Girls Golf Wins Region Title
By Stacey Camacho, Head Coach
With April coming to a close, the Lady Winged Lions posted an undefeated league season capturing of the Region 14 trophy, our second consecutive Region title!
Going into the Region Tournament, freshman Zaria Thompson led the way, with a one over par score of 73 in our last match at Mountain View Golf Course. Junior Caity Kwun and sophomore Lane Baker had personal best scores of 79 and 89 respectively. Coupled with solid play from seniors Grace Veghte and Georgia Larsen and freshman Maddie Kwun, the ladies won another match. The same held true at Sun Hills, as we overwhelmed the rest of the field ending the season undefeated.
At the Region Tournament at Glendale on April 29, freshman Zaria Thompson continued her impressive play, shooting a one over 73 to take first as an individual. Junior Caity Kwun placed second medalist, shooting 74, while younger sister and freshman Maddie Kwun placed third with a personal best score of 80. Grace Veghte, Lane Baker and Georgia Larsen all shot in the top eight at the tournament to help the team capture the title.
The team has now qualified to compete in the State 2A Girls Golf Tournament, which will be held at the St. George Golf Club on May 12. With continued solid play from our talented players, a State title is certainly within our reach!
Boys Soccer Season Comes to a Close
By Scott Langone, Head Coach
The Winged Lions boys soccer team peaked at the right time headed into the playoffs on Wednesday, April 29, when they traveled to play Delta, the number one seed out of the South Division. The Winged Lions won their previous two games going into this inter-region game, scoring eight goals to punch their ticket to the playoffs. Though we headed to Delta for our first round inter-region playoff game with our hopes high, we were unable to put the ball in the back of the net and lost to the Rabbits 2-0, and were thus eliminated from further post -season play.
Going into what turned out to be the last week of our 2015 season, the team was devastated by injury, and had to lean on young talent. Simon Logue, Nico Edgar, Jake Dreyfous, and Youssef Salama were freshmen starters and key contributors. Davis Porges, Michael Vitek, Josh Nkoy, and Jordan Abdalla were sophomores who added to the mix with goals, assists, and shut down defending. The team received a strong jump start from juniors Sam Lemons, Henry Gilbert, and Sam Oliver, who played their best two games of the season. Chris Diehl, Cory Abdalla and Zach Pollatsek led like seniors should--Cory played amazing defense, Chris played poised on attack, and Zach scored the best goal Utah high school soccer--never mind 2A soccer-- has ever seen, when he hit a side volley from 25 yards out against Summit Academy that lit up the goal and our bench.
As the team entered the playoffs, it sorely missed a full strength Riley Nevins, a senior captain and true leader and competitor, who was just getting back into the groove after an injury. The team would also like to thank Andrew Logue, a senior whose season was taken away from him because of injury. Andrew has become an emotional leader, which we are thankful for. We'd also like to thank Evan Webber, Max Fisher, and Zach Levinthal, a group of seniors that have made us better with their effort, drive and leadership!
Thanks to the players for their efforts all season, to my assistant coach Ryan Beck and to our fans for their loyal support.
Boys Tennis Has High Hopes for State Tournament
By Susan Daynes, Head Coach
The Rowland Hall boys tennis team is in a great season. We have a young team that boasts only one senior, Aaron Friedman, who is leading us not only by example with his unwavering work ethic and positive attitude, but is undefeated in Region play. The remainder of the team is comprised of freshmen and sophomores who have gained much valuable court experience this spring.
With players showing almost daily improvement during this building year, Assistant Coach Long Le and I are looking forward to a strong state qualifying performance by all players at the upcoming Region Tournament to be held on Saturday, May 2 at the Liberty Park Tennis Center starting at 10:00 a.m.
