Sports
Issue 6 April 30, 2012
Tennis Season Comes to a Close
Track Races to Regionals T
Andrea Ibarra, 12 and Will Tomlin, 12
T
he spring tennis season came to an end at Texas Tech University in Lubbock on April 17th. Nine players advanced to the regional tournament, and the T-Birds brought home district titles in boys’ doubles, girls’ doubles, and mixed doubles. It all started at the district tournament on April 4th and 5th hosted by Coronado. After playing hard on the first day, all sixteen players from Coronado were in the semi-finals. Everyone was fighting for their place in the finals, and the competition was getting tougher. In the end, the T-Birds advanced people in five out of the ten categories. Micarlo Kehr-Gomez and Jack Rey took the boys’ doubles title while the Franklin team earned the second spot in the regional tournament. Franklin advanced both of their boys’ singles positions, and got the district title in girls’ singles as well. Ana Garcia placed second, still giving her a spot at regionals. In girls’ doubles, Hunter Bilsbarrow and Vanessa Camara won the district title, and the Eastwood team was the other team which qualified. Meredith Rotwein and Nathan Brown placed first in mixed doubles, while Andrea Ibarra and Will Tomlin placed second. The stage was set for regionals, and three seniors were preparing to play their hardest; if they didn’t make it to state, it would be the end of the road. “It was weird thinking that regionals was pretty much my last shot, but I just
wanted to focus on playing my hardest. Whatever the outcome, I just wanted to look back, knowing I did everything I could,” said Hunter Bilsbarrow, 12. Bilsbarrow and Camara lost the first round against Southlake Caroll, while Ana Garcia lost first round as well against Arlington Llamar. Gomez and Rey lost in the quarterfinals to the Allen team, which ended up placing third overall, and lost in a playback to go to state. Rotwein and Brown lost in the quarterfinals as well, against Southlake Caroll, the one seed who went on to win the tournament. Ibarra and Tomlin were the only ones left after taking out the two seeds in the quarterfinals, and the three seeds in the semifinals. They were set to play Southlake Caroll in the finals. After a long battle, they lost 6-3. Since the team they beat in the semifinals lost for third and fourth place, they were required to play a playback against Flowermound Marcus. After a long-fought battle, Ibarra and Tomlin lost 7-6. “We tried our hardest in our last match, but in the end we just came a little short of reaching our goal of making it to state. Although it was disappointing, it’s been an incredible four years with my team,” said Will Tomlin, 12.
Story by: Meredith Rotwein, Sports Editor Photo courtesy of Julie Tomlin
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Henry Schulte, 9
Jesus Toquinto, 11
here is no finish line—at least not for T-Bird track. The district meet was last week, and for many that’s the last meet of the season, yet there were eight regional qualifiers. “I feel good about going into regionals. I have one race, the 3200, that I’m really going to focus on. It might be my last high school race, so I plan on doing my best to stay in the lead pack to make it on to state,” said Zack Bassett, 12. The regional meet is the last week of April, and the top two from the region qualify for the state meet held in the middle of May. “I would like to qualify for the state meet. The plan to get to state, run fast, and run smart. I think that I stand a decent chance of making it to state; I just have to run fast and have some guts this time by making sure I don’t overcomplicate things, and run,” said Bassett. The district, which was held April 10-14 at the SAC was an accomplishing meet for many T-birds. The varsity girls’ team received fifth place and the boys’ team got fourth. “Districts was exciting! All of my competition was finally there. I was very serious, not nervous, but concentrated. I was afraid I wouldn’t have a good year, because of an injury early on, which delayed my training. But I had a
personal record in both the mile and two mile,” said Larry Bassett, 10. Although the season is over, many runners were not ready for it to end. They are now preparing for next year’s 2013 season. “Going into the meet I felt confident and prepared, in regard to myself as well as the team, and afterwards I was very satisfied with the team’s performance. By the end of the meet we came in fourth, and I can confidently say that we all performed to the best of our abilities, and that is really all that matters. “I ran a new personal record for the mile. However, there is always room for improvement, and so now I’ll rest for a couple of weeks and then begin training for cross country this fall. This was a great year for the track team, and I’m sure next year we can accomplish even more if we set our minds to it. “Just because the season is over doesn’t mean I will stop training. There are lots of 5K’s coming up as well as summer track, and I look forward to competing. I can’t wait for all the new accomplishments ahead,” said Sam Lerma, 10.
Story by: Meredith Rotwein, Sports Editor Photos by: George Amspaugh, Staff Photographer
Golf Season Ends with T-Birds Placing Seventh at Regionals F
or the first time since Coronado boys’ golf won the state championship in 1992, the T-Birds had a legitimate shot at taking two varsity boys’ teams to regionals. With Coronado Gold ranked first in the city, top twenty in the state (according to highschoolgolfscoreboard.com), and Coronado Blue ranked second in the city, the chances for T-Bird domination at districts seemed eminent. The first round of the District 1-5A championship came to a close with Coronado Gold in the lead over Eastwood High School, putting Coronado Blue in third place by thirteen strokes, a surprise deficit that had the moral of the Blue team at a low. Going into the second round, the top four teams were Coronado Gold, Eastwood, Coronado Blue, and Franklin High School. This allowed the T-Birds a slight edge as they were able to play with a teammate making the round a comfortable one. However, even with that advantage, the Blue team could not gain any ground on Eastwood, placing them in third and out of the postseason.
Coronado Gold won the tournament easily, and freshman Evan Macias won the district championship as an individual, edging out teammates Tanner Gore and Carson Greathouse. “Finishing with three players within the top four spots was good for our confidence and really showed how well we could play,” said Carson Greathouse, captain. The Coronado girls’ golf team finished second behind Eastwood High School, earning a postseason birth as well. Freshman Tulasi Gopalan was the team’s top performer, finishing third behind two Eastwood girls. In the regional round of the postseason, both the Coronado boys’ and girls’ teams were set to face difficult competition. With defending state champions Mansfield High School, and top state ranked Southlake Carrol competing with the boys, and teams just as talented facing the girls, the work was cut out for them. Coronado boys shot 303 as a team the first day, in fifth place, which meant that the team was three spots outside a chance to advance to the state championship. Mansfield
led after the first day. The second day was more of the same, with the T-Birds shooting a 306 giving them a 609 two day total, 27 strokes behind winner Mansfield. The low player for CHS was Dominick Haskins, shooting 73 both days, which put him in the top ten individual scores, and eight strokes behind the winner Sean Walsh from Keller High School. The team finished seventh. “Even though we didn’t make state, we had a good and successful season,” said Greathouse. With the golf season now finished, the seniors on both the boys’ and girls’ teams can look back on a very successful four years. For some, it is the ending to a chapter in their golfing careers. David Ellis, Samantha Peters, and Michelle Provenghi are all playing golf at the collegiate level. Also, for those remaining on the team, it is safe to say that Coronado golf will be just as, if not more successful, for years to come.
Story by: Stephen Freyermuth, Sports Editor