In this Issue:
Homecoming Heartbreaker
Opinion: School Fights and the Mentalities Behind Them
Freshman Spotlight
Setting New Records
Table of Contents Homecoming Issue
Seeking Spirit- Zachary Wood............................................................................4
Batting the Odds- Coen Buxton..........................................................................5
Setting New Records- Grant Hughes..................................................................6
March of the Spartans- Amin Gozal....................................................................7
POW- Angel Collins.........................................................................................8/9
Full Count/There’s A Handbook? - Corbin Buechter/Zachary Wood..............10
Homecoming Heartbreaker- Corbin Buechter..................................................11
Dance The Night Away- Grant Hughes..............................................................12
Trailblazing the Terrain- Angel Collins.............................................................13
Freshman Spotlight- Coen Buxton.................................................... ...............14
BLARM Announces This Year’s Theme -Amin Gozal.......................................15
Word Search........................................................................................................16
Contact Us
Visit: Room E206
Intsagram: thespearhead_bhs
Click: spartanspearhead.com
Email: BHSspearhead@gmail.com
About This Issue
Stories from The Spearhead are written and edited in Google Docs. Page layouts are designed in Adobe InDesign. The font used throughout the paper is Georgia. The paper is printed at the News Tribune in Jefferson City.
About the Cover
Yusuf Ruhenda (11) looks at the field pre-game against Osage. The game ended 3-1 with Battle taking the victory. Picture by Grant Hughes
The Spearhead Staff
Lead Editor: Zachary Wood
Coverage Editor: Angel Collins
Layout Editor: Coen Buxton
Photo Editor: Grant Hughes
Copy Editior: Amin Gozal
Social Media Editor: Corbin Buechter
Faculty Advisor: Mechelle Neuerburg
“Just having this once in a lifetime opportunity was a really cool experince all around.” Noah Sill, Senior.
“Playing games in the assembly and hangout with the other royalty.” Finley Polacek, Senior.
“Food day and the assembly, because of how engaged everyone in the school was.” Alexandria Soendker, Senior.
“My favorite part was that I got the opportunity to raise money for Lizzy’s Walk of Faith, it’s an amazing charity and deserves every penny!” Taylor Heath, Senior.
“Getting to fundraise and seeing how much was donated every day” Breleigh Moore, Senior.
“Probably food day and the assembly getting to serve food with my friends and playing the games with my friends” Mylisa Shultz, Senior.
Hey Royalty!
What was your favorite part of running?
“Food day and being crowned.” Madaline Samb, Senior.
“My favorite part was being able to be involved with my peers.” Hailey Thornhill, Senior.
“Food day because I got to engage with other students and make them excited”
Katlyn Si, Senior.
“Getting to see everybody happy on food day” Ethan Morris, Senior.
Seeking Spirit!
By Zachary Wood
Isabella Bridgeford (12) and Emily Harris (12) pose for Duo Day Photo. Photo by Zachary Wood
Emily Harris (12) pours milkshake while helping homecoming royalty Breleigh Moore (12) Photo by Coen Buxton
Homecoming royalty Noah Sill poses for photo while participating in Pajama Day.
Photo By Coen Buxton
Boe Reh (11) poses for photo while participation on camo day. Photo by Coen Buxton
Homecoming royalty Ethan Morris (12) poses for photo with Damian White (12), Raphael Eboreime (10), Carl Aaron (12), and Brady Murphy (11) while working his booth during food day. Photo by Coen Buxton
Joshua Wedemeyer poses for photo in camo attire
Photo by Coen Buxton
Na’Kiyah Jones (11) poses with Amiya Burnett (12) during duo day. Photo from Na’Kiyah Jones
Battling the Odds
Battle boys soccer stays relavant dispite losing almost a full varsity starting lineup
Battle has stayed in conversation yet again even after losing most of their starters from the year prior. The team now only has four seniors on the starting varsity lineup compared to the previous year when they had seven. This says a lot about the teams’ depth as the total number of starters is only 11 meaning that currently, Battle’s lineup is 36.3% seniors compared to last year when it was 63.6%.
Even with this change Battle’s soccer team has stayed consistent compared to the prior year with their current score according to MSSHA as of October 11, being 8-5-1 or .571 winning rate compared to last year’s 9-8 or .529 winning rate. Senior Ethan Morris said the reason for this has a lot to do with the continuing performances of senior Carter Jones and junior Joseth Aguilar.
