Swimmers dive toward record books; three students break school records

Within the past year, three swimmers have broken records and gotten their name placed on the board for all to see, leaving their stamp on the history of the swim team.
According to swim coach Michael Jones, 10 new records have been set in this school within the past three years.
 “We have had a lot of success the past three years,” Jones said. “That amount of records in that time period doesn’t happen often at many schools. All of our swimmers and divers are doing an extremely good job. Breaking school records has been a goal of both the girls’ and guys’ teams every year.”
Sophomore Kyle Hendricks broke the previous record of 52.66 in the 100 yard butterfly category with a time of 52.28 this year.
“It was my goal,” Hendricks said. “I came into the meet and I was pretty close before and I was like ‘I think I can get it.’ It took a lot of speed and strength, but I got it.”
Although preparing to break this record included getting physically ready, Hendricks said he also had to prepare mentally.
“Mostly [I] just got myself mentally ready. I tried to not be negative [and] not think of ‘oh it’s too hard’ or ‘that [record] was set by someone a lot cooler.’ I have as good a chance as anyone else.”
Getting over a mental block is just one of the obstacles the swimmers faced. Jones recognized the amount of work it takes to achieve the goal of breaking a record and getting over all the obstacles.
 “It takes a lot of hard work to be the best athlete in a particular event to ever swim or dive at this school,” Jones said. “While we have only been around for a little over a decade, there have been some very fast swimmers to come through this school. All the members of the team know that and realize what they need to do to break a record. They also understand the magnitude of the accomplishment. Some of these records could still be up on the record board for years to come. The thought of coming back from college and seeing your name still on the record board is something many members of the team want.”
One student who aspires to that goal is junior Ashley Boyles, who broke the 200 freestyle record twice, the 200 individual medley record, and the 500 freestyle.
“I want to get my records down so that no one will break it and I can come back like 10 years later and my name’s still up on the board,” Boyles said. “There’s some other [records] that I’m considering, but I haven’t quite yet reached where I need to be in order to consider even trying to break that record. I would like to break a couple of the other two freestyle records, maybe the 100 butterfly.”
In order to break those records, Boyles planned out her times and worked hard to get them down in order to beat the previous record.
“They were kind of my goal but I didn’t quite expect them to happen,” Boyles said.  “I calculated out the certain time I’d have to pace each lap to break that record and I would practice that pace constantly when we would practice.”
Boyles’ hard work paid off when she broke her first record, the 500 freestyle, her freshman year.
 “The first record I broke I don’t think I’ll forget because it was a Saturday morning meet on Halloween,” Boyles said. “I didn’t quite know the exact time [of the previous record]. I just looked up at the board like ‘okay that’s kind of close’ cause I knew the first part of the time but not the tenths and hundredths. So I asked my coach and he’s like ‘yes, you broke the time record’ and I flipped out. The 500 record, the last time it had been broken was 2009. It was [3] years of no one breaking it.”
Sophomore Kylie Petrilla experienced a similar moment of shock when she broke the women’s diving record in her first diving meet.
“Breaking the record wasn’t [my goal],” Petrilla said. “The only thing that I could really think about is what dive I was doing next. When I first found out that I broke the one of the diving records, [my coach] told me my score. I was in the commons working on basketball cheers with the JV cheerleaders. He came over to me and I screamed and gave him a big hug I was so happy. I told everyone I thought would be excited for me. They were so thrilled that I did such an amazing job and were happy
for me.”
While breaking records is beneficial for the team, Jones said that it does not matter whether or not another swimmer breaks a record, the team will continue on their path to success.
“If more are records broken this year, the team will be extremely excited,” Jones said. “If we don’t break any more, but still swim well at the District, Regional, and State meets, we will still be excited. Breaking records is great, but the swimmers and divers want to beat people from other schools too. They like to race.”

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Junior attains first place at golf tournament

Junior Miranda Juarez takes a deep breath before aiming up her shot and hitting the ball across the manicured green. She said her nerves begin to melt away as one by one she goes through the 18 holes. When the time comes to stop, she anticipates her score, hoping to beat out the competition.

Juarez achieved first place in the Oak Ridge golf tournament with a score of 81 on Oct. 5.

In addition to practicing with the school golf team, Juarez takes golf lessons and participates in the Houston Golf Association Junior program.

“I practice four days a week for two hours and sometimes I play [afterwards] with the boys or the girls,” Juarez said. “They actually help me prepare for the tournament, especially the boys, because they’re more competitive. Practicing at tougher courses [also] makes [me] better, it makes me get prepared for the tournaments.”

Although Juarez began playing golf in eighth grade and practices often, she said she still struggles with nerves.

“[I get nervous] all the time,” Juarez said. “The first couple holes I was really nervous but then once you start doing better and better you say ‘I can actually do this’ and then your confidence boosts.”

Despite her nerves, Juarez managed to come out on top, beating the second place winner, Lauren Bacon from The Woodlands High School, by one point.

“At the end [when] they have the scores on the board, you look at the scores and try to figure out [how you did] before everybody else’s score gets in,” Juarez said. “Once [all the scores are in] they do a ceremony and give you a medal. I [knew] I shot an 81 [and] I was happy with my score. I didn’t know who all shot lower.”

Golf coach Steve Bruce said Juarez worked hard to earn her achievement.

