Sports

By  Mia Rossito

“The season was very fun, but like a roller coaster. Ups and downs,” says Hannah Wei, a sophomore linebacker and snapper.

Lincoln Mustangs girls’ flag football team went from losing its first game against the Balboa Buccaneers 0-12 to beating the Lowell Cardinals in a close 12-6 game in the last game before the playoffs. They were the second seed going into playoffs, but lost 6-12 to Lowell in the semifinals. Despite their loss against Lowell, the Mustangs still managed to end the season in third place.

Lincoln's overall season ended with four wins and two losses. The other loss was against Galileo with a 6-0 score. Despite this loss, it was the closest game Galileo had in their undefeated season.

Emily Quach, a sophomore wide receiver, says, “As the season went on, we started performing better as the team got closer,” as a response to their loss against Balboa at the beginning of the season.

Lincoln faced many obstacles throughout the season, such as injuries that occurred at least once a week, problems with the field, a majority of the team being new players, and the delay of seniors returning from other sports.

These obstacles already posed a challenge at the start of the season, which was evident in their first game against Balboa. Lincoln struggled to work as a team, which resulted in a 0-12 game losslost against the Buccaneers.

Camille Bustos, offense flag football coordinator and co-head coach, comments, “There were quite a few complications we had to face such as poor field conditions, gopher holes, finding time during the weekend to patch them up so that it can be deemed playable, [and finding] a gardener to make our lines.”

Bustos adds, “There was no practice or game where we had all our starters healthy. There was always someone out.” These are just some of the obstacles that the team faced this season.

Looking forward, Bustos says, “Next year, we will start earlier in the year so that we can focus on the basic fundamentals of flag football… flag pulling, our route tree, and hand-eye coordination.”

The game of flag football is also constantly changing. Bustos notes some of the future changes, “QB has one chance to run the ball, unless they’re being rushed. The ball will be more giant (youth size). No blocking at all. The extra points and yardage are changing, and I believe there are no special teams for punt return and kicking.”

The game is expected to have major shifts in the future with SoCal joining to have a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state championship in the next few years. This would mean flag football would shift from being a spring sport to being a fall sport. Busto responds, “It will stay in the spring for another two to three years. [SoCal] needs some time to catch up before a CIF state championship.”

Either way, Lincoln Mustangs will adapt, for they have had their own changes in the program. Busto recounts, “It's the first year that there are two female head coaches in the league. [Coach Lu (The defensive flag football coordinator and other head coach) and I] take great pride in this and do our best to represent our female athletes.”

Bustos emphasizes the coaches’ efforts by saying, “Coach Lu and I had daily conversations about the offense, defense, and scrimmage teams, ensuring the players were seen and heard and more importantly, a part of the Ohana (family). So, basically [we did] all the behind-the-scenes things that most people don't know about.”

Bustos also highlights the seniors’ role on the team and says, “Since there is only a varsity team, our senior athletes are responsible for maintaining a comfortable, safe environment and a DFZ (drama-free zone) in the locker rooms. These tasks help guide our old[er players] to be better leaders when they graduate.”

Joelle Wong, a senior quarterback and middle linebacker, says, “The team builds a really tight sense of community that motivates me to get out of my comfort zone and improve for them.”

With a total of seven seniors on the team this year, the underclassmen all comment on how great the seniors were at being big sisters to them. Wei says, “They were very good leaders and I really look up to the seniors.”

Though flag football has become a more popular sport at Lincoln with more than 20 girls on the team, other schools struggle to keep a program or gather enough players for a team. Currently, only seven out of 13 high schools in SFUSD have a flag football team. 

Previous competitors, such as Mission, have lost their teams, despite having done well in previous seasons. Jamie Rose Miller, a senior who played for Mission’s flag football team for two years, says, “There weren’t many players. It’s not a big sport. It’s not promoted the same way as football or soccer.”

