LABC PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:
We hope all are having a great
summer with vacations, sports camps and running around enjoying the good
weather. As parents we are sometimes
torn between wanting summer to get here and begging for school to start. We can’t control that- but we can control
having a nice day in October when the Rams have their annual golf tournament at
Ford’s Colony Country Club. This is the
biggest fundraiser we have for the Booster Club
and it helps to set the tone for what we can accomplish each year for our
student athletes. In order to be
successful with this tournament we need as much help as we can get. We need golfers, so if you play or would like
to play come on out (please sign up soon so we can get an official count). If you can get one or more teams together, it
would be great for us and a lot of fun for you.
We also need help getting sponsorships from businesses in the area. If you know a business that will support
their local high school or if you own a business that can help- please let us
know ASAP. We also need raffle items,
which come from local restaurants, golf courses, spas, car washes, etc. If you are
aware of any place that will contribute, please call and let us know In the past we have had only one or two
people who were willing to go and ask all the businesses for their
support. This is absolutely too much to
ask of a few dedicated parents and frankly, with over 400 athlete families,
this is rather embarrassing. In closing,
we are also looking for parents of athletes who are willing to give a small
amount of their time to help with the planning of the Booster
Club. New blood from 9th, 10th and 11th
grade parents is needed to assure that we have a great booster club for the
future years at Lafayette. Recently, a rival high school talked about
how hard it is for them to get things and praised how good our booster club is
at raising funds. We don’t need the
praise, but we could sure use some support.
Check out the Booster club website (www.lafayetteboosters.com) and
call us if you think that you can contribute in any way. Thanks, and I hope you have a great summer!
Dwight Pinkett
WWW.LAFAYETTEBOOSTERS.COM
Get all the latest updated information on Lafayette Athletics
Fall Athletic Schedule
Physical Exams Dates
Fall
Practice times
Coaches
Names and Contact Info
NCAA
Clearinghouse
SAT and ACT
Testing Info
&
Much More
AD’s CORNER: by Dan
Barner: A first EVER - our Rams
finish in the top 7 in the VHSL final standing in Athletics, Academic Activities
and Participation. Here is the bonus
question. Out of 305 schools in the
VHSL, (AAA, AA & A) Lafayette
was one of only three to achieve this accomplishment, what is it? It seems that it is becoming a common practice
at this time each year to say that not much has changed with Lafayette
Athletics. It seems like reading the
spring edition of the Lafayette Athletic Booster Club’s
News & Notes each year is like reading old news or listening to the same
record over and over. Nothing seems to change from year to year except maybe for
the names. This year, just like the other years, our Rams earned many
championships, earned many individual athletic honors, earned many academic
honors such as having a two-sport, all-district valedictorian and having 62% of
all our athletes earning a 3.0 or higher GPA, and, like always, completing many
community service projects which included raising just under $10,000 for the
Hurricane Katrina fund. As I said, it seems that this is nothing more than the
same old, same old news from year to year.
Well guess what? I have great news! Something new! This year, for the first time ever, our Rams
finished the year no lower than 7th in the VHSL’s final standings in Athletics,
Academic Activities and Total Participation.
This outstanding feat could only be duplicated by two of the 304 other
schools in the state, Chantilly and Radford. What a truly
great accomplishment for our Rams who finished the year as number four in
athletics, number five in participation and number seven in academic activities.
Adding the final touch to our very
successful year was the many surprises by our spring teams. It was the first time ever in “AA” that we saw
all of our spring teams finish in the upper half of the district’s final standings. This spring our teams won two district
championships and because of their great efforts, we were able to put the
finishing touches on securing the Bay
Rivers District All Sports Championship for the sixth time in the past seven years
and finish fourth in the state’s final VHSL standings. Leading the way this
spring was our girls’ soccer team. They tied
the school record for the most wins in a season and advanced to the VHSL State
Playoffs for the first time ever. They
also won the Bay Rivers District regular season and tournament championships.
Next were three teams that had seasons beyond expectations. Our softball team accomplished two firsts.
