SPORTS
Friday, March 5, 2010
BETWEEN THE LINES
By Neel Thakkar Bring ‘em back!
Senior Joseph Lakner swims in the 100-Yard Backstroke in the Wheeling pool on Prospect’s Senior Night.
PHOTO BY AMANDA MLIKAN
Senior Joe Lakner swims the 100-Yard backstroke at the Wheeling High School pool on Prospect’s Senior Night. The boys’ swim team, under new coach Alfonso Lopez, qualified two swimmers to state: Lakner and senior Tyler Bengsten.
Grad goes back to school Lopez admits to never planning tin was surprised at just how much on becoming Prospect’s coach. the team improved. “My goals were not to come “For a first-year coach, he was back and coach; I didn’t really a great coach, and we definitely got think about that at all,” Lopez said. a lot better,” Martin said. “It was ... something that just kind Bengsten, in spite of qualifying of happened.” for state as a sophomore and juAccording to players, the coach- nior, also said that he feels that the ing change improved the team team improved greatly due to the greatly despite results that coaching transition. were similar compared to The betterment of last year. With Mortensen the team, however, did By Nick Stanojevic last year, the team finished not come easy. With Staff Writer third at conference, fourth Mortensen, the team usuOn Nov. 23, junior John Behnke at sectionals and qualified ally had one morning and his teammates waited nervous- three swimmers for state practice a week and never ly at the swimming pool in Wheel- in the 200-yard medley reorganized lifting sessions. ing High School to meet their new lay. Once Lopez arrived, the coach, Alfonso Lopez, who teaches This year, the swimAlfonso Lopez team had to practice or lift at Cooper Middle School. Lopez ming team finished fourth every morning, something took over after former coach of 11 at the conference tournament and unheard of during Mortensen’s years Dick Mortensen left to coach fifth at sectionals. Additionally, the tenure. Hersey in order to spend more team qualified two swimmers for But, according to Behnke, the time with his son. state, seniors Joe Lakner and Ty- changes were worth it. “I really didn’t know what to ler Bengsten. “They helped us get through the expect,” Behnke Despite the plateaus that we hit,” Behnke said. said, “but the girls weaker statisDespite the more rigorous rouliked him a lot, tics, Bengsten tine, Lopez managed to stay on the State Results so I thought he said that the good side of players. Behnke said would be good.” team improved that he believes that not everyone On Friday, Feb. 26, seniors Senior Ed Marand that two saw eye-to-eye with Mortensen, Tyler Bengsten and Joe Lakner tin, on the other seasons should and Martin agrees. swam at the state tournament at hand, remembers not always be “Mortensen was much more Evanston Township High School. feeling “excited” compared us- strict; Lopez is kind of more laid Bengsten took 24th in his 100because Lopez ing numbers. back and would let us discipline Yard Breaststroke, his highest swam for Pros“We lost two ourselves and just go about giving placement in his three years at pect. individual state us the workouts,” Martin said. state. Lakner took 39th in his In 1998 and qualifiers, but “I felt like he showed more 100-yard backstroke. 1999, Lopez swam you can’t really compassion, and it seemed like he for the varsity compare two cared more about how we did in evteam. In 1998, years because it ery race,” Bengsten said. Mortensen joined depends on who The season was not perfect for the coaching staff. Mortensen re- has more talent at the pool and who the team, though. One of the bigmembers Lopez as a natural leader. wants it the most,” Bengsten said. gest disappointments for the team “He swam for me in high school Despite his hesitation in com- was not winning the MSL East this [his] junior and senior year. He paring two seasons, Bengsten season; they finished second. The was a good leader then, and now agrees with his teammates that the players said that it had been their I know him as a friend, and he is coaching change worked. main goal. well-respected throughout the con“I think we progressed more Luckily, the team did not get ference,” Mortensen said. as a team due to the coaching, discouraged about Hersey. The because I feel he Knights placed ahead of Hersey at [Lopez] trained us both conference and sectionals. better and is a betOverall, the team feels that this ter coach overall,” season was a success, but it did Bengsten said. not come easy was not completely “So, near the end smooth. Now, expectations are set of the season, our high, but the team is losing its guys were getting two state qualifiers to graduation. faster than the Behnke predicts an unpredictable rest of the teams.” season. Martin was “We’re losing the main part of just “looking to our team, which is our seniors, get better” with and we had a lot of fast seniors, so a new coach in I don’t know ... it will be unpredictcharge. Even Mar- able.”
PHS alum finishes first season as swimming head coach
The great thing about the Winter Olympics — besides the U.S.-Canada hockey games, maybe — is the chance to get to know all those sports you forgot about four years ago. For two or three weeks in February on alternating even-numbered years, it’s fun and exciting and a little bit funny to become obsessive or deeply invested in the fate of the American curling team or bobsledding squad — made up of people you wouldn’t otherwise recognize if you saw them at Sam’s Club two months later. Unfortunately, in this aspect the Winter Games are the unloved stepchildren in comparison with the event-laden Summer Games. The Vancouver Games boasted only of 82 events; the Beijing Games featured 302. Of course, there’s a lot more to do on dry land and water than on ice and snow. Still, there are many more sports that could make future Winter Games a lot more fun. Here are some of those that were included at one point, but have been dropped since: Bandy: Played as a demonstration sport (a sport included in the Olympics to be tested; it doesn’t contribute to the medal count) in the 1952 Games in Oslo, bandy has since been left out of the Olympics. A variant of hockey, bandy is played with an bright-orange ball instead of a puck. Right now, the American team is largely group of Minnesotans retired from college or professional hockey (Minnesota has America’s only bandy rink), but the sport is big in the Nordic countries and in Russia. The good news: Russia is the host of the next Winter Games, and President Vladimir Putin is said to be strongly in favor of including bandy. Skijöring: The first sentence of its Wikipedia entry tells you all you need to know: “Skijoring ... is a winter sport where a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog (or dogs) or a motor vehicle.” Basically water-skiing on snow (or cross-country skiing with an animal doing the work), this sport was a part of the 1928 Games (as a demonstration). Synchronized Skating: The Summer Games have synchronized swimming — isn’t it only fair that the Winter Olympics get synchronized skating? The event was included as a demonstration event in the 2002 Salt Lake City games, but hasn’t made an appearance since. Maybe North Korea, famous for its displays of massive coordinated displays and winner of just two Winter Olympic medals, could excel in this category. Ski Ballet: Apparently, ski ballet is possible. In fact, it was included as a demonstration event in 1988 and 1992, and included a 90-second routine — accompanied by music — of, Wikipedia says, “flips, rolls, leg crossings, jumps, and spins performed on a smooth slope.” If you thought figure skating was hard, wait until you see this. Speed Skiing: Included as a demonstration in 1992, speed skiing is simple to understand: get from the top of the hill to the bottom in a straight line as fast as possible. No tricks, no jumps, no turns. Just speed, and lots of it: athletes can reach speeds of 125 miles per hour, and the record is 156 miles per hour. To get a sense of just how fast that is, consider that even skydivers don’t normally reach such speeds. Bavarian Curling: Also called ice stock sport, Bavarian curling (as you might’ve guessed), is a version of curling popular in Germany. The key difference is the shape of the stone, which appears to have a bottle (or bottles) sticking out of it (go figure). Curling is already one of the Winter Olympics’ most notorious sports; it could only help to add the Bavarian version. Besides, it was made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff !