Phantom huddle

Basketball Season is Here!

December, 2019, by Nolan Lyle

The basketball preseason has kicked off! Both the boy’s teams and girl's teams traveled to Sedona Red Rock High School for their first action of the 2019/2020 season. These preseason scrimmages were good prep games for the girl’s first game on Tuesday, December 3rd. The boys look to continue improving in light of their upcoming challenge in the Route 66 Classic Tournament in Ash Fork on December 5th. Being one of the players myself, I know it’s good to get in some game-time experiences before the actual season starts to get a good feel for how the team works this time around.

On November 14th, the Grand Canyon high school marked the transition between fall and winter sports with our annual pep rally put on by the high school student council. We first welcomed the soccer and volleyball teams to take center stage and introduce themselves as we congratulated them on their successful seasons. After we invited the boys and girls basketball teams to the front and the high school wished them luck on their upcoming season. After the ceremony, it was time for games. The student council had set up various team games that each of the classes would compete in. Last year, the now senior class took the games by storm and won almost every game. This year, the freshmen had different ideas. The first game was a relay race on sleeping bags. The seniors had the lead in the beginning, but the freshmen made the comeback and won. Later on, an obvious crowd favorite made a return to the pep rally stage. Hungry Hippos, the game where your team gets to be pushed out on roller scooters and collect as many balloons as they can. This game requires some teamwork experience, so naturally, the seniors took the “W” on that one. The afternoon went on and we played more games and the freshmen surprisingly kept on winning. They won the ski race and even the gummy bear eating contest. All in all, nobody expected the freshmen to perform as well as they did. They do have the largest class, so that’s proof there is strength in numbers.

Freshmen have also surprised in their respective high school sports as well. The addition of these freshmen has had a major impact on the completeness of the Grand Canyon sports programs. A few examples, Roman Evans, started all of the games in this year’s high school soccer season. He influenced the game, even if he wasn’t the one scoring the goals. He and Chris Jimenez racked up crazy numbers of assists, and personally playing with them was a real treat. I have also heard freshmen like Jisel Jimenez and Violeta Dimas having great influences on the volleyball team and now basketball teams. I’m really excited to see what these underclassmen can achieve in the future and I know they will bring success to Grand Canyon High School athletics. With the basketball season beginning, we will be able to witness the effect these freshmen have on the sports they play.

High School Volleyball

November,2019 By: Calley Scheller

The Lady Phantoms volleyball team attended the Joeseph City tournament on the 11th of October and they played for 3rd place but lost in the third set by 4 points. They stated it was a super fun trip because it was also their overnighter. The 25th of October the volleyball team played against Ash Fork and won for the first time against them. It was so exciting! It was also senior night for volleyball on the 26th of October, they played against Mogollon and sadly lost but fought really hard. Our seniors this year were Allana Briones, Calley Scheller, Cayli Miles, Alexus Cannella, and Alexandria Trotter. All the players signed 5 volleyball and handed them to the seniors with a few goodies. Some players from the team also volunteered to make individual senior posters. Mrs. Scheller also gave the seniors a gatorade and candy, she had some help from Laila and Melakai who created and hung two posters with our names and they said “We love our seniors”. The senior volleyball girls would like to say thank you for the hard work and love that was put into the night. It was a blast! It has been a wonderful season this year and they are happy to announce that we are going to regionals after a win against Mayor High School on the 29th of October. The girls will play in Mogollon on the 1st of November to play in regionals. They also will be attending state for the first time in 22 years on the 8th of November in Phoenix! The seaseon is not over yet for your lady phantoms!

High School Volleyball

October, 2019, by Alexus Cannella

High school volleyball has had a great season so far, winning second place in the Ash Fork tournament for the first time in years. The team recently voted on new captains who are Calley, Alexa, Cayli, all seniors. This season has been the best year since at least 2011. We all have become a family and learned how to work together. We beat Williams in one of the sets and were the first in our division to beat them in a set which messed up there stats. Our team is hoping to to go to state this year which would be a dream come true. The last time grand canyon high school got a banner for volleyball was 1A North Volleyball Co-Champions 1997-98. We have to be in the top 16 to be able to go to state we are now waiting for rankings, we are 6 and 5 so far and have 6 games left until the end of the season.

