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Thursday, March 29, 2018
Team 525 earrns second place at Regionals /pages 2-3 Follow us on Twitter at tigerhiline, Facebook at TigerHilineOnline and on our website at www.hiline.cfschools.org
Volume 59 Edition 21
Rocket club’s rocket ready for NASA Over the past six months, the rocket club has collaborated with NASA to build a rocket that will be flown at NASA base in Huntsville, Ala. Now, an over six-foot rocket sits in the engineering room, awaiting the long drive down to Alabama for its final flight. The team has already test flown the rocket twice, both flights exceeding the team’s expectations. “Our maximum that we can go is 5,600 feet, so a little over a mile. We went about 6,300 feet. We were about a thousand over what we expected to go,” adviser Zeb Nicholson said. Similar to the rocket, the team itself has exceeded Nicholson’s expectations. “There is no way I would be able to do this with any group of kids. Some teachers say that sentimentally. This team is a one of a kind team. They have always been that way since last year working on TARC [Team America Rocketry Challenge]. That is how they got 5th place at Nationals,” Nicholson noted. “Not because they got lucky or they had one guru that did everything. It is because that team of six kids has worked together, figured stuff out and got it done. That doesn’t happen with every
“It all comes down to having a good time and being able to say that you have worked with NASA.”
—Zeb Nicholson rocket club adviser
team. I know for a fact next year we are losing two seniors from this team of six, and that is going to be a huge blow.” The team started working together last year for the Team America Rocketry Challenge, and after receiving the proposal continued the teamwork and commitment to the program by accepting NASA’s proposal, passing the proposal and successfully launching the rocket. “The goal for me is to just hit the milestones and complete the project. These guys have had to give half hour presentations every other month since October to NASA engineers. If they do not like what they see they will not be afraid to tell you.” Nicholson said. With many hours of work and presentations under the team’s belt, the motivation for this year is much different than previous years.
“The main goal is to have fun and for the experience,” sophomore Randev Goonesekere said. Nicholson notes how this year the team’s external motivation has dissipated from last year, and the team is left with pure want of success. “Their intrinsic motivation has contributed to their success. There is no money involved in this project. The only money involved is money going out. TARC each kid got about $800, but this year there is no money or awards. It has just been work and your reward is the satisfaction of getting to do a cool project and seeing these rocket launch,” Nicholson said. “There is no first, second or third place. What it will be is we are going to send these solar panels up, collect our data, run our experiment and come back to Iowa and write a report
Top of the Class
Students excel in various activities in the third quarter of school. Sophomore Saba Aydiner received feedback from her all state speech at UNI. Other students worked on projects including ceramics, PE and water labs in chemistry. Emma Herring, Maddie Posekany and Katie Fernholz Photos
about what we found” Through the process, the team has not been alone either. “The coding and the computer side has been the biggest challenge,” senior Ryan Ritter said. With little coding knowledge, the team received help from a past CFHS graduate from the class of 1980 who has worked at NASA for over 25 years. The team also received a grant from UNI along with help from a senior in the engineering program. “The reason that we have overcome those challenges is the UNI students helping us out. We have had wonderful mentors,” Nicholson said. Wednesday, April 4, the team will fly the rocket in Huntsville, and following the flight, the team will have to type a data report to send to NASA to conclude the collaboration. Through many months of hard work, Nicholson said the team has stayed true to its one main goal. “It all comes down to having a good time and being able to say that you have worked with NASA.” By Editor-in-Chief Rachel
SCHMID
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CAPTURED
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Thursday, March 29, 2018
HI-LINE
READY
SWARTDOG PLAYERs
Team 525 earns repeat 2nd place finish as hosts of robotics competition at McLeod Center
Team 525 hosted the FIRST robotics regional for 58 teams from eight states as well as teams from Turkey and Brazil last weekend. This year’s competition is called “Power Up” with a video game theme. Team 525’s alliance placed second for the second time this month after also placing second at the Great Northern Regional in Grand Forks, N.D. The Swartdogs advance to the world championships in two weeks.
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3
CAPTURED
Team 525 competed by placing “power up� cubes on the playing field and playing them on the control switches or their end of a giant scale in the center to earn points.
