“I have a lot to do. Sometimes I want to give up, but my teammates keep me going.” Krstich said.

As of this year he plays football, lacrosse, and basketball. While he usually serves as a starter, he is regulated to being a backup in basketball.

“I focus on all of the sports. I strive to be a leader in football and lacrosse. This was my last chance to play basketball and thankfully coach Cassaw gave me a shot to support the team,” Krstich said.

Despite Krstich’s devotion to three sports, he places one sport above all the others.

“I love them all, I just get that feeling on Friday nights and I love the leadership that comes along with it.” Krstich said.

Krstich intends to be a starter next year in lacrosse and football, but remains undecided about basketball. He intends to play sports beyond his high school days and into college, which is part of why he works so hard.

“I want to play football at a Division One school. I’m not sure if I want to play lacrosse in college.”  Krstich said.

Krstich is influenced to play all three sports from the competitiveness and the prospects of playing sports in college. While he feels obligated to focus on playing football in the future, he realizes what kind of opportunity he was given this year.

“Really I felt that I should play as many sports as I can during my junior year.” Krstich, said. “As a senior I want to focus on football primarily because I’ll most likely be playing it in college.”

While Krstich deals with three separate sports, he also prepares for the college experience. A few division one schools who possess notable athletic accomplishments have taken note of Krstich’s talent and his academic achievements. 

“I’ve received letters mostly from Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Cornell,” Krstich, said. “I also have received interest from Nebraska, TCU, UCLA, Iowa State, and Stanford.”

Balance between school and sports can be too difficult to attain for some student athletes, but Krstich has shown that playing three sports does not have to take a toll on his ability to succeed at school.

“Last year I had a 4.00 and last semester I finished with a 3.8. I make sure to keep a good school rep,”  Krstich said.

Along with the academic challenges that Krstich faces, he also must take on the mental and physical challenges of all three sports.

“Football is the hardest sport for me mentally because of all the different things I have to think of: defense, coaches, fans. Physically,  lacrosse is the hardest because of the non-stop running we do.”

Krstich has been able to handle all of these challenges skillfully. However, he knows that there is room for improvement to reach his potential.

“Obviously I need to keep balancing my time, acquire new skills, and do the little things. I need to improve on muscle memory when it comes to sports.”

Whether he’s a quarterback, guard, midfielder or a scholar,  Krstich has shown that he is able to balance academics and sports.

Despite these challenges that threaten his ability to keep his life stable, Krstich has proven to be up to the task as he aims to accomplish his goals both in the classroom and on the field.

“After 19 years as a football coach and 10 years of serving as head football coach at La Costa Canyon High School, I have decided to retire from coaching at this time,” Brown wrote to the staff.

Brown has been the face of football on campus for more than a decade and his unexpected resignation came after two seasons that included a CIF championship and an undefeated run.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the Mavericks to many victories the past 10 years, including 5 league Championships and 1 CIF Championship,” Brown wrote.

The resignation came as a shock to many students and staff as the reasons behind the resignation are unclear.

“Just the fact that he has been coaching here  for so long and then just resigning is weird. But he was my coach for all four years and I wish him the best.” Michael Moore, senior and tight end, said. 

While leaving the football team, Brown will still continue to teach business and physical education classes on campus.

“While my coaching experience was very gratifying,”  Brown wrote, ” I feel that it is now time for me to retire so that I can spend more time with my wonderful wife and daughters who have so graciously supported my work throughout the years.  It will also allow me more time to focus on my family and friends, along with my teaching career.”

In an email to staff and parents of the football team Principal Kyle Ruggles addressed the resignation and announced the beginning of the search for a new head coach.

“We appreciate Darrin’s hard work and dedication to the LCC Maverick football team over his years as head coach.” Ruggles wrote. “Over the next couple of months, we will be working to hire a new head football coach for the LCC Maverick football program.”

While students and staff may be sad to see a familiar face leave the field, the football players themselves are the most impacted.

“He was our leader,” Josh Thomas, junior and offensive lineman, said.  “We had great senior leaders but when it all came down to it Coach Brown was always there to give us that extra push we needed to become successful.”

However, while Brown’s resignation brought concern to the players, many are optimistic for the next season.

“It doesn’t change too much.” Thomas said. ” Everyone is still going to be working hard over spring and summer. Depending on our new coach we may or may not have to implement a new system but we’ll have to wait and see.”

The future of our football program remains in the hands of the selection committee. Players, students and staff can only hope that their new coach will be as successful as Brown.

“I can assure everyone that we are going to hire the person with the best character and who is the best fit for our school,” Athletic Director John Labeta told parents at the football parent meeting.  “Change is always difficult, so please bear with us and let us do our job.”

Principal Kyle Ruggles admitted to parents that the transition process was going to take some time, but he continued to be optimistic about the future of the football program.

“I know that this is a big loss for our student-athletes,” Ruggles said, “But, I know our student-athletes are resilient.”