Morris is one of the two captains on the Battle soccer team with the other one being Carter Jones. Morris is a centerback and defensive player on the team. Morris is enthusiastic about something not typically seen. “My favorite memory from the season so far was when I scored a goal for the team when playing against Tolton. Because of how the team celebrated with me while also knowing how rare it is for
Written by Coen Buxton
defensive players to claim a goal.”
Battles soccer team has been very well structured during games this year, Morris says “I am very impressed with how our team has stayed organized with the loss of four of our senior captains and I strongly believe that this was shown during our game against Smith-Cotton.” This was Battle’s second time in program history beating Smith-Cotton, with the first being the year prior. Likewise, the team had also beaten Jefferson City High School for the second time in program history making it the first time they’ve bested the team at home.
Junior Brady Murphy, the goalkeeper for Battle and brother of former captain and all-district player Parker Murphy, says he’s excited to finally be seen as a varsity starter for the 2024 season. Murphy states, “My progress on this team has really been a full circle because I’ve been here since my brother’s freshman year working with the team, and it’s been really cool to see my own progress as a goalkeeper.” Murphy says that he sees the team going in a positive direction especially with the team being so young although he is concerned to see where the team ends up after losing team captain Carter Jones.
As the team heads towards the end of the season, Battle faces off against rival school Hickman on October 29, battling it out on Hickman’s turf. Morris emphasized the goal he has for the match up: “I hope we can finally beat Hickman for the first time and in doing so make program history once again.”
With this in mind, the team hasn’t lost focus despite it being the latter half of the season as most teams or sports
start to see a lot of burning-out players towards the end of their respective seasons. Murphy speaks about the end of the season “I’m really happy about where the team’s mentality is as we approach the latter half of the season, it seems like everyone still has love for the game as well as the drive to wanting to be a top contending team this year.” The drive in this team is hopefully going to be the deciding factor in the rest of their games and set them up to be successful for districts over the first week of November. Students can catch Battle’s last home game on October 24 where they will match up against the Missouri Military Academy, a team that they have never lost to. An addition to attending the game also means Celebrating Battles Seniors as it’s on senior Night. Seniors recognized will include: Ethan Morris, Carter Jones, Jossemit Cheachan, Erik Uribe Mendez, Joshua Franco Alfaro, Brent Mercado, Hayden Burns, Luis Tolentino, Fernando Guerrero-Chapula, Yousif Khudier, Mugisha Aimable, Ronald Barrientos Canales, and, Luis Lopez. These thirteen seniors will be recognized for their contributions and favorite moments with the team.
Yusuf Ruhenda (11), Ethan Morris (12) celebrating their win against Smith-Cotton. - Photo by Leo Muse
Raphael Eboreime (10), Benny Ellebracht (9), Brady Murphy (11) applaud while varsity starter Carter Jones (12) is being announced. -Photo by Coen Buxton
Setting New Records
Battle Girls volleyball is having one of the best seasons in its history, creating a new normal for winning in the program.
Story and Photos By Grant Hughes
Battle’s record last year was 8-19-3 with a winning percentage of 26.7%, tied for fourth worst in school history. This year they are heading towards districts 18-8-2 with a school record winning percentage of 64.3% with the #2 seed in the district tournament according to the MSHSSA website. Additionally, this record comes with first-ever wins against Blair Oaks and Helias Catholic. “If I had to describe it in one word it would be insane,” said Senior Taylor Heath.
“Leading up to those games, specifically Helias, we were preparing for a fight, we knew they weren’t going to just roll over and give it to us.” Heath has been playing
since her freshman year. This year has been very special to her. “I’m honestly just so proud of the team this year, everyone has worked so hard and it’s showing on the court and people are starting to notice the change.”
The question is: Why is this team so special? Is it one really good player? An easy schedule? A change of luck? The answer: strong team chemistry. The team has five seniors, most playing from freshman year to now. They have a collective bond that they share with their underclassman teammates. “Those younger players are still getting used to the pressure of playing on varsity, so seniors try to be encouraging and uplifting,” said Senior Janaya Weitkemper. “We have team dinners and hangouts to get to know each other off the court so it can flow on the court.”
