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Texan Live Magazine

Myles Marshall 800m Gold Medalist 1600m Relay Championship team DeWitt Thomas 300m hurdles Silver Medalist

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21 5-A Schools

16 6-A Schools

Dayton Galena Park Humble Kingwood Park Barbers Hill New Caney Porter CE King

Conroe Oak Ridge The Woodlands College Park Atascocita Kingwood Summer Creek

2015-2016 Humble ISD Alignments

Atascocita 16 6-A

Humble 21 5-A

Kingwood 16 6-A

Kingwood Park 21 5-A

Summer Creek 16 6-A

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Spring National Signing Day

Atascocita

Jordan Dolgow- Centenary College of Louisiana Zach Haney- Boise State Steven Dishongh- Belhaven University Rachel McKenzie- Henderson State University

Kingwood Park

Emily Swain- Ranger College Megan Workman- University of Texas at Dallas Kaleb Banning- Ouchita Baptist University Matt Zampello- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Jordan Powell- Trinity University Austin Morales- Lyon College Nik Oakes- Trinity University

Summer Creek

Kamerone Wheeler- Oklahoma Panhandle State University Adrian Hobley- Texas State University Eli Harper- University of Arkansas, Fort Smith Deshawn McNeil- Howard Payne University Danielle Miller- East Texas Baptist Krishawn Crockett- Midwestern State University

Humble

Johnna Martone- Eastern Oklahoma State Brenton Walker- Texas A&M Commerce

Kingwood

Kelly Allen- Tyler Junior College Sarah Berude- Colorado School of Mines Angelica Gordon- Niagara University Taryn Johnson- University of St. Thomas Gabriela McDowell- University of Texas at Tyler Owen Pink- Texas Christian University Hunter Pontiff- University of Mary Hardin Baylor Emily Potts- Texas State University Ross Pryor- Southern Nazarene University Nathan Walker- University of Tulsa Steva Wijayasinha- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Blake Stringer- Aurora University, Illinois Austin Woyt- Sam Houston State University Ben Marvin- Texas Lutheran University

Ariel Jones: An Aspiring Olympian Ariel Jones sums up her high school track and field career with one word: heart. She says that “without heart, you can give up whenever…[heart] is what keeps you going the whole way thru.” Jones’ heart kept her going since the 7th grade to wrap up her career as a Lady Eagle with a 3rd place medal in the 100m hurdles and earning the 5A state championship title in the 300m hurdles! What’s even sweeter is that Jones is Atascocita’s first state champion in the 300m hurdles. Despite history being made and running a 41.78 second 300m hurdle for gold, Jones says “it hasn’t really hit me yet…it feels good, I’ve been working hard for that first place.” Jones admits that she “accidentally” chose to run hurdles only after jumping over a single hurdle and liking it. She just “kept going with it” and it seems that she found her calling. At both

district and area this year Jones claimed the championship titles and at regionals she placed 1st in the 100m hurdles 2nd in the 300m hurdles. Then at state the

tables seemed to have turned and, as mentioned earlier, Jones finished 1st in the 300m hurdles and 3rd in the 100m hurdles. She modestly admits, “the closer I got to state it seemed as if I was the one to beat” and this could not be more true. This summer, Jones will begin her collegiate career at the University of Texas at Austin. She plans on running hurdles and the 1600m relay, but her ultimate goal is to run in the Olympics and to place in the top three. With Jones’ heart and the continued support from her mom, there is no doubt in our mind that she will succeed! Good luck at UT and all of your future endeavors, Ariel!

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2013-14 State Finalists

AHS Goes To State Atascocita baseball has had a remarkable season this year winning numerous titles and making it to the state tournament. Not one person on this team solely contributes to the successes this year, but it is a combined effort from all the players, coaches, and their families. Earlier in the season, Texan Live spoke with four seniors (Hunter Stephenson, Travis Jones, Michael Ilardi, and Ethan Klosterboer) about their hopes for the season, and the one comment stuck out the most is when Kloster boer said he wanted to make it to June. As a follow up, Texan Live revisited the Eagles and spoke to Travis Jones again, along with juniors: Josh Martinez and Anthony Pagano. These three young men bring something very unique to the team. Jones is a University of Texas commit that could potentially be a draft pick straight out of high school. His dream has always been to play profes sional baseball, and nothing would make him happier than being drafted in an earlier round to the Houston Astros. Jones says he “knows he will have to work his way up through the ranks” but that’s to be expected in such a competitive sport. If he doesn’t go this year, he will proudly rep resent the Texas Longhorns and experience collegiate ball. One thing is for certain, whether it is this year or three years from now, Travis Jones’ name will be announced during the Major League Baseball draft. Martinez and Pagano are both juniors that made huge plays in the series against Plano. Martinez, being modest, only said that “he was a lot better at the plate than usual” and Pagano had a first. For the first time ever in his high school career, Pagano hit a home run, and this wasn’t a single home run, it was a three run home run to put the Eagles ahead 10-2! In the 7th inning, Plano was making a comeback, scoring 6 runs, and if it had not had been for Pagano’s homerun, there could have been a major upset. **Note: Travis Jones got drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 39th round as the 1176th pick. Top Left Photo : From Left to Right in the featured picture: Travis Jones, Josh Martinez, and Anthony Pagano. Bottom Photo : Travis Jones At Bat

