Big Red May/June

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Are athletes overburdened? Teachers and students weigh in.

may/june 2011

2010-2011 in Review

Looking back at which Wolverine teams and athletes brought home the trophies and the glory this year and what’s ahead next year.

The Lineup 4 Leadoff —Best and Worst of the Year —Health & Fitness —End-of-Year Roundtable

8 End of Year Awards —Athletes of the Year —Top Underclassmen —Top Freshmen —Coaches of the Year

12 The Year in Sports —Under-the radar teams —Record-setting runners —Scholar-athletes —Year in Recruiting —Senior columns

Athletes of the Year

8

Alex Leichenger/chronicle

20 Stories of Next Year: Dynamic Duos 26 Student-Athlete Strains The rise of successful athletics has led to more competitiveness and commitment required to play for school teams.

30 Spring Season in Photos

Dynamic Duos

20

Judd Liebman/Chronicle

bigredstaff Editor-In-Chief: Alex Leichenger Managing Editors: Judd Liebman, Abbie Neufeld Associate Editors: Chelsea Khakshouri, David Gobel Contributing Editors: Daniel Rothberg, Austin Block Assistants: Michael Aronson, Luke Holthouse, Michael Rothberg, David Kolin, Aaron Lyons, Saj Sri-Kumar, Nika Madyoon, Micah Sperling, Lara Sokoloff, Charlton Azuoma Adviser: Kathleen Neumeyer

2 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

The Year in Recruiting

16

Alec Caso/chronicle

Big Red is a publication of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle.

Harvard-Westlake School 3700 Coldwater Canyon Studio City, CA 91604 Letters can be sent to chronicle@hw.com

King Of long Jump: Alex Rowland ’12 leaps forward before captivated teammates in a track meet against Alemany.

Photo by Daniel Kim

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 3

Leadoff

Best of the year Rec0rd-breaking runners Lauren Hansson ’11 has led the record-breaking charge, with 11 school records to her name at one point in the season, including the 100m and the 400m. Girls’ relay teams have also been especially prolific, breaking nine school records.

Winter wonderland

Worst of the year Fan Behavior Fandom has been in a state of confusion and general malaise throughout the year. Due to the administration’s restrictive fan behavior rules, the Fanatics have tried to oppose the oppressive rules with little success. On top of this, the fan attendance for sports other than football and basketball has been generally very low. Sports such as girls’ water polo, girls’ basketball, and lacrosse have been ignored despite their success.

Last-second losses

Boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, and girls’ water polo all advanced to CIF Finals, and both basketball teams made deep runs in state playoffs. However, no team fared better than girls’ water polo, led by Athletes of the Year Ashley Grossman ’11 and Camille Hooks ’11.

The team cruised through playoffs to beat Los Osos in the CIF championship 10-7, and claim it’s first title.

Freshman phenoms

Throughout the season, a number of games have been lost as time expired. Field hockey saw their hopes of winning CIF evaporate when in they lost 1-0 at the end of overtime against Newport High. Lacrosse lost 11-10 to Agoura at the very end of their 1st round playoff match. The Homecoming football game also ended in heartbreak when Will Oliver ’11 missed a field goal as time expired.

Dragovic declared ineligible After transferring from San Marcos High in Santa Barbara, Danilo Dragovic ’11 did not get his hardship waiver approved.

After a series of appeals, the ruling was upheld and Dragovic could not play basketball. However, Dragovic was allowed to participate in track and field, and he became an impact runner.

When Nick Firestone ’11 was out with an injury during the boys’ basketball season, freshman Michael Sheng ’14 stepped into the starting role. In addition, Jack Flaherty ’14 in baseball, Maddy Abrahams ’14 in girls’ water polo, and Bakari Bolden ’14 have all had significant impacts on their respective teams.

Pop Culture Chart

OVERHEARD

Next move for the Lakers

Must-see summer movie

Goal for the summer

Last out-ofschool book you read

Get a new coach

The Hangover Part II

Get ready for college

Something by Tony Dungy

Yasmin Moreno ’13 Track and field

I don’t know

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

Train for cross-country

“Mockingjay”

Max Goodley ’12 Boys’ golf

Get a new coach

The Hangover Part II

Find true love

“A Stranger in a Strange Place”

Reba Magier ’12 Girls’ soccer

Win something

The Hangover Part II

Spend a week doing nothing

Some vampire book

Wolverine Athlete Terell Willard ’11 Football

4 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

My role on the team is to be a facilitator and a scorer. I’m basically the Allen Iverson of the squad.

—Brian Graziano ’12 Water polo player Nathanson’s/chronicle

life-fashion.com

blogspot.com

health and fitness

Swimming with diabetes

CIF Masters’ swimmer and diver Nick Edel ’13 was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year, but he has tried to not let that slow him down.

printed with permission of Nick edel

By Abbie Neufeld Nick Edel ’13 is one of 25.8 million people in the United States living with Type 1 diabetes. Diabetes is a condition in which one’s pancreas does not produce the insulin necessary to properly control blood sugar levels.

Diabetes is a lifelong condition, for which there is currently no cure. Edel was diagnosed with diabetes in ninth grade.

Though Edel must carefully manage his condition, he has not let it hold him back from doing what he loves. Edel is a member of the school’s varsity swim team, on which he has excelled.

Edel made it to the CIF Masters meet, one of the most elite high school swim meets in southern California, on his 200 free relay team. In addition to swimming, Edel is also a competitive diver. However, though Edel can compete he must take care to make sure his blood sugar levels are steady while participating in the demanding world of athletics.

According to Rose Healy, a diabetic nurse specialist at UCLA, athletes should have no problem participating in athletics as long as they monitor their blood sugar.

“It’s a learning process, [Diabetics] just have to figure out how their body

“Each time I swim I have to eat food prior so that my blood sugar is high.

Because swimming is such a demanding sport and I burn a lot of calories, I need to eat large amounts of food to stay healthy,” Edel said.

If Edel does not keep his levels in check, his blood sugar levels could adversely affect his swimming.

“Because I swim, I have to be more cautious when I eat to make sure that my blood sugar is not too high,” Edel said. “If it is then it affects my performance.”

In addition to affecting his performance, if not if not treated properly, diabetes can lead to life threatening conditions.

However, the majority of people with diabetes are able to live almost completely normal lives, and pursue their choice of athletic activities.

“I’m not affected by diabetes as much as people think,” Edel said. “I just need to eat a lot.”

“Because swimming is such a demanding sport and I burn a lot of calories, I need to eat large amounts if food to stay healthy,” —Nick Edel ’13 varsity swimmer

works,” Healy said. “Athletes should check their blood sugar before the activity, during the activity, and after the activity to see how their body is responding.”

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 5

Roundtable Wolverine

Q:

What was the greatest sports accomplishment this year?

Leichenger:

Cami Chapus ’12, Amy Weissenbach ’12 and Lauren Hansson ’11 were part of three nationleading relay teams (Yasmin Moreno ’13, KC Cord ’11 and Hilary King ’11 were each on one). There haven’t been many times in Harvard-Westlake history where a team or individual has been best in the country in their sport. Girls’ volleyball also reached that pinnacle in the Maxpreps.com poll.

Ma:

So many Harvard-Westlake teams won league titles and CIF championships, but those feats still pale in comparison to what the girls’ track team has accomplished. With three nation-leading relay times at one point, they dominated their sport in a way that no other Harvard-Westlake team can compare to. Cami, Amy, Lauren, KC, and Hilary still have races to run for CIF and hopefully state. Even if they don’t all win CIF or state, what they accomplished this year is truly amazing.

Azuoma: The greatest accomplishment in Wolverine

sports this year would have to be the girls’ water polo CIF championship. What makes their season impressive this year was not only the fact that they won a CIF championship but the fashion that they did it in. Going 27-2 over the course of a season is not an easy accomplishment by any means and on top of that they went 10-0 in league.

Barzdukas: I think that this entire school year has been an outstanding athletic achievement. As inspiring as any one game or achievement may be, when you achieve that consistency of effort on a daily basis, you can’t choose just one. I’m tremendously proud to be part of all of that.

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6 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

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Wolverine sports aficionados discuss the most prominent themes from the year thus far.

