LABC PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:
I want to take a moment
and thank all those of you who have supported the athletic booster club this
year. We are purchasing new equipment
for the weight room, paying for the coaches to run the weight room after
school, scholarships for student athletes, gifts for support staff, gatorade
for all our athletes, gifts for teams who win state championships as well
as all the sports banquets we have
during the year. This includes a senior
athlete sports banquet at Fords Colony each year that the students really have
a good time at. Your support for your
student athletes is most appreciated.
BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR
THE SPRING GOLF TOURNAMENT!!!! The
biggest event we have for the year is the Booster Club Golf Tournament at Fords
Colony. This year it is being held Sunday
April 27 at 1:00 PM. Please continue your support by sending in the
sign up to play, sponsor a hole(business or parent) with your message on a
sign, donating to the raffle, or helping us with the picking up of items for
the golfers and the raffle. Please call
Selene Pinkett at 508-8774 if you can help in any way.
SUPPORT YOUR
CHILDREN-YOU ONLY HAVE THEM FOR A SHORT TIME.
Thanks again.
Dwight Pinkett
President
LAFAYETTEBOOSTERS.COM
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think.
AD’s CORNER – By: Dan
Barner
AROUND AND AROUND SHE GOES AND WHERE SHE STOPS ONLY OUR GIRLS KNOW! Five straight VHSL State
Championships. In all of Hampton Roads
since the beginning of the VHSL in 1915, only two other sports teams at one high
school have been able to match the five straight state championship won by our
Girls Swimming and Diving team. New Kent’s
girls track team won five state championships from 1982-1986 and Cox
High School’s field hockey team won
seven straight state championships from 1989-1995. Wow, knowing this one can see why “the
Lafayette Swim & Dive Girls of Winter” are truly a very special group of
young ladies. Each year over 165,000 athletes in the state of Virginia
are playing on approximately 5,000 teams, all set out to win a state
championship. Those athletes who are good enough to win one will always
remember that special moment when they first realized that they and their
teammates were the best. That very special moment is also something that no one
will ever be able to take away. It will
forever be theirs. But to have five straight moments like this is something
that only happens in story books or dreams.
Considering that since the VHSL started championship play in 1915
and far less than 1% of all the
millions of athletes who have participated in VHSL sports since that time can
lay claim to being part of five straight state championships. In the April 2004 addition of the News &
Notes I started my AD’s Corner with: Splish, Splash I Was Takin’ A ……...Would
You Believe Another Virginia State “AA” State Championship. That fall saw Lafayette
High School win its first female
sports state championship when our Field Hockey team won the title in Charlottesville. That winter our girls swim won their first
title at Radford University. Well
here we are five years and five State Girls Swimming Championships later. The
VHSL State Swim & Dive Championships have had different venues, many different
athletes and even some 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 , 2007 and 2008 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. To our five seniors, Paige Boyer, Kelly
Dunbar, Chelsea Jensen, Nicole Martin, and Katie Blacher, we say thank you for
so many exciting moments and for all the memories.
Another very
impressive run of success by second senior group was accomplished by boys swim
team members. Even though they did not
win a state championship, they did something very special and something to be
very proud of. They were VHSL State
Runner-up for three straight years. This
feat too is something that is very unusual and has not been done very often in
the history of the VHSL. Even though their
accolades are not the same as our girls swim team, they nevertheless
accomplished something that is very impressive.
Along with the state runner-up accomplishments our boys swim team this
winter also won the Bay Rivers District title and finished the regular season
with a record of 9 and 0. To our eight senior boys, Matt Baumler, Kurt
Linkenauger, David Blacher, Tucker Coleman, Yu Jin Kim, Justin Reyes, Ryan
Willard and Brent Shawcross, congratulation on having great swimming careers at
LHS.
For the winter
season of 2007-2008 our Ram teams had what has become a yearly tradition,
another outstanding winter sports season.
This winter our teams won 78% of all the games played. Our teams record
of 91 wins and only 26 losses is our best winter overall record in the 11 years
in “AA” and a good possibility it is the best winter record in the history of
LHS athletics. For the 16th
time in the 32 sports seasons that we have participated in the Bay Rivers
District and in the VHSL State “AA” classification, all of our Ram winter teams
finished in the upper half of the final district standings. No other Bay Rivers
District school was able match this accomplishment this winter season. What makes this so special is that only three
of the other 10 district schools can claim that they have ever accomplished
this feat. Grafton has done it only six
times, Tabb five times, and Jamestown
once. This winter three of our teams won district
championships, two others placed second and five of our seven teams finished in
the top 16 in the state. All seven of
our winter teams advanced passed the district tournament and this is the first
time in the history of the LHS that has occurred. Next to our girls and boys swim and dive
teams, our wrestling team had the next highest finish in the VHSL as they place
11th at the state tournament.