This bond allowed the team to grow and support each other in different ways. When it came to supporting each other on the court, they all knew how to pick each other back up and refocus. This bond has been shown game in and game out as the team competes.
Battle started their year on a six-game winning streak, only dropping one set. This win streak included wins against local teams Tolten, Boonsville and Hallsville. The team’s first loss came to Oak Grove in the Hickman Varsity Tournament on September 14 losing 1 set to 2. From there the Spartans won nine of their last fifteen games.
“Coming into these games, I don’t think we played as together as we did in the beginning but we’re slowly starting to find ourselves again.,” said senior Henley Tarwater. The team’s most recent game was a loss to Rock Bridge 0 sets to 3. This capped off one of the best regular seasons in Battle’s history. Tarwater said the loss made her really disappointed. “It gives me drive for districts as if we win two more games we can play them again. Our whole team will be ready if we get a rematch.”
The team is preparing for their first district game against Smith-Cotton on October 26.
Henley Tarwater (12), Spikes the ball
Taylor Heath (12), Prepares to serve
Ada Grzella-Skibiski (9), Seves the ball against Rock Bridge. Battle lost the game 3-0.
By Amin Gozal
March of the Spartans
Churchill-Johnson (11), Vernell Holt Jr.
Dante Lathan
Photos taken by BHS Journalism staff
Senior officers Kerynna Jarman and Grant Hughes ride into battle while waving to fans
Hailey Thornhill (12) and Isaiah Christopher (11) perform infront of parade viewers
Jaedon Morgan (10), Mario Caudillo (9), Ty Heimericks (9), Assistant Coach Dinesh Baldwin march at the head of the Soccer team
Talia Saxton (12), Logan Rice (11), Gregery Caine (12), Cash Kidd (12) play their instruments while marching down Spartan Drive
Chesney Salem (11), Tiyelle Frye (9), Jaleah Brookins (12), Mallory Ziolko (11), Olivia Marriott (11) march with the Volleyball team
Thomas Lakes (9), Noah Sill (12) ride on the back of a wagon during the homecoming parade.
Ra’Zhon
(12),
(12) walk with the Football team in the parade
When I transferred to Battle during my freshman year, I was told that Battle was known for being “the fighting school.”
Even though there are good resources for students to seek help such as the counselors and outside of school resources they can give you, students still fight. I have seen quite a few physical altercations since being here, and regrettably I recently participated in a physical altercation as well. While others may simply just be entertained with the drama of it all as well as the fight itself, students including myself are wondering: why do so many student issues get resolved by fighting, and what are the mentalities of students behind them?
Sophomore Jamiah Miller observed that school fights often occur when people start drama with other people they don’t like, which later escalates, or when a person that wants to fight suddenly instigates a situation that has already been an issue for students for a long time. The word often used for this kind of behavior is “pressing.” According to Miller, pressing or being pressed is a term that describes immediate action to do something about a problem. In this case, it would be fighting. For example, Person A would suddenly see Person B in the hallway and start pressing them to fight because Person B was spreading rumors about them. Miller says most fights at school are mostly due to people addressing, or in her words pressing, one another when they suddenly see someone they’ve had drama with, making the fight a last-minute decision. “I feel like if you run up on a person that said they don’t want to fight,” Miller said, “that is just straight-up bullying and assault to me.”
Though Miller has stated she has been in a fight before, she does not condone them being the solution to issues that one may have with another student because it could lead to further issues outside of school.
“Sometimes, you don’t know what will
happen after. Let’s say you fight someone, there’s a fifty-fifty percent chance they want to keep it going, and that itself is just about not giving them what they want, which is to continue fighting. But other times people just ignore each other after it happens.”
From what she has seen and experienced when people are about to fight, they don’t think about it too much beforehand or during. It’s just what they’re feeling at the moment: a huge adrenaline spike.
“The adrenaline rush is really bad, and people I’ve seen start shaking from adrenaline and nerves right before a fight happens.”
Miller says that she does regret fighting due to the intense stress caused by it, along with the drama that goes along with it. An example of drama is the strong influence social media has on these altercations. Miller claims social media plays a big role in these fights because of reposts about certain issues students may be having with each other, arguments over text, and fight videos. She says she believes the reason people record fights is “because they’re bored and they want to entertain themselves and can’t entertain themselves with other, better things.”