They finished the year in the upper half of the district for the first time in
“AA”, and also won our first ever “AA” district tournament game. Our boys’
soccer team was in a rebuilding year but still managed to finish a surprising
third in the district and reach the semifinals of the region. However, probably
the biggest surprise of all was our baseball team. Returning only two starters from last year’s
district championship team, many figured that just making the district
tournament would be a tough assignment. This
team worked extremely hard in the off season and got off to a great start and
was challenging for the district title right up to the end of the season. Our boys’
tennis team had a somewhat down year but still finished in the upper half of
the district. As always, our boys’ and
girls’ track and girls’ tennis teams had their usual good seasons. Our girl’s tennis team finished as the
regional runner-up and lost only two games during the season. In fact, our girls have only lost four games
in the past two years, and all four losses have been to the state champions, Jamestown.
The boys’ outdoor track team won their second straight district championship
and placed fourth in the region while our girls outdoor track team finished as
the district runner-up and finished as the number three team in Region 1. As
you look at the many accomplishments, you will see it was truly a bright sun shining
Lafayette spring. This spring’s
highlights include:
·
Two Bay Rivers Championships
Boys’ Track
& Girls’ Soccer
·
Two Region Runner-ups
Girls’ Soccer
& Girls’ Tennis
·
All teams finished in the top half of the Bay
Rivers District
·
Five teams finished in the top four of Region 1:
Girls Soccer, Tennis and Outdoor Track. Boys: Soccer and Outdoor Track.
·
Our spring teams won 65 % of all their games
·
74% of our athletes had a 3.0 or higher GPA
during the season
·
52 spring athletes earned some type of
post-season honors
·
8 won All-State honors
·
78 % of our honored athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or
higher and seven of the eight (87%) of our All-State athletes achieved a 3.0
GPA or higher during the season.
·
Community service projects this spring included:
March of Dimes, Heritage Humane Society,
Va. Department of Highways, The
American
Red Cross and the Cherished Angels Scholarship fund.
2005-2006 – ANOTHER YEAR OF THE RAMS: As I mentioned above, success
for our athletes and their teams just seems to go on and on. This year, our
Rams won an outstanding 70% of all the games that they played and 133 of our
athletes earned some type of post-season honors. We won one state championship,
the Girls’ Swim team, and our Rams won eight Bay Rivers District championships. Another five teams finished second in the
district. For the year, 20 of our 22
teams finished in the upper half of the district. This success once again propelled our Rams to
our sixth Red Simpson Award in the
past seven years. This award is given
annually by the Peninsula Sports Club to the school who wins the All-Bay Rivers
District Sports and Academic Activities championship. During our nine years in the Bay Rivers, our
Rams have never finished lower than second in the overall Bay Rivers standings. As mentioned above, all our Ram spring teams
finished the season in the upper half of the district and we were the only
school in the Bay Rivers to accomplish this.
What makes this feat so impressive is that we have accomplished this 13
times out of the 27 sports seasons (nine years) that we have been in “AA”. No other school in the district has been able
to accomplish this more than four times.
Also, for the eighth straight year, our Rams finished the year in the
top 10 in the VHSL. This year LHS finished fourth in the final VHLS athletic standings.
Only a very few schools can make this
claim and one of them is our partner school, the Jamestown Eagles. The Eagles
finished the year as the number two school in the state and, like our Rams,
have finished in the top 10 for eight straight years. As I say every year, just
like old news, two schools from the same community that finish in the top six
or seven in the VHSL on an annual basis is an outstanding accomplishment and something
that should make this community very proud.
I just hope that as a community we never get to the point of taking for
granted all the exciting accomplishments that our athletes work so hard for and
earn each year. What they do year in and
year out may be old news, but it is still something that is truly amazing and
we should all really appreciate what fine student/athletes we have in
WJCC. As always, “Great job Lafayette
Rams!”
FOUR GREAT YEARS: When seniors
of 2005 received their diplomas, they took with them, without question, the
four most successful and exciting athletic years ever at Lafayette. The class of 2006 has followed with their own
version of one of the best four year athletic periods in the history of
LHS. During their four years they:
- Won 70% of their 1246 games
- Won six VHSL state championships
- Were a VHSL
state runner-up twice
- Had 36 teams finish in the top 15 in the state.
- Won 10 Region 1 championships
- Were Region 1 runner-up 17 times
- Won 26 Bay Rivers championships
- Were Bay Rivers runner-ups 20 other times.