Those players who qualify will then move on to the State 2A Tennis Tournament to be held at Liberty Park on Saturday, May 9 starting at 8:30 a.m. Good luck to team members Aaron Friedman, Chris Ausbeck, Tarik Basic, Jackson Byck, Jason Cowdrey, Ben Espinosa, Soren Feola, Eric Kimball, Ishaan Krishnan, Willem Seethaler, Simon Tucker, and Ethan Williams. Come on out and cheer us on to victory!
Softball Team Qualifies for State 2A Tournament
By Kathy Howa, Head Coach
The Rowland Hall softball team has captured a berth into the State 2A Softball Tournament with recent wins over Rockwell and Layton Christian Academy on our home field.
The Winged Lions fell behind 5-0 in the second inning of the Rockwell game, but came charging back to tie the score and then never looked back, beating the Marshals 15-5 to finish early in the fifth inning to get the Region 14 win.
In a close non-league contest with the North Summit Braves, we took a lead early, but couldn’t close it out and a lost a heartbreaker during which junior pitcher, Rachel Nelson, faced 58 batters, walked none and struck out ten.
The final home game of the season—our “Pack the Bleachers” game—was also a big success, as many fans turned out to see the Winged Lions play an excellent game, handing the Layton Christian Eagles a 5 inning, 13-2 loss, thus sealing third place in league play and capturing a berth in the State 2A Tournament to be held at the Spanish Fork Complex on May 7!
In addition to looking forward to the upcoming State Tournament, the team is excited about the upcoming Rowland Hall sponsored Swing for Life Softball Tournament, a breast cancer awareness and fundraiser for research, which is slated for Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2 at the Cottonwood Complex (4450 South 1300 East). The players will have a chance to do community service over the twenty team, two-day event, as well as competing on Friday at 10:45 a.m., 2:15 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. and again on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Come out and join us!
Good luck at the Swing for Life and State Tournament, Winged Lions!
Baseball Ends Season
By Victory Sandoval
Our young Winged Lion baseball squad provided some exciting moments this spring, going 6-6 in league play in a tough Region 16 mix. With a limited staff of pitchers on the roster and with several players being pressed into that role when needed, the team has battled tough all season long, having to play many weeks of multiple games.
Losing a coin toss to take the sixth place spot in league play, we traveled to Fillmore to play the Millard Eagles and extended the season by qualifying for the first round of the State 2A Tournament. The team gave the Eagles all they could handle, going into the final inning up 3-0, but we were unable to hold off a 7th inning push by Millard who managed to push 4 runs across the plate, beating us 4-3 and thus ending our 2015 campaign.
Thanks to my assistant, McKenon Estrada, and kudos to team members Shabir Aminzada, Jack Dischmann, Will Dischmann, Leo Doctorman, Kyle Eng, Garrett Furubayashi, Luke Nicoloff, Max Scaife, Jamie Steiner, William Stone, Maxwell Sueoka, Leif Thulin and Cade VanOrman—we saw much improvement as the season progressed and are optimistic about the future of the program which loses only one senior to graduation.
Track & Field Team Finishes Strong at Region Meet
By Mark Oftedal, Head Coach
At the start of each new competitive track season, I look forward to the inevitable question coming from a newcomer to track and field: “What’s a PR?” A PR, for those that don’t know, is an abbreviation for personal record. Some say “PB” for personal best, but that reminds me too much of PBJ, and PBJs don’t generally go hand-in-hand with PBs or PRs, so I prefer using PR. In any case, each newcomer to the sport of track and field gets to relish in the fact that the first time they blast out of the blocks, thrust themselves up or out into the air, or launch a discus, shot put or javelin in competition, PRs are produced. But, as our season has progressed, it seems our team members, both the new and the veterans to the sport, like acquiring – some collecting! – these near weekly distinctions. I have not coached a team where better times, distances and heights are so commonplace each time out. Which begs the question, at least for me: is it the coaching or is it the kid? Attendance has never been so consistent, so that’s both – more time to coach and also perhaps more dedication and desire towards improvement. From here though, I’ll continue my track coaches’ musings on my own, but here’s a glimpse of where we started and where things are headed for this wonderfully dedicated group of track stars!