The spread of fight videos could cause the person who lost the fight to be ridiculed on social media and when they return to school from suspension. This video sharing and reposting also creates a reputation for both parties involved in the altercation. The winner is known as a fighter, and, to some, as cool. The loser becomes a joke people often make a mockery of.
“I’d be embarrassed too if I got beat up and it got recorded and reposted.”
In terms of keeping students away from each other after a fight, Miller expresses that she feels like the administration could do more to prevent fights from happening so often.
“If they don’t just shove it off their hands
POW!
By Angel Collins
by just using suspension, and just standing around waiting for a fight to happen so they can break it up, I think things could get better. If they know someone is about to fight, they need to just keep those people away from each other as much as they can and talk to them about the situation.”
But Patrick McGuire, assistant principal, claims that administration does in fact do things other than suspension to prevent fights from happening.
“We try to be proactive by building strong relationships with the kids and hoping that within those relationships students feel comfortable enough to talk to us about conflicts that they’re having so we can try to help students navigate those conflicts and resolve them with words instead of escalating it into a physical altercation. We want students to make good choices but also know that they can come to us, and we can help them solve some of these issues and help them differentiate what may be a big issue to them when in reality, it isn’t that big of a deal at all and that some students try to makes things bigger than what they are.”
But if students still find themselves getting into physical altercations, McGuire says there
Amin Gozal (12), Coen Buxton (12), and Zachary Wood (12) participate in a staged fight
Opinion: School fights and the mentalities behind them
is a method administration uses to prevent further issues from occurring, that being no contact agreements.
“The no contact agreement is an agreement that’s put in place between two or more students that states that those students will not come in contact or speak to one another whether that be on social media or verbally during school hours or on the school premises. That being signed is the first step to prevent anything from further happening. If it’s broken, it can be considered harassment, and possibly even assault depending on the severity of it being broken.”
Sophomore Carmelo Lee is a strong believer in standing up for oneself and maintaining respect and self-integrity.
“I feel like you should always fight for respect because that’s what people always try to play with, your self-respect.”
Lee feels like most fights stem from peoples’ satirical statements about one another. Whether that be in real life or on social media, Lee says these statements should not be tolerated even if that means fighting.
Though Lee says his mother “strongly frowns” upon him getting into physical altercations, he
says: “It’s different for different people, but I was raised to not let anybody punk you or disrespect your character.”
Lee states that he sometimes regrets the decisions he’s made depending on the consequences he faces afterward, “but if someone is playing with my self-respect then I don’t.”
Lee thinks fighting resolves the problem most of the time. He feels this way because he as well as many others he knows just ignore the person they’ve fought.
But ignoring each other really depends on how the other person behaves because of the constant instigation of peers as well as the pressure of social media. Lee says social media plays a big part in fights in the first place, claiming that reposts before and after a fight occurs can lead to future pettiness among the people who were involved as well as their friend groups.
“The fights here have created a bad reputation for Battle. People say “Battle has the worst kids” but it’s actually a selective group of people. I don’t think it’s the whole school.”
Junior Reghan Allard, guesses that school fights happen because of rumors and bad-mouthing others and ones close to them. She thinks that fighting and filming fights is an unnecessary practice that many students at Battle have a problem with.
“I think a lot of people are immature and I think it’s become a trend to get into fights, and a lot of people fall into it.”
Allard states that she knows quite a few people who’ve gotten into fights, as well as quite a few who have not, so she can see what could possibly be the “pros and cons” of getting into altercations at school.
“A lot of my friends are entertained by them, and the other half feel the same way I do and just simply don’t agree with it. I can understand how it
can be entertaining, but it’s a school environment, so chill out.”
She further adds that it isn’t a specific group or stereotype of people who fight, it’s just people who were raised to think this way.
“I think the idea of fighting is a morality issue that may stem from home. People should be able to resolve an issue without physically attacking another person, and I think parents should teach that.”
Due to most fights happening in the hallways during passing periods, she says sometimes she gets irritated because people get blocked from going to class and it’s people that she knows that are the ones fighting.
When it came to the topic of social media, Allard says she feels like “some people boost their social status when having a fight video because after it happens, everyone is scrambling around to see who had the best angle of a fight.”