Varsity Soccer Senior Night

November, 2019, by Daniel Ibarra

October 19, 2019 Senior Night was a huge success for the class of 2020. The last home game ended with an amazing score of 7-2 win against Rancho Solano. During the match up, Nolan Lyle scoring a whopping 6 goals! Everything went as expected, fans came out to support the seniors on their special night despite the cold weather conditions. All the phantom athletes came into the game with a positive attitude, playing confidently with good sportsmanship throughout the entire game.

Booster Club bought all the Seniors soccer balls that were signed by the team as souvenirs of their time on the team.

The team was very close to making it into the state tournament, but were one place off from making it. To get into State, the team needed to be ranked at least 8th, but were ranked 9th instead. Despite this, the team's spirits remained high and they gave their all. The soccer team ended the season with a record of 8-3, an all-time record. They are currently ranked 9th in the 2A division, this is huge improvement over the past few years.

The team is losing 7 players in total, and all will be missed. But we wish them luck in their future soccer and sports endeavours. Those graduating are Nolan Lyle, Daniel Ibarra, Melakai Longhoma, Gema Torres, Betsey Sullivan, Joel Gonzales, and Rufus Keebahe.

High School Varsity Soccer

October, 2019, by Daniel Ibarra

Your Grand Canyon Phantoms currently have an outstanding win record of 4-2!

Ranked 8th on the leaderboard out of 22 soccer teams in the 2A division, our Phantoms athletes are working harder everyday and week to surpass expectations. We are looking forward to making it to the playoffs and possibly to state for the first time in 17 years!

One big win our Grand Canyon Phantoms had was a home game on Sept. 6 against Page Sand Devils. This game proved to be a good challenge for our Phantoms which clearly shows we definitely can play as a team, tying at first half with Page 2-2. Heading onto second half there was great progress and efforts from both teams to get the upper hand in the game, but the Phantoms prevailed in over time ending the score at 4-2.

Another big win our Grand Canyon Phantoms had this season was a home game on August 28 against Ash Fork, one of our biggest rivals in soccer history. Our Phantoms started the game with amazing communication and footwork, putting lots of pressure on the Ash Forks Spartans, and eventually taking the upper hand during the 1st half, which ended at 2-nil with Roman Evans and Nolan Lyle scoring the first two goals of the game. In the second half there was amazing effort from these two varsity teams. Ash Fork managed to score 2 penalties. Then our Grand Canyon Phantoms came back and drilled another 2 more goals on the Spartans, ending the game at 4-2 with another Dub!

High School Volleyball

September, 2019, by Calley Scheller

Volleyball started on the 12th of August. In our first week of practice we spent the first three days to assess our skill levels. Our new coaches Elyse Moreno and Leona Begishie wanted to see what we knew about volleyball and how we all play individually.

We participated in three different drills. One drill was for all three main components for playing volleyball such as hitting, passing, and setting. Then we began serving individually to see our levels of serving. Then we did a drill for serve receiving to further expand our skill of receiving a hard serve and getting three hits over the net. Last but not least, we started a drill about passing hard hits over the net. After that, everyone took turns setting to all front positions on the court.

Once the coaches had a better understanding of where everyone was at, we started conditioning, since conditioning is a really important part of playing any sport. We condition at 5 p.m.everyday and after we continue our practice. Coach Moreno and Coach Begishie want us to get far this season and are encouraging us to do the same. Conditioning is one of the first steps to become better everyday and win games.

High School Varsity Soccer

September, 2019, by Daniel Ibarra

High school soccer started August 12th. Our varsity captains were nominated, and they are Nolan Lyle and Rufus Keebahe. These two athletes are both high school seniors, and are very athletic and highly skilled athletes. They have also participated in varsity soccer during all of their high school years .

Here are some thoughts Keebahe had about the high school soccer team progress. For the first week of high school soccer, Keebahe thinks the team had a good start for the beginning of the season. There was lots of good effort from every member of the team. Although he thinks the team can do better in the practices.

He wants the team to push harder. Despite the brutally hot weather conditions and physical training, Keebahe wants the whole team to keep grinding, training, and pushing the limits to be successful this soccer season and become a competitive soccer team.

Lyle shares similar thoughts and feelings. He thinks the team is getting a good feel for each other, learning each other's weaknesses and strengths, then fixing it as they progress as a team. Lyle also feels like the coaches are pushing the team in the right direction. There are lots of new drills introduced to the team this year, giving each member of the team more experience such as better footwork, and ball control. He mentioned that the conditioning in practices is going to serve the team well when it comes to the varsity games.

