The Little Hawk
SPORTS 11
•
06
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15
WITH A
CAUSE
Schedule
Away Games 12/5 wrestling: varsity invitational @ newton high school 12/5 boys bb: vs muscatine @ city high school 12/4 girls bb: vs cr kennedy @ city high school 12/3 wrestling: vs cr kennedy @ city high school 12/1 Boys bb: vs davenport north @ city high school 11/28 boys bb: hall of pride scrimmage @ city high school
65
mi
le
s
80 miles
11/28 Girls bb: vs des moines dowling @ city high school 11/25 Boys bb: scrimmage vs assumption davenport @ city high school 11/24 @ Pleasant Valley
11/24 vs CR Jefferson
Bowling
Wrestling
12/1 @ Cedar Falls
12/4 vs Linn-Mar
12/12 @ Dubuque Senior
12/11 @ Cedar Falls
12/5 Varsity Invitational
Boys Swimming
12/15 vs Linn-Mar
12/17 @ CR Kennedy
12/19 vs Cedar Falls
12/3 vs Kenne∂y
12/10 @ CR Washington 12/10 @ CR Kennedy
(ONLINE SCOREBOARD) Visit thelittlehawk.com for schedules and score updates on our interactive scoreboard.
Boys Basketball 11/25 Scrimmage vs Davenport Assumption
11/28 Hall of Pride Scrimmage 12/1 vs Davenport North 12/5 vs Muscatine
Girls basketball
11/28 vs Des Moines Dowling 12/1 @ Dubuque Senior 12/4 vs CR Kennedy 12/5 vs Muscatine 12/8 Dubuque Wahlert
Little Hawk Sports Throwback
Letter From The Editors
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ast month, we brought you the first ever Little Hawk Sports Magazine. (Unfortunately we ran out of room for that letter from the editors.) We hope you enjoyed it, but going forward, we hope to try to bring you, the reader, a better sports magazine every issue. For this issue, we have expanded the sports magazine from sixteen pages from the last issue to twenty-four for this issue. In addition, we have brought back Aurasma features to our sports section. This issue means a lot to us as we will be in Orlando, FL at the National Journalism Convention on November 11-15 competing for Best in Show. In this sports issue, we have stories on everything from the standard updates on City High’s sports teams to freshman athletes to watch for in the future to an athlete that does parkour outside of school to an amateur fighter. We also have a feature on City High girls’ cross country coach Tom Mittman’s battle with cancer. We have spent countless hours working on this issue. I also need to give a shout out to executive editor Dominic, who has taught us so much about the sports section and has designed pretty much the whole thing. As the fall sports season winds down and we head into the long, cold Iowa winter, we look forward to bringing you comprehensive coverage of all the winter sports teams in the next issue and in the near future on thelittlehawk.com. We have spent a great amount of time working on this section to make it the most complete and enjoyable for you, the reader. We hope that you enjoy it. Signed, Brady Vanlo, JonathanHouse
RIGHT: Jared Taylor ‘17 looks downfield while in the pocket during the playoff game against Linn-Mar. Following a few scoreless possessions, Taylor threw it up to his top target, Jason Jones ‘16, who came down in double coverage and walked in untouched for a City High touchdown. PHOTO BY JOSEPH CRESS
FOR More Playoff Results, GO TO THE LITTLEHAWK.com
C Little Hawks Rebound FROM SLOW START TO Make playoffs Jonathan House
Name: Jared Taylor Number: 16 Position: Quarterback
After Nate Wieland suffered repeated injury, second-string quarterback jared Taylor ‘17 took the reigns. City Embarked on a five-game winning streak during which his passing rate was 55.4% with a 150.0 QB Rating.
ity High qualified for the Iowa High School football playoffs this year, after failing to make it last year following a 2-7 season. The Little Hawks started this season in much the same way, 0-2 with losses to highly ranked Cedar Falls and Bettendorf, but the slow start lead to high performance down the stretch. “I’m excited for our seniors, really feel good about them, to be 0-2, I talked to them [after that game] about how that wasn’t going to define who we are,” head coach Dan Sabers said following the Little Hawks’ first playoff game win over Linn-Mar. “They bought into that, and I’m really proud of where we are at.” The Little Hawks won their first game of the season against the Ames Little Cyclones, and won the Little Cy-Hawk Trophy for the first time. The following week, the Little Hawks knocked off West High by a score of 14-12 to reclaim the boot. “[Winning the boot] felt good knowing we made our school proud,” Jason Jones ‘16 said. City High won its homecoming game against Ottumwa, but lost starting quarterback Nate Wieland ‘17 early in the game. Jared Taylor ‘17 passed for 16 TDs and over 1700 yards, as of the game against Linn-Mar. “I was pretty concerned when I saw Nate go down, because he is one of my closest friends,” running back Bryce Frantz ‘17 said. “I wasn’t really sure how he would handle the adversity when it hit him.” The Little Hawks followed up with wins against Cedar Rapids Prairie and Burlington. City High battled Prairie down to the end in Cedar Rapids, and extended its win streak to five in a row with a 38-0 win. That lead to a crucial game against Cedar Rapids Washington, which the Little Hawks lost by a score of 39-20. Washington won the district title, and meant that the Little Hawks would have to finish out the season strong. “Since Washington, our team has really responded well, it was a tough loss, but we knew we couldn’t hang our heads on just that loss,” Frantz said. “We knew we had more football to be played in the near future.” Coach Sabers was named district coach of the year, and has been impressed with the way the team, and especially Taylor, has been limiting turnovers. “I think he played really well, he made good decisions again,” Sabers said the night of the game against
Linn-Mar. “On a night like tonight, ball security, and move the ball down the field. On the first couple drives [against Linn-Mar], I thought he was really sharp. Another major asset to the team’s success this season has been Jason Jones ‘16. Against Linn-Mar, Jones set the Little Hawks’ record for most receptions in a single season with 58 catches through his first ten games. Jones also recently earned another honor-district offensive player of the year. He also has ten receiving touchdowns; the next highest receiver has two. “It feels good to know that all the work I’ve done was rewarded with this record,” Jones said.