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Atascocita’s Remarkable Season Atascocita baseball made history this season. After being named co-district champions with Klein Collins, the boys advanced further than ever before in the post season. The guys won numerous titles which include: District 13-5A Co-Champions, Region II Bi-district Champions, Region II Area Round Champions, Region II Quarterfinal Champions, Region II Semifinal Champions, Region II Champions, and State Finalists. At the state tournament, the Eagles played San Antonio Reagan, and while it looked like the Eagles had it in the bag, S.A. Reagan scored 5 runs within the last three innings, putting them ahead 5-4. The game was a very hard-fought game and the Eagles did not give up. Texan Live and the community are very proud of what the boys have accomplished this year. After speaking to team members multiple times, it was clear that the “chemistry” among them really defined them on the field. There is no “I” in this TEAM. The Eagles got this far by working together with each other, their coaches, families, and community. Very proud of you AHS baseball, it was an honor to watch your season unfold.

Proud to Be A Wildcat The Humble Wildcats football team has had some trials and tribulations on the field in these last few years, but soon-to-be seniors Johnny Bolden, Carl Williams, and Randy Joseph see it as a learning experience. After having a 2-8 season in 2012, Bolden said, “it really humbled him.” Despite the rough season, Williams made an impressive point by saying: “Our attitude isn’t we didn’t get it this year, we will get it next year… but [rather], I see why we didn’t get it this year now lets fix it for next year.” This last year, the boys went 4-6 overall, advancing from the previous year. Each year the Humble Wildcats have shown improvements and all three of the boys agreed that they truly believe that this year is their year. This coming year will be Coach

West’s third year as the Wildcats Head Football Coach, and within the last two years he has brought so much to this program. From bringing in practically a new staff to expecting only the best out of his team academically, Coach West has set the bar high for his team. Bolden mentioned that the spirit of the program had disappeared before West got the Humble. Then Williams justified Bolden’s statement by saying: “Coach West brought a new attitude to the team. It was like okay, I don’t care who we put on the field. We are going to dominate.” This positivity has really influenced these young men and as Bolden put it, they are “striving to be the best.” Bolden recently attended a Baylor University football camp and Williams attended the Blue-Grey All

American Combine a few weeks ago. Both of these guys have collegiate interests and activities planned for this summer before their senior year, while Joseph’s only plans are to attend the Wildcat camp this summer. Either way, these three young men are going to do what it takes this summer to prepare for their upcoming senior year. One comment that truly defines these three young men was when Williams said, “I’m proud to be a Humble Wildcat and I’m proud to say this is the school where I will graduate from. I am proud to say I played with these teammates.” Talk about an honorable statement and school spirit, it doesn’t get any truer than that. Good luck this upcoming season, boys! Texan Live cannot wait to see how the 2014-15 season unfolds for the Wildcats.

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Kingwood’s Championship Team For the first time ever in the school’s history, Kingwood boy’s track and field team won state! The first athlete to put Kingwood on the board was Addison Tomlison, who placed 6th in pole vault and earned one point for the Mustangs. Shortly after, when the running events started, Myles Marshall placed 1st in the 800m for ten points and DeWitt Thomas placed 2nd in the 300m hurdles for eight points. Adding up these points, Kingwood had nineteen, which was not near enough to win the state meet. Up until the very last event Kingwood was in 7th place overall, but when the 1600m relay team consisting of Garrett Williamson, Myles Marshall, Dawson Trudell, and DeWitt Thomas came up, their luck changed. From when Williamson came out of the starting blocks to the next 3 minutes and 13.25 seconds, they made history! Kingwood’s 1600m relay team placed 1st in the event, earning twenty points for the team and bumping them up from 7th to 1st overall by a single point in front of Klein Oak. The 1600m relay team not only finished the meet (and season) the best they possibly could, but these boys established a bond this season that Thomas could only describe as a “bond of brothers”. When speaking to all the relay members, their most memorable experience they would take from the season, besides winning state, was the friendships that were created this year among them. There was no selfishness in this team, during practice and meets the boys did what was best for the team. They all looked at the big picture, especially Zach Alam. A junior that ran the relay for most of the season but accepted an alternate position around the time of district because freshman, Dawson Trudell, ran a faster split. Without this trade off, who knows what could have been for the boy’s track and field team. Maybe they would have won state…maybe they would not have, but because of team sacrifice we all know the outcome of the 2014 boy’s track and field season for KHS.

