viking volume 1 issue 4
DESCRIPTION
An exploration of other SCVAL athletic facilities - where do we stand?TRANSCRIPT
Volume 1 Issue #4 March 2008
IAS is proud to support The Viking!
Volume 1 Issue #4 March 2008
Staff ListEditors-in-Chief
Charlie AvisNina GertsvolfPeter JohnsonAustin SmithNoah SneiderSteven Tran
Photo ManagerAlek Milovidov
Photo StaffAllen Au
Michela Fossati-Ballani
Design EditorNoah Sneider
Business ManagerSteven Tran
AdviserEllen Austin
StaffChristine Chang
John ChristophersonOliver DaviesLiza DernehlOana EnacheAdam Furlong
Amanda HohbachIan Kelly
Varun KohliLucy McComasCassie Prioleau
Ahna RaoElizabeth ScottGreg Stewart
Matthew TracyAdam Zernik
Logo DesignNate James (Cleveland, OH)
VikingPalo Alto High School50 Embarcadero Road
Palo Alto, CA 94301650-329-3837
Email contact: [email protected]
Letters to the editorThe Viking, a sports magazine published by the students in Palo Alto High
School’s Advanced Magazine Journalism class, is an open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to its readership. The
Viking is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost. The staff welcomes letters to the editor but reserves the right to edit all submissions
for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity.
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are not deemed by the staff inappropriate for the magazine’s audience. For more information about advertising with The Viking, please contact the The
Viking by e-mail at [email protected] or call 650-329-3837 for more information.
Printing servicesThe Viking is printed seven times a year by Fricke-Parks Press in Fremont,
Calif. IAS is proud to support The Viking!
24 Softball25 Baseball26 Golf27 Badminton28 Girls’ Swimming29 Boys’ Swimming30 Girls’ Track & Field31 Boys’ Track & Field32 Girls’ Lacrosse33 Boys’ Tennis
4 | The Viking
LineupMay 2008Volume I, Issue 5
F E A T U R E S SPRING SPORTS UPDATES2 0 0 8
LIv JENSEN & COLLEEN FOTSCh17 Beijing BoundTalented Paly swimmers contribute to an undefeated season while working to have a chance to compete at the Olym-pic Games.By Liza Dernehl
MIA LATTANZI38 Relaxed and RunningAfter recovering from a painful surgery, Paly senior Mia Lattanzi has come back with dominating performances in her last season as a Viking.By Elizabeth Scott
Where Do We Stand?A full scale analysis of the sports facili-ties at all the schools in the Santa Clara
Valley Athletic League. By Peter Johnson and Greg Stewart
20Pre-Olympic controversy cannot break Colleen Fotsch’s focus as she aims for Beijing.
42
Lineup Departments
6 Letters
7 Staff View
10 KickoffSay WhatBy the NumbersPop CultureDance AlternativesWho’s Hot and Who’s Not10 Q’s with D.J. FotschInside the mind of Rajan Narang
12 Snapshots
49 Paly’s New Turf
54 Olympics
59 NFL DraftThe Best and Worst Picks
60 Calendar
62 The Last Word
Departments
LineupThe arrival of the Olympic Torch
sparked pro-Tibet protestors in downtown San Francisco. 54
The Viking | 5
KELLY JENKS34 Dominating the DiamondRising softball star Kelly Jenks is currently the top pitcher in SCVAL and has led the Vikings through a superb season.By Ahna Rao
20 Superfan: Defender of Paly Sports
An inside look at the backstory of Paly sports legend, Superfan Dan.
By Christine Chang
Missed an issue of The Viking? Want to re-read
your favorite articles? Check out The Viking
archives online at http://voice.paly.net/viking
Corrections: In the Track and Field Article on page 31 in the March 2008 issue, the quotes attributed to Rajan Narang and Mohammed Abid were incorrect. The Viking apologizes for this mistake.
Kickoff
6 | The Viking
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The Viking | 7
Staff ViewOlympic-Sized Controversy:
Are politics undermining athletes’ moments to shine?
entral Coast Section champion, Junior National champion, Olympic Trial qualifier. These are only some of the accomplish-ments of Palo Alto High School’s own senior swimmers Colleen Fotsch and Liv Jensen, both hopefuls for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. However, the glorious and magnificent feeling that usually surrounds an event with this magnitude now has a differ-ent feel.
The spotlight on Beijing 2008 has shifted from athletics to politics, amidst controversy regarding China’s alleged human rights abuses in Tibet. China’s human rights treatment may be the headline news, which may not be preventable. However, it is imperative that, in spite of the political circumstances of these Olympic games, the stories and achievements of athletes such as Fotsch and Jensen are not forgotten.
This summer’s Olympics in Beijing has been announced as China’s “coming-out party,” - the perfect stage for the world’s premier industrial power to reveal itself to the international com-munity and finally shed off the stigma of its communist roots. Recently, China has been under scrutiny regarding its centralized government and control of resisting nations such as Taiwan and Tibet.
On March 14, a protest-turned-riot in Tibet led to a Chinese military lockdown of the country, and rumors continue to circu-late about the unlawful arrest and torture of Tibetan civilians. In turn, the world has turned a skeptical eye toward China’s Olympic dreams as the torch leading to Beijing has been met with human rights protesters at each stop of its journey.
The Olympics are intended to be a sporting event that uni-fies the world through the spirit of competition and celebrates the triumphs of its greatest athletes, regardless of their nationality. Throughout the course of the modern Olympics, however, the games have been tied inescapably to the politics of the world.
When politics and sports intertwine, the controversy that aris-es can often put sports on the back-burner. Look no further than the 1936 Berlin Olympics, when the games were overshadowed by the rise of Hitler and the racial overtones of the Olympics. The 1972 Munich Olympics, intended to display a more modern Ger-many to the world and move forward from the wounds of World War II, were instead dominated by the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. The 1980 Moscow Olympics were boycotted by the United States and 64 other coun-tries in protest of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. For the athletes who dream of the Olympic stage, this tragically under-mines their hard work and devotion competing in their sport, not in the political arena.
Politics will inevitably play a role in the Olympics because there will always be political dilemmas that have the potential to overshadow sports. Yet, in circumstances such as those the United States are now facing, the efforts and accomplishments of young Olympic-hopefuls should not be ignored.
Many see sports as a retreat from the complex nature of life, a pure, unmitigated ideal free from outside influence, something sacred that is measured by what is done on the field, not in the ever-complicated world of politics. Others argue that certain is-sues cannot be ignored, and that the Olympics are essential to exposing the world’s problems on global stage.
However, lost in the middle of this debate are the athletes who have spent their entire lives training for that single medal, the single goal, that one moment. The time, emotion and effort invested by these athletes in just trying to get to Beijing should not be ignored by the the public, even in light of political circum-stances.
As it grows closer and closer to the opening ceremonies, the stories of countries considering a boycott are sure to heat up. Yet, at the same time, it is important that the accomplishments of Olympic dreamers such as Fotsch and Jensen remain in the public eye and are not lost amidst the black cloud growing over Beijing. <<<
CPhoto by John Christopherson
Kickoff
10 | The Viking
“I got a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct . . .well I just kind of yelled at a guy, told him to shut up.” —Stanley Chun (Golf, Sr.)
Interview with Ahna Rao
Intriguing signs were found all over the place during the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco.
Photo by John Christopherson
“Jason Fung is 50 Cent, if 50 were Asian.” —Rajan Narang (Track, Sr.)
Inside the Mind pg. 15
By theNumbers1 Wins by the badminton team through 5/1
21 Bases Tyger Pederson has stolen this season.
63 M.P.H. speed of Kelly Jenks’ fastball
5:00.71 Amount of time it took Mia Lattanzi to run one mile in the CCS top eight meet.
Kaitlyn Tracy (Swimming, So.)
Maya Fielder (Lacrosse, So.)
Eliot Snow (Golf, Jr.)
Pop Culture GridPaly athlete and sport Last Movie
FavoriteSubstitute
Place to Shop Grinds YourGears
MLB Team
Dumb & Dumber Dr. Han Mom shops for me
Tube socks S.F. Giants
Geng Wang (Swimming, Sr.)
Will Goodspeed (Baseball, Sr.)
Gladiator Mr. Underwood Whiskey Militia Emily Brody S.F. Giants
Milwaukee Brewers
The Godfather Dr. Han Anywhere there are hella bargains
The bell schedule
Apocalypto Mr. Nordemyer I don’t shop Doyle Knight’s
drivingI don’t know
Across the Universe Dr. Han Stanford Mall My brothers Boston
Red Sox
What?ExplainYourself
Junior Jeremy Kimposes during a swim meet
at Los Altos on May 1st.
“Looking good as always”
Have funny photos of you or your friends playing sports? Send them to [email protected] and the best will be
published in the next issue.
SaySaySay
Kickoff
Nothot WHO’SWHO’S
Barry ZitoAfter signing a $126 million dollar contract with the Giants, Zito has failed this year, with an 0-6 record and 7.53 ERA as of May 2. He has now been moved to the bullpen.
Alok SubbaroIn his final race as a senior, Alok ran in four events, including the 1-mile, 2-mile, 800 meters, and last leg of the 4 X 400 varsity relay, with per-sonal bests in all but the 2-mile.
Olympic Torch DecoyIn order to “keep the runners safe,” the coordinaters of the Olympic Torch run through San Francisco changed the route multiple times.
Paly FieldsWith a disgraceful 11th place finish in The Vikings field ranking’s (page 42), Paly fields are in terrible shape compared to the other schools that we play. The new turf can’t arrive soon enough.
Kelly JenksStruck out fourteen in a complete game performance. In her 2nd year as a varsity starter, Jenks is a key component to the Vikes’ success.
photo by Charlie Avis
Paly PublicationsPaly journalism won an aston-ishing 17 awards at the national convention, including a “Best of Show” for the The Viking. Paly also garnered a host of honors from the Peninsula Press Club.
varsity Girls SoftballWith an impressive first place finish in their league, girls soft-ball have gone undefeated in the 2008 Season. The team is led by star player Kelly Jenks, who leads the team in RBI’s and stolen bases, as well as wins.
photo by Charlie Avis
Hops Senior high-jumper Mike Scott jumps high over the bar in a meet this year. His results this year have greatly contributed to the teams undefeated record.
Bob BowlsbyAfter the Stanford Athletic Director drove Pac-10 Coach of the Year Trent Johnson away to LSU, Bowlsby took over 3 weeks to hire a new coach and reportedly was turned down by over 10 coaches in the process. Top recruit Miles Plumlee is also bolting for Duke.
1. “You get to go to conven-tions with 3000 other women.”
2. “You get to not do dances or cheers but laugh at the girls that don’t know them.”
3. “Its easy to meet girlfriends (the romantic kind).”
4. “You get to go on long ro-mantic bus rides with an entire team of women.”
5. “You need to know you will be responsible for their lives and they will thank you ... a lot.”
6. “You are the strongest one no matter what.”
7. “You get to wear football jerseys in competitions, I wore my dad’s.”
7 Things You Need To Know About Being a...
MALE CHEERLEADERAccording to former cheerleader
D.J. Shelton
The Viking | 11
ZOOMSenior swimmer Colleen Fotsch leaps above the competition at the start of an 100 m backstroke heat at the Los Altos meet on May 1st. Fotsch went on to win the race with a time of 1:01...
Photo by Liza Dernehl
14 | THE VIKING
Kickoff
Locations:3740 El Camino RealPalo Alto, CA 94306(650) 843-0643
1850 El Camino RealMenlo Park, CA 94027(650) 321-8227
Open seven days a week
www.celiasrestaurants.com
Sung C. KimFriend/Mentor
Colleen FotschOlder Sister
Kate FotschMother
Favorite video Game
Favorite Swim Stroke
Dream Date
Pairs of Shoes
Nascar Driver
Pet Peeve
Favorite Sibling
Favorite Movie
Favorite Food
Who’s Your Daddy?
COD 4 (Call of Duty 4)
Butterfly
Serena from Gossip Girl
10
“I don’t watch Nascar!”
unclean rooms
Colleen
Rudy
lettuce
Sung C. Kim
COD 4
B-Fly
“Kaitlyn Tracy, oh golly!”
9
Ricky Bobby
morning practice
Colleen
Rudy
lettuce
“I AM!”
COD 4
Fly
Serena
12
Jeff Gordon
Connor (younger brother)
Me
Transformers
In-N-Out
Sung C. Kim
COD 4
Fly
Megan Fox
10
Jeff Gordon
brother
Colleen
Transformers
In-N-Out
Sung...?
Category
60% 50% 50%
We went to the ever-compelling D. J. Fotsch, a freshman Varsity swimmer, to ask him ten questions about himself. Then we asked the same ten questions to his teammate, senior Sung Kim, his sister, senior Colleen Fotsch, and his mother, Kate Fotsch to see who knows D. J. best. Here is how it went down:
D. J. FotschWe went to the ever-compelling D. J. Fotsch, a freshman Varsity swimmer, to ask him ten questions about himself. Then we asked the same ten questions to his teammate, senior Sung Kim, his sister, senior Colleen Fotsch, and his mother, Kate Fotsch to see who knows D. J. best. Here is how it went down:
D. J. Fotsch1010 with
D.J. FotschFreshman J.V. Swimmer
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Questions
QuestionsKickoff
““Inside the Mind
of Rajan Narang
ON HIS LOVE FOR POLITICS I’ve been interested in politics for as long as I can remember. Every little kid dreams of changing the world somehow. When I was six, I thought politics were the best way to do that. I still do. Terribly idealistic, I know.
ON RUNNING I love running because you push your-self to the limit, work yourself, build the whole thing back up overnight and then go again, stronger than before. Senior year’s been rough, I spent most of cross-country season recovering from a stress fracture and track season was full of sickness and little injuries be-fore I got a stress fracture that ended it early. That said, one of the best moments of my life came at CCS for cross-coun-try back in November.
ON USING RUNNING AS AN EXCUSE TO COMPENSATE FOR HIS INFERIORITY IN REGULAR SPORTSI think I’m a fairly athletic guy, but let’s be honest here - I’m too short for basketball and too small for football in anything but a pickup game. Any natural talent I have is in running, so I can’t be mad about that. If an angel granted me the ability to dunk tomorrow, though... we’d have to see. Maybe I could get him to give me Philip MacQuitty’s speed, too. That’d be a really tough call.
ON HIS MULTI-CULTURAL HERITAGEAs a half-Indian and half-Mexican, I gotta credit the white man for never being on some seri-ous oppressing that I can remember, unless you count Mr. Toma’s class junior year and the college
Track & Field
Senior Rajan Narang is a cross-country and track and field captain. The three-year cross country letterman is a leader on both teams, and finished third at the CCS cross-country meets his sophomore and junior years. Narang also is heavily involved with politics and will attend UC Berkeley in the fall.
admissions process. To be fair, [the white man] oppressed almost everybody equally on those. So I’d have to say that he’s been pretty good to me, all things considered. Don’t stop, homeboy.
ON HIS FUNNIEST TEAMMATEIt’s difficult to pick a funniest teammate with such a bunch of clowns around, but I think the competition would probably be between Alok Subbarao’s arguments and Skyler Cummins’ imita-tions. Julius Berezin might get the upset, though - he has this sly, Eastern European sense of humor. I guess that’s how you deal with
a Communist occupation of your country. Latvia’s free now, but old habits die hard.
