LABC PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:
Spring
is a great time to feel alive and get out and enjoy our great high school
sporting events. I hope all of you take
the time to enjoy all the great moments which are being realized each day on
our fields and courts. Your athletic
booster club is active and working hard to insure we have the funding needed
for the extra things we like to have for our athletes which many schools simply
can’t provide. To help keep them in
shape, we strongly support a weight training program so that all our students
can be strong and less prone to injury.
Along that same thinking, we support a program which provides one of the
finest training rooms at any high school in the state. Also, in that training room we provide
Gatorade after practice for all athletes to replenish themselves after a hard
workout or contest. We want to thank
those of you who have committed to the booster club with your family membership
in support of what we do. In addition we
want to thank those of you who supported our biggest fundraiser, the golf
tournament at Fords Colony. You all helped make it a success which allows us to
continue with all these programs as well as many others including student
scholarships and athletic awards banquets. Enjoy the spring and get out and
support our RAMS.
Dwight Pinkett
President
LAFAYETTEBOOSTERS.COM
If you
want the latest, get to your computer and check it out. Get the schedules,
phones numbers, e-mail addresses, booster club notes and many other happenings.
Want to find a score or if a game has been postponed? Just type in LAFAYETTEBOOSTERS.COM.
Do it today and let us know what you
think.
AD’s CORNER – By: Dan
Barner
SPLISH, SPLASH. I WAS TAKIN’ A ……………WOULD YOU BELIEVE ANOTHER VIRGINIA STATE “AA” CHAMPIONSHIP? Three
years ago, this was the exact same headline that I used for the 2004 winter
sports addition of our News and Notes. Also, in that April 2004 addition, I
started with the following passage: “As
we stood about half way up the side of the pool during the VHSL State Swim
& Dive Championship meet at Radford
University, Head Swimming Coach
Harold Baker, assistants Chris Hanks and Casey Emmett and I realized that we
were having one of those special Kodak moments. Standing all alone at the top
of the starting block, you could see a very distinct and large twinkle in her
eyes and a wonderful broad smile on her face that told everyone in attendance
that it was all over. Though there were
still a couple of events to go, our Lafayette Rams were (for all intents and
purposes) within seconds of winning our first ever girl’s state swim & dive
championship. Now all that Jennifer Johnson had to do was wait for Tilly Luzar,
who was way out in front, to finish her lap and not false start off the
starting block. As Jennifer’s face told the story, moments later she would
finish the final leg. Her relay would not only bring home the state
championship, but would also set a new VHSL state record in the 4 x 200 relay”.
Well here we are today, three years later. The VHSL State Swim & Dive
Championships has had a different venue, many different athletes and coaches
have come and gone but in the end, the headlines and story line reads the same
as they did in 2004. Because just as they did in 2004, our 2005, 2006 and 2007 girls’
swim & dive team won the Bay Rivers District and the VHSL State Championships,
went undefeated and in doing so set a number of new state records. In the end, the
final tabulation for our girls’ swim & dive teams of the past four years
shows four undefeated seasons, four Bay Rivers District Championships and four
VHSL State Championships. Add in the
fact that on this year’s team, which is consistent with the others years, 28 of
the 31 girls which is equivalent to 90% earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher during
the season. WOW, this is something that is really and I mean really impressive.
Think about this. Checking the VHSL website I figured (there is a chance that I
may have missed one or two) that in the history of the VHSL, there was only 33
times when a school has won at least four straight State Championships. Since
the VHSL was formed in 1915, there have been thousands upon thousand of teams and
athletes that played for a state championship.
Last year alone approximately 5,000 plus Virginia
High School sports teams played for
a chance to win a state championship. Also, this year the rosters of athletes
participating on a VHSL teams will number in the area of over 165,000. With
these figures, how many of these athletes do you think can claim this year or
any year to have been on a varsity team that for four years never lost a single
meet, won four district and four state championships? Looking at the figures above, my guess would
be much less than 1%. And if you are
lucky enough to find a group that was good enough to accomplish such an amazing
feat, what are the chances that this same group could also match our girls’
academic achievements? The end of this unbelievable era can be summed up by
saying: Great Athletes, Great Students, and Great Kids are “The Girls of Winter
- The Lafayette Girls Swim and Dive Team”.