Miller also comments that a lot of sports overlap with flag football, so it’s hard to recruit. It was hard for Lincoln to have a solid foundation at the start of the season because of the amount of returning players that were participating in other sports. They couldn’t practice with the rest of the flag football team until their season was over.

Quach says, “We were missing a lot [of players at the start of the season] and the team wasn’t really close yet. We were still trying to get to know each other.”

The pandemic has also had lasting impacts on the team’s dynamic, leaving a gap of juniors this year. Bustos responds, “We don't have experienced seniors next year, so our incoming juniors will lead the pack and represent.”

Despite the lack of seniors for next year, the upcoming juniors are motivated to stay on the team and eager to get more playing time. Wei says, “It was very fun. It challenged me and helped me improve as an athlete. I get to meet new people, [and makes me] feel more productive.”

Bustos concludes, “To our seniors, You all have done a tremendous job leading and being great role models to your little sisters. Now go out there and continue to be bosses. And for my returning players, get ready!”

Published on 5/18/23

By  Jay Fabian

Lincoln's baseball program has not won a championship since 2005. Lincoln's current teams are setting out to change that. With a regular season record of eight and two for Varsity and seven and one for JV, the program is starting to show signs of life. 

“The goal of the team was to always bring competitive baseball back to Lincoln and we have that with these teams. Now we want to take our program and get some wins,” said Lincoln's head coach James Burke. Burke has been head coach at Lincoln for 5 years now. He stresses how his main goal when he got here was to create a proper culture within the program. He feels that he is finally starting to see that culture form in this year's teams. He believes Lincoln has a great set of players and that these teams have a shot at winning a few championships for the school. 

“The whole point was to bring back the culture and the players have really been buying into that… I feel like we have talent and if we get the right mindset we can beat any team,” Burke said. 

JV played their championship game on May 10th, 2023 against Lowell high school. They took a definitive win over Lowell high school nine to two. JV battled and improved all season long and the end result shows. The coaching staff were happy with the work the players put in to get the big game. 

“For a lot of the beginning part of the season, the sum of our parts was greater than the whole, and today I think for the first time in totality, the whole was greater than the sum of the parts,” JV head coach Alejandro Hernandez said moments after the big win. Hernandez and the team as a whole were pumped after that huge win for the program and the school. 

Varsity also had a great regular season with some real talent standing out. 

“I am very confident in myself, I am very confident in my team, and I am very confident in my coaching staff,” said Team Captain Brandon Hom. Hom is an all-out ball player. He plays third base and is a relief pitcher. With a batting average of .298, ten RBIs, and an ERA of 1.17, he was the difference maker in many of Lincoln's wins. Another notable player is Kieran Baker who was a beast in the batter's box. The team had many major hitters with batting averages in 0.400s. Players like Jermiah Arriola and Isaiah Dela Roas to name a few. However, Baker led the team with a monster batting average of 0.525. Baker also led the team in stolen bases with 18 bags stolen and led the team in homeruns with two. Another solid member of the team was the senior, Ricky Underwood. Underwood was a lock in the outfield with a fielding percentage of 1.000 and finished the season with 20 runs and 12 stolen bases of his own. 

Varsity had their semi-final game on May 15th, 2023, against Washington high school. They ended up losing fifteen to six. Despite that, the program still has much to be proud of. Taking second place only one game behind Lowell was still a great feat and advanced them all the way to the semi-finals. At the end of this season, they lose five seniors with Captain and starting 3rd baseman Brandon Hom, Captain and starting Centerfielder Ricky Underwood, Starting right fielder Pablo Bamaca, Left fielder Gabrial Montes Jr, and right fielder Jay Fabian. 

The season came with a great win for the program in the form of JV finally clinching a Championship. Varsity came up short only making it to the semifinals, but with a team mostly made up of juniors and sophomores as well as many more prospects on JV ready for the call-up, Lincoln baseball looks like it has green fields and Oracle Park in its future. 