Bella Schlarmann Photos
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FEATURES
Tiger
Thursday, March 29, 2018
HI-LINE
Four tips to select the school for you
Many students have come to know the last few weeks of March as one of the most anxiety-ridden times of the year, rivaling finals, graduation, and even Advanced Placement exams. It is the time of year when colleges announce their decisions for acceptance of student enrollments. Because of the national college decision day, the last day for students to submit deposits for the colleges and universities they want to attend is May 1, and there is a large period of time where students will be faced with tough decisions on where they will end up calling home for the next four years. While this decision can be difficult and often overwhelming, there are a variety of things to consider and resources offered to help make the decision feel right. By Edior-in-Chief Elise
LEASURE
If possible, visit the colleges you are deciding between. One of the best ways to know for sure whether or not you want to attend a college is to see the college itself and experience the atmosphere. If visiting your college is not feasible, Cedar Falls High School has scheduled various college visit with admissions counselors from school like Iowa State, Iowa, Upper Iowa University and more. At these meetings you can meet with admissions officers and ask them questions about their schools. The link to sign up to various meetings throughout the next couple of weeks is on your Schoology calendar. If the college you are interested in is not visiting Cedar Falls High School this spring, you can easily email your admissions counselors with any questions you may have regarding the college.
This seems to be an obvious thing to consider when choosing a college, but there are ways to make this easier if you are concerned about the cost of the colleges you have been accepted to. There are a variety of scholarship opportunities available locally and nationally to help pay for school, and these opportunities can be found by talking to your counselor.
While much of this research was probably done before you applied, it doesn’t hurt to continue trying to learn things that will help narrow your search. Are there special internships that a college offers? What kind of food do they serve? Find out what current students have to say about the school. There are probably Youtube videos you can watch or Instagram pictures you can look at that will give you the inside look at life at the college. The counselors are talso here to help you through this process, and you can have meeting scheduled where you can get help deciding between schools and which one is the right school for you. They can answer your questions, respond to your concerns and give you extra resources so that you can be sure that you are making the right choice. To schedule a meeting with your counselor, visit the counseling website and sign up for a time that works for you.
If you are deciding between more than one school, it may be easier to decide between them once you have completed your research and answered your questions about each school by creating a list of pros and cons. Seeing a physical representation of the list may help you differentiate between where you want to go.
Meron Abebe, Luther College I chose Luther because they offer good degree programs for what I want to study. you’re going through the process of looking for colleges or trying to decide which school to attend, I think the best thing you can do is go on campus visits and talk to students and faculty members. It really helps you figure out if a school is actually the right fit for you rather than relying on pictures or brochures. Visiting the schools I applied to help me narrow down
Miranda MacGillivray, Barnard College Elijah White, Azusa Pacific University The [Azusa Pacific University] atmosphere feels like home, and to me it seems like the most logical and helpful path to help people with my degree in the future. Don’t worry about the cost. Find a place where it is comfortable and appropriate to what you want to do with your life.
If you can go on a tour, do it. If you can meet with an alum or current student, do it. If they offer summer programs, it's also really good to apply to those. Most colleges offer scholarships for their summer programs, which is really helpful. Also, don't be afraid to apply to more "prestigious" schools because of cost. If you can afford the application fee, I say go for it because a lot of the time the financial aid is more than you expect.
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Thursday, March. 29, 2018
ENTERTAINMENT
5
Sophia Schillinger and Submitted Photos
Opening on the Hill near the UNI campus on March 22, Greenhouse Kitchen offers a wide variety of fresh foods that customers can select as wraps, bowls with grains or salads.
Greenhouse kitchen planting healthy options
Up the street and a right turn away from Sidecar Coffee, Milk Box Bakery and Insomnia Cookies, a new College Hill hotspot lies in waiting for the fascination of health junkies: GreenHouse Kitchen. GreenHouse Kitchen has been offering flavored focus fresh options, according to their press release since March 22, when their doors opened. The new restaurant specializes in casual dining and offers vegan and glutenfree options. With creative names for their meals like “Leaning Tower” and “Berry
Good,” one doesn’t have to be creative at GreenHouse Kitchen, but they are still given the option to be. The restaurant is set up like Subway, so one can order a roll, bowl or salad and customize it to their liking. The restaurant offers fresh, healthy and innovative add-ons like carrot curls, jicama, flaxseed crisps, soy chicken, falafel blend and much more. Not only does the restaurant offer an outlet for food ingenuity, the restaurant also offers house made quesadillas, soup of the day and other soup flavors.
