Big Red Winter 2014-2015

BIGRED VOLUME 8 • NO. 2 • WINTER EDITION 2014-2015

The Victory Lap Coach Greg Hilliard reminisces on his 30 years as a Wolverine.

P. 14

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • VOLUME 8 • NO. 2

JONATHAN SEYMOUR/BIG RED

thePlaybook Rian Ratnavale: ROAD WARRIOR

3

Following a 10-year NBA career, former Wolverine great Jarron Collins ’97 has taken his talents to a new court, joining the Golden State Warriors’ coaching staff.

8-11

Henry Vogel and Mila Barzdukas:

ABOVE THE REST

Coming off a record-setting CIF-SS Division I championship season, the boys’ water polo team improved even further, finishing unbeaten in 2014.

Scott Nussbaum: ON THE PITCH

12

Elijah Ahktarzad: RISE AND SHINE

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Early morning workouts of the Wolverine water polo, golf, football and baseball programs contribute to increased success of the athletes.

Q & A WITH GREG HILLIARD

NEW GENERATION

Keeping up with the nationwide rise of social media, HWTV and the HW Chronicle’s twitter have upped the ante with live coverage of Wolverine games.

Cole Jacobson: HUDL UP

20-21

A varsity football player gives an inside look into the atmosphere of the squad’s sessions analyzing game and practice film during the 2014 season.

Check on the progress of the Harvard-Westlake Class of 2015 athletes as they begin to finalize their choices for their home fields of the next four years.

Jonathan Seymour:

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Tyler Graham and Bennett Gross:

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Boys’ basketball coach Greg Hilliard gives the scoop on the ups and downs of his memorable 30-year career running the Wolverine program.

Tyler Graham: WHERE ARE THEY NOW

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A look back at the success of the 2006 CIF-SS divisional semifinalist Harvard-Westlake football team and how the memories remain with the players.

Jonathan Seymour and Kelly Riopelle:

FINISH LINE

24-25

Competitive cyclists Jordan Ellison ’15 and Sean Quinn ’16 both have big dreams for their careers.

Big Red Staff: ROUNDTABLE

26-27

theStaff editors-in-chief Elijah Akhtarzad, Tyler Graham, Audrey Wilson

presentations editor Jacob Goodman

managing editors Bennett Gross, Cole Jacobson, Jonathan Seymour, Henry Vogel

staff Mila Barzdukas, Julianna Berger, Joe Levin, Jake Liker, Dario Madyoon, Carina Marx, Scott Nussbaum, Emily Rahhal, Rian Ratnavale, Connor Reese, Cameron Stine

advisers Luke Holthouse, Jenny Hontz, Kathleen Neumeyer

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BIG RED is a publication of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle, the upper school newspaper at Harvard-Westlake School, 3700 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City, CA 91604, produced as a part of Advanced Journalism classes. The school has 1,500 students in grades 9-12. For any questions, or to purchase a subscription or to advertise, please contact us at chronicle@ hw.com or at (818)487-6512. Copies of BIG RED are distributed free on campus to students and faculty and are mailed to friends and family by subscription at $15 per year. Letters to the editor can be sent chronicle@hw.com. BIG RED is a general interest magazine about athletics, including teams and individual athletic pursuits of Harvard-Westlake students and faculty, as well as health and fitness topics. For seasonal coverage of Wolverine teams, see The Chronicle or www.hwchronicle.com.

On the Cover: In his 30th and final season patrolling the Wolverine bench, Coach Greg Hilliard plans to lead a revamped Wolverine varsity basketball squad to an improvement over last season’s CIF Southern Section Division 4AA quarterfinal finish.

