Ranchview High School students have slowly shifted their attention from other sports to The Lady Wolves soccer team, since they won District and made it to the second rounds of playoffs for the second year in a row. How did they manage to work together and succeed?

Girls Soccer Coach Kayla Morgan has four captains: Chastity Rivera, Sheridan Nguyen, Jordin Abdul-Rahmaan, and Valeria De Leon Rios. At the beginning of the school year, Coach Morgan put her players to work. The off season consisted of a weight room 2 times a week before or after school as well as cardio and soccer drills. When the season started, the girls practiced every day of the school week (except gameday) from 630 in the morning to around 8 AM. The team not only worked on the field but outside of the field. Coach Morgan made team bonding a necessity. She believed you could not work well on the field if you can’t have a good relationship with your teammates outside of the field. With this thought in mind, the players also valued their relationship with each other.

During the district games, the players gave their all on the field. They set aside their differences (if any) and worked together. Some games were more difficult than others, but that never changed the mindset of “Give Your All”. During the first round of playoffs against Wilmer Hutchins, the Lady Wolves succeeded greatly with a score of 4-1. The players played like they were never going to play again. With this win against Wilmer-Hutchins, the team went to the second round of playoffs against Panther Creek. Even with the girls playing with the same mentality, unfortunately they lost. The night of the game ended with tears and the acceptance of the 2023-2024 season coming to an end.

Although many emotions came from the loss, the teammates’ amazing bond is still there. Instead of the girls blaming or resenting each other for the loss, the girls reassured each other and tried to be as positive as possible. This was an amazing season for the Lady Wolves soccer team. Ranchview students can’t wait to see what is to come.  

No matter a person’s physical limitations or medical conditions, swimming can be a great option to improve everyday life! Bhupaali Govindaraj and Coach Barry have used swimming as a way to express themselves without having to worry about physical risks of injury or the overwhelming stresses of everyday life. They both agreed that swimming allows them to block out the world and just focus on the water, which significantly puts their mind and body in a better mood.

Bhupaali Govindaraj is a freshman at Ranchview High School who is participating in swim and dive for the first time. She enjoys it very much and works hard every practice. She explains that swimming is very important to her because it allows her to exercise without having to worry about too much pain or harm to her joints: “So, I have something that’s called JRA, which is juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. When I swim, it’s a low-impact sport, so I’m able to efficiently use my body without straining anything. It’s also really good for my knees as well.” 

Coach Barry is Ranchview’s Swim and Dive coach. He is very motivational towards his swimmers and makes sure the time they have for practice is utilized to the fullest. He is very passionate about the sport, and it has impacted his life in many short-term and long-term ways “Mentally and physically I got into swimming because I had heart surgery, and it was the best exercise for my heart. Physically, it helped my endurance and my strength. Mentally it’s kind of like, if I need a moment to myself. I enjoy competing, I love swimming, and you know it’s an individual sport so it’s all on me. Sometimes it’s just a zen moment… if I’m swimming, I can just kind of go into my own mind and not worry about the world. I can just relax, and it kind of just gets rid of the stress and worries of the day.” 

The article 9 Health Benefits of Swimming by Karen Asp, medically reviewed by Justin Laube, MD, gives a very detailed explanation of the benefits of swimming: “Research has demonstrated not only short-term but also long-term benefits to mental health, with longer-term benefits including potentially reducing the risk of early death, supporting healthy aging, and giving individuals who find it difficult to be active on land another way to exercise.” This is just a small snippet of the detailed and accurate information the article provides. To dive deeper into the mental and physical health benefits of swim, go to  https://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/health-benefits-of-swimming/ for more information!

For all of those who do not know what golf is, it is a game in which a player strikes a small ball with various clubs from a series of starting points teeing grounds into a series of holes on a course.   Ranchview High School’s golf team has won most of the matches. The team coach's name is Coach Kevin Kelson. Playing golf can be a bit hard, but they all played very the best they could.

In 2002, Ranchview opened a High School with all types of different sports: Golf, Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Powerlifting, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, and many more to offer. The most played sport is golf because it is a great way to stay active both physically and mentally. A golfer will walk about six miles and burn up to 2,000 calories on an average eighteen-hole round. Many people turn to golf as a form of light exercise to have fun.