Meat and chicken lovers don’t fret: cage-free natural chicken and USDA prime angus steak are offered as protein choices to add to bowls, salads or rolls. If fresh burritos, salads, and power bowls are not enough, the restaurant gives the option to add a variety of whole grain and multi-seed chips and queso, salsa and guac on to one’s meal. Drinks like Kombucha, LaCroix and other Pepsi products are also offered for purchase. The guests are greeted with warm smiles and a funky green interior. The
restaurant displays the American Gothic painting with GreenHouse Kitchen aprons on the farmer and his wife and a pair of green sunglasses.The new restaurant, committed to be as fresh as possible, has a Living Wall behind the order station, which holds live growing plants. With food trends moving fast, restaurants have to move faster. Head over to 917 West 23rd Street to get on the trend of fresh, fast and casual meals. By Staff Writer Sophia
SCHILLINGER
Pokemon series holds two major gems
Pokemon is a well known series, and this can’t be denied. However, some games are diamonds hidden amongst the gold, so to speak. Two of the most major are the Mystery Dungeon series, and the Pokemon Ranger series. Each of these games have a quirk or two, and their own reasons for why they aren’t as loved as the main games. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, as of the current date, has four entries. Each entry contains two games, like a normal Pokemon entry would also contain. The Pokemon mystery games are unique, being in the sense you play as a pokemon. The plot is simple in that you’re a human who got transformed into a pokemon for some reason, the reason depending on what game you play. You join a rescue team with another partner pokemon who found you. This pokemon is usually very frail at the start, but through being with you, they grow. These games are loved because they are so unique and the story and characters are usually really loveable. The games don’t just let you select what pokemon you are, there only
being one exception. Besides the one exception, you take a quiz that determines what pokemon you truly are. While you can rig this to be in your favor, most first time players don’t do this. The main turn off is the dungeons, the things you go to to progress the story by some means, are usually long, and sometimes really annoying. The thing about a mystery dungeon is they randomize every time you leave and return, so if you’re defeated and return, it’ll be a completely different layout. The other hidden gem is the
Pokemon Ranger series. This series is very neglected, only having three games, but it gets very love/hate responses. The game revolves around you, the player, capturing pokemon and using their various skills to clear paths so you can proceed. Along with this, you can use their powers in battle to power yourself up. However, be warned, once you use a pokemon, it’s released back to the wild. The exception to this is your partner pokemon. In the first and third games, you only get one partner pokemon. However in the second game,
Submitted Photo “Pokemon Rangers: Shadows of Almia,” you get one partner pokemon of every type. This is super unique, and while some of them you have to search for, you get several just by playing through the story. To benefit this more, the game gives you a lot of time to do side quests, giving you time to find the quest to get more parnther pokemon. Each Pokemon Ranger game has a unique storyline, and no two games have the same storyline concept. As stated earlier, this game is very mixed. Some people love
it, others hate it and some are in the middle. The main complaint is the capture system is through the touch screen. Thereby, you have to use your stylus to circle the pokemon on the game. This sounds easy, but boss pokemon will use moves to cause your circles to stop and make you re-start the circling process. The rapid circling before the boss uses a move can really strain your wrist, which is the main compliant. However, the love it gets is by its story. It’s amazing gameplay, despite hurting your wrist a lot and most of all, you never expect the villains. This is an amazing thing to do in pokemon since in the main game, the main villain is revealed usually by or before the first gym. Both these games are amazing hidden gems of the pokemon series. The Mystery Dungeon series gets much more attention than the Pokemon Ranger series; however, both are overall, underrated games. If you’re looking for a decently priced, DS or 3ds game, these series won’t disappoint. By Staff Writer Noah
FORKER
6
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OPINION
Our View
Enough is enough
March for Our Lives brings thousands together from all over the world More than 800,000 people jammed Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 24. The March for Our Lives event was led by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who survived the horrible shooting that took 17 lives in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. #NeverAgain was plastered everywhere on the news Saturday afternoon as well as other political signs like “The scariest thing in school should be my grades.” The Parkland students demand five things from the U.S. government: •A ban on semi-automatic weapons that fire high-velocity rounds. •A ban on bump stocks and accessories that simulate automatic weapons. •The creation of a database for gun sales and universal background checks. •Raise the legal age to purchase guns to 21. •Close the gun show loophole and loophole for second-hand gun sales.