¨Everything's bigger in Texas,¨

Especially a Texas Heart

We want to dedicate this issue to Mr. Rowland and thank him for his dedication to our school for the past four years. We asked our Grand Canyon students what their favorite memory with or about Mr. Rowland was or what they will miss about him. Here is what we learned:

Every morning the students look forward to hearing Mr. Rowland's strong voice to start our day. The announcements start with his snazzy taste in music, a brief history lesson and during baseball season he updates us on the Houston Astros. For some reason his old school charm brings joy and laughter to our day.

Our school will miss Mr. Rowland because he is very wise and he makes you feel like someone important to society. He gives each and every student and teacher the same respect and level of fairness. Mr. Rowland makes each person feel special in their own way making them feel welcomed and important. He doesn’t judge people for having a strong belief or religion. He listens and accepts everyone for who they are. He never gets super mad and he wants you to make it a learning experience. Most importantly, we will miss shoveling your driveway in the winter after a snow storm.

What makes Mr. Rowland a great leader of our school? While he walks the hallways he can be seen with a smile and be heard from afar. He gives the best fistpumps and handshakes of all time. Furthermore, we don’t want to forget the noogies that he gives to the students that deserve it the most.

We also asked Mr. Rowland to share with us what his most memorable moments are. He said he likes the students and our community, which is what he will miss the most. The 2017-2018 school year was Mr. Rowland’s most memorable moment at our school because the high school test results improved and made our high school an “A school,” and he’s very proud of that accomplishment. He’s also proud of the strong relationships he’s built with GCS students and staff. When we asked Mr. Rowland who has been the most supportive person in his life, he said Mrs. Rowland: she has been his best friend for 52 years! And he always loves to eat anything she cooks! Mr. Rowland is looking forward to a great retirement. The first things he would like to do are get lots of rest, play more golf, and travel. Most of all, he plans to spend time with his grandkids.

ON YOUR MARK! GET SET! GO!!

April 1, 2019, by Aleryn Reid

This season the coaches for Track and Field are Elna Perkins as head coach and Jeff Smith as assistant coach. A few days a week Dave Perkins and Jason Morris go to practice and help the throwers with their javelin, shot put, and discus-throwing techniques. So far the girls 4x400m relay has qualified for state and is sitting at the 16th spot (the top 18 teams go to state), with a time of 11:53.69. Aleryn Reid has also qualified for state provisionally in the 800m dash with a time of 2:06.76 and sits at the 6th spot. In javelin he is sitting at the 11th spot with a throw of 113’6.00’. Nolan Lyle is very close to qualifying for state in the 400m and 800m dash: if he can drop both times by 1 second he will have provisionally qualified for state in both events. Cayli Miles needs to drop her time in the 800m by just 1 second to provisionally qualify for state. Alana Keebahe is 2.5 inches away from provisionally qualifying in shotput. Kara Austin and Alana need to throw at least 8 feet each to also provisionally qualify in javelin.

Welcoming Back Alumni, 2019!

Feburary 1, 2019, by Aleryn Reid, Carlos Briones, Markeith Donley, Elijah Dugi, and AJ Espinoza

The Grand Canyon High School had its homecoming week January 22-26. Its highlight was the nail-biting varsity boys basketball game against Mayer. The teams were neck and neck until almost the end of the game. The first quarter ended with the score 12-15, Phantoms down. The second quarter started with both teams scoring back and forth until the score was 25-27, Phantoms down. With 1.7 seconds left on the second quarter clock, Aleryn Reid made a pass to Elijah Dugi, who shot and scored from half-court, ending the half 28-27, Phantoms up. The third quarter started with Phantom energy running high. The boys came in fresh from the locker room, hyped from Dugi’s deep three. In the third quarter the Mayer Wildcats outscored us by 7 points, but in the fourth quarter the Grand Canyon Phantoms outscored the Mayer Wildcats by 11 points. The Phantoms won by 5 points, 63-58.