Quick Picks Sportswriter

Spring season MVP

Alex Leichenger

Lauren Hansson ’11 Track and Field

Lauren Li ’12 Softball

Girls’ basketball

Chapus, Giolito

David Kolin

Cami Chapus ’12 Track and Field

Bella Gonzalez ’12 Girls’ Water Polo

Lacrosse

Chapus, Josh Hearlihy ’12 Basketball

Shawn Ma

Hansson

Matt Goldhaber ’11 Boys’ Volleyball

Lacrosse

Chapus, Giolito

Charlton Azuoma

Chapus

Matthew Mantel ’12 Lacrosse

Girls’ Basketball

Danielle Duhl ’12 Soccer Zena Edosomwan ’12 Basketball

Judd Liebman

Jack Flaherty ’14 Baseball

K.C. Cord ’11 Soccer, Track and Field

Baseball

Chapus, Giolito

Abbie Neufeld

Hansson

Li

Lacrosse

Chapus, Edosomwan

David Gobel

Hansson

Mantel

Lacrosse

Chapus, Hearlihy

Alex Leich enger Big Red Editor-in -Chief

Most underSurprise rated player team of the of the year year?

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Athletes of the Year in 2011-12

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Q:

Which team will have the biggest dropoff next year?

Leichenger: Girls’ volleyball. Most of the team was

made up of seniors, and most of those seniors are going on to play Division I college volleyball. That being said, the team had to undergo a similar rebuilding process after its 2007 state championship. Just three years later, the squad was back at an elite level, so there’s no reason to believe this next cycle will be any different.

Azuoma:

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The team that I see struggling the most next year is lacrosse. They went undefeated this season, which in itself is a hard accomplishment to repeat and they will also be losing nine seniors. I still expect them to make CIF next year but the loss of Cory Wizenberg ’11 and Daniel Edelstein ’11 will be a big hit to them.

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Lacrosse. We saw the rise and fall of lacrosse this year with a 13-0 season and then an early exit from the playoffs. Senior leadership played a huge role in the team’s success this year, but none of them will be in Wolverine uniforms next year. It’s been great watching how the seniors took over the team and brought it great success, but without them, I don’t know how the team will survive.

Neufeld:

Girls’ volleyball. With 11 graduating players, and only three returning varsity members, volleyball will face quite the challenge. Upholding the status of the team that was at one point in the season nationally ranked number one is going to be hard.

Q:

Q:

Do we put too much emphasis on athletics at this school?

Ma:

As an athlete, I might be biased in saying no, but athletics has a special way of connecting community and making close-knit groups of friends. Some parents and maybe even some students might argue that the time commitment required by varsity sports can detract from activities athletes might be doing otherwise, but there are lessons that can be learned from sports that are hard to come by otherwise like time management, true teamwork, and sacrifice for the good of the group just to name a few.

Liebman: The problem is simple. Coaches think they take

precedence over athletics, and teachers think they should be top priority. Frankly, I’m at this school for the academics. Playing sports is a fun way to be involved with this school, but athletics should take the backseat to an academic career. So the simple answer is yes, there is far too much emphasis placed sports, and this could prove to be detrimental to a student who has yet to learn time management.

Barzdukas:

I think that we put that right emphasis on athletics for two reasons. I believe that our school embraces the platonic ideals of pursuing excellence in mind, body, and spirit.

Also, I believe the school embodies being committed to doing our best at everything we undertake. I guess our emphasis is just about right.

Which team will improve the most next year?

Leichenger: Ever since the departure of Rich Cor-

so in 2005, boys’ water polo has lost much of its luster.

But Head Coach Robert Lynn is coming off a CIF championship win in girls’ water polo, and next year could be the beginning of a turnaround for the boys’ team.

The team will lose its best player, Kayj Shannon ‘11, but Henry McNamara ‘13 and Alec Zwaneveld ‘12 are poised for big years.

Neufeld:

Girls’ soccer. They have a strong junior class who want to take advantage of their last chance to win CIF after not making it this year.

Azuoma:

The team that I forsee making the greatest improvement next year is the boys’ golf team. I think the future looks bright for them mainly because of the fact that Charlie Benell ‘12 is still a junior and Bakari Bolden ‘14 is only a freshman. Behind the play of these two talents, I am confident that the boys golf team will make leaps and bounds next year and possibly win a CIF title.

Liebman:

With a player like Damiene Cain ’11 on the floor, the boys’ basketball team always looked inside.

Next year once he graduates, the team will look outside to Josh Hearlihy ’12 and Michael Sheng ’14 on the perimeter; not to mention Zena Edosomwan ’12 inside.

Bringing it up: Cory Wizenberg ’11 runs down field in a 17-4 win over Loyola The lacrosse team suffered a heartbreaking loss in CIF playoffs.

David Kolin/chronicle

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 7

2010-11 Big Red Athletic Awards Male Athlete of the Year Damiene Cain

Basketball, volleyball With 19 seconds remaining in boys’ basketball‘s quest for a CIF championship, the team was clinging to a 4745 win over underdog Inglewood. Damiene Cain ’11 had hit one of two free throws to give the Wolverines the lead, but one open three-pointer by a strong shooting Inglewood team could bury a remarkable Wolverine season in agony. Inglewood got their three-point attempt with nine seconds remaining as the Fanatics held their breaths on the opposite side of the court. But seemingly out of nowhere, the arm of Cain swooped in to deflect the shot and seal his second CIF title in three years.

Whenever the Wolverines needed a big play in 201011, Cain provided it. Just days before the CIF title win, Cain’s barrage of first quarter three-pointers helped the Wolverines jump out to an early lead over Damien in the semifinals. In the biggest league game of the year, he had his best game, dominating against Loyola with a 25-point, 19-rebound masterpiece.

Cain didn’t dominate many games like he did against Loyola, often deferring to low post presence Zena Edosomwan ’12. Cain didn’t lead the team in scoring, but he grabbed the most rebounds, blocked the most shots and provided leadership for a young team as a team captain. He was the most important player on arguably the most successful boys’ team in Harvard-Westlake sports this year. And that’s only part of the reason he is our Male Athlete of the Year.

In spring, Cain made the transition to volleyball, spiking balls with as much authority as he rejected shots in basketball. With a 10-17 record, the volleyball team did not enjoy the same success as the basketball team, but Cain played a huge role helping the squad advance to playoffs. Cain will be remembered at Harvard-Westlake for his accomplishments as a basketball player, but volleyball will only add to his legacy.

Man in Charge: Damiene Cain’s ’11, right, dominance down low earned him another CIF ring. Cain had the ability to score and rebound over almost anyone. His presence also freed up center Zena Edosomwan ’12 to score. daniel kim/chronicle

8 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Dual Threat: The combination of Ashley Grossman ’11, above, and Camille Hooks ’11, right, propelled the girls’ water polo team to its first CIF Championship in school history. Grossman’s offensive dominance and Hook’s lock-down defense proved to be lethal this season. daniel kim/chronicle

Female Athletes of the Year In 2008, then freshmen Ashley Grossman ’11 and Camille Hooks ’11 were one goal away from a CIF championship. Trailing Arroyo Grande 8-7 in the Division III final as the final seconds wound down, both had chances on goal to even the score. But each shot missed, and thus began a four-year journey for the highly touted combo to get back on top.

Exits in the early rounds of playoffs followed in the next two seasons, and Grossman and Hooks entered the winter of 2010-11 with one last chance. With a move down to Division IV and a solid supporting cast led by Morgan Hallock ’13 and Bella Gonzalez ’12, destiny

Alex Leichenger/chronicle

Ashley Grossman, Camille Hooks Water polo

seemed to favor the Wolverines.

The squad romped through league play undefeated, breezed through playoffs and held off an aggressive Los Osos team to win the final game 10-7.

Why pick both Grossman and Hooks as Female Athletes of the Year? It would simply be unfair to give the award to one over the other. They played unique but equally crucial roles — Grossman as leader of the offense and Hooks as leader of the defense. Grossman was the team’s dominant goal scorer, and although she struggled in the CIF championship game, Los Osos’ focus on stopping her opened opportunities for Hallock and Gonzalez to have big

games.

In addition to her importance on defense, Hooks was another major goalscoring threat for the Wolverines.

As the only seniors on the team, Hooks and Grossman contributed experience and a work ethic that drove the team to its CIF championship, the first for girls’ water polo in school history.

Girls’ water polo was one of the most successful teams in school history, finishing with a 27-2 record.

Hooks and Grossman were the co-MVPs of that effort, and it’s no coincidence that both will be playing Division I water polo next year.

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 9

2010-11 Big Red Athletic Awards

Underclassmen of the Year Lucas Giolito Baseball

Cami Chapus

Cross country, soccer, track

Pitcher Lucas Giolito ’12 is intimidating. His 6’6” frame and his almost flawless technique frightens batters. Who wouldn’t be scared of a fastball that hovers around 93 mph and can get up to 97?

Pitching has been the key to the baseball team’s first Mission League title, with Giolito leading the way.

The UCLA commit made batters in the Mission League look silly, compiling a perfect 7-0 overall record this season.

Cami Chapus ’12 needs more fingers. She already has a pair of state championships and a CIF championship for her individual cross country career. She also has both a CIF and a state title for her team’s cross country victories in addition to CIF and regional championships for soccer.

