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Show AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Thursday, February 7, 2008 Page 6 , .. .. I ...... .. C O M M UNITY SPORTS, P'EOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN Swimmers off to state; hoop races heat up forward Beky Beaton NORTH COUNTY This week, swimming takes center stage as those athletes cap the longest high sch(K)l season at the state meet Friday and Saturday. See the separate story for a preview of all the action. Wrestling teams have alo reached the culmination of their years with the region meet on Friday and the state tournament starting Wednesday. The girls basketball race Ls coming down to the wire. With two or three games left at press time, only Lehi has effectively been eliminated, though they still have a mathematical chance to tie for a berth if Lone Peak or Spanish Fork lose all of their remaining games. The Dons and the Knights were tied for fourth heading into last night's contest. The winner of that match-up could finish as high as second and the loser as low as fifth, but the final order likely won't be determined until the last games are in the books. Assuming the top two boys teams won last night, they'll meet tomorrow tomor-row in Round 2 of the battle of the heavyweights. The winner will likely have secured at least a share of the region crown, and both are in good position to advance to the state tournament. Spanish Fork and Timpanogos are fighting for seeding now, while American Fork is in danger dan-ger of being shut out of the playoffs altogether. Mere's a look at some of the key contests in the next week (records as of Feb. 5). Thursday, Feb. 7 GIRLS BASKETBALL I American Fork at Timpanogos (7 p.m.): Win this one, and the Cavemen (6-1, 16-1) can all but engrave their names on the region trophy, while the Timberwolves (44, 9-10) are trying to earn the highest possible seed to the playoffs. Friday, Feb. 8 WRESTLING ) Region 4 Meet at American Fork (Noon): Spanish Fork is the presumptive presump-tive favorite to win the team title, but every school has at least one wrestler capable of winning a title and all will be trying to qualify as many as possible pos-sible for the state meet. GIRLS BASKETBALL t Pleasant Grove at Lone Peak (5 p.m.): This contest is critical for both teams as the Vikings (5-3, 10-8) will be looking to solidify their position, and the Knights (34, 12-6) will be pushing to make up lost ground in the standings. BOYS BASKETBALL I American Fork at Timpanogos (7 p.m.): This is a must-win for the Cavemen Cave-men (1-5, 5-12) if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive, while the Timberwolves (3-3, 7-9) are fighting for a berth. Pleasant Grove at Lone Peak (7 p.m.): In a contest featuring two of the state's best teams, it's going to be standing-room-only again as the Vikings (5-1. 15- 2) challenge the Knights (60, 15-2) for the region title and state seeding. I Lehi at Spanish Fork (7 p.m.): The Pioneers (0-6, 6-1 1) may be eliminated from the palyoff picture by the time they take the court for this contest, but they'd relish the spoiler role as the Dons (3-3, 7-9) jockey for playoff position. Tuesday, Feb. 12 GIRLS BASKETBALL I Pleasant Grove at American Fork (7 p.m.): Barring a major collapse in the next week, the regular-season finale should produce a crown for the Cavemen Cave-men regardless of the outcome, while the Vikings will be looking to lock up their playoff position. Wednesday, Feb. 13 WRESTLING 1 5A State Meet at UVSC: Four days of intense competition get underway as the McKay Center welcomes hundreds hun-dreds of grapplers from around the state. The 5A finals are Friday night. American Fork senior wrestler looks forward to region meet while also handling duties as studentbody president Dean Von Memmott SPORTS CORRESPONDENT Even though he has been dong very wel aU season as the American Fork heavy- wegY wrestVer, senior Jason Day knows this Friday will decide whether he will compete com-pete at state for one more time before he graduates later on in the spring. "Competition in the heavyweight heavy-weight division is really tough this season.' In 5A, we have six heavyweights who have a good shot at the state championship." champi-onship." said American Fork assistant coach Cole Kelley. "Jason is one of them. He has won (the weight class at) three duals tournaments this year." Day said. "I have been wrestling since my sophomore sopho-more year. Coach(Tim) Pon-tious Pon-tious encouraged me to come out for the team. In fact, he encouraged a lot of guys to come out for it. "He taught me all of the basics of wrestling. It took clear until region for me to get them all down. At the region meet, I lost both of the matches that I wrestled, and that ended the season for me." In the months since his sophomore season, he became involved with varsity Caveman Cave-man football. Day said, "I didn't play defensive de-fensive lineman much. I was mostly an offensive lineman. Football helped me prepare for wrestling. As an offensive lineman. I had to know every play, so I could do my job well whenever I was out on the field. "It's the same thing with wrestling. When you're out on the mat, you have to have every technique memorized, so you can think quickly what to do next. When I was a sophomore, I didn't know about techniques. I had to learn them as I went through the program. I also had to learn mental toughness." He agreed that one second is all the time that a wrestler has for deciding what his next move is to be. After Pontious left the Caveman wrestling program at the end of Day's sophomore sopho-more year, Stan Kitchen got named as the new head grap-pler grap-pler coach. Day said Kitchen "drilled us a lot. We got good coaches. When coach Kitchen isn't around, coach Kelley can teach us techniques on a one-on-one basis." Day did much better his junior year. The senior said, "At region last year, I took second, and I went on to wrestle at state." Day said, "I'm one of the shorter heavyweights around. I'm 6-1, and I don't have as much body as other heavyweights heavy-weights do. They're bigger See DAY, Page 7 i , ..v. 1 I I 1 " S : it wwk v j. .v ; . j I J ' ' " ' , 1 . f ' ' '' I i i - i 1 f 7 - ,-ts-.