By: Lindsay Stadwick

Canal Winchester Boys Tennis Spring Preview

Heading into the upcoming spring tennis season, the boys have expectations to win throughout the season and move on to higher level competitions in the postseason. Many players want to use this season to have better connections with their teammates and to improve on their overall tennis skills.

Goals for the Upcoming Season

Senior Mark Hatley is entering his second season with ambition to have a good season. He doesn’t intend on letting the fact that he is new to the sport affect his play; instead, he wants to try his best to work and improve the best he can. His goal is to come out “stronger and better than last year.”

Led by coaches, Jill and Doug Welsh, the team as a whole has high hopes to make it to the State Championship not as individuals, but as an entire team. The seniors are looking forward to mentoring the underclassmen and helping them to the best of their ability. The overall goal for the team is to have a close bond to help the chemistry of the team to be able to play well together.

Seniors to look out for this season

Mark Hatley

Andrew Miles

Jameson Hippler

Greyson Dunbar

Kai Filio

By: Sydney Dillon

Canal Winchester Field Preview:

The Canal Winchester track and field team are approaching their upcoming spring sports season. With field events focusing on long jump, high jump, shot put, discus, and others there are so many things to be accomplished. With lots of fun and challenging events ahead they are ready to tackle the upcoming season.

Goals and Challenges for the Upcoming Season:

When it comes to challenges, the athletes all discuss how they have more individual challenges than overall team challenges. According to Landon Sterling, his biggest challenge is getting into his own head.

Sterling explained, “Track is very mental” along with other athletes it was mentioned how one bad meet can get into your head. There is also a fear of injuries and not performing to the best of their abilities.

Despite the challenges the athletes might face they all have so many big goals ahead.

According to Marissa Klamorick one of her personal goals is to qualify for regionals. Along with some of the other athletes an overall team goal is to PR (set a personal record) in their events.

What to Expect from the Team:

Overall, the team is hoping to grow closer together and do the best they can. They are hopeful to make the season great, and the team has the athletes to make that happen.

Athletes to Watch:

Jack Howard: Pole Vault

Ian Metzler: High Jump

Landon Sterling: Long Jump

Isaiah Colman: Long Jump

Chance Meadows: Discus

Poom Tresukosol: Discus and Shot Put

Lauren Snider: Discus and Shot Put

Riley Wood: Pole Vault

Kay Dean-Dunn: Long Jump

Harmony Chester: Long Jump

By Ian Lewis

On Sunday, January 26, basketball legend Kobe Bryant tragically passed away in a helicopter accident, after it crashed into a hillside along with 8 other passengers, including his 13 year old daughter Gianna. Kobe was 41 years old.

The accident took place in Calabasas, California, a suburb north of Los Angeles around 9:45 a.m., while Kobe, his daughter, and 7 others were making their way to a basketball tournament at Mamba Sports Academy, Bryant’s basketball facility.

The death came to a shock to the world, as Bryant had just retired from the NBA nearly four years ago, and was still a major face in the sports world. Among those lost in the crash were a collegiate baseball coach, two teammates of Gianna’s, an assistant coach for Gianna’s team, and the pilot of the helicopter.

Bryant, a highly decorated figure in the sports world, won five NBA titles in his career, played in the NBA finals seven times, won two Olympic gold medals with Team USA, and earned the prestigious NBA Most Valuable Player award in 2008. In his last game, played against the Utah Jazz in April of 2016, Bryant scored 60 points, and earned himself a special send-off from the fans present at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

While the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation, there are people who believe that the flight should not have been cleared to take off in the first place. Los Angeles Police had grounded all of their aircraft due to thick fog in the area. Nevertheless, the flight was cleared for takeoff.

Around the NBA, many memorials took place to honor the legacy of Kobe Bryant, the most common of which included both teams taking 24-second shot clock violations to begin games. All of the players were emotional, and many were caught on camera shedding tears. It seemed as if the league had frozen.

After the San Antonio Spurs fell to the Toronto Raptors by a score of 110-106, head coach Gregg Popovich said, “Good game, tough loss, who cares [about the game]?” In response to Bryant’s tragic passing. None of the players really cared about playing the games, but mourning the loss of a friend and mentor to many of today’s players.

Nonetheless, the games continued, because “that’s what Kobe would’ve wanted,” as many basketball fans have said.

However, the Los Angeles Lakers rivalry game vs. the Los Angeles Clippers on January 28th was postponed, in order to give the Lakers organization time to mourn the loss of one of their most decorated players.

When the Lakers returned to action on January 31st against the Portland Trail Blazers, a 30-minute long memorial was held to honor Bryant. The memorial included Boyz II Men, an R&B group from Philadelphia, Kobe’s hometown, singing the national anthem, R&B artist Usher singing Amazing Grace, and a heartfelt speech from Lakers star LeBron James. The Lakers ended up falling short of a victory, losing by a score of 127-119.

While Kobe Bryant may be gone from the physical world, his “Mamba Mentality” will live on forever. In the words of LeBron James, “Mamba out, but not forgotten.”

Rest in Peace to the 9 lives that were lost onboard the flight.

By Drew Adams

After missing the playoffs last year (even after they won the OCC), your Canal Winchester Indians are co-OCC champions and are once again heading to the playoffs for the second time in three years under Coach Stratton.

The Canal Winchester varsity football team went 9-1 this season, losing only once to a strong Groveport team. Groveport then went on to lose to New Albany, creating a three-way tie for the OCC-Capital division, between Canal Winchester, Groveport, and New Albany.

This Friday, November 8th, Canal faces one of their strongest opponents yet as they travel to Harrison, Ohio to take on the Harrison High Wildcats. The Wildcats, who sit at a record of 9-1, are ranked 35th in the state and should put up a strong fight against the Indians.

Also traveling to the game, the CW students have the opportunity to ride a bus to the game, due to the distance. Students were given the opportunity to buy tickets for the bus, that will be leaving after school on Friday and will return at roughly 12:30 AM Saturday morning. The students hope to bring the Tribe to Harrison High School to watch the Indians battle the Wildcats.

The Indians are led by Seniors Jack Beeler and Tyler Toledo, as well as Sophomore running back Stephan Byrd.

Quarterback Jack Beeler leads the Indians, averaging 136.3 passing yards per game with a 57.485% completion rating. He’s thrown for a total of 1363 yards, completing 19 passes to his lead receiver, Senior Avery Musick, for 309 yards (22.67% of Beeler’s passing yards) and 6 touchdowns.

Byrd is leading the team in rushing with a total of 1,372 yards on the season. Byrd is averaging 137.2 rushing yards per game, as well as 20.6 receiving yards per game, and has 24 total touchdowns this season.

Toledo has also been a major asset to the Indians, accounting for 422 rushing yards on 38 attempts, averaging 11.11 yards per rushing attempt.

But that’s just half of the game. On defense, the Indians have only allowed an average of 13.3 points per game, on an average of 232.3 yards allowed per game. The defense is led by Junior Blaine Riley, who has 131 total tackles on the season.

Also, on special teams the Indians have found something special in Avery Musick, who along with receiving is also the team’s kicker. Musick has scored 58 points as a kicker this season, giving him 94 points over all. That is 26.63% of Canal’s points this season! Musick has accounted for over one fourth of the Indians points, including a game winning field goal in the final seconds of the game against Olentangy Berlin.

Overall, it’s been a very impressive season. Looking ahead, the Indians know they have a tough match. Harrison is a very strong team that will put up a good fight. But the Indians are ready.

When asked about the game, Riley said that the team felt good and “felt prepared.” He said that going into the game, the team didn’t have very many concerns.

Coach Stratton and the rest of the team are very excited for the game.

“Part of the excitement is playing a team you don’t know,” said Stratton. “We do trade film, but you can never truly tell how big and how fast they are until you play them. We’re in the playoffs now. Everyone has to earn their way in, it’s not like other high school sports. So everybody’s good, there’s nowhere to hide. That’s really what makes this so special.”