Chapus stands out on the track and on the course, dominating distance events in track and lacking rivals during cross country.

Regular season stats

Regular season personal records

Record: 7-0 Innings pitched: 57.1 Hits allowed: 39 ERA: 1.22 Strikeouts: 58 Walks: 22

400-meter: 58.1 800-meter: 2:12.05 1600-meter: 4:51.66 3200-meter: 10:19 5k: 17:45 mary rose fissinger/chronicle

Daniel Kim/chronicle

Freshmen of the Year Jack Flaherty Baseball

It’s not often that a freshman is at the heart of the pitching rotation in the Mission League, but Jack Flaherty ’14 won six of his seven regular season starts at pitcher.

Flaherty’s 1.92 ERA came with 34 judd liebman/chronicle strikeouts.

Flaherty not only dominates on the mound, but also at the plate and on the basepath.

He compiled a .309 batting average and converted on 11 of his 12 stolen base attempts.

Flaherty was a crucial player on the first Mission League championship team in the history of HarvardWestlake baseball, and he still has three years as a Wolverine ahead of him.

10 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Maddy Abrahams Water polo

Maddy Abrahams ’14 is a driving force on the girls’ water polo team. As a perimeter player, Abrahams was able to assist key players and provide scoring punch. alex leichenger /chronicle Abrahams was a consistent player in the team’s playoff run and eventual championship win.

Abrahams assisted in a number of key goals, including the last two goals of the CIF title game. Abrahams also played an important defensive role, keeping the ball away from the goal. In the coming years, Abrahams can be expected to become a backbone of the team.

2010-11 Big Red Athletic Awards

Coaches of the Year Melissa Hearlihy Girls’ basketball Girls’ basketball had only one returning starter, Skylar Tsutsui ’11, the third-leading scorer on the previous year’s state championship team.

But the team’s fiery intensity and commitment to the smallest of details was unmatched by any other Wolverine team.

“They’re showing people that effort, will, determination — all those abstract qualities — that there is something to that,” Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas said in February.

That attitude started at the top, with fundamentally sound play drilled into the players by Head Coach Melissa Hearlihy. The Wol-

verines hounded opponents with pressure defense and pedal-to-the-medal offense, winning the Mission League and advancing all the way to CIF Finals. before falling to Anaheim Canyon.

The girls then advanced to the quarterfinals of state playoffs, before falling to Rialto.

The team didn’t reclaim its state or CIF championships from the year before, but this might have been Hearlihy’s best coaching performance yet. That’s no small statement in a long career that has included multiple CIF championships at Alemany and Harvard-Westlake.

daniel kim/chronicle

Tim Sharpe Cross country

printed with permission of roger on

Before everything came together for the boys’ cross country team, everything seemed to be falling apart.

A program-best fifth place finish in the 2009 state championship meet built high hopes, but the team entered the 2010 season with a bevy of issues.

A bout with mononucleosis felled top returning runner David Abergel ’11, and problems with interpersonal relationships plagued the team in the early going.

Disappointing performances in two September meets did nothing to quell doubts about the team’s ability to earn another top five state finish.

By leading the team to first in CIF and second

place in state less than two months later, Head Coach Tim Sharpe silenced those doubts. His carefully planned training regimen allowed the team to peak at just the right time for state. And if not for an injury to Amy Weissenbach ’12, girls’ cross country could have repeated as state champions.

Sharpe has established cross country as a credible program, and he also contributes his coaching to distance runners on the track team.

Brought in as a lastminute replacement for Johnny Gray before last season, Sharpe has exceeded expectations. He deserves his due as one of the school’s the finest coaches.

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 11

daniel kim/chronicle

The 2010-11 year in sports was an exciting one. The boys’ basketball team, bottom right, celebrated yet another CIF championship.

Cheerleaders, bottom left, energized the crowd on Homecoming, where football barely lost a nail-biter. And the boys’ water polo team, above, won in quadruple overtime on the same night.

daniel kim/chronicle

griffy simon/vox

the year in sports

12 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Stories of the Year

Under the Radar The school’s sports community tends to focus on the “bigger” Wolverine sports, not always the most successful ones. These overlooked teams won either CIF or league and went far in state competition.

Boys’ Cross Country

printed with permission of Roger on

The boys’ cross country team won its first ever CIF championship. After rebounding from various setbacks throughout the year, including injury, illness and lack of commitment, the team placed a school record second in the state meet in Fresno. Head Top Performances Coach Tim Sharpe (left First Place Finishes posing with his team) has CIF Prelims CIF Finals only coached the boys’ team for two years. Kevin Second Place Finishes On ’11 (right) led the League Finals State Finals Mt. SAC Invitational team in the postseason to victory. alex leichenger/chronicle

Girls’ Water Polo The girls’ water polo team won its first CIF championship, beating Los Osos 10-7. Under the leadership of seniors Camille Hooks ’11 and Ashley Grossman ’11, the team lost only two games, both of which were in tournament play. Bella Gonzalez ’12 (right celebrating with a teammate) and Morgan Hallock ’13 The Highlights (left) played key Overall Record: 27-2 roles in the CIF League Record: 10-0 final game.

CIF Championship Winners

alex leichenger/chronicle

Daniel Kim/chronicle

Girls’ Basketball

Daniel Kim/chronicle

After overcoming several injuries and losing most of last year’s starters, the varsity girls’ basketball team made it to CIF finals, falling to Anaheim The Highlights Canyon. In the Overall Record: 26-10 state tournament, League Record: 26-10 the team lost in the Best Streak: 10 wins regional semifinals Worst Streak: two losses to Rialto, 76-60.

Daniel Kim/chronicle

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 13

On the right track

The girls’ track team has set multiple national leading times this season. Training with three coaches who have Olympic gold medals has been the key to its success.

Printed With Permission of Annelise Hansson

By David Kolin

W

hile Lauren Hansson ’11, a runner on the relay team that set national leading times, was visiting colleges, the college coaches did not believe her when she told them the names of her high school coaches.

Three of the team’s coaches have competed in the Olympics and won.

Coach Joanna Hayes won the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles in the 2004 Olympics. Coach Quincy Watts won two gold medals at the 1992 Olympics, and Coach Félix Sánchez won the first gold medal ever for the Dominican Republic in the 400-meter hurdles in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

During practices, the girls perform hybrid workouts, a type of workout developed

by Head Coach Tim Sharpe.

Although each girl on the relay team specializes in a certain leg of the race, they all perform similar workouts. For example, sprinters train by doing both sprints and distance runs.

The girls do not continuously have grueling practices because they run their fastest times during their rest periods.

“When we’re training really hard, we have to peak at a certain time,” Hansson said. “You put in all the work, and then you ease off. Then, when you’re rested, you’ll be really fast.”

The relay team’s skills at variety and filling different roles on the team helped them win at Arcadia, a national meet.

Because the girls won a race at Arcadia, they received shirts and watches as rewards for their victory. A few fans approached the girls after their race and asked them to sign autographs.

“We’re like, ‘Are you sure you want

“We’re like, ‘Are you sure you want our autographs? We’re really just high school students.’ ” —Lauren Hansson ’11

14 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

our autographs? We’re really just high school students,’” Hansson said.

“I couldn’t sleep that night, and I had a race the next day,” Hansson said.

“It was amazing. Then, when we had a day to let it sink in, we realized that we were probably going to win the distance medley. Then, we were just very concentrated and determined.”

Because the Champions: girls have been From left, the relay so successful team of Lauren this track sea- Hansson ’11, Amy son, many teams Weissenbach ’12, back out when Cami Chapus ’12, they are sched- and Hilary King ’11 uled to face set national leading the girls’ relay times this season. team.

“I think it’s cool that we’ll be excited to run against teams that are really fast because we can use them to compete against them and run faster, but mostly, this season, teams have been backing out because they are scared of us, which is really cool,” Hansson said.

However, the lack of competition does have some drawbacks for the girls because they tend to run their fastest times in competitive environments.

“The bigger environment [at Arcadia] definitely makes you run faster,” Cami Chapus ’12 said. “It’s very different from dual meets.”

The support and cheering of the fans also helps motivate the girls as they run. Other factors also inspire the girls, such as their personal goals and their desires to help out their teammates.

“You want to [run the race] for yourself while you’re also motivated to do it for your team at the same time,” Chapus said.

Academic Athlete: Tiana Woolridge ’11 plays varsity volleyball and is also in the top 20 percent of the graduating class.

Daniel kim/chronicle

SAJ SRI-KUMAR/chronicle

Staying on their ‘A’ games The top 20 percent of seniors qualified for Cum Laude. Of them, almost half are varsity athletes. These students face the daily task of managing work and sports.