ON ALLEGATIONS THAT ALL PLAY RUNNERS ARE SKINNY, NERDY SIX-PACK TOUTERS
Two for three. We’re a pretty lightweight group and there are a lot of people with beastly abs. However, I can deny categorically that we’re all nerds - just look at Sam Jones and Brian Karvelas. That said, we prob-
ably do have one of the higher team average IQ’s around. That’s no knock on any other Paly
teams - there’s just a correlation right now.
ON RUMORS OF BEING A BONAFIDE LADIES’ MANLike any good politician, I have no comment about any allegations, even if they are flattering.
ON COACH BILLING AND COACH FUNG
Jeff Billing is like a modern-day prophet, except I’m pretty sure no other prophet’s followers get blisters and aches so frequently. We all love him anyways. Wherever he coaches, you’re going to see a successful team
and one that has a passion for the sport. Jason Fung is 50 Cent, if 50 were Asian. They have the same smile, same heavy brows, same body build – everything.
BY IAN KELLY Photography by Alek Milovidov
I love running because you push your-self to the limit, work yourself, build the whole thing back up overnight and then go again, stronger than before. Senior year’s been rough, I spent most of cross-country season recovering from a stress fracture and track season was full of sickness and little injuries be-fore I got a stress fracture that ended it early. That said, one of the best moments of my life came at CCS for cross-coun-
let’s be honest here - I’m too short for basketball and too small for football in anything but a pickup game. Any
angel granted me the ability to dunk tomorrow, though... we’d have to see. Maybe I could get him to give me Philip MacQuitty’s speed, too. That’d be a
ON HIS MULTI-CULTURAL HERITAGEAs a half-Indian and half-Mexican, I gotta
between Alok Subbarao’s arguments and Skyler Cummins’ imitations. Julius Berezin might get the upset, though - he has this sly, Eastern European sense of humor. I guess that’s how you deal with
a Communist occupation of your country. Latvia’s free now, but old habits die hard.
ON ALLEGATIONS THAT ALL PLAY RUNNERS ARE SKINNY, NERDY SIX-PACK TOUTERS
Two for three. We’re a pretty lightweight group and there are a lot of people with beastly abs. However, I can deny categorically that we’re all nerds - just look at Sam Jones and Brian Karvelas. That said, we prob
ably do have one of the higher team average IQ’s around. That’s no knock on any other Paly
teams - there’s just a correlation right now.
ON RUMORS OF BEING A BONAFIDE
Jeff Billing is like a modern-day
other prophet’s followers get blisters
The Viking | 15
The Viking | 17
BY LIZ A DERNEhL Photography by Liza Dernehl
Beijing BoundTwo Paly senior swimmers will gradu-ate with a diploma and possibly an Olympic berth.
To nearly every young athlete, competing in the Olympics has always been a dream. To compete against the best of the best from all around the world is the greatest honor, the ultimate athletic achievement. However for two of Palo Alto’s own, the dream could, become a reality. As a new student at Palo Alto High School, Colleen Fotsch was unsure as to what her Paly experience would hold. She transferred from Winston Churchill High School mid-junior year.
Profiles
18 | The Viking
Leaping Liv: Jensen takes off in the last leg of the 200-yard free-style relay. Jensen’s relay finished in a strong first.
On the first day of last year’s swim practice, the varsity girls’ swim team sat in a circle introducing themselves and their goals for the season.
All of the faces were familiar, except Colleen’s. When it came to Colleen, everyone listened attentively as she coolly said that her season goal was to break one minute in the one-hundred fly.
Everyone stared at her blankly, in disbelief. Little did the team know that, less than a year later, not only would she have handily accomplished this goal but would also be vying for a spot in the 2008 Olympics.
Fotsch’s teammate, Liv Jensen, has always had a head up on her competitors, literally, being over six feet tall since middle school.
As a ten-and-under swimmer, Liv began swimming All-American times, putting her in prime position to establish herself as a serious swimmer.
Currently, Jensen holds three USA Swimming records in the 50 yard freestyle, 50 meter freestyle, and 100-meter freestyle. Her 50-yard freestyle time of 22.31 seconds broke a pacific swimming record which had been set earlier this month. Jensen’s 50-meter freestyle beat out a record held since 1986 by USC graduate Lisa Dorman.
Jensen was also the Junior National Individual champion in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, breaking meet records as well. Jensen qualified for the US Open in both of these events.
Surprisingly, , Jensen had scarcely thought about competing in the Olympics before her freshman year.
“During the summer of freshmen year at sectionals, I went close to the [Olympic] trials time,” Jensen said. “Before that I hadn’t even thought about it.”
Since Jensen hasn’t changed much about her daily workouts. “Mostly, my attitude has changed, now that I’ve got something [that] I’m shooting for.”
Next year, Jensen will attend the
“It’s one of the fastest meets on the planet. I just want to go race against the fastest athletes.” Jensen said.
University of California at Berkeley, under swimming coach Terry Mkeever. Mkeever is confident in Liv’s abilities and has had her eye on Jensen for a long time.
“I looked at a lot of schools but Cal fits the best,” Jensen said. “They aren’t overprotective of their athletes…I didn’t want to be babied.” Jensen says.
Assistant coach Kristin Lewis was very
involved in the recruiting process. “We were attracted to Liv initially by her beautiful strokes, proven success, and athletic physique. Once we began the recruiting process we were more and more intrigued by Liv because of her strong love for swimming and her level headed approach to athletics,” Lewis said. At the collegiate level, Jensen aspires to compete in the NCAA meet and be a part of the top eight. She says that Cal was a good choice for her, as she respects Mckeever’s coaching style. Jensen also recently qualified for Olympic trials in Omaha this coming June. “We see her as someone who can not only score points individually, but also help us continue our tradition of excellent relays,” Lewis says. “It’s one of the fastest meets on the planet, I just want to go race against the fastest athletes” Jensen said. “It should be amazing.” Out of 85 Olympic hopefuls, Jensen is ranked 16th. While Fotsch’s accomplishments are not all records, she is quickly following in her teammate’s
The Viking | 19
Profiles
Flying High: Senior Colleen Fostch glides through the 50-yard butterfly, leading her 200-yard medley relay team to a smooth win over the Los Altos Eagles on May 1. The team went on to finish far ahead of the Eagles, putting them at ease for league finals.
footsteps. Fotsch also qualified for the US Open in the 50 yard butterfly and most recently, the Olympic Trial meet in June. Fotsch is ranked 58th of 131 swimmers in the 100 meter fly. “The chances of me making the Olympic team are extremely low, but I’m really happy I made it [this far].” Fotsch says. She is seeded ahead of many collegiate swimmers, including athletes from University of North Carolina, Indiana University, and Rudgers. However, she needn’t worry about her college plans as she has already committed to Notre Dame University. Fostch was deciding between USC and Notre Dame until earlier last month. Assistant coach Joel White is thrilled to have Colleen joining the Fighting Irish. “Colleen has a real ‘go-getter’ attitude….and who doesn’t want someone like that on their team?” White said. He feels that Fostch will win the most points in relays. “She’s really coming into her own, and is going to help us out a lot in the relays. Colleen is a great sprinter, she’s got a great 100 back, and she’s going to be able to sprint the 50 freestyle as well.” White and his colleagues had been looking into recruiting Fostch for a long time. “We evaluate swimmers not only on their times, but on their stroke,” White said. Even before Beijing came into the picture, Notre Dame recognized Colleen’s smooth stroke and noted it was certainly something they could work with. “I’m really excited, I can’t wait,”
Fotsch said. “It was a really tough decision but I’m really happy. The most exciting thing for me is to be part of the team and to go on to the team knowing that all the girls have really high expectations of me…and of course I’m excited for the whole college experience.”
In addition to Fotch, there are ten other Fighting Irish Olympic-hopefuls.
“It’s been a little while, about eight years since someone’s made it [to the Olympics].” White said. “We might qualify two or three.”
Even if Fostch isn’t one of them, White is confident that this is only the beginning of her swimming career.
“She definitely has youth on her side,” White said. <<<
Favorite Racing Suit
Pre-race snack
Good Luck Charm
The Izr Racer
Avery Aquatic Center
“Imma Shine” Youngbloodz
Balance Bar/ Promax Bar
Pocahontas towel
My unpainted big toenail
FS Pro
“Purple Haze” Jimi Hendrix
Melbourne (Aus) Sports & Aquatic
Centre
Sweet, Savory, & Tart Trial Mix
Swimmers’ Secrets...
#1 Racing Venue
Best Pump-Up Song
Colleen Liv
By Christine Chang Illustration by Noah Sneider
The Viking | 21
man crosses the track and be-gins to walk around the grass field to find a seat for the up-coming track meet. The man
is alone and neither his appear-ance nor attire suggests who he is or where he comes from.
Although he seems like a stranger, a few runners wave hello and he returns the greeting. Strange as it seems, this is perfectly routine for Daniel Starrett, bet-ter known as Super Fan Dan to the Paly sports community.
High school fans come and go each
generation of student athletes bringing in a new wave of supporters. Crowds are usually made up of parents, siblings, students, staff and the occasional alumni. However, Dan has been cheering on the Vikings for over fifteen years. This year alone, he has attended dozens of games for nearly every Paly sports team. Dan is a Paly sports icon and is recognized by students, both of the past and present. Whether it is a football game in the fall, a soccer match in the winter, or a swim meet during the spring, Dan is always there.
In October 1993, Dan attended his first Paly sporting event, cheering on the boys’ varsity water polo team in a match at DeAnza College. That same year, the team continued to CCS playoffs.
“CCS was a happy time for me,” Dan said. “I don’t know what made it so great. My love for high school sports came to
the surface. They’re [students] at an inter-esting point in their lives. A lot of them are nice people.”
Generally, Dan attends the games alone, although he has gone with his mother sev-eral times.
“I invite them [my family along], but they’re too busy or lazy sometimes,” said Dan.
However, Dan is not the only sports fan among his family members. Although his family follows the greater world of sports and athletics, his own love of sports extends only to high school because Dan believes that professionals are too often driven by
big money. “I think they’re overpaid and I don’t like
how they trade players,” Dan said. “With high school sports, the teams play for a school. There is loyalty. For instance, if a city has a sports team, but another city of-fers the team a better deal, the team moves. I don’t like that.”
Oddly enough, Dan’s love for Paly ath-letics does not stem from a childhood filled with sports. Born in Palo Alto, Dan attend-ed local schools and graduated from Paly in 1985. He never participated in high school sports, only occasionally attending sporting events as a student. Former classmate Jeff Buhler remembers Dan from their school days.
“Dan was always pretty quiet at school,” said Buhler. “I would never have guessed that [he] would become Paly’s biggest sports fan.”
However, Dan explains that attending
Paly is part of the reason for his super “fan-dom” today.
“I wouldn’t be a fan if it wasn’t my alma mater,” Dan said. “I went to some Gunn games, but then gradually went to more and more Paly games. Only once in a while I might go to a Gunn game.”
Coaches, players and fellow fans appre-ciate the past fifteen years of Dan’s constant and loyal support. Senior water polo player Ben Afshar has known Dan throughout his high school career and has spoken to him on various occasions.
“He’s a huge Paly sports figure,” said Af-shar. “You can always count on seeing him.
He goes to everything. It’s pretty sweet to see him out there.”
Not only is Dan a fan because he is a Paly graduate, but Paly sports have also provided a haven for him from past struggles. While Dan was in college, a family crisis struck.
“There were certain things, terrible trials that I went though,” Dan said. “And there are three kinds of ways you can respond to it: 1) you can feel sorry for yourself and slowly die; 2) you can get knocked down and go off your rocker and do crazy things; or 3) you can rise up and get away and do something for yourself and find a sanctuary. I chose the third path.”
Attending Paly sporting events has taken Dan’s mind off of his family situation. His decision to persevere has made him a stron-ger person.
“He’s worked hard to be where he is as a person,” his mother, Patricia Starrett, said. “He’s been able to conquer some tough
Photo by Liza Dernehl
Spotted Super Fan Dan blends in with the crowd at a Los Altos Swim meet on May 1st. Paly went on to win the meet.
A
22 | The Viking
things.” This in turn fueled Dan’s love for high school sports. “My love for high school [sports] gives my life purpose and meaning that wasn’t there before,” Dan said. “I like the unique-ness of being a high school sports fan. Well, maybe it’s not unique, but it’s rare.” While not attending Paly games, Dan also works as a substitute for Palo Alto Unified School District. He notices a dif-ference in students when they are in class, as compared to when they are playing sports. “In high school classrooms, students are more uptight,” he said. “They are busy taking notes. But on the field, they seem more relaxed. I try to support the high school students as much as I can.” Traveling as far as Salinas to watch Paly athletes compete for sports such as cross country, Dan often stays after games to compliment coaches and athletes, regard-less of the score. Girls’ varsity soccer coach, Ernesto Cruz, met Dan his first year coaching in 2005. “[Whether] I win or lose, he [Dan] al-ways congratulates me,” Cruz said, “I in-vited him to our parties. I think our soccer family recognizes him.” Many teams at Paly appreciate Dan’s dedication. Last year, the boys’ varsity soccer team gave Dan a hoodie sweatshirt signed by the entire team. “Sometimes I wear the stuff [given to me],” Dan said. “I don’t wear the ones with the writing on them. I want to keep the messages from washing off.” The Paly sports community has grown to embrace Dan’s support. Older students tell their younger friends about Dan and the cycle continues. However, track and field coach, Paul Jones, was originally un-sure of Dan when he [Dan] began coming out to the games.
“I became more comfortable not because I necessarily knew him better, but because I became more accustomed to seeing him,” Jones said.
Cruz has had a similar experience. How-ever, after talking to other coaches, he learned that Dan had no other intentions but to be a supporter.
“He makes you wonder because he’s al-ways by himself,” Cruz said. “He’s always respectful to me. Now that I know him, I really like him.”
Although he attends every game, Dan does not make his appearance widely known.
“People only notice him when they see him,” said senior track and field member Ruthie Ryan, who has seen Dan at various sporting events.
“He’s more of a moral supporter than a vocal supporter,” senior track and field run-ner Rajan Narang, another Paly athlete who also has spoken to Dan before.Some see Dan as a unique aspect of the Paly sports community, while others see him as a part of what makes the entire program spe-cial.
“He’s like a lot of people in the com-munity,” wrestling head coach Dave Duran said. “We have parents who still come to the matches even though their kids have graduated years before. Everyone comes out to watch.”
Duran is one of many who believe that if Dan were to discontinue attending Paly sporting events, his presence would not be missed.
However, there are just as many who dis-agree.
“To the untrained, it doesn’t mean much if he [Dan] didn’t come anymore,” Afshar said, “but to the players there would be a void without him.”
Cruz agrees with Afshar. “It would be an unusual day [to not see
Dan] because I see him everyday,” Cruz
said, “We respect Dan the Fan in the crowd.”
Paly athletics have provided a haven away from personal experiences, but Dan has given back in his own way as well, dedicating 15 years of support to the ath-letes. Additionally, when the swimming pool was rennovated in 2006, Dan even bought a brick and wrote a personal mes-sage to Paly students. Although he does not believe in giving out advice on how
to play a particular sport, he does have advice regarding sports in general. Dan believes that playing sports teach stu-dents to be tough and take criticism.
“It’s important to remember that there are far worse things than losing a game... [like] learning to work with other people as a team.” Dan said, “Those are going to help you later in life.”