Sophomore golf team member Eliana Acosta learned a new sport and met friends: “Coach Kelson has a warm heart and asked me to play, but I also spent time with all my friends.  I got to learn a new sport. For golf, my goal would be to get the lowest amount of touches. My favorite thing is spending time with my friends and getting closer.”

Playing a sport like golf benefits you by keeping your body healthy, keeping your body strong, and making you move your body faster.

Ranchview is usually known for their basketball and football team, but a team that never gets as much recognition is soccer. The Wolves and Lady Wolves made it to the playoffs! And put up a good fight.

At the Wilmer-Hutchins home field, the Eagles and the Wolves faced off for the first round of playoffs. This game was shaky. The Wolves had a slow start, but it wasn’t until halftime they started playing the game of their lives. Last year they had some losses, but the comeback they had was one for the books.

The boys were doing well, though the score was 3-1, Eagles, there was still hope for a win. What really got the stadium going was the second goal for the Wolves. When the Wolves were fouled, they went to defense in the box and freshman forward Zini Gonzalez had a free kick. Once he struck the ball, senior David Martini jumped and flicked the ball back into the goal. Wolves 3-2!  The outstanding goal had the boys fighting harder and working together to break through the Eagles’ defense.

It was a disappointing loss, but the game was passionate. And when talking to one of the players, they stated how Coach Solstad was a significant reason as to why they made it to the playoffs. Junior Forward Ethan Kang stated, “We connected well and played well. And having Coach Solstad made us better players” And he went on to say “The chemistry is what made us really show out this year, and if it wasn’t for Coach, we wouldn’t have made it far.”

Coach Solstad has made an impact on these boys' lives and everyone can see that from this season. When talking to him, he  expressed, “In order for a team to succeed, teams need to serve one another, not serve themselves.” The mentality and the way they handled the second half was his proudest moment.

With the successful season, the Wolves also managed to win their first five games in a season for the first time in Ranchview history! It’s clear the Wolves aren’t finished and they will be back next year for an even longer, impactful season for the books

By Mahya Hemani, Business Manager | February 14, 2023

The Ranchview softball team has experienced difficult times in the past year. Between the news of Coach Seth Bell leaving, the loss of the class of 2022, and last year’s losing streak, the team has had some bumps in the road. This year, however, brings the return of Coach Bryan Wheeler. After being away last year, Wheeler realized he missed the team too much and came to their rescue. This year is a change for softball compared to the last two years with a new coach, new players, and a new team. He has ideas he wants to implement and plans for this year's players. 2023 is going to be a new and exciting year for Ranchview’s Softball team! 

This year’s team is composed of 33 players and three different teams. To some, that many girls would be chaotic. Then, there is Wheeler: “I think that having that many players let the team develop.” He takes inspiration from professional baseball and softball where they have minor league teams working their way up to the major leagues (aka Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity.) “JV gives girls an opportunity to play and get better for next year instead of sitting on the bench.” 

So how do he and Coach Paxton Wright plan on coaching 33 teenage girls? His solution is to be very specific and organized. The coaches have sheets to know what they’re doing that week. The coaches do a lot behind the scenes to make sure there are no issues with so many players. The key to getting a team future-ready begins with thinking outside the box so that everyone can play and interact with the sport: “When we’re on the field on first base or even shortstop, we have JV running bases for instance. So, they’re getting part of one game, and varsity is still getting the opportunity to focus or vice versa.” 

Wheeler is big on the community. Currently, he is talking to local businesses for banners, ads, and other forms of sponsorships including Raising Cane’s and Jersey Mike’s. He encourages any business that wants to sponsor the team to contact him at Ranchview to support Ranchview’s Softball team!

By Daisy Contreras, Photo Editor and Autumn Canada, Opinion Editor

Ranchview's Cross Country has been determined throughout the year to make it to Regionals. Although they didn’t, they still put in their best efforts. 

While competing for district placements, Eliana Acosta won 4th place in the Girls' JV 3.2k run, Alan Ramirez won 5th in the Boy Varsity 5k run, and Diego Zamudio won 8th in the Boys' 5k Varsity run. While at the district meet the team members showed their passion and determination while running. 

When interviewed, some members of the team stated that joining the cross country team has helped them improve their running stamina all season long. Alan Zelvados stated that he likes to stretch and listen to music before competing to help motivate himself. Lynn Nishikawa stated that running in cross country has helped her stay motivated in other classes in school. The team has worked incredibly hard on their skills. They have shown great progress throughout the season, and Ranchview couldn’t be prouder!