It was not just the Parkland students that took part in this event in Washington. Over 800 other March for Our Lives rallies took place in the United States and around the world. Although so many rules and laws are controlled by adults, this is the time where students spoke up and should continue to do so. Emma Gonzalez, a student from Parkland, gave one of the most powerful and moving speeches from the rally. She spoke about the time it took for the shooter to kill 17 people. “Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice. Aaron Feis would never call Kira, ‘Miss Sunshine.’ Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan. Scott Beigel would never joke around with Cameron at camp. Helena Ramsey would never hang out after school with Max. Gina Montalto would never wave to her friend Liam at lunch. Joaquin Oliver would never play basketball with Sam or Dylan. Alaina Petty would never. Cara Loughran would never. Chris Hixon would never. Luke Hoyer would never. Martin Duque Anguiano would never. Peter Wang would never. Alyssa Alhadeff would never. Jamie Guttenberg would never. Meadow Pollack would never,” Gonzalez said. In silence, with tears streaming down her face, she stood at the podium until 6 minutes and 20 seconds elapsed, equaling the time it took for the shooter to go through the school. These gut wrenching minutes made every word that she had said become even more real. Gonzalez ended her speech with only a few words after the minutes were up. “Fight for your life before it’s somebody else’s job,” she said. There have been many critics of this movement. Many gun owners are opposed to the demands and changes that the marchers want implemented after the school shooting. There is one thing we can all agree on. No one wants another school shooting. No one wants another six minutes and 20 seconds of mass murder to happen. No one wants more people to have to go through the terror that the Parkland kids did. Enough is enough. Cedar Falls’ March for Our Lives rally was postponed because of harsh weather on Saturday, but it is rescheduled for this Saturday, March 31 at 4 p.m., beginning in Gateway Park.
Contact Us The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes at Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.cfschools.org. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Fridays to read during their third period classes. Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hi-Line staff or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial is presented weekly in the editorial labeled Our View, and it is the view of the majority of the editors listed below. Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to The Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Monday for publication in the following Friday edition. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Writers should include their contact information for verification. Editors-in-Chief: Sabine Martin, Rachel Schmid, Elise Leasure Head writer: Tehya Tournier Staff: Benjamin Boezinger, Noah Forker, Aysiah Keller, Chase Kline, Sierra Miller, Skylar Promer, Matthew Walsh
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HI-LINE
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Feminism means equality for all There is a huge misconception that to be a feminist is getting out with a pink hat, yelling and shouting at men with anger, and, furthermore, it is misconstrued that feminism only affects women. Although many well-known people like Emma Watson, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama have talked about feminism and tried to get the message of the unheard ones across, feminism to this date is still considered synonymous with manhating. Simone de Beauvoir wrote, “The first time we see a woman take up her pen in defense of her sex” is how feminism started. Involving a wide range of women, first-wave feminism began during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to defend the political rights of women. Back in the day, let alone being politicians, women weren’t even allowed to vote and were considered to be second-class humans. Some faced a variety of abuses such as they were locked in factories, working over-hours under unsafe conditions, breathing chemicals, being sexually abused, and, still, were paid less. Because of the ownership of men over their wives and children, women didn’t have a say in their own, nor their children’s futures. As a result, women created unions, arranged secret meetings, made plans and organized protests to gain their political rights, but in return, they were beaten and imprisoned. After years of torture, women over 30 who owned houses were granted the right to vote, but that wasn’t enough; women were running out of options to make themselves heard, so one of the many, a real life hero, Emily Wilding Davison, threw herself in front of the kings derby horse and sacrificed her life and earned the right to vote for the rest of her fellow sisters she left behind. First-wave feminism ended with the allowance of women to have the right to vote all
