| OCR Text |
Show jfjKING UASHI1AI.1, Lane Hopes 5To Catch Title DAVE WIGHAM pper Sports VltWMONT - With seven seniors returning return-ing from last year's team things arc optimistic iround the baseball team at View mom this :: .prinf. One of those play ei s returning from last ,ir is catcher l ane Rocma. LWE ISN'T a household name in athletics Mien talking about the Vikings, although he . jas participated in several sports, but he is an ntfgril part of the View mom program. As a sophomore he was a quarterback on the iiiph team, he then played on the sophomore lasketball team and participated for half a sca-'icn sca-'icn in baseball. Just prior to baseball in outs Une broke his foot and missed half the hard- J all season. LST YEAR as a junior he was the quarter-jack quarter-jack for the junior varsity club, also seeing r jerr.e action on special teams in the varsity 'l-sir.peiition. Then midway through the base-bD base-bD season Lane won the job of starting catch-j catch-j while hitting for a .350 average. -'. Now as a senior Lane has completed his ipolball days, this past year he was a backup juarterback along w ith special teams and some iKtion as a wide receiver. Now the 5' 10" 165 "xHinder is anxious to get some good weather adthe opportunity to play some baseball. . LAVE IS A very intelligent person, both on ViA off the field as his 3.97 CPA would indi-.i'e. indi-.i'e. so he know s what is expected of him. "I no I'm not an all-star catcher and that there - Lt twojunior catchers w ho are pushing me for 'j lie starting job. 1 had a good year last season --kiting the ball but I think I'm catching because ;( my defense." All wasn't rosy for Lane last year, in fact curing the American Legion season his coach '.M Edwards let Lane know exactly what he asdoingwrong. "I got in this bad habit ofjust lobbing the ball back to the pitcher and coach Edwards got all over me. He told me if I e.x-icted e.x-icted to play for him I'd better start putting me zip on the ball. I really don't know w hh or even when I started lobbying the ball back, I river did it in junior high ball." ! WHATEVER the reason it. his throw ing arm "as, been the bmnt of some jokes on the team. ."I get crap about 't all the time but this team is ilways kidding each other. We all get crap ;bout something." he laughed, i But one can tell this putting zip on the ball is a prime concern for Lane, "the other things like hitting, blocking the ball I just do out of instinct but I find myself really thinking about putting some zip on the ball." IT LANE has a problem getting the ball to the pitcher what about geting it down to second base. "First of all I don't have a real strong arm, but I'm working on a quick release, and I think I have a quick release. Coach gave me some exercises to work on in the offseason and I also lifted some weights." Lane is the second Rozema male to go through the Viewmont athletic program but he's going a different route than his older brother Ken. Ken w as a standout soccer player for the Vikes a couple of years ago but Lane never got involved in soccer, "I guess I was always involved in baseball and never got into soccer. It was boring to watch I thought." THIS IS the type of student that all the teachers love to have in class and he's a born leader. During his years Lane has been the 9th grade president, a junior senator and this year he is the Senior Class President at Viewmont. Along the way he has attended Utah Boys State and a leadership conference at Valley Forge. So being a catcher, one of leadership, is a natural for Lane. He is soft spoken and has a great attitude about everything. "Some people really get caught up in athletics and that's the only thing they do. I enjoy all things. I'm not worried about being the star or the publicity. I just enjoy sports and competiting. LANE KNOWS what he wants out of his future, he would love to be a pilot like his father. He hopes to attend Utah State next fall and to join the ROTC program with long range hopes of getting into the military. His other alternative is to attend the Naval Academy but he won't know about that for a while. Right now though Lane is anxious for some good weather and a chance to play some baseball. base-ball. "We have a good team here and I feel we can win the region. Coach Edwards challenged us to play for the state championship, and we've set that as our goal." IF THE VIKES do play in that title contest then you can be sure one of the reasons was the play of their catcher Lane Rozema, a young man who has things in perspective and who simply loves to play sports. |