She further adds that student issues should never escalate to the point people begin to physically hurt one another:“I don’t really think the issue is that serious to hit someone, just go tell a trusted adult you know.”
In my personal opinion, I think fighting is a waste of energy that could have been used for something better. As a person who has been in a few physical altercations in my life, I would like to say that they have all taught me valuable lessons to distribute my frustration in other things, rather than letting someone’s actions and words get the best of me. Because at the end of the day, we cannot control how others will act or what they say, all we can control is ourselves. And I think as a whole, Battle can persevere into being the great Spartans we are. Whether if you’re a bystander, a video recorder or even a fighter, I think recognizing our faults and where we stand with this topic can paint a better future while attending BHS.
-Photo by Angel Collins
Full Count A breakdown of Battle softball’s 2024 season
By Corbin Buechter
Battle Softball has had a bounce-back 2024 season going from seven regular season wins in the 2023 season to fourteen regular season wins. The team has heated up as of late winning five of their last seven games with wins over Hillcrest, Sherwood, Park Hill South, Kirksville and Eldon.
On October 10th Battle faced off against Kirksville. The leadoff hitter, freshman Emilia Holt started the game with a walk. Holt advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt from senior Morgan Sheaffer. Holt scored on a passed ball to put the Spartans on top 1-0. Kirkville tied the game back up in the top of the 4th 1-1. In the bottom of the fifth freshman Emilia Holt drew another walk and senior Morgan Sheaffer reached first base on an error. The Spartans pulled off a double steal to put Holt on third base and Sheaffer on second base. Kirksville scored a run in the 6th inning to make the score 3-2 Battle. In the top of the inning junior Konnor Kite closed out the game with a 1-2-3 inning.
A winning stretch of games can help a team in many different ways. Senior Finley Polacek said that winning five of their last seven helps
There’s
give the team confidence: “We can know what winning feels like, and try to keep it going.”
The team will play Troy Buchanan High School who finished their 2024 season with a record of 20-6 in their first district game. If the Spartans beat Troy Buchanan they will play the winner of Timberland and Hickman in the semifinals. If the Spartans win that game and make it to the district championship game they will play one of Fort Zumwalt West, North Point, Helias and Liberty. If the team wins the district championship they will move on to the class five state tournament. The team has shown they can win in tournament games having a 8-7 record this season.
Winning is nothing new to the Battle Softball program. In the last ten years, the program has only had three losing seasons, those seasons being this year, last year in 2023, and 2022. But after this year’s team doubled the 2023 team’s win total it looks like the program is headed in the right direction.
A Handbook?
What’s up with the BHS 2024-2025 Student Handbook
The BHS student handbook contains all of Battle’s rules. The handbook is the students’ official guide through Battle. The only problem is that very few people know there’s a handbook. Senior Juan MarquezDavis said, “I didn’t know we had a handbook.” The handbook was referenced during the class meetings on August 26, and students were told to refer to it if there was any confusion about the rules.
The BHS handbook wasn’t updated until October 5, verifiable via the Wayback Machine, Dr. Alyssa Galbreath explained that the updates were delayed “We don’t have control over the website. We send it off to a person in the district and he was out until recently.” This means students had no documentation for the new rule changes Battle implemented until October 5. This includes major changes like the new
phone policy, leading to students being unable to go to games or dances because of the lack of ability to access new rules. However, the CPS district-wide handbook has been available on the CPS website with all of the district policies like the no phones during class rule or the new security measures.
Even with the now updated handbook, information regarding it is slim. According to Dr. Kendall Lewis, the Battle administrator in charge of the handbook, it’s only available online at the bottom of the BHS website. However, according to searches of several student email accounts, no emails regarding the handbook or where to find it have been sent out this year.
The handbook itself has only been mentioned during the student meetings
By Zachary Wood
in which the student body was told to look at the handbook if they were confused or needed more information on specific rules or policies. The location of the handbook wasn’t mentioned in the class meetings. Additionally, the handbook contains outdated information including the purchasing of parking passes. As of press time attempts to reach out to Dr. Lewis have been made to inquire about corrections but a reply has not yet been made. This year the passes were free because of the new policies surrounding the parking lot, so students’ insurance information was more easily accessible in the event of an accident. The handbook currently says the pass is $50 for the year or $25 if it’s only for the second semester. The Spearhead plans on updating as changes come.