To the seven senior girls who have been part of all four state
championship teams, I can only say that you accomplished something that most
athletes cannot even begin to dream about.
To you seven, all having well over a 3.0 GPA - Sarah Crockett, Hannah Davis,
Molly Emmett, Jennifer Johnson, Kirsten MacDonnell, Michelle Schisa and Mollie
Wilson - I salute you for all your truly outstanding accomplishments that no amount of words can
describe.
A little
trivia: Of the 33 schools that had one
of their sports win at least four straight state championships only five come
from our region of the state. They are:
Newport News
High Boys Track: 1939-1942
New Kent
Girls Track: (5) 1982 -1986
An interesting note on New Kent’s
five straight championships; One of the major stars of these Trojan teams was
our assistant principal, Mia Pollard.
Ms. Pollard then continued her track career at the University
of North Carolina.
Cox High Field Hockey: (7) 1989 -
1995
Hampton
High Football: 1995 – 1998
Lafayette
Girls Swim: 2004 – 2007
There are examples of other
schools that had great runs in wining state championships. For one, the
Jamestown Girls Tennis won the state championship an amazing six times in a seven
year period. However, as mentioned above, only 33 schools, five those from this
area have been able to do it in four straight years.
For the most
part, individually our Rams had another, what has become a tradition, great
winter sports season. The only area that was not up to our expectations was
that just 59% of our winter athletes earned a 3.0 GPA during the winter
season. Considering that the norm is usually
around 70%, we will be looking to improve upon this very important factor next
year. Fifty different athletes earned some type of post season individual honor.
We saw 17 of these athletes make VHSL All-State of which 13 were either a State
Champion or made All-State First Team in their respective sport. Of our 17 All-State Athletes, 13 or 76% earned
a 3.0 or higher GPA during the second grading period. Sports season after
sports season it has become common for our highest honored athletes to also
have the highest GPA among our athletes.
Finally, as expected, all of our winter teams put in hundreds of hours
working on a variety of community service projects.
As a group,
the winter sports teams of 2006-2007 had one of, if not the most, successful
season in the history of LHS Athletics.
Before I go on there is one thing that I want to make very clear. The reason why we have had so much success
over the year is because of the overall quality of athletes that we have at
LHS. Obviously, one of the reasons is
because we have such a large number of outstanding athletes each sports season
who earn post some type of season honors year.
However, that is only a part of equations. The other big and I mean big
reason for our success is due to the high quality of play by our athletes who
do not win some type of post season honor.
These are the Ram athletes who provide the high octane fuel that make
our winning engines run. Simply put,
Lafayette Athletes has become one of the “AA” powers in the state because we
have so many hard working and dedicated athletes who know how to get the job
done. They are the BEST!
All seven of
our winter teams this year advanced to the district tournament and all finished
the regular season in the upper half of the Bay Rivers District. Lafayette
was the only school in the district to have all of its winter teams finish in
the upper half of the district. What
makes this feat so impressive is that we have accomplished this 14 times out of
the 29 sports seasons (nine years + 2 seasons) that we have been in “AA”. No
other school in the district has been able to come close to this
accomplishment. In fact, out of the
other nine schools in the district only three have been able to accomplish this
feat at least once. Grafton has done it five times, Tabb three times and Jamestown
once. This winter two of our teams were
district champions, three others were second and five of the seven finished in
the top 16 in the state. Next to our
girls swim team, our boys swim team was our next highest ranking team as they,
for the second straight year, finished as the VHSL State Runner-Ups. Our
wrestling team had another great year as they finished second in the district.
They were Eastern Sectional Champions, finished third in the Region 1
championship and finished the year as the seventh placed team in the
state. Our boy’s basketball team had one
of their best seasons ever. They set a new school record with 20 wins as they
finished second in the district. They made it to the Region 1 semi-finals which
is the furthest advancement by any Ram basketball team. During the regular
season the Associated Press had our Rams ranked as high as 5th in
the state which also is the highest ranking ever for one of our basketball
teams. Our girls basketball team also finished with one of their best
seasons. Their 15 wins are the most in
nine years and they advanced to the district semi-finals for only the second
time in “AA”. Our Girls Indoor Track
team won the district championship and placed 4th in Region 1. The
Boys Indoor Team was the district runner-up, also placed 4th in
Region 1 and finished as the number 12 team in the state.
