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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
AdvisorEllen 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.
Advertising in The VikingThe staff publishes advertisements with signed contracts providing they
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!
26 Golf27 Baseball28 Softball29 Boys’ Swimming30 Girls’ Swimming31 Track and Field32 Girls’ Lacrosse33 Badminton34 Boys’ Tennis35 Diving
4 | The Viking
LineupMarch 2008Volume I, Issue 4
F E A T U R E S SPRING SPORTS PREVIEWS2 0 0 8
WILL HOLDER39 Playing RoughJunior Will Holder is well-known for his exploits on the gridiron and the baseball diamond. However, Holder is most comfortable on a differnt type of field -- the rugby pitch.By Ahna Rao
MICHELA FOSSATI-BELLANI42 Caduca LiberaSenior Michela Fossati-Bellani set the CCS diving record in 2007. She is headed to USC on a diving scholarship. Next stop, a spot on the Italian National team for the 2012 Olympics.By Cassie Prioleau
What Went Wrong?Everyone knows what happened to the Paly boys’ basketball team -- but howdid it happen? The Viking investigates
the series of events that caused the Vikings to forfeit most of their season.
By Adam Zernik
42Like swimsuits? Michela Fossati-Bellani has plenty for everyone...
22
Lineup Departments
6 Letters to the Editors
10 KickoffSay WhatBy the NumbersPop CultureProm DatesWho’s Hot and Who’s Not10 Q’s with Wade HauserInside the Mind of Peter
Abrams
12 Snapshots
17 Paly Dance Company
19 Fencing
50 March MadnessThe Viking Bracket Predictions
52 Tour of California
59 Fantasy Baseball
60 Calendar
62 The Last Word
Departments
LineupThe Tour of California rolled
through Palo Alto and brought cycling to the forefront52
The Viking | 5
ALEXANDRA GROETSEMA45 Going GreenPaly does not offer a girls’ golf team, but for sophomore Alexandra Gro-etsema playing with the boys is not a problem.By Oana Enache
36 The MathleteCoach Jeff Billing left a high-paying job at Oracle to teach math and coach
track and cross-country at Paly. He couldn’t be happier.
By Matt Tracy and Oliver Davies
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
Kickoff
6 | The Viking
Dear Editors, The article in the February edition on “The Forgot-ten Ones” is an uncommonly mature perspective on the dreams and losses that are inevitable in life. The article idea is original and the execution is flawless, a com-pelling combination of past mingled with present and primary source points of view. If we could extend the lesson from sports to our experience with college rejec-tions, we’d trust that things work out. Successful people tend to make things happen rather than respond as pas-sive victims. When a door closes, there’s always anoth-er great opportunity to find and seize. Ian Kelly writes an instructive article, and the featured sportsmen, Brian Karvelas, Brook Seaman, and Connor Baskauskas, truly are winners.– Mrs. Van Der Burg - Paly English Teacher
Dear Editors,“I usually tell people I have an abusive lover, just to
freak them out.” (Caitlin Watson, junior, printed in the winter issue of The Viking)
Say what?I would hope for a bit more discretion among Viking
editors when choosing what to print in a high school sports magazine. The statement above is an insensitive insult to all teenagers who have had no choice but to experience an abusive family member or friend in their lives. This flip remark, which is thrown out as a ‘funny’ reason for the many bruises on Watson’s body after a soccer game, seems to have been made and approved by people who are oblivious to true physical abuse. It is not a funny line. It is offensive, and probably is more appropriate for a late-night TV talk show host oncable rather than a public high school journalism proj-ect.
The Viking owes an apology to its readers. Not ev-erything said is fit to print.
– Renate Steiner - Paly Parent The Viking magazine apologizes for publishing comments on abuse in a satirical tone. We will try to prevent such insensitivity in future editions of The Viking –The Viking Editors
Letters to the editors
Send feedback on The Viking issue #4 to [email protected]. All feedback is appreciated and most likely will be published based on the lack of comments for this issue (thank you Mrs. Steiner and Mrs. Van Der Burg for the emails). If you’re not an athlete, this is the best way to get your name in the magazine (other than creating some weird sport so we can write a feature on it).
Kickoff
The Viking | 7
Last month, Central Coast Section (CCS) forced the Paly basketball team to forfeit 15 games and their playoff hopes due to the ineligibility of one of its players. Principal Jackie McEvoy and Ath-letic Director Earl Hansen found discrepancies in senior Ed Hall’s transcript, and self-reported the issue to CCS. The Viking be-lieves that while it is the admin-istration’s p r i m a r y role to thoroughly check the eligibility of its stu-dents, and they are at fault to this extent, M c E v o y and Hansen made the ethical and professional move by promptly reporting the situation to CCS. The Viking commends the administration, Diepenbrock, Hall and the Paly basketball team for handling this unfortunate incident with class and integrity.
When Hall first moved to California in Novem-ber, a few things should have happened. First, the administration should have explicitly asked Hall if he had completed eight semesters of high school education. The administration should be aware of the foreign school systems, and given the importance of the graduate exams in Austra-
lia, more questions should have been asked about Hall’s high school progress. Second, the administra-tion should have requested for Hall’s transcript from the very beginning, and should not have allowed him to participate in basketball until they were sure he was eligible. While this was a unique situation
where certain circumstances made it diffi-cult to follow normal pro-tocol, it is the admin is t ra -tions respon-sibility to be thorough, and these foibles led to this tragedy.
D e s p i t e these mis-takes, The Viking be-lieves that
Paly showed its true colors in the aftermath of this incident. From Hansen initially reporting his suspi-cions, to McEvoy going to CCS, the administration and athletic department showed great responsibility in its handling of the situation. We owned up to our mistakes and did not twist the facts or cover anything up. And afterwards, instead of pointing fingers, the administration came together to decipher what went wrong, and how to best approach similar situations in the future. This was an extremely unfortunate incident, one that was preventable, but the school ultimately took steps forward in the weeks following.
Staff View:
Administration and coaches handled situation well
Kickoff
10 | The Viking
“I started fencing because I went to Pirate Camp.” —Nathan Wilen (Fencing, So.)
Making a Point, pg. 20
“I’m not going to lie, I’m a big, big chicken”—Michela Fossati-Bellani (Diving,Sr.)
Caduca Libera, pg. 46
“I had no idea that the Gunn game would be our last.”
—Nick Robinson (Basketball, Jr.) Whose Fault, pg. 22
“When I started playing on the boys’ team, the guys stepped up their games, because they’re not going to let a girl beat them.”
—Alexandra Groetsma (Golf, So.)Going Green, pg. 48
“I have never really figured out how many people are on my team.”
—Will Holder (Rugby, Jr.)Playing Rough, pg. 46
By theNumbers33-1Combined score of the Paly Baseball team’s first three (brutal) losses.
78 Senior Mike Scott’s personal high jump record in inches.
23 Losses (in 24 games) for the Paly Badminton team in the last two seasons.
43,452 Meters the Paly varsity swim team has swam this season. The equiva-lent of 27 miles.
Helene Zahoudanis (Lacrosse, Jr.)
Erin Kiefhaefer (Tack and Field, Fr.)
Ivan Zhou (Badminton, So.)
Pop Culture GridPaly athlete and sport Future
Child’s NameFavorite
Spice GirlDream Tattoo and Location
MVP (Most Valuable Pos-
session)
Post-Prom Plans
I don’t know Ginger A sun on my back CD player A sleep over with my friends
Tommy Dalton (Baseball, Sr.)
Mia Lattanzi (Track and Field, Sr.)
Eduardo PoshUnicorn on my
lower back Computer Not sleeping
Not going to prom
Lorelei Sporty Would I have to? Heart Necklace
I don’t know The Asian One
A car on my arm Computer I don’t know
Nessa PoshNot a really big fan of tattoos My boyfriend No comment
What?ExplainYourself
Sophomore Hanna Brody
“It’s my game face.”
Say
Have funny photos of you or your friends playing sports? Send them to [email protected] and the best one will be published in the next issue.
Kickoff
The Viking | 11
NotHot WHO’SWHO’S
PAC 10 RefsUCLA was handed two victories on a silver platter. In back to back games against Stanford and Cal two contraversial calls were made in the
PalyMost Creative Prom
InvitesLiv JensenJensen recently broke the Central Coast Section record by .1 seconds. This put her at ease to break her goal come the CCS meet in May. Jensen tied the record last year.Pierce Marchant (Varsity Golf,
Jr.)“Basically I made a vase in glass blowing and put it on her doorstep with a sign on her doorstep and flowers in the vase.”
Kushal Tantry (Varsity Tennis, Sr.)“I had signs down Newell that said ‘Will’, ‘You’, ‘Go to’, ‘Prom’, ‘With’, and I was holding the ‘Me’ with roses, and her friend drove her down the street .”
Dom Powell (Varsity Basketball, Sr.)“I had one of her friends take her to take a friends car and there was a note and a little animal on the car with a sign leading to the track. Then there were more little animals (which is kind of an inside joke) leading around the snack bar area and then there was an arrow and I was standing there.”
Steven Burk (Varsity Baseball, Jr.) “I took her out to a nice dinner and then we came back [to my house] and I had posters and balloons that said ‘Prom’ all over my room.”
Sung Kim (Varsity Swimming, Sr.)“I bought hella candles and I set them up in front of her house with a fat heart and a question mark.”
Dan Schwartz (Varsity Tennis, Jr.)“We went out to a nice dinner and at the end the waiter brought out tiramisu that said ‘Prom’ on it in chocolate sauce, with some roses. I actually had a few other ideas, but I’ll have to save some for next year.”
BUTTERFLY BEAUTY Amanda Wong powers through her 50-yard butterfly in the 200-yard medley relay at the Spring Kickoff Invitational. Wong helped to lead the Lady Vikes to a smooth win over Kings Academy, Los Altos l, Lynbrook, and Wilcox.
last seconds of the games.Paly BaseballPaly Baseball was out-scored 33-1 in their first three games with their only run coming from solo home run hit by sophomore Scott Witte. Palo Alto BadmintonPaly Badminton is looking to make a miraculous comeback after suf-fereing two rough seasons the past two years. The team has lost 23 of their last 24 matches, giving them the worst record to ever grace Paly High.Bay Area BaseballLooks like it will be a long year by the bay, with both Oakland and San Francisco struggling in spring train-ing. Many experts have projected both teams to finish at the bottom of their respective divisions.
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.Palo Alto Golf
photo by Charlie Avis
Paly athletes share with The Viking how they asked their dates to prom.
The Palo Alto Varsity golf team has pulled off a string of victories to tee off the 2008 season includ-ing non-league victories over both Los Gatos (who they lost to last year) and Grenada High Schools.
Palo Alto Girls LacrosseAfter monthes of debate, girls lacrosse has finally made their long anticipated debut. The team had an excellent showing at tryouts and with large teams, the future of Paly Lax is looking bright.
photo by Alek Milovidov
ZOOM Paly and Mountain View runners take off from the starting line in a March 6th meet at the Paly track. The boys’ track and field team won the meet by a final score of 80-47. Photo by Alek Milovidov
Wade HauserScott Witte Martha Hauser Gaby Cahill
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
10Questionswith
Scott WitteClose Friend
Martha HauserMother
Gaby CahillFriend
Favorite Candy
Best body part
Scooter wheel color
Pokemon
Favorite subject
Hottest grade
Favorite movie
Dream car
Favorite sport
Favorite teacher
Twix
Massive bi-ceps
Red
Snorlax
Besides P.E?
Sophomores
The 1st pokemon movie
1990 Volvo station wagon
Ping- pong
Woj
Snickers
Calves
Orange
Snorlax
Chemistry
Seniors
Nacho Libre
Volvo
Ping-pong
Pruzan
Kit-Kat
Red hair
Red
Snorlax
Journalism
Does Wade look at girls?
Nacho Libre
1990 Volvo station wagon
Baseball
Woj
Jolly Ranchers
Hair
Blue
Pikachu
Journalism
Juniors
300
Porsche
Baseball
Woj
Who knows Wade best?
+5
+5
+5
15 20 5W i n n e r !
We asked Paly’s own Varsity baseball player Wade Hauser 10 Q’s about himself, and then went to two friends and his mother as told to John Christopherson
+5
+5
+5
+5
Wade HauserSophomore Varsity baseball player
WANT TO ADVERTISE?
Please contact The Viking at [email protected]
+5
Kickoff
15 | The Viking
““Inside the Mind
of Peter Abrams
ON ATTENDING STANFORD UNIVERSITY It feels great to be going to Stanford. My goal has always been to go to Stanford and play baseball. I know its going to be hard, but I am looking forward to the day I will hear my name called at Sunken Diamond while wearing the cardinal and white. I’m just going to keep working on my game, and try to get in the lineup as soon as I am ready to compete at the Division One level. I know there are a lot of haters out there, saying I’m too small to be a catcher at that level and stuff like that, but I let that go over my head and use it as motivation.
ON THE BASEBALL TEAM’S RECENT LACK OF SUCCESSI believe that the baseball teams’ lack of success has been a mixture of dif-ferent ingredients. For one, in my four years at Paly and my three on varsity, I have seen three coaching changes. I believe that the past two years, there was no real set program, and the entire program was very disorga-nized, from every standpoint. I am not at all trying to bash Coach Joel or Coach Jefferson, but I think during my sophomore and junior year, the players, coaches, and boosters and people around the community were on completely different pages as to where the program was, where it was going, and the players it was going to produce.
ON THE “REAL”, “AMERICAN” SPORTSI would like to clear this up. American sports like base-ball and football outrank COMMUNIST ones like soc-cer. Now baseball is the heart and soul of America. Baseball involves thought, athleticism, the skill of chewing seeds and other things, and concentra-tion. Soccer is just, well, hoot. Baseball is to America like hairy armpits are to French girls.
ON HIS FUNNIEST TEAMMATEDefinitely Kevin Johnson, he is the man. KJ, Tyger [Pederson], and I have really bonded, being that we are the only black kids on the team. [Author’s Note: Despite his objections to the contrary, Peter Abrams is not actually black ]. I love KJ because
Baseball
Senior Peter Abrams is the starting catcher for the varsity baseball team. In addition to the accolades for his success in the sport, Abrams is also known for his talents in rapping. He will attend Stanford University next year to play baseball.
we have talks that include the words, rogue, EPA, geesin, and hey gurl, shake that a**!
ON HIS IDEAL GIRL Gina Jaqua.
ON GINAShe is the most beautiful person I have met in body, mind, and
soul and I love her and think the world of her. She inspires me to be a better person in life. I think that is enough for this
magazine.
ON HIS MUSICAL TALENTSI actually have not laid down any raps in the past year. I have
been kind of out of the business, but I might make a return with my new album coming out this fall.
It is called @#*&^*% that A**. I started rap-ping at the age of six to make money for my family. I was living in the Bronx and the time, and one of my partners in crime,
Busta Rhymes taught me a few things. [Author’s Note: Peter Abrams has never
actually lived in the Bronx, nor has he ever met Busta Rhymes]. I just think the industry is getting diluted with real dumb rap, like Sean Kingston. That fat ugly guy needs to stop ru-ining hip-hop. I think more people should listen to Common, the Track Boiz, and Dr. Dre.
ON HIS OBSESSION WITH AFRICAYou know, I really have no answer
to this. I just am always reading up on the current news there. I just find
the cultures, foods, and history of all the sub-Saharan countries to be very in-
teresting. I love the music too, I must admit I have some Nigerian rap on my iPod and I listen to Ethiopian pop music once in a while.
BY IAN KELLY Photography by Alek Milovidov
compete at the Division One level. I know there are a lot of haters out there, saying I’m too small to be a catcher at that level and stuff like that, but I let that go over my
years at Paly and my three on varsity, I have seen three coaching changes. I believe that the past two years, there was no real set program, and the entire program was very disorga-nized, from every standpoint. I am not at all trying to bash Coach Joel or Coach Jefferson, but I think during my sophomore and junior year, the players, coaches, and boosters and people around the community were on completely different pages as to where the program was, where it was going, and the players it was going to
I would like to clear this up. American sports like base-ball and football outrank COMMUNIST ones like soc-cer. Now baseball is the heart and soul of America. Baseball involves thought, athleticism, the skill of chewing seeds and other things, and concentra-tion. Soccer is just, well, hoot. Baseball is to America
Definitely Kevin Johnson, he is the man. KJ, Tyger [Pederson], and I have really bonded, being that we are the only black kids on the team. [Author’s Note: Despite his objections to the contrary, Peter
I love KJ because
She is the most beautiful person I have met in body, mind, and soul and I love her and think the world of her. She inspires me
to be a better person in life. magazine.