Despite having a perfect regular season last year, the entire football program could be different next year, as it is the head coach’s decision as to who his supporting coaching staff will be. By the end of April, Ruggles and Labeta hope to have the head coach for next year in place, so that the usual football programs like flag football and the spring practice season can continue.

“We want someone who will inspire student-athletes to do their best in and out of the class.  We want to hire the best candidate to become the head coach of our program,” Ruggles said.

“While the job was exhausting, it was extremely rewarding and our Maverick Football Family along with our Unbreakable Brotherhood will always stay strong, ” Brown said.

The tournament was hosted by Fox TV and PokerStars.net. The winner of the Million Dollar Challenge would win $1,000,000. But first, they would have compete through several challenges: a qualifying tournament, a video competition, a match against a celebrity, a match against a professional poker player, and finally a match against World Poker Tour champion Daniel Negreanu.
Buth began by competing in an online poker tournament of around 10,000 participants. After hours of playing, he finished in the top ten, qualifying for the video competition. He then submitted a video, along with the other nine competitors, explaining why he should play at the televised tournament for a chance to win $1,000,000.

The video showed Buth tearing off a t-shirt revealing a wrestling singlet with poker chips taped to his nipples. His brother “Disco Dennis” and a fellow wrestling coach made an appearance on the video edifying Buth and his passion for poker with lines such as, “When my brother was first born, his first words weren’t ‘Daddy’. They were ‘All In’, baby!”. This video can be seen on YouTube.

The producers liked the video, so Buth continued on to the tournament aired on the Fox Sports Network where he faced UFC Champion Tito Ortiz. The first few rounds went well for Buth, at one point beating Ortiz 36,400 to 3,600. With 94 percent to six percent odds against Ortiz who went all-in, Buth was just about to win. But miraculously, the cards played out in Ortiz’s favor. After a few more rounds of a brutal match between Buth and Ortiz, Ortiz unfortunately won. This game can be seen on the video Web site Hulu.

“It didn’t go as well as I would have liked, but it was a great experience,” Buth said.

The producers gave Buth a bag, a shirt, and a set of poker chips as a consolation prize with a stunned apology for such an unexpected result.
Had Buth won, he would have donated money to the struggling wrestling program at Cal State Fullerton, the college he graduated from.

“You have to remember where you came from. And so if I did win that million dollars, I would’ve loved to donate money to make sure that the Cal State Fullerton program stayed alive.”
Half of the team came to support and watch Buth compete.

“I wish I could’ve won of course, but Cal State Fullerton got national recognition. I was glad I could give them some air time nationally,” Buth said.

I attended the Junior Varsity practice. Dwayne Buth, head coach of the wrestling program, advised that Varsity would simply be too hard for a beginner to the sport.

When I first walked into the wrestling room I imagined it would be some dirty, smelly place since I’ve never seen those windows opened. And considering all the sweaty athletes coming in the room day-in and day-out, I imagined it would have smelt worse than the boys’ locker during football season. But to my pleasant surprise, the room actually smelt decent and it was well kept and organized. Coach Buth was personally washing down the mats with disinfectant and we had to disinfect our shoes before stepping on the mat.

The practice was divided into two sessions: wrestling drills and workouts. The drills were fairly easy. I learned what “shooting” meant (the act of going after the opponent’s legs to attempt a pin) and learned how to get someone from a headlock to their stomach. We played a game called Island Hopping where we jump between all the circles on the mat and tried to push and wrestle everyone else out the circle and be the last man standing. 

The workouts on the other hand left me unable to lift my arms above shoulder level. We walked up to the weight room and the set up stations. For each station there was a wrestler and each station lasted 30 seconds before switching to the next without any rest. These workouts involved two different bench presses, squats, dips, pushups requiring a clap between each one, leg presses, three different types of pull-ups, curls, triceps workouts, and several other workouts. And to top it all off, we did a series of 50 pushups straight. It was hell. 

The wrestlers themselves weren’t an insane bunch of violence-proned crazies who regularly starved themselves as I had once heard. They were actually a fairly friendly group of guys. A couple of them took the time to get me introduced to the sport and explained what techniques and moves were being used as I watched a few live matches. 

But that may change soon once they become familiar with my presence. We’ll have to see as the week continues. 

Weight at the end up of the day: 138.1 lbs.

Manhunt is a game of tag involving runners and chasers. The object of the game is to get from point A to point B without getting tagged or tagging as many people as possible. Runners must only use their feet and chasers have the advantage of using cars. Once tagged, runners become chasers.

On Dec. 20, the game began at South Ponto and ended at Glen Park in Cardiff. One of the rules of this game was that runners could only be safe at the endpoint in the last 30 minutes of the game, which lasted two hours. The winner of the Manhunt was Lucas Melendez who is a junior at Carlsbad High School.

“I only saw three [chasers]. I stayed on the beach and in the shadows. I went to the river mouth, jumped the sewer ditch, hopped the train tracks and hid behind a tree for thirty minutes. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” Melendez said.

All five teachers from our school including John DiGiulio, James Etheridge, Dallas Hartley, Justin Machado, and Joe McCormic made it to Glen Park without being seen or tagged.

