The Varsity boys basketball team gained more than the juniors who moved up from JV this year. They also gained a new assistant coach, Garrett Happ.

Students may know Happ as an Honors Pre-Calculus or Algebra I teacher, but his skills on the court may be just as valuable as his ability to find derivatives and limits in the classroom.

Happ brings his own basketball experience to the court.

“I played basketball in high school and I wanted to be a part of the team here at LCC,” Happ said. “I was introduced to Coach Cassaw and told him I was interested in being an assistant coach. He said he would love to have me help out so I became an assistant.”

Though it has only been a short period of time that the team has been practicing with the addition of Happ, they seem to have a great deal of respect for his knowledge of the game.

“He has already proved to us that he understands the game and that he can be a significant piece in our title hopes,” senior David Travers said.

With over 20 boys on the team and only three coaches to keep them focused, the addition of Happ has the possibility of improving their game and increasing the chances of reaching a CIF title again this year.

“He has brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to our practices and he has corrected a lot of little things to improve our performance,” junior Jeff VanDyke said.

Assistant coach Tom Meeks couldn’t agree more.

“It is always good to have another set of eyes during practice to help evaluate our progress,” Meeks said. “We have such a large team. We need Coach Happ to give all players the attention they deserve.”

Happ already feels part of the team.

“I feel the team has responded well to my presence,” Happ said. “They have been very welcoming. They are a hard-working and fun group of boys to coach.”

Happ hopes to contribute to the team by bringing a positive attitude to the table.

“I’m just trying to help out in any way possible,” said Happ.

The addition of Happ not only helps fix technical mistakes, but his presence on the court mends the age difference between the players and coaches.

“The greatest benefit coach Happ brings is his age, allowing him to relate to high school players,” Meeks said. “I think it’s a great asset to the team to have another young coach,” Travers added.

There are endless possibilities for what the the team can accomplish this upcoming basketball season.

“We need to play team defense and move the ball on offense but I definitely believe we have a strong chance of repeating as CIF champs with the talent level we have,” VanDyke said.

For his part, Happ is optimistic about the upcoming season.

“I think we will have a solid year,” Happ said. “We have started off 4-0 and I hope that continues. The boys are working very hard and it’s paying off,” Happ said.

An incredible swimmer, student and band member, senior Jamey Lyon is definitely someone to watch. As one of the school’s most talented athletes, Lyon brings a lot to the table. He has consistently maintained a 4.15 GPA, leaving him to make a daunting decision between four prestigious schools.

Although swimming receives little recognition on campus, it is one of the most challenging sports. Swimming requires the use of an immense amount of muscles throughout the upper and lower body.

Lyon, a four year Varsity swimmer and a competitive club member at North Coast Aquatics, didn’t start off as just a swimmer. When Lyon was younger, he was also involved in baseball, basketball, soccer, and golf. Before he reached the age of seven, Lyon started up his swimming career. While on a recreational team, Lyon’s coach approached his mother and told her that she should look into having Lyon tryout for a club team.

“My mom did just that and not even a week later, I was swimming for Silicon Valley Aquatics Association up in San Jose, California,” Lyon said. “My family lived there at the time.”

Lyon has been forced to make many sacrifices in his life as a high school student. He has had to miss spending time with friends and social events in order to practice and compete.

“The summer training schedule has me at the pool more often than I’m at home, and during the school year, I’m constantly declining invitations with friends to keep up with nine practices [two of them before school] a week,” Lyon said.

With Lyon being one of the best swimmers in the county, he has received offers from highly ranked schools including University of California at Berkeley, University of Southern California, Purdue University, and Louisville University.

For Lyon, the choice was obvious. “I chose Berkeley for a variety of reasons, with the two most obvious being the level of education I’ll receive there and the fact that they have the top men’s swimming program in the country,” Lyon said. “Once I was able to see how I fit in with the men’s team and on campus during my recruiting trip, choosing Cal was the easiest decision in the world.”

Lyon’s swimming career has also opened many other doors for him.