ON HIS MUSICAL TALENTSI actually have not laid down any raps in the past year. I have
been kind of out of the business, but I might make a return with my new album coming out this fall.
It is called ping at the age of six to make money for my family. I was living in the Bronx and the time, and one of my partners in crime,
Busta Rhymes taught me a few things. [Author’s Note: Peter Abrams has never
actually lived in the Bronx, nor has he ever met Busta Rhymes].
to this. I just am always reading up on the current news there. I just find
the cultures, foods, and history of all the sub-Saharan countries to be very in
teresting. I love the music too, I must admit I have some Nigerian rap on my iPod and I listen to Ethiopian pop music once in a while.
The Viking | 17
Feature
Palo Alto High School senior Kati Dahm is an avid dancer in and out of the Paly community. Her prior year, Dahm realized she was unhappy with the dance team’s recent development and knew a couple other girls who also felt the same way. The changing style was not working out for many of the girls. There was controversy within the group and Dahm knew that the team was disintegrat-ing.
The Paly Dance Company, otherwise known as PDC, started back in 2006 when Dahm, senior Ruthie Ryan and Paly ‘07 gradu-ate Rachel Williams decided to try and form a second dance team.
“We started when a few of the girls from the Dance Team and I sat down with some of our parents,” said Dahm. “We decided not to try out for the Dance Team.”
Their original plan was to form an independent dance team, but because of complicated logistics, the group had to classify themselves as a club instead. Although there are many occupied leadership roles, Dahm stands with her position, which is respected by many of the girls.
“She is always on top of things always making sure we can succeed to the best of our ability,” sophomore Chelsea Brunett said. In addition to Dahm, junior Alyssa Burton is also seen as an
important aspect of the team. “Alyssa is really good at dancing so she is always really help-
ful,” Brunett said.Run and organized by coach Hilary McDaniel, the cheer-
based dance team was focused mainly on competitions. The team was practicing under strict times and spent many weekends trav-eling for competitions.
“I remember going to competitions almost every weekend when I was on the dance team, and having little time to do any-thing else,” Dahm said. “It was fun because we got to go to LA and Las Vegas, but I couldn’t imagine doing the same kind of thing junior and senior year.”
Most of the girls on the dance team were already focused on outside dance groups, and were involved in competitions and performances as well. Many members of the team were looking for a more relaxed environment where they could entertain and perform in front of their peers.
“We wanted a group where we could essentially just dance for fun,” Dahm said. “For dancers, performing for people is what we love to do.”
The club is focused on performing at Paly events such as
BY LUC Y MCCOMASPalo Alto High School senior Kati Dahm is an avid dancer in
and out of the Paly community. Her prior year, Dahm realized she important aspect of the team.
“Alyssa is really good at dancing so she is always really help
Dance On!Photos courtesy of Sara Connolly
Spirit Week, but has recently broken out of the Paly community and performed for charity groups as well.
“We just did a fundraiser with the Los Altos Dance Team called Beat the Heat, which was a dance show that raised money and awareness about global warming,” Dahm said.
Of course since the team’s initial creation, there were hard feel-ings, but they were eventually able to resolve their issues.
“The team was sad, but there was no real conflict between the
girls,” senior and member of the official dance team Amanda Miller said.
In contrast to the dance team, PDC has few demands and a light practice schedule. The team practices once every weekend in an open and enforced manner because of their unofficial status. However, besides the weekly practices, many participants take outside classes as well.
“Members of PDC are also encouraged to take out-side ballet classes so that they can learn the entire routine,” Dahm said. “The majority of the team dances more than five hours a week outside of PDC.
“One of the first prob-lems PDC encountered oc-curred during this year’s Spir-it Week, a time which most students think of school unity and representing their class along with their school. As the group was getting ready to perform, they got news from principal McEvoy.
“We had allegedly been given club status, and we were getting ready for our first per-formance at the rally on Fri-day,” Dahm said. “However, McEvoy flat out said we couldn’t perform.”
Although at first they were faced with a couple of problems, with help from parents, PDC was eventually allowed to perform.
“It’s not fair, every group at Paly should be able to perform and should not be having this many problems,” Brunett said.
With a new year came a new set of rules along with a new prin-cipal. Unfortunately, Jacqueline McEvoy, the new principal, was not as open to the idea of two dance teams as previous principal Scott Laurence had been.
“Things that govern teams are different than things that govern clubs,” McEvoy said. “We don’t have the venue for all the clubs to perform during halftime, so if they want to perform, they need to
try out for the team.”PDC has become very popular within the dance community at Paly.
“The other team is the official Paly Dance Team,” Dahm said. “However, they had only three people this year and PDC had thir-teen at one point, so I would say that is a key difference.”
The team is overflowing with members who put in the energy and enjoy being part of the team. The members of PDC want to
perform for their peers and be part of the Paly community.“There’s no problem with people developing clubs,” McEvoy
said. “I think it’s great, but during halftime there are lots of rules, so if they want to perform, they should try out for the team.”
The problem McEvoy and other administrators have with the dance team is that they are not an official representa-tion of the school.
“It’s not a policy of the school, but it’s just like the basketball team, if you want to play you need to try out, otherwise you can’t,” McE-voy said. “If you want to perform and represent the school, then try out for the dance team.”
Although many felt as though McEvoy was the main reason for their prob-lems, no administrators were really willing to help the team.
“A lot of it wasn’t re-ally [McEvoy], it was weird it was all being done in our disfavor for no reason,” Ryan said. PDC has faced many conflicts regarding the administration and has now decided to put their faith in
the hands of their peers. “We now talk to ASB and they help us out, so we stopped
talking to the administration because they wouldn’t listen and we felt like they didn’t even want us to be performing,” Ryan said.
Despite the feeling of never-ending problems, the team will continue on with their plans of being a part of the Paly community. Although the two leaders and original founders are graduating this year, Paly Dance Company has dedicated dancers in all grades and will be welcoming many talented freshmen who dance with many of the girls at Dance Connection which is their studio team.
“Next year will be fine, all the juniors are really driven and can make it happen if they want it,” Ryan said. <<<
Feature
18 | The Viking
PERSEVERANCE: Despite not being able to perform at Paly, the paly dance company performs around Palo Alto.
“If you want to perform and represent the school, then try out for the dance team,” McEvoy said.
Features
The Viking | 19
making a point
By Varun KohliPhotography by Alek Milovidov
Features
20 | The Viking
o some students, the foil is not just the wrapping around your lunch; it is
the weapon of choice. At least, it is for the fencers at Palo Alto High School. Although Paly does not have a fencing team, many students love to take part in the fast-paced sport of fencing.
There are currently 32 clubs partici-pating in the local Bay Cup tournaments, but even with all the fencing activity in the Bay Area, the rules of the sport are virtually unknown to Paly students.
Fencing is widely regarded as sword fighting, but some people misinterpret the sport.
“I know some people who thought it was actual sword fighting, with sharp blades like you see in movies, or in the medieval time period,” senior Jillian Liu said. “But it obviously isn’t or some-one would die every single time they fenced.”
Actually, fencing is a very safe sport. Every fencer must wear protective cloth-ing, the most important part being the mask. Because of all the protection in fencing, injuries beyond welts and bruis-es are not common.
“The worst injury I’ve ever gotten was a bruise that bled a little,” sophomore fencer Sasha Seraia said.
Fencers are divided into their different events; foils fence foils, sabres fight sa-bres and epees face off against epees. The blades, contrary to popular belief, are not real swords.
Foils, one of the three main types of blades, are thin blades with a blunted tip. All modern foils have sensors that detect contact with the opponent and send the message to a scoreboard, which lights up. The flexible blades allow the fencers to hit their opponents without having to worry about injury. The flexibility also allows some foil fencers to bend the foil around blocks, known as parries, and score a point.
Getting hooked on fencing can start in many ways. Jillian Liu’s fencing career began at age 12 in April 2002.
“I actually started out because my broth-er fenced,” Liu said. “But then I thought it was more enjoyable than he ever did and I continued on.” Currently, Liu fences foil as a member of the Massialas Fenc-ing Foundation, or the M-Team for short. Liu’s life revolves around fencing, and be-cause of her dedication to the sport, she
has done well at many regional, and even national tournaments. She has been success-ful at local Bay Cup tournaments and placed seventh at the 2007 nationals in Miami. She also placed seventh and thirteenth in differ-ent divisions at the North American Cup “A” this year. Next year she will continue to fence for the Yale Bulldogs as a freshman.
Like Liu, many fencers begin after be-ing pushed towards the sport by friends or family. In the same way, freshman Noah Berman was introduced to the sport by his friends in fifth grade and since then, he has been an avid fencer. Berman’s long time love for sword fighting and good fortune with friendly coaches have kept him in the sport for all these years.
Noah has a big advantage over most fencers as a lefty, he can interfere with their rhythms easily.
“Being a lefty is advantageous, because when you fence a righty they aren’t exactly used to it,” Berman said. “It’s one of the rea-
sons I do so well. “ Most fencers are used to parrying the blade away from them, but because the blade comes from the other side when fencing lefties, they could end up parry the blade towards themselves if they do not adjust properly.
Berman has found success fencing foil at a competitive level as he recently took part in the Junior Olympics. Already qualified for this year’s National Tourna-ment, Berman is currently ranked 44th in the country in his age group, Youth 14, ac-cording to the USFA (United States Fenc-ing Association). Berman has also done well at a regional level in the Bay Cups, often placing in the top three spots.
Sophomore Sasha Seraia fences for rec-reation, but she too has taken a love to it ever since her parents steered her towards it.
“My parents were the ones that pushed me into the sport, but it wasn’t something that I didn’t want to do,” Seraia said. She fences regularly, and does not regret her decision to join the sport at all.
“I fence for the hell of it,” Seraia said. “Also, you get to poke people with sticks.” Seraia finds the sport physically taxing because she fences with exercise-induced asthma. Because of this, she finds the greatest satisfaction when she makes a good point.
There were many different factors in-volved in sophomore Nathan Wilen’s de-cision to fence.
“I started fencing because I went to Pirate Camp here at Stanford after fifth grade,” said Wilen. “In Pirate Camp we did a variety of fun games, arts and crafts and we had one day of fencing. I thought ‘Wow! That’s cool,’ so I tried it. It was re-ally fun when I started.”
Wilen continued his involvement for a few years, fencing in tournaments and placing in the middle of the pack. What re-ally kept him going was the satisfaction of doing well.
“I remember this one point I got,” Wilen said. “It was 14-14 and the next point would win it. He basically lunged and charged at me, (called a fleche), and did a jumping dive at me. I ducked it and flicked him as he went across. Probably the coolest point I’ve ever gotten.”
Unfortunately, Wilen eventually quit because he felt outclassed.
“There were all these kids who were really good at fencing and it was all they
T
FIERCE “Personally, [fencing] is the most in-tense sport there is, because everything hap-pens at the same time,” Senior Jillian Liu said.
The Viking | 21
Features
did,” Wilen said, “For me it was just one of many activities.”
Becoming a good fencer is not easy. Natural talent must be polished through
many hours of practice during many dif-ferent practices a week.
“I practice about 15 hours a week,” Ber-man said. “I also have private lessons and tournaments every week.”
Even though fencing is a big part of these practices, fencers also work on form and general strength.
“The exercises and footwork that we do are basically combinations of everything fencing involves,” Liu said. “For example, rather than simple lunging and advancing and retreating we would do two advances forward, three retreats, double advance and then balestro (where we jump forward) lunge. We stretch, run, skip, jump and all that jazz. We sometimes do workout ac-tivities like pushups, all the variations of pushups, and wall sits.”
Then, after they have done their work-outs and warm-ups, they can get to the fencing. Fencing has three different types of events, each named after the three types of weapons used, all scored differently. In each of them, two fencers face off on “the strip”, which is the fourteen by two meter area that the fencers must stay in. At the
beginning of each point, the two fencers start four meters away from each other un-til they start. Then they fence until the next contact. If a point is scored they go back to
the last position, but if the first contact does not score a point, then they start in en garde position, which is basically where they just begin fencing from the exact same point where the contact was made.
Foil, the most common type, is also the most complicated. Points are scored when a fencer lands a successful hit on the oppo-nent’s torso with the tip of their foil. But, special rules come into play when there is a tie hit. Then “right-of-way” rules come into play. “Right-of-way” states that the person who starts the attack will get the point in a tie unless the defender has parried and ri-posted, or countered.
The epee is a much stiffer blade, with a larger bell guard. Again, fencers can only score points when they strike the opposite fencer with the tip of the blade, but unlike foil, there are no right-of-way rules and the entire body is open for scoring points.
Sabre, the third event uses a stiffer blade than foil, but a more flexible blade than in epee. Sabre differs from the other blades in that the whole blades can be used to score. “Right-of-way” rules also apply to the sa-bre.
Because of the vast differences between the different types of blades and rules for each of the types, switching between styles is uncommon.
“I tried out epee a long time ago with a couple of my teammates,” Liu said of trying to fence in the new style. “I also think it’s more of a ‘waiting’ weapon because it has different rules to it. In fact, there are none at all - if you get a light on, then it’s a point. So, be-cause I’m more of a fast-paced fencer, I’d get hit before I got [to the oppo-nent], and the right-of-way of foil doesn’t ap-ply at all. I think it was most difficult because of the random transition into a completely differ-ent weapon, so I wasn’t used to anything that a fencer requires to be good at epee.”Determining the winner of a match depends on the round or competition.
In many tournaments, fencers qualify for the elimination round by taking part in a pool round consisting of 5-point matches.
“There’s a round robin of about 6-8 people depending on the size of the tour-nament,” Berman said. “Then depending on how you do, you make the elimination round. Then for nationals, there are quali-fiers to even make it to the tournament. If you get in the top 32 at one of those it en-ables you to qualify.”
Anyone can take up fencing. With no real physical requirements like many other popular sports, becoming involved is easy because of all the available clubs in this area. Fencing’s simplicity makes it a very accessible spot to everyone.
“Personally, [fencing] is the most intense sport there is, because everything happens at the same time,” Liu said. “Fencers all need to think ahead, be constantly watch-ing the other opponent, and simultaneous-ly coordinate their footwork and handwork in order to succeed. And it all happens ex-tremely quickly. For non-fencers watching the sport, they might think it’s boring be-cause they don’t understand it.” <<<
FOILED Freshmen Noah Berman (left) scores a point on opposing fencer, Jason Chang (right), at the Junior Olympics Qualifiers in 2007. Berman won his first gold medal ever in the tournament.
Photo courtesy of Stewart Berman
What Went Wrong?
text by Adam Zernik | layout by Charlie Avis
22 | The Viking
he Palo Alto High School boys’ basketball team’s season ended abruptly last month when the Central Coast Section (CCS) forced the team to forfeit 11
wins and prematurely end its season due to the ineligibility of one of its players. On February 16, 2008, school officials notified members of the team that all 15 games in which senior Ed Hall had participated were to be forfeited, changing the team’s record from 16-8 to a dismal 5-19, and thus dis-qualifying it from the CCS playoffs. The news came less than 16 hours after a mo-mentous 50-26 victory against rival Gunn High School, one which had significantly lifted the team’s morale just a week before the start of the play-offs. Senior captain Mike Scott had recently overcome an ankle injury that had been bothering him all season, and was eager to get back out on the court at full strength. “I could not believe it was really over,” Scott said. “I was ready for practice on Monday. With my ankle finally cooper-ating with me, I was ready to step up my game for CCS.” The other players shared similar emo-tions. “My first reaction was a sense of frus-tration and disbelief,” junior point guard Nick Robinson said. “I had no idea that the Gunn game would be our last and I did not want to think our season was over. Once I started seeing kids break down, I started to also.” The occurrence was the first time in school history that an athletic team had forfeited a game due to player ineligibility, according to Paly Athletic Director Earl Hansen. It seemed implausible that Paly, of all schools, could somehow be cheating, abusing the system or recruiting players, but the rumors all arose. In the midst of uproar from the Palo Alto community and confusion within the school, the questions of whose fault it was and how it could hap-pen here inevitably surfaced. From an outsider’s perspective, the problem appeared to revolve around a transfer student who was ineligible to play in CCS because he had already completed eight semesters of high school eligibil-ity. After the student played in the first 15
games of the season, the Paly administration discovered the problems with his transcript and had him benched for the duration of the season. The day after the last league game, the coach notified the rest of the players that their season was over and that, simply put, there would be no playoffs.
