Though most of us probably don’t want to admit it, winter is fast approaching. This means no more autumn leaves, late night bonfires and fall sports. As the fall season sports winds down, here’s an introspective look back to the best and the worst moments.
Cross Country–
You’ve probably seen the cross country team around Lawrence. It is that giant cluster of kids sprinting around town. Some of us might think they’re crazy, but really they’re just driven and they love doing what they do.
“[I won] first place at the Haskell meet this year,” senior Ruthie Ozonoff said with a fond smile. “I never thought that I would win first place but I did.”
Though running in cross country can be exhausting, those who are involved really throw themselves into pushing themselves to be the best they can be.
“Every year we camp out at Rimrock and, in the morning, we run [13 miles] back,” senior Paige Kallenberger said. “Last year I did 10 ½ miles so this year I was determined to run the whole thing.”
The main focus in cross country is doing one’s personal best and both Kallenberger and Ozonoff agree that, as cliche as it sounds, everyone was a winner, breaking their personal bests left and right.
“All of our meets were really good,” Ozonoff said. “Everybody placed really well and kept getting personal records and good times. So we had a pretty good season.”
Football–
Let’s be honest; you’re not a true Firebird if you don’t go to at least one home game. There is nothing quite like seeing the wave of green and hearing the fight song while socializing with your friends. And seeing a spectacular game is just another benefit.
“We outdid everybody’s expectations,” senior Tim Turner said. “We weren’t supposed to win more than two games.”
And they definitely won more than two games. By the week of the LHS/Free State game the Fighting Firebirds had won six games and lost only two.
The season was full of highlights for the team.
“We beat Olathe North, which was nice,” Turner said. “The last time we beat them was in 2008 when they went to the state championship. Our record against them is like 4-11. They’ve dominated us so it was really nice to get a win under our belt.”
While the entire team has worked extremely hard to get to the point where it is today, Turner has his own ideas of who works the hardest.
“Our offensive line as a whole has to work the hardest,” Turner said. “They have to know blocking assignments and they have to know when to block down fields for runs or passes and when the linebackers are coming.”
Looking back, Turner isn’t too worried about leaving the team in the hands of the underclassmen. He believes that they will be able to take control and lead the team to another victorious season next year.
Girls’ Golf–
It’s all been fun and games being a part of girls golf.
“We’re always laughing and telling jokes and just having a good time,” junior Kelsey Trast said.
Senior Rachel Harkin has to agree.
“I don’t really have a favorite moment,” Harkin said. “There’s a wide variety of girls on the team and we tend to have a lot of good moments together. Golf tends to bring out the best in us.”
Since golf is more of a personal sport, there aren’t necessarily winners and losers. However, this year a few girls took home medals.
“The team played in four tournaments this year and we didn’t do too bad but there isn’t really one team that wins,” Harkin said. “You just take the pride of getting a good score home.”
Both Harkin and Trast agree that the Varsity golf team this year worked the hardest and received the best scores.
“They work the hardest out of anybody on the team because they didn’t just join the team to socialize,” Harkin said. “They are the ones who are focused and, because of that, it’s taken them the farthest.”
Gymnastics–
It takes tough girls to do tough sports like gymnastics.
“Gymnastics is a really demanding sport,” junior Grace Oliver said. “You have to have a lot of mental and physical capacity, and I never saw people cry or break down. They were all really strong.”
Like a majority of the other fall sports, gymnastics has had a pretty stellar season. Recently the team won state, but even though it was such a huge event, Oliver and senior Kitty Tootle agree it was getting to know each other that made the whole season.
“There were a lot of new girls [this year],” Tootle said. “It was really fun to get to know all of them.”
A gymnastics first timer, Oliver had wanted to join gymnastics since summer and was not disappointed.
“It was a really unexpected gain for me,” she said. “It was a really happy thing for me because I didn’t really know what to do [this year] and I liked being a part of the team.”
Tootle, who is graduating after this year, admits she’s sad that she’ll be leaving the team.
“Right before I went out for my last performance I started to tear up,” Tootle said.
Neither Tootle nor Oliver are worried about next year’s team. The underclassmen have improved since the start of the season and are well equipped for whatever next year has to throw at them.
“It’s going to be different,” Oliver said. “But I think the team will be strong.”
Boys’ Soccer–
Though running suicides can make you feel like you actually want to commit suicide, being a part of the soccer team is definitely worth it.
“We’ve had a good time [this season],” senior Ruben Ghijsen said.
In a spectacular season the Firebirds were triumphant in eight matches, lost six and tied two. But Ghijsen’s favorite part isn’t the amount of times they won or lost. It’s all about the game.
“We beat Shawnee Mission West in overtime by one point,” Ghijsen said, smiling.
Though this is Ghijsen’s last year playing, he isn’t sad that he will no longer be a part of the school’s soccer team, but he does plan on playing soccer in the near future.
“We’ve had a good time [this year],” he said. “Maybe I’ll play for a club team but not on a national level.”
Ghijsen doesn’t seem worried about all the upperclassmen leaving. In fact he seems at ease with leaving the boy’s soccer team in the junior and sophomore’s hands next year.
“We have good sophomores this year that will be ready to step up next year,” Ghijsen said. “I think next year’s team will be good. Maybe even better.”
Girls’ Tennis–
Nothing has slowed senior Guin Toalson down since she and her partner, Caitlin Tilden, qualified for state at regionals.
“I screamed on the court, which is something you’re not supposed to do,” Toalson said.
Though they suffered a few losses, one involving a tied game and a line judge, girls’ tennis came out strong.
Since tennis is a big part of Toalson’s life, she hopes to play competitively in college but she does agree leaving her alma mater will be sad.
“I know I’ll play [tennis] in the summer but I don’t know if I’ll end up playing in college,” Toalson said. “It kind of depends on where I go, so it’s kind of upsetting.”
There isn’t one specific person on the team who works above and beyond everyone else according to Toalson. Everyone on the team always works hard in practice and listens to what her coach tells them to do with a smile on her face.
“A lot of the girls are in lessons outside of tennis,” Toalson said. “They’re really dedicated and they work really, really hard to get better.”
Next year’s team will consist of a solid group of sophomores and juniors that are ready to take on the challenge of leading the Firebird tennis team to victory.
Jake Rogers • Nov 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm
I also find it hard to see the fall sports end. Honestly football is always the highlight of the year for me. Everything you worked so hard to achieve is over until the next year, and it’s a long wait. So all you can hope to do is better yourself in the off season and prepare for a spring sport if you are playing one. Although I know for a fact I’m not going to miss playing in the cold weather.