“I’M EXCITED FOR OUR SENIORS, REALLY FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEM, TO BE 0-2, I TALKED TO THEM [AFTER THAT GAME] ABOUT HOW THAT WASN’T GOING TO DEFINE WHO WE ARE, THEY BOUGHT INTO THAT, AND I’M REALLY PROUD OF WHERE WE ARE AT.” COACH DAN SABERS
UPDATES
ABOVE: Addy Smith ‘18 looks to the bench for clarification following a referee’s call during the second state-playoff game against West High. PHOTO BY JOSEPH CRESS
NEXT YEAR
The Girls ended their season with a loss against West high in the second round of state playoffs, but an (almost) complete returning roster next year has the team’s hopes high. Sadie Hobbs & Britney Pirkl
LEFT: Ashley Smith ‘16 anticipates a set from Cyan Vanderhoef ‘17 during the playoff game against West. BOTTOM RIGHT: The student section cheers before the end of the first rally. PHOTOS BY JOSEPH CRESS
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s will.i.am raps the intro to the Black Eyed Peas “My Humps”, the City High Volleyball team runs onto the court ready for its match, the student section chants, “let’s go hawks!” setting the tone. “The student section makes a huge difference in a game,” Ashley Smith ‘16 said. “Cheering really helps us mentally stay tough and fight for the next ball.” This was Smith’s last year of being a little hawk volleyball player; next year she will attend the University of Nebraska in Omaha, where she will continue playing volleyball. “Next year, there definitely won’t be as much talk on the court because Ashley won’t be here. There really isn’t anyone else on our team that is always talking or being positive so that will be a lot harder without her,” Alexa AldrichIngram ‘17 said. “She could play the whole back row if she wanted to; she’s everywhere all the time doing other people’s jobs as well as her own.” Head coach Craig Pitcher agrees that the team is losing a valuable member to the team next year. “Every year is different because of personalities, so on paper, similar to this year we have a lot of good talent returning with kids that have played well the majority of the year,” Pitcher said. “Ashley brings a lot of leadership skills that you want in players, so with how people will respond with her not being there will probably be the key to see if that will make or break us next year.” While winning four matches in three straight sets, the volleyball team was 17-15 during their regular season. “I think the best match we
played complete start to finish was at Dubuque Hempstead,” Pitcher said. “It really helped us share a tie for the conference championship. That was probably the highlight of our season for me so far.” With the success of the volleyball team this season, there also have been many setbacks, including starting player Shannon James ‘17, pulling her abdominal muscle, an injury that required her to miss most of the season. “It was hard for us that Shannon couldn’t play. We had to make a lot of adjustments which was obviously tough at first,” AldrichIngram said. “With her being one of our main hitters, it was a challenge. We just tried to make the best out of the situation.” Along with James’ abdominal muscle being pulled, another setback was losing the Spike to West High. “I would say speaking on behalf of the team, the biggest disappointment was losing the Spike because it’s one of the biggest games of the year, and already winning it from last year, there was a lot of pressure to handle,” Smith said. “Overall I believe we had a successful season. We have had our ups and downs but we stayed strong as a team and pushed through those challenges.” With the season ending, the volleyball team lost again to West High on October 29th in their regional semi final game 3-1. “Playing my last game as a little hawk was as crazy as a roller coaster. It amazes me how fast the season went by,” Smith said. “My senior season wouldn’t be complete without the talented girls I got to play with and I couldn’t thank them enough.
(17-16) Overall Season Record
Aurasma this image for GoPro footage of Ashley Smith ‘16 and ALexa ALdrichIngram ‘17 practicing at city high.
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RIGHT: Ry Threkeld Wiegland ‘19 and Russell Martin ‘16 (West Branch) round the corner during the state qualifier race at Pleasant Valley. (See page 12 for more on Threkeld-Wiegland). OPPOSITE: Hailey Verdick ‘16 and Izzy Shutt ‘16 power up a hill at West Branch during the Bud Williams Invite. PHOTO BY GABRIEL WEIGEL, MADELINE DENINGER
FOR More State Results, GO TO THE LITTLEHAWK.com
By Nathan Cremers & Gabriel Weigel
Regular season ends in success, HONors Boys
Girls
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he City High boys’ cross country team made a reapprance at the state meet after failing to qualify in 2014. In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, the team ened up with a ranking of 14th going into the meet. “The defining moment for us was the state qualifying meet when the team punched their ticket to go to state. That proved that all the summer miles and hard worked that everyone put in payed off,” head coach Jayme Skay said. The team was without key varsity runners Michael Berg ‘17 and Adam Bwayo ‘16 for the entirety of the season but were still able to qualify for state with a good showing at the state qualifying meet, placing third. “I think we all performed pretty well,” Matthew Dodge ‘17 said after the race. “This is a very hard course, and it was fun to see everyone run well.” Placing 10th in the state, the team now looks to the future. The team returns many of the varsity runners next year, and the improvement this year has Skay optimistic for next season. “If you measure success by winning state then there is only one successful team in the state,” Skay said, “If success is counted as improving, we are definitely a successful team and program.”