In summing up
the winter season, there is not much left that I can say that has not already
been said about our many outstanding student/athletes. Over the years, all of us at Lafayette
have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with so many good
student/athletes who win in the classroom, who win on the playing surface, who
constantly exhibit great sportsmanship and who are workers for the
community. Year in and year out these
are the young men and ladies who make up Lafayette
High School and
our athletic program. They are also the ones that we should be very proud in knowing
that they represent all of us to the highest degree of what we want for our
kids in this community. As I so often and proudly say “Lafayette
High School is the best school in
the state of VA.”
A PROUD WINTER TRADITION: During
the past ten seasons in “AA” classification, our winter sports teams have been
building a rock solid tradition as one of the best winter programs in the
state. In the eight years of state
swimming, our Boys and Girls teams have never placed out of the top six in the
state. During this time our girls have
won four VHSL State Championships and our boys have been both State Champions
and State Runners-up twice. Our Boys Indoor
Track team has been in the top 15 in all nine years that the VHSL has held a
state championship. Seven of those nine years they have finished the season in
the top ten in the state and they have earned one VHSL State Championship and
one State Runner-up trophy. Our Girls
Indoor Track has placed in the top 15 five times during that period. Our Wrestling team has placed in the top 15
in eight of the past nine years. Listed
below is how our winter teams have fared at the state level for the past seven
years.
Boys Swimming: State Champions – twice, State Runner-up – twice, 2nd,
3rd, 4th & 6th
Girls Swimming: State Champions – four times, 3rd twice,
5th & 6th
Boys Indoor Track: State Champions 2nd, 3rd,
7th, 9th, 10th, 12th & 15th
Girls Indoor Track: 6th, 7th, 8th,
13th & 15th
Wrestling: 4th, 6th,
7th – twice, 10th, 13th twice & 15th
MILESTONES: Hannah Davis: Hannah has finished her Lafayette
athletic career as, without question, the most celebrated one sport athlete in
the history of the school. During the Winter
Sports Awards Ceremony, I mistakenly
stated that Hannah was the VHSL State Champion in 13 of the 16 events that she
was allowed to participate in during her four years as a Ram. I stand corrected to the fact that she was a
State Champion in 11 of those 16 events. In the other five state events she
never finished lower than third. I
thank the person who notified me pointing out this mistake. Hannah also owns four
VHSL state records and seven of our girl’s 12 school records. This year Hannah
was a state champion in the 50 and 100 free and as part of the 200 and 400
relay teams. Hannah was also named the
Daily Press Girls Swimmer of the Year. Paige Boyer: A junior, Paige made
All-State for the third time by winning a state crown in the 100 breastroke and
as a part of the 200 medley and 400 free relay teams. Jennifer
Johnson: Like Hannah, Jennifer is a four time All-State performer. Jennifer was a state champion this year as
part of the 200 medley and 200 free relay teams. Sarah Crockett: Sarah finished she career as a three time All-State
swimmer. This year was part of the state championship 200 and 400 free relay
teams. Michelle Schisa and Catie Pittman:
Both were state champs as part of two relay teams. Michelle was part of the 200 medley and 400
free relay teams while Catie, a freshman, was also part of the 200 medley relay
and a part of the 200 free relay team. Tara
Svadeba: For the second year Tara was an All-State
performer as a diver. This year Tara
finished third and last year as a junior she was the state runner-up. Matt
Baumler: Matt, a junior, is now a two time state champion. This year he was the state champ in the 100
fly and set a new state record in the 100 backstroke. Matt also was a part of the state champion
200 medley and 200 free relay teams. Kurt Linkenauger, Brent Harkins, Ben LeRose
and Drew Crockett: All four were
members of a state champion relay team. Kurt, a junior has now made All-State
three times. This year he was part of the 200 medley and 200 free relay
teams. Brent, also a junior and a two
time All-State performer was also a part of the 200 medley and 200 free relay
teams. Ben was part of the 200 medley state champion team while Drew, a freshman,
was part of the 200 free relay team. Garrick
Piggott: As a junior, Garrick was a state indoor track champion in the
triple jump. Like Hannah, Garrick was
named the Daily Press Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. Damien Brown: Another junior, Damien made All-
State throwing the shot put. John
Held: John made All-State as a 140 lbs. wrestler. John also broke Austin Moore, a State
Champion three years ago, career win record.