In truth, what had happened was far more complex. To use coach Diepenbrock’s words, what had hit Paly was “a perfect storm” of errors that led to an improbable catastrophe.
CIF Bylaw Article 20: 204 reads as fol-lows:
“A student who first enters the 9th grade of any school following the student’s com-pletion of the 8th grade in any school may
be eligible for athletic competition during a maximum period of time that is not to ex-ceed eight consecutive semesters following the initial enrollment in the 9th grade of any school, and said eligibility must be used dur-ing the student’s first eight consecutive se-mesters of enrollment at that school or any other school.”
In other words, a student cannot play a sport for a high school in the state of Cali-fornia after completing eight consecutive se-mesters of high school. The punishment for doing so includes, but is not limited to, the forfeiture of all games in which the player participated. Unfortunately for Paly, such was the case and such was the punishment. But the matter at hand – one involving an Australian transfer student – began more than two years previously.
In 2004, 14-year-old Ed Hall of Perth, Australia decided to take part in an exchange program that would allow him to live with his relatives in America while he attended public school for a semester. The sophomore spent his semester attending Paly simply be-cause it was the allotted high school for his relatives’ household location. Although he liked the school, Hall was annoyed to learn that he was unable to play for Paly’s basket-
ball team because his exchange program did not fall into the category that allows students to play sports at their new school.
“There are only so many approved pro-grams,” Paly athletic director Earl Hansen explained. “If your transfer is not done by one of the approved programs, you are not eligible to play.”
Hall still did as much as he could to be involved with the junior varsity team.
“Since I was not officially allowed to play, I just practiced with the team,” Hall said. “It was a bit frustrating, but still fun.”
Hall then returned to Australia to con-tinue his high school education. It wasn’t
until two years later that Hall had another opportunity to move to the United States, this time with his whole family and with the in-tention of staying permanently.
“My mom is American, from the Bay Area in fact, and she decided that she wanted to try living here so that I could have the real American high school experience,” Hall said. “Since she is from the Bay Area, it was always going to be some-
where around here and we have quite a bit of family here, so we decided to move to Palo Alto.”
His mother’s decision to move to Palo Alto spurred Hall to contact Paly basket-ball coach Peter Diepenbrock early on to ask about playing his senior year.
“I already had a relationship with Diepenbrock; we knew each other, and I told him I was going to move to Paly,” Hall said. “I asked him if there was any chance I could maybe try out for the team and he said, ‘If you move here, then these are the rules you have to follow and your whole family needs to move here and then, yes, you could try out for the team.’ It seemed simple enough, so we followed the instruc-tions and moved here.”
According to Hall, he and his mother made sure to contact the CCS commission-er to ensure the transfer went smoothly and legally, in addition to contacting Diepen-brock, .
“I am not fully aware of what CCS said because my mom took care of that, but we thought we had everything [covered],” Hall said.
The Hall family then moved to Palo Alto in November of 2007.
“I had no idea that the Gunn game would be our last,” Junior Nick Robinson said. “Once I started seeing kids break
down, I started to also.”
T
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FRUSTRATION Head coach Peter Diepenbrock can only watch in frustration as his playoff-bound team’s season fell apart.
However, Diepenbrock’s account of what had happened goes farther back. He recalls an email he had received in the spring of 2007 in which Hall’s mother asked if Hall could play basketball at Paly later that year if he lived with his cousins.
“He said when he was here a few years ago that he wanted to come back,” Diepenbrock said. “Last spring I got an email from his mother saying that he wanted to come back.”
Upon receiving the email and running the transfer by CCS, Diepenbrock realized that there was the potential for problems with the transfer that Hall’s mother had suggested.
“I called the commissioner of CCS to see if it was okay,” Diepenbrock said. “She saw a couple of problems because origi-nally he was going to be living with cousins. I told his mother that it was not going to work out.”
The CCS officials foresaw problems with the transfer. Hall could not play a CCS sport unless his entire family moved to Palo Alto and that it appeared he would have already graduated high school by the time he enrolled at Paly.
“He was going to graduate high school, and obviously he wouldn’t have been able to come here if he did that,” Diepen-brock said.
Diepenbrock recalls Hall’s mother’s determination to have the transfer sorted out.
“His mother really wanted it to work out, so she contacted the CCS commissioner herself,” Diepenbrock said. “Then she got back to me and said the problem was going to be solved because he was not going to graduate, and the whole family was going to move.”
At that point, Diepenbrock acknowledged that the move would be acceptable under the laws of CCS and that Hall would be eli-gible to play for Paly the following season.
When the Hall family moved from Australia to Palo Alto in November 2007, the Australian school year was coming to a
close. Although summer was approaching, Ed technically had not graduated from high school. The Hall family’s rationale for the move’s timing was that the Australian high school exit exam is taken at the end of the student’s senior year, and Ed had not yet tak-en it. Therefore he was still in high school.
“I arrived here in November,” Hall said. “I did not graduate in Australia but it was near the end. I did not take the exit ex-ams. It is different because in Australia you need to take the exit exams your senior year to get a high school diploma.”
Due to the awkward timing of Hall’s move, his high school transcript was not available to the Paly administration upon his arrival. The school did not worry about the lack of a transcript at first because the entire Hall family lived in a household inside the school’s attendance area, giving Ed the right to attend the school.
“To get into a school, you do not need a transcript,” Paly principal Jackie McEvoy said. “Although we always ask for transcripts, it is a student’s right to attend a public school if
his family lives within the school’s attendance area. If we do not get one, we can threaten to put the student in freshman classes, but in this case we did not feel it was necessary because he was already a student at Paly [in previous years].” Shortly after his arrival, Hall was officially a member of the Paly basketball team. Although he only played a minor role in the team’s success, he was popular amongst the players. “Ed is a real popular kid, one of the centers of the team socially and in terms of chemistry,” Diepenbrock said. Hall proceeded to play through the first 16 games of the sea-son, appearing in 15 of them and averaging less than five minutes per game, while the team accumulated a respectable 11-5 record. It was at this point in the season, the end of the first semester, when Hansen made the routine eligibility check. As he was going through the rosters of each team to check the players’ grades, he noticed that there was no documentation for Ed Hall. “When I asked the question to see if his [Hall’s] grades were eligible, I found that there was no paperwork for him,” Hansen said. “When that happened, Mr. Diepenbrock and I started dig-ging a little deeper, and at that point, you just have to do the right thing.” Hansen immediately notified the front office, which instructed coach Diepenbrock to bench Hall indefinitely as a safety mea-sure. It became clear that Hall did not have grades for the first se-mester because he had arrived so late in the semester that his counselor had directed his teachers to begin giving him grades at the beginning of second semester. “When I first arrived at school, the guidance counselor said, ‘You’ve arrived here too late in the semester and it will just be a burden for your teachers to re-teach you all the material, so what will happen is that you will just start getting grades at the begin-ning of the second semester,’” Hall clarified. “That is where the
24 | The Viking
problem actually arose. Diepenbrock talked to her later and she admitted to him that she had made a mistake. Shortly after the confusion arose, however, Hall’s transcript arrived from Australia to provide answers. After a detailed ex-amination of the transcript by Paly’s front office, McEvoy noticed that Hall had likely technically completed eight full semesters, although he did not graduate. McEvoy then reported the issue to CCS. “When you find an error in eligibility, you absolutely have to self-report,” McEvoy said. “The consequences of not self-report-ing as soon as a problem is found can be detrimental to the entire athletic department’s future.”Hall sat out every game after a 49-52 loss to Saratoga on January 25, 2008 until the final game, a home blowout victory against Gunn. Meanwhile, CCS tried to make sense of Hall’s Australian tran-script. According to McEvoy, CCS took every precaution to en-sure that Paly was treated fairly. “CCS was so careful in dealing with the situation and so thrown off by the Australian transcript that they hired out a com-pany that had experts on Australian transcripts,” McEvoy said. Unfortunately, CCS came to the consensus that Hall was in-deed ineligible to play for Paly, and that the punishment would have to be the forfeiture of all the games in which he took part. Diepenbrock first broke the news to the Hall family. “That morning [February 16], Diep came over and met at my house before he met with the team,” Hall explained. “He came to my place and had a chat with my parents and me personally before he met the team. We did not go to the team meeting.” Although Hall was ready for the news, he was understand-ably disappointed with the outcome. “We were all very upset but the main thing he emphasized was that there was just a miscommunication between the school, CCS, and us,” Hall said. “It was just an unfortunate situation that we thought we had handled, but we had not.” After he had spoken with the Hall family, Diepenbrock made his way to the Paly gym, where he had arranged a mandatory meeting for players and parents. “That night, after the Gunn game, we knew something was up because Diep told us there was a mandatory meeting the next morning,” Mike Scott said. “Everyone, parents included, was sitting quietly and waiting for what Hansen, our principal and Diep had to say. They took us through all that was violated. Par-ents were outraged. Players were in awe.” The players, however, did not take their anger out on Hall, whom they knew had not intentionally done anything wrong. “I was very surprised how the team took it,” Hall said. “Hon-estly, I didn’t expect the team to be okay with it but they were very supportive. Even the seniors were very supportive and just great about it. They did not hold a grudge or anything. They were really good.” Instead, the players looked toward the adults in the situation who were supposed to have thoroughly figured out the transfer before going through with it. “I think Diep did as much as he could have, but I do not know the real details of the situation,” Nick Robinson said. “However, if you had to blame anyone in the situation it would probably be the administration.”
McEvoy took note of the players’ concern. “When something like this transfer happens, it is the student’s responsibility to do their schoolwork, take the adults’ advice, and nothing more,” McEvoy said. “The adults are fully in charge of taking care of the transfer details.” Looking past the meticulous details of the situation and mov-ing on from finding someone to blame, what must be remembered is the tragedy of the 11 players who only wanted a chance to com-pete to the best of their ability, and who had the very real pos-sibility of a successful season taken away. For the four seniors graduating this spring, there was no opportunity to experience a memorable playoff run. Those who still have one or two years left
to play will have a reason to make the most of every game. However, according to Robinson, the team will have to forget about the mishap to achieve future success. “This situation is past me,” Robinson said. “I am looking for-ward to next season, to being a captain, and to leading the team to victory. This might affect how people view our team for next year, but we will not let that faze us and we will have to play without any distractions.” <<<
Peter Johnson and Noah Sneider contributed to the reporting for this story.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect the team to be okay with it but they were very supportive and just great about it. They did not hold a grudge or anything. They were really good.” ~ Ed Hall
The Viking | 25
26 | The Viking
GOLF
ast year the Paly golf team’s inabil-ity to beat Mountain View cost the Vi-kings at the league title. Two weeks from now, the Vikings have the opportunity to avenge last year’s losses against their
heated rival, Mountain View. Their ability to win the big match is the deter-
mining factor between a good and a great team. The 2007 Vikings were a good team, winning a majority of their matches, yet failing to chalk up victories when they matched up against superior opponents in both league play and the playoffs. In their 2008 campaign they will look to make the transition from good to great in their quest for their first league title since 2003.
The Vikings finished the 2007 season with a 10-2 record in which both losses came against Mountain View High School. Their second-place finish allowed them to reach CCS, but placing fifth in the playoffs was not enough for them to advance into the coveted NorCal tournament.
Junior co-captain Pierce Marchant envi-sions a change in the league standings and better playoff success for the Vikings in the 2008 season. In order for these changes to oc-cur, the Vikings will need to play consistently throughout the entire year.
“We must practice hard and peak at the right times,” Marchant said.
Marchant believes that with solid performanc-es in the team’s big matches, the Vikings will have a great shot at winning the league and possibly advancing into the NorCal tournament for the first time since the 2003 season.
Marchant, along with the team’s only seniors’ Adam Furlong and Stanley Chun, is chomping at the bit for the opportunity for revenge on April 2. Chun and Furlong have yet to see the Vikings post a victory against Mountain View, with a record of 0-6 since they first joined the team in 2005.
With all of their starters returning, the Vikings have a golden opportunity to upend Mountain View’s three-year stay atop the De Anza Division. Head coach, Doyle Knight, believes the team’s chances for this season are strong.
“We didn’t lose any seniors and everyone has gotten better in the off-season,” Knight said.
With no team during the off-season each golfer took it upon themselves to improve their game.
“I practiced whenever I could during the off-season,” co-captain Alex Groetsma said.
The Vikings opened their season with a victory in a practice game against Granada High School and opened league play with a victory against Cu-pertino, defeating them by a score of 169 to 198. Medalists for the match were freshman Michael Yaun and junior Hrishi Srinagesh who both shot 33, three over par at Deep Cliff Golf Course.
The Vikings continued their winning streak by defeating both Los Gatos and Homestead. The team seems destined to enter the highly antici-pated match against Mountain View undefeated.
“Our goal this year is to have fun and beat Mountain View,” Chun said.
The Vikings have been able to “talk the talk” this season by setting high goals for themselves. They have the ability to make the 2008 season one to re-member, but they must beat starting Mountain View.
~ Greg Stewart
2007 RECORD: 10-2 PLACE: 2nd COACH: Doyle Knight CURRENT RECORD (as of 3/21/08) : 3-0
spring sports 2008 L
27 @ Granada W28 @ Coupertino W
F e b r u a r y
6 Los Gatos11 Homestead 13 Fremont18 Cupertino31 @ Homestead
2 @ Mt. View3 Mt. View 8 Los Altos 10 @ Fremont14 Gunn17 @ Gunn21 SCVAL
M a r c h
A p r i l
rising
starMICHAEL
YAUNAfter turning in a stellar performance in his varsity debut Michael Yaun is on pace to becoming a solid contributor to the team throughout the 2008 season. Yaun shot a team low of 33 in the Vikings league opening victory against Coupertino. Staying calm and cool out on the golf course is one of Yaun’s many strengths, along with a consistent short game.
M a y 5 CCS 12 CCS Finals 21 NorCals
S t a r t e r s1. Pierce Marchanet2. Alex Groetsma3. Stanley Chun4. Eliot Snow5. Adam Furlong6. Hrishi Srinagesh
fter several months of practice and condi-tioning, the Palo Alto varsity baseball team is looking to improve off of last year’s suc-cess and come away with a league champi-
onship and a Central Coast Section (CCS) playoff birth.
“A goal for this team right now is to keeping playing our game and get a league title,” junior pitcher and shortstop Steven Burk said.
With the loss of 10 seniors, the Vikings will have to rely on some of the younger players on the team to get that league win.
“We do not have the size and talent we did last year, Burk said. “We have to play small ball to pull out wins.”
The Vikings opened the season off with three tough non-league losses to Westmont, St. Francis and Bellarmine High Schools, being outscored 33-1 in total.
“Starting off the season with games against two tough Catholic schools is hard, but its early,” soph-omore Wade Hauser said.
The early offense at the plate has come from sophomore Scott Witte, who had the only run bat-ted in (RBI) in the first three games, with his solo shot against the Bellarmine Bells.
The boys got back on top of their game after a huge win against Fremont, outscoring them 21-5. The Vikes were in the zone at the plate and started the game with a 12- run first inning.
“We started slow in the first three games, and it was a nice to get a win,” head coach David Jef-ferson said.
BASEBALL2007 RECORD: 13-11 COACH: David Jefferson CURRENT RECORD (as of 3/13/08) : 3-4
spring sports 2008 AM a r c h
2 at Gunn4 Gunn 9 Milpitas11 at Milpitas23 at Wilcox25 Wilcox
A p r i l
rising
starSCOTT WITTE
Sophomore Scott Witte has been a great addition to the Vikings. Bringing astounding defense at second base and coming up with big hits is only the beginning. Witte had a RBI against Homestead High School in the teams first match up and a home run against the Bellarmine Bells. Witte is a versatile player on defense and is key to the Vikings success.
The Vikings held Fremont to five runs with help from Will Goodspeed’s pitching and great defense all around. Tommy Dalton came in to pitch in the sixth inning with a comfortable lead and did not let in any runs to secure the Vikings win.