Our wrestlers ended the year with a 22 and 8 record, which included a
tie for third place in the district and seventh place finish in Region 1. At the state tournament they finished higher
than the second and third place teams in the district. Our boys indoor track
team had a 7 and 1 record and finished 14th in the state. They were also the runner-up in both the
district and region. Our girls indoor
track team finished the year much higher than expected and became the surprise
team of the winter season. They finished
second in the district and seventh in the region and accumulated a record of 8
and 1. Our boys and girls basketball
teams combined to accomplish something that has never been done before. Both
made the Region 1 tournament in the same year.
Our girls’ basketball team finished the year as the tri-champions in the
district. This was only the second time
in the history of LHS that our girls’ basketball team was a part of a district
championship. Our girls lost a very
close game at James Monroe, the Battlefield District champion, in the first
round of the region tournament and finished with a record of 17 and 8. Our boys’ basketball team got off to a very
slow start then had one of the best finishes in the state as they won 13 of
their final 15 games. After finishing
fifth in the district our Rams easily beat the 4th, 2nd, and 1st ranked teams
in the district tournament. After
defeating Chancellor High
School from the Battlefield District our Rams
lost for the second straight year to Brunswick,
the eventual state runner-up, in the semi-finals of the region. They finished the year with a record of 19
and 8. Combined with their record of 20
and 5 last year and by winning one game each year in the regional playoff, the
past two years have been the most successful in the history of Lafayette
Basketball.
Individually
our Rams had another very good winter sports season. The only area that was not
up to our expectations was that just 60% of our winter athletes earned a 3.0
GPA during the winter season.
Considering that our goal for each sports season is 70%, we will be
looking to improve upon this very important factor next year. Forty nine, the
same as last year, different Ram athletes earned some type of post season
individual honor. We saw 27 of these athletes make VHSL All-State of which nine
were either a State Champion or made All-State First Team in their respective
sport. Of our 27 All-State Athletes, 20
or 69% earned a 3.0 or higher GPA during the second grading period. Of our nine
state champions, seven or 77% had 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.
In summing up
the winter season, I will say exactly what I said last year. That is the fact
that so many of our seasons are just like the ones that our athletes have
enjoyed the year or years before. I think
that I can say that 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, on the playing surface, and work to
make this a better community. Year in
and year out these are the young men and ladies who make up Lafayette
High School and
our athletic programs. 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. Simply stated, the reason why we have had so much
success over the years is due to 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, as the statistics suggest above, earn some type of post season honor each
year. However, that is only a part of
equation. The other major 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 Athletics 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 and it
is why I so often and proudly say that “Lafayette
High School is
the best school in the state of VA.”
OUR ATHLETES DO IT ALL: It has been well documented over the years that
our athletes and their teams win and win big on the athletic fields of
play. It has been well documented that
our athletes do very well and much better than the non athletes of our school
academically and in terms of school discipline. It has been well documented
that our athletes do some amazing things as far as participating in community
service projects and raising money for people in need. Now we have a new and exciting high for our
athletic department and it is something that probably has been rarely matched by
high schools anywhere. In the highly proclaimed spring production of the
nostalgic rock and roll musical of the 1950s “Grease” 11 of the 15 leading cast
members are Lafayette Athletes. That’s
right, over two thirds of the cast is made up of the same athletes who have
helped make our athletic teams the best.
Plus if you add in the fact that our One Act Play, made up of two
athletes, won the district and placed third in the state competition, you can
see that so many of the Lafayette
athletes are very talented young people.
They are as follows: Our One Act Play team – Taylor Morgan (basketball)
and Max Hinders (golf and tennis). The
cast of “Grease” includes: Lindsay Chuckney (field hockey), Alison Hummel
(field hockey), Brooke Hummel (field hockey), Luke Hyland (soccer), Alex
Madison (football), John Mills (football), Kirsten Melone (volleyball), Taylor Morgan (basketball), Chelsea Perkins
(field hockey), Hayley Trull (cheerleading) and Max Hinders (golf and tennis). We congratulate all of these athletes for
doing so many really great things. GREAT
JOB!!
A PROUD WINTER TRADITION: During
the past 11 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 nine 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 five VHSL State Championships and our boys have been both State Champions
and State Runners-up for the last three years.
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 nine of the past 10 years. Listed below is how our winter teams have
fared at the state level for the past 11 years. .
