Alta High School - Accipitor Yearbook (Sandy, UT)

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Gymnas Baseball Tennis tics Known worldwide for its grace- ful competition by single athletes, gymnastics is being accepted as a sport involving many hours of teamwork and instruction by trained coaches at school and in private academies. With more than half of the team having had or Arabians on the floor.” still taking private lessons, the de- gree of difficulty in all areas has been greatly increased, such as Sukkahara on the vault, full twist- ing back flips and Arabians on the floor, and front and back tucks on the beam. Coach Mary Keaveny felt that the team would place well in the state competition, with Cotton- wood, Brighton, and Bingham be- ing the toughest schools to beat. Men’s gymnastics were limited to intramural athletics only, with a future men’s team depending on joint efforts by schools statewide with administration approval. The bases are loaded; Wartman steps up to bat; there’s the pitch; he hits it and it’s good. He runs to first: second; third; he keeps on going and slides into home. He’s safe. It’s a home run! Before every game dreams like this wandered through each play- er’s mind. He wondered if he could do that well in the game. And, if lady luck would be with him. J.V. Coach Jacobsen evaluated the baseball teams as excellent all- around athletes. “Most of the players competed on the football team and or basketball team in the off-season.” “pitching is the key” Varsity Coach Garcia stated, “Pitching is the key of our teams. Offensively both teams are very sound with good runners and bet- ter than-average hitting through- out.” A lot of time was spent practic- ing fielding, batting, running, and going over plays. Quite a few of the players had first period prac- tice as well as after school practice from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Before the season was under- way the baseball players sold Alta baseball hats for $4.00. The mon- ey was used to help pay for their trip to Dixie. The hats sold so well Coach Garcia considered ordering more hats. Girls tennis ended a suc- cessful year by tying Hillcrest for second place in re- gion, and sending five players to state competi- tions: Wendy McNichol, Kel- ly Wright, An- gela Sweet, Michelle Fogg, and Kelli Osieja. Coach Debbie Thompson boasted that this year’s team was the best since the opening of the school. As winter ended the girls’ sea- son, the thawing of winter began boys tennis with early March tryouts. A specialty class was held at the Canyon Racquet Club, fea- turing professional techniques, demonstrated by pro players. From tryouts. Coach Gary Yama- shiro chose the team. Eighteen fi- nalists were picked, seven of which played varsity. The team participated in two pre-season practice matches and later played eight regular matches. After challenging each school in region twice, the team went on to the regional tournament, and qualifiers from there competed at state. the thawing of winter began boys tennis 184 ■ Sports Intro

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CROSS COUNTRY out of a thriller by the Highland Rams, 17-14. The Hawks then traveled to Granite for a contest with the Farmers on September 12. “We should have won that game,” said Coach Phil Jensen, “but we had some tough breaks.” For the freshman team, the sea- son went well. The team consisted of 70 players. They practiced ev- ery day, for 2 to 2' 2 hours. Mr. Massey emphasized that, “they got better every week.” “One advantage of having a group of new kids,” Mr. Jacobsen ads about coaching the freshman team,” is that there are no precon- ceptions of who is good and who is not. Every player starts with a clean sheet; no one is first string until he proves himeself. By the season’s end we had the best de- fense in the league, and there is no question that we could have beat- en any of the other teams.” “As to be expected, injuries from football participation hin- dered the playing ability of the team as a whole.” “Overall, the outcome of the football season was exceedingly good” restated by Coach Berry. “Ending the season losing to East was of course dissappointing. However, we had some good wins earlier in the season which were very satisfying — STATE CHAMPS is becoming a tradition of the Girls Cross Coun- try Team. For the second year in a row the girls have claimed the state title. This year the team took first place in every meet within their region. For the second year in a row the girls’ have claimed the state title. Sophomore Chris Keller, and ju- nior Connie Sweet helped spear- head many victories with top place finishes. But team work earned their many victories. The team worked together by training and running against each other- — sparking better performances at each meet. “Most of the compe- tition in races came from pressure from our own team members,” stated many of the Alta runners. In regional championships, the girls took six of the top ten posi- tions. At state finals, all the girls placed in the top twenty compet- ing against the best of the 4A re- gion finialists. Again STATE CHAMPS a well deserved ti- tle. Depth was the key word for the Boys Cross Country Team. Like the girls, the boys performed ex- cellent at regional finials. The var- sity finished with a strong second Alta ... most likely will be a top contender ... during the coming years. place title. The j.v. boys team fol- lowed with an outstanding perfor- mance by Jeff Birks taking a first place over all, leading the rest of the team to a first place finish. As young and inexperienced teams, the varsity and j.v. performed ex- ceptionally in competition this year.' New runners this year demon- strated a great potential for com- petition in years to come. Junior Darrell Kenneth, sophomore Mike Vanderbeek, and freshman Kevin Arrington equaled and bettered times of most seniors they were competing against this year. With the coaching of Ray Jen- son and the gifted ability of many runners, Alta can and most likely will be a top contender in state and regional competitions during the coming years.

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Golf Track Soccer The golf team has surprised many people this year. The team was expected to be the worst in region: yet took third, after that, took ninth in state. Randy Danjanovich, the top player on the golf team, proved to be one of the top players in region by being one of five finalists. Eleven students made up the golf team for 80-81. Members from all grades were involved with “ ... expected to be worst in region;” the team. Rex Wright, coach, says that next year’s team will be even better, mostly because the team will only lose two players. The team competed at three golf courses in the area. When playing Hillcrest and Bingham the team played at Mountain View in West Jordan, which was Alta’a home course. When playing Brigh- ton the team competed at the Mick Riley course in Murray, and when playing Kearns the team golfed at Meadowbrook Country Club in Taylorsville. After months of long hard train- ing, indoor track and fielders final- ly approached their long-awaited season. Training for many of the run- ners began early in the fall and lasted throughout the year. This made patience and dedication a must. Anyone possessing these qualities, who attended practice, and had an extra amount of love for running could join the team. Four state meets were held this “Anyone ... who had a love of could join the team.” year; at Brighton, the University of Utah, BYU, and Weber State. Many school and state records were set by the Alta teams. Mi- chelle Schroeder, running the 60 yard dash, placed first on the in- door track at BYU, and Kim Bren- nan, placed 1st in the shot put. Other outstanding performances were made by Tony Hatch, plac- ing 2nd in the polevault, and De- siree Hofheins making semi-finals for the 880, in the Simpolt Games held in Idaho: one of the biggest indoor track meets held for high school students. Not only in Utah but nationwide soccer is becoming the world rek- nown sport with each of the team’s eleven players working to- gether to gain control of the ball and make that single point. After petitioning the Jordan School District Board of Education for mare than a year, the teams were permitted to play on campus at Alta. Although the sport lacks district sponsorship, being able to play at school is a step above using “ ... the teams were permitted to play on campus ...” the field at Draper Park which has been the case for the past two years. This year’s varsity squad was comprised of nine seniors, nine ju- niors, and four sophomores: and the junior varsity squad, three ju- niors, nine sophomores, and ten freshmen who started practicing in late December, shortly after the teams were chosen. From the sev- enty-six who tried out, fourty-four made the two teams. The cheerleaders played an im- portant part in the teams success, with seven varsity cheerleaders and four junior varsity. They, like the team, paid for their own uni- forms and practiced on their own time. Sports Intro ■ 185