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Show C I i " FEBRUARY 23, 1983 PLAYER FEATURE STEVE SARGENT 0 Summer Is No Vacation By KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports KAYSVILLE If anyone on the Davis basketball team knows the worth of what some hard perfecting of skills during the summer can do, its got to be Steve Sargent. DESPITE THE lackluster season the Darts had this year, Sargent in Coach Mike Gardners eyes, emerged as one of the top juniors in the league. When I was coming up through junior high, I felt I was being passed up, mainly because my body was growing too fast to coordinate the skills I wanted to have. My shot wasnt there which made it pretty frustrating. THE ONLY thing to do was to practice hard and the summer months proved to be the best time for that, said Sargent. Lots of hours were set aside for basketball, lot of em. AS SOPHOMORE Sargent started to show some improvement and as a eager this past season, Gardner felt that Steves year was right on line. Steve has a good basketball mind, but his body just hasnt caught up with him yet. Ill bet that if he puts on 15 or 20 pounds by next season, he could be a heck of a player for us, said Gardner. 6-- 2, 155-pou- SARGENT AT times proved to be the best pure shooter Davis had, but as Gardner has j Whos Who In Next rMA Weeks State Tourney He BOUNTIFUL - Nothing like a state basket-jba- ll tournament and its that time of the year tonce again. Starting next Monday the top 16, :its supposed to be that way anyway, teams in :4A this year will converge on the University of Utah to determine the state champion. : -- BOUNTIFUL WILL be back this year to defend their title they won last season with a thrilling victory over Skyline, who are also back to try to improve on their second place -showing. ; After talking to various coaches, both in and .out of Region Four, it seems there are some definite contenders for the crown this year along with some clubs that have excellent shots at winning the state title. : LIKE LAST YEAR there is no real clear cut 'Favorite but every coach mentioned they feel there is a group of about six teams that are all : very capable of claiming the title. On top of those there are four others that these coaches feel could very well play well enough to win the title. These coaches wish to remain annonymous, since they might get scheduled against a team they didn't mention and thus give them a quote ' to hang up in the lockers to give them some incentive. : HERE THEN is a region by region look at this year's entries in the state event. REGION ONE. This is the league known fqr its individual talent. The two best known players in the 4 A ranks both play in this league in Reid Newey of Roy and Sie Moore from Bonneville. However most coaches we talked to felt that the lack of depth put these two clubs chances in jeopardy. Indeed if anything happened to these two great players their teams would fall apart, but with them they are capable of winning. Moore is averaging 29 points for the Lakers while Newey is at the 30 point per outing range for the Royals. LAYTON APPEARS to have third wrapped up and their main concern is the lack of height. Senior Keith Williams is no longer playing but the Lancers make up for everything with hustle and desire. Sky View will be number four from ; this league and they too will battle teams much : bigger than them. Jeff Moon is main gun for the ; Lancers, who also have good balance, while Mark Stephends heads up the Bobcats. : Summary: Bonneville and Roy simply dont have the depth to compete with some of the top 'clubs while Layton and Sky View dont have : the height most clubs do. However the Lakers I and Royals are very capable of the big upsets. : REGION TWO. This league is considered one of the best and its top three clubs are all given as much chance of winning the tournament as any team entered. Hillcrest, Brighton and Alta are all rated as favorites and who can look past Bingham the number four club from this league w ho has already beaten some of the above mentioned big names. : Hillcrest is led by junior guard Marty Haws but the Huskies are known for their physical style ball. They have good solid depth and they like to control the tempo of the game. Brighton on the other hand is definitely the run and gun : : said, His body sometimes prevented him from getting his shots off like hed like them to get off. When given a chance to shoot, however, Steve was as accurate as anyone. I like the fact that Steve plays football. Its been good for him. Skill wise he probably belongs in the gym, but the hard work and physical growth he gets from football will undoubtedly help his basketball. said Gardner, Is Steve being a basketball player playing football, while Jeff Sampson is a football player playing basketball. Sargent, who