over United States. Although there were iconic feminists like Voltairine de Cleyre and Margaret Sanger who defended the sexual and economic rights of women during first-wave feminism, second-wave feminism is when socio-economic equality also got added to the “must defend” list. Second-wave feminism refers to the period of activities done in the early ’60s to late ’80s against social and economic discrimination toward women. Betty Friedan criticized in her book, “The Feminine Mystique” (1963), which was considered to be one of the most influential books of the 20th century, that women could only find fulfillment through childrearing and homemaking. Friedan said that women are in a false belief system to find identity and meaning in their lives through their husbands and children. Second-wave feminism was also the time when the phrase “Women’s Liberation” was mentioned the first time in the United States. Even if secondwave feminism fought for the equality of women, feminist and intellectual African-American Gloria Jean Watkins addressed in her book, “Feminist Theory From Margin to Center” (1984) that the movement didn’t give enough attention to race, class and the issues that divided women. The third-wave feminism began in the early ’90s as a response to the failures of secondwave feminism. Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. It is true that feminism focuses on women’s rights more than it does on men’s rights, but that is because women are still suffering from politic, economic and social inequality more than men do. What people choose to ignore is that feminism stands for every human being who faces discrimination because of their
gender. When a man is being sentenced more just because of his gender, feminism should be there. When boys are taught not to express their feelings freely or not to cry so they don’t look less of a man, feminism should be there. When fathers are being valued less by the society as parents, feminism should be there. It is common to hear people say, “If feminism defends the rights of both sexes, why is it called feminism?” or “Yeah, that’s a good way of selling the word,” when they hear it stands for equality. In situations like this, people who identify as feminists, including me, get aggressive easily and, unfortunately, after a while, this intellectual debate turns into a war zone of people who desperately try to force their thoughts on one another, and it doesn’t take long before the word that was supposed to bring people together, causes separation. Even when feminism is as basic as the defense of the simplest human rights, the word is still being scandalized, considered to be filthy and feminists are judged to be bitchy, aggressive, isolating, anti-men, loud and nasty women who don’t shave or get married. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls this the danger of a single story. In her feminism speech addressing the UN, Emma Watson says, “It is time we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals. Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take 75 years before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children, and at current rates, it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be able to receive a secondary education.” If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are, we can all be freer, and this is about freedom. By Staff Writer Saba
AYDINER
Who will March Madness? “I think Villanova.”
By Staff Writer Kendall
MASLAK
—Will Reinart Senior
“I don’t watch basketball.”
—Maya Leyh Junior
“I hope Loyloa Chicago wins.”
—Christian Vetter Sophomore
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OPINION HI-LINE Community needs to follow up on suicide discussion Thursday, March 29, 2018
On Thursday, March 22, I held my first suicide prevention and awareness event at NewAldaya Lifescapes in order to educate, give prevention and ultimately let the community be aware of the hard truth that is mental health and suicide. Alive and Running and I partnered to give resources, bring up the taboo discussion and illustrate that people are out there to listen. This subject has touched the community, especially the high school, a few too many times and I felt it was finally time to do something about it. Aug. 28 I had the idea of partnering with Alive and Running Iowa for a suicide prevention and awareness assembly and brought the idea to the principal and counselors. After months of meetings, emails and ideas being thrown around, I felt that it wasn’t progressing as quickly and in the direction it needed to be, and I was told I could not be involved in further planning stages. Therefore I took it upon myself to plan something within and for the community. Katy Delagardelle, a licensed independent social worker who obtained her masters degree in 2013 from the University of Northern Iowa, has been practicing ever since in the Cedar Valley, and she was the first speaker. “I agreed to speak because mental health care is something I’m passionate about. I feel that just as we all regularly attend to our physical health, we should also treat our hearts and souls with the same type of regular care,” Delagardelle said. She sees patients as young as four years old and also meets with adults, using both talk and play techniques to treat such issues as depression, anxiety, difficult life changes and much more. “I feel that more teens and young adults are afflicted with mental health issues, and I think a lot of it has to do with the ever-increasing emergence and reliance on technology,” she said. Our second speaker of the night was Anna Hicks. She spoke about her experience when watching her brother suffer from bullying, depression and ultimately a suicide attempt three years ago.
Tehya Tournier Photo
Senior Tehya Tournier spoke at the LetsStartTalking event hosted by her and Alive and Running. This is only the beginning for the start to raise awareness of suicide in the Cedar Valley.
“Life is so crazy, and sometimes we forget our own worth while being caught up in the paths life takes us...”
