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.
