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IT’S YOUR PAPER www.claytonpioneer.com
April 13, 2012
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Ipsen breaks 82-year drought to win diving championship for Stanford HOWARD GELLER
JAY BEDECARRÉ Clayton Pioneer
MAYOR’S CORNER
Clayton’s greatest resource is its volunteers April showers do bring May flowers. Our hillsides look like velvet green carpet. Trees and plants are budding everywhere. Our lawns look like they have new life. Bare dirt in our garden is starting to show signs of life as fresh shoots of annuals and bulbs begin to sprout. It is the time to plant our vegetable and flower gardens and add a few new plants where others have died. Spring is such a wonderful time of the year.
See Mayor, page 6
Daffodil Hill project still on pause TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
Once upon a time, springtime brought daffodils to the hillside at Clayton and Marsh Creek Roads. Now weeds and a few brave poppies cover the ground. Boulders are scattered over the hillside like so many giant meatballs and a monument sign sits at the top proclaiming “Clayton” to all who pass. The Clayton Business and Community Association (CBCA)
See Daffodil Hill, page 4
Clayton Cleans Up April 21 Observe Earth Day with your friends and family and help Clayton spiff up for the Art and Wine Festival. Join your neighbors on Saturday, April 21, rain or shine, for Clayton’s annual spring cleaning. Meet at City Hall at 9 a.m. to pick up trash bags and Tshirts and spend the morning cleaning up Clayton streets, trails and creek banks. Then meet back at the City Hall courtyard for a barbeque lunch. The event is sponsored by the Clayton Pioneer, the city of Clayton and Allied Waste with generous donations from Fresh & Easy, Instant Imprints, Navlet’s, Peet’s Coffee and Safeway.
Photo courtesy Stanford Athletics Communications
FRESHMAN KRISTIAN IPSEN OF CLAYTON BECAME THE FIRST STANFORD DIVER IN 82 YEARS to win an NCAA diving championship, capturing the three-meter recently in Washington and completing an undefeated collegiate season in the event.
Clayton freshman Kristian Ipsen has had an incredibly busy first three months this year as he competed in his first college diving season for Stanford University while also diving for the United States National Team and in between all that trying to keep up with his college coursework. He reached one milestone late last month in Federal Way, WA when he won the NCAA championship in the threemeter springboard to give his school its first men’s national diving title in 82 years. With his first college season in the books Ipsen can focus on making the US Olympic Team. Next Wednesday will be exactly 100 days before the start of the London Olympics and the 19year-old is touted as a near cinch to represent his country in the synchro three-meter with partner Troy Dumais and is also shooting for a berth on the US team in the three-meter individual event. With a schedule for the US Diving National team that would have forced him to miss 38 days of a 12-week spring quarter Ipsen is taking the quarter off from school. Instead he’ll be competing in Moscow (Russia, not Idaho) and then Tijuana, Mexico before training back in Federal Way this month with the national team. After a week off he’ll be heading to Ft. Lauderdale to dive against an international field at the annual AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix May 10-13, his last competition before the all-important US Olympic Trials June 17-24 in the Seattle suburb of Federal Way.
In between the Grand Prix in May and the Trials he’ll also be spending time on planes flying back and forth to Austin, TX where he trains with Dumais on synchro. The duo has been the No. 1 US synchro team since Ipsen was first paired with three-time Olympian Dumais – 13 years Ipsen’s senior – in early 2009. They’ve totally dominated American events since then and have placed in the top four of almost all international competitions. The London Olympics are July 27 through Aug. 12. Ipsen must have put a huge smile on the face of his college coach Dr. Rick Schavone who has been at Stanford for 34 years. The coach has eight NCAA women’s champions but Ipsen was the first Stanford man to win a national title for Schavone and all the coaches preceding him on The Farm for 82 years. In fact, the freshman flash from Clayton was the only Stanford man to win a NCAA title this year as the Cardinal took fourth at the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. The Palo Alto school has been in the top four of every NCAA meet since 1981 but has recently had to look up to cross-bay rivals Cal, which has won the last two NCAA swimming and diving team titles for men and women. Ipsen won all 12 regular season one- and three-meter events, swept through the oneand three-meter events at the Regional Zone meet in Colorado Springs where he qualified for the NCAA finals. He was also eighth in his first ever
See Ipsen, page 10
CVHS musicians get their New York City serenade ROBBIE PARKER CVHS Reporter
Traditionally the Clayton Valley High School Department of Instrumental Music takes a unique trip each year. This year was big – as in the Big Apple, New York City. When the departure day finally arrived, I found myself catching a red-eye flight to JFK International with 73 other students, 10 chaperones, one director and two tour guides. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much, and we were tired when we transferred onto tour buses. However, all that changed and any signs of sluggishness disappeared as we crossed the
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Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. Excitement rose as the massive skyscrapers came into view. The streets were crowded with bustling people. Every avenue was full to capacity with stores, shops, restaurants and vendors. Taxi cabs zipped around the streets like a colony of ants. I found myself fascinated by the sights and sounds of downtown Manhattan. As we departed the bus toward Battery Park and the Long Island Ferry, it was obvious the magic of New York City had cast its spell upon me and brought out my inner tourist. I found myself enthralled in every sense, and taking pictures of
See Musicians, page 8 Car Tuned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Club News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Community Calendar . . . . . .14 Directory of Advertisers . . . . .5
Robbie Parker/Clayton Pioneer
STUDENTS FROM THE CVHS MUSIC DEPARTMENT pause for a group photo during their recent trip to New York City. During the trip individual bands performed in Madison Square and participated in professional workshops and master classes.
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