Published on 5/18/23

By  Jay Fabian

Lincoln baseball is looking to do something they have not done since 2005, have JV and Varsity win a championship. With JV winning their championship with a regular season record of eight and one record, Varsity must step up and finish their seven and two seasons with a win. 

“The goal of the team was to always bring competitive baseball back to Lincoln and we have that with these teams. Now we want to take our program and get some wins” said Lincoln's head coach James Burke. Burke has been head coach at Lincoln for five years now. He stresses how his main goal when he got here was to create a proper culture within the program. He feels that he is finally starting to see that culture form in this year's teams. He believes Lincoln has a great set of players and that Lincoln has a shot at claiming both JV and Varsity championships this year. 

“The whole point was to bring back the culture and the players have really been buying into that… I feel like we have talent and if we get the right mindset we can beat any team.” Burke stated. 

JV won their championship game against Lowell with a score of eight to three, claiming their first championship win in over a decade. Lincoln JV almost went undefeated in the regular season only losing once to Lowell. This championship game put Lincoln on top and ended Lowell's 5 year streak of JV championships. 

Lincoln's Varsity team also had a great regular season. They were second in their division going into playoffs and faced Washington highschool at semi finals to advance to the big game at Oracle Park. 

Published on 5/18/23

By  Leandro Zhang

“We broke history.”

Proclaimed senior varsity swimmer and swim team captain Aaron Lee, holding a trophy that Lincoln High School had not seen in quite some time. The Lincoln boys varsity team earned their first championship trophy in 30 years at the annual California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) San Francisco Section All-City swimming championships on April 29, 2023.

On the slippery deck of the City College of San Francisco pool, with a bustling atmosphere as swimmers celebrated their medals and families took endless amounts of photographs, something felt different. It wasn’t the fact that the team had ended Lowell High School’s streak of 25-straight boys varsity swimming championships.

It was the nature in which they did it and the hurdles that they overcame to get to this point.

“We all did our best and we got what we wanted, so I am proud of everyone for that,” says Allan Yeh, a sophomore varsity swimmer.

The previous season, five of the current nine Lincoln boys varsity swimmers had competed in JV and won the JV championship. All five of those swimmers helped win the varsity championship this season; Lee was one of them.

“Winning the championship has been a big goal of mine for the past two years, and to be able to do it two years in a row, once in JV and once in varsity, was very fulfilling,” says Lee.

Leading up to the All-City championship, and even during the meet, Lincoln’s expectations to win any varsity trophy were low. Lowell High School and Washington High School were strong contenders and were the Lincoln swimmers’ expected winners due to the size of the teams, with 36 and 34 swimmers respectively. Lincoln, in comparison, had 28 swimmers competing at All-City.

“I expected either Lowell and Washington to win because they were getting a lot of first-places,” coach Michael Zheng recalls.

In the San Francisco Section All-City swimming championships, trophy-winners are determined by points aggregated from event placements. There are four team trophies: girls varsity, boys varsity, girls junior varsity, and boys junior varsity. First-place finishes in individual events grant the swimmer’s team nine points, second-place finishes grant seven, third-place finishes grant six points, and so on until eighth-place finishes grant one point. Relay events grant double the number of points than individual events.

“The main reason why we pulled it off was because we had more swimmers swimming in events that others were not,” explains Zheng. “For example, in the 500 freestyle, we received nine and seven points because our two swimmers finished first and second.”

Because relays grant double the points, Lincoln emphasized their relay teams. They had eight boys varsity swimmers and could create two different relay lineups. Swimmers are allowed to swim a maximum of two individual and two relay events at All-City, so teams with fewer than eight varsity swimmers are only able to compete in two of the three varsity relays. 

Washington’s varsity boys team had less than eight swimmers, and could not swim the 200-yard freestyle relay. Despite Lincoln placing third in that specific relay, it still granted them 12 points, while Washington received zero.

“Because we had enough people for two relay teams, we were able to swim all three [varsity boys relay] events, compared to Washington who was only able to swim two. Because relays give you double the points, we were able to get more points overall,” explains Zheng.