Kayleigh Hudson (11) throws the pitch
Homecoming Heartbreak A breakdown of the homecoming game loss to Smith-Cotton
Battle football played SmithCotton on October 4 for Battle’s Homecoming game. Both teams went into this matchup looking for their first win of the season. Smith-Cotton scored first with a touchdown and extra point at the end of the first quarter taking the lead over the Spartans 7-0. Battle came out fast on their next offensive drive. Senior running back Chris Brown broke free for a 29yard rushing play. The Battle offense stayed hot when freshman quarterback Blayne Jungmann aired out a 17-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Caden Lewis, but Battle could not tie the game with an extra point, so Smith-Cotton still led Battle 7-6. Smith-Cotton would later extend their lead to 10-6 with a field goal. Battle would take the lead in the third quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run from senior running back Chris Brown, and junior kicker Brady Crites made the extra point to make the score 13-10 Battle.
By Corbin Buechter
By Corbin Buechter
Smith-Cotton retook the lead with a touchdown making the score 17-13 Smith-Cotton. Battle responded with a touchdown of their own. Chris Brown scored from 6-yards and converted the 2-point conversion.
On Smith-Cotton’s next offensive drive, Battle senior defensive lineman Gabe Truss forced a fumble that was recovered by senior defensive lineman Brandon Cook to give Battle the ball back with a lead in the fourth quarter. But the Battle offense had a fumble of their
own to give Smith-Cotton the ball back late in the fourth quarter. Smith-Cotton scored on a red zone passing touchdown to take the lead 24-21 leaving Battle’s offense very little time to tie or take the lead. The Spartans threw two deep passes but were not able to score making the final score: Smith-Cotton 24 Battle 21. With the loss, Battle falls to 0-6, and with the win Smith-Cotton improves to 1-5. Although Battle lost, there were some improvements. The Battle offense put up the most points they have scored in a game with 21 points, and senior running back Chris Brown put up a statline of 15 carries with 74 yards with 4.9 yards per carry as well as two touchdowns. The Battle defense only gave up 24 points which is the second fewest amount of points they have allowed this season. These improvements are necessary for the last three weeks of the regular season and after the Class 5 district tournament.
Dante Lathan (12) Communicates to the defense during the Homecoming game.
Chris Brown (12) celebrates with Vernell Holt Jr.(12) after a touchdown.
Vernell Holt Jr. (12) sheds block during homecoming game
Blayne Jungmann (9) gets ready for the snap
Dance The Night Away
Photos By Grant Hughes
Students participated in the homecoming dance on October 5. The night featured dancing, food, a DJ, and a photoboth. The theme for this year’s homecoming was Tangled. The decorations were purple, gold and green streamers with accents of the
seen in the
Grant Smith (12), Abi Dupree (12), Jasmine Thomure (12), Lori Arnold (12), Evie Pemberton (12)
Francis Wilson (11), Tena Green (11), Arriana Marli (12)
Kenya Oliver (12), Aubrey Gordon (12), Chiasia Edward (11), Jamyia Buckner (12)
Cedric Lakes (12), Ja’Niya Dansberry (10)
Students dance during homecoming
lanterns
movie.
Aiden Scott (10), Dominic Cedino (11), Tony Canhasi (10), Farasat Ahmad (12), Jose Ortiz (11), Vibol Koung (11), Alex Chen (11)
Kylie Clemons (9), Gabby Morrison (9)
Kionna Holt (12), Henley Tarwater (12), Janaya Weitkemper (12), Jaleah Brookins (12), Chezney Salem (12)
Ace Herman (10)
Taylor Heath (12), Morgan Sheaffer (12)
Kyren Hunter (12), Jayden Coleman (12)
Deyton Page (11), Ellie Boyer(10)
Ethan Morris (12), Ben Monroe (12), Amin Gozal (12)
Ben Monroe (12)
Kerynna Jarman (12), Vivienne Freeman (12), Breleigh Moore (12), Isabella Bridgeford (12), Emily Harris (12)
Trailblazing the Terrain Substantial season for Battle Cross Country
Story By Angel Collins, Pictures By Coen Buxton
Filled with personal records, optimism, and goals met, this year’s Cross Country team has had a very fulfilling season, with hopes of continuing this positivity streak as it comes to an end.