“This game brought up our confidence and we played well as the team,” junior Colin Byrne.
The Vikings started league with a 7-0 win over Homestead High School. With strong support from Burk on the mound, the Vikings held Homestead to two hits and no runs.
“If you trust your defense and have strong pitch-ing you get the job done,” Jefferson said. The boys started with four runs in the first inning against Homestead’s Kansas State bound pitcher.
“We were on top of this pitcher from the begin-ning and hitting well,” Witte said.
After scoring in the first inning, the boys settled down and focused on defense. Strong performanc-es all around the infield kept the Vikings lead.
Later in the week, the Vikings faced Homstead again and lost 12-2. A rough outing from Good-speed on the mound and lack of offense did not help the Vikings. The one bright spot of the game for Paly came from Kevin Johnson home run in the fifth inning.
The Vikings faced Cupertino and pulled out a 12-7 win. Goodspeed started the come back with a base clearing double in the fifth inning.
The Vikings will face Los Altos High School during spring break and Gunn High School in the beginning of April.
~John Christopherson
B a t t i n g O r d e r
1. Tiger Pederson2. Scott Witte3. Will Holder4. Kevin Johnson5. Peter Abrams6. Joc Pederson7. Steven Burk8. Mike Martin9. Wade Hauser
5 at Homestead W7 Homestead L12 Cupertino W14 at Cupertino L19 at Los Gatos22 at Carlmont24 at Prospect26 Los Altos28 at Los Altos31 Aragon
f e b r u a r y16 Westmont L19 at St. Francis L25 at Bellarmine L29 Fremont W
The Viking | 27
2007 RECORD: 8-15 PLACE: 5th COACH: Jake Halas CURRENT RECORD (as of 3/21/08) : 4-2
spring sports 2008 N01 Saratoga08 Wilcox 10 Santa Clara15 Gunn17 Notre Dame
S.J.22 Cupertino24 Los Altos29 Gunn
A p r i l
01 Wilcox06 Saratoga
Home games in bold
ROSTER#2 Grace Stafford#4 Lauren Bucolo#5 Ryan Flanagan#8 Pamela Wong#10 Kristen Dauler#11 Mariah Philips#12 Kelly Jenks#14 Caroline Mc-Donnell#16 Allie Coleman#18 Becca Dixon#21 Gracie Marshall
M a y
rising
starKELLY JENKSJENKSJENKS
Sophomore Kelly Jenks has emerged as the star player of Paly’s softball team. She ranks third on her team with a solid .368 batting average and leads the team in stolen bases (2). Her real forte, however, is pitch-ing as she has pitched every single inning for the team this season. In 40 innings, she has a 2.10 earned run average (ERA) and an astound-ing 58 strikeouts. Jenks has led the Vikings to a 4-2 record so far this season.
SOFTBALL
ew coaching is only one of the many changes the Palo Alto High School var-sity softball team is facing this year.
“Everything from last year is dif-ferent - we have a new coach, different
practices and positions, and a pretty young team,” sophomore Kristin Dauler said. “So far, this year has been a big change, and we’re still adapting to it.”
New head coach Jake Halas and assistant coach Adam Yonkers are hoping to help the team turn its success around after last year’s disappointing season.
“We’re here to win,” Halas said. “We just take one game at a time.”
In fact, the team is currently 4-2 and undefeated in the El Camino league with hopes of making it to CCS this year.
This success is all the more promising because the team is relatively young, predominantly com-posed of sophomores, with only two juniors and no seniors.
“For us to compete at a high level with this sort of youth is very promising,” Halas said. “I am very pleased with the way our girls perform. They work so hard and give it their all every single game.”
Though the Lady Vikings lost their first game of the season, they believe that their teamwork had improved.
“Though we lost 0-5 the first time we ever played together [against Aragon High School], we actually played well as a team,” sophomore Kristin Dauler said. “It wasn’t a bad game. We hit pretty
well.”However, the following game, Paly came back
and beat Menlo-Atherton 9-1.Later that week, though in the first few innings
Paly was tied against Mountain View 1-1, they let up in the fourth inning and Mountain View began scoring. The Vikings lost 2-12.
However, after that game, the Vikings began to see a turnaround in their performance.
“In the game against Lynbrook our hitting was great,” Dauler said. “We won 6-1 and played bases really well. Kelly [Jenks], our pitcher, struck out almost their entire team.”
In fact, sophomore pitcher Kelly Jenks is doing a lot for the team’s success this season.
“We have a great pitcher,” Halas said. “She had 17 strikeouts [in the game against Cupertino],” Halas said. “That’s unreal, amazing. She’s done double digits almost every game. If we can support her to get the runs, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing.”
Despite the team’s youth, the Vikings hope that their hard work will pay off and that they’ll make CCS this year.
“Paly’s never had a strong softball program be-fore,” Dauler said. “This is the first year that we’ve had a strong coach so we’re hoping to progress in all aspects. I guess we’re hoping to make it to CCS this year because we haven’t made it in like 12 years.”
Paly’s next home game is against Wilcox High School on April 8 at 4PM.
~Nina Gertsvolf
28 | The Viking
ith a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championship and a second place fin-ish in the Central Coast Section finals last season, the Palo Alto High School varsity boys’ swim team has high hopes for this upcoming year.
With many returning swimmers from last year’s team, senior Michael Fortune believes that the team will have a lot of success.
“We have a lot of experience on our team, as most of the swimmers are seniors or juniors who have had varsity experience,” Fortune said.
Head Coach Danny Dye agrees with Fortune’s assessment.
“We should win leagues, set some school re-cords, and get to CCS and challenge Bellarmine,” Dye said.
For 25 straight years, the Bellarmine College Preparatory team has won the CCS crown. This year, the Palo Alto High School varsity boys swim-ming team will attempt to change that.
“Our goal is to get second in CCS, but hope-fully we can have a shot at beating Bellarmine,” Fortune said.
While the Vikings may seem to be selling themselves short by aspiring to finish second, the Bellarmine Bells have dominated their competi-tion. Last year, Bellarmine won CCS with a score of 401, more than double the second place score of 194 that both Paly and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory compiled.
“Last year we got second [in CCS] after Bel-larmine, but they doubled our score so it will take a lot for us to compete with them,” senior captain
PLACE: 1st COACH: Danny Dye CURRENT RECORD (as of 3/21/08) : 1-0
spring sports 2008 W
01 Menlo04 Lynbrook 11 Saratoga15 Gunn18/19 Section Challenges22 Saratoga25 Monta Vista
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01 at Los Altos07 Boys Prelims (League Championships) at Lynbrook09 Combined Finals (League Championships) at Lynbrook16 Swimming Prelims (CCS Championships) at Stanford17 Swimming Finals (CCS Championships) at Stanford
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SCHUBERT Sophomore Ian Schubert, the boys’ top butterfly swimmer has had to step up in many events. His con-tributions have helped the Vikings early, with strong times in both butterfly and relays. “Ian is really hard-working and will help fill the void left by [2007 Paly grad] Leland Takamine at butterfly,” senior Michael Fortune said.
BOYS’ SWIMMING
Scott Mielke said. The point disparity with the scores is due to
many factors.“Bellarmine brings three times as many swim-
mers as we do,” sophomore Bobby Abbott said.The problems with depth will affect the team
throughout the season.“We have some issues with depth, but it won’t
really affect us now,” Mielke said. “But when leagues/CCS comes, there are more swimming slots so we’ll be pressed to fill those spots. We have a bunch of freshmen and sophomores on Var-sity from the get-go so we shouldn’t have as many issues [as in previous years].”
However, Dye does not believe depth will be a critical issue.
“We have a lot of talent and if the younger ones keep training, we should be ok,” Dye said.
Even with these weaknesses, the Vikings hope to succeed this season.
The season began with a commanding vic-tory in a non-league meet over Woodside High School.
In their first league meet, the Spring Invita-tional, the Vikings came in first place with a score of 264, beating Lynbrook High School, The King’s Academy, Wilcox High School and Bellarmine (B team)
With these early victories, the Vikings hope to continue the trend in their upcoming news.
“As long as they keep working hard and stay-ing on task, we should have a very successful sea-son,” Dye said.
~Steven Tran
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GIRLS’ SWIMMING2007 RECORD: Undefeated COACH: Danny Dye
spring sports 2008 T
14 Homestead15 Serra Relays
M a r c h
1 Menlo4 Lynbrook11 Saratoga15 Gunn18 Section Challange25 Monta Vista
5 Los Altos8 Prelims9 Combined Prelims16 Prelims17 Finals
**Home games are in bold**
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his year, the Palo Alto girls’ varsity swim team has the opportunity to win SCVAL (San-ta Clara Valley Athletic League) for the sixth year in a row. Last year, the team reached CCS but was only able to place third. With
the loss of last years’ graduating captains Tanya Wil-cox, Aly Mackenzie and Louisa Zao, the team sought new leadership. Seniors Colleen Fotch, Amanda Wong, Lizzie Abbott and Liv Jensen all rose to the occasion.
With new captains and a whole new set of speedy freshmen, the Paly girls’ swim team is ready for a successful season.
“This year we are going to dominate,” sophomore Kaitlyn Tracy said. “It’s the last year that we will be swimming with the seniors so we have to.” This years’ seniors will leave a mark in Paly history. In ad-dition to swimming for Paly, two of the captains, Liv Jensen and Colleen Fostch, will try to compete in the 2008 Olympics as well.
With inspiration from their captains, the team has high goals; the team looks to accomplish more than it did last year and win CCS. This year, the freshmen seem to have a flair for swimming, bringing an over-whelming surge of talent, dedication and potential.
“They are all really fast and well-conditioned year-round swimmers,” Colleen Fotsch said.
With an overpowering amount of ability, not only the freshmen class is shining.
“The good thing about this years team is that ev-eryone is really talented,” junior Tara Murao said. “Not only one class is good, we all are.”
The excitement surrounding this year’s team is not just growing among players. Fifth-year head coach Danny Dye believes that this season will be one of
the most successful yet. With top-level athletes in every grade, the girls are prepared to succeed all the way to CCS.
“We have talent across the board,” Dye said. “This team is better than any I have ever coached through the years.”
A team this dedicated and in shape does not become such a threat without extreme workouts.
“We swim up to five miles a day in practice,” senior Amanda Wong said. “It is not easy.”
The swim team has up to eight practices a week, including Saturdays and two morning practices. To be able to beat the competition, the girls are always practicing.
“The team this year works really hard and is always looking to improve,” Dye said. “ We are only six weeks into practice and all the swimmers have already shown improvement.” All of their hard work eventually pays off. So far this season the girls’ swim team is undefeated.
“ All the swimmers swam very well in our first practice meet against Woodside,” said Dye. “ I am really proud of all their times, everyone did a great job.”
The swim team is excited for the upcoming season and is ready to defeat past rivals.
“We really want to beat Monta Vista in a duel meet,” said Lizzie Abbott. “ The past two years they have beaten us, but we can definitely do it this year.”
With drive to beat past opponents and a wave of new talent, which has splashed onto the pool deck, the Paly girls’ swim team is ready and able to win.
~Amanda Hohbach
Freshman Sabrina Lee is a key component of the girls varsity swim team. In her first year on the team she has se-cured a spot on the A relay, along with seniors Liv Jensen, Lizzie Abbott and Colleen Fotsch. Although she is a fresh-man she is considered one of the most valuable members of the team. As a year round swimmer she is always condi-tioned and ready for a race. With three more years at Paly, Sabrina Lee can only improve.
30 | The Viking
TRACK AND FIELD
he Paly track team is laced up and ready to dominate this year’s competition. Although many feel that track is a test of an individual’s ability, the Vikings are set to win leagues as a team and send several members to compete
at the state level.The Vikings have several outstanding runners in
the mile. Sophomore Philip Macquitty, junior Char-lie Avis and senior Brian Karvelas lead the pack.
“We have ten guys that are going to break 4:40 in the mile,” Karvelas said. “This is probably the most talented distance team ever at Paly and it is only March.”
Although the runners at the front possess a lot of talent, the depth of the team is its strength.
“Even though Philip and Charlie are extremely fast, we have half a dozen runners that can com-pete each race,” senior Tommy Angelopolous said. “There are eight or ten of us that all run at about the same pace, so we are able to challenge each other to get better.”
One of those runners is Rajan Narang. Narang reached the league finals last year with a mile time of 4:43. However, he is still not satisfied.
“I expect to do better than last year,” he said. “Although I am not in the shape I would like to be in right now, I am confident that with a couple months of solid training, my balls will be running fast enough to qualify for CCS.”
Mia Lattanzi leads a girl’s distance team that looks to be very competitive in leagues.
“Although we lost several good all-around run-ners last year, we have a very solid group,” she said. “The good thing about our team is that we al-
2007 RECORD: 6-0 PLACE: 1st COACH: Jason Fung CURRENT RECORD (as of 3/21/08) : 2 -0
spring sports 2008
6 at Mt. View8 K. Bell Invit.13 Monte Vista15 Del Mar Invit.20 at Gunn21-22 West Val-ley Invit.29 St. Francis Invit.
M a r c h
1 Los Gatos4-5 Stanford Invit.10 at Milpitas18 Arcadia Invit.24 at Los Altos25 Oregon Invit.29 SCVAL trials24 Milpitas
9 SCVAL Quali-fieer Meet17 CCS Semis 23 CCS Finals30-31 CIF State Finals
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Given the nickname “The Cheetah” by his peers, Daniel Jones looks to lead a group of determined Paly sprinters in leagues. Jones personal record times last year in the 100 meter (11.69 seconds) and 200 meter (23.47) were good enough for fastest on the team. Look for him to run well in leagues and place high in CCS.
ways support and encourage each other.”Lattanzi is looking forward to competing.“As a school, our biggest competition is always
Gunn and Los Gatos,” she said. “Gunn is tough be-cause of the rivalry and Los Gatos always has an amazing team.”
Discus thrower Dennis Muaka leads Paly’s strength group. Muaka has improved steadily from freshman year, adding ten feet to his throws each year.
“I was throwing 110 feet in my freshman year,” he said. “I expect to throw 130-135 feet this year.”
Muaka trains with junior Andy Maliska.“I tussle and toss every day with Andy,” Muaka
said. “If one of us needs some help, the other one watches him and tries to find the thing that is wrong with his technique.”
Senior hurdler Mohammed Abid is ready to prove himself after a disappointing junior year. He had an outstanding sophomore year, where he made it to the CCS semifinals in the 300-meter hurdles. Unfortunately, his success did not continue.
“I ran terribly last year,” he said. “I failed to make it out of leagues, but that is the nature of hurdling. One slip up and you are done.”
Now in his senior year, Abid is running well.“I expect to make it past leagues hopefully all the
way into the CCS finals,” he said.As for the team, Abid does not expect much
less.“Los Gatos and Gunn will be tough nuts,” he
said. “However, I fully expect us to win leagues and place well at CCS.”
~Adam Furlong
The Viking | 31
T
LACROSSE Current Record: 1-0-1 COACH: Jen Gray and Nicole Hyde
spring sports 2008
20th Gunn M a r c h
1 Castilleja4 Leland5 Tournament8 Harker/ Notre Dame10 Menlo School15 Menlo Atherton18 Pioneer25 Woodside/Mercy29 Sacred Heart
2 Burlingame6 Tournament10 Tournament Finals
**Home games are bold**
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ZAHOUDANIS
Junior Helene Zahoudanis , a captain on the girls’ varsity lacrosse team, will be an important attri-bute to the teams success this season. With pre-vious experience on the Tomahawks, a local club team , she will bring leadership and knowledge to the field. Zahoudanis will use her agility and stick handling skills to maneuver past opponents and lead the vikes to a winning season.
n its first year at Paly, the girls’ lacrosse team is doing better than expected. With over twenty people on both JV and varsity teams, the girls are ready to work hard.
“Because this is a brand new team, the turnout at tryouts was great,” coach Nicole Hyde said. “Half of these girls have never played, but you would not be able to tell.”
Many of the girls are just starting out or have had only one year of experience from the Tomahawks lacrosse team. The elected captains, junior Helene Zahoudanis, senior Kati Dahm and junior Anna Bastidas, all have had at least one year of experience.
“Even though many of the players are beginners, everyone has a lot of potential athletic ability,” Dahm said. “We have a good chance of doing well.”
