Her legs were still burning but that wasn’t on her mind at all. She heard all the screams and cheering from people at the fin-ish line. As she crossed she couldn’t help but smile as she realized all her work for the last few years have finally paid off. For junior Taylor Somers finally being able to turn all the miles of train-ing into a cross country gold med-al was the ultimate reward. The road to a gold medal wasn’t an easy one for Somers though. Even though she got 3rd place at state both her freshman and sophomore year, she wasn’t talked about much around the cross country community or even at her school. That is because she was constantly in the shadow of former Patriot star runner Ka-tie Spencer. But Somers did find positives in being in the shadow behind Spencer every day. “It was nice because now I’m a much better runner than I would’ve been if I just came in and was the fastest girl right away. I really had to push myself to try and get up next to her in workouts or races.” Races were especially hard for Taylor as she was constantly getting second or third and could never quite get to the head of the pack in her first two years. Somers described the second and third places finishes as “frus-trating” but acknowledged that it made her work even harder than she even had before.

When junior year came around though she had her eyes on the gold as the two people who had beat her at state the last two years, including Spencer, had graduated and gone to college. In Somers first race of

the year she was able to finally get that victory that had been eluding her for two years. Taylor said it felt “amazing” to finally be on top and get a victory. She said getting that first win was important for confidence as well as it “gave insight to how the rest of the season would turn out.” That first race certainly was a preview for what was to come that year as she won every single one of her races in the regular season and at districts.

When the state cross coun-try meet came up though she said she was a little bit nervous. Yes, she had won every race until that point but this was the biggest and hardest race to win. The states top runners were looking to see if they could keep pace and maybe upset the favored Somers. However, all they saw was her back as she ran away from the competition. She came and first and could fi-nally be called “State champion Taylor Somers.” “It was amazing because I felt like all my work from the last two years had paid off” Somers said. She did how-ever mention that it wasn’t all that mattered while saying “I don’t really feel much different because I have so many more goals I want to accomplish.”

When asked about those goals and what she hopes the future holds she wasn’t shy about what she wanted saying “Next year I would like to repeat as the state champ.” She also said she would like to go to a Division 1 college to run either track or cross country and would like to leave her mark as one of the states top runners. It certainly isn’t far fetched to think she may even leave as the best runner the state has ever seen. Only 10 seconds off the state record time in cross country, it is very plausible she could beat that time. It wouldn’t come easy but nothing in her career has and that is what has made her so great.

sports11 • 13 • 2015

7

Stars and stripes paint local bowling alleys

Softball team shaken, but not broken “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is who you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” John Wooden said these infamous words. This coach-ing mogul has had an insurmount-able effect on the world of sports. Not just by his ability to coach, but his ability to teach the world good moral values. Those words he spoke long ago describe the Millard South softball team down to the last letter. The Patriots softball team is not only considered a dynasty on the field, but they also give back to the com-munity and do their absolute best to help others…a value that is not applicable to many other schools. Since 2011, Millard South has been known as one of the top soft-ball programs around the country. They have won four state champi-onships out of the last five seasons and have had a record of 146-19 since 2011. They have also had 8 players since that time be selected First-Team All-State (4 of which were repeated selections). The Patriots entered this season losing nine seniors from the previous season, five of which were All-State honorees. They still returned much talent, but they knew from the start it was going to be an adjustment. “It was a lot different not having those nine seniors with us this year,” senior Paige Gerdes said. “They made a huge impact on this program and it was something really special,” she said. “Us six seniors really wanted to fill the shoes of those nine seniors, they were great role models for us and other underclassmen becoming leaders.” Millard South opened the season with a 3-2 start

(They only lost two games in the entire previous season), but then they got on a hot-streak. They had a fantastic stretch where they were arguably playing better than any other team in the state, winning 10 consecutive games, including a 5-3 win over the future state champions, the

Marian Crusaders. They also won the Mil-lard North Invite, the Millard South Swing for the Cure Tournament, and made it to the finals of the Metro Conference Tournament. During all of this success on the field, they were contributing to society and par-ticipating in charitable events off the field as well. They donated $1600 to the Nicki G Foundation, they also donated $1600 to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and donated 900 pounds of dog food to the Nebraska Humane Society! “I feel fortunate to be a part of a team that focuses not only on athletics, but also on community involvement,” senior Camille Fowler said. Fowler received First-Team All-State honors this sea-son. “It feels good to work together both on and off the field. We all felt a special connection to the charities that we contributed to this year.”

The Patriots hosted the district tournament with the 3rd best overall record in the state. They practically cruised to a district championship, hav-ing only one of their three wins come by single-digits. Millard South was seeking a 5-peat heading into the state tournament. They earned themselves the 2nd overall seed with their performance dur-ing the regular season and the district tournament. They lost their opening game to Millard West by a score of 8-4. But the Patriots refused to stop fight-ing, winning their next two games against Lincoln

Southwest and Millard North. They would eventually lose to Millard West one more time to eliminate them from the state tournament. Millard South has a softball program that should be emulated by every athletic program at any level across the United States. They do a great job of creating great softball players, many of which go on to play at the college level, but they also do a great job of building character and teaching good principles that the players will take with them for the rest of their lives. “It was definitely challenging at times, but we all brought unique talents, and extreme motivation to prac-tices and games,” junior Rylie Unzicker said. Unzicker is a Nebraska commit who has received First-Team All-State all of her three seasons at Millard South. “We all compete as one. No matter the results, I’ve never met a group of girls with so much heart, and the will to never give up. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Matt KirkleSports Editor

Taylor Somers was recognized for winning State Cross Coun-try at the Varsity football game, the same day the State Meet took place. Photo by Allyssa Hynes

Taylor Somers sprints into the spotlightWill MarbleStaff Reporter

The bowling team has en-tered its new season with high hopes of a state title. Their first tournament (North Bend) was on Oct. 31 located at Dodger Bowl. The Patriots earned 7th place out of the 12 teams that competed. There are 3 different teams for bowling. The teams are the stars, stripes and varsity. The stars and stripes are pretty much JV consisting of mostly freshmen, sophomores and juniors; The varsity team consists of seniors and juniors. Senior Travis Odom is the only athlete on the bowling team to ever play varsity his freshman year. At the tournament this weekend he placed 7th person-ally. Freshman Gunner Bossel-man is on the stripes team and he described how an average day of practice goes. They start out with 2 regular games of bowling then they switch to progressions, then the var-sity competes against JV and they switch back to regular games and progressions. The team practices at Mockingbird Lanes. According to Gunner, the first tournament for the JV team will be Saturday Nov. 7 at a bowling alley in Colum-bus. “Practices are lots of fun.” Gunner said. “We like to put a lot of pressure on each other and prepare for pressure situa-tions in the future.”

Noah DartmannStaff Reporter

Taylor Somers Photo by Allyssa Hynes

Calli Wiseman, second basemen, fields a ground ball during the Papillion-LaVista South game earlier in the Patriots’ season.Photo by Allyssa Hynes

Infield meets at the mound in between innings.Photo by Allyssa Hynes

Contest Entry for Noah Dartmann