Boys Swimming: State Champions – twice, State Runner--up – three times, 2nd,
3rd, 4th & 6th
Girls Swimming: State Champions – five times, 3rd twice,
5th & 6th
Boys Indoor Track: State Champions one time, 2nd, 3rd,
7th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 14th
& 15th
Girls Indoor Track: 6th, 7th, 8th,
13th & 15th
Wrestling: 4th, 6th,
7th – twice, 10th, 11th, 13th twice
& 15th
MILESTONES: Matt Baumler: Matt
finished his athletic career as one of the best in the history of Lafayette. As a three time All-State swimmer Matt, who
will be attending Virginia Tech on a swimming
scholarship, won four individual state championships, setting a state record in
the 100 backstroke, and was also a part of a number of state championship
relays during his three years at LHS. He
also is the LHS record holder in the 200 Free, 100 Backstroke, 100 Fly, and as
part of all three relay teams. This year Matt was the state champion in the 100
fly and was as part of the state championship 200 Free Relay team. He finished
second at the states in the 100 Backstroke and as part of the 200 Medley Relay
team. Paige Boyer: Paige a four time All-State swimmer won two individual
state championships in the 100 backstroke and like Matt was a part of a number
of state relay championships. She is the school record holder in the 100
Breaststroke and as part of all three relay teams. This year Paige was a part of the 200 Free
State Championship Relay team, placed third at the states in the 100
Breaststroke and fourth in the 200 IM Catie Pittman, Colby Jensen and Catherine
O’Donnell: All three were part of
the state championship 200 Free Relay team. For Catie, a sophomore, it was her
second year as a state champion. Catie also placed third as part of the 200
Medley Relay team, sixth in 100 Free and seventh in the 100 Backstroke. Colby and Catherine, both freshman also placed
in other events at the states. Colby was part of the third place 200 Medley Relay
team and place eighth in the 100 Free.
Catherine placed fifth in both the 200 and 500 Free and was part of the
sixth place 400 Free relay team. Kindyl
Boyer, Lizzie Mitchell, Chelsea Jensen: These three girls won All-State
honors as part of the 400 Free Relay Team.
Kindyl also placed fifth in the 100 Breaststroke. Chelsea
was also named to the All District, All Region 1 and VHSL All-State Field
Hockey teams this fall. Kurt
Linkenauger, Ricky Knicely and Peyton Young: All three were part of the state championship
200 Free Relay team. Kurt, a senior, has
earned All-State honors for the fourth year. He also quarterbacked our Ram football team to two
straight Bay Rivers District championships and was an All-District quarterback.
Kurt is the LHS record holder in the 50 Free and as part of all three relay
teams. At the state Kurt placed third in
the 50 Free, sixth in the 100 Free and was part of the second place 200 Medley
Relay team. Ricky, has earned All-State
honor for the second time. The two previous
years he was a member of the Jamestown
swim team and obviously has become a welcomed addition to our Ram swimming
program. He also was part of the fourth place
400 Free Relay team at the states. Peyton won All-State honors for the first
time this year as a sophomore. Jason Haigh and Ben LeRose: Both Jason
and Ben made All-State as part of the second place 200 Medley Relay team. Jason
also placed sixth in the 100 Breaststroke while Ben was part of the fourth
place 400 Free Relay team. Paul Schisa and Taylor Hogge: Both won All-State honors as a part of
the 400 Free Relay team, which placed fourth at the state meet. Garrick Piggott: Garrick, a senior, won
his second straight state championship in the triple jump. Garrick is also the
outdoor triple jump defending state champion. Garrick also earned All-District
and All-Region football last fall. Damien Brown: For the second year
Damien earned All-state honors in the shot put.
Seth Seaborne: Seth won
All-State honors in the high jump. Victoria
Maston: Victoria won
all-state honors for the first time by placing in the pole vault. Heather
Dela Cruz, Shannon Stone, Renee Samaha & Becky Dobosy: These four girls won All-State honors as
part of the 3200 meter relay team. Both Shannon and Becky were All-Region
athletes last fall, Shannon in Volleyball and Becky in Cross Country. Chad O’Donnell, Shawn Sweaney, and Chase
Marley: These three wrestlers earned
All-State honors by placing at the VHSL State Tournament. Chad
and Shawn placed fourth, and Chase placed seventh. Also this winter both Chad
and Chase went over the 100 career win mark and Shawn became Lafayette’s
leader in career pins. Addie Williams and Art Crew: Addie and
Art accomplished one individual milestone and helped their basketball teams to
another this winter. Addie and Art
became just the third girl and third boy to score more than 1,000 points in
their career at LHS and the first couple to do it in the same year. Also, they led their teams into the Region 1
Tournament making this the first time in the history of LHS basketball that
both our girls and boys made the region tournament in the same year. Art was also named to the VHSL All-State team
and is the only starter in the history of LHS basketball to be a part of two
regional wins.
