By: Morgan Rose There are big changes coming for the 2020-2021 Bear River High School drill team. One major thing that will affect the drill season is the delay of try-outs due to Covid-19. Another big change coming their way is the new coaching staff. The new head coach is Stevie Aoki, and the new assistant coach is Starlee Buttars; both have many years experience with dancing and can not wait to coach an amazing team this year.
An upcoming senior, Brinley Burrup, has a big year ahead of her and looks forward to the new team. One major thing that Burrup is looking forward to is going to camp to learn the new dances and getting to know the new girls. As it will be her senior year, and therefore her last, Burrup also looks forward to making this year one to remember. Burrup shared some advice that has helped her and wants to offer to anyone trying out for drill: “Make the best of the years on drill, during the hard practices don’t give up, make new friends.” If there could be one thing this year on drill that Burrup has hopes of doing, it would be to place in the drill down competition. The drill down is a command competition performed by the dancers at the end of the main competition. All the dancers who wish to compete, from all the schools, line up one-by-one and individually get out as they fail to complete the correct command. The last four dancers standing at the end of the drill down then get to place in the drill down for that competition. Burrup said, “It will take some practice, but it will be worth it to hopefully achieve something so incredible my senior year.” Burrup can’t wait for everything including tryouts, practices, and spending time with the team. Burrup said of their sport performances, “Football being my favorite of course, but I love them all.” When the girls aren’t practicing their dances, they like to have pool parties and sleepovers throughout the year to stay close to each other and have some fun. All in all, the 2020-2021 drill team will have a lot to look forward to. Burrup has big, exciting things coming her way for her senior year on drill, along with exciting hopes she has for the team. Burrup “hopes we can place higher this season than we did last season and make it to state.” She knows it will take hard work and dedication from everyone, but she can’t wait to be a part of a motivated team.
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By: Rheagen Hartfiel It was the start of what we thought was going to be an amazing year for the seniors. Many seniors were preparing for their spring sports hoping to finish off with a bang and prove how far they have come and how hard they have worked.
On April 14, 2020 all Utah school sports were cancelled due to Coronavirus and this broke a lot of seniors’ hearts. No one knew this day would ever happen. Everyone is devastated for these seniors especially all their coaches and parents. Seniors Dillon Marble, Dallas Moyes, Kati Gibbs, Emily Laumann, Carter Christensen, Braxton Stokes, and Bracken Bjorn were all interviewed and asked for their thoughts on the cancelled spring season. Dillon Marble has been on the baseball team all four years. Marble feels very sad with his season being cut short because, even though he plays other sports, baseball is his favorite. He also looked forward to playing on the team with his younger brother: “I just wished that I could have finished the season especially where Garrison was on the team. I always looked forward to playing with him, so I wish I could have finished it out.” Dallas Moyes has been a part of the soccer program all four years. Moyes has worked very hard for his final year and feels like he has been robbed. He said, “One thing I wished I could have done is shined senior year. I feel like I have always been slept on and I wanted this to be my year.” Kati Gibbs has been on the softball team all four years. Gibbs feels like all the hard work that she has put in has been taken away because of one simple little thing. Gibbs says, “Not getting to play, not getting to hangout with my teammates, throwing away my senior night speech, cancelling my last banquet, and losing my last chance to take state has been unthinkable.” Emily Laumann is a part of the track team and feels during this time “as if something I love was just ripped from my hands.” Laumann wishes that she could have had the chance to qualify and compete at state. She was only two seconds away from qualifying. Laumann has been training and working really hard and then all of a sudden her chance was taken away from her. Carter Christensen has been on the tennis team since his freshman year. Christensen says he is “disappointed that [he] has worked so hard since his freshman year” and now it’s cancelled. Christensen was looking forward to playing at state. State is always such an excitement because it makes you feel like all your hard work has paid off. Braxton Stokes is a part of the rugby team along with nine other seniors. They all felt they had a lot to offer and were waiting to do such amazing things this season. Stokes said, “I was really excited to see what we could do.” Bracken Bjorn is a part of the lacrosse team. Bjorn has put in a lot of time and effort to show what he's got. Bjorn and his team worked really hard over the past couple years to bring Bear River a successful lacrosse team. He was bummed that they didn't get a chance to show everyone. “I wish I could have had a senior night to honor my best friends and their dedication to me and each other,” says Bjorn. All of these seniors expressed great disappointment and wish they could have had their spring season. While these wishes are unfulfilled due to a global pandemic, we wish them the best as they move forward with their otherwise bright futures. By: Nikayla Williams The first time playing on her high school softball team was a huge deal for Kortnie Burton. Burton has been playing softball since she was little and always knew that she wanted to play for her high school team. Burton worked hard and, her freshman year, she got on the high school softball team.