—Anna Hicks speaker at LetsStartTalking
Her brother has now recovered and is living a happy and healthy life, though, of course, daily struggles occur, but Hicks said that he and his family are now able to talk and see things through. “I thought the event was incredible. It was so amazing to see people from the area all come together to listen and learn. It was awesome,” Hicks said. She said she had agreed to speak because she wanted people to know that they do matter and they are valued. “Life is so crazy, and sometimes we forget our own worth while being caught up in the paths life takes us,” she said. Hicks has now used her experience of watching and helping her brother and family to help others in a very admirable way. She has written letters and sent messages randomly to
people she knows on and off of social media to allow them to know how much she loves and appreciates them. “I wanted people to know that things do get better whether they are struggling or not, and that there is light in the darkness,” she said. Hicks said that she believes there is a huge issue of mental health problems and suicide within not only our own community but all over. “Suicide and mental health is a long overdue discussion that is finally getting the attention it needs,” she said. She said that teens today do not always have it as easy as everybody believes. She said she thinks that social media plays a huge role in mental health, whether it comes to comparison or hiding behind the screen to attack other people. Lastly, Alive and Running
Iowa co-founder Troy Belmer spoke on his experience through his loss, organization and the knowledge he has soaked in over the years of listening and talking. “I wanted to share insight. With Alive & Running Iowa, I have met people from all over, and I’ve gained a ton of knowledge. I wanted to share it,” he said. Belmer said when the idea was first brought up, he absolutely loved it because the only thing we both wanted to do and have ever wanted was to help others. “For one, it’s all about helping others. For two, I was blown away that a 17-year-old student was wanting to do this. It took me until I was 35 to do something.” Hashtags flutter the realm of social media every day, so, of course, we had to come up with something that everyone
can relate to and remember. At the start of promoting my event and spreading the word on all my platforms within my cell phone, one day I attached #LetsStartTalking to a post, and it took off. I felt that these three simple words paint the picture of what every community, family, school, etc., needs to acknowledge. We need to start talking to each other, coming to the realization that no one is perfect, and that these issues occur all over the globe. Belmer said he believes that this hashtag means going back to the roots. “I’m 42 years old, so I can say I grew up in a different era. We talked. We didn’t have emails, computers, cell phones, etc. We had to talk. So #letsstarttalking is just that. Let’s get things out and discuss them,” Belmer said. Not only will people see #LetsStartTalking all over Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but also on T-shirts thrown around the community. I raised $400 to be donated to Alive and Running Iowa so far by selling yellow and black T-shirts, which are the national suicide prevention colors that say, “Students Making an Impact” before and after the event. My family and I will also be taking orders for the yellow shirts as well as white shirts that say, “#LetsStartTalking” with suicide prevention underneath, through April 3. All prices, pictures and sizes are available on Facebook by searching for the Let’s Start Talking page. This page is also designated to talk about up and coming community events pertaining to mental health and suicide. I have dealt with mental health and suicide many times, whether it was volunteering with my family and friends, attending the Alive and Running event with my team and going through losses when growing up. I’m a very passionate young woman looking to make a change in not just the Cedar Valley but also to make a dent in the world some day. We all have to start somewhere, and this is just my beginning. Let’s really start talking. By Staff Writer Tehya
TOURNIER
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Tigers on Top It was as if victory swarmed the air at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines when Cedar Falls faced two time state champions, Iowa City West. “I am proud of our guys for staying focused, for seizing the moment when opportunity presented itself, for representing our school and community well,” head coach Ryan Schultz said. “And, for truly earning it all through hard work and staying true to our brand of teamwork, toughness and accountability. Schultz said that playing three consecutive days can be very difficult for any player to be focused, both mentally and physically, at this level. “It’s taxing from both a mental and physical perspective. I thought our guys were outstanding the entire tournament and truly earned this championship.” He said that each strategy is different for every team, but their’s just so happened to help them stand out from the rest. Their team effort and gaining rhythm right away in every quarter of every game in those three days gave each player opportunities to score. “We were able to exploit how tight they were guarding AJ in that game to get some easy, timely baskets by using him as a screener and also running some slips due the their attention on him,” Schultz said. “All of our guys stepped up, including some crucial free throws made by Jack Campbell and Logan Wolf was phenomenal the entire tournament.”