As much as the Paly sports commu-nity appreciates Dan’s support, Dan also appreciates the generally positive recep-tion of his fandom.
“About a year or two ago, down at Santa Cruz, we were walking and a young man, maybe a sophomore or freshman, sees Dan and just goes, ‘Su-per Fan Dan!’” said his mother. “It was a delightful family moment. Dan was tickled.”
“[Dan’s] like a mascot.” senior foot-ball player James McCollough said. “Every school has something. We have Super Fan Dan. He’s a part of Paly.” <<<
Giving back Super Fan Dan donated a brick to the Mackenzie Family Aquatic Complex in 2006 , giving back to the school that gave him a lifelong passion.
Photo by Cassie Prioleau
Photo by Alek Milovidov
Sideline support Super Fan Danwatches as the track team races at Los Altos High School on April 29th.
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COACh: Jake Halas
WINS LEADERS
RECORD: 11-1*STANDING: tied for first
KEY RESULTS
May 1 vs Wilcox(Loss 8-14)
The 13-8 game marked the Vikings’ first league loss. Had they
won, they would have clinched the spot for first place; as it is now, they are tied for first with Wilcox.
April 28 vs Gunn(Win 1-0)
Depsite the Vikes’ previous win, Gunn was tougher to beat this
time. In the bottom of the seventh, Lauren Bucolo finally sent a runner
home, winning the game 1-0.
*As of May 1
hanges to the varsity girls’ softball team’s coaching have brought a drastic turnaround.
The Vikings are currently tied for first in league and are looking forward to dominating at CCS. “Our season was amazing,” sophomore Kristin Dauler said. “We have never had one like this in Paly softball before. It’s great to see such a turnaround from last year to this year.” The Vikings were undefeated heading into the final game of the season, at Wilcox, whom they had defeated 4-1 in an earlier matchup, with first place on the line. “We wanted to win so bad,” Dauler said. “We just came out tight and uncomfortable.” Though the Vikings were winning at one point in the game, they were not able to pull through due to several defensive mistakes. It’s a bummer that we lost the game,” head coach Jake Halas said. “Our weakness was defensive execution; we had a lot of errors. However, our girls did not lose effort, heart or determination.” Despite the recent loss, the team is extremely proud with its performance this season overall after finishing with a 10-1 recored. “We have done really well this year,” junior Allie Coleman said. “Even though we’re a young team,
we still have a lot of intensity. We care and work hard, and we work together really well.” Their success is all the more impressive considering the team’s performance last year. Coming off of a season with only five league wins, the Vikings had not expected to tie for first. “It’s kind of weird [that we’ve done so well] because we have mostly underclassmen and no seniors,” Coleman said. “Theoretically it should have been a tough year for us because we lost four players, but we’ve done really well.” Additionally, the new coaching staff played a role in their success. “Last year as freshmen we didn’t have great coaching and we didn’t really progress as a team,” Dauler said. “We had fun, but didn’t do very well. Now we have two great coaches (Halas and Adam Yonkers) and we work really hard at practice; we ‘leave it all on the field.’”
The change in coaching really seems to have played a significant role.
“The new coaches are a lot more intense and expect a lot out of us, so we’ve been doing really well,” Coleman said.
Though league play is coming to a close, the team still looks forward to competing at CCS.
“Even if the team is young, I anticipate that we’ll do well and be a tough team to beat at CCS,” Halas said. “Our biggest strength is probably our determination and willingness to play hard. The girls really play their hearts out.”
The players also look forward to the post-season.
“CCS is going to be like an added bonus to this season,” Coleman said. “We’ll play good teams so it’d be great if we could win a few games in CCS. Hopefully we’ll do as well next year because we aren’t graduating anyone and we’ll have more experience.”
The Vikings hope to continue their success in the future.
“Our general gals are to play hard, do our best, be positive in the game, and win!” Dauler said.
~Nina Gertsvolf
C
MVP: Kelly JenKs
Class: Sophomore
Stolen Bases: 9
RBIs: 14
SOFTBALL...New coaches bring new attitude, new results...
RBIs: 14 - Kelly Jenks (Soph)
BATTING AvERAGE: .381- Allie Coleman (Jr)
STRIKEOUTS:160- Kelly Jenks (Soph)
Kelly Jenks, sophomore
Strategize: The varsity girls’ softball team discusses strategy in a huddle during a home game.
his past season, it seemed as though the Paly baseball team would make a new name for itself and turn around its losing record. How-
ever, after a winning streak in the beginning of the year, the Vikes encountered several difficul-ties and their CCS hopes vanished after a devas-tating loss to Wilcox. They finished fifth place in the league with a record of 7-7.
In the beginning of the season, the Vikings changed their attitudes toward playing the game from last year. Senior captains Kevin Johnson, Tyger Pederson, Michael Martin, Peter Abrams and Will Goodspeed all decided it was time for change within the team. “We are much more mo-tivated this year,” Johnson said.
In the 2007 season, the boys were only one loss away from dropping into the El Camino Di-vision.
“It would have been really bad,” Ped-erson said. “We wouldn’t be playing with teams of our true potential.”
The 2008 campaign did not get off to the best start. The first league game against Los Gatos was not as promising as hoped when the team lost 2-5. However, later in the week, the teams met again, and this time Paly was able to beat the Wildcats 6-5.
After the win against Los Gatos, the team found itself in a winning streak. It eas-ily beat Carlmont and Aragon and then went on to sweep Los Altos and Gunn. The wins against Los Altos were significant because they finished first place in league last season.
Although the Vikings were experiencing a streak, they recently encountered two setbacks.
The team took a hit with the loss of junior pitcher Steven Burk, who had led the team with four wins.
“There is definitely an absence on the field and it was a big loss, but we have done well this season,” Pederson said. The team has since lost 5 of 6 games, which also ended its three-week win-ning streak.
“It’s weird not playing in the games, but I occasionally practice with them so I still feel like
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COACh: Dave Jefferson
Los Gatos was not as promising as hoped when the team lost 2-5. However, later in the week, the teams met again, and this time
STATISTICAL LEADERS
RECORD: 7-7STANDING: 5th
hOME RUNS: 3- Kevin Johnson (Senior)and Peter Abrams (Senior)
BATTING AvERAGE:.395- Will Holder (Junior)
and it was a big loss, but we have done well this season,” Pederson said. The team has since lost 5 of 6 games, which also ended its three-week win
REMAINING GAMESLeague Divisional Series vs. Gunn, Cupertino and
Milpitas* All stats as of May 2nd
KEY RESULTS March 21st vs. Los Gatos
Win(6-5)The Vikes beat Los Gatos in the second game of a series after a
frustrating loss in the first game.April 9th vs. Milpitas
Loss(7-6) The loss to Milpitas was the
second without Burk as well as the end of the team’s three week win-
ning streak
T
MVP: Tyger Pederson
Class: Senior
Position: Short Stop
Key Stats: 12 Doubles
BASEBALLpart of the team,” Burk said.
“Whenever you lose someone it is an emo-tional and physical loss,” head coach Dave Jef-ferson said. On top of losing Burk, Paly also lost Jefferson ,who was benched for the rest of the season after receiving two ejections.
“The team will do fine; they know what happened and will be able to continue a strong season,” Jefferson said. Contrary to Jefferson’s predictions the teams season quickly went down-hill from there.
“It wasn’t a fair ejection by any means, we were doing poorly and he was trying to motivate us,” Johnson said. “The umpires saw it differ-ently and gave the administration a false report about the coach’s attitude.”
After the loss of coach Jefferson and star pitcher Steven Burk, the Vikes’ hopes of getting
first in the league quickly evaporated as they lost 7 of 8 games. Before the loss of Burk and Jef-ferson, the team was hoping to become co-cham-pions in the league divisional series, in which the Vikes would play against the top four teams.
However, since the decline. the team is in a similar position as last year and will now be com-peting against the bottom four teams for a secure position in the De Anza league.
“Even after all the misfortunes, we are still doing better than usual and overall had a good season,” Johnson said.
~ Lucy McComas
STOLEN BASES:21- Tyger Pederson (Senior)
...Vikes remain hopeful after devastating incidents...
Determination: Pederson waits to receive a throw during the Vikes loss to Wilcox (8-9). He led the team with 21 stolen bases.
Will Goodspeed, senior
alo Alto High School’s varsity golf team failed to receive the berth needed to advance
as a team into the Central Coast Section tourna-ment. However outstanding performances from Paly athletes, juniors Pierce Marchant and Eliot Snow, and senior Adam Furlong, qualified them to advance as individuals.
Co- Captains Marchant and sophomore Alex Groetsema led the team through a competitive season, dropping only three matches.
Groetsema failed to move on in the CCS tournament as an individual because the girls tournament is in the Fall, and the Spring tourna-ment is reserved only for boys. Groetsema could have continued to compete only if the team had moved on.
“We came into the season really out of prac-tice,” Marchant said. “We have really improved since then.”
The team maintained an 11-3 record, losing twice to Mountain View and once to Los Altos. The largest disappointment came when the team missed the opportunity to advance into CCS by a mere six strokes.
“Missing the cut by so little was disappoint-ing,” senior Stanley Chun said. “We were hop-
ing to get the wild card into the tournament.”Los Gatos and Mountain View both quali-
fied to advance into the CCS tournament, and both Carlmont and St. Ignatius achieved he wild card and so moved forward. However, the Vikings’ failure to move on as a team into CCS should not overshadow their outstanding season.
Head coach Doyle Knight highlights the team’s victories as crucial points in the season,and the losses as great learning experiences.
“The first day we played Mountain View and Los Altos, it was in a quad match,” Knight said. “We played really well in the windy conditions, but Los Altos was just having a great day, and Mountain View is a strong team.”
Knight is proud of the individual athletes’ growth in skill and pinpoints their success on perserverence and dedication in practice and dur-
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COACh: Doyle Knight
a mere six strokes.“Missing the cut by so little was disappoint
ing,” senior Stanley Chun said. “We were hop
STATISTICAL LEADERS
RECORD: 11-3*STANDING: 2nd
SCvALs Qualifying Scores:76 - Pierce Marchant (junior )
80 - Eliot Snow (junior)
80 - Adam Furlong (senior)
“We played really well in the windy conditions, but Los Altos was just having a great day, and Mountain View is a strong team.”
REMAINING GAMES
Central Coast Section tournament
ing to get the wild card into the tournament.”
KEY RESULTS
April 8th vs Cupertino(Win 193-203)
This victory allowed the Vikings to claim a tie for second place in
leagues
April 2nd at Shoreline(Loss 194-188-191)
Losses to Los Altos and Mountain View lost the team their second
place standing in Leagues
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P
MVP: Pierce MarchanT
Class: Junior
Position: Co-Captain
Best SCVAL Round: 76
Boys’ Golf...Vikings barely miss CCS cut...
ing matches.“In practice we work on drills and technique,”
Chun said. “We all got better at our games.”Knight has witnessed this improvement.“The team dynamic has changed in the two
years I have coached,” Knight said. “As a team we are consistently hitting into the low 190’s.”
Chun agrees regarding the team’s overall im-provement, and also sees his current season as his most successful one yet.
“We were second in the league ,” Chun said. “We are really satisfied with that.” However Chun
admits that he had higher expectations for the post season.
“This is my second year coaching [the golf team] and I have definitely seen improvement,” Knight said. “All of the athletes have worked hard and now have become more consistent in their games.”
The Vikings must now watch as three Paly indi-viduals advance into the CCS tournament.
“I think we had the talent, the expectation, and the desire to win,” Chun said. “But not being able to advance [into CCS] by only six strokes was a let down.”
~Ahna Rao
VISUALIZING Junior Pierce Marchant prepares to hit a shot in the SCVAL tournament.
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Hrishi Srinagesh, junior
*As of May 7
...Vikings barely miss CCS cut...
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COACh: Kara Prentice
WINS LEADERS
RECORD: 1-10*STANDING: 6th (out of 7)*
Vika Kreitz and Petrina Chie: 8Varsity #3 Doubles
Kathy Woo: 7Varsity #3 Singles
Young Hsu: 4Varsity #1 Singles
REMAINING GAMES
May 8 at Saratoga
KEY RESULTS
May 1 at Homestead(Loss 18-12)
The Vikings came to the game as the favorite to win. But a few key
losses led to their defeat.
April 3 vs Homestead(Win 18-12)
The first win of the season gave the Vikings a motivational boost
for the rest of the season.
*As of May 7
he Paly badminton team came into the 2008 season with few expectations. Although last
year it finished last in SCVAL, the team still has hope. Its main goal: to finish the season with a better record than last year’s 1-11 finish. The team is 1-10 with a win over Homestead. “The main goal of this year’s team was to win more than one game,” Coach Jon Prentice said. “With our win over Homestead, we’re almost there.” During their second game against Homestead, many players came out with disappointing perfor-mances. As the predicted winners of the match, many players were confident, which may have led to the loss. Junior Young Hsu lost her #1 singles match, when a win could have won Paly the match. Then in the final game, with all the pressure riding on them, juniors Justin Hsi and Kevin Dai lost their #1 doubles match in two close games. Coach Kara Prentice hopes to finish the year with a strong, determined team. Since most of the varsity players are juniors, the current team will come back next year and continue to grow during the season. “On paper, we have a stronger team than we’ve had in the previous years, but we struggle to win games and therefore struggle to win matches,” Pren-tice said.
According to many of the players, the main prob-lems lie in the lack of skilled underclassmen who join every year, and the weak training regimen which leads to poor stamina in games. Paly’s varsity team has a noticeable absence of underclassman who are ready to take over the team. “It hasn’t helped that apparently the Gunn/Paly line is drawn with most of the natural or already trained ability going to Gunn,” Kara Prentice said. According to Ivan Zhou, Paly’s #2 singles player, Paly’s lack of new players can be accredited to ste-reotypes, or just plain disinterest in the sport. “People at Paly need to lose the stereotype that badminton is a wimpy sport,” Zhou said. Zhou has been one of the key players this season, winning important games including a strong performance against Gunn in the number three singles spot. “Bad-minton is in fact an intense sport that people need to give a chance,” Zhou said.
Another problem is the lack of physical training. Singles matches are long and tiring, and without the proper training, many players cannot keep up with their opponents which leads to their loss.
“Someone will be winning 10-0, and then they’ll drift off,” junior Connie Yang said. “Then, the lead will close, and they’ll eventu-ally lose their match.”
Junior Young Hsu is widely regarded as one of Paly’s star singles players in the girl’s #1 spot.
“Our team is not that bad,” Hsu said. “Many of our losses are close, but our players do not have the stamina to keep up.”
Hsu aims to be one of the four individuals
who qualify for CCS without a team.Even with a lack of stamina, the girl’s team
has become the consistent point scorers on the Paly team.
Apart from the problems that the players have faced this year, they hope for the rest of the season to go smoothly.
“We can’t really expect to be contenders,” Jon Prentice said. “But hopefully since the team is mainly juniors, we can come back next year with a goal higher than this year’s.”
~Varun Kohli
T
SLAM Kathy Woo practices her form.
BADMINTON...Vikings tie last season’s record...