John finished with 173 win during his four years at LHS. Shawn Sweaney: Shawn was an All-State 171
lbs. wrestler. Shawn now has 100
victories which are the most ever by a sophomore. Brandon
Moyler: This year Brandon became the first basketball
player in the history of Lafayette
to make first team All-State. Brandon,
the district leading scorer the past two seasons, became only the second male
to score over 1,000 points in a career. Brandon
was also a first team All-State football selection this fall.
SPORTSMANSHIP: This fall and
winter, we had NO VHSL violations with our fans or players in the area of
sportsmanship. It is very important for the entire Lafayette
community to understand that good sportsmanship is a major cornerstone of our
athletic programs. We applaud all Rams
for their good behavior at all games. Remember that it is just as important to
learn the lessons of proper behavior in defeat as it is in victory. As a fan,
please be reminded that you represent Lafayette
High School as
much as our athletes do, and your behavior reflects either positively or
negatively on our school and our athletic programs. Please show good sportsmanship at all
times. Just another reason why our Rams
are the best!
SPORTSMANSHIP-INTEGRITY-SCHOOL SPIRIT AWARD: This is the most
prestigious seasonal award that we give at Lafayette. The winners are voted upon by our
sportsmanship committee made up exclusively of students. Being voted the winner of this award by an
athlete’s peers makes this a very special honor. This winter’s awards go to: Girls Basketball:
Sarah Harms, Boys Basketball: Taylor Morgan, Girls Indoor Track: Heather Dela Cruz, Boys Indoor Track: Michael Milkavich, Girls Swimming: Michelle Schisa, Boys Swimming: Chris Mernin, Wrestling: Jacob Bigelow. Congratulations to all these athletes for upholding
the tradition of outstanding sportsmanship that we have at Lafayette
High School.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: By making All-State in swimming this winter, Sarah (for the third time) and Drew Crockett become the 18th siblings to have made
All-State during our ten years in the “AA” classification. At the same time this winter another swimmer, Catie Pittman, joined her brother Drew, an All-State swimmer in the late
’90’s, as the 19th siblings. All 19 are listed by their year of graduation
and the sport that they made All-State. They are: Briana ’01 (cross country) and Brendan
’99 (football) Kearney; Tilly
’04 (swimming & track) and Kase
’99 (track) Luzar; Lindsay ’02 (swimming) and Chris ’00 (football) Miller;
Ashley ’02 (swimming) and Justin ’01 (football) Foerster; Kate
’03 (volleyball) and Doug ’00 (tennis) Daub; Sarah ’01 (track) and Jimmy
’02 (track) Kohlman; Ashley ‘02(volleyball) and Todd ’04 (football) Reyher; Jake
’06 (swimming) and Caitlin ’04 (swimming) Coleman;
Justin
’00 (football) and Colin ’03 (football)
Kelly; Connor ’02 (football & soccer) and Brock ’04 (soccer) Hughes;
Ross
’03 (football) and Robert ’06
(football) Pinkett; Anna
’06 (swimming) and Monty ’99 (track)
Linkenauger; Eva
’06 (swimming), David ’04 (swimming)
and Kurt ’08 (swimming) Linkenauger; Elizabeth
’03 (swimming), Samantha ’05 (swimming)
and Hannah ’07 (swimming) Davis; Andrew ’01 (indoor and outdoor track)
and Morgan ’04 (soccer) Kuhn;
Elizabeth ’06 (outdoor track)
and John ’04 (indoor track) Hopke;
Scott ’06 (swimming) and Brent ’07 (swimming) Harkins; Sarah ’07
(swimming) and Drew ’10 (swimming) and Catie
’10 (swimming) and Drew ’00
(swimming)
WE
SAY GOODBYE TO SOME VERY GOOD FAMILIES: At this June’s graduation, we
will be saying goodbye to six senior winter athletes who along with their
graduated brothers and/or sisters have been pillars of success while at
Lafayette. These seniors, their siblings
and their parents have been a major part of the Lafayette Athletic family for
at least the past six years. Bob and Pauline
Emmett and their children, Molly, Casey and Quinn have been a part of the LHS
athletic scene for all 10 years that we have been “AA”. All three participated on at least two state
championship swim teams. For the past
eight years, Emil and Lynda Davis have also given us three outstanding swimmers
in Hannah, Samantha and Elizabeth, all of whom made All-State. Randy and Patty Banks have been a part of LHS
athletics for the past nine years and have provided us with three boys and one
girl who played football, wrestling, baseball and cheerleading. Cameron,
Christine and Justin have all been part of very successful team while at
LHS. The youngest, Chase who is a sophomore,
will be going to Warhill next year. Dave and Angie Rogers have given us the
opposite of the Bank’s, by sending us three girls and one boy. Aaron, Allison, Susan and Leigh have also
been part of some very successful teams which include Wrestling, Cheerleading
and girls basketball. For seven years,
Bruce and Joanne Weber have given us two outstanding wrestlers. John was All-State this year and his brother
Phillip was All-Region. Robert Watson
has provided us with three athletes in the past six years. Kadari has been part of our basketball and
track programs. Her brother Dakari was a
football and track star at LHS. Their
younger sister, Ashari, is a freshman and will attend Warhill next fall. To these parents and athletes, I want to send
along a very special thank you for all the many years that you have given in
making athletics at Lafayette at best. You will truly be missed by all.
