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Sports
Senior Reem Kiflemariam intercepts a pass from a U-City player at the varsity game on Sept. 6.
Volleyball The girls’ team is off to a good start with a record of 10-0. “I think we have a chance at conferences, and maybe at least a chance for 2nd place,” said volleyball coach Chris Frankenfield. The volleyball team is preparing for tournaments and games through practices. The team practices every day after school until 5 p.m.; practices consist of ball handling, strategy, conditioning, and 6 on 6 scrimmaging. “We’re a small team [in height] so we have to work extra hard because we don’t have the height some other teams do,” said junior Carly Coughlin. One of the challenges that the team faces is their own physical stature. Volleyball is a game where height provides an advantage; however, the team has overcome this challenge so far, winning five of their five games. “[One of our goals is to get] 20 or more wins. We’re also trying to win a tournament,” said Frankenfield. So far, the team has been winning, but continues to focus their attention to the future and concentrate on winning even more. “We want to win districts, and we’re undefeated and want to keep it that way,” said Coughlin. Winning districts is often a goal of many different sports, but in order to achieve this, teams need to work hard and keep practicing, while also focusing on improvement.
“We’re hoping to get better every day; we want today to be better than yesterday,” said Frankenfield. Their next game will be on Oct. 2 at Parkway North. Photo by Gianna Sparks
Boys’ soccer, with a record of 5-4, has some new goals regarding the Fall season. “We want to take the season one game at a time; we want incoming players to remember us for our perseverance,” said senior Aaron Neifert. While one of the big goals for the team is to win conference, they also want to focus on the way the play the game and be able to persevere through their games, even when the team is struggling. “[Another one of our goals is] to transition more younger players [to our team because] we’re losing a lot of seniors,” said soccer coach Jeff Church. As well as facing the challenge of recruiting underclassmen to take the place of departing seniors, the soccer team is also shooting for a goal regarding their record. “We’re one game under 500,” said Church. One of the goals that the team has for this season is to win its 500th game. In order to achieve this goal, the soccer team has been practicing strategically. The team practices after school until 5 p.m. every day. While a lot of practices focus on core workouts, they also revolve around what the team needs to work on most, and the skills that they need to develop. This way, the skills they are lacking on get focus, promoting improvement. The next game will be held on Oct. 1 at Parkway North.
Photo by Emma Mitchell
Soccer
September 30, 2013 Parkway North High School
The volleyball team practices communication and ball handling skills during practice in the lower gym on Sept. 18.
Gianna Sparks Centerspread Editor
As the weather turns colder and the leaves start to change colors, many Fall sports begin to practice and compete in matches, tournaments, and games.
Field Hockey Girls’ field hockey has also faced a lot of changes and challenges this year regarding their 1-7 record so far, and the addition of two new coaches. “We’re a little rusty, but for the beginning of the season we’re doing fairly well,” said junior Hayley Hartsock. Although the beginning of the field hockey season has been full of challenges, including intense heat, and a losing record, the team and coaches continue to persevere and work hard in the hopes that they will succeed. “We stick with it and haven’t given up. I have seen improvement from day one,” said coach Lori Sinclair. The field hockey team continues to get better and is turning its focus to what skills need improvement most. These skills can help the team become more resilient and aggressive on the field. “[One skill] we can improve [on] is our physical fitness. It can make [a] big improvement on our play,” said Sinclair. Field hockey is a physically demanding sport, requiring players to do a lot of running. Because of this, endurance and strength are both essential skills needed to succeed in the sport. While endurance and physical fitness are all helpful in playing field hockey, “one of the most important thing is to be aggressive,” said Sinclair. The next game will be on Oct. 2 at Clayton High School.
Photo by Gianna Sparks
Girls’ tennis, which has a record of 6-4, is coming off of a winning season last year and is hoping to do even better this year. “Our goal always is to win our district and to advance the team or individuals to state; we want to show improvement and have fun,” said tennis coach Ron Lefcourt. Last year, tennis had a successful season, with several individuals going to the state competition. This year, the tennis team is hoping to continue to succeed, especially by focusing on skill and strategy. “We do a lot of conditioning especially the first few weeks. We [also] practice drills and strategies. Eventually, we start matches and practice a little less,” said Lefcourt. Practices for the team vary as the season progresses. At the beginning of the season, the team focuses their practices on conditioning. As the season continues, the team shifts their focus to strategy and skills, even decreasing the amount of practices per week in order to accommodate the increase of matches. “We’ve been doing pretty well. [Our] first few games were hard, but we’re bringing our game up,” said senior Cristina Han. While the team has been doing well so far, they are still facing some challenges, particularly with the heat. The temperature has impacted many sports and has even caused the tennis team to change around their practice schedule. “The heat makes people more tired and
fatigued,” said Han. The tennis team practices outside on the cement tennis courts, which absorb heat throughout the day, and can make an already hot day seem extra intense. However, the team has been taking these challenges in stride and keeps focusing on doing their best. The next game is on Oct. 1 at Parkway
Photo by Molly Thal
Tennis
Junior Mina Kim practices her forehand while practicing for an upcoming match.
Players senior Laura Rojas, junior Annalise Ruzika, and senior Elllen Lundstrom react to the opposing team, Parkway South, almost scoring a goal in their game on Sept. 11.