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ankings didn’t hold up when the final results came in at the state cross country meet with 8th-ranked City High placing 4th, one point ahead of rival West High. “It felt really good [to win] we had a plan and we executed it well, not everything went perfectly but we were still really happy,” Emily Bywater ‘17 who finished 3rd for City High. The regular season ended on a positive note with Mary Arch ‘17 named divisional Athlete of The Year and head coach Tom Mittman named the division’s Coach of the Year. Mary Arch, Anna Lindower ‘19, and Emily Bywater ‘17 were selected for first team all divisional. Second team all divisional consisted of Mollie Hansen ‘17 and Aly Hecker ‘19. Honorable mentions went out to Amelia Morrow ‘18 and Celeste Chadwick ‘17. “I think our team performed very well this season, especially compared to how it was last year,” team captain Hailey Verdick said. “I know two years ago we were not where are now.” Mittman was also pleased with the regular season’s results. “It makes me sad to see the seniors go; they were great role models for leadership and that’s huge,” Mittman said. “Given that we have such positive mental attitudes in our junior, sophomore, and freshman classes, I think it will be an easier transition to make because the seniors did such a good job this year.”
Matthew Dodge ‘17 Team Captain
Hailey Verdick ‘16
“I think we all performed pretty well. This is a very hard course, and it was fun to see everyone run well.”
Team Captain “I think our team performed very well this season, especially compared to how it was last year,”
Profiles
FRESHMEN TO WATCH Basketball
Volleyball
Wrestling
Emma cooper
Ellie evans
Kyle Hefley
Embracing one of City High’s athletic traditions, Emma Cooper ‘19 is a multi-sport athlete who competes in track, volleyball, and basketball. Though Cooper has talents within all her sports, basketball rises to the top as her favorite, as well as being her best sport. Cooper helped her team win seven of the nine games as a seventh grader. That same year, Cooper set a record in track at southeast for the 100 and 200 yard dash. Cooper plans to build on the success she had in junior high during her high school career. “At Southeast, the competition wasn’t what it will be in high school.” Cooper said. “I want to take what I’ve accomplished back then and transform that into success on a high school level.” Emma Cooper has a plan to achieve the same success she had as a junior high athlete in high school athletics. “Practice hard,” Cooper says. “If you do, your habits will carry over to your game.” Cooper plans to keep practicing and continue to develop the habits needed to achieve success at the high school level.
Standing at nearly 5-foot-9, Ellie Evans 19’ is towering above the rest of her grade in height and in sports. Excelling in volleyball, Evans is spending the beginning of her freshmen year at the net with City High’s varsity team. Evans has very little experience compared to her peers on the roster. After playing for a mere four years, Evans made the Little Hawks’ varsity volleyball team earlier this fall. Being younger and less experienced than the competition but Evans says she is not phased. “It was really nerve wracking at first because I didn’t know anyone. Now it’s just fun, and I love it,” Evans said. Her first season at City is proving to be a successful one, as City High’s volleyball team is currently among the top 10 teams in the state. Despite Evans’ age, she gets a significant amount of play time. In the battle for the spike, Evans led the team in blocks, denying two potential kills. Well into her fourth year of playing, Evans’ devotion to the sport is still as prevalent as ever. “I love it,” Evans said. “I can’t imagine not playing.”
Kyle Heffley ‘19 is a wrestler and the fullback for City High’s freshman football team. Wrestling at 138 pounds, Heffley has earned national recognition for his abilities on the mat. He posted an 84-12 record as an eighth grader competing on a national level. Heffley attributes all his success to his hard work. “Wrestling is a personal sport,” Heffley said. “If you’re not personally giving it your all you won’t be successful.” People have high expectations this wrestling season for Heffley. He traveled to multiple wrestling tournaments around the country. Heffley prepares for these tournaments by pushing himself to his limits both in practice and during his matches. During Heffley’s daily wrestling practice, it is not uncommon for him to lose 10 pounds. The physical strain Heffley endures is worth the reward of wrestling. Heffley hopes to continue his success in the high school wrestling environment. As a football player, Heffley is setting his goals high. “I definitely want to play football in college,” Heffley said. “It’s a priority for me right now.”
Little Hawk sports staffers Jim Geerdes and Lydia Kaufmann get one-on-one interviews with their top picks for freshmen to watch during the 2015-16 school year.