While at practice one day, Burton was playing second base. She went up to get the grounder coming her way and, after running to it, she planted her foot on the ground and twisted her knee. “I heard a pop and it was really nasty,” Burton recalled. A doctor later confirmed that this nasty pop was a torn ACL. As bad as that was to hear while just starting off her year there was even more bad news. Burton was also told that she would have to wait for surgery because her growth plates were not closed. Despite this serious setback, this injury was not going to stop Burton from doing what she loved. She continued to work to get her leg strong for a whole year. Burton was not inclined to give up and had the goal to play again: “I totally was planning on playing again. I wasn't going to let my injury hold me back from what I wanted to do.” Burton ended up getting her surgery during her sophomore softball season. While in recovery after her surgery, Burton worked hard to make it back in time for volleyball (which she also plays). Burton is now in her junior year of softball and she is excited to play. She made the team again and was ready to show everyone how much she has improved. Due to Covid-19, all spring sports are postponed until further notice, but Burton is ready for anything. She is determined to get back out there whenever she can. By: Braden Munns Here we are again, another beautiful spring rolling around just in time for sports to kick off. Girls’ golf looked poised to have another great year. They placed first in both pre-region tournaments they attended and had a strong core of seniors leading the team. When asked about her thoughts on the upcoming season, senior Makensy Thompson said, “I feel like the season would have gone really well. I’m kinda bummed out about the whole thing, but I’m trying to make the best of it.”
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we may never know the outcome, but these golf athletes are trying to make the best of it. Junior Kelby Jensen said, “I’m going outside whenever I can [to] practice, trying to stay warm in case there is a make up season.” All is not lost, though. More information has come down from UHSAA (Utah High School Athletics Association). They currently have two plans to try if we do go back to school. The first being that we just return to school as normal and the sports be played as many games a week to make it work again. That could be as many as three games per week for some sports. Golf would be mostly unaffected by this particular plan as they usually only have one tournament per week. The second option being explored by UHSAA is pusshing sports into the summer which would work out well for all involved. Except for vacations of course. This second option is being discussed by the UHSAA, but has not been put out for the schools to vote on yet. These are two very good options which should leave these golf athletes and all spring sports’ athletes very excited and optimistic despite the current shutdown. For now we should stay home, complete our schoolwork, and sharpen the axe. When the sports return, we should be ready and hopefully it’s sooner rather than later. By: Braxton Cunningham At first, many of us thought the Coronavirus wasn’t that serious. We weren’t worried about the Coronavirus; that’s just in China. For some, including Rudy Gobert, a basketball player for the Utah Jazz, the virus was something to joke about. Gobert then inadvertently sent everyone into a frenzy. He was joking about the virus and touched all the reporters’ mics. He was careless in the locker room and touched all his teammates' stuff. Then minutes before tipoff, they delayed the game. An hour later it was announced that Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the Coronavirus.
This incident brought some of the craziest 72 hours in most of our lifetimes: the NBA suspended its season, the MLB delayed its season, and then the NHL and MLS suspended their seasons. Fellow teammate Donovan Mitchell tested positive for Coronavirus as well. This chain of events caused the entire United States to go into full prevention mode. Schools have been shut down, gatherings have been limited, and people have been stocking up on food and other supplies because of the fear that all this has generated. Gobert has taken a lot of criticism because of testing positive but the thing is we don’t know if it's Gobert’s fault. What if Mitchell had been tested first and his test came back positive. He would’ve been the one that had gotten all the blame. Gobert apologized for his joking and careless actions like he should have, but all the blame for all the postponements can’t be on him. The NBA was not totally prepared for the Coronavirus and it led to the craziness happening around us. The lack of preparation can be a reason for why the panic is happening. A good thing that has happened from all this, though, is that everyone is learning to be more careful and prepared. We are all learning how to do new and hard things. We are all learning to practice better personal hygiene. Everyone is hopeful that everything will calm down sooner rather than later. China, where the virus originated, is starting to see stabilization and their Chinese Basketball League is set to start up again soon. By: Rheagen Hartfiel Justin Ritter, a senior, has been on the BRHS rugby team since his sophomore year. A majority of the team are seniors who have played together for the last three years. Because of this, the team has a strong connection and performs well together. Ritter is confident in his team and looks forward to making memories with his friends/teammates.
Ritter feels good about this year’s team and is excited to see how they will perform. He believes the key to rugby is communication and this year’s team has that going for them. Ritter also said their “tackling has been even better this season.” After their first game and win against Cache Valley, the team was hoping for a great season. Unfortunately, they only played this one game before their season was postponed due to Covid-19. The team has not been able to practice together during all this, so they have to do what they can on their own. “The team has been conditioning at home trying to stay in shape,” says Ritter. Despite the difficulty of the situation, Ritter feels he is more than prepared to step back out on the field with his teammates when things get better. Finishing out your senior sports season is the dream of many high school athletes. Ritter is excited to see how far his team will go and is ready to take on an exciting season. |
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February 2024
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