Although it has not been long since practice started, the girls do not find getting along to be a problem.
“It has only been three weeks since practice, and we are all already friends,” sophomore Maya Fielder said. “We are all really close.”
The lacrosse team is determined and is ready to work hard in order to win their upcoming games.
With practices focused on skill development and conditioning, the team is practicing hard.
“This team is a really great group of girls, which is definitely willing to put in the time and effort to do well,” Anna Bastidas said. The team will be facing more experienced teams, so they will have to catch up quickly. At their first scrimmage against Menlo Atherton High School, the Vikings suffered a 12-0 loss.
“Although we may have lost, we have tons of potential,” sophomore Sam Herzog said.
First ranked Menlo Atherton is has been together for eight years.
“Considering they have been together for eight years, they’re not that great,” sophomore Emily Fowler said. “I think we could beat them
by the end of the season.”Another big threat to Paly is the Gunn team.
Their lacrosse team has been together for seven years and is a team to beat.
“When we play Gunn we are really going to have to play good defense,” Dahm said. “That is what is going to keep us in the game.
Although Palys’ season has just begun, they have improved their game in leaps and strides.
“As the season progresses so will we,” Batidas said. “With more experience we will get a lot better and be more of a threat.”
~Amanda Hohbach
I“Half of these girls have never played,
but you would not be able to tell,” coach Nicole Hyde said.
32 | The Viking
BADMINTON2007 RECORD: 1-11 PLACE: 7th (of 7) COACH: Kara Prentice CURRENT RECORD (as of 3/11/08) : 1-0
spring sports 2008 W
11 Los Altos W13 Saratoga18 Gunn20 at Monta Vista24 Milpitas
M a r c h
1 at Lynbrook3 Homestead 8 at Wilcox10 Monta Vista22 at Gunn29 Lynbrook
1 at Homestead6 Wilcox 8 at Saratoga
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HSU Junior Young Hsu, the number one girls’ singles player, is a key component to the Vikes success this year. Hsu’s dedication and experience are sure to lead to a number of victories this season. “Young is a player who is always optimistic and wants to practice hard and get better,” junior Florence Hsiao said.
ith only one win over the past two years, Paly badminton has a long road ahead to respectability. However, heading into the
2008 season the team is still excited for what lies ahead.
“We were pretty demoralized during the year because of all our losses,” junior Adam Hwung said. “That one win did help our team morale. We‘re working harder because of our bad record last year to win more this year.”
Last season Paly finished in last place of the upper DeAnza division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL), with a 1-11 record. The team often had trouble finishing matches and keeping up with deeper opponents.
“There were a lot of matches [last year] where I would see that our player was better but couldn’t put it all together,” coach Kara Prentice said. “Kids weren’t playing to their potential, and that’s the hardest part as a coach.”
Despite the last place finish, Paly remained in the upper division after the Milpitas coach re-quested that his team be moved down. This season the focus will be on developing a strong founda-tion for the future by developing the JV and un-derclassman players.
“We’re trying to do more train the underclass-men,” Hwung said. “We’re trying to use practice more productively with drills, training, and teach-ing.”
The Vikes hope to use practice time to solidify their fundamentals and get simulated game expe-rience for many of the younger players.
“We do lots of drills and practice matches,” ju-nior Alyssa Burton said. “We’re trying to be more productive in practice this year.”
With only two returning senior boys, Paly will look girls’ number one singles player Young Hsu, and the number one girls’ doubles tandem of Con-nie Yang and Crystal Wang to anchor the team.
“Our girls are definitely our strongest link,” Prentice said. “With Young, Connie, and Crystal we have a lot of experience.”
Prentice believes that the experience of their opponents is the main factor in the Vikes success this season. Many members of the team are sim-ply looking to take the new season one step at a time.
“Everyone trying their hardest to win and ev-eryone actually willing to practice, drill, and train to the best of their ability during practice,” Hwung said.
Each victory will be a step forward for the Vikes, who are still optimistic about the upcom-ing season.
“Our main goal is probably to win more than one game,” Burton said. “Our record hasn’t been so good for the past seasons. But otherwise, we just all want to have a good time.”
The record over the last two years notwith-standing, the team’s passion has never been called into question.
“No matter how poorly we do, everyone on this team is always excited for badminton sea-son,” Prentice said.
~ Noah Sneider
The Viking | 33
2007 RECORD: 20-2 PLACE: 1st COACH: Andy Harader CURRENT RECORD (as of 3/21/08) : 9-2
spring sports 2008 B
01 Mountain View
02 Menlo03 Monta Vista07 Aragon08 Los Altos09 Tamalpais14 Saratoga15 Gunn17 Saratoga21 Sacred Heart22 SCVALS23 SCVALS
A p r i l
02 CCS Team20 CCS Individual
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WONGBANCHAI
Freshman Baramee Wongbanchai has lit up the Paly tennis team in only his first year, winning all but one of his matches at the #2 singles spot. “Baramee is the cornerstone of our singles lineup,” junior Dan Schwartz said. “He is our most consistent match-winner. He hits a really heavy ball that pushes his opponents back and makes it tough to play for them. He really imposes his game on the his opponent.” Look for the phenom, who hails from Thailand, to be the next great Viking tennis player.
BOYS’ TENNIS
oasting a team filled with veteran ex-perience and young talent, the Palo Alto varsity boys’ tennis team will look to contend for a league title and make some noise in the Central Coast Section
tournament.Last year the team made it to the CCS quar-
terfinals before losing to section powerhouse Bel-larmine College Prep. The squad loses only three players in Matt Severson, Kyle Schulman and Ja-son Mah from last year’s team.
Coach Andy Harader’s team has rushed out of the gates with a 9-2 record and second place finish in the 96 team California Classic tournament, de-spite having to deal with a number of illnesses and health issues to key players.
“One of our goals is to get everyone healthy,” Harader said. “Because of it we have been drawing up players from the junior varsity team.”
Accordingly, Harader sees the team’s depth as one of its biggest strengths.
“Fortunately, this year we have a lot of depth,” he said. “To win all those matches, with all those guys out, takes a lot of skill.”
Once the team returns to full strength, many of the team’s players, including junior Dan Schwartz, believe the team has the ability to compete for a SCVAL De Anza Division title and compete in the CCS tourney.
“One of our goals is getting a high seed in CCS,” Schwartz said. “We also want to finish first or second in league - we will fight with Saratoga for the title.”
The team is filled out with a deep singles lineup. Senior Kushal Tantry will line up at the number one singles position for the third straight season, with juniors Sam Wong and Dan Schwartz at the three and four spots.
Freshman Baramee Wongbanchai takes the number two spot; the young phenom is seen as a major key to success for the team.
“[Wongbanchai] is just going to keep getting better,” Tantry said. “Without him we would not be nearly as good.”
While the singles players are well-established, the doubles tandems are still getting figured out.
“We would like get our doubles team stron-ger,” Harader said.
Currently, senior David Plotkin and junior John Mitchell are at the one spot, while sopho-mores Drew Pearson and Chase Cooper and ju-niors Alan Chen and Cory McCroskey will work the two and three spots. Sophomore Peter Tseng has also figured into the doubles tandems.
Even though the Vikings only blemishes were close losses to Bellarmine and Gunn, Harader still sees room for improvement.
“We have not reached our full potential,” he said. “Even at 9-2, we could have won both those losses if we were better in the third set.”
“Everyone is critical to our success,” Tantry said. “We can make it to the NorCal champion-ships if we finish top two in CCS. It is a stretch but if we stay disciplined it is a definite possibility.”
~ Ian Kelly (Photo courtesy of Paly Voice)
34 | The Viking
DIVING2007 TOP CCS PERFORMERS: 1st-Michela Fossati-Bellani 2nd-Jenny Reese 8th-Noa Palmon COACH: Danny Dye
spring sports 2008 T01 Menlo 04 Lynbrook11 Saratoga15 Gunn18 Section Challenge25 Monta Vista
01 at Los Altos
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GRACIEGREENWOOD
Freshman star Gracie Greenwood may be new to Paly’s diving pro-gram, but she is certainly not new to the sport. Greenwood has already been training with Stanford coaches for many years and expects to lead the team with the looming departure of senior talent and leadership. She consistently performs powerful dives that combine her natural talent for movement in the air with her already wisened knowledge for the sport’s complex techniques.
he Palo Alto High School diving team will depend on their band of talented leaders this season to remain competi-tive, once again, for a Central Coast Sec-tion title.
“These guys are an important factor every year in terms of making a run at CCS,” head coach Danny Dye said.
The team finished third in CCS last season, but lost some talent, especially last year’s CCS runner-up Jenny Reese. Even with the team’s one two punch gone, this year’s success is not an illusion, according to Dye.
“They have al-ready showed suc-cess,” Dye said. “We can do this again, have a goood season.”
The team plans to let their blend of expe-rienced contenders and youthful newcomers work to their advantage as the year goes on. Dye be-lieves that the formula will lead to success.
Senior Michela Fossati-Bellani is the Viking’s clear centerpiece. One of the nation’s top divers, Fossati-Bellani is looking for her third straight CCS title. Last year she set a CCS record for her 506.05 point score in the finals.
“Michela has one of the nicest dispositions,” Dye said. “She is an awesome diver and treats ev-eryone the same.”
Fossati-Bellani uses her immense diving
knowledge to serve as essentially another coach on the team.
“[Fossati-Bellani] is willing to do everything for the team,” Dye said. “She always comes early to help out the younger divers. She is one of my favorite people.”
Yet the team has talent that stretches beyond just Fossati-Bellani. Junior Noa Palmon and fresh-man Gracie Greenwood will also be competing this season for CCS medals, and are certainly top eight contenders.
“Those three are sol-id divers,” Dye said. “I expect them to do well.”
Greenwood has the job of replacing the Har-vard-freshman Reese as the team’s second diver, but appears to be the right girl for the job.
“She knows how to move in the air,” Fossati-
Bellani said. “She is tight and flexible, which gives her the power to push the board down.”
In senior Will Simon, the Vikings also have a male contender for CCS. A top eight finisher in last season’s CCS championships for the Vikings, Si-mon has high expectations for this season’s com-petition.
“I think Will [Simon]’s goal this season should be ambitious,” Dye said. “We’re looking for a top three finish from him this year.”
Overall, the team appears to be as competitive as they have been in previous seasons.
“ [Fossati-Bellani] is willing to do everything for the team. She
always comes early to help out the younger divers.”
- head coach Danny Dye
The Viking | 35
The MathleteBy Matthew Tracy and Oliver Davies
The Mathlete
“Jeff appeared to have fun almost all of the time, whether it was socializing, doing homework or cleaning,” fellow MIT Alumni Anthony Pelosi said. “His attitude rubbed off on others.”
Following university, Billing brought a masters degree in computer science to Redwood Shores, where he accepted a job at Oracle. After two years of the same monotonous routine, Billing realized this job was
not for him. He found himself constantly thinking about and anticipating his practices with his Belmont Little League team at work.
“I realized a dream job is one you daydream about when you’re not at it,” Billing said. “Working at Oracle just didn’t make me do that.”
Left with an education in computers and a love for sports, Billing did what was logical. He started applying for jobs as a math teacher. Had the teaching profession not worked out, Billing had hopes of becoming
The Viking | 37
Features
Photo courtesy of Stewart Berman
KEEPING TIME Billing keeps various runners’ times at Paly’s first track meet of the season, which took place on Thursday, March 6th and resulted in a Viking victory.
T he firm handshake, the intense eye contact, the overflowing exuberance; Palo Alto High School Math Teacher Jeff Billing enraptures both his students with “The Look.”
“The Look is Billing’s way of telling you he’s proud of you,” senior Bryan Wells said. “You realize there’s nothing left to live for.”
As soon as the final school bell rings, Billing takes his tangible passion outside to his second classroom; the track.
Billing brings a trademark enthusiasm to his work, connecting with kids both in and outside of the classroom, bringing a unique versatility to the Paly math department.
“The two most important things [Billing brings to his classroom] are his strong belief in putting high energy and passion into everything he pursues, and the twin notion that his high energy and passion can lead to excellence,” Billing’s uncle and 1968 Boston Marathon Winner Amby Burfoot said. “He believes in having fun, and in doing well.”
After Billing was hired four years ago, he immediately started helping out with Paly’s cross-country team as an assistant coach, although later named the boys’ head coach. The runners in that freshman class are now seniors, and Alok Subbarao, one of Paly cross-country’s greatest success stories, is proud to be a part of it.
“Jeff believed in me back when no one else did,” senior cross-cross country captain Subbarao said. “I was the slowest person in cross-country and in track. I couldn’t really break seven minutes [for a mile] and hoped to break six [minutes] by junior year. Mr. Billing promised me that he would help me break 6 minutes that same year. He worked me pretty hard that whole year and kept telling me that I would break six minutes. The day after track ended, in a time trial, I ran a 5:59 mile.”
Subbarao worked tirelessly over the course of his career with Billing, eventually dropping more than nine minutes from his time at the notorious 5-kilometer Crystal Springs Course.
“Jeff is a really involved coach,” Subbarao said. “He’s always really enthusiastic about coaching, and, before big meets, he always gives us long speeches that really get us fired up and excited.”
Part of Billing’s great coaching and teaching abilities comes from his interesting childhood. Billing excelled in academics and athletics while growing up in Connecticut, and was a three-year varsity athlete in baseball, cross-country and track.
“I have always had the impression that academic success came easily to Jeff, it was almost a ‘given’,” Burfoot said. “Athletics were something else; however, they were what he did to express his enthusiasm.”
Finishing his high school career all-state in track, and all conference in baseball and cross-country, Billing moved on to MIT where he participated in both cross-country and baseball.
Features
38 | The Viking
Billing’s Favorites
a statistician for a major league ball club, a career he has never been able to pursue.
When Billing showed up to the Paly math department career fair, he already felt overshadowed by the fifty other teachers all dressed in their nicest attire. It was his first chance to make an impression with Ms. Antink, and he was the only person underdressed for the occasion.
“He [Billing] came [to the job fair] full
“My four years here have shaped the rest of my life,” Billing said. “And no matter where I end up, I’ll always have wonderful memories of my coworkers, students and athletes here at Paly”
Favorite...Ice Cream: Soft serve swirl- “Bring it on Skyler!” (Referring to an eating competition between junior Skyler Cummins and Billing)Color: OrangeSport: Baseball Workout: Hour-long runSong: Mass Pike by the Get Up KidsMovie: The SandlotIdols: His parentsShow: Pardon the Interruption (PTI)
Food: Home-made pizzaPre-race meal/routine: Ba-nana and waterCity to run in: His home-town- Mystic, CTVacation: The beach or any road tripWeekend activity: Red Sox game at Fenway [park]
of enthusiasm and energy--he wasn’t very knowledgeable about teaching or attaining credentials, but he was passionate,” Paly math teacher Susan Antink said. “He was obviously bright, and he seemed able. We didn’t interview him right away because he didn’t have a credential. However, he made it into the second round of interviews because of his dynamic personality.”
Fortunately for the Paly community, the teaching opportunity worked out, and he was hired for the 2004-2005 school year as an Advanced Geometry and Algebra 1 teacher. To this day, Billing still teaches an Algebra class, Algebra 1.1, and one day he aspires to teach physics as well, but he is not sure when that day will come.
“I’ve always thought physics would be really fun to teach - it was probably my favorite subject in high school, and to me, it explained the way the world worked,”
Billing said. “I love teaching math, but I think it’d be fun to teach physics too.”
As Billing continues to blossom as a coach and a teacher at Paly, it is clear he has not forgotten his roots. Last Thanksgiving Billing took a Tuesday night red-eye to Connecticut, where he proceeded to run in the Manchester Road Race, one of the premier road races in America today.
“The Manchester Road Race on
Thanksgiving Day is one of the 3 most special days of the year for me,” Billing said. “My uncle has run the race 45 years in a row, my father 35 years in a row, and myself 16 years in a row. I don’t know how to describe what it means to me – it’s a tradition, and I love traditions.“
Showing his true dedication to coaching, once he finished Thanksgiving dinner, Billing flew right back to Palo Alto to coach cross-country stars Charlie Avis and Phillip Macquitty in the state cross-country final that Friday.