“She deserves all the awards that she has won and will continue to win,” Bruce said. “Winning a golf tournament is a great accomplishment. You are all alone on the course. You have to control your emotions and play one shot at a time. It can take up to five and a half hours to complete a tournament and you have to stay focused the entire day. She did a great job of doing that.”

Like Bruce, Juarez’s mother Rosanne Juarez said her daughter's win was a joy for more reasons than one.

“[It was] like a weight was lifted off of Miranda’s shoulder,” Rosanne Juarez said. “She has worked so hard for the past two years grinding her swing out, battled doubting herself, and picking herself up after disappointments. I felt validation for her because all her hard work paid off.”

According to Miranda Juarez, winning the tournament came as a surprise.

“It felt really good winning because I wasn’t happy with my last tournament [because I had problems with my swing],” Miranda Juarez said. “It was shocking [that I won] because the other schools [that] were there are really good, so I was pretty happy that I beat them out.

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Marks of warriors: Scars reminder of sports victories

“It’s kind of like a battle wound, like a testament that you went to that other side,” assistant football and assistant track coach Michael Troutman said. “You’re a warrior and every scar is the mark of the warrior and of [a] fight.”
According to Troutman, a scar should be seen as an accomplishment and a reminder of one’s experiences. He received his first “battle wound” playing football.
“When I was a freshman in high school I broke my finger,” Troutman said. “My ring finger completely went over my pinky and the trainer pulled it all the way back and popped it in. When he did that he tore every ligament in my finger. I didn’t do anything about it and it swelled up after a couple days later. [A few weeks later] I had to have surgery on it. Now I have scars on my fingers.”
Sophomore Kristina Trinh said she parallels Troutman’s view on her scars. She got her scar by running into a gate while chasing a tennis ball during a match.  
“It’s an accomplishment and a symbol that [I] gave it [my] all,” Trinh said. “It’s a memory that’s on [my] body. [My scar] is something to be remembered because it shows that I was a [good competitor] at tennis and that I worked my hardest.”
Like Trinh, senior Taylor Grissom also acquired her scar by running into a gate.
“I have a scar on my face under my eye from playing softball and stealing a home run,” Grissom said. “I ran into the fence, [but] I caught the ball, so it was ok. I had to get stitches. When I see my scar, I think about how I made the out.”
Troutman got a scar on his finger while playing softball in college.
“I have a scar that runs from my knee to the middle of my thigh [caused] from a softball injury,” Troutman said. “I was playing left field [and] I [ran] to get a fly ball and hit a fence. Underneath the fence was barbwire I bounced off the fence and my left slid under the barbwire and it sliced me. It cut my knee open and I had to get stitches.”
According to Trinh, her scar gives her a chance to talk about her athletic feats.
“People usually laugh when I tell them about my scar because I’m clumsy and I usually run into walls,” Trinh said. “It give me another story to tell. When my friends ask, ‘how’s you get that’ I can say, ‘I was trying to be a try-hard at tennis’.”
Troutman said his finger still draws attention from colleagues and students alike.
“I get asked about my finger because it doesn’t straighten out,” Troutman said. “I talk with my hands a lot, so people see my messed-up finger and they’re like, ‘what the heck happened to you finger, what’s wrong with it?’ It makes me unique and I have a story to [talk] about.”
According to Troutman, he does not have any bitterness towards his injuries.
“It’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Troutman said. “I was very active in sports [and] I was competitor. None of my scars have ever held me back. I have the marks of a warrior, [and] I’m proud of them.”

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Senior class dominates tennis team

The varsity tennis team has a total of nine seniors this year, changing the dynamic of the team from last year, which had none.

The increased numbers of seniors adds pressure to the players in the grades below according to junior varsity player, junior Quinton Huebner.

“It’s weird,” Huebner said. “There’s a big push to do really well because they all want to have a good last year. It makes it a lot harder to be on varsity because seniors have to be on varsity.”

According to varsity player, sophomore Emily Magness, the seniors inspire her to be better.

“It’s good to have so many seniors because I’ve learned a lot from them,” Magness said. “They are better [players and] that’s what I strive to be like. The seniors have all been together as a team longer than [I have], so I feel like I should do my best to be up to their standards and help the team.”

Tennis coach Craig Foster said the group of seniors affect each grade level differently.

“It gives the underclassmen something to look up to and the seniors are looking at their last chance to do something in high school,” Foster said.

Varsity player senior Stephanie Preap said playing alongside the seniors motivate the varsity team.

“[The number of seniors] unites our team and means more to us because we want to try harder so we can go to regional’s since it’s our last year,” Preap said. “It’s fun because we all know each other.”

Although Preap finds the number of seniors encouraging, Foster said there are also bad aspects to having a larger number on the team.

“You lose a lot of what you’ve built on [when they graduate],” Foster said. “It’s almost like starting over. Then again, the good thing is a lot of the JV the next year have a chance to move up and develop.”

JV player junior Matthew Clakley said losing the seniors at the end of the year will be a challenge.

“We’ll lose a lot of seniors and they are kind of on top right now, so it will be hard next year,” Clakley said. “The juniors will be the new leaders of the team [after the seniors graduate] and our coach will expect us to set a good example for the underclassmen.”

However, senior varsity player Ed Jerimeh Loquellano said he has faith that the younger players will step up to the challenge.

“I think they are improving each and every day with coach helping them to improve for the [school’s] future team,” Loquellano said.

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