The game will be held at William Henry Harrison High School on Friday, November 8th at 7:00 PM. Show up to support your CW Indians in the biggest game of the year!

By Drew Adams

When they woke up on the morning of Saturday, October 12, nobody on the Canal Winchester Cross Country teams knew what the outcome of the OCC meet would be, let alone that three of them would place in the top ten of their respective races.

Juniors Allena Klamorick and Bonnie Butler, and Senior Drew Kotwis all went into the meet with their heads held high. They all knew it would be a challenge, but it was a challenge they were ready and excited to face.

“[I was] pretty excited just knowing that it was finally the postseason,” said Klamorick.

She was nervous heading into the meet, as she had just a week before aligned her time with Colbi Borland, a Senior from Big Walnut who had frequently been her biggest competition. She knew that this meet wouldn’t be any different, and that she and Borland would be competing for one of the top finishes.

“I knew I just had to go out and run like I always do,” she added.

Kotwis was ready for the meet as well, but felt a lot of pressure from being the top runner on the guys team.

“[I knew] I had to set the tone for the rest of the varsity runners,” said Kotwis.

He, like Klamorick, knew he just needed to show up and do what he does best, and not focus on anything else.

Butler was anxious heading into the meet. She knew that she could potentially finish in the top three, but she spent most of the morning doubting herself. She was also nervous for the team, as they were missing their third best runner and she wasn’t sure how the team would deal with it.

The course was also something to take into consideration, as it was one of the hardest courses they’d run all season, due to all of the hills.

“You hit your first hill right after the quarter mile mark and for the rest of the 3.1 mile race, it’s all hills,” stated Butler.

“The hills were brutal,” added Kotwis.

Though it is a challenging course, the runners still felt it was beautiful, and liked that there was space at the end for people to cheer you on as you finish the race.

When their races started, all three immediately had an idea of how the race was going to go. In the girls’ race, it was Klamorick and Borland in the lead from the start, with Butler not far behind. As for the boys’ race, it was slightly closer to start.

When Kotwis passed the mile mark in his race, he saw that there were five New Albany runners ahead of him. That was when he realized that the team probably wasn’t going to be able to take first. After that, he knew all he could do was catch up to as many people as he could.

At the same point in the race, Klamorick realized that this wasn’t her best run, and that it would be close between her and Borland.

When she hit the second mile, Butler started getting in her own head. There was no one around to push her, and she started to feel tired and sore.

“With about three quarters of a mile left, my mindset changed,” said Butler. “I wanted third and I wasn’t going to let anyone take it from me.”

The three runners pushed through, and all placed in the top ten of their respective races. Klamorick took second in the girls’ race, Butler third, and Kotwis sixth in the boys’ race. As for the teams, the girls team placed third overall, and the boys team took second, behind New Albany.

Looking back on the race, the three of them had mixed emotions. Klamorick knew it wasn’t her best race, and knows she has a lot of work to do to get where she wants to be, but is proud of how the rest of the team stepped up with the absence of a Varsity runner.

“I’m very happy with my race,” stated Butler.

She was about thirty seconds off her personal record, but still felt it was one of her best runs of the season.

“I think I did as well as I could do,” said Kotwis. “It wasn’t as good as I hoped but I had nothing left in my legs at the end.”

Now it’s time to put this race in the past and focus on the future. The Indians will travel to Hilliard Darby for Districts, where only the top 20 boys and 24 girls move on to Regionals.

“This is the meet that can make or break your postseason because it determines who moves on to regionals,” said Butler.

The runners agreed that they are in a pretty tough district, but they have faith in their teams.

“I think our team looks really good in the team standing,” stated Klamorick. “If we perform how we did last week I think our team has a really good chance to move on.”

All three hope to make it through Districts and move on to Regionals. Butler hopes to place top 15, and Kotwis hopes to set a personal record, as the course is much easier.

The Indians are competing in Districts, Saturday, October 19th, at Hilliard Darby. Come out and support!