The Lady Phantoms also won their Homecoming game, by quite a lot, against Mayer. 63-29 was the final score for the Lady Phantoms, with Cayli Miles leading them with her 27 points and 5 rebounds. Savannah Longhoma and Maria Dugi scored 11 and 10 points, respectively. Ariel Morris contributed with her 5 rebounds, as did Calley Scheller with her 4 blocks. Makiah Kennedy and Kara Austin both contributed 2 blocks.

Homecoming royalty was announced between the varsity girls and boys games:

Seniors: King- Carlos Briones , Queen- Cassidy Free

Juniors: Prince- Cordell Bob, Princess- Gema Torres

Sophomores: Duke- Jarred Torres, Duchess- Makayla Sanderson

Freshmen: Count- Gabriel Romero, Countess- Anlylian Moquino

Those who attended the Homecoming games also got to see the student-created Homecoming walls. The overall theme this year was Pixar, and each class was assigned a particular Pixar movie: the seniors had Coco, juniors had A Bug's Life, the sophomores had Inside Out, and the freshman had Wall-E. The walls were judged by GCS fans at the basketball game, with seniors winning 1st place, juniors 2nd, freshmen 3rd, and sophomores 4th. A huge thank-you to everyone who worked on the walls, including the class sponsors. There was a lot of effort put into the homecoming walls, and they were great this year!

Our Grand Canyon alumni were also spotlighted during the Lady Phantoms’ half time. Forty alumni attended the games as Homecoming honorees. They were greeted prior to the game, and their graduation years ranged from from the 2018 to the 1970’s! Cookies, provided by Delaware North, were enjoyed by all. We want to give a special thanks to Mrs. Chenevert and Mrs. Lyle for organizing this special event. Hope to see you at Homecoming next year!

Route 66 and Beyond

January 1, 2019, by Aleryn Reid and Elijah Dugi

From November 29 to December 1, the Grand Canyon Girls played in the Route 66 Tournament in Ash Fork and Williams. The Lady Phantoms had a 4-1 Record winning against Ash Fork Spartans, Hopi Bruins, Bagdad Sultans, and Joseph City Wildcats. They then went against Chandler Prep Titans in the championship round. However, our Ladies fell short against the Chandler Prep Titans by four points, with the score being 51-47. Cayli and Savannah led the big fight against the Titans, with Cayli getting 15 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals, and Savannah getting 22 points. The Lady Phantoms would like to thank the staff and faculty of Grand Canyon School, the parents and families of the girls team, along with Williams High School and the whole Grand Canyon community for coming out and supporting them and cheering them on at the game.

The Boys also played in the Route 66 Tournament and had their best record of 2-3 for the 4 years they have participated in the tournament. They won against the the big men of Bagdad Sultans and against the very well-coached Joseph City Wildcats. But in their last game, for third place, they lost against the sharpshooting Needles Mustangs by 11, the final score being 71-60, with Rufus Keebahe having 24 points, 2 assists, and Melakai Longhoma getting a double-double of 14 points, and 17 rebounds. The Boys would also like to thank Jessica Ross-Mentor, Mrs. Scheller, Mr. and Mrs. Donley, Trent Bob, Rita Kennedy, the families of Aleryn Reid and Elijah Dugi, Richardson Tisi and his parents, and the Lady Warriors of San Pascal for coming out to support and cheer them on. After the games, Cayli Miles, Savannah Longhoma, and Rufus Keebahe were awarded All Tourney, and Savannah Longhoma got MVP for the team.

The next week Grand Canyon had a game on Friday, December 7, against Mogollon High School. The JV girls and boys both started off their first games with losses. The varsity girls put up a really good fight with all girls working together making it a close game, but they lost 71-62. Cayli Miles scored 21 points and had 4 rebounds 3 assists and 8 steals. Alana Keebahe contributed by putting up 14 points and 6 rebounds. The varsity boys also lost, 47-61, with Aleryn Reid scoring 12 points and had 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Melakai Longhoma put up a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

On December 14, the Phantoms played against Joseph City Wildcats. The JV girls won and so did the varsity girls 25-59 with both Cayli Miles and Savannah Longhoma scoring 16 points each. Ariel Morris and Alana Keebahe both got 7 rebounds each, and Savannah had 8 assists. The JV boys lost, and the varsity boys put up a good fight but fell short by 7 points, 58-51, with Aleryn Reid and Rufus Keebahe scoring a combined 44 points, Aleryn scored 28 and Rufus scored 16. Aleryn, Rufus, and Elijah Dugi all got 7 rebounds. Rufus had 5 steals and Aleryn had 4. The next day the JV and varsity boys played against the BASIS Yeti. The JV boys had a disappointing loss, but the varsity had a strong win against the Yetis, with a score of 55-49. Aleryn scored 26 points and Cordell Bob getting 14 points. Aleryn and Rufus both had 4 assists each and a combined total of 12 steals. Rufus and Elijah lead the rebounds with them both having 6 each. Overall, both the boys and girls teams are having a good season so far.