The All-City championships marked the end of the San Francisco Section season. For some swimmers, it marks the start of their next season. For other swimmers, it marks the end of their high school swimming careers. However, for a select few, it’s the precursor for one last meet.

For all varsity events, including relays, the first-place swimmers book themselves a trip to the annual CIF State Swimming Championships. This year, the competition took place on May 12th and 13th at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex in Fresno, California.

The event was, as the on-site announcer proclaimed, “The fastest day of high school swimming in the nation.” Lincoln’s swimmers competed against both state and national high school record-holders.

Prior to the state championship competition, the team had little to no expectations for themselves. Historically, the San Francisco Section and its representatives have failed to produce significant results compared to the other sections at the meet.

“I don't have any expectations for states other than doing our best and just having fun racing,” Yeh says.

“Our goal is to not get last. Realistically at [the state championship], the swimmers there are bigger and are more dedicated to swimming,” says Zheng leading up to the state championships. “They have more opportunities, more pools, and more options [to swim].”

At the CIF Swimming State Championships, the competition is split into two days. The first day is preliminaries for every event, where 40 teams or swimmers compete in each event. The top 16 times move on to the finals, taking place the next day, where they compete for points and medals.

Each of the ten CIF sections are allotted a certain number of guaranteed spots in each event in the preliminaries, totaling to 24 guaranteed spots out of the 40 total spots. The San Francisco Section is allotted only one guaranteed spot per event. To fill the rest of the 40 spots, the CIF has specific qualifying times for each event that swimmers need to meet in order to either automatically qualify, or be considered, for the state championship.

This year, Lincoln competed in three of the 24 events at the preliminaries. The boys 200-yard medley relay team, consisting of senior Lani Goyert, sophomore Allan Yeh, junior Artus Zhang, and junior Sebastian Wong, placed 40th. Zhang placed 38th in the boys 500-yard freestyle, dropping 17.70 seconds from his gold-winning time at the All-City meet. Junior Asta Cheung placed 38th in the girls 100-yard breaststroke, dropping 2.25 seconds from her gold-winning time at the All-City meet.

“I think other sections have more success at states because their qualifying times and standards are a lot higher than SFUSD,” Yeh says.

Few people know more about the team’s inner workings than the coaching staff, who are tasked with training swimmers and overall organizing the season. Although it has been a massive undertaking, especially having to restart the team after two canceled seasons during the pandemic, they still feel that their work is worth it. The Lincoln swim team credits their coaches for this season's success.

“The coaches are incredibly close to the swimmers and there is a tight relationship between everyone,” Goyert, a senior varsity swimmer and team captain, explains. “The team is essentially just one big family.”

The Lincoln swim team has the youngest coaches in all of the San Francisco Unified School District. The two coaches, Jesiann Bautista and Michael Zheng, are Lincoln swim team alumni and are still in college or recently graduated from college. They also swam on the team with some of the current seniors. Because of this, the coaches were able to easily bond with the swimmers.

“At first, the pretense of a coach and swimmer relationship might seem to be rather cold and indifferent, but even from the start, the coaches were very friendly and helpful with everyone on the team,” says Zhang. “Being at practice doesn’t quite feel like a coach lecturing their swimmers the do’s and don’ts, but instead a friend advising their peers how they could improve [their] technique.”

However, the season did not come without any hardships. The most prominent of them all was the financial hardships and communication issues that the team had with Lincoln’s athletics department. 

“[The team] gets a budget every year, but we don’t know the budget unless we ask,” explains Zheng. “It wasn't communicated correctly in a way where we understand that we can use that budget instead of our own money.”

The team was given a budget of $800 this season for equipment. However, the coaches weren’t sure of the number until midway through the season.

“We didn’t use any of it because [the athletics department] didn’t tell us about it until around halfway through the season,” says Zheng.