“Because of how often I travel for swimming, I’ve gotten to know several members of the U.S. National and Open Water teams, former and current Olympians, as well as several kids my age that are striving to achieve the same goals as me,” Lyon said. “I know countless swimmers that I look up to due to their dedication and the example they set for others.”

Lyon has excelled throughout high school with grades as well as swimming. He hopes to keep that spirit up when he attends college next fall at Cal Berkeley.

While trying out for soccer, the senior athletes try to be optimistic. Even as part of the graduating class, senior girls do not have an automatic acceptance onto the team as they can still be cut. Therefore, they must continue to exceed expectations in order to make the team.

Senior Hayley Wirth keeps an open mind for a great performance in front of the demanding coaches.

“I always try to work hard and have positive thoughts running through my mind,” Wirth said.

Alex Twombly steps on the field with the intentions to succeed and keep a positive attitude for each tryout, practice, and game.

“I’m out here to have fun and work hard,” Twombly said.

Taylor Robichaud feels less worried about having fun, and instead focuses on making the best of her talent in soccer.

“During tryouts I make sure I’m always on my A game,” Robichaud said.

Captains Hayley Wirth and Neela Mohan will be leading the team this year and hope to focus on winning games and being the best team possible. They are looking forward to a great season with both returning and novice players in hopes of defeating their biggest rival, Torrey Pines.

“During tryouts, it’s fun to see all of the new players,” Mohan said. “I am really excited about being captain this year because I am finally a senior and I like being looked up to by all of the younger players. Everyone looks up to me and Hayley for support and advice, and we lead the warm ups and part of practice.”

Helping the captains lead practice is their new coach Eric Lona. Their previous coach, Mike Marvel, stepped down for time commitment purposes and left the girls in the hands of Lona.

“The team seems to be getting along,” Wirth said. “Everyone laughs and loves team dinners. Nothing has really changed, there is no tension with coach Mike leaving.”

It has definitely been an easy transition for the girls this season with Lona stepping up to take on the role of coaching the Mavericks. He has coached many of the girls when they played club soccer.

The team’s overall record last year was 15-4-3.  After their 4-0 win against Granite Hills High School to kick off their season, Maverick fans have a lot to look forward to this year.

Some students find running to be tedious and boring, but for this year’s girls cross country team, it’s just the opposite.

“Cross country is harder than other sports because it’s all running,” sophomore Emma Abrahamson, a second time varsity runner, said. “It’s some people’s least favorite thing to do, but I think it’s what makes the sport unique.”

Often misconstrued as an individual sport, cross country is not simply running a few laps for a time.

Each race contains seven runners per gender but only the fastest five of them have the ability to score. Every time a runner crosses the finish line, he or she is given a place. The places are then added up and the team with the lowest score wins. A “perfect score” in cross country is 15 points, meaning that the top five runners placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

“It’s a physical sport, but also really mental,” sophomore Rebeka Bossler said. “You have to push yourself farther than you think you can go.”

This year the team has done exceptionally well, winning the Stanford Invitational, as well as the League and the CIF meets.

“We got sixteen points total at the CIF race,” coach Bill Vice said. “It came down to our sixth runner, and it was almost a tie.”

The score in the CIF finals broke records, and was the fastest in San Diego C.I.F. history.

Coach Vice is proud of how his girls have done.

“They are just really motivated kids,” said Vice. “They can do something that other people can’t.”

Having just finished second in the Division II State finals, the girls traveled to Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, a tournament for the best teams in the country. The team was fortunate to be offered this opportunity last year as well.

“Last year we went and it was fun, but this year I think we are over the hoopla of qualifying and getting free stuff. This time we [went] with the purpose to win,” Vice said.

“They practice every day before and after school, and do an average of 25-70 miles per week,” coach Bill Vice said.

Cross country is a team oriented sport where students from different backgrounds practice and bond with each other every day.

“I like cross country because it’s good for exercise and fun to run with a team,” freshman Steven Terris said.