“It’s good, clean fun. One of the advantages we had is we know all the backstreets. We’re forty and fifty year olds that didn’t get caught. Nobody came close to catching us. We used our infinite wisdom and experience,” McCormic said.

The game started off with five chaser cars. Chasers used tactics including hiding in bushes to pulling over and sneaking up on runners.

“It’s really exciting. You get to sneak up on people and be creative,” Adrianna Lucero, senior, said.

In order to be involved with the walk, each participant must raise a minimum of $2300. This money goes towards fees of the walk and the rest is donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research fund. This year, the walk generated over 9.5 million dollars for the fund.

Each participant can be part of a team or walk as an individual. These girls walked as “Flockers of Knockers.” They raised their money by “flocking”, as well as a booth at a street fair.

“Flocking is putting plastic lawn flamingos onto friends’ lawns along with a note
that explains why were are walking as well as telling them that in order to get
the flamingos off of their lawn, they have to donate to us, and/or give us a
name of someone else to flock,” Kelsey Stout, senior, said.

After a week or two of doing this, the flocking reached out past their friends onto people that they didn’t know. This gave them a lot more fundraising oppurtunites.

Although some of the girls just did it for the community service hours or to help the cause, a couple had a more personal connection and reason to walk. McBride walks for her mom’s patients, and her aunt who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I walked for my mom, who is now a four year breast cancer survivor and also just
because it’s fun to do the walk,” Stout said.

The walk starts at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Along the way, there are various locations where people gather to cheer on the walkers. Almost everyone involved in the walk will say this is one of the most enteraining parts. 

“Every year, there is a tiny old man in a wheel chair who wears a sign around his neck that says ‘I love boobs’. Next to him, stands an old woman dressed as a clown with a sign
that says ‘36 year survivor’. They are husband and wife and every year they come out and cheer on the walkers,” Stout said.

The 60-mile walk concludes at Petco Park, followed by a ceremony celebrating anyone who walked or participated in the event. At this ceremony, all the walkers participate in a victory walk together and speakers share their survival stories.

“The best part of the walk in at the closing ceremony when you lift up a shoe for all those who have died and the survivors. You think about how bad your feet hurt and how hard you worked, and know that none of the pain matters,” Bender said.

In seventh grade, Tudor was introduced to lacrosse when his friends convinced him to play.

“I got tired of baseball and my friends played so I wanted to try it out,” Tudor said.
Ever since, Tudor has loved the sport and has devoted a lot of time to it. Tudor has been on the varsity lacrosse team since his sophomore year.

“Being a sophomore on varsity had really helped me to learn what I needed to work up,” Tudor said.

Tudor mentioned how having a solid strategic understanding of the game gave him an edge. He explained how understanding lacrosse mentally is an important benefactor to his success.

“Reid is a wizard on the lacrosse field and an even better student,” Dillon Flood, sophomore, said.

“My parents have been a big motivation in my life and very supportive with lacrosse,” Tudor said.

He explained how his parents have been supportive and accepting of costs and traveling expenses that came along with being involved in lacrosse.

”My parents have helped me to be able to attend all the summer camps on the east coast which is a big part of being recruited and recognized by schools,” Tudor said.

He elaborated on how important these camps are in order to ultimately be noticed by colleges.

“Lacrosse season is actually a better time for me as far as school goes because I’m forced to manage my time,” Tudor said.
Tudor is working hard to balance his academics and athletics.

”During lacrosse season, you only have a small window to work on homework so having that has taught me that you can get a lot done in a short amount of time,” Tudor said.

Tudor is looking forward to going to college on the east coast and experiencing a change in scenery.

Imagine beginning your senior year already being committed for volleyball to the third best college in the nation, Yale University. Most seniors are stressing about college applications, but Polan has already gone through what most seniors are just starting up.

Polan, a 5’10” setter, has been on the varsity team since sophomore year, with two CIF Division I titles and a California state championship under her belt. The volleyball team is currently ranked number one in the United States with expectations to remain at the top. Polan was named Durango Tournament MVP, CIF State Championship Match MVP, in addition to being on the All-Avocado League First team and S.D. Union-Tribune All-San Diego Section first team.

“Playing volleyball has really taught me about communication and how to work as a team because nothing in this sport is individual,” Polan, senior, said.

For most high school seniors, choosing a college is a stressful time, but Polan already underwent the tiresome process months ago. Having finished off her junior year with a 4.5 GPA, Polan seems to be ready for a distinguished school like Yale.

“I chose Yale because I wanted to go somewhere where I would be challenged and I know that it will be a great fit for me. I’m definitely going to miss the beach and of course all my family and friends over here. And I think I’ll be really cold!” Polan said.

Polan’s biggest inspiration is her older brother, Kellen, who got her interested in volleyball. Polan has only been playing for five years but has already been recruited to play on the Israel women’s national team after high school. Polan says she would love to play for Israel, but would like to focus on this year and college before making any big decisions like that.

“I’ve met so many people through volleyball and gained some of my closest friends. It’s made the whole high school experience so much more fun,” Polan said.