guided the junior varsity football program as the quarterback last fall, has in the coaches opinions, plenty of talent in football too. A GOOD comparison, AS FAR AS basketball goes, Sargent felt that this past season was a very valuable learning experience. Winning only a few league games and missing the state tournament, makes next years goal setting quite simple. Its to make the tournament and seek some revenge on clubs that ambushed his team this year. Sargent, along with Ryan Smith, were elected team captains in basketball. It was at that point that Sargent knew his role, to lead out by example. THERE WERE some times, in fact quite frequently in the beginning of th eyear, that Way In runs the show. Although they only sport a 5 region record, many point to the fact they are in a tough league, the Bingham squad would have to rank as a possible darkhorse. The Miners arent really that big, although they average 64 along the front line, but they are playing extremely well of late. REGION THREE. When talking about this league the coaches point to Skyline and Olympus as possible champions. Skyline just might be a year away since they are young but 63 Craig Bennett is giving it all hes got this year. Their one concern would be the lack of height against some of the other clubs. Much is the same with Granger who is led by Brett Willard-sothe Lancers arent very big but they play a quick aggressive style which causes problems. Wrestling 6-- Summary: Our coaches dont put the Skyline and Olympus team in the same league as the Hillcrest, Brighton and Alta bunch but they arent far behind them. Skyline maybe lacks the size and might be waiting for next year while Olympus looms as a definite darkhorse. REGION FOUR. Three clubs from this league are given legitimate shots at the title. Woods Cross, Bountiful and Highland are all talked about in the same time as the Hillcrest, etc. bunch. Woods Cross has the size to compete with win over anyone, they have a Brighton, with big Greg Houskeeper being the main force. Bountiful will use their depth, along with some good size, to compete. They too knocked off Brighton earlier in the season. Gar Seljaas and Matt Thomley anchor what some feel is the best front line in the state. pre-seas- KEEP YOUR eye on the Rams of Highland. They have always played well in the state tournament and this years club headlined by Chuck Rich and Terry Taylor are playing their best ball of the season right now. East is the up and down club of the region and no one really knows what theyll do in the state meet. ALL OF moms brothers played sports, so she got used to it I guess, said Steve. Probably the best thing I like about Steve, is that he is a gentleman. He treats his teammates with respect and consequently is very well liked on the team. The 3.8 grade point average he carries, also doesnt hurt, said Gardner. By KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports Guys like Davis Shawn Robinson dont consider themselves wrestling but if solid competition is taking place anywhere close to home, they arent likely to miss out on s, it. ROBINSON AND the rest of the state concluded another exciting season of prep west-lin- g a couple of weeks ago at Weber State. But wrestling competition hasnt come to i. complete halt in Utah, as freestyle matches got underway at Brighton last Saturday. Not everyone will enter Utah freestyle competition, but those that do must compete only on an individual basis. Robinson is one local prep that plans on keeping active and before freestyle meets come to a close, there will be a number of others that will join him. ROBINSON, WHO culminated a highly notable junior season by netting the state championship at 105, says freestyle is nothing but a learning experience for him. Because of the number of wrestlers that will enter in the 1 15 to 145 brackets, Robinson will wrestle in the heavier weights to gain some more experience. Who wrestles freestyle? Robinson spoke for Davis High in commenting, Wrestling has got so exciting around here, that just about everyone might try it. Even the seniors on our team this year are going to try it because they had so much fun through the past season. I also think that plenty of junior high kids will get involved. n, IT APPEARS right now like Granite will be the fourth team and they could be in trouble. Their top gun is Dave Abel who injured his knee last week and is out for the year. Cyprus has an outside shot at the tournament but they would have to come up with a minor miracle to get there. Like beat Olympus. DAD PLAYED high school sports and knows how it is. I wouldn't be here today if it hadnt been for some of the little things. Things like allowing us to play basketball in the church gym while he was tending to his bishop's responsibilities during the middle