Out of the six young men interviewed, not one of them expected to win state at the beginning of the season. They all knew it was feasible, however, it did not set in until the night before the state meet when they were crunching numbers. Tomlison stated, “I knew Kingwood had a great chance winning but I knew that I had to score at least one point to contribute to the team’s overall.” Great thinking, Tomlison! If not for your one point in pole vault, there would have been a tie for first place! Stephen F. Austin University will be lucky to have you in their program next year.

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Four of these young men will return next year and hope to go for a repeat. (Kingwood will only lose one senior from the 1600m relay team.) Although they will be in a new district next year, the first ever 6A classification, they will definitely have a chance. These boys want to relive the amazing and surreal accomplishment that only lives in most team’s dreams. Congratulations boys, you are the 2014 5A State Champions and the first team to bring it home to Kingwood High School!

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Frankie Silha: Overcoming Adversity “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln. Adversity is the word that Frankie Silha used to describe his four years playing baseball at Kingwood High School. Expect the unexpected and always be ready to overcome the obstacles you face. The same could be said about his off the field experiences. Frankie Silha was your typical fourth grader enjoying one of his hobbies as a kid riding an ATV when something life changing happened: A bad accident occurred to one of Silha’s legs fracturing his tibia and fibula resulting in about 18 surgeries throughout the recovery process. Many of which were a result from the injury being an open wound as cleanings were essential. Silha described the accident as “catastrophic” as it set him back from baseball for over 2 years while attending much needed physical therapy. Though it was setback for Silha, he remained optimistic and wanted nothing more but to get back on that baseball diamond. “Honest to God, it could not have happened at a better time because it gave me the perfect amount of time to recover and get back to the game before high school started” Silha stated about his injury. In his final season under Coach Kelly Mead at KHS, Silha took on a role unfamiliar to him in the past: A role as a team leader. It led him closer to his teammates as everyone seemed to figure out that they were a lot alike even off the field. On the field they had the same goals but off the field their personalities and sense of humor were undeniably similar which led to an even greater on-the-field chemistry. “You go down the sideline, do your prayers, and get ready for the game” Silha stated on preparations before game time. Though his time on the diamond as a Kingwood Mustang has come to an end, and he admits that his time spent on Andy Wells Field went by rather fast, Silha looks forward to his next journey in Corpus Christi, where he will attend Texas A&M Corpus Christi to play ball for the Islanders. “Stepping into the big world, can’t live under your parents” Silha stated. He committed early to the Islanders while attending one of their camps the summer before his junior season. He was invited for a tour of the campus by the University only a couple of weeks after playing there and was then offered a spot on the team. With a few infielders graduating, Silha will definitely have an opportunity to get playing time for the Islanders and possibly a starting role in the middle infield where he played throughout his high school career. Luckily for him he will join an old teammate and fellow KHS alum Devin Skapura who graduated just last year from Kingwood High School. Skapura intends on showing him the ropes of TAMU-CC according to his once again teammate. Silha’s goals in college are simple: help the team win. Although his journey has been inspiring due to the circumstances involving his injury, everybody needs help along the way. Silha credits his father for much of his success admitting that they “butted heads” but also saying that it was for the best as his father helped push him every step of the way. His father’s longtime friend, Steve Roth, was also someone Silha could look up to as he hopes the examples and guidance he learned from these men growing up would serve well as Silha tried to set good examples and hard work ethic for Roth’s son, who will enter high school next year. Sid Holland and Glenn Bennett also contributed to his hitting development.