It’s that Season, Again!

December 1, 2018, by Karina Ibarra

Basketball has officially begun with an outstanding start. The first games were on November 24 against the Fredonia Lynx, and all four teams took home the win: the varsity boys with a score of 58-11, the varsity girls with 50-21, the JV boys with 27-19, and JV girls with 24-21. The annual Route 66 tournament will be held on November 29, 30 and December 1 (depending on the results). What a great way to start the season!

Got Game? We Do!: The 2018 Volleyball Season Comes to a Bittersweet End

November 1, 2018, by Diana Montes, Karina Ibarra, and Erin Sumerall

We started the season off with a win against Joseph City, but even so, the Lady Phantoms were not expecting a win at their first regional game of the year against Ash Fork! Set 1 had a score of 25-20, Set 2 was 25-21. Having won two of five sets, they only needed one more win, which the opposing Lady Spartans did not make easy, ending with a third set score of 28-26. The rest of the Lady Phantoms were cheering on for their team and making sure they stayed positive and communicated with each other, which Kara, a middle blocker playing on the court, said “helps, a lot.”

On Senior Night, Oct. 10, our senior Lady Phantoms were called up one by one: Natalia Ramos, Diana Montes, Karina Ibarra, Erin Sumerall, Alexis O’Connor, Makiah Kennedy, and Kimana Yellowhair. They all recognized their loved ones-who were there to support them- with two red roses. They also shared great advice for future players and their plans after high school, like going to a state college and what they would be majoring in.

At Regional Finals it was up to the ladies to go against Mogollon. Without a doubt the ladies gave them a run for their money. Set 1 score was 25-21, set 2 score was 25-7, when Mogollon started spiking harder and looking for holes in our court, and the last set was 25-8. There was a noticeable decrease going from 21 and lowering to 7. At the end three ladies were recognized for their accomplishments. All-Region 2nd Team- Calley Scheller(10) for Hitter/Middle Blocker. Honorable Mention- Natalie Ramos (12), Cayli Miles (11). For the Lady Phantoms most of their game is more mental than physical, and when you shut down you also shut down on your team, which was something Coach Shields tried to address with some players and the whole group altogether.

Overall these ladies had an amazing season without a doubt. Erin Sumerall a J.V. player says, “All those laps she made us do has helped us improve our conditioning.” Diana Montes, a varsity player, also says, “It takes time for a team to develop, and ours was the type that took time and bonding.” May the seniors enjoy their future, and good luck to next year's team.

Soccer Memories

November 1, 2018, by Aleryn Reid, Elijah Dugi, Markieth Donley

The Grand Canyon High School Soccer season ended on October 19 with a loss against Page. Even though we lost, our season as a whole was very enjoyable and fun. This season was a huge improvement from last year. This year we won four more games than last year and were a lot closer and more competitive in our games. Next year hopefully the team will do better.

After the last game we honored the seniors on the soccer team, who gave roses to the important people in their lives as a thank you for the support they have given over the years. They also shared their favorite memories, some of which we have shared here:

Aleryn Reid: “One of my favorite memories is when I had 39 saves against Camp Verde. My other favorite memory is our last game against Page when, as goalkeeper, I saved a goal and then I carried the ball all the way past the half field, almost scoring on the other team.”

Markeith Donley: “One of my favorite memories is when I was going to almost score against Leading Edge Academy and I crossed up almost all of Leading Edge’s defense.”

Elijah Dugi: “My favorite year was my sophomore year when we had an overnighter in Phoenix and Aleryn, Rufus, and I were roommates. Next door was Omar, Travis, and Israel, so we stayed up till 2am and we were hungry so we ordered hot wings from Dominos.”

Team managers Judith Torres and Cassidy Free were also honored at the event, and also shared memories and roses with the important people in their lives.

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