With practices starting bright and early at 6:30 a.m., the athletes begin with warm-ups like stretching out their calves and sit-ups. About three times a week they go on a forty to seventy-minute run around the surrounding neighborhoods of the school. After more difficult practice days like that, the runners take about two days of the week to do more lightweight workouts such as hills and repeat 800s (in meters). Senior Noah Sill says these intense practices help them get ready for what will be in store for the meets they go to. He also adds that the coaches, Russell Crane and Elizabeth Adcock, push them to be better.
“They believe in us and the workouts we do, they designed just so we can get better, and give us the tools we need to be better.”
The distance cross country runners usually race ranges from one to three miles, so coach Adcock says it is important to keep a positive mindset while running
“With the sports psychology class I teach, I think always having positive thoughts inside your head and eliminating the negative thoughts. Cross Country is a long race. It’s sixteen to twenty minutes of just you, yourself, and your mind, so if you can control your mind and your thoughts, your body will respond in a positive way.”
Coen Buxton is a senior runner for Battle’s Cross Country team. He has been running for six years and enjoys it because of how “free” it feels when he’s running. Buxton says this season is significantly better than last season because, during last season, Coach Crane was not there to give the runners that extra support they felt they needed. He says now that Crane is back, their workouts are “a lot
more speed-focused and definitely a lot more challenging, which has helped the team get in better shape for the season.”
During the summer, there were preseason workouts that took place at Stephens Lake Park, Cosmo, and Oakland Parks. This lasted about a month and consisted of long-distance runs around the parks.
“It really helped with everybody’s base, so everybody was in shape once the season started to the point we can handle harder workouts.”
During meets, some athletes that stood out were Charlotte Hansen, Arabelle McDonald, Coen Buxton, and Noah Sill. Buxton in particular is hoping to continue to make personal records at meets and possibly break a school record because that is his goal for his last year running cross country for Battle. So far, his personal record is 17:27. Charlotte Hansen, a freshman, has just recently received the title as the third fastest girl in Cross Country in Battle’s history. Noah Sill states, “One of my favorite moments was when I broke twenty minutes because that’s a goal I’ve had for years now. My new PR is 19:06.”
“We’ve had a really good season, we’ve had a lot of PRs and multiple kids have put medals around their necks,” says Adcock
One main obstacle the runners have faced is injury. After continuously running miles a day, multiple times a week, some athletes have developed shin splints and ankle soreness. It has partially to do with running on concrete trails during practices because, in Columbia, there aren’t too many natural trails to run on. But Coach Adcock says the athletes are very proactive and they go to the training room to get treatment when they need it, such as stretching techniques and ice. Adcock adds that she often tells them to get sleep because rest betters their athletic performance.
“I think sleep is something a lot of high school athletes miss in recovery. Sleeping is when your body repairs itself. If you don’t get any sleep, you’re not going to recover.”
Cross Country has roughly three weeks until the season has come to an end. While this is some of the team’s last year running for Battle before they graduate, this is only the beginning of our newer Spartans’ journey trailblazing the terrain.
“I am excited for the future because I’ve accomplished a lot this season, and I actually have the opportunity to run in college, so it will be good to see what I can do with that. Also considering that this is my last year in high school doing cross country and also considering I’ve been doing the sport for so long, it’s been a very surreal season,” Sill says.
One last thing Sill said in the interview was four words to describe the team: “Energetic. Supportive. Hungry. And Fast.”
Ellie Buxton (11), Lila Morris (10) and Charlotte Hansen (9) prep for race
Freshman Spotlight
Get to know more about Charlotte Hansen
By Coen Buxton
Freshman Charlotte Hansen was chosen for the student spotlight for her early success in high school sports. Making her mark in Cross Country as the third best freshman in program history after her first five-thousand meter run at the Conference meet at Gans creek, Columbia Mo, Hitting an impressive mark at 21:46. Hansen is also now 9th all time for the five-thousand meter run for all grades which she says “I’m glad that I’m doing my part for the team and I’m excited to see where we all end up at the end of the season. Hansen says her favorite moment from a high school meet was after the Olathe twilight meet when the whole team went to Culvers for dinner “Going to Culver’s was super fun and overall spending bus rides with the team is such a fun experience.”