Ivan Zhou, sophomore
MVP: KaThy Woo
Class: Sophomore
Rank: varsity #3 Singles
Record: 7-3
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COACh: Danny Dye
Fastest Times
RECORD: 7-0*STANDING: 1st
50 Free:48.62 - Liv Jensen (Senior)
100 Free22.31 - Liv Jensen(Senior)
200 Free:1:58.5- Allie Bollella (Junior)
400 Free:3:36.43 - Lizzie Abbott, Kristina
Xiang, Liv Jensen, Sabrina Lee
200 Free:1:38.90 - Liv Jensen, Sabrina Lee,
Lizzie Abbott, Colleen Fotsch
* As of April 30
he 2008 Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity swim team has shown that it is a force to be
reckoned with, winning all of its meets as of April 29. Seniors Liv Jensen and Colleen Fotsch have paved the way for the talented Lady Vikings to make a bid for their sixth straight SCVAL League title and the Central Coast Section (CCS) championship.
“This is a special team,” head coach Danny Dye said. “From Liv [Jensen] and Colleen [Fotsch] to our gifted freshmen to our fun group of sophomores and juniors, everybody is doing what they need to do to make this season a success.”
The team’s performance in the pool reinforces Dye’s statements. As of May 2, the girls have won all seven meets in which they have competed, five of which were against league competition. The most important of the six was undoubtedly the Monta Vista meet, for which the team had been preparing itself all season.
“Monta Vista is definitely our toughest opponent,” senior co-captain Lizzie Abbot said prior to the meet. “We have lost to them in dual meets for the last two years. This year we want to change that.”
The Vikings did just that on Friday, April 25 to take hold of first place outright and put themselves in prime position for a league title.According to Dye, one of the most important factors in the team’s success has been its depth of talent from top to bottom. While the four senior co-captains Jensen, Fotsch, Abbott and Amanda Wong lead the team, freshmen Kristina Xiang and Sabrina Lee have exceeded expectations and played a major role in the girls’ seven wins. Another standout performer has been sophomore Kaitlyn Tracy, who usually swims the 100 Free, but came within tenths of a second of the CCS cut with a 5:36 time in the 500 Free.
“We have had more swimmers make CCS so far this year than at this point last year,” Abbot said. “We have been working a lot harder this season than last season and everyone has stuck with it and done well.”
Dye also noted that the Paly divers, such as the USC-bound Michela Fossati Bellani, have made
valuable yet often overlooked contributions team’s success.
“A lot of the time our divers will go under the radar, but they have really given us some important boosts when it comes to points,” Dye said.
Team chemistry has also served as an important part of the girls’ accomplishments.
“The seniors’ work ethic has really had a positive effect on the rest of the girls,” Dye said. “It is visible to the extent that the entire team would rather stay at practice late to finish their sets than leave early.”
The older players’ devotion and enthusiasm has rubbed off on the younger team members and given them the attitude that will help the team in future seasons.
“I really look up to our four team captains,” Lee said. “They all bring something different and special to the team. I hope to become as fast or as kind as each of them.”
Looking ahead, the Lady Vikings goal for the season is clear.
“Win it all,” Dye said. “It comes down to us, Monta Vista and Mitty for the CCS championship. We have the potential, the leadership, and the personnel to take the whole thing.”
T
MVP: liv Jensen
Class: Senior
College: University of California
GIRLS’ SWIMMING AND DIVING...Talented Lady Vikes seek CCS ring...
Individual
100 Fly54.2 - Colleen Fotsch (Senior)
Relays
200 IM:1:51.81 - Nicole Westly, Kristina Xiang, Colleen Fotsch, Liv Jensen
Concentration Liv Jensen anticipates her incoming teammate during the 200 relay versus Los Altos.
Lizzie Abbott, senior
~Adam Zernik
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...Talented Lady Vikes seek CCS ring...he Palo Alto High School varsity boys’ swim team has continued its tradition of success
with another successful season. The Vikings have overcome issues with depth to compile an 8-1 record.
The highlight of the season came with a 107-79 victory over cross-town rival Gunn High School.
The meet also prepared the Vikings for two bigger meets this season.
“Our two biggest meets this season, other than Gunn, are against Saratoga and Monta Vista since they will be our top competition in leagues this year,” senior Michael Fortune said.
A 90-86 victory over Saratoga gave the Vikings a close victory over one of their main rivals in leagues.
“Going in we knew the meet was going to be close,” head coach Danny Dye said. “But we worked hard from top to bottom and it was a team victory.”
The victory also displayed the talents of underclassmen Michael Wong, Bobby Abbott, Emerson Shiang and Arseny Kotov.
“The young guys were a big part of our success” Dye said.
However the victory was short-lived, as the Vikings received a wake-up call with
a 97-89 loss to Monta Vista.“We swam pretty well, but they won
two of the relays,” Dye said. “If we had won one of them we would have won the meet.”
The loss surprised a few swimmers, but did not discourage them from their goal of being league champions.
“It was a disappointing loss but I am confident that we are still going to be league champs,” senior Geng Wang said.
The loss will also provide some motivation for the swimmers.
“We need to work harder in these last couple weeks,” senior co-captain Scott Mielke said. “Hopefully it [the Monta Vista loss] will be a motivating force for the team to work harder.”
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of underclassmen Michael Wong, Bobby Abbott, Emerson Shiang and Arseny Kotov.STATISTICAL LEADERS
RECORD: 8-1 (5-1 leagues)STANDING: 2nd*
50 Free:21.71 - Michael Fortune
(senior)100 Free:
47.53 - Michael Fortune (senior)
200 Free:1:41 - Mark Higgins
(junior)
the swimmers.
weeks,” senior co-captain Scott Mielke said.
REMAINING GAMESMay 9 League
ChampionshipsMay 17 CCS
KEY RESULTS
April 25 vs Monta Vista (Loss 97-89)
This dual-meet loss was the first in almost four years. The close loss
was a wake-up call for the Vikings.
April 22 vs Saratoga(Win 90-86)
This close victory allowed the Vikings to demonstrate the underclassmen’s strength.
* As of May 2
T
MVP: MarK higgins
Class: Junior
Events: 200 Free, 200 IM, 100 Back
Key Stats: 200 Free-1:41, 200 IM-1.55
SPEED Senior Michael Fortune swims against Monta Vista.
...Vikings have a strong season before leagues...In addition to their loss, the Vikings
also realize that they do not have the same amount of depth this year.
“We don’t have the same depth as previous years, so we don’t have as much as a cushion as we had before,” Dye said.
Despite the recent loss Coach Dye and co-captains Mielke and senior Brandon Lee have been satisfied with the season.
“They have a lot of talent and have done a good job this season,” Dye said. “It’s been a good league this year; Monta Vista, Saratoga and Lynnbrook could all compete in leagues this year and there is a lot of talent across the board this year.”
Mielke believes that the team has yet to show their full potential.
“I’ve think we have shown flashes
of our potential, but there were lots of chances we didn’t take advantage of, like not winning [the Monta Vista relays] and gaining more second/third places,” Mielke said. “We can beat good teams, like when we beat Bellarmine at the Serra Relays.”
The team has nevertheless lived up to expectations.
“We definitely have a shot at winning leagues and doing well in CCS this year,” Lee said.
~Steven Tran
200 IM:1.55 - Mark Higgins
(junior)
BOYS’ SWIMMING AND DIVING
Brandon Lee, senior
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COACh:Paul Jones
STATISTICAL LEADERS
RECORD: 1-5*STANDING: 6*
1600:5:00.71-Mia Lattanzi (senior)
hIGh JUMP:5’ 11” -Erika Hoglund (soph)
100:12.6 - Emily Yeates (soph)
REMAINING GAMES
April 29 at Los GatosMay 23 at Gilroy
KEY RESULTS
March 13 at Monta VistaThe Vikings came out strong against Monta Vista; strong
performances from sophomores Emily Yeates and Marissa Florant.
April 18 at Los Gatos Seniors Leah Gaeta and Mia Lat-tanzi represented the Lady Vikes’ elite with strong performances in the 800 and 1600 meters events.
* As of April 29
fter a disappointing start to the varsity girls’ 2008 track and field season, the Lady Vikes hope to finish the year with improved times
and continued success around their core of young runners. “I don’t think the girls’ team record adequately reflects what we have accomplished,” junior Emily Hamilton said. Hamilton runs the 100-meter hurdles, the long jump and the triple jump. “We haven’t been winning our meets, but we have had a lot of [personal records] and a lot of improvement.” Coming into the season with only 5 seniors on the team, Paly looks at this spring as a time for personal records rather than team success. “Our goals are to continue improving and continuing to give it our all at every meet or invitational,” senior Leah Gaeta said. “I know many girls, including myself, who have the perfect performance in mind and who want to accomplish that feat before the close of the season.” A competitive senior duo, Gaeta and Mia Lattanzi have been tearing up the middle distance events, heading a star-studded lineup that includes all experienced upperclassmen. “In the 3200 meters we have worked a lot to
push each other since we are all about the same pace,” junior Elizabeth Scott said. “We all have our stronger laps so it helps to stick together and not get distracted during a race.” With an incredible show of inexperience from their undeniable youth, the Lady Vikes have been struggling to fill all events, a misstep that has cost the team heavily. “The team can definitely improve on the field events, where we do not have any upperclassmen,” junior Vicki Morton said. “At the last meet we had no 400 meter varsity runners, which lost us a lot of points.” Regardless of the team’s record, the Vikes have stayed focused on improving, a notion heavily influenced by the upperclassmen’s leadership. “The returning athletes have really helped out the new jumpers and taught them the basics and how to improve,” junior jumper Ahna Rao said.
Rookie varsity runner Erika Hoglund also attests to the strong display of support from Paly’s varsity veterans. “There is definitely a strong core of upperclassmen that help us and show us how to do things,” sophomore Hoglund said. “It was helpful to have people there that knew what they were doing. They say track is an individual sport, but I definitely feel the team spirit.” With CCS approaching, the Lady Vikes hope to send runners to the prestigious meet. Lattanzi, who will run at Stanford University next fall, is predicted to have the fastest 800 meters time in the entire section.
In a recent meet, Lattanzi came within one second of breaking the five-minute mark in the 1600 meters event, with a time of 5:00:71. As the season winds to a close. the Lady Vikes will remember 2008 not for their victories, but rather for the leaps and bounds they have improved over the course of the season. “For the team as a whole, I hope we can reach our full potential,” Hamilton said. “We have more we can do, and I’m sure our hard work will pay off. ~Oliver Davies
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MVP: Mia laTTanzi
Class: Senior
Event: 800 meters, 1600 meters
Key Stats: 5:00.71 in 1600 meters
Girls’ Track and Field...Inexperience hurts the Lady Vikes...
FOCUS Lattanzi pulls away from the pack in the 800 meters event at Los Altos.
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COACh: Jason Fung
Fastest Times
RECORD: 6-0*STANDING: 1st
100 Meter: 11.1 Daniel Jones
(sophomore)
high Jump6’4’’ Dom Powell (senior)
he Palo Alto boys’ track and field team finished off the season with a perfect 6-0 record in league and is looking to make a run in the Central Coast
Section (CCS) playoffs. “We have a good team this year, but we are pretty young,” senior high jumper Mike Scott said. Sophomores Daniel Jones, Tyler Nigro and Phil-lip MacQuitty have all played strong roles in the Vi-kings’ six wins in league. They have each made strong finishes and im-proved their jumps and times. Jones placed first in both the Monta Vista meet by running 11.2 seconds in the 100 meter and 23.0 seconds in the 200 meter. “As a team, we are looking ahead to winning league and the playoffs,” MacQuitty said. “If we continue to improve like we are the season, it should be a success.” Top performers stood out in the Stanford Invita-tional, which took place in the beginning of April. MacQuitty and Junior Charlie Avis both finished in the top five for the 3000 meters out of a thirty- run-ner field with times of 8:43 and 8:53 respectively. Other Paly athletes that had solid per-formances at the Stanford Invitational, were junior Pascal Truinger and senior Mohammed Abid in the hurdles.
“The talent this year is pretty mixed, we have freshmen on varsity and seniors do-ing well [as well],” head coach Jason Fung said. In the field events, the Vikings have been just as strong. Junior Ashraf El Gamal has placed in the top three of the shotput in the first five meets, including three first place finishes. “My goal would be to hit 42 or 43 feet in an of-ficial meet,” El Gamal said. “We are doing very well as a team and should do well in CCS.” One obstacle the Vikings have faced this year are injuries. Mike Scott has been battling an ankle injury from late in the basketball season, and junior long jumper Bobby Holman recently injured his ham-string.
“My leg has definitely prevented me from jumping as well as I can, but I will be back to full strength soon,” Holman said. Daniel Jones also injured his Iliotibial (IT) band in the meet against Gunn High School. Injuries aside, the Vikings have fought past tough opponents like Los Gatos to keep their strong record alive. The boys 4x100 meter relay team gave the Vikings points by winning their fourth of sixth straight wins in league. “Beating Los Gatos was big for the team,” senior 4x100 meter runner and high jumper Dom Powell said. With only league championships left in the season, things are looking good for the Vikes. “We are doing really well but there is al-ways room to improve,” Powell said. The Vikings will need help from their big players in order to win leagues.
“We need the big point getters to come through in the finals,” Fung said. The Vikings finished off their season with a second place finish in the league fi-nals behind Los Gatos. A key result for the Vikes was Julius Berezin’s win in the 800 meter race in a time of 1:59. However, they were still league champions. Even though most of the team is done for the season, for a select few, it is just be-ginning. ~ John Christopherson
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MVP: Paul BroWn
Class: Junior
Position: 100 meter 200 meter 4x100 relay
Key Stats:
TEAMWORK Junior Kasey Fields and senior Dom Powell complete a handoff in the 4x100 meter relay.
Boys’ Track and Field...Perfect record drives the Vikes to CCS...
Individual
400 Meter:52.25 Julius Berezin
(senior)800 Meter
1:57.59 Julius Berezin (senior)
110 hurdles16.36 Pascal Truinger
(junior)Discus
141’ Dennis Muaka (senior)
Long Jump121.7 Mike Scott (senior)
1 Mile4:24 Phi lip M acQuitty
(sophomore)
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Paul Brown, junior
...LADY VIKES IMPROVE OVER INAUGURAL SEASON...
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COACh: Jen Gray
STATISTICAL LEADERS
RECORD: 2-9
GOALIE SAvES:79 by Junior Anna Bastidas
MOST GOALS SCORED:12 by both senior Katie
Dahn and sophomore Bri-anna Boyd
KEY RESULTS
May 2nd vs. Burlingame at Paly Loss(4-8)
The last game of the season paly girls suffer a tough loss against
one of the top teams
April 8th vs. Harker at Harker
(Win 14-0)Paly girls play hard and shut out
Harkwe
32 | The Viking
As the girls’ varsity lacrosse season con-tinues, the team aims to finish with a successful ending. Although they are just beginners to the game, they are quickly catching up to the rest of the league.
“As of today our record is 2-7.” Senior Kati Dahm said. “However, we started off the season playing the harder, more established teams in the league, so we are looking to win the rest of our games.”
“We are doing better than expected and all of our losses have been very close,” sophomore Sam Herzog said. “In on of the games we won, it was a great win, we won by thirteen points.”
In these games, captain Kati Dahm and co-captains Helene Zahoudanis and Anna Bastidas have held the team together, but all the girls are working hard in order to be unified and success-ful.
“Everyone is such* an asset to the team,” Bastidas said. “Everyone has something different to offer to the team - it’s great. We have a lot of talent.”
In recent games, the team has been working hard but their efforts have been futile.