Kingwood Park Baseball This year, Kingwood Park baseball has gone farther than ever before in the postseason. After speaking with Jonathan Ducoff, Jordan Blake Powell, and Jason Blanchard, it is clear why this team has advanced as far as they have. Their continued enthusiasm throughout the season has not only contributed their success on the field but in their personal lives, as well. Ducoff (short-stop) and Powell (outfield) are both seniors that are committed to play ball in college at Baylor University and Trinity University, respectively. Together, these two have helped encourage, motivate, and hype up the team for whatever it is they’re about to do. Whether it’s practice or game day, it is clear that these two seniors are the leaders on the team. From lining up the team to stretch to the team prayer, these guys direct it all. One unique thing that Powell started was a saying about taking the opponents “do-jo”. Each opponent they say they want to take their do-jo, and if done, then they let it be known by displaying a message in their dugout.

Blanchard is a junior and pitches for the Panthers, but he only recently

zoned in on this position after playing centerfield for a while. No one could have guessed this, however, because Blanchard threw a four-hitter in his last games to lead the Panthers to a victory in the second round of the playoffs! As far as college ball goes, Blanchard is weighing his options and is awaiting offers. He has plenty of time though considering he still has one more year to play for the Panthers. **In the series against Brenham, Kingwood Park failed to adance to the semifinals. Brenham won the first game: 11-4. Kingwood Park won the second game to tie the series: 13-3 and then in the third game, Brenham won 7-4 to secure their spot in the post season. The Panthers made history this year, advancing futher than ever before in the post season, and without a doubt, they will be back next year!

Sharp Heads to UCLA Summer Creek’s trophy case has multiple awards that Aaron Sharp contributed to. In the four years that Sharp attended Summer Creek, he led an undefeated football team two years in a row, won the first boy’s track and field team state championship for the school, and individually medaled in the state track meets. He is a decorated athlete, but more importantly, a humble individual that knows it takes hard work and dedication to make dreams come true. In Aaron’s senior year, he not only was attempting to take his team as far in the post season as their fate would have it, but he was weighing his options and making a decision on where to attend college. He had multiple offers from numerous universities to play football, and he initially verbally committed to Kansas State, but officially he decided to go with University of California- Los Angeles. When asked about his change of mind, he said: “UCLA was a better fit. The way they run their offense, it fits me more.” It’s also an added bonus that the environment at UCLA is ideal, in his opinion, and the academics are challenging. The swap from K-State to UCLA is what Sharp thought was in his best interest and where he could excel the most.

middle of June, but before he arrives to Los Angeles, he plans on making a pit stop in Oakland to work with a quarterback coach for a few days. By the 23rd of June, Sharp will be settled in at UCLA starting summer school and speed and strength training. On August 2nd fall camp will begin for the team and the first game of the season will be on August 30th at Virginia. Within his first two years at UCLA, Sharp hopes to earn the starting position for the Bruins: “I have high expectations

Sharp’s transition from high school football to collegiate begins now. He has been training smarter and harder to excel in the next level. Eating six clean meals a day and working out, working on the fundamentals and speed/strength, he is already seeing results. Sharp leaves for California in the

and will do whatever it takes to get it. I just have to climb the ladder and go get it.” First things first, however, Sharp knows he will need to learn their program and the way college ball works. Recently he spoke with a former Bulldog, Dakota Allen, whom is already at Texas Tech University practicing with the team, and he informed Sharp that it’s different than high school, “instead of asking, they expect you.” In his collegiate career, Sharp would like to win a National Championship and the Heisman trophy, both of which are feasible with Sharp’s hard work and the talent at UCLA. Going to the NFL draft and playing football professionally has always been a dream of Aaron’s. When asked about the draft and when he’d like to go, he calmly stated that, “the choice will come when it’s time.” He would like to earn his degree from UCLA, however, if the opportunity arises before graduation he will decide then. As of now, he’s just focusing on playing college ball to the best of his abilities and succeeding off the field as well. In all of Sharp’s years playing football, the people he contributes most of his success to are his parents, especially his mother. His mom has been his #1 fan and provided the most encouragement along the way. Sharp says “the thing about her is that you don’t really see a lot of moms go out there with you and work with you as far as football [goes].” His mom did…especially when his father was unable to work with him

because he working late shifts and sleeping during the day. At any athletic event, you’d always see Aaron’s mom ready to cheer on her son. To play at the collegiate and professional level, it takes hard work and support. Sharp is fortunate enough to have all of that. He’s got the support and encouragement from his family, friends, and local community that know what he is capable of. Aaron Sharp: It has been an honor watching you play for the Bulldogs and we look forward to watching you play at UCLA in the years to come.

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