- m" V' 1 , ' ' vV-' ( '"J N-N- . 1 , ; f-". -K - ' ! '1 i . . , . . BEKY BEATONNorth County S?",. p wrest'er,00tH Playerstudenbody president Jason Day is preparing for this weekend s Region 4 wrestling meet. s' AF girls suffer first defeat of season rpAinni il W V VII I Jared Lloyd and Beky Beaton NORTH COUNTY The American Fork girls basketball team suffered its first defeat of the season Thursday night, as uncharacteristic cold snooting and high turnovers f contriDuted to a 41-38 Lone Peak victory. The Knights used a stifling zone defease and a big third-quarter third-quarter run to pull off the upset up-set over the Cavemen, putting themselves back in the playoff picture with only a few games left to play. After a sloppy first half for both teams allowed American Fork to go into the locker room with only a 16-15 lead, Lone Peak surged In the third BEKY BEATONNorth County From left, American Fork's Amy Krommenhoek, Kaycee Mansfield, Makenzie Moea'i and Cydne Mason surround Lone Peak's Ryan Littlefield during their game Jan. 31. quarter to put themselves in the position to win. The Knights behind seven of Amanda Farish's team-high 10 points doubled their point total during those eight minutes min-utes to build a :)-21 advantage. Hut the No. 1-ranked team in the Valley didn't give up its undefeated status easily. With the crowd yelling at every play, American Fork junior forward for-ward Haley Holmstead spearheaded spear-headed a rally by scoring 1(1 of the team's 17 jx)ints in the final frame. Many of those she got by sheer force of will. At one point midway through the fourth quarter, the visitor's lead was just two and could've been cut to one but the Caveman curse of poor foul shooting only making 6-of-13 for the game struck again and the free throw bounced out. The f rustrat ing shoot ing night extended beyond the foul line for the home team, as the plyers couldn't buy a jump shot for most of the game and were able to hit none of their trademark 3-pointers. "It was a combination of things," said American Fork head couch Corey Clayton. "We've slut pcxffty before but have made up for it by getting extra attems. Toniglt we didn't get tlKwe attemts because of turnwm (.'K) on the night). "Usually we don't talk about turnovers but tonight they just cume one ufter the other. In the first half, it was because of Lone Irak's defease de-fease and you have to give them credit. But in the second half, we just made some poor decisions," he added. llicKniglits extended their 2-3 zone out far enough to keep the Cavemen from gtKtlng comfortuble, slowing down the game and forcing A.F, Into uncharacteristic un-characteristic mistakes. Many of the Cuvemun points In the fourth quarter quar-ter came off of typicul fust breaks, but they ulways had trouble when the Knights were able to get organized at that end of the flcxjr. I lolmstead finished the effort See PIWIND, Page 8 f A Lindie Spencer American Fork High School Parents: Bob and Sheri Spencer Year: Senior Age: 17 Birthplace: Englewood, Colo. Sports: Basketball and track Positions: Guard in basketball and sprinter in track Favorite sports team: San Antonio Spurs Favorite restaurant: Cheesecake Factory Favorite class: Conditioning Favorite food: Vegetables Hero: Manu Ginobili Favorite book: 77?e Importance of Being Ernest Favorite movie: 7he Bourne Ultimatum Most memorable career moment: Playing great in a home game against Spanish Fork this season. Future plans: To major in exercise science sci-ence at BYU. American Fork head girls basketball coach Corey Clayton said: "She has a great work ethic. She is always positive. posi-tive. She worked hard on her skills in the off-season. She's been both a point and off guard for us." eye TRACK AND FIELD AF athletes earn high finishes at meet NORTH COUNTY Members of the Caveman Track Club posted several top-10 finishes in the Utah High School Coaches Association Indoor Track and Field Championships at BYU last Friday and Saturday. Daniel Litchf ord placed third in the shot put with a mark of 43-feet, 43-feet, .25 inches. Ben Felix placed fourth in the 1-mile run at 4:33.00, and he was followed by Brady Pulsipher in 72nd place at 5:21.00. In the 60-meter hurdles, Ben Christensen placed sixth running 9.05 seconds (9.01 in the prelims), and was followed by Alan Smith in 10th place at 9.43 seconds. With just eight boys competing, the team was 10th in a field of 28. Felix and Christensen will travel trav-el to Pocatello, Idaho, next weekend week-end to compete in the 30th Annual Simplot Games, the nation's largest larg-est indoor high school track meet. CHEERLEADING Little League tryouts NORTH COUNTY Little League cheer tryouts for girls in grades 5-9 are scheduled for Feb. 23 at American Fork High School. Clinics will be offered of-fered at the school on Feb. 16 and 22 in preparation for the tryouts. For more information, session times and forms, go to www. cavemancheer.com or call Jackie Sorenson at 367-8959. WRESTUNG Grapplers prep for final events NORTH COUNTY The Cavemen took advantage of some opportunities to get ready for the region and state meets in the next week, "We were pleased to make the final eight teams at the 5A Duals, especially with the illness that has affected the team the last couple of weeks," said coach Stan Kitchen. Scott Newman (So., 1 19 lb. class) was selected as varsity co-wrestler co-wrestler of the week. He won six matches and lost only once by a score of 2-4 td a good wrestler from Davis. 1 ' Scott's brother, Matt Newman (Jr., 125 lb. class), is the other varsity var-sity co-wrestler of the week. Matt won three matches and recorded his only loss for the week to a good wrestler form Viewmont 8-14. Matt became ill Friday and was not ublo to finish the tournament. tourna-ment. Jordan Lesser and Shan See TOWN EYE, Page ? |