By Lara Sokoloff “Scholar athletes” who choose to undertake both challenging course loads while remaining committed to time consuming athletic teams, are faced with the challenge of time management daily.

“I would walk out of the gym, get something to eat, then just really focus on my schoolwork,” Tiana Woolridge ’11, a volleyball player, said.

Woolridge said “it was a struggle at times to get my homework done.”

Although it taught her time management, Woolridge feels that her athletic commitments somewhat inhibited her from reaching her top academic potential, but that her overall experience at Harvard-Westlake has greatly benefitted from playing a sport.

Alex Markes ’11 played soccer and ran track during his freshman, sophomore and junior years in addition to playing club soccer.

In his senior year, he played Academy soccer, which does not allow athletes to play high school sports; Academy soccer trained every day other than Friday to rest for weekend games. An intense and rigorous athletic schedule, Markes was able to use it to his advantage, he said, using the rigidity of his soccer schedule to manage his academics.

Markes also believes that a healthy relationship between the player and his coach is one of the keys to succeeding both academically and athletically.

Danielle Salka ’11 played both club

and school volleyball. The school team practiced every day, and club practice met two to three times a week, plus weekend tournaments. Contrary to many of her classmates, Salka does not feel that playing volleyball benefitted her academic career.

“Maybe volleyball helped me academically by teaching me discipline and forcing me to learn to manage my time, but in general it just made things harder,” she said. “Volleyball was not an outlet of stress…it created stress by reducing the amount of time and energy I could put into studying.”

As for learning to manage her time, Salka said she “had to learn the hard way.”

“It took a few sleepless nights to force me [not] to procrastinate,” she said.

Jordan Bryan ’11, this year’s valedictorian, wrestles for the school team, which practices five days a week.

Bryan credits wrestling for much of his academic success.

Bryan found that wrestling helped him to manage his academics immensely.

Getting exercise simply relieved stress, and wrestling minimized the mental stress from schoolwork.

“Either I was far too exhausted to worry about work, I was more focused on an upcoming match or tournament, or I had so many things to do in what seemed like an impossibly small amount of time that the whole situation became laughable and wasn’t nearly as daunting,” he said.

Academic and athletic stars 25 of 57 inductees played sports at the highest level and achieved academic prestige.

Chase Basich

Alex Markes

Melanie Borinstein

Katy Park

Jordan Bryan

Jennifer Plotkin

Nick Duckwiler

Danielle Salka

Melissa Gertler

Ben Saunders

Jessie Goldman

Chelsea Shannon

Christine Kanoff

Brian Shultz

Ben Kogan

Jake Sonnenberg

Erin Landau

Charlie Stigler

David Lehoang

Jamie Temko

Austin Lewis

Catherine Wang

Shawn Ma

Tiana Woolridge

Soccer

Golf

Wrestling

Swimming Tennis

Basketball Soccer

Wrestling

Soccer

Fencing

Cross Country Basketball

Academy Soccer Soccer

Softball

Volleyball

Track and Field Crew

Football

Wrestling

Cross Country Volleyball

Swimming

Volleyball

Graphic By Abbie Neufeld and Chelsea Khakshouri

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 15

Stories of the Year

The year in college commits 38 graduating athletes will be playing varsity level sports at 25 different colleges next year.

Saint Mary’s Mileva Popovic-Volleyball Milena Popovic-Volleyball UC Davis Courtney Hazy-Field Hockey San Francisco State Hilary King-Track UC Berkeley Christina Higgins-Volleyball Stanford Ashley Grossman-Water Polo Chelsea Shannon-Crew University of La Verne Julian Casillas-Water Polo Santa Clara Katie Speidel-Soccer

Princeton Camille Hooks-Water polo Kayj Shannon-Water polo Tiana Woolridge- Volleyball

University of Chicago Kevin On-Track

University of Michigan Adrianna Crovo-Field Hockey Daniel Edelstein-Lacrosse Matthew Goldhaber-Volleyball Carleton Skylar Tsutsui-Basketball

Brown Alex Markes-Soccer

Columbia Emma Peterson- Fencing

Kenyon Rachel Hall-Field Hockey

Dartmouth K.C. Cord-Track

Boston College Kellie Barnum- Volleyball

Yale Danielle Salka- Volleyball

University of Colorado Boulder Damiene Cain-Basketball Esther Lee-Basketball Will Oliver-Football Cory Wizenberg- Lacrosse

16 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Haverford Lily Einstein- Cross Country Penn Sam Horn- Baseball Sam Ruddy-Swimming Bucknell Amanda Hall- Volleyball Emory David Abergel- Cross Country Conor Dillman- Baseball Wes Peacock- Baseball Kelley Butler- Volleyball Morehouse Lewis Dix- basketball

Duke Lauren Hansson- Track Johns Hopkins Anne Cohen- Volleyball

-Soccer

th d-Track

ntry

The Year in Sports

Recruiting: an inside look For athletes, the college application process is different than for most students. They take official recruiting visits to colleges and send emails to a bevy of coaches, all in the hope that they can continue playing their sports at the next level.

By Micah Sperling For most students, the college decision process is based on size, academic caliber, or strength of specific programs. According to Upper School dean Jon Wimbish, recruited student-athletes have to take all that into account, and more.

Athletes need to contact coaches, make recruiting trips to schools, and determine the team or coach they’d most like to play for. For student-athletes, that decision can come down more to their possible role on a team than the factors that dictate most seniors’ college choices. Being a recruited athlete even affects the majors students are likely to choose. The difference between the athlete and non-athlete college processes certainly held true for three of Harvard-Westlake’s recently committed athletic stars, Colorado-bound Will Oliver ’11 and Duke-bound runner Lauren Hansson ’11.

Oliver, whose college process was “a ton of work”, says that one of the most difficult parts of the entire process is figuring out when to believe what college coaches say.

“It all seems great until they find someone who can do everything you can, and even more,” Oliver said. He disagrees with the common assumption that being a recruited athlete is the easy way out of applying to multiple schools.

“The recruiting process gives you much more to do and it forces you to put in incredible amounts of time and energy into it, while also trying to write essays,” Oliver said.

While most seniors only have their essays to worry about, Oliver and other recruited athletes also have to “write a million emails and make a million phone calls.” Given the timing of the process for kickers, Oliver’s college applications were more similar to most seniors’ than that of Hansson.

“I had to apply to a lot of places as a pure student,” Oliver said, “because I was never positive football was going to work out.” Oliver did, however, have to decide where he was attending school well before the common national deadline of May 1.

“I flipped coins and weighed pros and cons and finally decided Colorado was the best fit for me,” Oliver said.

Hansson, on the other hand, started contacting coaches in June of her junior year, and, instead of returning with a

BUMP: Anne Cohen ’11, who will attend Johns Hopkins, is one of nine recruits.

list of eight or nine schools like most of her friends, had determined her top three choices by the time school resumed.

She only visited those schools—Duke, Stanford, and Yale— on official recruiting visits, and, after visiting the schools in October, only applied to Duke and Stanford. Hansson’s two-school list falls well below the College Board’s average of five to eight schools a non-recruited senior would apply to. Hansson’s reasons for picking the school she did were also different from the criteria of many of her peers. After deciding that Stanford was too much like Los Angeles and that her place on the Cardinal team wouldn’t be what she was looking for, Hansson chose Duke.

“I liked my place as a big fish on a competitive Division I-A team,” Hansson said, adding, “I love love love the school spirit at Duke. I can’t wait to be a Blue Devil.”

Wimbish agrees that the perception of the recruiting process as “easier” is inaccurate.

“I don’t think it’s fair for someone applying as a student to call it easier for an athlete who spends 18-20 hours a week on an exhausting activity to call it easier. According to Wimbish, there are three categories of student-athletes: those who definitely want to play their sport in college, those who, as Wimbish put it, “would really like to but say ‘If I get into a certain school as a student, I’m OK not playing’”, and those who are committed to their sport in high school but aren’t interested in playing in college. Those who commit early, like pitcher Lucas Giolito ’12, are definitely in the first category.

“I made my decision about what school I want to go to months before many juniors even started thinking about different colleges,” Giolito said. The difference is that Giolito now needs to maintain both his grades and his body. “The thing for early commits,” Wimbish said, “is that if you throw out your arm or are in a car accident, the scholarship and even the offer of admission may be gone just like that.”

For recruited student-athletes, the process can be draining. “The biggest thing is to be realistic and understand that there is always a possibility that the recruiting process won’t work out,” Oliver said. “As long as you are prepared for this, you will be fine, but if you aren’t, there can be huge problems.”