Dance
soccer
Cross Country
Abby Postman
Ben Steve
Ryland Threkeld-Wiegland
Abby Postman ‘19 has been dancing since she was two years old. the talent she has developed on the dance floor has landed her a spot on the City High Dance Team. In state dance competitions, Postman has repeatedly found herself on the winning podiums, among the older City High dancers, and hopes to continue her success at the high school level. Postman is not shy about her ambitions. “I plan to go to the national dance competition with the team every year that I’m here,” Postman says confidently. “We’re a young team with a lot of talent.” Postman has the talent and proves it with her placement in competitions. She placed 9th in solos at Iowa’s Spirit Spectacular this fall, while helping her team earn first place at the competition. Postman credits her success to her preparation. On average, Postman spends six months learning and perfecting a dance. “Always be prepared and on top of things,” Postman said, “It will make your life so much easier.”
Ben Steve ‘19 is striving to be a powerhouse in four different sports at City High. Steve plays football, basketball, baseball and soccer, while focusing on soccer. Steve stands at 5-foot-7, and weighs 133 pounds. These numbers may sound small to you, but they mean nothing to Steve. He will take his stature onto the Little Hawks’ playing fields in hopes of becoming a true menace in his sports. “I have to prove people wrong,” Steve said. “A lot of people think I’m too small to compete.” Steve hopes that his mentality will overcome his physical size. He is a left midfielder in soccer and hopes to fill the position in the spring on the varsity team. Steve practices five days a week, juggling all of his sports. He helped the freshman baseball team to a school record of 27 wins this summer as an eighth grader. Steve plays for the Alliance Soccer Club. As a team captain, Steve led his squad to the state cup for soccer. Steve hopes to transfer his success in club soccer and other sports to the playing fields of high school.
Ryland Threkeld-Wiegland ‘19 begins his quest to be a key factor in City High’s athletic program right after school every day. Following the bell, Wiegland runs seven miles everyday for cross country. Wiegland is currently one of the top five fastest members of the varsity cross country team. His speed on the courses earned him honorable mentions for the all-state team. In the winter, Wiegland will play basketball for City High. Over the weekends, in addition to cross country practices and basketball, he plays baseball with his travel team. Wiegland was the ace pitcher for City’s freshman baseball team as an 8th grader. Wiegland balances all his sports and has success in each of them. He develops the success he’s had in sports with his practice ethic. “It’s important to practice well consistently,” Wiegland said. “You can’t just go out there and expect to play a good game. You have to focus during your practices because if you don’t it won’t pay off.” Wiegland plans to continue to be a dominant force in athletics among his fellow class.
Alix Sharp ‘16 has been swimming for city High varsity since her freshman year, but she’s got way more than that on her schedule. By Dominic Balestrieri-Fox
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emove Alix Sharp ‘16 from any kind of athletic setting, and she would still have a lot on her plate between practicing her violin for All-State, and maintaining her grades for college. It can be confusing sometimes, then, that she would choose a sport that has such a huge time requirement. “I don’t think anyone who isn’t a swimmer really understands [why we spend so much time on it] ‘why are you doing this to yourself?’” she said. “Every sport is so different with the time commitment and what you need to do for it, so it’s hard to explain.” Sharp started taking swim lessons at 18 months, and by 6th grade had joined a competitive club team, IFly, which is run through the University of Iowa, and has yearround practices. She started swimming for City High her freshman year, and has been varsity for all four years. “In the fall, when high school season’s going on, and All-Sate is also happening, and especially this year with colleges and stuff, it’s crazy,” she said of her schedule, which allows her little free time. “It’s all happening [at once].” “Normally I take a little break right after practice, basically the break is dinner, and then I go into the homework stuff, and I try to get that done in a reasonable amount of time so I can get some sleep,” she said. “I also usually have some free time on the weekends, but if I take a day off [from practice], if I don’t go to practice one day, it’s like ‘what am I doing with myself ’ It’s one of those things that I’m used to doing, I like to be busy,” Quitting has crossed her mind more than once.
“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Not that often, just sometimes you get really burnt out. If I didn’t swim, I’d have so much more free time, but then you think, ‘no, what would I do without swimming…’” Sharp has been largely independent from a young age. Both of her parents are doctors, and now that she can drive herself from her house to the pool, she’s in charge of her whole routine. “Wake up at 5:30, go to practice, go to school, go back to practice, sleep. Go to practice again.” She attributes much of her drive to perform to her parents, who have pushed her and encouraged her from an early age. “I think that’s [parents] definitely part of it, they definitely support me with everything I do, but it’s normal for me now,” she said. Sharp plans to continue swimming by signing to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa later this November. “The plan is Luther - I’ve already talked to the coach and everything,” she said. “I get really good scholarship money. D3 can’t really give out crazy scholarships or anything, but I get a lot of academic scholarships at Luther. I just really like the environment, it’s very natural, but I can also do everything I want to there.” Despite the huge time commitment, Sharp believes that swimming is one of the things that keeps her going. “I’ve done swimming my whole life, I’ve always swam. I’m not one of the national swimmers or anything, but I’m pretty content with where I am with everything else that’s going on,” she said. “I like swimming because it’s an escape from everything. You finish a really hard practice and you’re able to say, ‘I just did that’. It’s almost like it’s own kind of free time.”