The Cross Country season has been active for two months now and Hansen makes a remark “My favorite part about the season would probably be all of the longer runs with my teammates, we almost always listen to music on a playlist we like to call, the hot girl playlist which consists of Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan and a mixture of some other stuff.”
As well as Cross Country, Hansen is also in Battle’s Marching Band as a part of the Drumline. She says “Doubling up in both Marching Band and Cross Country has definitely been a lot of work, but I enjoy them both so it’s very worth it.” With the doubling of both sports Hansen has made
a lot of new friends as well, starting her freshman year off strong.
“Coming from Jefferson Middle School I didn’t know a lot of people here so doing both activities has opened me up to a lot of friendships.”
“The best part of band is just hanging out with everybody at competitions in between performances and just having fun.”
As well as sports, Hansen has seen success in the classroom. Placing into Algebra 2 as a freshman, meaning she’s two math classes ahead of a typical freshman. “I like math and I’m good at math and I feel like my teachers for math have been really good for me.” Other than Algebra 2 Hansen is enjoying Physics and French. Outside of school, Hansen has spent a good majority of time around horses. Growing up learning how to ride a horse and keep them.
Hansen hopes to develop her highschool experience and really shine in all of her activities. “I love the communities I’m in and how supportive the groups around me are so the support I get is amazing which I hope to develop all the way to my senior year.”
Charlotte Hansen (9) with her mom after crossing the line at the Cross Country Fulton Invatational
Charlotte Hansen (9) with sister Macy hansen at the beach
Charlotte Hansen (9) with her horse
Charlotte Hansen (9) showing off her hardware at the XC Olathe Twilight meet
BLARM Announces This Year’s
Theme with First-Time Subthemes
By Amin Gozal
Editor’s Note: Gozal is the Copy Editor for BLARM and reviews student art as part of his participation in the club. BLARM (Battle Literature & Art Review Magazine) is attempting a new style compared to previous years. What was normally a single, relatively specific theme per year has shifted to a more allencompassing main theme with smaller, more specific sub-themes. BLARM hopes to cover more topics and provide artists with more options with this new approach. What started as a melting pot of many different words quickly solidified into one main word: Multitudes. First proposed by club sponsor Mr. Jordan Smith, multitudes in his words meant, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” This overarching theme would set the stage for the four sub-themes to be developed.
Prior to deciding the theme; however, BLARM made the decision to transition from one big theme to several smaller themes. Through rigorous discussion and much contemplation, BLARM settled on the following four sub-themes: Dissonance, Collision, Sonder, and Parallax. In the meetings, there were worries that the theme would become too specific or too complicated, discouraging artists from submitting. Regardless, BLARM went with it, and as a result the four sub-themes emerged.
Multitudes, most directly, means a large number of people or things. This meaning created the perfect umbrella for the subthemes to fall under. The subthemes created a deeper meaning for the word multitudes.
Dissonance means a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious elements. In simpler terms, it means two things shoved together that don’t get along. Dissonance goes hand in hand with other words like discourse or disagreement,
Collision is an instance of one moving object or person striking violently against another. However, this isn’t exactly what BLARM intended for the word. Instead, they believe collision means something closer to the actions or events leading up to where you are now, or the turning point in one’s life.
Sonder is a concept. It’s the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, have a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it.
Lastly, the word parallax was brought forth by Mr. Jim Muench, and although
BLARM
the word is typically more science-related, it quickly took hold as one of the four sub-themes. Parallax means the effect when changing the viewing angle causes an object itself to look different, or for BLARM’s purposes, the angle in which something is viewed.
BLARM as a club aims to help artists express themselves to others. Junior Alyssa Williams said, “I found myself with BLARM and the community, ... I love this club.”
BLARM can’t wait to see what students do with the theme this year and eagerly await student submissions.
BLARM encourages you to submit original art (photography, sculpture, painting, and much more) or writing (short f i ction, song lyrics, poetry, and much more). This year, our theme is Multitudes, including concepts of Sonder, Collision, Dissonance, or Parallax.
Submit to: bhsBLARM@gmail.com or via Google Form
Poster courtesy of Battle Literature & Art Review Magazine
Word Search
By Zachary Wood