Cover Image by Elijjah Ahktarzad

Wolverine to Warrior

A

BY RIAN RATNAVALE

s a first-time assistant coach of sponsibility in helping players learn a set of the Golden State Warriors, Jar- plays, in the end, he realizes that he has to ron Collins ’97 hopes to impart sit back, and be patient with the players. one important ideal to his play“Ideally, you just want to put in the ers: patience. best system, and lay the ground work effecAfter a successful playing career with tively, as far as the big picture goes,” Collins the Wolverines, Stanford and several NBA said. “Just getting everybody to buy in the teams, Collins was hired this summer to system. Having said that, you realize as a be a full-time NBA coach. He and his twin coach, especially with professional athletes, brother Jason ’97 won back-to-back state with the wins and losses, and everything championships in 1996 and 1997 for Har- else, the players do a fantastic job of getting vard-Westlake and appeared in the Final it done every night. Just coming from the Four of the NCAA Tournament with the perspective as a former player, I wish I had Cardinal before both being drafted into the more control over the outcome of a game.”

NBA. Collins said he has the benefit of beCollins spent 10 seasons in the league ing surrounded by established, if not elite with four teams. Though he never devel- coaching staff. oped into an All-Star, “We have a lot of exhis dedication to the perience on the coaching sport earned himself staff with Alvin Gentry and We are off to a a spot on NBA rosters coach [Ron] Adams,” Colgood start, but the NBA lins said, “and [head coach for over a decade. is a marathon and not a Steve] Kerr just brings a Collins credits his patience and resilience wealth of knowledge with sprint.” most to one man: Wolall he championships he has —Jarron Collins ’97 won. [They] help the newverines’ Head Coach Greg Hilliard. bies on staff such as [Bruce] “Coach Hilliard Frazier and me.” was a tremendous influence, mainly from The new coach has been able to expejust his patience,” Collins said. “Every coach rience some early success this year. Golden has a unique style, and you kind of have to State led the Western Conference after the be true to yourself. What I’ve learned from first month and a half of this season, but Coach, besides stressing the fundamentals Collins knows there is plenty more to go. of the game, is just patience.”

“We just come with a lot of energy, and Part of the job of being a coach is get- have fun. Winning helps. We are off to a ting players to follow a certain playing sys- good start, but the NBA is a marathon and tem. Although Collins has his share of re- not a sprint.”

“

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

popCULTURE Ariana Grande is...?

Favorite NBA Team?

Super Bowl Pick?

Pro Athlete Crush?

Favorite HW Sport to Watch?

Best Fast Food Place?

HENRY QUILICI ’15

FUEGO

LAKERS

JAGUARS

QUINCY DAVIS

BASKETBALL

GOLD YAKI

JORDAN BROWN ’16

DATING BIG SEAN

CLIPPERS

SEAHAWKS

STEPH CURRY

BASKETBALL

IN-N-OUT

VERY ATTRACTIVE

DON’T HAVE ONE

STEELERS ALL THE WAY

RONDA ROUSEY

WRESTLING

CHIPOTLE

COOL

LAKERS

49ERS

SERGIO RAMOS

GIRLS’ SOCCER

IN-N-OUT

Wolverine Athlete boys’ soccer

girls’ basketball

RYAN RUIZ ’16

boys’ wrestling

COURTNEY GAZMARIAN ’16

girls’ soccer

BIG RED WINTER 2014-2015 • 3

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JUMP ON IT The water polo team jumps into the pool after their second consecutive CIF-SS Division I Championship.

The Wolverines defeated Mater Dei 10-7 Nov. 22.

Photograph taken by CAMERON STINE

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CUT BACK Running back Garrett Robinson ‘15 cuts across the field in the Wolverines’ 35-28 loss to Cathedral.

Robinson had 147 yards rushing in the game and 1,245 yards for the season.

Photograph taken by BENNETT GROSS Picture edited by CAMERON STINE

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 7

Above Rest the

The boys’ varsity water polo team’s CIF championship has been a plan in the making for more than 10 years. The boys’ journey is one of intense commitment, dominating play and a team chemistry with the strength of a family.