of the week. As little kids we used to like that, stated Steve. Mary Ann, his mother, seemingly puts up with all Steves athletic desires too. When not playing either football or basketball, he plays tennis in the spring for the Darts. Last year he was a member of the first doubles squad. Robinson One Of Many Leading The ALTA IS the tallest of these three and they have as much talent as anyone in the state. Big Ronald McDonald, all 68 of him, is their big gun while guard Darrin Long, the coaches son, 66. Heights. FREESTYLE WRESTLING type ballteam. If they get hot from the outside then theyll beat anyone in the state noted one coach outside of their league. Brett Miller is averaging 17 points a game with Jeff White right behind him. Olympus could be the mystery club this year. They have everything it takes to win the title, size and depth. The Titans lost early in the season, but they are on a winning streak right now and are causing some heads to turn. Robert Crofts, a 64 forward, is their leading scorer along with Steve Ence at They also have a 68 junior that they could throw in for good measure. opposing teams took the lanky junior for granted. He promptly countered it though, by scoring several times in double figures. Steve likes to credit much of his desire and Mr. Sarability in athletics to his father, Gary. ball at school Highland gent played his high High and eventually became the quarterback at Stanford University. The family eventually moved back to Utah and now reside in Fruit A state championship wasnt enough to satisfy Davis Shawn FREESTYLE competition is sponsored by the Utah Wrestling Coaches Association in conjunction with the United States Wrestling Federation. Competition is held nearly every Saturday for the following six to eight weeks. Kids as tiny as tator tots compete all the way to the open class which includes Robinson. Now he is expermenting again with freestyle wrestling. (eats. LOCAL VIEWPOINT Let Players Choose Editors Note: From time to time the Journal will feature a viewpoint of a local personality. This week we have asked Davis Mike Gardner to give his opinion about high school kids who specialize in only one sport through their three years of high school. Sports pages - Mike Gardner, who has KAYSVILLE coached high school athletics for over a decade, says the day hell get out of it is the day philosophy changes at Davis High that kids ought to play one sport, and one sport only. MOST OF THE other coaches in our region (Region Four) think Im nuts about this, they terribly disagree with me. I believe its our responsibility in education to develop the whole person. I think we are to develop and give players an opportunity to compete and to have all kinds of experiences. Were wrong as coaches to tell a kid he can or cannot play football or that he ought to play basketball year round. We owe it to high school athletes to give them a total overall experience and not to just make basketball players, Gardner said. THE DAVIS High coach felt strongly that all sports should be supported. An example of his honesty was demonstrated when he said, I wish wrestling were at a different time than basketball, because Ive got a couple of kids that I know would have been number ones on the wrestling team. I wish they could have had that experience. But some coaches in our region disagree with me. Some coaches force players to choose between basketball or football or basketball and some other sport. I really think that is wrong. AS LONG AS Im at Davis Ill encourage kids to compete in all sports. Well try to develop the entire program and not just one sport. Mike Hansen, the head coach at Layton, explained his feelings about freestyle meetings, at least as far as his high school kids are concerned. AS LONG AS they push as hard as they do for me through the season, I wont push freestyle. Freestyle might help a few of my kids that arent good on their feet or kids that need some more experience, but its not the controlled type of wrestling that were used to in high school. It s not as competitive as high school wrestling, but it gives some kids a chance for four or five more weeks of wrestling. ITS ALSO GOOD for the younger kids, kids as young as seven or eight. I like to see a lot of younger kids out, said Hansen. Hansen wouldnt be surprised if some of his more experienced kids didnt get involved. Its more experience and more exposure, especially if the kids get into regional competition. ERIC HYDE, Laytons lone second place finisher in the state meet, has wrestled freestyle before and Hansen says hed be surprised to not see him get involved again. Hansen says the Coaches Association run the freestyle meets, everything from officiating to having a place for the meets. Its gotten bigger since the coaches took it over, said Hansen. 4-- A |