Profiles
Runner with a cause
Tom Mittman, a man who has dedicated his life to saving lives, is now faced with his own illness - and his struggle has inspired an entire team. By Claire Noack & Innes Hicsasmaz
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oud. Sweaty. Weirdly tan. A crazy grandpa. These are the words that first come to mind when the cross country team thinks of Tom Mittman. Now, after a decades-long career as a coach of the girls’ cross country team, Mittman faces his biggest challenge yet: cancer. “People talk about fighting cancer. I don’t really look at it like that. I’ve got a disease. It may or may not kill me. I don’t plan on it doing that,” Mittman said. “We know that we’re all terminal. What this did to me was it was a wake-up call. A reminder.” Born in Eugene, Oregon, Mittman grew up in one of the most running-saturated environments in the US. He enjoyed a lot of success as a young runner. As a senior in high school, his cross country team won the state meet, with Mittman being the tiebreaker. “I loved running,” Mittman said. “I just loved the way it made me feel, so I always planned to do it.” A runner for more than 40 years, Mittman joined the City High program in 1997 and has coached the girls’ cross country team to four state championships. “I always wanted to be a coach,” he said. “When I went to college in 1971, the two things I wanted were to teach to English and coach whatever.” However, Mittman’s college experience didn’t turn out the way he expected. While he had loved his high school English classes, in college he gravitated towards the sciences, specifically biology. After one year at grad school, Mittman headed off to medical school. “I always thought I can go back and do my teaching later, but I’ll probably never have another chance at this,” Mittman said. “Which wasn’t
true, as it turned out, but it’s hard once you get on that track to go back.” Mittman and his wife moved to Iowa so that he could complete his family practice residency and she could go to graduate school at the University of Iowa. After completing his residency at Mercy Hospital, Mittman started out in an emergency room in Keokuk, Iowa. “You never know what’s going to come in the door in a little town’s ER. There’s not a lot of backup,” he said. Mittman soon took a position in a trauma center in Davenport. “That was pretty stressful. After a couple years of that and after the program director tried to kill himself, I decided to go back to school,” he said. “I decided that it wasn’t for me. The stress was significant. I really wasn’t trained for that.” Mittman did eventually get his teaching certificate. After three semesters of education credits and student-teaching at Mid-Prairie in 1990, a job opened up in the ER at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City, where he worked until he retired this past year. “I always went to the ER hoping to get there a minute before my shift and would come to practice with a big smile on my face, anxious to get here. I loved coming to coach every day,” Mittman said. “There may be an occasional day or two where it’s hard. There are frustrations on occasion, but coming here to coach has been a highlight of my adult life.” While Mittman always knew he wanted to coach, coaching girls was never something he expected. “I have two sisters, so I know something about females, but adolescent women were not something that I was particularly familiar with,” he said. “Girls are delightful to coach. They’re different. Not totally different, but different in interesting ways.”
In his years of coaching, Mittman has found that boys and girls respond differently to coaching. “I had to learn that if I told a girl five things that she did well during a race and told her one thing she didn’t, it would mean that I didn’t think that she ran a good race. No!” Mittman said. “I yell, obviously, but I try not to be negative when I yell. I try to yell encouragement all the time.” Team captain Hailey Verdick ‘16 and Laura Cornell ‘16 agree that Mittman’s coaching style is more positive than negative. “I feel like Tom tries to point out when you do well,” Verdick said. “He’s a very intense person, but in a good way.” Cornell agrees, noting that Mittman really gets to know members of the team in order to coach them. “I think that Tom definitely wants to push you as much as he can and as much as you can push yourself,” Cornell said. “But he also knows what’s reasonable.” Assistant Coach Thos Trefz adds that while he and Mittman may disagree on small details, overall they see things quite similarly. “Tom’s coaching style is very athlete-centered and he really cares about the athlete as a whole person,” he said. “It’s not so much about the workouts as it is about developing the whole studentathlete as a person first.” Verdick credits Mittman with convincing her to join the cross country team her freshman year, instead of continuing with volleyball. “I think he’s probably one of the reasons why I’m in cross country, because he ran with me almost every day of the summer and made sure that I got good runs in and made me feel like I belonged, like I mattered,” Verdick said. “At the end of the summer I felt like I had put so much work into it and Tom had put so much work into me that I couldn’t not do cross country, and it’s always been like that.” This summer, Mittman was diagnosed with anaplastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of cancer that affects white blood cells. He had known something was wrong when even after losing weight, exercising didn’t get any easier. Other symptoms included stomach queasiness, night sweats, and strange abdominal aches and pains
radiating to his back and shoulders. When tests for gallstones, ulcers, and gallbladder disease turned up negative, a CT scan was ordered. “I had a pretty good idea that something more significant was going on, probably a malignancy,” Mittman said. “I didn’t know what kind.” The CT scan showed abnormal lymph nodes in his abdomen, and a biopsy showed that 90% were cancerous. “I’m the only person to have an abdominal biopsy done without anesthesia at Mercy. I didn’t want drugs so I could go to practice that afternoon,” Mittman said. Mittman waited almost a week before telling his team, and the news of his diagnosis hit coaches and runners hard. “It’s just a shock, and it’s not something you want to hear about anybody, least of all someone like Tom,” Trefz said. Instead of running with the team, as he has done in the past, Mittman now bikes around during practices and at meets, which allows him to see the girls at multiple points during a race. “I think of him as that one coach that’s always there. I’ll see him five times during my race on his bicycle and he definitely does push you to do your best,” Verdick said. “He’ll say, ‘you can do it! You don’t know that you can do it yet, but you can do it.’ He knows what you can do better than you know what you can do.” Mittman’s illness has served as an inspiration to the team this season. Cornell, especially, has noticed herself pushing a little harder during races since hearing his diagnosis. “This year, I’ve noticed that I have this thought sometimes when I’m really hurting during a race, like Tom just had chemo a couple days ago,” Cornell said. “And he’s riding on his bike, uphill, and I think that I have to go slower.” To show their support for their coach, the team made shirts that read “Miles for Mittman,” and were green, the color for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The team decided to wear its Miles for Mittman t-shirts for the MVC Divisional Meet. “I was thinking how special it is to have somebody that we can dedicate our run to,” Cornell said. “I feel like we all had a little something extra to motivate us. It wasn’t just, ‘Do it! Run because it’s going
“I’M THE ONLY PERSON TO HAVE AN ABDOMINAL BIOPSY DONE WITHOUT ANESTHESIA AT MERCY. I DIDN’T WANT DRUGS SO I COULD GO TO PRACTICE THAT AFTERNOON,” TOM MITTMAN
to be great!’ It was, ‘Run, because we have this person that really wants us to, and that has sacrificed a lot for us.’” Mittman has attended every practice and every meet this season, despite the effects of his treatment. The most common side effects Mittman experiences are general weakness, neuropathy, headaches, and some nausea. While the girls’ cross country team has achieved many things this season, notably a second straight MVC Championship and a 28th consecutive trip to the state cross country meet, Mittman is hesitant to chalk up his team’s success to anything related to himself. “I didn’t want the season to be about me. I wanted it to be about how good we were going to be, and we were,” he said. “I think for the most part it’s just been a great season because we have a great team. We’ve had great leadership from our seniors, we’ve had kids who are enthusiastic about working and trying hard at all levels, and everyone has positive mental attitudes.” Mittman’s cancer could be fatal, but even as he faces a life-threatening illness, he is the epitome of positivity. “Life is a terminal disease. We get sidetracked and we think it’s not going to happen to us,” he said. “I know it can happen at any time, especially at 62, so I feel like it was a wake-up call to be grateful for all the wonderful things that happened in my life.” With a loving wife, three healthy sons, and grandchildren, Mittman sees his blessings as abundant. “I look at it as an opportunity to be aware that I am lucky. Every day could be my last day and I don’t want to be remembered as a grumpy old man. I want to be remembered as something positive,” Mittman said. Loud. Sweaty. Weirdly tan. Intense, empowering, and dedicated. The words that people use to describe Mittman reflect the impact he has had on their lives. “If I am fortunate enough to have this go into remission and live many, many more years, I hope that I remember how I feel now,” he said. “If I survive this initially, in some ways it may be the best thing that’s happened to me.”
PROFILE
PLAYING FOR
Madeline Deninger
Lucy Wagner
THE OTHER TEAM They don’t get locker signs, because they don’t have lockers. Not here, at least. Three Little Hawks share the ins and outs of playing for a school that they don’t attend.
Check out the slideshow at thelittlehawk.com
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mma O’Hara ‘16 stretches before her race at the Bud Williams Invitational, City High’s home meet named after its legendary coach. The air is a bit chilly, a nod to summer changing into fall. This is her fourth and final year of cross country, having competed for the team since her freshman year. O’Hara, decked out in her red Little Hawks uniform, hugs her teammates and wishes them good luck. There is only one difference between her and her fellow runners: she doesn’t attend City High. “I’ve made so many friends in the past four years and I love them,” O’Hara said of running for City High. O’Hara attends West Branch High School, which, due to its small population, does not have a cross country team of its own. She, along with two other girls from West Branch, travel approximately fifteen minutes per day to City High for practice. Although she competes for another school, O’Hara says the faculty and students at West Branch are supportive. “The administrative and my teachers always ask me how my season is going or, if I had a race the night before, they always ask me how my race went and how the team did,” she said. Since 1993, students from other schools, especially smaller schools, have played sports for City High. Common sports played by these athletes include cross country, swimming, bowling, and tennis, which not all schools can offer. While City High is not required to offer this program, C i t y H i g h athletic
director Terry Coleman believes it has been a positive addition to City High’s athletics. “We have not had, in my time here, a negative experience with any of the students that have come from other schools to co-op programs here,” he said. “The purpose of [the program] is to give the kids at those schools the same opportunities as the kids at bigger schools would have.” For the first time, Andrea Adam ‘17 is diving for City High. While she attends her classes at Regina Catholic Education Center, Adam is no stranger to competing outside of her school. For seven years, she was involved in gymnastics at the Iowa Gymnast. It was this background in gymnastics that propelled Adam into diving. “My background in gymnastics has helped a lot, because now I know how to contort my body,” Adam said. Both City and West High share a diving coach, Lauren Kelba, who happens to have worked with Adam in gymnastics in the past. “She’s been great. Absolutely amazing to coach. She has great body awareness and is willing to do new things and get out of her comfort zone,” Kelba said of Adam. Like O’Hara, Adam says her experience with City High has been positive. “The swim team did an amazing job making me feel welcomed! The first three hours that I knew them, they invited me to their campout and acted like they had known me for years,” she said. Not only has being on the team benefited Adam, but it has given City the opportunity to compete in diving. Adam, in addition to being the only Regina student on the team, is City High’s only diver. “It’s really awkward being at a competition in which I’m the only diver. It gets super quiet and the focus is only on me. It’s really weird. But I laugh it off, it’s funny,” Adam said. While involvement with out-ofschool athletes can be beneficial to both the individuals and City High, there are problems that arise with the arrangement. In particular, scheduling can be difficult. This conflict is very real for Annelyn Broghammer ‘17,