Unfortunately, there is a sad side to every story; in Billing’s case, his wonderful career at Paly might be cut short this upcoming summer. Billing’s girlfriend, Christy Yuen, is applying to medical schools both in California and on the east coast, and is waiting to hear back; a decision due on May 15. Barring Yuen’s acceptance to Stanford
Medical School, Billing will be forced to make a tough decision; whether to follow Yuen on her journey to becoming a doctor, or whether to stay here in Palo Alto and continue living the life he has now.
“The decision for Jeff will be difficult,” Yuen said. “I know that the past four years have been phenomenal for Jeff. From a professional perspective, he often comments on how he has grown as a
teacher, and how much he has learned from his colleagues and students. He also loves living in the same community where he works, and I am sure that if Jeff chooses to move on, he will leave behind many disappointed students, parents and faculty.”
Nobody knows what the future has in store for Billing, but, Paly can only hope he is here to stay.
“My years at Paly have been life-changing,” Billing said. “Before I met Ms. Antink at the career fair, I thought it’d be cool to be a teacher, and fun to coach as well. Four years later I’ve found something that I can picture myself doing for the rest of my life. My years here have shaped the rest of my life, and no matter where I end up, I’ll always have wonderful memories of my coworkers, students and athletes here at Paly.” <<<
The Viking | 13
Features
BY AHNA R AO Photography by Alek Milovidov
PLAYING ROUGH
and soccer. The sport employs kicking, throwing and running the ball towards the opposing teams’ end zone. The ball can only be thrown backwards, and points are accumulated by scoring try’s (touching the ball in the other teams end zone) for 5 points, and conversions (the equivalent of a field goal) for 2 points.
Holders’ home team, the East Palo Alto Razorback’s, helped him to hone his rugby talent. One significant difference between Holders’ home team and those of his teammates on the national team is that the Razorback’s do not distinguish players by skill level.
“Most teams would break up into A, B and C teams,” Will Holder said. “On my team [the EPA Razorback’s] we are all together. You show up and play.”
Holder is currently a key component to the line-up of the East Palo Alto Razorback’s, yet he is still eager to improve.
“Practices are pretty relaxed,” Holder said. “We usually play a touch version of rugby for most of the practice which helps with multiple skills.”
Though Holder claims that his teammates are out practicing every day, formal practices only take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“I have never really figured out how many people are on my team,” Holder said. “We have a different number at each game and practice.”
“My East Palo Alto team is really undisciplined,” Holder said. “We pretty much run around and hit people.”
Junior Ashraf El Gamal had the opportunity to play for the
team in a tournament at Stanford. El Gamal was not allotted much playing time because of his lack of rugby experience, but he still was able to feel like part of the team.
“It’s not that organized,” El Gamal said. “It is just a bunch of [guys] running around.”
But El Gamal claims that Holder puts forward quite a commitment to the team.
“He is always going to games and practices,” El Gamal said. “He definitely works hard at [rugby].”
The EPA Razorbacks provided a foundation for which Will Holder could build up his game, but his natural talent played a large part in his success. The secret to Holder’s success may lie
Palo Alto High school junior Will Holder saw the ball tumble out of his teammate’s hands onto the grass. He ran to pick it up and then everything went black. After waking up, several seconds later, he realized that he had been knocked unconscious. The game was still in play, so Holder got up and jumped back into the game.
“I woke up and one of my teammates was trying to pick me up off the ground in the middle of play so we could keep playing,” Holder said. “I got up and found out where I was and then kept playing.”
When Palo Alto High School junior Will Holder began playing rugby in third grade, no one expected that he would grow up to be a national prospect. Holder recently earned a spot on the U17 USA Men’s national team, but his journey thus far has not been easy.
In mid-December, Holder attended tryouts for the U17 USA Men’s national team. Holder had actively been in contact with recruiters for about a year, who had urged him to try for a spot on the team.
“We were playing a tournament at Stanford and there were some recruiters there,” Holder said. “They told me they wanted me to try out [for the national team].”
Holder impressed the coaches at the tryouts in Florida and was accepted to the starting squad.
“It started out with about 150 guys,” Holder said. “From there they pick the top 30 players.”
The practice schedule for the national team must work around the fact that the individual athletes live across the country and play on their home teams as well. For that reason the national team arrives three days early before tournaments to prepare and to prepare fits in about five practices, per day.
Holder recently played in a tournament with the team in Florida, and claims that their style varies with the one he is used to here at home.
“The game is quicker and more organized,” Holder said. “The only chance my team [East Palo Alto Razorback’s] could beat them would be if we injured all the players.”
Rugby is quite an obscure sport, described as a mixture of football
MOVING UP Holder has taken his game to the next level on the U17 Men’s National Team
Profiles
40 | The Viking
in the genes. Will’s dad, Rob Holder, is a coaching legend in the sport of rugby.
“My dad is one of the best rugby coaches out there,” Will Holder said. “He has coached for 10 years, mostly with the Air Force Academy.”
Rob Holder can single-handedly take credit for immersing Will in rugby at a young age.
“Will was always around the game when he was younger, so he was introduced to rugby from the sidelines when I was a player,” Rob Holder said. “He was watching rugby within the first few months of his birth.”
Rob Holder also began the rugby program in which Will first started playing in Colorado, before the family moved to California. Though Rugby is not a very popular sport in America, he thought it was important to give kids an opportunity to play, considering they were the only rugby league in the area.
“My dad wanted to start a youth rugby program in Colorado,” Will Holder said. “So I got 20 of my friends together and we played some seven on seven rugby.”
The youth rugby program Coach Rob Holder started in Colorado was played by true rugby rules with full tackle, and helped the young athletes to get a feel for the game.
“The Golden C.A.T.S. rugby team was simply a way for Will to learn to play rugby,” Rob Holder said. “We were the only rugby club in the area so we only played against each other…we taught skills.”
Holders’ dedication to rugby stems from his respect for the sport. Though it is not immensely popular in the United States, the specifics of the game differ from traditional concepts of American athletics concepts.
“I always knew he had the athletic ability to be good at rugby,” Rob Holder said. “But I was not sure he would put the work in at first. Once I saw him working at his game I knew he would be successful.”
Rugby takes a level of dedication that one has to be willing to commit to become a successful player, and players are given more independence than other sports.
“One thing I really like about rugby is that [the game] is all player-run,” Will Holder said, “During the international matches the coaches sit way up in the stands and watch from a distance.”
The game provides an equal playing field for all athletes, and varies from sports like Football because the game does not constantly stop. Rugby is a true test of players’ athleticism.
“There is a lot more flow to the game [than in football],” Will Holder said, “I like that everyone in the game can do anything they want. You can be a 300 pound guy and kick or run with the ball and then tackle and then score too.” <<<
NEW SKILLS “Kicking, throwing and running with the ball are all part of playing rugby.”
WILL’S THRILLS
“ I always knew he had the athletic ability to be good at rugby ”
- Rob Holder
Favorite Food?Dad’s cheeseburgers
Biggest Pet Peeve?Girls who wear leggings under skirts
Dream Date?Jessica Alba
Favorite Team?New Zealand All Blacks
Best pump up song?“New Noise” by Refused
The Viking | 41
Profiles
Profiles
The Viking | 19
ichela Fossati-Bellani jumps off a board, flips and twists in the air, and barely makes a splash as she breaks the surface of the water. Though the ripples
may be small in the water, the effect is the opposite at the judging table.
Fossati-Bellani, a senior at Paly, is the number one diver for her age group in Italy. She won a CCS title and broke the CCS diving record during the 2007 season. She is USC-bound on a scholarship and hopes to participate in the 2012 Olympics.
With the Olympics as a possibility, Fossati-Bellani has come full circle. The 2000 Sydney Olympics first sparked
Fossati-Bellani’s interest in diving. “I saw people diving and was like wow, that’s really cool,” Fossati-Bellani said. “I need to try that.” Fossati-Bellani started off with low-key diving at a coun-try club until she decided it was time to step it up. She began diving with a Stanford diving program and at age 12, tried out for the Italian national team. She has an Italian passport and knew competing on the Italian team would be a little easier than on the American team because of Italy’s smaller popula-tion. Placing first and second in Italian competitions secured Fossati-Bellani’s spot on the team.
BY C ASSIE PRIOLEAU Photography by Alek Milovidov
caduca liberaFree falling in hopes of an Olympic dream...
M
The Viking | 43
Profiles“The whole thing has been extremely positive because she loves
it and she chose it,” Fossati-Bellani’s mother, Cristina Ballerio, said.
Fossati-Bellani’s international diving on the Italian team has sent her around the world, from Brazil to Malaysia to Germany. On top of that, she spends her summers diving in her parents’ homeland, Italy, and usually makes three or four trips there each school year.
Accordingly, Fossati-Bellani has had to make many sacrifices for such competitive diving.
“There are a lot of times I have had to not do something that I really wanted to do,” Fossati-Bellani said. “Prob-ably the phrase that I have to use 75 percent of the time I’m asked to do something has been, ‘I can’t, I have div-ing.’ I have to pass up a lot of late nights to get up for a 7 AM competition. Also a lot of weekends are sacrificed to go to meets.”
Though Fossati-Bellani has to skip events that range from spending time with friends after school to Paly’s first Sadie Hawkins dance, she finds the trade off is worthwhile.
“It’s worth it 100 percent,” Fossati-Bellani said. “I have had so many experiences that I could never get from any-where else. I feel like a lot of the time divers take for grant-ed going to extraordinary places like Brazil, Malaysia, Russia, Italy and Germany. But I think about it a lot and how lucky I am.”
Though the Paly diving is not close to the caliber Fos-sati-Bellani is used to on the Italian team, every spring she racks points for the Vikings.
“Paly diving is more just for fun,” Fossati-Bellani said.
“I get to teach people things I know and pass things down.” Moreover, she helps Paly’s swimming and diving coach, Danny Dye, coach the divers, most of whom are beginners. The new divers feel lucky to be coached by and work with such an accomplished diver. “It was really cool to know that she is really an expert at the sport,” sophomore and new diver Gaby Cahill said. “She’s re-ally comfortable on the board and when she gives me criticism I know that she really understands what she’s talking about.”
Although her instruction is helpful for the Paly divers, Fossati-Bellani feels more comfortable diving than coaching. “For me, it’s easier to do it than to teach it,” Fossati-Bellani said. “I know what I’m doing and I know how it’s supposed to feel and what it’s supposed to look like. Maybe it’s because it’s just so easy for me that I can’t explain it.” Fossati-Bellani is awarded
for her clean and difficult dives, but getting the dives up to competition level is not always easy. The prepa-ration is tedious and wrongly executed dives can be dan-gerous.When she starts learning
a new dive, Fossati-Bellani uses a three meter spring-board, the standard flexible and bouncy board. After practice to perfection on the three meter, she moves up to a five meter springboard. “I’m not going to lie, I’m
a big, big chicken,” Fossati-Bellani said. “Each dive takes me a really long time to get it. But when I get it, it comes pretty easily.” Though she claims to be
fearful, many people would Guardando in avanti (looking forward): Fossati-Bellani will dive for USC next year and hopes to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
“I feel like a lot of divers take for granted going to extraor-dinary places like Brazil, Malaysia, Russia, Italy and Ger-
many. But I think about it a lot and how lucky I am.”
take one look at the stunts she does and strongly dis-agree.
“Very often I think, oh my god, how brave she is!” Ballerio said.
In December, Fossati-Bellani began learning how to do a back two and a half pike. In this dive, the diver stands backward on the board and throws back, flipping twice in the air with their body folded and legs straight, and enter the water head first.
In her initial practicing of the dive, Fossati-Bellani only did a two and a quarter pike, landing on her back. The force and momentum from the dive and the impact of the water sent her knees into her face, breaking her nose.
Because this was Fossati-Bellani’s second time breaking her nose, she immediately got surgery. For the 13 days following the surgery she wore a face cast.
“I didn’t really care,” Fossati-Bellani said. “I went to school with it on and did everything normally. It wasn’t that bad.”
Her nose fully recovered and the injury has not ef-fected her diving any further.
Next year, Fossati-Bellani is headed to USC, a high-ly ranked diving school. Though many schools tried to recruit Fossati-Bellani for her diving, she claims her middle school math teacher, Mr. Tsuruda, is responsible for her choice. A popular teacher, Tsuruda left no doubt in students’ minds that he thought his alma mater, USC, was clearly the best in all aspects.
“He smashed it into my head,” Fossati-Bellani said. “I really liked him and he was a really cool teacher. I guess that was kind of instilled into my head since sev-enth grade.”
Though Fossati-Bellani does not feel ready for this year’s Olympics in Beijing, she hopes to be able to compete on the Italian team in the 2012 summer Olym-pics. <<<
Faccendo un spruzzo (making a splash): Fossati-Bellani launches off the board during practice at Stanford before flipping, twisting and tucking into her dive.
Michela’s Must HavesDive: Back one and a half pikeFood: ChineseColor: PurpleMovie: Requiem for a dreamClass: Foug’sAnimal: LionSpice Girl: SportyCeleb crush: Jared Leto
Cartoon character: Dexter from Dexter’s laboratory or Mickey MouseItalian or American boys: Ital-ian!Swim suits or clothes: BikiniArticle of Clothing: Plain black Godfather tee-shirtDream vacation: Fiji
Profiles
44 | The Viking
Going Green:
48 | The Viking
On a blustery Thursday afternoon in March, Palo Alto High School sophomore Al-exandra Groetsema rips off a few blades of grass and tosses them in the air. She and her teammate Adam Furlong are about to play a match against two players from Los Gatos High School, but for the moment, grass takes precedence over the game. The blades flutter and swirl through the air, telling her a crucial fact-the direction the wind is blowing. A few blades of grass determine the way Groetsema will hit the ball-in other words, they determine everything. Golf is all about the details.
BY OANA ENACHE Photography by Allen Au
Going Green:Alexandra Groetsema takes on the boys
Profiles
46 | The Viking
Groetsema bends over her tee, watching it intently. Taking out her driver and measuring the distance from her hands to the small white cup, she forms a straight and powerful line. She abruptly turns right and takes six steps away from the ball, then looks with a critical eye to the hole in the distance, determining whether the angle is accurate. Five long strides return her to her starting position, where she practices hitting by bringing her driver around quickly in a huge arching loop. It is tee time.
Golf is in Groetse-ma’s blood-her father, grandfather and great-grandfather all play the game, and she has been playing for five years.
“[At first, golf ] kind of rubbed off on me,” Groetsema said. “[But now], I try to practice every day.”
Her daily practice and determination to improve are what have taken her to where she is today-playing in the California girls’ state tournament, winner of the 2006 JGANC/PGA match play tourna-ment and the female co-captain of Palo Alto High School’s boys’ golf team. Groetsema does not just play golf; she immerses herself in the game.
She takes one last look down the range, and then glances at the ball. Her eyes are shaded by a navy blue hat, but the intensity of her look is obvious from afar. Slowly, she pulls her driver back, keeping her arms tense. Suddenly and quickly, she swings, and the ball catapults away.
Paly does not have a girls’ golf team, which initially prompted Groetsema to try out for the boys’ team her fresh-man year.
“[When she first tried out for the team] it was differ-ent, since not that many girls try out for boys’ teams,” junior co-captain Pierce Marchant said. “But once she realized she could play with us, it was fine.”
Her situation may have seemed unusual to her team-
mates, but many girls nationwide are forced to play golf on boys’ teams for a simple reason-not that many girls play golf. For girls who do, playing on a boys’ team provides one of the only opportunities to play golf competitively and improve. A 2006 survey by the National Golf Foundation found that only 180,000 girls ages 12-17 play golf competitively throughout the United States, making the number of serious female golfers in one area rather small.
For now, Groetsema has established herself as an important part of the Paly golf team.
“She makes our team better,” Marchant said.
Groetsema has also noticed that her pres-ence on the team has other effects.
“When I started play-ing on the boys’ team, the guys stepped up their games, because they’re not going to let a girl beat them,” she said with a laugh. “But we [also] help each other out in a way and just compete against each other.”
Even when playing against other high school boys’ teams, Groetsema is a courteous and caring opponent. When the los-ing player from Los Gatos stops along the green to hit his ball, she is the only one who waits and watch-es, even though her ball is much farther ahead. She wants to hurry up and play, but golf has taught her patience.