The coaches like to spice up practices by integrating multiple tempos, challenging roads, trail runs, and always striving for a successful end result. The coaches have implemented a practice schedule that challenges the runners and keeps them in shape for their meets.

On Mondays, the team runs longer distances ranging from 6-10 miles. Tuesdays are designed for speed work – track work, fartleks (intervals), or tempo runs.

The team’s constant hard work has strengthened their skills during the season so far. The team of runners qualified for Stanford’s invitational meet on September 9, 2011. Both the boys and girls teams made it to the podium; the girls achieved first overall and received the second fastest time ever run on that course.

“We have a good program,” said coach Vice. “Instead of having one or two good runners we have six or seven, giving us a full and strong team.”

In addition to a strong team, runners praise their coaches as well. Not only are the coaches experienced, but runners feel that they’re supportive and have the best intentions for the team in mind at all times.

“Our coaches are really good,” sophomore Rebekah Bosler said. “They know how to push you hard but not over train you.”

But at the end of the day, the dominant goal for the runners is simple: “I want our runners to be the best they can be every single day,” said Vice.

The team practices for to five days per week, but also participates in bonding activities off the field.

“We do team building activities, such as having team dinners and giving each girl the spotlight for a day,” sophomore Abby Rose said.

The team spends as much time together as possible, even during the school week.

“We try to have team bonding the night before every game, and at least once a week,” Rose said. “We meet at one of the girl’s houses and eat dinner and just get some time to talk and hangout.”

Unlike their last season, the team has established a friendship as well as irreplaceable memories.

“Our team has grown in multiple ways. We developed and improved our technique as a whole. We not only work together, but we help each other perfect our individual skills,” said Rose.

With new drills and different types of conditioning, the hockey team’s practices serve as a foundation for how they will play each week.

“We do a lot of different drills, practice corners, and pretend we’re in game-like situations,” sophomore Carly Clark said.

The stress of school on top of sports is often difficult for athletes to juggle; both become seemingly impossible tasks.

Sophomore, Jill Baylon has a plan to keep both her academics and her athletics separate so she can continue to excel in both.

“It’s really hard to do both [school and sports] at the same time,” Baylon said. “All I do is pay attention to all my classes and go in extra hours to make sure I stay on top of everything academically.”

All the hard work of staying on top of grades and has paid off. The team beat its biggest rival in early October.

“Playing in ninety five degree weather is a struggle, but we were relieved when we crushed our enemy, Torrey Pines, in the last few seconds of the game,” Baylon said.

“I feel like everything we have done in preparation for this season will show in the end,” said Clark.

“I just came into that game just like any other, warmed up the same way. I didn’t feel anything special,” said Swart.

The Mavericks went up 1-0 after the first inning. As Swart took the mound for the first time that day, without knowing, he began the game that would make school history.

Pitch after pitch the Pirates went down, one-two-three. The crowd could see the smoke on Swart’s fastballs as they hurled over the plate. Swart registered 15 strike outs that game with only six outs made by fellow team members. This was truly Trent’s day.

Three scoreless innings passed. In the fifth inning, LCC scored two more runs, bringing them to a 3-0 lead over the Pirates. With each passing inning, Swart was getting closer and closer to one of the greatest achievements a pitcher can ever accomplish.

The closest an LCC pitcher has come to a perfect game was Tyler Ryan in an 11-0 win over El Camino, in which he gave up no runs, no hits, but one walk in April of 2002.

“By the sixth inning I knew I was getting close. I knew I could do it,” Swart said.

After six more LCC runs scored, including multiple home runs by Phillip Evans and Evan Schrieber, Swart threw another flawless inning, which ended in another strikeout. Just one inning remained.

With no runs scored in the top of the seventh, the time had come: three more batters, and  Swart would carve his name into school history. Under this extreme pressure, Swart kept his cool and managed to strike out the first two Pirates.

The game ended similar to many 1930’s radio broadcasts: Bottom of the ninth, two outs, two strikes, the wind is coming in cold from the coast. Banners are waving, colors are streaming above the sky. A hush falls over the crowd. He takes a wind up, lets it go! STERRIKE three!