Nine seniors to play college volleyball

By Charlton Azuoma When the girls volleyball team walks into Taper Gymnasium this upcoming summer, Katie Price ’12, Lucy Tilton ’12, and Sofia Davila ’12 will be surrounded by a lot of new faces as 11 seniors graduate this June.

Amazingly, nine out of 11 of those seniors will be

playing volleyball at the varsity collegiate level next year.

“It’s a great way to go into college; playing on a team because you have already have an automatic family,” said Anne Cohen ’11, who will be playing for Johns Hopkins University next fall. “I can’t wait to go in and be a part of that community,” Cohen said.

Among the players who are going to play NCAA Div. I level next year are Christina Higgins ‘11, who is committed to UC Berkeley and Amanda Hall ’11, who will play at Bucknell University.

“I’m really excited to start my college volleyball career and hopefully we’ll win a lot this year,” Hall said.

DanieL KIM/chronicle

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 17

daniel kim/chronicle

Fanatacism needs an overhaul Alex Leichenger

F

W the Harvard-Westlake website: “At the Upper School the student cheering section at athletic contests is one of the loudest in the Mission League, and the Harvard-Westlake Fanatics lead that charge! Any student can be a Fanatic – all it takes is a positive attitude, a strong voice and a love for the Wolverines. Fanatics attend contests in a variety of sports. Dressed in red T-shirts and cheering loud & proud, the Fanatics always give the Wolverines a home-field advantage!”

What a beautiful depiction of our school spirit. Where do I sign up for this choir of angelic Harvard-Westlake loyalists that inspires our teams to greatness?

Now in all seriousness, does a single person on campus believe such nonsense?

Every sentence in that literary dynamo is a ghastly skewed version of reality.

Here are the basic fan issues at our school: The Fanatics and the administration don’t like each other. The Fanatics and the cheerleaders don’t like each other. There are barely any student fans who show up to games in the first place. HarvardWestlake sporting events resemble tribal warfare more than school spirit, and the atmosphere is more intimidating than welcoming to the average student.

Students show up when the Wolverines play Loyola basketball games because the rivalry is entrenched in upper school tradition. But there is no culture of showing up for any other sport, or game for that matter, and this is where the Head Fanatics come into play. For all their talk of establishing a fan tradition (this year’s motto is “It’s time to change the fanatics culture at Harvard-Westlake; it’s not just Homecoming, it’s not just Loyola, IT’S EVERY SINGLE GAME!!”) I don’t understand why they spend so much time trying to be as unpopular as possible with almost every group that wields power at the school.

Yes, the fan behavior rules are overbearing and hypocritical. I attended the lacrosse team’s first round CIF game against Agoura May 3 at Ted Slavin Field, and what a perfect example it was. Shouting and cursing spewed from

both teams’ parent sections, but it was scattered enough to avoid rebuke from faculty at the game and referees on the field.

Yet when the Head Fanatics erupted in chants of “Hey ref, you suck,” faculty swarmed the juvenile delinquents to condemn their shameful immaturity. I find the chant quite idiotic myself, but I was appalled that parents could have free rein in their profanity and scorn, while the Fanatics were offered as sacrificial lambs simply for being younger and more unified in their indignation.

No wonder the Fanatics don’t respect the rules.

Of course, the Fanatics have given faculty ample reason not to respect their approach either. The Fanatics operate as a fringe group more than a legitimate school club, and the sooner they make the transition to (gasp!) conformity, the better.

If the Fanatics want to rally school spirit for a midseason baseball game as much as a Loyola basketball game, they need to start actually informing the student body of these intentions. That doesn’t mean a motto in 8.5 font on a Facebook page; it means making announcements in class meetings about upcoming game-days. It means putting up posters around campus and getting everyone to wear their red T-shirts to school.

It means not making girls’ soccer, one of the school’s best teams in the last three years, do all of the above to rally support for a CIF playoff game against Santa Margarita Feb. 22. Because of the team’s efforts, an impressive crowd filled the stands that day. It is possible to get people to show up, but the Fanatics have taken the wrong approach.

Most importantly, the infighting of the Wolverine faithful needs to stop. The Fanatics, the cheerleaders and the faculty all need to step back and ask themselves a simple question going into next year: What are we doing here?

Fandom has been distorted and factionalized at Harvard-Westlake, and everyone forgot something crucial along the way: school spirit is about community, not petty battles.

“Harvard-Westlake sporting events resemble tribal warfare more than school spirit, and the atmosphere is more intimidating than welcoming to the average student. ”

18 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

The Year in Sports

The season I lost to injury Shawn Ma While the eyes of the trainers, coaches and teammates were on my twitching, mutilated ankle, I grimaced and pounded the table I was sitting on with my fist, not out of physical pain, but because of the jarring reality of what just happened.

Out for the season. When the doctor declared it, I was crushed, morphine and all. The first couple of weeks after the injury were almost unbearable. I would vegetate in bed, thinking about nothing but my lost senior season.

It was supposed to be my breakout season.

My junior basketball season had earned me the reputation as an “all-world practice player,” a quote from Coach Greg Hilliard at the end-of-the-year party. Admittedly, I was disappointing, to say the least, in the games. And at one point or another, every coach on the coaching staff had tried to fix me, but with no visible results.

But I finally got the intangible “it” that altered my ingame performance. During fall league basketball, I was playing with confidence and seemed to have found my niche on the court. I had high hopes for my senior season, to say the least.

Those hopes were dashed quickly; in fact, I was injured in the scrimmage before the first regular season game in the first quarter on the second possession that I was in the game. All the support of friends on Facebook and a home visit from a few friends helped take the edge off my disappointment and annoyance.

Before I was able to rejoin the team, I followed the

team’s progress religiously on Maxpreps. It was pretty tough to miss the team’s annual trip to Palm Springs and hear only retellings of all that happened there.

But once I was able to walk and travel with the team again, I felt I hadn’t missed a beat. I was welcomed back and contributed to the team as well as I could in my hobbled form. Despite nearly being called for two technical fouls from the bench, I cheered on my basketball family even more fanatically than if I had been playing.

I no longer plan to pursue basketball in college, as fate has made it clear that my body just isn’t fit for highintensity basketball.

For those who don’t know, I fractured two bones in my foot a year earlier doing a simple jab step (my uncanny parallel to Yao Ming has led me to stop fighting the nickname). So this year had special significance to me, but it was far and away the best season and team that I’ve ever been a part of. At the risk of sounding cliché, the entire experience of this season, especially our journey to the CIF championship, is something I’ll treasure even as an adult.

But even now, “what if ” continues to linger in my mind. Say I don’t jump for that one block, maybe I play the entire season. What if? Were the implications of the loss of Danilo Dragovic ’11 because of ineligibility and Derick Newton ’14, who was also injured, and of me—for an entire season— did it add up to a missing state banner, immortalizing the 2010-11 boys’ basketball team in Taper Gym? Maybe.

“I grimaced and pounded the table I was sitting on with my fist, not out of physical pain, but because of the jarring reality of what just happened.”

On the bench: An injured Shawn Ma ’11 cheers on his teammates from the sideline.

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 19 daniel kim/chronicle

Stories of Next Year Dynamic Duos photos by Judd liebman/chronicle

2011-12 will be the year of the Dynamic Duo. These four pairs of Wolverines have shown their ability to work well together whether it is on the court, field, track or in the pool.

20 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

chronicle

Stories of Next Year: Dynamic Duos

drive and dunk: Center Zena Edosomwan ’12, top left, dunks the ball against Garfield. Edosomwan made his presence known throughout the year because of Josh Hearlihy’s ’12, bottom left, ability to spread the court with his shooting.

Judd liebman/chronicle

Zena Edosomwan ’12 & Josh Hearlihy ’12

By Judd Liebman

K

obe and Pau, Lebron and Wade, Durant and Westbrook.

These are the top dynamic duos in professional basketball. The Hearlihy and Edosomwan duo is next year’s equivalent in Wolverine basketball.

Already highly recruited athletes, Josh Hearlihy ’12 and Zena Edosomwan ’12 averaged 14.5 and 17.0 points per game, respectively, the highest two averages on a team that shared the Mission League title with Loyola. What makes this pair special, though, is their teamwork and motivation to make the other better.

Next year, the duo will be the heart of the team, the senior leadership. Instead of looking towards the older guys as they have in the past, Edosomwan and Hearlihy will have to lead by example and demand better play on the court.

“When you are younger, a junior or sophomore, you kind of defer to the older guys, but now it’s our turn to step up to the plate and lead the team,” Edosomwan said.

Both are Division I prospects, and college coaches will be scouting them throughout the season.

The 6’8” Edosomwan is a true center, but the 6’7” Hearlihy has the size, agility, shooting and handling to be the most versatile player on the court.