The money could only be used for swim equipment such as swimsuits, caps, and goggles, but nothing else. Zheng cited that the budget wasn’t enough to cover all of the team's needs.

“If we only get swimming caps, yes [the budget is enough]. If we get anything else, no.”

Zheng’s main concern with the team budget is that it may not allow some swimmers to swim. Similar to other sports, swimming requires basic equipment to perform. Without a swimsuit or a pair of goggles, swimmers cannot compete.

“Some people who are lower income, they can’t afford a swimsuit,” says Zheng. “It’d be nice if we could help people in lower income to afford that.”

In the San Francisco Section, swimmers are required to wear swimsuits that meet certain requirements. They must be single-piece suits, above the knees, and without any club team logos. These swimsuits can be around $60 or more per swimmer.

“We need more [funding],” Zheng adds.

In order to help the school teams’ finances, Carl Jacobs, Lincoln’s athletics director, connected teams with “Snap! Raise,” a group-based online fundraising platform. Jacobs introduced the team to a representative in March, midway through the season. The platform provides a straightforward fundraising program for teams and allows them to spread word of their fundraising to people everywhere.

Over the four weeks that the fundraiser was active, the team was able to raise a total of $6,774. After the 20 percent fee that the company charges, the team was able to keep $5,419. Because the fundraiser ended towards the end of the season, the team was not able to utilize it on equipment for this season. Instead, they plan on saving it for future seasons.

Throughout the season, the coaches had trouble communicating with Lincoln’s athletics department about situations like reserving their practice slots at the public Charlie Sava Pool. The pool has eight lanes that are shared amongst various swim teams at the same time, including Sava Pool’s own swim team, as well as their Masters Swimming team, which is a competitive team for adult swimmers.

“Usually we have four lanes, but something happened and we only got three. We don’t know what happened. We asked them for four and they gave us three,” Zheng says.

Through the past two seasons, the coaches have tried ways to establish a better communication system. They have found that they are more likely to receive a response from Jacobs if they meet with him in person rather than over email.

“I think he’s gotten a lot better [at communicating] since last year,” says Zheng.

During this year’s All-City championships, the boys JV trophy was not available for Washington High School, who won the trophy this season, to take home. The trophy’s whereabouts were unknown, and the Lincoln coaches received information that made them believe that the trophy was not displayed by Lincoln High School after the Lincoln boys JV team won it the previous season.

“I failed immensely if that is the case of them not being recognized for their accomplishments,” responds Brian Delapena, Lincoln’s assistant athletics director and math teacher.

The Lincoln coaches did not want to jump to conclusions, but were furious when bringing up this topic to the athletics department.

“It made me think about how important it is to equally have these students represented, and think about ways to get this news out,”says Delapena.

In response to this incident, Delapena has created an online slideshow highlighting the accomplishments of all spring sports, hoping that teachers will show it to their students.

“I want to make sure that this does not happen again to anyone.”

In previous years, the team has cited the lack of marketing as one of the biggest factors in small roster sizes. However, the team hopes that the city championships in the past two seasons, and the displaying of the trophies in the main hallway, will encourage more swimmers to join.

“If we keep winning in the future, then maybe people would want to join,” says Panyarat Samranpis, a sophomore junior varsity swimmer.

Swimming is a sport that has no seasons. Swimmers can train and compete all year round. SFUSD school teams, however, do not have that privilege. Schools do not have their own pools, they pay for reservations at public pools, meaning they cannot practice during the off-season and can only practice during the spring season.

Swimmers often join club teams outside of school that offer training and competitions year-round. Because the clubs offer a more in-depth emphasis on the sport, the more experienced swimmers on the Lincoln swim team often practiced with their clubs and not with the school team.

“Club swimming is a lot more intense than high school swimming,” explains Yeh, who has been swimming competitively with his club team for almost a decade. “The [practice] sets are a lot harder and focus more on technique and speed.”