By Henry Vogel

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T

Left: Johnny Hooper ’15 leaps from the surface for a shot in an 11-7 victory over rival Mater Dei. CAITLIN NEAPOLE/BIG RED

he sun was beginning its early-morning climb to the vertex of the valley sky when the usual boys rolled into school. They walked through the deserted senior lot and down one flight of steps to the bottom floor of Taper. They congregated in the locker room, and then, as the hour hand hit seven, they filed into the weight room across the hall. They completed a grueling, 30-minute workout and headed back into the locker room to hit the showers. On their way to the quad to get their books for first period, the boys were swallowed up by students just arriving at school, eager to congratulate the boys’ varsity water polo team on its big win over archrival Loyola the night before.

Stories about this early workout, which the team did regularly on Monday and Wednesday mornings, are part of what Head Coach Brian Flacks likes to tell people when they ask about the work ethic of his second consecutive CIF Championship team.

After the boys’ victory over Loyola the night before, which had put them in a great position to win the league championship and was only their second win over Loyola all season, he asked his players to reevaluate their goals for the season.

The universal response was that the win, however gratifying and enjoyable it might be, was only one small part of their bigger plans to win the Mission League and CIF. The boys stuck to their word, and the next day they not only completed the typical pre-school lift, but they also flew to Northern California for the North South Tournament where, upon arrival, they hopped in the pool for an evening practice. “It was something we drew on to show ourselves that we weren’t ever going to fall

complacent,” Flacks said. “Although we had reached a small milestone in our season, we needed to continue to get better because where we were in that Loyola game wasn’t going to be good enough to get to where we wanted to be.”

Complacency is a term tossed around a lot in sports. It is a typical fear for teams coming off a big win or a big year. Two seasons ago, the Wolverines won all but three of their games and brought home Harvard-Westlake’s first Division I CIF championship in water polo. With 16 returning players from that first championship team on this season’s team, complacency was something that could have very easily affected the boys. “I think complacency is something that teams battle all the time no matter what,” Flacks said.

“But I think it was important for us to constantly remind ourselves that what we did in 2013 was something that we earned and not something that was given to us.”

That mindset of earned not given, which can be seen on Lebron James’ signature shirts, was carried through the entire season by the boy’s. There is no debate that they had a relentless work ethic, which is epitomized by the tough workout the morning after their win over Loyola.

On a week to week basis, the team practiced and lifted so much that it had to limit the pre-school lifts to 30 minutes to stay below the 18-hour CIF practice maximum per week, Davis Wachtell ’16 said.

Their hard work, skill and success in the 2013 season all contributed to their No. 1 rank from totalwaterpolo.com and the CIF-SS Poll. The dichotomy is that they were called the best team and favored to win in each match, showing how good they really were. But at the same time, this

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 9

CAITLIN NEAPOLE/BIG RED

BENNETT GROSS/BIG RED

BALL UP Left: Evan Rosenfeld ’17 looks to pass in the Wolverines’ 22-8 win over Orange Lutheran in the CIF-SS Division 1 quaterfinals.

Right: Henry Clarke ‘15 pulls up for a shot in Harvard-Westlake’s 11-7 regular season win over eventual division finalist Mater Dei. could have put pressure on the boys to live up to the expectations surrounding their team’s growing legacy.

“It was reassuring that we were No. 1, but throughout the season we had close calls which, to our team, were good wake up calls,” Morio Saito ’15 said. “It showed us that we weren’t invincible and that we were mortal.”

Also, all the opposing teams would be gunning for them from day one, wanting to claim the Southern California water polo throne, he said..

“There was a huge target on our back,” Saito said. “For every other team, the Harvard-Westlake game was its biggest game of the season. They definitely played their best polo against us.”

The boys also had to deal with the pressure they put on themselves to be the best they could be every game. They had their long-term goals, but on a game to game basis, they wanted to win every time they jumped in the pool. They had talked about going undefeated, but it was mostly a result of their pursuit to be the best they could be all the time, Flacks said.