Allie Zehner, Fr., 300m hurdles—58.28 to 54.20
Allison Bagley, Fr., 100m hurdles—24.24 to 22.45 and 300m hurdles—1:05.41 to 59.91
Gillian Larsen, Fr., 100m—15.15 to 14.19
McKenzie Steward, Fr., 200m—36.61 to 33.97
Aya Sakonju, Fr., shot put—13’-11” to 18’-10.75”
Rachel Nelson, Jr., discus— 52’-07” to 61’-03”
Lauren Rasich, Sr., 200m—29.82 to 28.49 and 400m—1:06 to 1:03
Libby Hunt, So., 800m—2:41 to 2:39
Astrid Lindgren, Fr., 1600m—6:54.66 to 6:16.03
Tyler Macintyre, Jr., 800m—2:44 to 2:41
Eli Oftedal, Sr., 800m—1:56.05 to 1:53.62 and 1600m—4:32 to 4:24
Sam Sanders, Jr., 1600m—5:23 to 4:56 and 800m—2:27 to 2:17
Patrick Schloesser, Jr., 400m—57.78 to 55.72 and 800m—2:20 to 2:12
Among this glimpse of our many improvements thus far, two outstanding performances by Eli Oftedal stand out. Eli was able to lower his 2A Utah State record in the 800m from 1:55.36, set last year at the State Championships, to 1:53.62 on April 17at the Wood Cross High School’s Wildcat Invitational. Prior to this new record, Eli took over a longstanding 2A Utah State record in the 1600m running 4:24.87 at the Pine View Invitational in St. George. Congratulations, Eli!
The crowning achievement of the season is the effort that both the girls and boys team showed at the Region 14 Championships at the McCarthey Family Track & Field Complex on April 29. Strong performances by both teams resulted in a second consecutive Region title for the girls team and a third place finish for the boys team, an awesome accomplishment!
We are excited to share that our athletes have qualified for State in 13 events, with 37 individual event participations by 27 different athletes and six relay teams. Qualifiers to the State 2A Meet to be held at Brigham Young University on Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16 include Allie Zehner, Angela Foley, Allison Bagley, Libby Hunt, Astrid Lindgren, Sam Sanders, Patrick Schloesser, Jack Scaife, Eli Oftedal, Lily Quirk, Lauren Rasich, Candice Nkoy, Ian Bird, Raimundo Almenara, Eric Tokita, Omar Shihab, Wes Johnson, Sophie Cox, Kelli Thompson, Jayden Kearney, Daphne Michie, Madeleine Baneth, Kate Button, Rachel Nelson, and Aya Sakonju.
Congratulations and good luck!
Nkoy Named Honorable Mention All State Basketball
Congratulations to senior Candice Nkoy who was recently named Honorable Mention All-State in 2A Girls Basketball by the Deseret News!
Academic All-Region and Academic All-State Athletes Named
Each sports season, the Region 14 Board of Managers recognizes those Seniors who are regular starters or performers on the Varsity team and who have a non-weighted, cumulative 3.75 GPA average or higher with Academic All-Region honors.
Three Winged Lion athletes have been recognized: Aaron Friedman, boys tennis, and Zach Pollatsek, boys soccer, and Cory Abdalla, boys soccer. Congratulations!
From the Academic All-Region nominees in each sport from across 2A, the Utah High School Activities Association recognizes the top ten academic performers with Academic All-State honors. Congratulations to Aaron Friedman on receiving this prestigious award!
Coleman-Houghton Named Prep Athlete of the Week
Harper Coleman-Houghton, ’16, was recently named as a Prep Athlete of the Week by the Deseret News. Harper has been a varsity outfielder for the Winged Lion softball team for the past three years, one of the top defensive and offensive players on the team. Her leadership as one of this year’s team captains has been invaluable. Congratulations, Harper!