“We have held our own, and possessed the ball more than some of the best teams in the
league, we always just get really unlucky with our shots,” sophomore Maya Fielder said.
In one of their games against Menlo, the team worked hard but unfortunately has not able to keep its game together.
“We won the draw and scored two goals in the first five minutes of the game,” Dahm said. “However we were unable to keep our play con-sistent. Almost everyone on attack and midfield has scored at least once.”
In the games the girls play well but unfor-tunately are not able to finish and complete their plays in order to score a goal.
“The scores of our games is not showing how great we are doing,” sophomore Emily Ke-nyon said. “Most of us are first year players or beginners so the fact that we have acquired the
MVP: helene zahoudanis
Class: Junior
Position: Forward
Pacific region high school all star selection
Running: Junior Helene Zahoudanis races forward with the ball ready to put the ball in the goal.
Lacrosseskills we have is a huge achievement.”
Because of their hard work and daily practices including Saturday mornings they are becoming a team worth playing.
“It is crazy how much we have all im-proved,” Kenyon said. “We are doing a lot better on working together as a team.”
Everyone on the team puts in effort in or-der for their team to have victory.
“Whether it be after practice or a game, we want to leave the field a better team,” Bas-tidas said. “We’ve played some really good teams so far this season, and for the most part, we’ve been able to stay competitive.”
The practices have shown how much the girls have improved but when it comes to game time it seems as if the girls let down their guard.
“I think the nerves always get the best of us, like when we play a hard team we let them beat us and when we play a easy team we do not continue to work as hard.”
The team is still going through some
hardships, but the improvement that the girls have achieved is evident in their journey from the start to mid season.
“In the beginning we would lose, and say well it is okay were a new team and at least we did some things right.” Kenyon said. But now since we have been working hard we are a different team. People should know that just because we do not win every game does not mean we are not good. When you watch us, we look like a varsity lacrosse team and I think we have shocked a lot of people.”
~Amanda Hohbach
REMAINING GAMES
Cif/Pal tournament 16th- 18th at Menlo school
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Kati Dahm, senior
Running: Junior Helene Zahoudanis races forward with the ball ready to put the ball in the goal.
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STATISTICAL LEADERS
RECORD: 14-8*STANDING: 2*
WINS:14 - Dan Schwartz (junior)
REMAINING GAMES
May 2 to May 7 -- CCS Tour-nament
KEY RESULTS
April 15 vs Gunn (Win 6-1)
Romping rival Gunn boosted the teams confidence heading into
the post-season.
April 22-23 at SCVALsTantry - lost in semi-finalsWong - lost in semi-finalsPearson/Tseng - lost in first roundPlotkin/Schwartz - lost in championship
March 12 at Bellarmine (Lost 3-4)
A depleted roster put up a fight against Bellarmine before finally
succumbing to the Saints.
* As of May 1
fter a solid start to its 2008 season, the Paly boys’ varsity tennis team is gearing up for a run at a league title. Struggling through
mid-season injuries to key players, the Vikings have compiled a 14-8 record overall, including a 10-4 record in league play.
“I thought that at this point we would be at least 18-2 but we have lost a few tough matches that we really should have won,” senior David Plotkin said. “Had we played well and not had any injuries or sicknesses engulf our players, we might only have had one loss.”
“So far I think we have not played up to our potential,” senior Kushal Tantry said. “Injuries have been our Achilles’ heel. Without them, we would be right up with Saratoga for first in leagues.”
Key injuries have crippled the Vikings chances of finishing first in leagues this year.
“We did not plan on “The Bug” and injuries,” tennis coach Andy Harader said. “It really took a toll on our team.”
Sicknesses to co-captain David Plotkin, junior Corey McCroskie and sophomore Peter Tseng left the team short-handed. In
addition, freshman singles-player Baramee Wongbanchai has missed three weeks due to ITF (International Tennis Federation) tournaments.
Several members of the team have stepped up and filled the spots left open in this years’ run. Junior John Mitchell and sophomore Drew Pearson have both won tough matches.
“Drew [Pearson] has really stepped up and improved his game this year,” Plotkin said. “Although he did not play tennis on either the JV or Varsity teams last year, he has pulled out several tough matches for us.”
Despite the success that the tennis team has had so far this season, they have not met their personal expectations.
“Personally, I have not played well this
year,” Tantry said. “I have had to deal with a few injuries and a couple of tough losses.”
“I have not played up to my personal expectations so far this year,” Plotkin added. “I have had some distractions off of the court, but they will have cleared up by the time the post-season starts.”
Unfortunately, the Vikings were unable to back their impressive regular season in the individual SCVALs. Top singles players Kushal Tantry and Samuel Wong both lost in the semi-finals and doubles partners Drew Pearson and Peter Tseng lost in the first round. The lone accomplishment
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MVP: BaraMee WongBanchai Class: Freshman
Position: Singles
Key Stats: 13-4
Determined: David Plotkin volleys during practice
BOYS’ TENNIS...Tough breaks deflate Vikes season...
came from Paly’s top doubles team of David Plotkin and Dan Schwartz, who advanced all the way to the championship game before losing.
With the CCS playoffs just around the corner, the team is working hard to finish the season strong.
“We hope to finish second in leagues and expect to reach the finals in CCS, which will put us in Norcals,” Tantry said. “Despite our rough regular season, we will be ready to roll when the CCS playoffs start.” ~ Adam Furlong
Kushal Tantry, senior
Profiles
The Viking | 19
pinning the ball in her glove as she stares down from the mound, Kelly Jenks prepares for another pitch.
She leans back and suddenly hurls her mo-mentum forward, exhibiting perfect pitch-ing form. After waiting until just the right moment, she releases. The ball zooms away from the mound, past the swinging bat of the opposing team and into the catcher’s glove.
BY C ASSIE PRIOLEAU AND AhNA R AO Photography by Austin Smith
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DOMINATING THE DIAMOND
The Viking | 35
ProfilesSophomore pitcher Kelly Jenks’ 63
MPH fast pitch attracts plenty of attention to her athletic talent, including the presti-gious title of Athlete of Week by the Palo Alto Weekly. However, Jenks maintains a
modest attitude on and off the mound.“Great athletes have the ability to ‘flip
the switch’ on game day, and that’s ex-actly what Kelly does,” Coach Jake Halas said. “Kelly is shy and quiet, maybe even a little reserved, but when she steps in-side the circle her demeanor changes. She
‘flips the switch’.”The returning varsity softball player
started her softball pitching career in third grade, and since then has only continued to improve.
Jenks began playing softball with the Palo Alto Girls Softball (PAGS) league. Within three years of starting, Jenks achieved rank-ing as the number one pitcher in the league.
Jenks’ first catcher was Ke’ili Deal, a sophomore at Paly. “It was cool catching for Kelly, because she was super accurate,”
Deal said. “I didn’t have to move a lot.”This precision and accuracy comes from
the analytical aspect of pitching.“Being a pitcher, you have to really think
about everything. You have to analyze,”
Jenks said.After playing PAGS for 3 years, Jenks
played for a more competitive club team, California Spin. Now, Jenks is focused on Paly’s season and remains a critical contrib-utor to the team.
Jenks not only pitches, but leads the team
Winding up Jenks pitches in a game against rival Gunn High School in which the VIkings lcaimed close a 1-0 victory
“When she steps inside the circle her demeanor changes. She ‘flips the switch.’”
Profiles
36 | The Viking
Game face Jenks not only dominates on the mound, but behind the plate as well.
from the plate and is the season leader in RBI’s (11) and stolen bases (7).
Her teammates and coaches recognize the combination of physical and mental strength in Jenks, and acknowledge her immense po-tential.
“Aside from having a strong mental ap-proach to the game, Kelly is an outstanding athlete,” Palo Alto’s softball head coach, Jake Halas, said. Halas sees something in Jenks that sets her apart from her teammates: the fo-cus and intensity that she brings to her game.
“ [Jenks’] physical ability inside the circle and at the plate has been a key reason to our success,” Halas said. “Kelly is what the pro-gram needs.”
Jenks may be quiet off the field but she on the mound she is a force to be reckoned with. She only lets up an average of 2.17 runs a game and boasts one of the fastest pitches in the league.
“Her pitching is the best in the league right now,” sophomore teammate Kristen Dauler said. “She’s fast, accurate and has lots of dif-ferent movements in her pitches so she can do different pitches and spins.”
As of April 16, Jenks has racked up 160 strikeouts, an average of 8.4 per game, and the team boasts an undefeated record in leagues. Their 13-5-1 record reflects her leadership and determination on the field.
Jenks not only dominates on the softball diamond but the soccer field as well. While she leads the team in pitching and hitting for the spring season, she leads the soccer team in goals during the fall.
Colleges have already contacted her about playing soccer due to her success on the Paly team. Jenks started as a freshman and was named freshman of the year by the San Jose Mercury News.
Despite the popularity surrounding her, Jenks has stayed grounded.
“What is equally valuable to our team is [Jenks’] work ethic and lead by example men-tality,” Halas said. “She just attacks every practice and game with her unusually-usual intensity.” <<<
KELLY’S KICKSMovie: Teacher: Pump up song:Pirates of the Caribbean Bowers Stronger
Ice cream: Class: Soccer or Softball:Mint Chocolate Chip P.E. / Prep I can’t choose
The Viking is looking for photographers and artists for
the 2008-2009 school year.
If interested, submit a portfolio to room 203 or to Ms. Austin’s box in the main office.
For more info contact:[email protected]
Profiles
he starter fires the gun, and Palo Alto senior, Mia Lattanzi, breaks into a controlled sprint off the line. Dressed in her green and white uniform, Lattanzi relaxes into her even race-
pace for the varsity 800-meter race. She maintains flawless form and a placid expression, while red-faced opponents trail further and further behind.
Lattanzi began running track freshman year at the suggestion of her soccer teammate.
“I had always been fast,” Lattanzi said. “I joined track because I did not want to go to P.E.”
Within weeks of beginning training, her talent was undeniable. As training intensified, Lattanzi’s impressive times for the 400 and 800-meter races improved dramatically. With only a few months of experience under her belt, Lattanzi broke the school record for the 400-meters with an astounding 56.18 seconds. She was poised to be the next star of Paly sports.
Lattanzi’s sophomore year was equally impressive. With new coach, Joe Ginanni, Lattanzi began to focus more exclusively on the 800-meter run.
“I knew from the first day we worked out that she was a special one,” Ginanni said. “She was super fast as a freshman, but I thought if she were to race in college, she would be best at the 800-meter.”
She broke yet another school record with a time of 2:09.61 minutes for the 800-meters. This speedy pace put her in competi-tive range for many college and professional 800-meter races, and coaches started to notice.
That year, Lattanzi won the 800-meter race for the Central Coast Sectional and advanced to the state meet in Los Angeles County. Lattanzi overcame the odds and finished a close second behind Haley Lawrence of Aliso Niguel High School. The San Francisco Chronicle hailed the race as “the most exciting of the day.”
Unfortunately, Lattanzi’s memories of this race are tarnished by the excruciating stress fracture she acquired at the beginning of sophomore year. With her leg wrapped tightly in athletic tape, Lat-tanzi attempted to ignore the nagging pain.
“I remember freaking out about my injury,” Lattanzi said. “I did not want it to be an excuse for not winning, but I was counting down to when the race [state meet] would be over and I could just get healthy.”
The increased mileage that she ran at the beginning of the sea-son had caused the fracture. After three months of running on the broken bone, surgery followed by a lengthy recovery was Lattanzi’s only option.
“I think that all athletes, if they are at it long enough, have some adversity or injury they have to face,” Ginanni said. “Of course, you have to decide whether you want to let that be your last day or if you want to go again.”
The surgery consisted of a bone graft and implanting marrow into the injured area to help reconnect the damaged bones.After being off the convalescent foot for most of the summer, Lat-tanzi began running again. Unfortunately, her weak foot was unac-customed to training and she developed plantar fasciitis.
BY ELIZ ABE Th SCOT T Photography by CHARLIE AVIS
Relaxed and RunningRecord-setting senior closes her successful Paly career with a bang and prepares for Stanford...
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38 | The Viking
BY ELIZ ABE Th SCOT T Photography by Charlie Avis
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Profiles
“It was really frustrating,” Lattanzi said. “I had been injured for a year, but I really just had to take care of myself.”
Due to these injuries, junior year was the least successful of Lat-tanzi’s high school career.
“I can count on one hand how many races I ran that year,” Lat-tanzi said.
With a tough junior year under her belt, Lattanzi decided to try out for cross-country as pre-season track training. Contrary to the usual trends of high school runners, Lattanzi had never participated in the fall cross-country season prior to her senior year.
“I did it to stay in shape,” Lattanzi said. “I would have sat on my butt if I had not done cross-country.”Paul Jones, girls’ head coach of both track and cross-country, found the longer distances and slower nature of cross-country vital to expanding Lattanzi’s po-tential as a runner.
“We wanted to start her train-ing off slowly with cross-coun-try,” Jones said. “It would help ease her into track training and prevent a repeat of junior year.”
Predictably, Lattanzi helped the Lady Vikes tremendously throughout the cross-country sea-son. She placed 15th at CCS, only one spot off from qualifying for the California State Champion-ship Meet.
“Cross-country was good for me,” Lattanzi said. “But I was ready for the season to be over. Long distances are so hard!”Lattanzi’s natural affinity to run-ning was recognized by coaches at Columbia, Berkeley, Harvard and Stanford University. Her re-bound after injury and obvious talent made her an ideal recruit-ing candidate.
With many offers from such respected schools, the recruiting process proved difficult for Lat-tanzi.
“It was a lot of pressure,” she said. “But I swear the Stanford coach knew I would end up there. He was always relaxed and jok-ing while the other coaches made it much more stressful.”
With such amazing success, many athletes should suffer from an inflated ego, but Lattanzi has remained firmly grounded.
She cheers on her teammates during workouts, and looks for
ways to make practice exciting. From finding new running routes that happen to include dipping into fountains on hot days, or getting a quick snack at Andronico’s Market, Lattanzi always brings a relaxed attitude to practice.
“Mia is always trying her hardest at leading everyone on the team,” junior captain Gillian Lui said. “But, she also knows how to find a good balance between work and fun.”
In addition to her stress-free yet focused attitude at practice, Lattanzi is constantly prepared to calm the nerves of her team-mates at competitions. “She always talks me through the strategy for running the
800,” junior Vicki Morton said. “It helps a lot to relax me. She is real-ly a great teammate and is always willing to help.” As the season progresses, Lat-tanzi has begun experimenting with longer races, such as the mile run. During her first mile-race at the Palo Alto-Monta Vista dual meet, Lattanzi easily finished 15 seconds in front of the 2nd place finisher with a time of 5:07.9 min-utes. This first race scored her a place in the top marks for CCS. “It is such an honor to run close to Mia,” senior Leah Gaeta said. “Even if I am ten or twenty sec-onds behind her, she is so inspira-tional.” At the ultra-competitive Stan-for Invitational on April 5, Lat-tanzi finished fifth with a time of 5:03.47. The rest of the season holds great prospect to close Lattanzi’s Paly running career with a bang. After winning the girls’ mile at the CCS Top 8 meet with a time of 5:00.71, Lattanzi plans to focus on the 800-meters for the rest of the season. “When I think about what Mia has been through over these three
years, I am always reminded of how proud I am and how strong she
is,” Ginanni said.With Lattanzi’s graduation looming, the Paly community can
be appeased by the fact that Stanford is only a jog away.“I just want to improve and do my best, but not get hurt,”
Lattanzi said. “I want to go into Stanford fresh and not burned out.” <<<
Running on her own: Lattanzi sprints the last leg of the mile at the Los Gatos meet and finishes ahead of the pack.