To understand how the team dominated the season like it did, however, one needs to understand how much effort was put into creating the

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chemistry and experience the team thrived on to overcome trials throughout the year.

This season has been a plan in the making for a long time.

Rewind about 10 years. Flacks reached the finals of the CIF playoffs with the varsity water polo team as a Wolverine in his sophomore year, when his team lost to Long Beach Wilson. Two years later, he graduated in 2006, but around this time, he began coaching some younger kids in water polo.

After starting with players like Saito and Johnny Hooper ’15, Flacks gathered more boys, such as Anthony Ridgley ’15 and Ben Hallock ’16, as time went on. He coached for the Los Angeles Water Polo Club and LA Premiere in the club circuit and finally in 2012 became the head coach at HarvardWestlake, where so many of his club players were enrolled. Those players, familiar faces to fanatics who followed the historic, undefeated season, began building their team chemistry up to 10 years ago.

“The best part of our team chemistry was the unbreakable belief and trust that everyone had in each other in and out of the pool,” Hallock said.

“We have been through hell and back with

each other,” Saito said. “We spend more time with each other than with our family back home.”

Their countless shared experiences in the pool prepared them for so many different situations that could arise in a season, and with eight seniors and everyone so closely nit, there was no clear-cut leader. Each player brought a different leadership role to the table.

“The amount of experience we had as a group made it really tough [for opposing teams] to rattle us or do something to us that we hadn’t seen before,” Flacks said.

Each piece, whether it was chemistry, experience, hard-work or any other factor, fits the puzzle of what made the 2014 boys’ varsity water polo team so unstoppable. Next year’s team will begin training for the club season in January, when the next crop of players, new and returning, will be back in the same senior lot before school starts.

They will be making their way to the same locker room to put in as much work as they can to prepare for next season in hopes of capturing a third consecutive CIF Championship and continuing the legacy started ten years ago.

BRICK WALL Goalie Anthony Ridgely ’15 looks to pass to an open teammate after a save in the water polo team’s game against Mater Dei on Oct. 14. The Wolverines defeated the Monarchs 11-7.

The team went on to defeat Mater Dei twice more this season, including in the CIF championship game.

CAITLIN NEAPOLE/BIG RED

ON THE WALL

Even in a school with notoriously dominant athletic teams, the achievements of this season’s boys’ water polo team may trump all before them.

BY MILA BARZDUKAS Harvard-Westlake has a lot of banners. We have wins at every level, from individuals and teams.

The wall showcasing CIF championships is almost full, and some of our league title posters are getting pretty close to running out of space for more patches. Indeed, there have been incredible sports teams at Harvard-Westlake, and the pieces of felt that grace the walls of Taper are a record of that.

But the banner that will go up later this year is different. It will be a memento for a team that won every accolade imaginable, achieved every goal it set out for and still was hungry for more. That banner will represent the efforts of my pick for the best team in Harvard-Westlake history: the 2014 varsity boys’ water polo team.

This year, Head Coach Brian

Flacks ’06 and his squad garnered a shutout win, a league title, a CIF title, and a No. 1 national ranking from Total Water Polo, culminating in a 29-0 record. The squad has several athletes set to play in college, and is led fearlessly by Flacks, the recipient of the 2014 Bill Barnett Distinguished Men’s Coaching Award. That’s enough to get the water polo team in the discussion for the greatest Harvard-Westlake team ever.

But my belief that the water polo team is the very best doesn’t only stem from the game results.

Those play a huge part in it, obviously, as two straight Total Water Polo national titles are no laughing matter, but the way the Wolverines got tthere tells the full story.

I covered the boys’ water polo team for the past two years on the

Chronicle, so I went to a lot of games. In preseason scrimmages, players gave 100 percent of their effort. The same went for their big games, early morning practices, lifting sessions and film sessions.