a Little Hawk swimmer from Solon, that has to get up at 4:30 to make it to morning practice. These issues have an impact on the coaches as well. “I think any conflict would come from communications between other extracurricular activities,” Kelba said. “I am able to communicate with everyone at City High, but if there is the need for me to communicate with someone at Regina, I don’t necessarily know those coaches or teachers.” In addition to difficulties with communication, there are a number of hoops to be jumped through in order for these athletes to even compete. The school boards of both districts involved must approve of the athlete competing for a different school before the proposal is sent into the state for final approval. The purpose of this is to prevent athletes from being selective in which high school they compete for. “They [the state and school boards] just don’t want schools to be essentially going out to smaller schools and recruiting kids and gaining a competitive advantage by having smaller schools that are cooping with them,” Coleman said. After the decision is approved, the switch from a small school atmosphere to a larger one like City’s can be a big change. For Broghammer, the change allowed her to experience things that wouldn’t have been available for her at her own school. “It’s fun because I’ve made so many friends throughout my experience,” she said. “I go to show choir competitions with Clara [Froeschner] and met a lot of people through that.” Broghammer believes that at times it might be easier to attend City High. Although open-enrolling was an option in the past, it is no longer available to students outside the district as City High’s population increases. “Honestly, I sometimes wish I went to City because everyone is so sweet and wonderful and the idea of a bigger school is cool,” Broghammer said. However, O’Hara says she embraces the dual-identity of being a West Branch Bear and a Little Hawk. “[I am] more like a ‘bear-hawk’, but I love City High and cheer for all their teams!” she said.
Profiles
An Athlete of Nature
with over 380,000 views on youtube, ronnie mcdowell’s parkour career has changed his life dramatically. By Brady Vanlo
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onnie McDowell ‘18 has never considered himself to be the itself isfear. athletic type when it comes to school sports. “Originally, when you see something in freerunning that you think However, after being introduced to parkour and looks cool and you go to attempt it in the real world, you’ll most likely feel freerunning from watching YouTube videos four years ago, scared,” McDowell said. “Personally, what I do is I mess around with the his life changed dramatically. stunt somewhere safe, like in a gym, until I get a good understanding of it. “I was always drawn to that kind of acrobatic type of Then I’ll take it outside to see what I can do with it.” movement,” McDowell said. “Once I joined gymnastics, I took what I liked Due to the age Ronnie began his parkour career at, he has been a big from that and started playing around inspiration to other free runners and likes with it. I went on from there.” to encourage everybody to try parkour. Ronnie’s creative and fluid “Everybody starts at their own level,” “WHEN A LOT OF PEOPLE SEE ME freerunning has led him to more than McDowell said. “It doesn’t matter what just his own entertainment. With over speed you progress at or what you want OR OTHER PEOPLE DO PARKOUR, 1,300 subscribers on YouTube, Ronnie to start off doing, just go for it. There’s no has not only found joy in watching THEY LIKE TO ASSUME WE’RE JUST pressure at all when it comes to parkour.” videos, but has also found joy in making Ronnie is also no stranger to the self videos himself. SHOWING OFF, BUT REALLY WE JUST satisfaction and injuries of performing Parkour’s effects on Ronnie extend parkour. beyond exercise and entertainment - he “There have been many times where WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THAT WE uses it to express himself, and even has I’m not satisfied with where I’m at in my DO WHAT WE DO SIMPLY BECAUSE career, and I ask myself why I even am sponsors. “Parkour has led me to a number of doing parkour in the first place,” McDowell IT’S FUN. IT’S A GIANT ADRENALINE said. “But in the end, I always end up being sponsorships. I’ve met a ton of really awesome people through it, and believe satisfied because when I keep putting RUSH AND WE’RE NOT DOING FOR hard work into what I’m doing, I’ll end up it or not, it’s actually made me learn a lot more about myself,” McDowell said. getting some results sooner or later.” THE LOOKS OR THE MONEY, WE’RE “It’s something that’s fun to do when I Limitation has not held Ronnie back in have free time, and it’s something that his parkour career either. DOING IT BECAUSE WE ENJOY makes me happy.” “There have been times when I’ve been Making videos has been Ronnie’s really reckless and went out and threw DOING IT.” biggest motivation thus far into his something that I probably shouldn’t have career. thrown,” McDowell said. “But basically “A big part of why people do parkour over the years you’ll get to learn more about RONNIE MCDOWELL ‘18 is making YouTube videos,” McDowell your body and know what you can or can’t said. “Making videos helps freerunners do.” get exposed other people that share the With the growth of parkour rapidly same passion for freerunning as they increasing over the past years, Ronnie do, and that will help their career.” wants parkour and freerunning to be seen Let alone, through the success Ronnie has found and the hard work he as not something dangerous or showing off, but something positive. has put into Parkour, he does not consider it to be a sport. “When a lot of people see me or other people do parkour, they like to “Technically, parkour can’t really be classified as a sport,” McDowell assume we’re just showing off,” McDowell said. “But really we just want said. “To me, parkour isn’t about competition against others, but more people to know that we do what we do simply because it’s fun. It’s a giant about progression and improving yourself.” adrenaline rush, and we’re not doing for the looks or the money. We’re On the other hand, like many outdoor activities, parkour does have its doing it because we enjoy doing it.” risks. A risk that has stopped many people from attempting the activity
FOR The full video, go to thelittlehawk.com/athleteofnature
Name: Ronnie Mcdowell year: Sophomore proffesion: parkour and freerunning
Watch ronnie mcdowell as he leaps from building to building in this epic freerunning experience.