“It is such an honor to run close to Mia,” senior Leah Gaeta said. “Even if I am ten or twenty seconds behind her, she is so inspirational.”
Turf ItUp
n case you haven’t heard, Paly is going green(er).On May 1, Paly began a three-month endeavor to replace its current natural grass football field with a new, state-of-the-art synthetic turf. While many in the athletic community had been pushing for a change from grass to turf, it was not financially possible until an anonymous donor made a multi-million dollar contribution to the school.
“We did it because we think sports can play an important role in kid’s lives,” the anonymous donor said.
He initially wanted to pay for a new turf field at Paly, which would set him back roughly one million dollars. Upon learning of Palo Alto Unified School District’s policy that essentially made it impossible to do anything that enhances facilities at Paly without doing the same the rival Gunn, the donor was willing to pony up an additional million to seal the deal. Administrators and athletes alike agreed that Paly’s fields are sub-par. District Superintendent Kevin Skelly strongly supports the change to turf.
“I think it’s embarrassing that a school district with the championship tradi-tion that this place has, has such awful facilities,” Skelly said.
While the administration knew all along that it would eventually comply with the donor’s request for his contri-bution to pay for new turf, the school briefly contemplated whether or not spending the money on new turf was the school’s best option, rather than just renovating the grass field.
One of the main reasons that turf was often chosen over other alterna-tives was because of its durability and reliability. Because it is a synthetic ma-terial, it stays in perfect condition, even through the worst of weather, as long as the drainage system is properly installed.
“If the drainage isn’t done right, then it won’t work,” McEvoy said. If treated properly, the new turf field is expected to last a minimum of 10
years, and vastly improve field conditions on game day. “I’m more confident in making cuts and throws when I don’t have to worry
about my feet slipping out from under me,” junior quarterback Will Brandin said. “Turf holds up a lot better than grass, which gets all muddy and slippery when the weather is bad.”
The basic foundation of a turf field consists of several lay-ers of a special soil spread below the surface to keep the field level. The top layer of soil is covered by padding, which is then covered by the turf itself. The drainage system is built into the foundation, and takes water away from the field, keeping the
turf playable through almost any condi-tions.
“The amount of maintenance it would take to have a grass field is way too much,” McEvoy said. “Paly does not have enough time or money to keep the field in good condition.”
However, some athletes feel tat Paly made the wrong deci-sion in choosing artifi-cial turf. Concerns arose about surface conditions, a greater incidence of injuries and higher tem-peratures.
“I think that for soccer, it is different than foot-ball and other sports be-cause the surface really affects the ball’s bounce and the ability to control the ball,” senior Teresa
Noyola said. While head athletic trainer Stacy Kof-
man was adamant in her assurance that there are no statistical differences in inju-ries between turf and grass, some athletes are not as confident.
“Last year, I was injured playing on turf in a football tournament,” junior run-
“I’m more confident in mak-ing cuts and throws when I don’t have to worry about my feet slipping out from under me,” junior quarterback Will Brandin said.
by Marco Scola and Natalie Gauthier
420,000gallons of water saved per year
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ning back Sam Tompkins said. “My cleat got caught in the surface and I tore my ACL. It’s going to be hard for me to learn to trust turf.”
Rather than absorbing heat from the sun as natural grass does, synthetic turf reflects it. According to Kofman, these reflections will increase the temperatures on and around the field by up to 20 degrees, which has made some athletes un-easy.
“I am definitely concerned about the field temperatures,” added Tompkins. “Practices are hard enough without added concerns like dehydration and heat stroke.”
Although many Paly athletes have expressed their desires to have a natural grass field such as Stanford University’s, it was never really part of the discus-sion. Maintaining a natural grass field at Division 1 quality would cost some-where in the ballpark (no pun intended) of $30,000 to $35,000 annually.
With the new field, Paly will save roughly 420,000 gallons of water per year. In addition, the 14 man-hours a week once needed to keep the field in playing condition will now be spent improving other parts of campus. The countless gallons of paint and gas once used to keep the grass cut and lined will no longer be necessary, as all lines will now permanently be sewn into the turf, making it virtually self-maintained.
These advantages all translate into tens of thousands of dollars that will be re-circulated into the school.
“We never do enough maintenance,” McEvoy said. “Now we will have time to work on other things on campus.”
Paly will have the additional opportunity to further improve athletic facilities if a new bond that will be vot-ed on in June is passed. The bond would provide the district about
200 million dollars primarily for the pur-pose of improving athletic facilities at Paly, according to athletic director and football coach Earl Hansen.
Proposed changes include include: a new dance studio, a PE classroom and increasing the size of the current weight-room. All of these facilities would be built between the small and big gym, behind the pool area. Hansen would also like to install new home bleachers on the football field, and renovate and expand the snack shack.
However, one of the most important proposals is to turf Paly’s other fields. According to Hansen, pending the new bond passing, the school plans to install synthetic turf on the lacrosse field while keeping the baseball field natural grass.
The new turf has the administration’s endorsement, as well as the coaches’ and athletes’ approval. Athletes are looking for-ward to finally playing on the new field.
“This change couldn’t have come at a better time for us,” junior strong-safety Will Holder said. “I can’t wait to get out on that new field for the first time. The old one kept getting worse and worse, and was al-most unplayable. I don’t know how we let it get this bad, but any worse and it would have been a total disaster.” <<<
$35,000cost to maintain natural grass field annually
WHEREDO WESTAND?
his spring, The Viking decided to take on a daunting task: evaluating and analyzing each of the fields in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL). We felt that
given the upcoming renovations to both Paly and Gunn’s facilities, it would be interesting to see where Paly stands in comparison to other SCVAL schools.
In total, The Viking traveled to 15 schools around the peninsula, rating each field and facility individually. We evaluated the 14 SCVAL schools Paly competes against, but eliminated San Jose-based Lynbrook from our survey, due to the limited number of games Paly plays against them. We also added two additional schools that commonly appear as opponents on Paly sports schedules: St. Francis High School, a private institution in Mountain View, and Menlo Atherton High School, a large public school located two miles north of Paly.
The Viking used St. Francis as an example of what can be built with essentially unlimited funding. Menlo Atherton was included to give perspective on a large, neighboring school that competes in a different league (Peninsula Athletic League).
RATING CRITERIA Instead of giving each school one overall rating, we split the rating process into three categories that best encapsulated the most important characteristics of a quality facility: playability, fan experience, and X-factor. Each category covers a different aspect of the field’s overall condition (see below for detailed explanations), and we scored each field at each school in each category on a scale of 1-10 (1 = unplayable, 10 = professional level). In addition, we gathered a “player rating” for each school by inviting more than 20 Paly athletes to add their evaluations and feedback to the overall rating.
OVERALL RATING While each category is important in its own right, playability is the most essential factor for an athlete, and we weighted it most heavily. Here is the formula we used:
Playability = 40%Fan experience = 20%X-Factor = 20%Player rating = 20%
WhERE PALY sTANds… After visiting over 100 fields and compiling nearly 400 ratings, the numbers show that Paly’s athletic facilities overall are inadequate, resulting in a 10th place ranking. Cross-town rival Gunn fared worst, finishing dead last. Both schools featured some of the worst grass surfaces in the survey, evident in their low “playability” ratings. While a generous anonymous donation of $2 million to turf Paly and Gunn’s football fields will improve matters (see page 40 “Turf it Up”), The Viking strongly believes that more is necessary to bring Paly and Gunn up to par. The proposed $387 million facilities bond for PAUSD schools, which is up for a municipal vote on June 3, would provide the much needed revenue to bring Palo Alto’s athletic facilities up to par. If passed, around $80 million would come to Paly to improve the physical plan of the school, including athletics.
Playability...For the playability category we primarily noted the condition of its surface. Other factors included were field measurements, field obstacles, player access to a bench or locker room, and suitability for the sports that play on it. Turf fields were evaluated by the quality of the turf, ranging from rankings of 7-9. Any dirt track automatically received a rank-ing of 2, with additional subtracted points if warranted.
Player rating...We assembled a panel of athletes from a vari-ety of sports, and asked them to give an overall rating of the other fields they had played on. We then averaged the ratings from all the panelists to create the “player rating.” Any un-attributed quotes come from the panel.
Fan experience...When judging fan experience, we kept in mind one simple question: Would this be an enjoyable place to spend an afternoon? Close parking proximity, view of the game, amount of shade and seat-ing quality were all in the criteria for fan experience. Also examined was acces-sibility to bathrooms and fan proximity to the game.
X-factor...The X-factor essentially includes all miscellaneous aspects of the sporting facilities. We considered whether or not schools had lighting, scoreboards, snack shops, additional facilities such as batting cages or warm-up space, and press boxes. Addition-ally, we evaluated the aesthetics and professionalism of the fields, from intriguing field designs to beautiful locations. Rating X-factor differed from rating the other categories. Each field started at a neutral rating of 5, and any positive or negatives that we saw added or subtracted to this score. For example, we rated St. Francis’s baseball stadium a 10 because it had lights, a professionally designed field, extensive batting cages, a press box and a snack shop.
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R A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W NR A T I N G S B R E A K D O W N
CUPERTINO
61.66.35.8 5.4playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (9th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Baseball
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Track
---”The outfield is fun to play in with the big wall in left and the deep centerfield.”
Impressive baseball field saves Cupertino from bottom tier... Despite a poor dirt track and mediocre softball diamond, Cupertino has an array of quality fields that lands it in ninth place in our survey, right behind Mountain View. The first thing that caught our attention was the baseball diamond, whose towering fence in left field is reminiscent of the Green Monster at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox. Right next to the baseball diamond is the football field, equipped with lights and nicely kept grass. However, what ultimately brings down Cupertino is its poor fan experience and X-Factor. Limited space and seating in the gym remind one of middle school and create a dull atmosphere for a high school game. Inconvienient parking also played a role in Cupertino’s mediocre spectator rating. Other negaives were Cupertino’s dirt track, which automatically received a two for playability, along with all other schools’ dirt tracks.
Fremont
566.35.55.3OVERALL (3rd)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Gym
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Track
---“The courts play pretty fast, they aren’t in great condition.”
Nothing special in Fremont’s facilities... The best factor on the Fremont campus is easy access to all athletic facilities. Large parking lots inhabit both sides of the school. All of Fremont’s fields are in one central area which is easy to navigate. Respectable grass playing fields play host to the football, baseball, softball and soccer teams. Lights surround the football stadium, as does a dirt track. The adjacent softball field lacks a fence in the out-field and comfortable bleachers. The gym is the best place to watch one of the many other sports such as basketball badminton and volleyball. Spectating is great within the friendly confines of the cozy gym. Opposite the gym lies it’s pool. With an abundance of lanes the pool can hold many swimmers during its practices and meets. The big downfall for Fremont is the fact that they have a dirt track which is very difficult to run on and results in poor times for both the home and visiting teams.
5.4player rating
FREMONT
56.36.35.5 5.3playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (11th)
4.9player rating
Gunn
??4.05.1 4.5OVERALL (Last)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Tennis
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Soccer
---”Their gym is pretty new, its your stereotypical gym.”
Gunn’s horrific grass fields and crammed pool drop it to dead last in our standings...Like Paly, Gunn is in the midst of a major renovation, and as a result its fields are in bad shape. Unfortunately for Gunn, things are not much better without bulldozers in their outfield. Gunn’s athletic facilities are disastrous. The main football field consists of dry, torn-up grass, and has limited spectator seating. Gunn physical education teacher and Paly boys soccer coach Don Briggs came to the Titan’s defense. “Things aren’t looking great because the football field hasn’t been watered in over three weeks,” Briggs said. Sorry, Coach, but it’s not only the football field that is struggling. From an old and undersized pool, to an unplayable soccer field, Gunn’s fields give us little to compliment. One of the only bright spots in the facilities is the tennis courts, which are surrounded by full-blown bleachers, the only school in the SCVAL to have this feature. However, this can not save Gunn from 15th (last) place in The Viking’s rankings.
Homestead
505.35.1 4.8OVERALL (13th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Gym/ Track
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Football
---”The gym is big with lots of green, but the lines are hard to see.”
Homestead’s shaky football field dictates its me-diocrity... .Plagued with poor grass all across campus, Homestead High School houses some of the least playable fields in the SCVAL. No lights, a weak set of bleachers, and a rock-hard playing surface fail to provide the Mustang’s football field with an intimate atmosphere for home games. Though it’s not quite as hard as the football field, the remaining grass surfaces still are not pleasant to play on. Like many other schools without great playing fields, the Mustang’s one bright spot is its newly renovated swimming center that unfortunately lacks room for spectators. Other than the swimming pool, there are no noticeable attempts to beautify the athletic fields, which scored no higher than a five under the X-Factor category. Indoors, Homestead fares slightly bet-ter with a gym that is slightly above average. However, even this is not enough to salvage their overall rating.
GUNN
434.05.1 4.5playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (15th)
3.9player rating
Gunn
??4.05.1 4.5OVERALL (Last)
HOMESTEAD
50.45.3 5.1 4.8playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (13th)
4.7player rating
Los Altos
707.5 5.9 6.4OVERALL (2nd)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Baseball
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Gym
---”Their track is pretty much your average high school stadium.”
A beautiful, multipurpose turf complex and impec-cable baseball diamond carry Los Altos... The Los Altos High School sports complex is one of the finest athletic facilities in the SCVAL, and placed second in our rankings. From its main turf field, used for both football, soccer, and track, to its well-kept baseball diamond, Los Altos provides great playing surfaces for all of its athletes. The baseball diamond, which is located adjacent to the foot-ball stadium, provides a comfortable atmosphere for a game and has one of the most obscure fences in the league. The main cause for concern for Los Altos lies within the spec-tating arena. With no lights, all football games are played during the day, where fans are blinded by the low angle of the blazing afternoon sun. Tennis matches are also difficult to observe because of limited seating. The complex also benefits from an intimate neighborhood setting surrounding all of the fields, creating a funenviornment to play in.
Los Gatos
676.9 6.9 6.6OVERALL (6th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Swimming
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Football
---”The soccer field is filled with mud. it’s a big mud wrestling pen.”
Beautiful location and consistent fields boost Gatos into the top half of our rankings... Nestled between the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Los Gatos High School athletic complex is nearly as beautiful as the scenic views. With no artificial turf on campus, the Wild-cats take good care of their grass fields, which, excluding the mediocre football field grass, have consistent quality. Many practices and games can take place during night-time because of the lights on their football field, softball field and tennis courts. he uniquely shaped outfield fence on the baseball diamond is a breath of fresh air from the stereotypical symmetrical fence used by most high schools.Also, Gatos’ swimming complex is spectacular. Vast in both pool size and spectator space, the swimming pool is great for both swimmers and fans. Overall the Los Gatos athletic complex nice playing surfaces along with superb spectating areas, landing it within the top six.
Gunn
??4.05.1 4.5OVERALL (Last)
LOS ALTOS
70.37.5 5.96.4playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (2nd)
7.9player rating
Los Altos
707.5 5.9 6.4OVERALL (2nd)
Gunn
??4.05.1 4.5OVERALL (Last)
LOS GATOS
67.46.9 6.96.6playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (6th)
6.4player rating
Menlo
686.67.1 5.6OVERALL (4rd)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Swimming
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Baseball
---”It’s the typical turf field for soccer, nothing too memorable. It’s definitely not the best type of turf.”