Hearlihy could drop down low and play power forward, or stay outside and play the role of a shooter. The combination of a talented shooter and a dominant center could prove lethal to opponents.

“When we have an attack from the outside and the inside, it’s going to be hard to double down on one because if

someone is doubling me, then we go to [Edosomwan] and he has a big night,” Hearlihy said. “And if someone doubles him, we kick it out to me and I have a big night.”

The pair’s teamwork was exemplified in an eighth grade club league. Their team was 0-8 heading into playoffs, but Edosomwan and Hearlihy raised the brought the team a championship.

That was just the start. Since freshman year, both have played under Head Coach Greg Hilliard, developing communication, friendship and trust.

“The pair has played together for three full years and has a very special connection,” Hilliard said. “They almost always know where the other is on the court and what the other will do. That makes for a great two-man game.”

With two great scorers on the court,

finding the focus of the offense could be hard, like with Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire in the NBA this year. But Edosomwan and Hearlihy foresees no chance of selfish play on the court.

“We can both score any time and we can both find each other and find each other, so [sharing the ball] won’t be an issue next year,” Hearlihy said.

“Players inside and out have to be on the same page and attack the defense together because one person can’t beat five people. It’s a team game.”

The two will take on a big goal next year: bettering this year’s CIF Championship performance.

“You always want to better what you did the previous season,” Edosomwan said. “Our goal was state this year, and our goal is going to be state next year.”

Key Questions: boys’ basketball

Daniel K im/chronicle

Michael Sheng ’14

Rival Point Guards: Can Michael Sheng ’14 match up against Loyola Cub Parker Cartwright in the battle of highly touted sophomores? Cartwright, named the top freshman in the state by ESPN’s Cal-Hi Sports, has the upper hand so far. Cartwright put up a combined 28 points in two games against the Wolverines while holding Sheng to five combined points. Sheng will play a bigger role in the Wolverine offense next year, which could help him close the gap.

Defensively, Sheng must use his quickness to stop Cartwright.

Fresh Faces: With the addition of Derick Newton ’14 and various new freshmen, it will be important that the veterans mesh with the young guys on the court. The 6’5” Newton couldn’t play this year because of a shoulder injury, but as the projected starter at power forward, he will form a potent scoring, rebounding and shot-blocking tandem with Zena Edosomwan ’12.

nathonson ’s/chronicle

Derick Newton ’14

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 21

Stories of Next Year: Dynamic Duos

Defensively minded: Bella Gonzalez ’12, front, and Morgan Hallock ’13, back, are the heart of the defending CIF Championship water polo team. Both played a big role this year in the most successful season in HarvardWestlake history.

Bella Gonzalez ’12 & Morgan Hallock ’13

By Michael Aronson At the girls’ water polo CIF Championship against Los Osos, Morgan Hallock ’13 and Bella Gonzalez ’12 had breakout games, which helped guide the girls’ water polot team to its CIF win.

The two look to fill the empty leadership positions left

by Ashley Grossman ’11 and Camile Hooks ’11 on next year’s team.

After the 2010-11 season, Grossman was selected the Division IV Player of the Year, and Hooks grabbed firstteam honors.

Hallock and Gonzalez played supporting roles this season under Grossman and Hooks, but will be following in their footsteps as leaders next year.

Gonzalez, who scored a hat trick in the girls’ 10-7 championship win over Los Osos, feels that Hallock and her are up for the task of matching the talent and leadership Hooks and Grossman brought to the team.

“It is going to be hard to follow in their footsteps but I will work hard to be a leader that younger players will be able to look up to,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also captured first team honors after the team’s 27-2 CIF winning season.

“I’m going to have to be a go-to player to score next year when my teammates are being guarded,” she said.

“This past year I played that role but I had Camille and Ashley alongside me. Next year, I will have to work twice

as hard for us to get back and win CIF again.”

Hallock matched Gonzalez and Hooks attaining first team honors, which she is proud of considering it was only her sophomore season. Hallock also had what she felt was a great game in the CIF Finals, scoring two goals in the girls’ win.

“Bella and I both had great games in the finals this year and as far as CIF championships go, that was the most unbelievable experience. We are fired up about being on top and we will work hard to get stronger and to look forwards instead of backwards going into next season.”

Like Gonzalez, Hallock is both ready and excited to take on a leadership role to influence the small group of girls the team carries.

“It will take time before Bella and I can be the leaders that Ashley and Camille were but we are up for it,” Hallock said. “They both made us better.”

Gonzalez and Hallock share a strong relationship, which they feel enhances their water polo performance as teammates.

The two both feel enthusiastic about being co-leaders next season and they believe that being back -to-back champions will require a complete team effort.

“If we have the same work ethic next year as we did this past year and if we help the younger girls on our team like Ashley and Camille did, then we have just as good of a chance of winning CIF,” Gonzalez said. daniel kim/chronicle

22 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Stories of Next Year: Dynamic Duos

Clinton Hooks ’13 & Chad Kanoff ’13

By David Gobel Next football season, “Kanoff to Hooks” will probably be the most common announcement that Athletic director Terry Barnum will shout into the loudspeakers. The relationship between likely starting quarterback Chad Kanoff ’13, and his primary target, wide receiver Clinton Hooks ’13 will be critical for the team’s success next year.

“The relationship between a quarterback and his receivers is very important,” Kanoff said. “You have to be tight with your receivers when it comes to practicing each day.”

In order for a football team to be successful, the team must have a starting quarterback that is not only talented but also provides leadership to carry the rest of the squad. Having a talented and reliable wide receiver that the quarterback can count on only makes the job of quarterback easier.

“The more time you put into the relationship, the better the result of the team will be,” Hooks said.

Last fall, playing mostly in a backup role, Kanoff threw for 863 yards and eight touchdowns. Hooks similarly played in a limited role, but still had 230 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

Although the 2010 season focused mainly on quarterback Max Heltzer ’11 and primary receiver Noor Fateh ’11, for the next two seasons the spotlight will be on Kanoff and Hooks.

“I’m just going to work hard and play as hard as I can, and we’ll see what happens from there,” Hooks said.

The dynamic between the two has been very strong for the two years they have played together, due to the proximity and need for teamwork football brings.

“When you’re spending so much time with someone over the course of the year, it’s kind of hard not to get

close to them,” Hooks said.

Head coach Vic Eumont is a proponent of friendship and trust between a quarterback and his receiver but warns that simply relying on an individual receiver could be detrimental to a team’s overall success.

“We have five receivers, and the quarterback’s responsibility is to make sure that all those five receivers can do their jobs,” Eumont said. “However if he has a favorite receiver, and that receiver is the focus of the play, than a connection between the two players helps.”

Football isn’t the only sport that Kanoff and Hooks play together. They are also talented basketball players, and could be competing for a starting spot on varsity next year.

“We mostly play the same position in basketball, so we’re going against each other pretty much every day; whereas in football we’re on the same team trying to work with each other,” Hooks said.

Although this change in relationship might seem confusing to some, Hooks and Kanoff don’t let it bother them.

“It’s really just more good competition, we really like each other, so it’s fine,” Kanoff said. air game: Chad Kanoff ’13, left, will be the Wolverines’ next starting quarterback, with Clinton Hooks ’13 as his number one receiver.

David Gobel/chronicle

Key Question: football Protecting T he Passer: If Chad Kanoff ’13 and Clinton Hooks ’13 are going to produce big numbers next year, Kanoff will need an offensive line that provides ample time to throw.

With senior starters Daniel Edelstein ’11 and Greg Zalevsky ’11 leaving, the

offensive line will only have one senior next year, center Duncan Chalfant ’12.

Thomas Oser ’13 and Charlie Nelson ’13, however, started last year at left and right tackle and have a good amount of experience, Head Coach Vic Eumont said.

nathanson ’s/chronicle

nathanson ’s/chronicle

Thomas Oser ’13 Charlie Nelson ’13

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 23

Daniel kim/chronicle

24 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Stories of Next Year: Dynamic Duos

Cami Chapus ’12 & Amy Weissenbach ’12 Both Amy Weissenbach ’12 and Cami Chapus ’12 run on record-setting relay teams and have chances for yet another team championship in track and cross country at the CIF level.

By Luke Holthouse

W

hether it is a cross country or a track meet, just about no one can keep up with Cami Chapus ’12 or Amy Weissenbach ’12. But at practice, where Weissenbach and Chapus run together, the competition gets a little tougher. While this does lead to some brutal training session and some cold ice baths, it also leads to fun meets and ridiculous relays.

The pair pushes each other to get better and better. And they have, as both have become some of the top ranked runners in the country.

“We’re both so lucky to have each other because I know I’d never be going as fast as I’m going without Cami,” Weissenbach said. “We come in together and train together and it benefits us a ton.”