SPORTSMANSHIP: What has
happened to one of the proud cornerstones of our athletic department – that
being Sportsmanship? For the fall and winter seasons, we had a number of
sportsmanship issues that may have out totaled the combined numbers for our
first 10 year in “AA”. This year we
have received more complaints from opponent’s fans, coaches, administration and
even the officials about the behavior of our fans than ever before. Add to this the concern that we had two
athletes and one coach ejected from games this winter and already one athlete
ejected this spring, one can begin to see that we are having a big problem this
year with one of the most covenant parts of our athletic philosophy. It is very important for the entire Lafayette
community to understand that good sportsmanship is a must and is also a
cornerstone of our athletic programs.
Remember that it is just as important to learn the lessons of proper
behavior as it is winning games. As a
fan, and as parents of student fans, please be reminded that you and your child(ren)
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. If you see
some behavior that may cross over the line of good sportsmanship please use it
as a teaching moment to help your child(ren) understand what is and not
acceptable. Over the years we have
always been very proud of the show of excellent sportsmanship by the Lafayette
community and we applaud the vast majority of Rams who show good behavior at
all times. We are only a few years removed form being selected by the VHSL as
one of only a few schools to receive their sportsmanship award. Also, it has only been a few years since our
field hockey team won the sportsmanship award at their state tournament. During this same time we have received many words
of phrase, both verbal and written, from many people about the good spirit and
sportsmanship that the Lafayette
community has continually demonstrates. In the latest VHSL Weekly Update the
league office states that “Good sportsmanship is all about respect – respect
for oneself, for teammates and coaches, for opposing players and coaches, for
contest officials and for the game. Some of the negative behavior you see televised
at college basketball games is inappropriate at ANY level, but most especially
at high school contests.” Therefore, we
all need to step up and make an effort to ensure that this year is just one of
those off years. Good sportsmanship is a
must for both our athletes and our fans. Please remember to show good
sportsmanship at all times and help to remind those who cannot how important it
is to our school. Our great show of good sportsmanship in the past has always
been one of the reasons why I have been able to say that “Lafayette
athletics 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 selected as a winner of this award by
an athlete’s peers makes this a very special honor. This winter’s awards go to: Girls Basketball:
Nikia Canady, Boys Basketball: Trent Smith, Girls Indoor Track: Heather Dela Cruz, Boys Indoor Track: Sam Schultz, Girls Swimming: Chelsea Jensen, Boys Swimming: Brent Shawcross, 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 this winter, Paige (for the fourth time in swimming) and Kindyl (swimming) Boyer,
Chelsea (swimming and field hockey) and Colby (swimming) Jensen, Catherine
(swimming) and Chad (wrestling) O’Donnell and Paul (swimming) and his sister Michelle
(swimming last year) became the 20th, 21st,
22nd and 23rd siblings to have made All-State during our
11 years in the “AA” classification. All 22 siblings 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); Paige ’08 (swimming) and
Kindyl ’11 (swimming) Boyer; Chelsea ’08 (field hockey and
swimming) and Colby ’11 (swimming) Jensen; Chad ’08 (wrestling) and Catherine ’11 (swimming) O’Donnell and Paul ’09 (swimming) and Michelle
’07 (swimming) Schisa.
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. Kevin
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 info.
IMPORTANT
SAT TESTING DATES:
Test Dates: Registration
Dates:
May 3 April
1 Late April 10
June 7 May 6 Late May 15
IMPORTANT
ACT TESTING DATES:
Test Dates: Registration
Dates:
June 14 May 9 Late May 20-23
IMPORTANT
DATES:
Spring Sports Awards Ceremony: Sunday, June 8 -
5:00 PM
Senior Sports Banquet at
Ford’s Colony: Tues. June 10
- 6:00 PM
HAVE A GREAT SPRING!!!
NEED MORE INFORMATION
GO TO:
WWW.LAFAYETTEBOOSTERS.COM
Fall Sports Physicals: Wednesday, July 30
Girls: 5:00 PM
Boys: 6:30 PM
Checks
to LABC - $15.00 – You can pick up a Physical Form in the Main Office starting
at the end of June.
FALL PRACTICE STARTING DATES:
Golf
Friday, August 1
Football
Friday, August
1
JV report on Monday August 11
Cheerleading
Friday, August 1
Volleyball
Friday, August 1
Cross
Country Monday, August 4
Field
Hockey Monday, August 4
9th graders on
Wednesday August 6
***
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, IT IS EXPECTED
THAT THEY WILL BE AT PRACTICE EACH DAY.
STRENGTH TRAINING ROOM SUMMER HOURS
Monday thru Friday 10:00 AM to 12:00 AM
Monday thru Thursday 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
*** PARENTS: IF YOU EVER HAVE ANY CONERNS OR
QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL
DAN BARNER – ATHLETIC DIRECTOR
ATHLETIC OFFICE
-- 565-0440
.HOME -- 886-9271
CELL PHONE --
810-5669