Menlo Atherton’s tremendous fan-experience and solid playing surfaces stand out... Menlo Atherton High School, a member of the Pennsiula Ath-letic League, falls into our survey due to its close proximity to the Paly campus (2.4 miles away). Its football stadium holds claim to interesting painted bleachers, easy access to both bathrooms and a snack shop, and handicap acces-sible bleachers. The stadium is the focal point for the Bears athletic complex. Soccer, lacrosse, and track all share the stadium with the football team. However, MA fails to bring the same excitement from its football field to its baseball field, which was the lowest rated field in our survey. From a rock-hard artificial turf infield, to a dangerous right field corner, the baseball field overall is not in the best of shape.On the other side of the campus are both the pool and ten-nis courts which are both well suited for both the players and the fans.
Milpitas
696.9 6.47.1OVERALL (3rd)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Baseball
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Swimming
---”Really nice stadium, only 2 or 3 years old. It has amazing hurdles.”
Milpitas’ all-turf outdoor facilities shine... Mipitas’ recently renovated complex features a trio of fields -- football, softball, and baseball -- that are among the best of their kind. The unique baseball is turfed everywhere except the pitchers mound and batters box, and has a high wall in left and a short porch in right. The softball field has a similar turfing set up, and is nestled nicely next to cam-pus. The football/soccer stadium is simply outstanding, with a high quality turf field and spiffy seating. Even its alter-nate soccer field outclasses many of the other fields in the league. Milpitas’ complex is one of the few that truly feels like a complex, with a well thought out layout and cohesive look. Unfortunately, the tennis courts surface is one of the worst of the fields that we saw, and the pool is also subpar compared to the other facilities. While the gym is clean and has a nice entryway, it is cramped inside and has so many different lines on the court that it’s hard to find the 3-point line.
Los Altos
707.5 5.9 6.4OVERALL (2nd)
Gunn
??4.05.1 4.5OVERALL (Last)
MENLO ATHERTON
68.26.6 7.1 5.6playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (4th)
8.2player rating
MILPITAS
68.66.96.47.1playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (3rd)
7.0player rating
Monta
474.64.84.0OVERALL (14th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Tennis
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Track
---”Their pool is very highly chlorinated.”
Monta Vista’s appalling football stadium leaves it at the bottom of the barrel... Watching a football game at Monta Vista High School is like watching 22 padded players run around the town dump. Old rusty containers line the outskirts of the field along with a dirt track. A concoction of both mud and dirt highlight the uneven playing surface, and with no permanent scoreboard, it is no wonder that the Matadors only host one game a year; they play the rest of their games at nearby Cupertino. The remaining grass fields (baseball, soccer and softball) are not anything to write home about either. The outdoor field situation is a weari-some topic with AD and head baseball coach Brian Sullivan. “It’s frustrating knowing that other schools have better facilities than we do, but we deal with it best we can,” Sullivan said. The track is so unplayable that the track team will not play host to a track meet this year. With no immediate plans for new fields the Matadors will simply have to deal with what they have.
Mountain
637.1 5.45.0OVERALL (8th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Softball
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Swimming
---”They have cracks every where. They’re really close to close together, and they have absolutely no traction.”
Mountain View boasts one of the finer complexes... The Mountain View High School complex features some very nice fields, earning a 7.1 in the playability category. How-ever, the wide layout and limited parking near several of the fields brings down the overall atmosphere. Negatives in-clude one of the smallest swimming pool/deck, in the entire SCVAL, along with poorly designed tenis courts. “They used poor gravel causing the courts to look very unpleasant,” said head tennis coach Frank Smith. On the positive side Mountain View has one of the nicest grass soccer fields in the area used for both the girls and boys games. The gym is located right in the center of the campus. With the seats located right near the court it provides a great homefield advantage for the home team. The Spartan’s football team plays on your average turf field but with no lights and small seating capacity the games are less than enjoyable to at-tend on Friday afternoons.
MONTA VISTA
47.34.64.8 4.0playabilityplayability
fan experiencex-factorx-factor
OVERALL (14th)
5.7player rating
MOUNTAIN VIEW
637.1 5.45.0playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (8th)
6.9player rating
HIGHEST RATED OVERALL
st. Francis LancersChris Bradford stadium
Monta Vista’s appalling football stadium leaves it at the bottom of the barrel... Watching a football game at Monta Vista High School is like watching 22 padded players run around the town dump. Old rusty containers line the outskirts of the field along with a dirt track. A concoction of both mud and dirt highlight the uneven playing surface, and with no permanent scoreboard, it is no wonder that the Matadors only host one game a year; they play the rest of their games at nearby Cupertino. The remaining grass fields (baseball, soccer and softball) are not anything to write home about either. The outdoor field situation is a weari-some topic with AD and head baseball coach Brian Sullivan. “It’s frustrating knowing that other schools have better facilities than we do, but we deal with it best we can,” Sullivan said. The track is so unplayable that the track team will not play host to a track meet this year. With no immediate plans for new fields the Matadors will simply have to deal with what they have.
HIGHEST RATED OVERALL
st. Francis LancersChris Bradford stadium
10 1010playability fan experience x-factor
At first glance, if you didn’t know you were at a high school you would think that the St. Francis baseball sta-dium was home to a minor baseball league team. Located on the south-west part of the campus directly behind the football stadium, it is the most spectacular part of St. Francis’ extravagant athletic complex. An efficient grounds crew keeps the field, which is indicated with a lawn pattern in the outfield, in top shape throughout the season. Equipped with lights, a large grandstand, and numerous batting cages beyond the left field fence, the stadium is a true spectacle for both the players and the fans.
Saint
858.68.48.3OVERALL (1st)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Baseball
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Tennis
---”Playing at St. Francis’ baseball stadium is like playing in a college or minor league stadium.”
St. Francis runs away with first place with spec-tacular baseball field and football stadium ... St. Francis is the epitome of excellent athletic fields. With an astoundingly beautiful baseball stadium and multipurpose, first-rate turf field, the private school powerhouse ranks several steps above the rest of the pack. The aquatic center lies directly next to the football stadium and provides both great playability as well as spectating for the fans. The Lancers softball park, located in the shadows of the football fields bleachers, is just like the swimming pool with a great playing surface along with a relaxing atmosphere. The only drawback to the St. Francis complex is the absence of ten-nis courts; the Lancers are forced to walk some distance to a nearby park for their home games. But other than this fault, St. Francis is as close to perfection as possible for high school athletics.
Santa
637.0 5.55.0OVERALL (7th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Track
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Swimming
---”They have perfect grass which allows you to play perfect soccer.”
Santa Clara sports an excellent grass fields...The nicest grass field in all of SCVAL resides at Santa Clara High School, home to both the football and soccer teams. Outfitted with lights and a large cheering section for both home and away fans the stadium is a great place to watch a game. However, permanent concession stands and bath-rooms were not visible from the field. Surrounding the grass fields is a newly constructed track. Providing a little bounce in the runner’s step and no wear or tear along the inside lanes the track is just as nice as the playing field it sits next to. Aside from their main stadium the other facilities on their campus remain completely average. Their baseball field and tennis courts located on the western side of campus are a bit of a walk especially when parked in the schools main parking lot. Seating arrangements are also a bit of an issue particularly within the aquatic and center and the tennis courts which fail to offer sitting for more than a handful of people
Mountain
637.1 5.45.0OVERALL (8th)
ST. FRANCIS
85.48.68.48.3playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (1st)
8.8player rating
Monta
474.64.84.0OVERALL (14th)
SANTA CLARA
63.27.0 5.5 5.0playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (7th)
5.7player rating
67.87.46.2 5.9OVERALL (12th)
7.0
WILCOX
Saratoga
687.46.25.9OVERALL (5th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Swimming
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Baseball
---”The gym is pretty new, with a nice floor and a good set-up.”
Saratoga features beautiful playing surfaces... A mere three miles down the road from its rival Los Gatos, Saratoga seems to have bragging rights for the condition of its playing fields. The newly constructed football and soc-cer stadium is equipped with grade A artificial turf as well as lights, and is the attention grabber within the complex. The turf field is surrounded by a respectable baseball field and tennis courts, which surprisingly has a set of bleachers where the fans can enjoy the tennis matches. Also on campus is a well-kept grass field for the field hockey team. The only area in which Saratoga is lacking is the X-factor, earning a 5.9 due to little or no eye catching attractions. The gym located near the center of campus is bland with a simple seating arrange-ment almost identical to that of Los Gatos. In the immediate vicinity of the gym lies the Saratoga pool. Large enough for both swim meets and water polo matches its a spectacular for the players. However, low seating capacity for the fans makes the aquatic activities less enjoyable to watch.
6.44.94.9OVERALL (12th)
HIGHEST RATED FACILITY: Baseball
LOWEST RATED FACILITY: Track
---“Their gym actually seems a little old; like it needs a couple fixer- uppers here and there... you can tell it’s been there for awhile.”
Baseball only bright spot for perennial power... Wilcox’s complex strength lies solely in its stellar baseball field. Despite some deficiencies in terms of fan experience (a lack of quality seating), the well-manacured grass is one of the best we saw. However, encountering the track will erase all the positive memories you have. Wilcox’s track is a dirt oval, on which one of our staff members almost twisted their ankle just walking around surveying the neigobrhood. There was a sign posted on the track announcing future renovatons, so perhaps there is hope. Wilcox also sports fabulous tennis courts, which rated among the highest in the league in playability. The other weak point is the swim-ming pool, which is small and cramped, and does not pro-vide adequate space and seating. The rest of Wilcox’s fields came in the middle of the pack in almost every category. In other words, they were nothing special. However, aside from the two aforementioned fields, there were no disasters ether.
Saint
858.68.48.3OVERALL (1st)
Mountain
637.1 5.45.0OVERALL (8th)
67.87.46.2 5.9playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (5th)
7.0player rating
SARATOGA
7.46.25.98.68.48.35.45.0 67.87.46.2 5.9playability
fan experiencex-factor
OVERALL (12th)
7.0player rating
WILCOX
Gunn
??4.05.1 4.5OVERALL (Last)
PALY58.75.85.66.5
playabilityfan experience
x-factor
OVERALL (10th)
5.7player rating
3 1 3playability fan experience x-factor
LACROSSE
Lowest Rated
52 | The Viking
Exceptional swimming and track saves Paly from bottom three...While Paly fares better than its cross-town rival Gunn, it still features some of the worse playing surfaces in the SCVAL and finishes 10th in our ratings. The lacrosse field, soccer field, baseball out-field, and football field all have extremely uneven and poorly kept grass, which detrimentally affects game play. Fan experience also takes a hit with most of these fields, as neither the lacrosse nor the soccer fields has any space or seating for spectators. Even the baseball seating is mediocre and the football stands need renovating. However, not everything is lost for Paly’s facilities. The recently built swimming complex is one of the best pools in the league and the track’s soft and cushiony surface is a rarity. The classic style and old-school atmosphere of the facilities help Paly’s X-factor rating and saves these fields from even lower scores. The gym and football field especially have this quality. All Paly needs is some decent grass to be among the best complexes in the SCVAL.
The lacrosse field is a mess. With rock-hard, dry and uneven grass, along with very limited area for players and fans, there are not a lot positive things to say about the lacrosse field. While the quality of the grass speaks for itself – it’s just outright bad – the next direst problem with the field is the lack of space. On the sidelines, the playing lines run right up against the edges of the grass, and on the ends there are long, sloped hills right behind each goal. This means that there is literally no room for spectators to view the game comfortably, and for the players to play behind the goal. The atmosphere of the field also isn’t great; a busy El Camino Real runs on one side while an unattractive bunch of shrubs lies on the other.
“The grass is really uneven and
there isn’t really any space...”
7 6 9playability fan experience x-factor
GYM
The Viking FavoRite
9 8 8playability fan experience x-factor
SWIMMING POOL
HigHest Rated
The Viking | 53
Renovated during the 2005 school year, the Mackenzie Aquatic Center provides an excellent home for both the water polo and swim teams. The pool itself is not the only attraction in the aquatic center. Grassy landscape borders a portion of the facility along with a team room used for numerous occasions throughout both water polo and swimming seasons. With ten racing lanes and an abundance of warm up lanes, the pool is able to house many major swimming tournaments each year. Two sets of bleachers are also on sight to provide for superb viewing options during the season.
The Viking chose the Paly gym as our favorite because of its unique and traditional feel. While it may not have the state-of-the-art look that some other gyms have, it is one of the few gyms in our survey that has seating up above the court, which makes for an exciting atmosphere. The gym is convenient for spectators because of the large, nearby parking lot, as well as a frequently run snack stand at the front of the complex. We also noted that the Paly gym is a symbol for our athletic facilities. Its old-fashioned and worn-down, but charming, style represents the overall feel of most of our fields.
SWIMMING POOL
“It’s really big and it has a lot of warm up space. It also has a nice, collegiate atmosphere.”
“No gym is as cool as our Paly gym. I love that ‘pit style’ gym.”
Flaming ControversyFlaming Controversy
earing and ducking its head to the rhythm of drums, a Chinese dragon wove around a group of Olympic sup-
porters. Waving Chinese, American and Olympic flags in the air, the supporters cel-ebrated the arrival of the Olympic torch to San Francisco, marking the countdown to China’s Olympic Games. However, the cel-ebratory atmosphere only extended so far. Nearby, rows and rows of policemen in full riot gear lined San Francisco’s overcrowded streets. Protesters were yelling, hoisting flags, resorting to violence, and doing what-ever they could to be heard.
The Olympic torch passed through San Francisco on April 9 for its only North American stop. San Francisco was origi-nally chosen as one of 23 cities along the torch’s route because of its large Chinese population and support for China’s bid to host the Olympic Games. However, an equal showing of supporters and protesters
crowded San Francisco’s streets to catch a glimpse of a torch that most of them would never see.
Due to the masses of protesters lining the torch’s planned route and the possibil-ity of violent encounters similar to those at previous stops, officials made a last min-ute decision to change the route and cancel the closing ceremony. Instead of passing through thousands of passionate support-ers and protesters, the torch bearers took a back route past a small audience of police officers. As politics dominate the celebra-tion of the world coming together through sports, it is easy to see that the Olympics are no longer just fun and games.
Among the anti-China activists were groups protesting China’s human rights vio-lations in Tibet and its involvement in the conflicts in Sudan and Burma. Using the event’s international spotlight, groups of protesters raised anti-China signs, donned
t-shirts and chanted protests, bringing the world’s attention to China’s alleged human rights offenses.
The majority of the anti-China demon-strators were protesting China’s rule in Ti-bet, claiming China is violently oppressing Tibet and that Tibet should be a free country. Chinese supporters claim Tibet is and will always be a part of China and that China is helping the Tibetans.
“We support the Olympic Games, but we want the Chinese to know their govern-ment is wrong,” said Tenzin Wangchuk, an Oakland resident and President of Tibetan Association of Northern California. “We’re not here against the Chinese people. We’re here to stand up against a regime of brutal force.”
Chinese supporters were enraged at the accusations against their country. They waved flags fiercely and rebutted the pro-testers’ accusations, defending their coun-
54 | The Viking
R
Views clash when the Olympic torch makes a stop in San Francisco...