THREE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN LHS ATHLETICS: Between our Booster Club
and the School Division we have in place some very key people to make our
athletes the best. I can think of no
other school division in this area that has these same positions. Keven
Jones: Besides being our former boys
basketball coach, Coach Jones is also our academic advisor for the
athletes. Please, if your child is in
need of academic help, call Coach Jones at 565-4236.
Please do not hesitate to take advantage of the help that he can provide. Dan
Gotthardt: Coach Gotthardt is our full time certified athletic
trainer. If your athlete is having some
type of injury related problem or if you just need some information, please
call Coach Gotthardt at 565-4281. If
he cannot solve the problem he can point you in the right direction to get the
necessary medical help needed for your athlete.
Paul Wheeler: Coach Wheeler,
who is our football coach, is also a nationally certified Strength Training
Coach. Besides the benefits that
strength training has on an athlete’s performance on the playing surface, it
has just as much or more positive effect on their self-esteem and
appearance. Please call Coach Wheeler at
565-4253 to get more information on
our spring and summer workout schedules.
He runs a great program and it will surely help your athlete become a
stronger and more physically fit person.
SAT
& ACT TESTING: Has your son or daughter signed up to take
the SAT or ACT test? If they are a
junior and have not taken one of these tests, please have them sign up now.
Remember that a student can take this test as often as possible and only the
highest scores counts. Call 565-4202
for more information.
IMPORTANT SAT TESTING DATES:
Test
Dates: Registration
Dates:
May
7 March
25
June
4 April
29
IMPORTANT ACT TESTING DATES:
Test
Dates: Registration
Dates:
June
11 May
6
IMPORTANT DATES:
Spring Sports Awards Ceremony: Sunday, June 10 - 5:00
PM
Senior Sports Banquet at
Ford’s Colony: Tues. June 12 - 6:00 PM
Fall Sports Physicals: Wednesday, July 27
Girls: 5:00 PM
Boys: 6:30 PM
FALL PRACTICE
STARTING DATES:
Golf Wednesday,
August 1
Football Wednesday,
August 1
JV
report on Monday August 13
Cheerleading Wednesday,
August 1
Cross Country Wednesday,
August 1
Volleyball Wednesday,
August 1
Field Hockey Monday,
August 6
9th
graders on Wednesday August 8
*** Parents: Please be reminded that for all sports
that have tryouts (varsity football, golf, cheerleading, volleyball and field
hockey) athletes must be present during the tryout period in order to make the
team. Some sports (JV football and cross
country) do not have limits on the size of their teams and do not have
tryouts. ALSO, REMEMBER THAT IF YOUR CHILD IS GOING TO BE ON A VARSITY TEAM,
ESPECIALLY AS A MEMBER OF A TEAM SPORT, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THEY WILL BE AT
PRACTICE EACH DAY.
STRENGTH TRAINING ROOM - SUMMER HOURS
Summer Hours:
Monday thru Friday 10:00 AM
to 12:00 AM
Mon day thru Thursday 6:00 PM
to 8:00 PM
*** PARENTS: IF YOU EVER HAVE
ANY CONERNS OR QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL THE ATHLETIC OFFICE AT 565-0440.
HAVE A GREAT SPRING!!!