But maybe the most exciting part about their careers is that they’ve got another year ahead of them to get a whole lot faster.

They’ve already combined for four CIF championships, four state championships and eight school records, and they’ll have both a cross country and track season to add to those totals.

After winning the team state championship in cross country in 2009, the Wolverines came into the season this fall hoping to build upon their success. Chapus had won the individual state title and Weissenbach finished fourth. But towards the end of the season, Weissenbach suffered a hip injury and couldn’t compete in CIF or state finals. Without one of its two anchors, the Wolverines finished second in CIF and fourth in State. Chapus said that she felt the team had a strong chance of winning CIF had her teammate not gone down.

The list of accolades Chapus

— Cross country state champion in 2009 and 2010 — Cross country team state champion in 2009 — School record holder in 1600-meter, 3200-meter, 4x400, 4x800, 800-meter medley, sprint medley, distance medley — CIF track and field team runner up in 2010

“The points were kind of set [going into CIF], but when you take one runner away, it changed everything,” Chapus said.

Frustrated by not being able to compete, Weissenbach said she was poised to come back next year even stronger and win another state title. With two returning sophomores from the team as well as a talented group of freshman joining the team, Chapus and Weissenbach could lead a dangerous team this upcoming fall.

“It was kind of a rough year,” Weissenbach said. “I was injured. Lauren [Hansson ’11] had been dealing with a lot of shin pain. Four girls were sick, even Cami had the flu all week, but we still did an exceptional job. We’re definitely driven to come back next year. We’ll be underdogs next year so we’re hoping to come from behind, come out when it matters most and get revenge.”

But with Weissenbach back for track season, the Wolverines have done nothing but dominate.

Both the distance medley relay team and the 4x800 medley relay team anchored by the duo have set national records and qualified for CIF. Chapus qualified in three other events for CIF, and Weissenbach also qualified in two events.

With all their success in both individual and relay track events, the pair hopes to hang even more banners in Taper Gym before they graduate.

“Amy and I will still be here, and we’re looking forward to our senior years and establishing another relay team,” Chapus said. “This won’t be the same team next year, but we’re going to have to carry us through and set an example. Our goal is to work hard this summer, hope it pays off and get as many wins as we can. We’re both excited.”

Cami Chapus ’12 and Amy Weissenbach ’12 have won a plethora of major individual awards. Not only have they racked up championships in track, but have also been successful in cross country meets.

Weissenbach

— 800-meter state champion in 2010 — Cross country individual runner up state champion in 2009 — School record holder in the 800-meter, 4x400, 4x800, sprint medley and distance Medley — Cross country team State Champion in 2009 — CIF track and field team runner up in 2010

BIG RED Year-End 2011 I 25

How much is too much?

26 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

The Student-Athlete Experience

In-Depth

By Alex Leichenger

I

n the January issue of Big Red, the story “Rise of a Powerhouse” traced the development of an elite athletic program at the school. In the same way Harvard-Westlake requires excellence in academics, it now requires excellence in sports.

But from the viewpoints of many teachers and kids, the expectation of excellence in these two realms and more has added a costly burden on student-athletes.

It’s a culture change that extends far beyond HarvardWestlake. Early specialization has mostly replaced experimentation as the philosophy of choice in youth sports. Club teams often force athletes to play one sport year-round, and at Harvard-Westlake, full-time coaches have almost completely replaced teacher-coaches as the leaders of high school programs.

In his 30 years as a history teacher at Harvard and Harvard-Westlake, David Waterhouse has witnessed first-hand the change in amateur athletics. Waterhouse, who teaches a semester-long American Popular Culture class for seniors, has also done research on the subject.

Waterhouse coached varsity basketball and tennis at Harvard in the 1980s at the time the high school athletic culture began shifting.

He believes that the increased emphasis on sports at younger ages is a result of the lucrative business that developed in professional and college sports. As universities profited handsomely from success in sports, they poured more money into their athletic programs and opened more admissions spots for athletes. And as competition for scholarships grew, private clubs found a niche as the go-to source for youth athlete development.

Consequently, high schools feared that club teams would “drain” all the top talent from varsity teams, Waterhouse said. Private schools like Harvard, and eventually HarvardWestlake, responded to the club sports predicament and the changing standards of colleges by ratcheting up focus and spending on sports.

Tom Hudnut’s predecessor as Harvard School headmaster, Chris Berrisford, held a drastically different view of sports’ ideal role on a high school campus, Waterhouse said.

Berrisford once told Waterhouse that if it were up to him, Harvard would have only intramural sports and not even compete against other schools.

Teams did not meet during winter break or during finals, and practices lasted only an hour-and-a-half.

Athletics at Harvard-Westlake have undergone radical changes since then as the time commitment required for each sport has skyrocketed. Partly because of club sports,

lengthy practices and arduous travel schedules pile up on the student-athletes.

“Sports is not the only extracurricular that has expanded its time commitment,” Waterhouse said. “Newspaper is more of a time commitment than it used to be, performing arts is more of a time commitment. Extracurriculars just seem to be a bigger factor in people’s lives, for good or for ill.

It seems to be a key thing in getting into college. I think another slight disadvantage is that you can’t dabble in as many things as you used to be able to.”

Waterhouse did not dispute that the school has seen a rise in athletic success, but pointed out the inevitable trade-off brought upon student-athletes.

“Something’s got to give somewhere,” he said. “Either you don’t sleep, or you don’t study as much. There’s only so many hours in the day.”

Waterhouse has two children who were active participants in Harvard-Westlake sports. His son Jeff ’04 played alongside future major leaguer Brennan Boesch ’03 on the 2003 CIF runner-up baseball team and played JV basketball through 10th grade. Waterhouse’s daughter Emily ’09 plays college volleyball at Amherst.

“It’s fun to win, but I don’t think it’s as fun as often and as much as it used to be because it’s so much pressure to win,” Waterhouse said. “When you win, it’s fun. My daughter was on the volleyball team that won the state championship [in 2007]. That was a tremendous amount of fun. But there’s also a tremendous amount of stress and exhaustion—tournaments where there were so many games in a row that girls were actually passing out and getting sick from exhaustion. But in the end, I guess it paid off.”

Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas has his own misgivings about the modern-day structure of youth sports.

“I believe that young athletes are under more pressure than ever to specialize in one sport,” Barzdukas said. “And that pressure comes from different places. It comes from club coaches, it comes from parents, it comes from peers.

I know that you can play soccer year-round as an eightyear-old. My son just finished his first season of club soccer, and honestly it wasn’t a totally great experience. It was too much.”

But Barzdukas called blaming the system a “cop-out.”

“I think you control how you feel, and when you give

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The Student-Athlete Experience away to circumstances or somebody else or to some situation, well you’ve given away the most powerful thing you have as a person,” he said.

He added that time commitment is a necessary step to achieve greatness in sports and any other discipline.

“If you want to be good at something, you have to work really hard at it,” Barzdukas said. “Welcome to the world … If you don’t want to be good, don’t work hard. You get to pick. It’s the beauty of being a human being.”

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ustin Lewis ’11, a cross country runner since eighth grade, has seen the focus of the program shift in each year he has been involved. In ninth grade, he called the team “more community-oriented,” with less structure to practices and more emphasis on building an enjoyment for running. But as the team became more competitive in his years at the upper school, going from a ninth place state finish in his sophomore nathanson ’s/chronicle year to a second place Audrius finish his senior year, Barzdukas timed workouts in practices increasingly replaced more casual conditioning.

“I feel that the passion for running is being sort of put aside by that desire to win or do well, and I think you need both,” Lewis said. “It’s pointless to be

on a team that doesn’t care what its outcome is, but I think it also doesn’t work for a team just to have complete and utter lack of passion in what they do anymore.”

Erin Landau ’11, a three-year varsity girls’ soccer player, described an uncomfortable culture within the program.

“The whole dynamic of girls trying to make varsity was also really hard because there are let’s say 10 or 15 sophomores who are all jockeying for positions on varsity and forced to go to every single little thing, every single meeting, every single weight training,” Landau said.

Once a player makes the team, she faces a whole new struggle to keep her spot on the roster or in the rotation.

Ben Krause ’11 was a star baseball player in middle school and ascended to the varsity level by his junior year.

He described a similarly tense culture within the baseball program, where players were pitted against each in competition for positions, essentially making every optional practice or workout opportunity mandatory.

As a pitcher, he felt pushed under the microscope on the mound.

Juggling a schedule of four APs and honors classes, Peer Support and jazz band, Krause dropped baseball shortly before midterms that year.