Photo by Cassie Prioleau
BY C ASSIE PRIOLEAU Photography by Viking staff
The Viking | 55
try’s honor.“Go ask ‘Free Tibet’ how many of them
have been to Tibet and have seen the condi-tions there,” John Hu, 30, of Milpitas said. “They listen to whatever they hear.”
Protesters were not only concerned with China’s involvement in Tibet, but in Burma and Sudan as well.
Sam Herzog, a sophomore at Paly, joined the protest against China’s supposed support of the genocide in Sudan. “I went because I could see the effects of my actions,” Herzog said. “It was powerful. The whole world is against this and they’re finally getting the message. Some-thing has to change.”
It is uncertain how much the controversy over the torch will affect the games them-selves. There has been talk of boycotting the opening ceremony or the games alto-gether but no one knows if the extremity last taken in 1980 at the Moscow Olympics will happen again. Some think the United States should take a stand and boycott the games altogether, but a boycott of traditions such as the opening ceremony is more likely.
“Tibet staying a part of China is more important than saving the Games,” Hu said. “If countries choose to boy-cott, China will choose Tibet over the Olympics.”
Paly senior Liv Jensen, has a strong chance of attend-ing the Beijing Olympics as a swimmer. (For a profile see page 20). She thinks politics have no place in sports and the Olympics.
“If there was a boycott I’d be really upset,” Jensen said. “It’s your one chance and if you don’t get to participate in the Olympics because of poli-tics it’s ridiculous.”
Though the Olympics have historically been po-liticized, there are still many people who believe sports and politics should remain untan-gled.
“The Tibet issue, no mat-
ter how you feel, should not be used to dis-turb the Olympics,” Charles Mu, 40, of San Jose said. “This is sports, not politics.”
With clashing views in such close prox-imity, the potential for violence was high. Officials foresaw this and lined the streets with police, many adorned in full riot gear.
The torch made a brief public appear-ance in the opening ceremony at McCovey Cove in front of enthusiastic supporters. Of-ficials decided the planned route along the Embarcadero was not secure enough to en-sure the safety of the torch and its bearers.
Taking a stand: A young boy joins the protest against China’s pres-cence in Tibet.
“Mayor Newsom got back on the bus and said they could not adequately secure the route,” Todd Lincoln, a torchbearer from Palo Alto, said. “We were given the option to go ahead with the relay but in the alternate route, so off we went. Not even my family knew were I was headed.”
After receiving the torch at the opening ceremony, the first torchbearer ran the flame into a warehouse and the entire relay was stealthily transported across the city. The wake of protesters and supporters following it never caught up to the moving target.
“I was eagerly anticipating the run amongst the large crowd and was disappointed that it did not fully materialize,” Lincoln said. The shortened route meant the 80 runners only got to run about a block and a half each. The Olympic ideals of unity and harmony were not present, despite the hopes of many peo-ple. “I felt the political aspects of the event had entirely engulfed the spirit of the Olympics,” Lin-coln said. “I thought the run was exciting and worthwhile, but not inspiring.” The protests and politics of the Olympics are overwhelming the true Olympic spirit. “The Olympics should be about competing against the best peo-ple in this world, getting to know people, and being immersed in your sport,” Jensen said. After missing the relay, many spectators hoped to see the torch at the closing ceremony. Howev-er, the torch’s course once again was changed and the torchbear-ers headed straight for the airport and on to Buenos Aires. “It was disappointing,” Herzog said. “It was San Francisco’s time to shine. It was the only stop in North America and peo-ple came from all over. So many people just went to see the torch and so many people didn’t see what they came for. It was kind of cowardly.”
Though the torch’s route change disappointed many peo-ple, it prevented the mounting
Photo by John Christopherson
potential for violence. The torch’s prior stops in London and Paris were uncon-trollable, with protesters attempting to extinguish the torch and police force in heavy use. Austin Wang, a Paly freshman, per-formed Wushu, a highly respected form of Chinese martial arts, with a group from Stanford along the original route. Though their performance was not can-celled, Wang and his group felt uncom-fortable amongst the numerous anti-Chi-na demonstrators and did not get to see the torch.
56 | The Viking
Counter clockwise from top left:Though protests against China made an immeasur-able impact, they were peaceful for the most part.
Policemen line sidewalks crowded with Chinese sup-porters.
A Chinese supporter stands atop a bus holding the Chinese flag high.
The Olympic torch was seen briefly at the Opening Ceremony before its route was changed.
Of the numerous protesters, many traveled to San Francisco to protest China’s rule in Tibet.
Passionate Pro-Tibet supporters chant their protests against China.
“It’s a no-win situation,” Wang said. “You can either let the torch go on its route and have a big riot, have lots of people ar-rested and have people potentially get hurt. Or you can move the torch as they did, not have people see it, but keep people safe.”
Though the day was relatively peaceful, the celebration of China’s first Olympics was squandered by the political aspect of the day.
“The political complexity of the event overshadowed all and definitely dampened any celebratory aspects of the relay,” Lin-coln said. <<<
Photo by Cassie Prioleau
Photo by Cassie Prioleau
Photo by John Christopherson
The Viking | 57
Photo by Cassie Prioleau
Photo by Cassie Prioleau
Photo by Cassie Prioleau
As the world’s attention is drawn to the Olympics, activists are pre-sented with a perfect opportunity to make highly publicized political statements. Po-litical protests made regarding the Olym-pics have often been powerful, violent, dev-astating, and have changed the face of the Olympics.
1936 Berlin Summer OlympicsHitler saw the Berlin Olympics as a per-
fect opportunity to show off his country and reinforce his belief of Aryan superior-ity. German athletes claimed most medals as Hitler had hoped, but African-American sprinter Jesse Owens upset the games by taking home four gold medals and set-ting the Olympic record for the 200-meter sprint. Hitler considered African-Ameri-cans to be inferior and “non-humans” and was enraged by Owens’ victories over his “superior” Aryan athletes.
1968 Mexico City Summer OlympicsIn the middle of the Civil Rights move-
ment, African-American Olympians Tom-my Smith and John Carlos took first and third place in the 200-meter sprint. On the podium, Smith and Carlos raised black-gloved fists and bowed their heads in the “black power” salute as a worldwide state-ment of black pride. Their black-gloved fists symbolizing black power and unity, the
When politics get in the game...
58 | The Viking
two were also shoeless, wearing black socks representing black poverty. Smith also wore a black scarf around his neck as a symbol of black pride and Carlos wore beads representing the African-Americans who had been lynched and killed. The Aus-tralian bronze medalist on the podium with them joined the silent yet powerful protest by wearing an OPHR (Olympic Project for Human Rights) badge.
As a result of the salutes, the athletes were expelled from the Olympic Games, withdrawn from relays and banished from the Olympic village. The Olympics pro-ceeded as usual but many Americans felt the timing and nature of the statement was unpatriotic.
1972 Munich Summer OlympicsTwo weeks into the Munich Olympics,
eight members of a Palestinian terrorist group named Black September snuck into the Israeli Olympic team’s dorms. In the dorm, they killed two Israeli Olympians and held nine hostages. The terrorists had three demands: a safe passage out of Germany, the freedom of 234 Arab prisoners in Israel and the release of two German-imprisoned terrorists. A phony agreement lead Black September to helicopters, where German gunmen waited with orders to simultane-ously shoot the Palestinians. However, the
plan backfired, and a member of Black September set off a grenade, killing every-one in the first helicopter. The terrorists in the second shot the remaining hostages. In the 24-hour period, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches, as well as one German police-man, were killed. Five of the eight terror-ists were dead and the remaining three were captured.
Black September used the Olympics to cast the world’s spotlight on their long standing grievances with Israel. The Olym-pic Games were put on hold as the whole world responded with shock and griev-ance.
1980 Moscow Summer OlympicsIn protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion
of Afghanistan, 64 countries, including the United States, boycotted the Moscow Sum-mer Olympics. Many American Olympi-ans who had trained their entire lives, wait-ing for their chance to compete with the world’s elite athletes, had to retire to their televisions, watching the Soviet Union dominate the Games, and claim a total of 195 medals. The could-have-been Olympi-ans were stripped of their shining moment because of a political statement America wanted to make. <<<
Photo by John Christopherson
By Cassie Prioleau
2008 NFL Draft: My TakeBest Drafts of 2008...
By Oliver Davies
The Viking | 59
Worst Drafts of 2008...
The Teams That Scored Big...Pittsburgh Steelers: With their first pick, the Steelers took bruising running back Rashard Mendenhall, who will complement their speedy star Willie Parker. In addition, the Steelers nabbed wide receiver Limas Sweed and Dennis Dixon, Ogregon’s quarterback with one of the biggest upsides in the draft.
Carolina Panthers: The Panthers entered the 2008 Draft with two first round picks, and used them wisely. They made key additions to their backfield and offensive line with Jonathan Stewart and Jeff Otah.
Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals finished Saturday and Sunday’s draft with a list full of high-risk picks. The Cardinals grabbed Rodgers-Cromartie out of Tennessee State with the 16th pick. Also, the Cardinals pounced on wide receiver Early Doucet, LSU’s talented star, when he slipped into the thrid round.
The Teams That Lost Big...Oakland Raiders: While Darren McFadden was arguably the best player in the draft, the Raiders’ pick simply added talent to an already strong running back corps. Raiders Owner Al Davis’ draft strategy of “best available player” hurt the Raiders in this draft, as they addressed none of their needs.
San Francisco 49ers: While San Francisco believes it had a great draft, I beg to differ. The first pick out of UNC, Kentwan Balmer, is an unproven athlete who is notorious for seemingly “taking plays off.” The Niners should have addressed more important positions with a safer pick in the 2008 Draft, rather than waste it on a player who would have been available in the second round.
Baltimore Ravens: The scouting department for the Baltimore Ravens made a bold move in this year’s draft by taking players from smaller schools. First-round pick Joe Flacco was relatively un-known until he displayed a monster performance at the scouting combine. The Ravens’ decision to hand the franchise to Flacco after a good combine raises many questions about their level of desperation this season.
ZOOMJunior Pascal Truninger knocks down a hurdle on route to his 110-meter hurdle win at the Los Altos dual meet on April 24th. Truninger finished in 16.90 seconds over Los Altos’ David Wobber and Paly ended up winning the meet 79-46. Photo by Charlie Avis
that day in Anaheim, while the whole Viking staff was kneeling at his feet, I was ready to kidnap him and offer him cookies.
Addressing his fans from the speaker’s pulpit, he told one of the most touching sports stories I have ever heard. I almost started tearing up when I heard him tell the story of Sarah Morris, and for those who don’t know me, that’s big news. I consider myself to be a mature, sensitive individual who is highly capable of making long-term commitments, but crying is not my thing. I haven’t made it rain since Mufasa died.
I insist you read Mr. Plaschke’s story about Sarah Morris, an avid Dodgers’ blogger with cerebral palsy who needs a head pointer to excruciatingly slowly type out her stories. Living thousands of miles away from Chavez Ravine in a small shanty of a house, Ms. Morris covers every game with the thoroughness of a major news reporter, but also with ten times the passion.
I hate to admit it, because I despise the Dodger blue, but this changes some things. The two people I respect most in the baseball world are now both Dodgers (no offense, Philly Fanatic; you’re still number three). Take a guess who the other is. (Hint: his number 42 will never be worn again by another man in major league baseball). That’s the ironic thing, I guess; I can be divided by my preferences and still have a world of respect for the
competition.That’s the way sports unites us.
We can disagree and fight about every level of them, but the essence behind them binds us together forever. So fight on, people! Come to blows if you must! It is truly a brotherly, or sisterly, experience.
Sports stretch beyond the physical confines of the playing field and hit us fans on a deeper level. It is
this concept that sports parallels the realities of life, the ups, downs and in betweens, which gets me thinking…that is so wrong. The truth is, reality parallels sports.
In my personal opinion, sports are a “chicken or the egg” question. Nobody can know for sure when the first humans walked the earth, but I have a theory. When he was only a few days old, an ancient caveman saw a wooly mammoth walking around and thought it would be great target practice for throwing spears. Boom, he hits his mark, kills it, has the random urge to eat it, and voila! Humans can eat enough to survive. So which came first, human sustenance and survival, or hunting for sport? I think you know.
Even today, all the little things we do in life start out as sport. For example, my friends and I like to play a game called Karma. You may have heard of it. I helped an old lady take out her trash today. Major points for me. Kushal, on the other hand, is currently losing badly, after a week that included spying on neighbors, public urination, and extremely inappropriate thoughts.
The point is, Bill Plaschke is sick, and what he says is sick. We at The Viking worship him and thank him for his interest in what we do as well. If nothing else, he got all of us thinking a little deeper about sports, and a little less about which sophomores we’ve hooked up with. Three cheers to Bill Plaschke! He’s our Chuck Norris with a word processor, our Tom Cruise with sports instead of Scientology.
The Last Word
62 | The Viking
Crying is not my thing. I haven’t made it rain since Mufasa died.
Bill Plaschke is so sick. (Parents, sick is a slang term meaning “awesome” or “stupendous.”) This was my good friend/arch enemy Peter Johnson’s conclusion after the staff of The Vikingwas officially put on Mister Plaschke’s radar when the staff met him in Anaheim this past month.
For those who don’t know who Mr. Plaschke, and if that’s you I demand you to go study up on your sports before you even think about traversing the breadth of sports knowledge in this magazine, let me indulge you. Mr. Plaschke is an award-winning sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
For those of you who, when trying to read the little letters, get all jumbled and confused, and might prefer the glowing box in your living room to tell you news, you can see Mr. Plaschke on ESPN’s Around the Horn.
I know that as an unified, Bay Area sports community, we have been raised to hate on LA, but this one time, we’ll cut Mr. Plaschke some slack.
Every little kid, and middle-aged man who lives alone has his idols while growing up. It’s a common fact that every dude has his little Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Pokémon obsession. In my case, I had all of them, plus a secret affinity for Hello Kitty products and Gossip Girl. For a group of naturally testosterone-filled (except Noah Sneider), young sportswriters, Bill Plaschke is our idol.
We’re like lions in The Viking; we fight each other for absolutely no reason but pride. We are the manliest of manly beings on this earth, including the girls. We do it substance free too (except Noah Sneider). Seriously, urine test all of us (except Noah Sneider).And yet still, when in the presence of an older, advanced version of ourselves as sports writers, we act like little boys on Christmas (or Hanukkah) morning.
In this man’s towering presence of sports knowledge, we (Noah, Ian, Greg, Peter, and I) got collectively giddy. Ian was all hot and flustered, looking like he finally just got asked out by Neal Ketchum after all these years of admiring him from a distance. (BTW: Ian and Neal are by far the sexiest roomate combo at any school in the country next year).
Bill Plaschke is so sick. I take him as he is, huge forehead and all. That’s what you do with a childhood hero. They are perfect in your eyes, and always will be. Seriously, I don’t care if Aladdin was a thief, I still love him unconditionally.
So you see, it doesn’t matter that Plaschke is sort of a mix between an un-evolved Thing from Fantastic Four and Bert from Sesame Street. He is perfect, and in the man I see a beautiful soul—the soul of a sports lover. You can see it in his eyes. I’m very jealous. His eyes are pools that women just want to do cannonballs into. He speaks like a sports fan’s messiah and, on
by Austin Smith
Plaschkeis
God(move aside, Neal Ketchum)
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