finishing four years as a letterman on the team.
Coach Brown was very happy with this year’s team and is looking forward to the
upcoming years as most of these athletes were underclassmen and will be back next year.
The baseball started with twenty-two athletes and because of various reasons
ended with fifteen. Despite the low numbers, the Loggers still ended in fourth place
in league and qualified for the league play-offs. The team placed four athletes on the
all-league selections: Alex Lende as an honorable mention player and senior Cody
Davis as a second team all-league player. Jeramey Lende and Byron Schorzman
were named to the all-league first team and Jeramey was also named to the all-state
team. Taylor Smith was named the team’s most improved player and the coach’s
award went to Tim Brown for his unselfish play and teamwork. Because of his ver-
satility and hard work, Byron Schorzman was named the most valuable player on
the team. Four-year plaques went to Cody Davis and Jeramey Lende for finishing
their senior season with four varsity letters in baseball. There were seven seniors on
this year’s team and each of them were starters at some time during the year. They
were: Kevin Cook, Matt Baldwin, Caleb Stevens, Jake Thompson, Cody Davis, Ty
Traylor, and Jeramey Lende. Those seniors will be missed and leave several open-
ings to filled by underclassmen.