Tiger
HI-LINE
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Men’s basketball earns first state title for Cedar Falls in school history
Some of the biggest focuses going into Friday nights championship game were to be physically prepared and make sure everyone was mentally focused. “Being physically recovered and ready as best we could,” Schultz said. “Make sure our mentality was about winning, believing and seizing the moment. We didn’t want our guys to be satisfied with just being there.” Co-captain and senior AJ Green said that once the team made it through Thursday night’s semi-finals that the job wasn’t finished yet. “We didn’t want to get to the State title game,” he said. “We wanted to win it.” When fans chanted, the bench mob roared and the final buzzer went off, Green said a feeling of relief swept over him because he said knowing that all of his hard work and all of the team’s hard work had finally paid off. ““I’m proud of AJ for always doing things the right way and handling his role as our best player within the framework of our team,” Schultz said. Because Green is a captain and a high profile player among the community, when he walked off the court for the last time wearing a Tiger uniform, the student section chanted, “AJ Green!” and he politely gestured for them to stop. Regarding why he did so, Green had the most humble response. “I didn’t want them to chant my name because I didn’t win us the state title. It
was every single person on the team, even the guys who don’t play much,” he said. “My teammates deserve more of the credit than I do because without them we would not have been able to get to State, let alone win State.” The second co-captain and senior, Ben Gerdes, said that it felt amazing to win a state championship with the boys he has grown up playing with. “Winning the state championship is something we’ve all dreamed of since third grade, and to finally do it is surreal.” He said all he focused on throughout the championship game was to keep the lead and jump on them every chance they got. “We were in the lead at the end of every quarter, so that gave us a lot of confidence as the game went on.” The team wasn’t favored to come out on top, but that gave every player on the team motivation to beat Iowa City West again with their offense and outstanding defense. “We have been working hard on defense all year, and we knew that in the championship game, defense mattered most. I also think a lot of our guys took it personally when we heard that people didn’t think we could beat IC West again,” Gerdes said. Last but not least, the third co-captain and junior Logan Wolf said that no one but the players and coaching staff thought they could win a state championship, but look at where the boys ended up. “We played
with a chip on our shoulder and came out with fire and energy and played as hard as we possibly could to win,” he said. Wolf said what made the whole experience special was the group of young men he played and achieved with. “It is truly one of the best feelings in the world, and one of the best moments of my life.” He said he looks up to every single senior that was apart of the history making team because they showed up to every practice and game with every intention of helping and making the experience worthwhile. “They were phenomenal leaders on and off the court, and we would not have accomplished any of what we did without each and every one of them.” In mid January, the boys beat Iowa City West by one point, and the competitive energy between the teams hadn’t stopped there. Beating the green and gold Trojans by a whopping 20 points, 65-45, the Tigers claimed their first state championship title. “I’m also proud of all of our guys for stepping up and playing their best on the biggest stage at the right time. It’s a hard thing to do,” Schultz said. “I’m also very proud of my coaching staff. I am so thankful for all of their hard work, contributions and dedication to this program. I think I have the best staff in the state.” By Lead Writer Tehya
TOURNIER
Villanova will reign over truly mad NCAA month
When the time rolled around for the yearly basketball tournament centered around 64 teams all competing to call themselves the best, I told myself I wasn’t going to watch. I said to myself that I wasn’t going to get sucked into the wormhole of meaningless blowout games and second-half surges. But, it happened. I made it to three games into the tournament before I was trapped in the spiderweb of March college basketball. By the time the horn rang and UMBC knocked off the best team in the tournament by 20 points, there was no going back. Now, with four teams left, it is finally coming to an end. Which team will win? I’ll show you. Loyola began its treacherous road in Dallas against a Miami team that was one of the weakest in the bracketing. Many picked them to beat Miami, a feat that doesn’t happen much. The game was tight all the way through the end. Both teams battled back and forth giving and taking three-pointers. With four seconds left on the clock, Donte Ingram pulled up from the edge of the center court logo and drained an icy threepointer with four-tenths of a second remaining. The Ramblers were mere inches away from getting sent home in the first round. It took them three games before their margin of victory was above two points. In the round of 32, Clayton Cluster threw up a miraculous shot that bounced high above the backboard before falling gracefully into the