“I used to absolutely love baseball,” Krause said. “I had every almanac, I collected cards … had autographed baseballs everywhere, but it got to the point where the issues that I had with [the coach] were the issues that I had with the “If you want to be good at something, sport itself. Like last year, couldn’t even watch you have to work really hard at it. If you Ibaseball on TV. It was don’t want to be good, don’t work hard. that upsetting.”

Noor Fateh ’11, a threeYou get to pick. It’s the beauty of being a sport athlete who starred at wide receiver in football, human being.” had a drastically different athletic experience.

“I feel like football at “Girls are fearful of doing poorly in Harvard-Westlake really saved me,” one game—they’re so fearful of mess- Fateh said. “Harvard Westlake is a ing up that it makes it hard to actually really rigorous academic school, and I play in the game,” Landau said. “If you think that everybody finds there outlet talk to some of these girls, they’re like, to academics, whether it be in the sci‘Oh, I don’t want to mess up, I don’t ence club, or in the basketball or socwant to mess up, what if I go in and cer team, or dance, everybody has their mess up, what if I mess up?” outlet, and I really think that football

The overuse dilemma

By Alex Leichenger The topic of overuse injuries in youth athletes has become so significant in recent years that two of the nation’s leading orthopedic surgeons have signed on to help the cause. Doctors James Andrews, Co-Founder of the Alabama Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center, and Neal Elattrache (Nicole ’14), the Los Angeles Dodgers team physician, have teamed up to create the Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention campaign, which has been featured in Sports Illustrated.

The assumption of many doctors up to now has been that year-round specialization in one sport and too much time spent training leads to increased risk of injury. In conjunction with Children’s Hospital, Harvard-Westlake has started participation in a study that could provide insight to that claim, as reported in the April issue of The Chronicle.

Harvard-Westlake is the only school currently participating in the study, but Dr. Lee Pace, one of two

28 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Excessive playing and practicing is a possible cause of injuries for many Wolverine athletes.

lead researchers, hopes to involve more in the future.

Submissions have been lacking so far because a parental consent form must be signed before students can answer the study’s questionnaire, Pace said.

Common examples of overuse injuries include stress fractures, shoulder and elbow injuries in baseball, knee tendinitis, Achilles heel injuries in running and wrist injuries for gymnasts.

“We want adolescents and children to be as active as possible,” Pace said. “We don’t want them to get injured; we want them to stay in the game, so what we’re hoping to keep them in the game. We think, but we don’t know that potentially we’re pushing kids a little too hard, and when we think about it we may even be pushing kids harder than we push professional athletes because [professional athletes’] only job in life is to participate in a sport.”

If the study does not show evidence of a correlation between time spent training and susceptibility to injury, “we’d really have to go back to the drawing board and really put our heads together,” Pace said.

The Student-Athlete Experience was an outlet for me.

keeps score for girls’ basketball and track and field, believes sports mostly ore than 10 years ago, faculty have a constructive influence, forming a and parents formed a workcommunity bond and helping studentload committee to examine athletes learn time management. the time commitments of students to “When you go to college, you have their academics and extracurriculars. to balance your life between academThe committee recommended scaling ics and who you are as a human in the back homework requirements, rehearsworld, whether it’s through sports or al times in performing arts and practice hobbies or social life,” Evans said. time in sports.

History teacher Nini Halkett, in her Rules were put in place about how 23rd year at the school, agreed that many hours of homework and practice sports help students learn time manwere permissible. agement skills. Halkett has two chilBut according to science teacher dren, Ashley ’09, a former varsity swim David Hinden, who is in his 19th year captain, and Patrick ’14, a wrestler, who at the school and headed the workload both have very much enjoyed the cacommittee, athletics have evaded the maraderie and work ethic instilled by restrictions to some extent because of playing sports at Harvard-Westlake, the extra time commitment brought on she said. by club sports.

But Halkett said that Participation in club the added commitment “It’s pointless to be on a team that has essentially become has taken away from class mandatory for many time and possible downdoesn’t care what its outcome is, but I high school athletes, time for student-athletes. think it also doesn’t work for a team who want to keep up She recalls asking three with their teammates of her students, all varto just have complete and utter lack of and competitors even if sity athletes, about their passion in what they do anymore.” they don’t plan on playsummer plans. Each stuing the sport in college. dent had nothing planned The workload comoutside his or her sport. nathanson ’s/chronicle mittee also recomPerforming arts teacher Austin mended the creation of currently have, but I think works, Ted Walch, who has taught at HarvardLewis a Sports Council, which between athletics and academics,” Westlake since the merger 20 years ago, brings together teachHinden said. “And I think the bal- used to serve on the Sports Council. He ers, administrators and coaches from ance between the two currently is suc- believes the issues of high school sports both campuses for monthly discussion. cessful, but I don’t think there’s a lot of have been oversimplified to a blame Because of the stark decline in teach- give at this point for either athletics or game between teachers and the athletic er-coaches (Waterhouse said when he academics.” department. first came to the school almost every Jacob Hazard, a seventh-year math “Part of me wishes that everything teacher also coached, now only one of teacher, former assistant baseball coach at this school would calm down a bit, 24 varsity head coaches teaches aca- and a first-year member of the Sports across the board,” Walch said. “But my demic classes), the school needed to get Council as the Upper School Dean of experience has taught me that if I were teachers and coaches “in the same room Faculty, pointed to the issue of missed to give up time for my activity, the old together,” said Hinden, who has headed class time as a particularly difficult one. phrase about nature abhorring a vacthe Sports Council for the last three or Though athletes already miss that time uum is true—somebody else is going to four years. for club teams, affiliating those teams come in and eat up that time someThe Council has monitored school with the school would elevate “internal how else. In my 47 years of teaching, I sport practice times since the work- friction.” have noticed that my biggest regret in load committee policy was instituted, Under the current structure, Hazard the lives of our kids is, God forbid they judging from student-athlete surveys said, “there’s nothing I can do about should have any free time. And if there whether there have been violations. it but be angry” about students missing is free time, or unscheduled time, someOver the years, surveys mostly have school for club tournaments. body’s going to come in and schedule it shown compliance with practice limits, But teachers “would actually have … That isn’t athletics’ fault.”

Hinden said, though he acknowledged someone to complain to” if the change “It’s easy to bash on athletics. I’ve some issues last year that have since is adopted. been in this business a long time, and been rectified.

Hazard said that the Council is still I’ve seen the heads of athletics and acaThis year, the major topic on the in the brainstorming phase of its dis- demics butting heads a lot, in three difCouncil’s agenda beside the new fan cussion and that they are nowhere near ferent schools—nothing unique about behavior rules has been the club sports a consensus. However, the Council will Harvard-Westlake. And I don’t think debate. make “some kind of recommendation” that’s the proper way to pose the quesTwo years ago, a CIF rule outlawing at its June meeting whether to insti- tion. I think the proper way to pose the offseason communication between ath- tute the change on a trial basis, Hinden question is to say we need to find ways letes and school coaches was rescind- said. for our students to be less committed ed, Hinden said, theoretically allowing across the board. And if you want excelschools to have their own club sports ath Department Head Paula lence in everything, that doesn’t mean teams.

Evans, who participated on each student has to be excellent in evHarvard-Westlake has considered the workload committee and erything.”

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adopting school-sponsored club sports on a trial basis, but the pros and cons have inspired heated debate on the Council in its last two meetings. The advantages to having club sports on campus are a reduction in travel time for athletes to and from their current club events, having the same coach year-round instead of multiple coaches with potentially conflicting philosophies and a possible cut in costs for families to sign their kids up for club teams.

But making the change would require more athletic department employees, a potential increase in expenses for athletic facilities and more missed class time for school-sponsored events.

“My principal concern is that it has the potential of upsetting what I think is a pretty delicate balance that we

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Spring 2011: the season in photos Photos by Daniel Kim, Judd Liebman, Ashley Khakshouri, and David Lieber

on the back: Adit Gadh ’11 backstrokes at the Mission League Final.

impact: Star shortstop Chloe Pendergast ’13 swings for a hit.

Dual finish: Cami Chapus ’12 and Amy Weissenbach ’12 finish a race side-byside at the Mission League Finals.

30 | BIG RED Year-End 2011

Setting it up: Spencer Eichler ’11 sets the ball for a teammate. The team ended its season 10-17.

All laid out: Wesley Peacock ’11 dives for a catch in a key late-season win over Loyola.

over the bar: Drew Tuttle ’11 clears a high jump at a track meet against Alemany.

Full extension: Jackson Frons ’12 lunges for the ball in the Wolverines’ 14-4 playoff win over Trabuco Hills.

Head-TO-HEAD: Evan Meister ’12 faces off with Agoura during the Wolverines’ 11-10 CIF playoff loss

Greenseeker: Andrew Sohn ’13 drives the ball.

The team won its league tournament.

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