The ball game was over.

“I really didn’t know what to do; I kind of just stood up there. The rest of the team was going crazy in the dugout,” said Swart.

And just like that, after 14 years of baseball, our school finally has a perfect game to add to its list of baseball accomplishments.

The Mavericks won the game with 13 hits in a 9-0 win over Oceanside.

Mackle started his swimming career simply because his parents wanted him to try it, yet it has been his personal passion and inner drive that has taken him to elite status in the San Diego County high school swim world.

Little did his parents know that they started Mackle on the road to high school sports glory. Mackle continues to improve with each successive year at LCC, and the effort he puts into swim is reflected by his ever improving statistics and reputation as a top-notch athlete.

He has seven years of swimming experience and plenty of talent to show for it. Mackle practices about an average of three hours a day, including hours in the morning as well as after school. Though his high school days will end next year, his swimming days will be far from over as Mackle plans to continue his swimming career beyond high school.

However, Mackle refuses to get too far ahead of himself and remains focused on attaining success in high school first and foremost.

“I haven’t looked too much at colleges yet,” Mackle said. His role on the high school team has kept him too busy for any of that.

“Mickey is looking to repeat as CIF champion in the 200 individual medley and is crucial as a member of our relays,” said swim coach Micky Murad.

Some of Mackle’s best events include the 400 individual medley, the 200 individual medley, and the 200 breastroke. A 400 individual medley is made up of a 100 meter butterfly, 100 meter backstroke, 100 meter breastroke, and 100 meter freestyle. His best time in this event is 3 minutes and 59 seconds. His personal best in the 200 individual medley is 1 minute and 53 seconds.

Colleges aren’t allowed to talk to Mickey until he becomes a senior once this school year ends in June.

The girls soccer team made it through the end of their season with their heads held high.
The team made it to the finals of the San Diego section, coming in with a 15-3-2 record. The team had a total of 58 goals and only gave up 19 goals this season.

The boys reached the first round of the CIF SD tournament, but were defeated by El Cajon Valley. They went 10-4-2 overall with intense plays from students such as Ben Lee and Mitchell Carter.

Basketball

The clock is running down on both basketball teams as the Mavericks arise champions in their own right.The boys basketball team did exceptionally well, going 29-5 during their 2011 season. Led by seniors Drew Kitchens and Matt Shrigley, the team went to the second round of the CIF state championships before losing to Taft High School 65-43. Under the guidance of head coach Matt Cassaw, the team won their second San Diego section CIF championship.

The basketball success was not one sided, with the girls basketball team also winning a CIF championship. Gracie Platt triumphed by winning the MVP and sportsmanship award of the championship game. They finished with a record of 28-4.

His passion for the sport began in sixth grade; with an athletic background, Sanschagrin undoubtedly was in a position to excel in lacrosse. After giving up baseball to try something new, his lacrosse coaches didn’t take long to notice his natural ability as a goalie. He was quickly chosen to be thrown back into the goal as he had previously been in soccer and hockey. Although Sanschagrin wished he could have started playing lacrosse earlier, his strong determination and passion for the sport made up for lost time.

“Lacrosse is amazing. It has all the strategic elements of football, the offensive movement of basketball, and the speed of hockey,” said Sanschagrin. “As a goalie, I love being the last line of defense. If I do my job well, we most likely have a win. If I don’t, then we lose. Hopefully, that won’t happen too often.”

Sanschagrin stands out from other goalies. The momentum he brings to the game after an incredible save shows his power to fire up his team, giving them the confidence they need for a victory.

He gives a lot of credit for his great performances over his high school career to his four Division I defenders in front of him, who help make his job as goalie a lot easier.

After receiving countless emails and scouting opportunities, Princeton showed serious interest in Sanschagrin. He saw Princeton as a great academic and athletic oppurtunity and so committed without hesitation. With an upcoming knee surgery this summer, Sanschagrin hopes to be able to return to lacrosse for his freshman year without missing a beat, while still balancing his academic and social life.