Profiles
Kyle Kaufman practices boxing in a friend’s garage in Iowa City. Kaufman remained undefeated for his first three amateur boxing match-ups and has intention to go pro after graduation. PHOTO BY DOMINIC BALESTRIERI-FOX
THE FIGHTER
By Cody Owen
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veryone has a moment in their lives when they realize what they want to do for the rest of it. For Kyle Kaufman ‘16, that moment was watching UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey defend her title. “The first time I watched her fight, she put her opponent in a crazy armbar she made up on the spot, and I thought ‘this is amazing!’ She was so fluid and in-control of the fight; I loved it,” Kaufman said. “That’s when I decided that being a fighter is what I want to do.” At 17, Kaufman is undefeated through several amateur outings, his only loss in a sanctioned tournament coming in the form of a disqualification during a taekwondo tournament in 2013 after it was ruled by the referee that Kaufman had struck his opponent in the chest with excessive force. Speed, timing, reflexes, ring IQ, and natural power
only scratch the surface of what it takes to be a fighter. For Kaufman, it’s a lifestyle. “Every morning, I get up, stretch, and run. Then I go home at the beginning of fifth period to stretch and work out my core until seventh,” he said. “After school, I work out until five. Then I either go to ICOR for boxing and muay thai, or to the judo class at the U of I. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go to Chol Choe’s taekwondo gym after judo to work on my kicks and balance.” Kaufman thinks that the physical aspect isn’t everything. “You have to know what you’re doing. You can’t just go into the ring not knowing what you’re doing. A guy who knows what he’s doing has an advantage over a guy who’s just in shape,” Kaufman said. “Like if I’m fighting a guy who’s in better shape than me, but I know what I’m doing more than he does, I’m probably
going to win.” Kaufman thinks that this is where most fighters can have issues. They are undisciplined and are sloppy in their fighting. “I don’t think most fighters in the world of mixed-martial-arts take their training seriously enough. They should probably spend more time refining their skills. I see a lot of sloppy wrestling moves that don’t work because they’re sloppy, and all these sloppy punches that don’t land clean because they’re sloppy and haven’t been worked on. They all look really sloppy,” Kaufman said. “They know what they’re doing a little bit, but they’re not as refined as they should be. Take boxers, for example. They’re really good at striking; it’s so fast and fluid. That’s not how it is in the mixed-martial-arts world; people are decent at striking and decent at wrestling. Or someone is really good at one thing, like wrestling, but they’re lacking in their
striking. They’re just not as refined in every area as they should be.” According to Kaufman, this is where his advantage lies. He can use a variety of techniques to take down his opponents. “I see myself as a jack-of-all-trades, which I feel is the most effective. I would rely on my kicks at range, but I can get inside and use my boxing experience if I need to be more aggressive. If I feel that it’s better to go to the ground, I’ll try to throw them and use my judo. If I’m just better all-around, and more wellrounded as a fighter, then I’m probably going to win. Having more knowledge of everything and combining it is better than having training heavily in one area and neglecting the others, or just being decent at everything.” Even after years of sparring and training, getting into the ring remains a unique experience for Kaufman.
“It’s scary, but it’s fun at the same time. You’re wondering to yourself ‘Am I really prepared? Is this guy better than me?’ I don’t know the other guy. I don’t know who I’m about to fight; I don’t know what his tendencies are. I don’t know how in-shape he is.” Kaufman thinks this is where his reactionary style, where he fights mostly on the defensive and adapts to his opponents actions, can give him an edge. “As the fight goes on, I start to learn his style and tendencies, and I can adjust, which makes me more confident. When I want a knockout, I go hard to their body. As soon as I realize that I’ve hit them in the body hard enough to make them stop and think, then I go to the head. When you hit them in the body and hear them exhale harder than normal, you know you’ve got them good. You can feel the hit sink into their stomach, and you can see it in their face.
Then they start running on instinct, and they start doing a really sloppy job of defending themselves. That’s when they go down. It’s a good feeling. The crowd is cheering, and you feel accomplished.” Kaufman’s next amateur fight is on November 7th. “I feel pretty confident about it,” Kaufman said. “I’ve been preparing for the last month, and I’ll keep training hard leading up to the fight. I’m always nervous leading up to a fight, but by the time I’m stepping into the ring, I’m more excited than nervous. But overall, yeah, I’m pretty confident about it.” For Kaufman, however, this fight is only one step in a larger journey. “Every fight I have is a part of a bigger plan to fight professionally,” Kaufman said. “Ultimately, I plan on making a splash in the UFC one day. I hope they’ll be ready.”