The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/324426
Page 9 May 30, 2014 Sports partan ound S off What's your favortie sport to play over summer vactation? Mrs. Carter (Teacher) "Basketball because it's indoors and out of the heat." Austin Harmon (11) "I don't play a sport over summer, I work." Mr. Barrow (Teacher) "Any activity that involves being dragged behind a boat in warm water under clear blue skies." Jaymi Carswell (10) "Volleyball, it's competitive." Kaitlyn Ramirez (12) "I like swimming because I don't live far from a lake and it's nice to relax." Sound Off/ Brianna Tackmier Kody Turner (9) "Football because I've played it for so long." Spartan's Coach of the Issue Aubrie Thomas Varsity Sof ball Coach Coach Aubrie Thomas is the head coach of the varsity girls' sof tball team. This has been her f irst year as head coach for varsity girls' sof tball, but she has coached four years not in the position of head coach. Last year she coached the JV girls sof tball team. When asked about why she enjoys coaching Aubrie Thomas replied, "I like to see all the girls succeed and learn things and implement them in a game, and to see them grow as athletes and as people." Coach of the Issue/Molly Shea Mikayla Moore Staff Writer Tymberlyn Bealer Sports Editor Red Bluff High School track team helped improve the atheletes on team Golf team hopes for a great season next year JV softball kept their spirts up throughout season The Red Bluff High School track team has had an all over good season. The team as a whole has broken mul- tiple records. The season is still cur- rently going on; students are continu- ing to break records. Nicole Renfroe stated, "I broke two records this year." This year for many of the athletes has been about strength- ening themselves. "I showed strength the most in my 1600," stared, Karl Parks. Cameron Ortega also shared, "This year at track I learned how to do the on mentioned that it was also her first year. When asked about their favorite game they all said that they liked the Double Header against Shasta because after falling behind most of the game, the team not only caught up, but they "kicked butt," as Lexi put it. In a previous interview, Coach Jennie mentioned about the teams sprit and said , "Spirit is high in our dugout! The girls support one another constantly. They are good students, people of character, and leaders. That makes a big difference in the spirit of our team. From the very beginning we have stressed positive attitudes and being people of sportsmanship. keeping their heads up, and played to the best of their abilities. "We have improved on staying positive as a team and not letting small errors as a team bring us down," said Shelby when she was asked about the team's improvements. When she was asked about what p e r s o n a l things she has improved on throughout the season, Autumn said, "Everything," and later Long time tennis athlete finally reaches his glor y in the 2014 League Championships After sectionals the Red Bluff High School Golf Team as a whole did not come home master's qualifiers. But our very own sophomore Derek Runnels did come home a Masters Qualifier as in individual. Two weeks ago on the eighth of May Runnels traveled down by Lake Almanor to Bailey Creek to golf against about a hundred other golfers, the best of the best, from schools all over Northern California to compete in a massive tournament. One day tournament, one round of golf, eighteen holes per game. Runnels teed off at about ten and his day was over by about six. Although runnels did not do what it took to move on from masters and shoot under a seventy-nine, he still played a very strong round, in the end shooting an eighty five. He was one of only four other golfers that qualified to go to masters as individuals without their teams. In the end Shasta as a team went home in the first place position and Pleasant Valley as a team ended up second. Runnels plays golf everyday during the Golf Season and practices very hard. He even has a personal coach that enables him to stay at the top of his game. Runnels said his coach helps him a lot. Putting is what he says he has to work on the most. Qualifying for masters is impressive enough on its own but what makes Runnels situation even more impressive is the fact he's only been golfing for a little under two years. The reason he got into the sport of golf is during his freshman year he tried out for the baseball team and did not make the cut therefore was forced to find a different sport and golf turned out to suit him quite well. As a sophomore Runnels already has universities interested in him. Hopefully next year Red Bluffs Golf Team will bring home a state championship. So he started off with beating Ryan, the section champion from last year, and then he beat Champe. Ryan champe was last year's league champion. He claimed this year's title with a win of 6-2, 6-3 on Champe. His whole mentality changed and he just drove himself further. Shaffer said, "Not only is tennis a sport, but it also teaches you honesty and respect. I have been playing for fourteen years, it has ran in my family." I just have a general respect for tennis." When Shaffer was a young kid, he never liked team sports much, he didn't like sharing the glory or the blame. Wanting to be an independent player made tennis a good choice. Shaffer also likes how tennis represents the player as an individual, and loves that he got to experience his own glory in his 2014 big win. Kylee Bonds Staff Writer In his four-year tennis career, Thunder Shaffer has finally become this year's 2014 league champ. Shaffer has been a part of the Red Bluff High School tennis team all four years of his high school career. Since Shaffer's freshman year, he had been awaiting this day. Not only did he win, he completely obliterated the other losing teams. I asked Thunder how he felt when he had finally won league, he said, "I couldn't believe that I won, I was so used to second, but it was relieving. I figured it was a great way to end my senior year of tennis." In the beginning of this year's season, Thunder was losing most of his tennis matches, but along the way somewhere it clicked in his mind that it was his last year and he needed to make the best of it. Varsity player Thunder Shaffer is practicing his serve at the Red Bluff High School's tennis courts. With the season coming to an end the JV softball team is sad to leave because they have had a lot of good times together and will miss it all. When asked about their favorite memory and how they felt about the season ending. Lexi Aguirre said, "We had a goofy practice where we spun around to get dizzy then hit the ball. It's sad to see it end. I'm going to miss playing with some of these girls." Autumn Poole replied with, "The van rides because the coach, Jennie, is really funny and it kind of sucks now because I don't have anything to do after school anymore." Shelby said, "I'm really sad to leave because I'm going to miss our team and all the memories we had." Even with all the things they had to overcome, they still did the best they could. "It was a good season considering all the injuries," said Shelby Burnett when asked about how she thinks the season went. Autumn replied with, "We did alright. We lost a lot of players so we did well considering how many players we had," but they pulled through, "We have improved on staying positive as a team and not letting small errors as a team bring us down." -Shelby Burnett triple jump." The track team is more than just a team to the athletes and coaches who are involved with it. Each student on the track team has a favorite coach or has a coach that af- fected them more than the others. Ren- froe explained, "Hendricks was my favorite coach because he knows me better than I know myself." Kaylynn Gibson stated, "Coach Mi- chael is my favorite of all the coach- es because he is always supportive whether we win or lose." The Red Bluff High School track team had a great season this year and created many memories. Reyn Hutten is a freshman on the track team who is running at the Oroville track meet. Julia Liebert Staff Writer Bluffer/Kylee Bonds Bluffer/Lexi Pritchard