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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2012)
VHS Spring Sports Report schools may22 2012 9 Track team breaks three district records, sends seventeen athletes to State Track and Field—The VHS Track and Field team had quite an impact at the District meet on May 11 and 12, 2012. The team set three new district records in three separate events on their way to finishing tied for second place in of the Year” and qualified seventeen athletes for the state meet on May 18-19. “Coach Teresa Williams had the toughest job of the coaches since she coaches the throwers and the jumpers, and is the hardest working person I know and a very talented teacher,” said Coach Brown. “Also volunteer coach Shelby Grittman has really helped our sprinters with conditioning, block starts and hand-offs. He’s been a big factor in the success of the program this year.” The Loggers set a new district record in the 4x100 relay with a time of 44.5 seconds. Kristian VHS track coach Byron Brown and his staff were named Wredstroem, Casale, Lane “Coach of the Year.” Nicolo Casale was named “Athlete Sullivan and Paul Jiranek of the Meet”. Photo courtesy of Jon Steward. earned the second fastest team scoring. Sprinter Nicolo Casale time in the state on their way to setting was named “Athlete of the Meet” for his the district record and winning the four gold medals. Head Coach Byron gold medal. Casale also set a district Brown and his staff were named “Coach record in the 100 meter dash with a Nate’s Notes: Election Time By Nate Izzett On Monday (that would be April 30th), I was walking down to the Logger Dome on the Vernonia High School campus for a very important assembly. This Assembly was special because on that day, all of the VHS student council candidates were to present a speech of up to five minutes in length. I was one of those hopefuls, running for the office of foreign ex- change representative. In VHS, the foreign exchange rep is the student council member that, of course, works directly with the foreign exchange students, making them feel welcome and helping them to fit in here in VHS. My confidence that I would make a great speech was buoyed by the success of my speech last year, which won me the office of Fire Marshall. Still, I was nervous (who wouldn’t be) for many reasons. First, I was going to speak directly to my peers, alone. Second, I was afraid of being defeated in the election by my opponent. Thirdly, my opponent happened to be a good friend of mine, the very same student who contested me for the office of Fire Marshall last year. Unfortunately I was not the first to go on, which didn’t help my already high nerves--I had two candi- dates’ speeches to think about my situation and what I was about to get myself into. I was the latest applicant for student council, having received and handed in my petition the Wednesday before. My campaign signs had gone up only a day after that, giving my peers only one other school day and not ample enough time to take notice of the signs with all the flags on them saying “go world!” in big, fancy fonts and foreign languages. My time of 11.2. Casale was also part of the record breaking 4x400 relay team, along with Jiranek, Nathan Fleck and Jacob Stevens. They set the record with a time of 3:35 seconds. Casale also won the 200 meter dash and will compete at the state meet in that event as well, along with teammate Stevens. Sullivan also qualified for state in the long jump. Middle distance runner Nathan Fleck brought home three medals from the meet in three events, including gold in the 800 meters. Fleck took second in the 1500 meters and won gold in the 4x400 relay. Fleck will compete in all three events at state. Lea Wilson heads to state after a first place finish in the shot put. Stephanie Castro also qualified for state in the shot put. Samantha Lindauer will compete at the state meet in the 400 meters; Dezi Roberts qualified in the high jump and the 4x100 relay team of Meghan Sullivan, Lindauer, Julie Zhunossova, and Kim Allen also qualified for state. Look for a complete report from friend and fellow applicant also had a very good sign: “17 out of 18 foreign exchange students prefer him.” A very good argument indeed. When I got up to the podium, I had to tone my nerves down and focus on the speech. I had included a spot where I asked for three random audience mem- bers (not people planted there) to call out the names of countries and then I would state some facts I knew about them. After all the speeches were done, I would receive congratulations on a great speech from my peers for several days. But it was all in vain. My opponent won, al- though by the narrowest of margins. I heard this from another friend of mine during seventh period as I was dressing down for PE. All during that period I felt anger and sadness flowing through me. Had it not been for that, I probably wouldn’t have felt up to the task of doing bench presses, powercleans, or even the dumbbell lunges I could do so efficiently. I called my- self a failure about twenty times and sulked to myself. At first, I felt unap- preciated. But after a talk with a teacher, Mr. Blair, and one with my dad, I felt a little better about it. I began to think ahead to next year’s campaign – if I even get that chance next year. Dad had told me that the state meet in our June 12 issue. The Loggers performed extremely well, with Casale, Fleck and Wilson winning individual state titles. The boys 4x400 relay (Wredstroem, Fleck, Stevens, and Casale) also took first place. Softball—The Vernonia Lady Loggers ended the regular season with a 9-6 record, finishing in third place in their league. After defeating Nestucca in their final two regular season games on May 14 by scores of 11-9 and 15-1, the Lady Loggers secured a place in the playoffs and a rematch with Nestucca on May 17. The Loggers lost their first round playoff game 10-0 against Nestucca. Baseball—The Loggers ended their boy’s baseball season in fifth place with a 6-12 league record. The Loggers dropped two key games to Nestucca 9-7 on May 8th and 7-6 on May 14 before ending their season with an 11-4 win in the second game of the double header with Nestucca. “there’s always next year.” I started thinking about how I will try to rise from the ashes of defeat next year (if I am able to), and by now, the memory of my defeat has been overshadowed by a million other things, the latest being the VHS Band taking 1st place in state. So how does it feel to be defeated, especially for a major office like foreign exchange rep? Well, it feels sad, naturally. It angers me a little bit. It all serves as a reminder that we all get a slap in the face and a kick in the butt sometimes, but we can always learn from those defeats and try, try again. And besides, just because my counterpart can officially make next year’s foreign exchange students feel welcome, it does not mean that I can’t also do my part in making the exchange students feel at home in our school.