basket, ending Tennessee’s chances of moving on. Next came Nevada, the Ramblers toughest opponent yet. The previous game involved the Wolfpack setting the record for largest comeback in NCAA tournament history, and this game was no different. After Nevada’s set of twin guards trading three-pointers with Loyola, Marques Townes drained a devastating three-pointer with seconds to go, ruining Nevada’s chances. Kansas State was the only game in the tournament that didn’t cause Sister Jean heart palpitations. After the second half, Loyola’s inside game was too hot for K State to get back into a scoring groove. Now, here lies the 11 seed that no one saw coming. The Ramblers, who beat Northern Iowa in the MVC tournament, have been hot and haven’t cooled off. Expect them to do some damage against Michigan. Michigan season began with a rocky start. They were by far a mediocre team in an average BIG 10 year, but a durable finish and conference victory gave Michigan a three seed. A precarious trend has followed Michigan along. Switching between blowout wins and close victories, Michigan’s journey started with a blowby win against the Montana Griz, and 14 points were the difference, giving blue a massive confidence wave into their round of 32 games against Houston. It was back and forth between the Cougars and Wolverines throughout the whole
game. However, Michigan was outplayed, not necessarily on the scoreboard, but on the court. Rob Gray and his man bun were getting sweaty buckets. But Michigan held on. They fought, and with some luck, found themselves tied with a minute remaining. No points went on the board until 52 seconds past. Houston’s Devin Davis, who shot 8/10 from the free throw line during the game, missed two crucial attempts that could have put the game on ice. Instead Michigan had time to run a set piece, setting up freshman Jordan Poole with a contested three. Poole rose up, his feet spread wide apart looking like the silhouette from the Jordan brand logo, his retro short-shorts wrapped tight along with his legs, and before Poole landed, the nets swished, and Michigan was moving on. Their sweet 16 opponent, Texas A&M, was a team that many thought would give teams fits in the tournament. Not the case with Michigan. Unlike their elite eight opponents Florida State, the game was uneven from the beginning. Speaking of Florida State, the game was close, but not that close. While the score was tight heading down the stretch, Michigan had complete control on both sides of the floor. Michigan is a team that nobody expected to do well, but don’t expect them to dominate Loyola. Villanova played Radford, Alabama, West Virginia and Texas Tech. None of those games were close. Villanova is a team that,
when playing well, control March Madness. They did that last year up until they won the big dance. Their controlling grasp is hard to escape. They choke teams with their strong, captivating defense. Then they run the floor on fast breaks and set up easy buckets from either behind the arc or inside the paint. Nova is a very well coached team by J Wright. Against Kansas’ Bill Self, this matchup will be a game of heavy strategy. It will be a game of fundamentals, passing the ball and looking for the least contested shot. Kansas will be looking to get most of their points in the paint, considering their strong forwards Azubuike and Newman. Villanova is a strong, good, young team. Expect them to be here a lot in the coming years. I don’t think that Kansas has the upper hand in talent or skill, considering that I don’t see Villanova playing to Kansas’ strengths. I think it will be Nova moving on to the title. No one expected Kansas to be here. It was an off year, but they still managed to do the typical Kansas feats. They won the Big 12 outright, taking both the tournament title as well as the regular season title. They took a one seed, but many called them the weakest first seed. They had to battle through their bracket; none of their games were blowouts aside from their first-round victory against the bottom seed Penn. Seton Hall gave them a tough time in which I thought the Pirates would pull away with a victory the way they were
shooting the rock, but Kansas’ lockdown defense couldn’t hold Seton Hall in the second half. They scored 53 points (one better than Kansas’ 52) and found the way to beat Kansas in the tournament. Shoot the ball. Duke couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat Sunday. If they would’ve been able to hit one or two shots in the waning minutes, it would be Duke in this article instead of Kansas. If Kansas wants to win, they need to play smash-mouth basketball and use their bigs down low to get layups, dunks and rebounds. Use their guards to get open around the perimeter to either drive the basket or get open looks from downtown. If Wendell Carter can hit half as many threes as he did in crunch time against Duke, I don’t think that Villanova will have an easy time. On the other side of the court, Kansas needs to limit threes. It’s killed them in games this tournament. Villanova will most likely hit their shots, but if Kansas can get to their opponents in the zone first, contesting the ball, it won’t be as easy as many think to beat Kansas. The Final Four is a magical time in basketball. Each team can win. It’s a matter of playing to their potential. Loyola and Villanova will be the final matchup, I think. If that’s the case, I think we could have potentially one of the best final games in the history of the tournament, as long as the teams play their brand of basketball. I think VIllanova will be National Champions. By Opinion Editor Ben
BOEZINGER