“Golf is a grueling sport,” she said. “It takes five hours to play, and a lot can go wrong in those five
hours. You have to keep checking your game and keep play-ing.”
She continues walking silently to her ball, her red golf bag slung perpendicular across her back. Groetsema’s long black po-nytail sways from side to side as she stares reflectively down at the ground. She swings again, sending the ball into the putting green. Watching the ball fly away, she frowns slightly, and then repeats the swing again, working towards perfection.
IN THE ZONE Sophomore Alexandra Groetsema aligns herself with the hole as she prepares to putt
“Golf is [a] self-driven [sport],” Groetsema said. “You have to want to go out and practice. You have to want to go play.” She tries to golf ev-ery day throughout Palo Alto, from the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course to her personal favorite, the Stanford Golf Course.
Groetsema’s father believes that his daughter’s focus and dedication help her persist in improving her game.
“[Golf is] a frustrating, athletic sport,” he said. “It takes time to see improvement in your game.”
All four players have now reached the putting green. Groetsema crouch-es down behind her ball, one hand on her knee and the other cupping her hat. For a moment she does not move but aligns herself to the hole. Putting is her favorite part of the sport.
“Putting makes or breaks your game,” she said.
Compared to the rest of her game, her puts are slow. The flat metal of the putter taps the ball, rolling it slowly towards the hole. For a second, hope flashes across her face, her left arm raises in celebration-and then the ball rolls out along the rim of the hole. Her arm drops in disap-pointment. Determined not to be upset, she putts again and easily makes it into the hole.
Groetsema just keeps on improving, and so do the pros-pects for girls’ golf. The National Golf Founda-tion survey also found that 1.4 million girls ages 5-17 play golf recreationally-so there is a lot of potential for growth in the sport. Marchant believes that the media will also play an impor-tant part in increasing golf’s popularity.
“If there was more media attention in
women’s golf there would defi-nitely be more women golfers,” he said.
However, Groetsema thinks that women’s golf is unpopular for a very simple reason: clothes. Don’t worry-she’s only half jok-ing.
“I think that girls’ golf would be a lot more popular if they made better clothes,” she said. “The clothes they have right now are not so great.”
It is finally time to move on to the next hole. Groetsema places her putter in her bag, slips her arms through the shoulder straps, and keeps on playing. She hopes golf will continue to play an important role in her life in the future.
“A good education is impor-tant for me, [but] doing well in golf is definitely one of my goals,” Groetsema said. She hopes to gain the best of both worlds by play-ing golf in college, citing Stanford as one of her top choices.
Groetsema also remains hopeful about the future of wo-mens’ golf.
“There is hope,” she said. “[Golf’s] not just a ‘guy sport’ any-more.” <<<
PERSEVERANCE Groetsema keeps her focus from the tee to the hole.
Can you speak golf? Think you’re a golf pro? See how well you speak the language.
1. When someone says beach, you think of... a) the sandy shores of Hawaii. b) the sand bunker at your favorite course. c) the area of a golf course where the hole is. 2. A gorilla is... a) a person who hits their tee shot far away. b) a large, hairy monkey. c) a really bad golfer.
3. When you’re under clubbing, you... a) have not been partying enough. b) are hitting the ball short of your target. c) need to buy a few more golf clubs.
Answers: 1)b, 2)a, 3)b
The Viking | 47
Profiles
CampusCampusCampusCampusCampusCampusCampusOff-
PROFESSIONAL & COLLEGE SPORTS
50 MARCH MADNESS>>> The Viking’s official bracket picks. Our crack team of “experts” is convinced that it’s a winner...
52 TOUR OF CALIFORNIA>>> Cycling hits the mainstream, as the Tour of California roills through Palo Alto. The Viking was on site...
59 FANTASY BASEBALL>>> (Almost) all you need to get you ready for your fantasy season. Draft do’s and dont’s, as well as a look at players on the rise...
Campus
CHAMPS Tyler Hansbrough (left) and Ty Lawson will guide the Tar Heels through the extremely tough eastern region, before cutting down the nets in San Antonio...
1 North Carolina16 Play-in Winner
8 Indiana9 Arkansas
5 Notre Dame12 George Mason
4 Washington State13 Winthrop
6 Oklahoma11 St. Joe’s
3 Louisville14 Boise State
7 Butler10 S. Alabama
2 Tennessee15 American
1 Kansas16 Portland State
8 UNLV9 Kent State
5 Clemson12 Villanova
4 Vanderbilt13 Siena
6 USC11 Kansas State
3 Wisconson14 Cal State Fullerton
7 Gonzaga10 Davidson
2 Georgetown15 UMBC
EAST
MIDWEST
North Carolina
Indiana
Notre Dame
Washington State
St. Joe’s
Louisville
Butler
Tennessee
North Carolina
Notre Dame
Louisville
Butler
UNC
Louisville
UNC
Kansas
UNLV
Clemson
Vanderbilt
USC
Wisconson
Davidson
Georgetown
Kansas
Vanderbilt
USC
Georgetown
Kansas
USC
Kansas
UNC
UCLA
UNCNCCA Champion
Our predictions...
Memphis 1UT-Arlington 16
Mississippi State 8Oregon 9
Michigan State 5 Temple 12
Pittsburgh 4 Oral Roberts 13
Marquette 6Kentucky 11
Stanford 3Cornell 14
Miami 7St. Mary’s 10
Texas 2Austin Peay 15
UCLA 1Mississippi Valley St. 16
BYU 8Texas A&M 9
Drake 5 Western Kentucky 12
Connecticut 4 San Diego 13
Purdue 6Baylor 11
Xavier 3Georgia 14
West Virginia 7Arizona 10
Duke 2Belmont 15
SOUTH
WEST
Memphis
Mississippi State
Michigan State
Pittsburgh
Kentucky
Stanford
St. Mary’s
Texas
UCLA
Texas A&M
Drake
Connecticut
Baylor
Xavier
Arizona
Duke
Memphis
Pittsburgh
Stanford
Texas
UCLA
Drake
Xavier
Arizona
UCLA
Xavier
Pittsburgh
Texas
Pitt
UCLA
UNC
UCLA
UNCNCCA Champion
Our predictions...
The Viking | 53
Profiles
Tour of California
t is forty-five minutes before his start time and George Hincapie of the
United States, dressed in his black and white Team High Road jersey, spins fu-riously on his stationary trainer. A huge crowd of awestruck fans and photog-raphers has gathered at the High Road tent to watch one of America’s top cy-clists prepare for his agonizingly short effort ahead. Hincapie’s soigneur, or team helper, prepares a water bottle filled with electrolyte mix and dabs Hin-capie’s face with a towel to keep sweat out of his eyes. The whizzing sound of Hincapie’s rear wheel becomes over-whelmingly loud as his start time looms closer and he picks up his effort. With five minutes remaining, Hincapie sheds his arm and leg warmers, dons his elon-gated aerodynamic helmet, and then takes his bike off of the stationary train-er. He rides through the pressing crowd, eager to get a look at the Tour de France stage winner and favorite for the 2008 Tour of California. Hincapie enters the start house, an elevated platform with a short ramp to propel the riders onto the course. The clock ticks in front of him, 10 seconds remaining. Focused and un-wavering, Hincapie stands on the ped-als as the starter counts down from five fingers and then...Beep! He’s off.
Tour of California I
text and photos by Charlie Avis
The Tour of California has grown in size and prestige in the
three years since its inaugural race in 2006. Starting in Palo Alto this year, the race lasted seven days, go-
ing north all the way to Sacramento before heading through San José and
south to the finish in Pasadena. The world’s best cyclists have flocked to California in February for the last three
years, not only for the race, but also for the great weather and terrain. With nu-
merous Pro Tour (cycling’s equivalent to the Major Leagues) teams holding training camps in California, the state has become a
hot spot in the world of cycling.In contrast to previous years, however,
that hot spot centered in Palo Alto. The eyes of the cycling world were on Palo Alto, host to the first prologue (short individual effort) not in
San Francisco, for the entire week leading up to Sunday, February 17, the day of the race.
“It is great that the little town of Palo Alto gets to experience this huge race,” Paly ju-nior Sydney Lundgren said.Cyclists had a real presence around town that
week. All 132 riders stayed and trained around Palo Alto for the entire week and integrated themselves
into the Palo Alto community during their brief stay. Local bike shops had meet-the-riders sessions. For
those who know cycling, celebrities sightings were common as former world champion and Belgian hero Tom Boonen could be seen sipping java at the down-
town Peet’s Coffee. Unlike a football or basketball team whose players are easy to pick out by sheer size, cyclists
blend in because even some of the largest cyclists look thin and short. Recreational cyclists lived in heaven for the week, as it was quite common to see the pro teams out
training and to jump in behind them and ride for as long as possible. A cycling fever swept through Palo Alto as antici-pation built up for the upcoming race.
On the bike, however, Hincapie no longer looks slight as he barrels down Hamilton and sweeps across the left hand
turn onto Cowper and then on to University. Sprinting out of the corner, he settles in to his aerodynamic position with his elbows in and hands out in front of him. For time trials, profes-
sionals use specialized bikes and wheels to reduce wind drag and increase power. Hincapie’s bike is black and grey with thick tubing to reduce frontal surface area. The solid disc wheel in the rear and the tri-spoke wheel in the front make an overwhelming whir-ring noise that fluctuates with each pedal stroke - the sound of pure power. Hincapie drops underneath Alma Street and the train tracks and sprints over the El Camino overpass. Now he takes a slight jog to the left and hurtles down the long Palm Drive, lined with cheer-ing fans. Come race day, it was not only the cyclists who had a presence in town, but the estimated 200,000 fans that lined the 2.1-mile course as well. From City Hall on Hamilton Road to the oval in front of the Stanford Church, spectators lined the road two to three deep, not to
Previous Page: Fabian Cancellara of Team CSC leads the chase group in Stage 3 of the Tour of California. The Swiss rider had won the Prologue in Palo Alto just three days earlier, taking the yellow leaders jersey for two stages. Above Santa Rosa native and two-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer picks his line through the first turn in the Palo Alto prologue. Leipheimer fin-ished the prologue in fourth place, seven seconds be-hind stage winner Fabian Cancellara. Opposite: Jens Voigt of Germany suffers up Sierra Road behind team-mate Bobby Julich during Stage 3. Voigt, last year’s run-ner-up, finished a sub-par 25th overall.
photo by Oliver Davies
Now that the Tour of California Prologue has come and gone, avid fans of cycling in Palo Alto, and those new to the sport, witnessed cycling from a close-up perspective, a view many are not lucky enough to see.While watching the Tour of California, you might have seen:
Peloton - the largest group of riders on the course. On flatter stages, the peloton usually stays together in one big pack (see drafting), but often breaks up in windy or mountainous conditions.
Breakaway, or Break - consists of the group of riders that have moved ahead of the peloton and are com-peting with each other to win the stage, or gain time ahead of their competitors in the peloton. Oftentimes, the break will work together by to increase the dis-tance between itself and the peloton
Drafting - Professional cyclists utilize this technique to help eliminate air resistance. Drafting consists of riding extremely close, six to twelve inches, in the slipstream of the rider in front. This re-duces the amount of power needed to stay behind the rider in front, which is why rid-ers stay in large pelotons on flat courses.
Team Cars - Each team has one or two cars that follow behind the race. The cars, driven by the team managers, supply food, clothing, and tactical advice to the riders. Leaders Jerseys - in stage races, there are generally four different clas-sifications, each with a different jersey awarded to the leader in each cat-egory: sprints (green jersey), moun-tains (red and orange), young rider (white), and general classifications (yellow). The sprint classification is determined by points awarded at intermediate sprints and at the finish line. At the top of each climb, points are available to riders and the rider who accu-mulates the most points wins the classification. Young rider
classification is awarded to the rider under 25 years of age who has the lowest accumulative time. Finally, the rider who wins the general classification receives a yel-low jersey. The yellow jersey, won by Levi Leipheimer in 2008, is the most prestigious and important jersey
Time-trials - Specific stages that are usually sprinkled throughout major stage races where individuals go off every minute and race against the clock. In the Tour of California, there were two time-trials, the prologue in Palo Alto, and the 15-mile Stage 5. Aerodynamics is an essential part of time-trials and specialists in the discipline can generate lots of power for an extended period of time while remaining low to reduce wind re-sistance. Soigneurs - A key part of each cycling team, respon-sible for the well-being of the riders. They are crucial in providing food, clothing, and escort for the riders before, during, and after the race. Union Cycliste Internationale - The UCI is the inter-national governing body for cycling. It oversees all professional racing events, and disciplines riders on issues such as doping, a problem plaguing the sport today. <<<
Get to Know Cycling: A Glossary of Terms
By Charlie avis and Oliver davies
Opposite Top: Mario Cipollini of Rock Racing leads the peloton in Stage three to San Jose. The 40 year old Ital-ian sprinter came out of retirement to race the 2008 Tour of California. Opposite Bottom: John Murphy of Team Healthnet cruises down University Avenue during his run in the Palo Alto Prologue. Bottom: Team Astana sets the pace for the chase group up the Sierra Road climb in stage 3. Levi Leipheimer, hidden behind his Astana teammates in light blue, was the eventual stage runner-up behind Robert Gesink of Rabobank (orange, front right)
mention the abundance of fans hanging around the start and finish areas. The number of fans awed Mark Cavendish, a British sprinter for Hincapie’s Team High Road.
“Everyone was so enthusiastic,” Cavendish said in a strong Eng-lish accent. “I think there were more people here per mile than in London last year at the Tour!”
Coming from a Brit, this comparison between the London pro-logue of the 2007 Tour de France is quite surprising. London is hailed by many, if not all, cycling analysts as the most successful Tour de France prologue in the history of the race. The spectators not only had an effect on the often-jovial Cavendish, but his compa-triot riding for the American Team Slipstream, David Millar.
“This is the same sort of prologue competition at the Tour de France,” Millar said in a press conference following the pro-logue. “We’ve got George [Hincapie], [Fabian] Cancellara, [Dave] Zabriskie, [Bradley] Wiggins - the best in the world.”
The fans scream Hincapie’s name as he flies down under the one kilometer to go sign. He enters the Oval jam packed with specta-tors, all cheering him on regardless of whether they wanted him to win or not. Staying low and aero, Hincapie sweeps around the Oval passing by the blur that is the Stanford Church. His tongue hangs out of his mouth as he gives an extra effort with 200 meters to go. He lunges across the line in just over four minutes flat, good enough
for 13th place on the day. “The prologue was good,” Hincapie said. “The fans were awe-some and I really liked the course.” Numerous Paly students were scattered along the course during the Palo Alto prologue. Senior Phil Schroder, a cycling enthusiast, watched the race from start to finish. “It is cool seeing all the pros do what they do,” Schroder said. “I hope it comes back every year!” To be sure, the dark cloud of doping that seems to follow cy-cling wherever it goes had an unfortunate presence at this year’s Tour of California. Rock Racing, a team sponsored by the de-
On February 17, the crowded streets of downtown Palo Alto could have been easily confused with those of Paris during the famed Tour de France. The third annual Tour of California got off to a fast start with a 2.1-mile time trial through Palo Alto and Stanford. The prologue kicked off the seven-stage race through the state of California. The 132 professional racers were set off one by one to challenge the clock. Fabian Cancellara of team CSC, a two-time world time trial champion, finished first in a speedy 3: 51.211. Bradley Wig-gins and Tyler Farrar followed close behind with respective times of 3:55 and 3:56. Despite the fans’ overwhelming excitement, the prologue results had minimal impact on the race’s results as a whole.
The first stage was a grueling ninety-seven mile course from Sausalito to Santa Rosa. Jackson Stewart, a Santa Rosa native of team BMC, attempted to pull ahead of the pack but was even-tually passed by the larger group. Juan Jose Haedo of team CSC won his fifth stage of his Tour of California career. Germans Gerald Ciolek and Heinrich Haussler follow Haedo for second and third place finishes. The next stage took riders from Santa Rosa to the state capital of Sacramento on a 115.8-mile route. The stage ended positively for many sprinters, among them, cycling celebrity Mario Cipollini. Forty-one year old Cipollini, recently out of retirement, finished third, following Tom Boonen and Haussler.