- Out of 84 senior athletes, 43 made some type of
post-season honors.
- Three of the past four Valedictorians and two of the
past four Salutatorians played athletics at LHS.
- Performed thousands of hours working for and raising
thousands of dollars for community services projects.
As I mentioned above, season after
season, year after year, it seems that this has become just a common thing to
summarize each of our sports seasons by using the phrase “another outstanding
season.”
ACADEMICS + CITIZENSHIP = THE LAFAYETTE RAMS!!
Each year as I review what our athletes have accomplished outside of
the arena of athletics, it is easy to see why we should be so proud of them. This
year’s final statistics (the statistics do not include summer school students)
show that our athletes once again had another outstanding year academically as
they outperformed the non-athletes in the school by a wide margin in a number
of very important categories. For
example, almost a third, 30% of our athletes, have an overall GPA of 3.5 or
higher compared to on only 16% of the non-athletes. In the 3.0 and higher GPA
category, 62% of the athletes have achieved this level to only 33% of the
non-athletes. At the bottom end of the GPA scale, just 7% of our athletes have
earned under a 2.0 GPA while 29% of the non-athletes GPA’s fall under a
2.0. Under a 1.5 GPA, find athletes are
less than 1% while non-athletes are at 15%. In the areas of citizenship and
attendance, our Ram athletes have also graded higher than the non-athletes. Year-end
statistics show that only 16% of our athletes versus 33% of the non-athletes
missed more than 10 day of school. Discipline-wise, just 4% of our athletes
received either ISS or OSS compared
to 17% of the non-athletes. Our Ram athletes win far more than their share of
games and championships and they do better in the classroom, have fewer
absences and have far fewer in-or-out of school suspensions than the
non-athletes that attend LHS. Add in the many community service projects that
they complete
and one can see why we have the
very best student-athletes. This year,
just like last year and just like the years before that, our Rams just get the
job done. It makes it so easy to say “that
is great to be a Lafayette Ram.”
Heading this
year’s list of outstanding academic and citizenship performances are five
seniors. Emily Cetrone: Emily became the fourth athlete during
the past seven year to earn the honor of being named the Valedictorian of the
senior class. We have also seen during this same time period three of our
athletes win the honors of Salutatorian. Besides being the number one student
of the class of 2005, Emily was also named as a National Merit Honor
Student. Athletically, Emily was a
member of this year’s regional runner-up tennis team and the girl’s volleyball
team. She was the team captain and
earned All-District honors in both sports.
She was also a two-time winner of our Sportsmanship-Integrity-School
Spirit Award. Aaron Traver, Chris Reichelt & Brad Davis: These three Ram
athletes were nominated and accepted into our nation’s military academies. Aaron
and Chris will be attending the Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs while Brad will be attending West
Point. Gaining admittance into one of our military academies is a
very difficult task and is truly an honor of the highest esteem. We
congratulate all three and know that they will represent our country well. Elizabeth Hopke: Became our third
athlete since becoming “AA” to be recruited and accepted into an Ivy League
school. Elizabeth
was recruited heavily by a number of schools, including a couple of Ivy
Schools for track and settled on
attending Princeton University. Lafayette’s Top Students: Thirteen of the top 25 students with the highest
GPA’s in the entire school are athletes.
Considering that only a third of the students at LHS participate in
sports but over half of the best students are athletes, just shows that the
athletes at LHS are also some of the school’s best students academically. Of the thirteen, 11 have earned at least one
varsity letter and 6 have earn at least All-District honors. The thirteen are: Emily Cetrone, Elizabeth Peterson, Sarah Lenceski, Mallory McClaine,
Kristina Rowe, Caroline Reed, Brent Shawcross, Kelly McHenry, Amy Rogers, Kyle
Smethurst, Michelle Schisa, Virginia Early, and Holly Bacon.