September 30, 2013 Parkway North High School
Sports
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Ryan Lutker Staff Writer The Parkway North varsity softball team is looking to win the district championships this year after placing second last year to St. Joseph’s Academy 7-12. “After making it to the district championship game last year, [the players] saw what it’s going to be like, what it feels like to be playing at that level,” said coach Amy Doyle. After a promising start of the season, winning the district championship isn’t a far reach for the team. If the team does win the district championship, they will move onto sectionals. “Everyone felt really happy to beat Summit; and it was also our first conference win so it put us in a good position,” said outfielder and junior Emily Evans, who has been on the team for three years. The first conference game against Rockwood Summit set high expectations for the team, and demonstrated that the team was really in it to win it. The score was tied when sophomore Ria Smith hit in junior Anna Chisolm in the 7th inning, ending the game and resulting in a 5-4 win. “Every game we play is in preparation for that district championship game and to win every pitch, win every out, win every inning, that will get us there,” said Doyle. With a current record of 11-4, Doyle has high expectations for the season. “It looks good. We’ve got a number of juniors that are now on their third year on the varsity program,” said Doyle. Junior Sara Stevens, the team’s first baseman, said that she has learned “I can’t play for myself; I have to play for my team. Even if I’m having a bad day, I have to forget about it because it is more important to win and play with the team.” Stevens has been on the team for three years. “I’ve learned that attitude is really important in life and in softball: it’s not just a
Photo by Ryan Lutker
Softball Team Strives for Win at Districts
Junior Emily Evans bats for Parkway North in their game against Rockwood Summit on Sept. 3. North took the lead in the 7th inning, winning 5-4.
physical game but a really mental game, and you can’t get too down on yourself, or else you will feel really bad,” said Evans. Senior Courtney Norris, the team’s pitcher and captain, credits the team’s success to their closeness, their devotion to the sport, and their ability to work together. “We depend on each other, as a team, we can’t just do it by ourselves. We all contribute, but it’s really a team effort from everybody ... We have a strong family connec-
tion; everybody is working together,” said Norris. “It’s really important because if people don’t do their job, it’s on them, and it affects the team because you don’t have anybody to back you up. But we all have each other’s backs,” said junior Cassidy Taggart. The team practices after school from 3:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the field at ISC. First on the agenda is hitting practice; then the team heads to the field for drills planned
by their coaches. The team is preparing for their two final games before Districts: St. Charles West on Sept. 30 and McCluer North on Oct. 10. Many parents, students, and staff think that the odds are in favor of the team. “I played for and coached Parkway North softball and this is the best team that I’ve seen so far at Parkway North. They have the potential to go far,” said Parkway North athletic director Kris Kellams.
Molly Thal Co-Editor in Chief Race. Dart. Dash. Zoom. Jog. All of these words describe what members of the girls cross country teams at Parkway North do. The girls Cross Country team practices every day after school. A typical practice starts off with a warm-up lap around the athletic fields and down Fee Fee. After that, the team does dynamic stretching to prepare for the main run. Then the team finishes with stretches. “We’re getting rid of all the static stretches, which don’t actually help you get stronger, and we’ve replaced them with more stretches that will strengthen them each day so that they will have a smaller chance of injuring themselves,” said girls cross country coach Scott Kreher. “This summer, I spent a lot of my time looking at an injury prevention book because girls cross country has one of the highest rates of injury, so we’re being more proactive than reactive. Instead of having a lot of stretches to fix your [muscle fatigue], we’re working
on stretches to prevent [muscle fatigue].” Just as with any sport, there are injuries more common to have as a cross country runner. In cross country, shin splints, a swelling of the shins when overworked, and knee injuries are common. “They find other ways to injure themselves from time to time. Ankles, arch of the feet, just whatever can break will probably break at some point if you don’t work right,” said Kreher. Cross country is very unique in its structure: there is no ball, no substitutes, and no points. “I would say it’s the purest of pure sports, because it’s a team sport and an individual sport. You’re only accountable for yourself. You can have a team goal and also an individual goal,” said Kreher. “There are no breaks, there are no time outs, you can’t rotate a person for another person, it’s just five kilometers just on you. So [it’s about] how you mentally and physically play through that game of working around other people.” It is important to set goals for each practice and every season. Runners are encouraged to set goals for both themselves as
individuals and for their team. “My goal every year for each girl is for them to get their personal record and personal best. In girls cross country, you can’t really compare previous years because for a lot of them, we run different courses, so they just have to do their best each year and hopefully each year they achieve their personal best as the year goes on. That’s always my biggest goal,” said Kreher. “And then secondly, I want them to see what we do as a lifestyle activity and not just a sport you do for 11 weeks then move on and do something else.” Cross country meets are usually over the weekends, each typically hosting between 15 to 20 school teams. A typical meet is five kilometers (3.1 miles). “[Meets] are so hectic. So many people in one line; you have to sprint up just to get a spot to be comfortable with. It’s hard,” said junior Celina Fajardo. The team’s first meet was the Lafayette Invitational at Castlewood State Park. Their last was the Parkway Central Invitational on Thurs, Sept. 19. Their next meet is this Thursday at Arnold Park, where they hope to repeat their success from last year.
Photo by Molly Thal
Girls Cross Country Trains, Competes
Cross country runners, seniors Mary-Kate Mudd and Kristina Minard line up with fellow team members for four 100 sprints.