The mountainous third stage covered 102.7 miles from Modesto to San Jose. This stage featured the most difficult climbs of the tour including Mount Hamilton and Del Puerto Canyon Road. The hills hurt many riders, but created the perfect arena for a competitive chase between Cancellara, defending champion Levi Leipheimer and Robert Gesink. The final standings left Gesink, Leipheimer and Jurgen Vandewalle placing first through third respectively. The next stage tested the riders’ endurance with a 135.3 mile trek from Seaside to San Luis Obispo. Pouring rain plagued the cyclists over the seven-hour ride. In addition, the medical staff was called in to treat many riders taken down by vio-lent stomach flus and hypothermia. Dominique Rollin pushed crowd favorite George Hincapie out of his first place in the final miles. Hincapie took second and Iker Camano Ortuzer took third.
The fifth stage was a fifteen-mile time-trial. Leipheimer maintained his growing lead with David Millar and Christian Vandevelde close behind in second and third places. The next stage, 105.4 miles from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita, came to a dramatic finish. Mark Cavendish of team UCI crossed the finish line first, but was charged with a 20 second penalty for holding onto the team car during the race. Andre Pagliarini Mendonca, Haedo and Bet-tini placed first through third. The final 93.4-mile stage from Santa Clarita to Pasadena did not affect Leipheimer’s strong overall lead. The course finished with six five-mile loops around the Pasadena Rose Bowl through the rain. Leipheimer’s success in the third stage and second time trial se-cured his second consecutive Tour of California win. The 650-mile race tested the endurance of the worlds’ stron-gest cyclists. Though not as prestigious the larger European races, the Tour of California will contend in coming years. <<<
Stage by Stage
By Elizabeth Scott
signer jeans company Rock and Republic, had three riders suspended just before the start of the prologue. Tyler Hamilton of the United States, who completed his two-year suspension for doping last summer, was one of the riders unable to compete along with Spaniards Oscar Sevilla and Santiago Bot-ero. The infamous doping investigation Op-eracion Puerto re-opened in Spain the week before the prologue, and as a result, AEG, the race promoter, suspended the involved riders from the race.
Hamilton, winner of the 2003 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a stage in the 2003 Tour de France, and the 2004 Olympic Time Trial, was one of America’s top cyclists until his positive test after the Olym-pics landed him a two year ban from racing. The 2008 Tour of California was highly an-ticipated as a new beginning of his career, but past involve-ment with per-formance en-hancing drugs seems to have a lingering effect on his race par-ticipation.
The sport of cycling is mak-ing large strides towards a clean, drug-free sport, and harsh consequences have become the norm for riders and teams involved in doping. The organizers of the Tour de France, Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), recently an-nounced that Astana, team of two-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer and defending Tour de France champion Alberto Contador,
Although the Tour of California is not quite on the scale of the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, or other Pro Tour events, it is quickly establishing itself as a prominent stage race in the professional racing circuit. No other race in the United States can boast the same depth in the peloton as the Tour of California with more than five current or former world champions and nine UCI Pro
Tour teams. The scenery is hard to match as well. Credit Agricole, a French Pro Tour team that made the trip out to California for this year’s race, all started cheering, and saying the French equivalent to “look at that” when they saw the Pacific coast from Stage Road in Pescadero, according to rec-reational cyclist John Toor’s account of a training ride with the team.
One of the few problems with the Tour of California, however, is its timing. February is still very early in a season that starts in January and continues through September. Full-out efforts are not ideal in a pre-sea-
son race, hence the relatively easy course. Compared to the Tour de France, the stages are less hilly and there are certainly no hill-top finishes where the race ends at the top of a climb. The Tour de France road races average about the same length as the Tour of California’s stages, but the Tour de France time trials are just about double the length of California’s. Time trials in the 2008 Tour de France reach lengths of 53km, or just over 30 miles, compared to California’s 15 mile time trial.
There are benefits to the early season too. California generally has good weather early in the season and the field has more star power than it would later in the year. For a European racer to take a week to fly across the world to California and then fly
back causes serious jet lag, so an early sea-son race allows the riders to spend a month or so in California training before heading back to Europe.
However, the Tour of California is more than just an exciting sporting event. For-mer Palo Alto mayor Yoriko Kishimoto is an avid cyclist who strongly supports the event for environmental reasons. In her short speech during the podium ceremonies after the prologue, Kishimoto urged every-one to ride bicycles to work everyday and labeled the bicycle as a symbol of the green economy.
“I’m a big sup-porter of kids being able to walk and bike to school,” Kishim-oto said, “of com-muters being able to cycle to work sometimes to stay in shape.” The green idea was a major factor in the decision to host the prologue in Palo Alto. Jim Ochowicz, Presi-dent of USA Cy-cling, and a Palo Alto resident (whose son Alex, ‘07, attended Paly before transfer-ring to a boarding school in Wiscon-sin) first proposed the idea to then mayor Kishimoto
last summer. Kishimoto was intrigued as the race presented the opportunity to “create a green economy through innovation.” She liked the idea of thousands of people flock-ing to Palo Alto, mostly on bikes, to watch a bike race. As a perfect opportunity to pro-mote bicycling in the community, Kishimo-to did not hesitate to say yes.
The Tour of California is growing rap-idly in popularity and importance. More and more spectators come out each year and the level of racing has quickly established itself worthy of the Pro-Tour level. The race organisers have tossed around teh idea of lengthening the race to two, maybe three weeks, but for now the Tour of California remains the premier weeklong stage race in February. <<<
Climb Chris Horner of Team Astana leads teammate Levi Leipheimer and Dutchman Robert Gesink up the Sierra Road climb in stage 3. Gesink out-sprinted Leipheimer at the finish for the stage win, but Leipheimer gained time against his competitors for the General Classification.
Fantasy Baseball Forecast2008 Draft Do’s and Do Not’s
On The Rise...Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, Red Sox: Projects to be the next Johnny Damon with defense. Look for Ellsbury to steal loads of bases and to be a run scoring machine in the stacked Red Sox line-up. Be sure to take Ellsbury in your fantasy draft
Chad Billingsley, SP, Dodgers:Projected to be the Dodgers third starter in a pitcher friendly park, Chavez Ravine, Billing-sley will surely add to his 2007 win total of 12 with a stellar sophomore season.
Josh Fields, 3B, White Sox: Upon replacing Joe Crede at third base for the White Sox, Fields lived up to his power po-tential blasting 23 home runs in 100 games. Expect a 30 home run season from this young
On The Decline...Carlos Delgado, 1B, Mets: Once one of the most feared hitters in the game, age has finally taken its toll on Del-gado. Delgado likely won’t play more than 100 games, as he is often-injured.
Aaron Rowand, OF, Giants: After cashing in on an incredible contract season, Rowand will spend the next five years in a notorious pitcher’s park, surrounded by a no-name supporting cast.
Ichiro Suzuki, OF, Mariners: Always the speedster from Japan, Ichiro is beginning to lose that 30 SB speed and .350 quickness as he approaches 34 years old. While his numbers will still be solid, don’t expect first or second round value, a mistake many are likely to make.
Do’s- Pick A-Rod first overall there is no better choice. - Make sure your starting roster is solid before wor-rying about depth.- 2nd baseman are few and far between, make sure to get your hands on one early.
Do Not’s - Draft a closer in the early rounds. Draft
them in the later rounds, or pick them up in free agency.
- Rely on older players (30+) to lead your team to a fantasy championship, build a team
around young stars, players who are likely to hit their prime.
By Oliver Davies and Greg Stewart
The Viking | 59
slugger.
With the 2008 Major League Baseball season quickly approaching, it is nearly time for fantasy nerds and baseball geeks to begin preparations for their fantasy baseball drafts. The draft is the most essential part of the season; where the veterans separate from the fantasy rookies. It is also the first step towards claiming bragging rights over friends and family alike. Our expert analysis will prepare you for your draft with do’s and do not’s, along with three players on the rise and three players to steer clear from when your draft day arrives.
- Make sure your starting roster is solid before wor-- Make sure your starting roster is solid before wor-- Make sure your starting roster is solid before wor
Do Not’s- Draft a closer in the early rounds. Draft
them in the later rounds, or pick them up in free agency.
- Rely on older players (30+) to lead your team to a fantasy championship, build a team
around young stars, players who are likely
and three players to steer clear from when your draft day arrives.
GA
ME O
F THE W
EEK4/20-4/26
4/20-4/26
Bo
ys’ Ten
nis
vs.s
acred H
ear
T
The reigning National H
igh School Boys’ Team
Tennis champions visit
Paly in a match that w
ill test the Vikes like no other this season. The G
ators are led by seniors Erik Blu-m
enkranz and Jamie H
utter at the num
ber one and two singles spots.
This experienced duo will be a true
litmus test for Paly’s one-tw
o com-
bo of Kushal Tantry and Baramee
Wongbanchai, heading into league
playoffs...
4/13-4/194/13-4/19
Bo
ys’ an
d Girls’
sw
imm
inG/d
ivin
G
ccs/ncs
cH
allen
Ge
This invitational challenge, in its third year at Paly’s very ow
n Mackenzie Fam
ily Aquatic Com
plex, brings together the best of north-ern California’s sw
imm
ing and diving talent. The top five team
s from the Central Coast
Section (CCS) and the North Coast Section
(NCS) w
ill be competing. Look for Liv Jensen
to defend her 50 and 100 free titles in this m
eet...
4/6-4/124/6-4/12
Tra
ck an
d Field
arca
dia
inv
iTaTio
na
l
Paly’s top track and field athletes will take
part in the nationally acclaimed A
rcadia Invitational in Los A
ngeles. The race, which in
its 40 years of existence has seen 23 national records set and 101 future O
lympians com
-pete, brings together som
e of the best talent in the country. Sophom
ore Philip MacQ
uitty w
on the ‘rising stars’ mile division at last years
meet w
ith a 4:23.11 time...
3/30-4/5
Ba
seBall
vs.G
un
n
The perennial rivals face off once again on the baseball diam
ond, where the team
s split last year’s series, w
inning a game apiece. The
Titans graduated a number of key players,
including standout shortstop Tucker Lau-rence and pitcher Jay Perlm
an. The Vikes also graduated key starters, but senior catcher Peter A
brams and junior pitcher Steven Burk
will pick up the slack in this crucial m
eeting...
3/30-4/53/30-4/5
AP
RIL
3031
12
34
5
67
89
1011
12
1314
1516
1718
19
2021
2223
2425
26
2728
2930
12
3
@ Gunn (3:30)
vs. Milpitas (3:30)
@ Milpitas (3:30)
@ Wilcox (3:30)
vs. Wilcox (3:30)
@ Lynbrook (3:30)@ Lynbrook (3:30)
@ Lynbrook (3:30)@ Lynbrook (3:30)
@ Lynbrook (3:30)
@ Lynbrook (3:30)
@ Mountain View (2:45)
vs. Mountain View (3:30)
@ Fremont (2:45)
vs. Los Altos (3:30)
vs. Gunn (3:45)vs. Gunn (3:45)
SCVALS (11:00)
@ Castilleja (4:00)vs. Leland (4:00)
vs. Menlo (4:00)
@ Menlo (4:00)
vs. Pioneer (4:00)
@ Woodside (4:00)
vs. Sacred Heart (4:00)
@ Saratoga (4:00)
vs. Wilcox (4:00)
@ Gunn (4:00)
vs. Cupertino (4:00)
vs. Gunn (4:00)
@ Mountain View (3:30)
vs. Menlo (3:30)
@ Monta Vista (3:30)
vs. Los Altos (3:30)
vs. Tamalpais (3:30)
@ Saratoga (3:30)vs. Gunn (3:30)
vs. Saratoga (3:30)
SCVALS (1:00)
vs. Los Gatos (5:30)
Stanford Invitational
Stanford Invitational
Arcadia Invitational
Oregon Invitational
@ Milpitas (3:00)
@ Los Altos (3:00)
vs. Menlo (3:30)
vs. Lynbrook (3:30)
vs. Saratoga (3:30)
vs. Gunn (3:30)
vs. Monta Vista (3:30)
Baseball
Badminton
LacrosseSoftballBoys’ TennisTrack and FieldSwim
ming and Diving
Golf
Oregon Invitational
SUNDAYvs. Gunn (3:30)
Arcadia Invitational
Section Challenge Section Challenge
Sacred Heart (3:00)
Well, Paly, we’ve had a good run these past four years. I will sincerely miss all my teachers and fellow seniors. If you’re no-ticing the tone of this column, it is very reminiscent of a farewell. That’s exactly what it is. Consider this my big, show-stopping, “I’m-leaving-this-town” musical number.
Logic would place this column in The Viking’s end of the year issue, but I want to make it entirely clear to ev-eryone, especially you, Paly: we’re done here. Business has concluded. I am a second semester senior. As far as I’m con-cerned, this is the perfect time for a farewell column.
So where do we go from here, fellow seniors? It’s a daunting question. If you don’t know me, I’m not the type of person who likes to have a plan in life.
As kids, we’ve been getting asked what it is we want to be when we grow up since as long as I can remember. The only difference now is that now our answers are actually being taken seriously. Before, it was cute to say, “I want to be a firefighter, mommy!” If I said that to my family now, I would be out on the street so fast you have no idea.
To be honest, though, I think I have matured enough to take a firm stab at the question. It has changed so much over the years and, looking back, I realize that a lot of my ideas were brilliant, but just not practical.
I used to have sports-related goals in life (see, this does relate to sports.) One was that I wanted to travel through the Philippines teaching baseball. I did try to teach my cousins when I was there. They enjoyed it, but the fact is, it’s not really a football-baseball type of country. Think more along the lines of basketball and cockfighting.
I also had a phase where I wanted to be a male model. Nothing heavy, just some hand (my hands are gorgeous) or calf modeling. It seemed like a good idea, but then I met varsity baseball player Neal Ketchum for the first time and got really self-conscious after that.
So instead, I realized that I could channel Neal’s inspi-ration and be a fashion designer. I would be living the life in Europe, designing high-end fashion based on Neal. One problem: I’d need to either kidnap the real Neal or somehow get measurements for an exact replica, wax-figure model of him, which I have already been working on since sixth grade (Helene, I need some help with certain measurements.)
The truth is, I’ve shied away from most of those plans. Not because I dismiss them as ridiculous like my parents do, but because I’ve found something even better (and more mature as well.) I plan to become (…you’re gonna have to wait for the buildup on this one…) a dance club owner! You heard it here first. I plan to be the youngest, most successful club owner in all of Ibiza (Look it up, it’s Mediterranean.)
Allow me to explain how this revelation came upon me. I have three frequently recurring dreams. One includes a barrel of raw fish, a stack of comic books, and an impostor dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume. The second I would rather not talk about.
The third, however, is where my club fever comes from. The setting is my upstairs hallway after a long night of studying. I climb the stairs to find a long line of people heading into my bathroom. I stop to ask someone what the line is for, and it turns out to be my first grade teacher, Ms. Argenti. She tells me there’s a party in there, but I gotta wait in line to get in.
Although a little pissed that I’m waiting in line to get into my own bathroom, I act the gentleman and wait my turn. When I finally get in, I realize she wasn’t lying. It is a party, a party in my shower. The water is run-ning but, don’t worry, everyone is clothed (except Kushal Tantry.)
Faces look familiar and I start to recognize people. My grand-ma’s seventy-year-old friend Lucy. This guy I met on the train. Cross-country coach Jeff Billing.
The place is just packed with every single person I’ve ever met in my life. Somehow, my shower is big enough to hold them all. The lights are blazing and the music is thumping, and people start dancing. That’s how it usually goes. Ms. Van Der Burg busts a couple moves, and she’s good too, then I wake up nice and happy.
I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time, so here it goes: I would like to formally invite everyone to a party in my shower. In all seriousness, The Shower is going to be the hottest thing on the club scene. The best DJs, trippiest light-ing, and trademark continuous water flow from the ceiling will put us on the map and, as a special treat, just drop the name Paly and you’re in.
Like I said though, it’s not my style to plan out anything too concrete. For all I know, I may just resort to chilling through life on my rice plantation. I expect everyone else who fails at life, after they’ve given up on their dreams and aspirations, to join Kushal and I there.
So I bid a sad farewell, Paly. It’s going to be a harder breakup than I thought. I wish I could quit you! It’s not you it’s me. I just think it’s time we see other people.
The Last Word
62 | The Viking
I would formally like to invite everyone to a party in my shower.
by Austin Smith
My“Final”Number
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