SPRING MILESTONES: Ryan Gaul: Ryan won his second state
championship of the year this spring when he earned the state champion crown in
the 800 meter run. This winter Ryan was
the state champion in the indoor track 1000 meter run. He also made All-State this spring as part of
the 4x8 relay team. Caleb Trowbridge, Michael Milkavich & Keith Jackson: Along with
Gaul, these three made All-State in the 4x8 relay. Brianna
Crockett: Brianna made All-State and set a new Lafayette
record this spring in the Pole Vault. Michael Scruggs: Michael was named to
the All-State team in Boys Soccer. Lia Potts & Sierra Sternberg: Lia
and Sierra were named to the All-State Girls Soccer team this spring. Sierra, who was also a first team All-State
selection in field hockey this fall & Jordan
Mayer were selected to play in the Virginia High School Coaches Association
All Star Soccer Game. Mallory McClaine: Mallory set a new
school record in the two mile run at the state championship meet this spring
where she finished as the 8th place winner. She also a part of the 4 x 8 record-setting
relay team that included Jacquelyne Chantry, Stasia Abid and, Heather Dela Cruz: .
SPORTSMANSHIP: Sportsmanship
is one of the cornerstones of our athletic program. Each sports season, one
athlete from each team is selected by their peers as the winner of the
Lafayette Sportsmanship-Integrity-School Spirit Award. This is the most
prestigious award given to our athletes.
This spring winners are: Girls Track Jacquelyne Chantry, Boys Track Frank,
Wheeler, Girls Soccer Hannah Lyerly,
Boys Soccer Nick Mitchell, Girls Tennis Emily
Cetrone, Boys Tennis Kyle Smethurst, Softball Katie Bruce, and Baseball Justin Lebore
SPECIAL SENIOR AWARDS: Each year at the Senior Awards Assembly and
at the Spring Awards Ceremony we announce the winners of our major Senior
Athletic Awards. The Gordie Tutman Award, which is presented
by the LHS coaching staff to the outstanding senior scholar/athlete, was given
to Holly Bacon. Holly, an All-District
field hockey player, received a $500 scholarship from the Athletic Booster Club
for winning this award and she will attend Kenyon
University where she was recruited
to play field hockey and swim. The Principal’s Award which is voted upon
by the entire Lafayette faculty is
given to the most outstanding Male and Female Athlete of the Year. The Male Athlete award was given to Ryan Gaul. Ryan, an All-district, All-Region, All-State
and State Champion in cross country and track will attend George Mason on a
track scholarship. Brianna Crockett was named the Female Athlete of the year. Brianna was an All-District cheerleader and
an All-District, All Region and All- State
track athlete. Brianna will attend James
Madison University
where she was recruited as a track athlete.
Both received $500 scholarship from the Athletic Booster Club. The winners of the Cherished Angels Scholarship were Aaron Traver, Emily Cetrone and Chandon Hudgins. Aaron, a member of our baseball team and who will attend the United States
Air Force Academy
in the fall was the winner of the $1,000 scholarship. Emily who was profiled above and Chandon, an
All-District, All-Region and All-State field hockey player and a member of our
tennis team won $500 scholarships.
Chandon will be Attending Radford
University in the fall where she
received a field hockey scholarship. David McLane Memorial Baseball Scholarship of
$2,000 was given to Sandy Gill. Sandy
will attend Va. Tech this fall.
MOVING TO THE NEXT LEVEL: This year we have 21 athletes who have
been recruited to play at the collegiate level.. They are: Alex Armstead (volleyball) at Morgan State, Chandon Hudgins (field Hockey) at Radford, Robert Pinkett (football) at CNU, Lorenzo Christian (football)
at CNU, Ryan Gaul (track) at George Madison, Virginia Bangit
(volleyball) at Emory & Henry, Kyle
Hughes (football) at VMI, Jacquelyne Chantry (cross country) at Longwood, Jordan Mayer (soccer) at
Wingate, Anna Linkenauger (swimming) at N.C. State, Elizabeth Hopke (track) at Princeton, Holly Bacon (field hockey & swimming) at Kenyon, George Pittman (football) at St.
Augustine, Mallory McClaine (cross
country & track) at Roanoke, Scott
Harkins (swimming) at Va. Tech, DJ
Lockwood (baseball) at Mary Washington, Christina Reyes (swimming) at Radford, Jake Coleman (swimming) at Mary Washington, Brianna Crockett (track) at James Madison, Jeremy Armstead (track) at Catawba and Will Harcum (wrestling) St. Andrews College. .