“With club swimming, you’re just focused on swimming. With school swimming, you’re focused on other aspects,” says Zheng. “You need to be careful about your grades.”

Zheng mentions that Lincoln High School could use the side grass field next to the football field to build a small pool facility. However, he acknowledges that it would be difficult to fund the project.

“They could open up the pool to the public over the summer as a source of revenue,” notes Zheng.

Published on 5/18/23

By  Shridavi Raghavan

The badminton team is continuing their season with an impressive 7-2 record, their only losses being to Lowell on Senior Night (April 20th) and Washington (April 25th). 

As former city champs, Lincoln is hoping to win the All-City Championship once again this year. Last season’s feat against Lowell in the city championship and this year’s close regular season loss on April 20th (4-3) upheld the rivalry between the two prowess schools. 

On April 25th, they lost to Washington (5-2), claiming 3rd place in the league. They qualified for playoffs and may rematch Lowell in the first round.

Anticipation for the All-City tournament is high. 

First-time Lincoln badminton coach with three years of prior coaching experience, Justin Fang, says, “All-City is next week [May 2-5]. We prepared all season for this.”

Jack Doyle, badminton team manager of two years, states, “Our Boys First Double team has a very good chance of winning the All-City tournament.” 

Defending doubles champions, Kyle Fang and Wilson Jiang (1st double team), and 2nd doubles team, Shen Yang and Aiden Leung, are expected to make a good showing. Additionally, Doyle hopes for strong performances from the team’s best singles player, Ethan Paw, and from all the players. Doyle highlights the team’s close four-to-three win against Balboa this season and the players’ effort during the All-City tournament. 

Fang shares, “We have a great system and practices to ensure all players across all grades are improving.” 

Fang stresses that the improvement of his players should largely be credited to the players themselves; their individual work ethic and talent.

Both coaches call attention to the consistent positive contributions of the seniors on the team, always demonstrating leadership qualities—including, Phoebe Dorris, Kan Pei, Ken Zhao, Matthew Wong, Shen Yang, Aiden Leung, and Kyle Fang. 

Fang states, “I just want to highlight everyone. We love each other. They’re all amazing,” 

Doyle adds, “We’ve seen some young players step up too, and the seniors continue to do really well.” 

Despite occasional challenges with scheduling and securing a gym for practices, Doyle states, “They show up to practice and they work hard.” He continues, “I love being around the program and these kids are inspiring.”

Senior, Ken Zhao, hopes to see the team’s dedication pay off in “win[ning] the championship and some players win[ning] All-City.”

Vince Chen, junior, expresses the team’s shared enthusiasm for the sport, “We are a very dedicated group, we all love the sport a lot and practice a lot which translates to how we try our best every time we play.”

Freshman Julian Laberinto not only values the improvement of his badminton skills over the course of this season but also, “experienc[ing] what being on a team is like,” and meeting more people who share this same interest.

Similarly, Junior, Yasmin David, shares, “My favorite part of this team is how close we got so fast! Everyone here is very open and comfortable, which I’m really thankful for because even though I’m new this year, I’ve already become good teammates with great people!”

Fang expresses, “The team here is a platform for the players to make connections across different grades. Academics come first, building connections second, and championship third. My job is not just focusing on badminton, but also [the players’] academic success and individual growth as people.”

Lincoln's badminton players had an impressive showing at the All-City tournament. Girls singles player, N. Laing, finished 4th, and boys singles player, E. Paw, finished 2nd. The Girls doubles team (Zhang/Lin) finished 3rd, and the Boys doubles team (Fang/Jiang) finished 1st. The mixed doubles team (Paw/Luong) finished 2nd.

The Badminton singles or doubles teams that were victorious in claiming 1st or 2nd at the All-City Tournament (5/2-5/4), advanced to the Northern California Tournament (TBA). Separate from the tournaments, the teams will likely place in the third seed in the AAA playoffs (5/9-5/17).

Zhao enthusiastically concludes, “Let’s win it!”

Published on 5/18/23