To be perfect, they had to practice being perfect, and that’s what they did all season, even in the behindthe-scenes moments.

It may be hard for some people to see the greatness. After all, water polo is not as popular in the remainder of the United States as it is in Southern California, and there wasn’t even a CIF-sanctioned state championship to compete for.

But the point differentials from the team’s games back up my case. The Wolveines beat Mater Dei 10-7 in the CIF Southern Section Division I final, and that was one of the closest games they played in all year.

They beat the other two CIF-SS semifinalists, Huntington Beach and Corona del Mar, by respective scores of 15-3 and 13-2. To blow arguably some of the top teams in the nation out of the water is a testament to the boys’ skills.

I’m obviously young. I wasn’t there to witness Jarron and Jason Collins’ ’97 slam dunks in Taper on their way to two state championships. I didn’t see Maddie Leonard ’09 kick a 50 yard soccer goal en route to a Southern California Regional Championship for the 2009 varsity girls’ soccer team. But it doesn’t take a genius to see that the something special happened at Copses Family Pool this season.

And knowing the work ethic that runs up and down the entire program, the team will try to be even better next year.

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 11

The Final Decision

BY SCOTT NUSSBAUM See how the commitment process can affect athletes after they make their final decision.

BENNETT GROSS/BIG RED

RUNNING THROUGH TRAFFIC: Running back Garrett Robinson ’15 runs through the Salesian defensive line in a 28-14 victory.

A

t the beginning of her ju“The way I have approached my it was never simply a means to an end, nior year, Victoria Huynh sport has not changed,” Riley Spain ’15 my outlook during practice never ’15 adjusted her training said. “I have always worked hard, and changed. Recruitment was just a prodschedule in preparation for that is why I am fortunate enough to uct of all of the hard work and dedicathe college commitment process. Hit- be in the position that I am. I didn’t get tion that I put into the sport I loved.” ting balls in her garage, taking batting recruited because I woke up one day, For running back Garrett Robinlessons, and practicing fielding now decided to do a little extra work, and son ’15, the commitment process for were added to her schedgot recruited. I got refootball led him to focus ule filled with club praccruited because I put on increasing his pertices with her SoCal 3D 100 percent of myself sonal training schedule in team, tournaments, and into every stroke, evpreparation for his time showcases, where college ery practice, and evin college. Robinson cited coaches come to watch ery race.” his height and weight as players.

Spain will attend motivation for continuThe regimen changed Stanford University ing weight lifting, runwhen she committed to and join the women’s ning training and football play softball at Claremont rowing team and specific skills individually ’ ’ McKenna College the folcompete in the lightuntil he joins a collegiate Riley Spain ’15 Garrett lowing year. weight division. She team.

Robinson ’15 “Honestly, I have a has been rowing for “I think what I’m domore relaxed attitude now because Marina Aquatic Center for ing is really important for there is not that pressure to preform,” four years and committed in October me because I am not a standard runHuynh said. “Some of the college Following her commitment with ning back,” Robinson said. “People see coaches still come to watch games and college coaches, Spain found that she running backs as guys who are 5 foot other girls feel that pressure, but after I was further encouraged to maintain 10 and 200 pounds. I definitely have to committed it all changed.” her performance in the sport. put in the extra work to prepare myself Although Huynh has noticed a “Being recruited did not change and be ready to shut down any doubts change in her attitude following her my work ethic or outlook on the sport, that anyone may have about me becommitment, other committed seniors but it did add another dimension to cause of my size.” feel their outlook has not changed dur- all of the different aspects of the sport Robinson continues to speak with ing the process and even become more that motivated me,” Spain said. “I row college coaches and has yet to commit oriented towards training. because I love the sport, and because to a school. nathanson s

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nathanson s

RISE&SHINE

BY ELIJAH AKHTARZAD

T

he sound of a rooster crowing rings out as varsity baseball player Jackson Grayson ’15 slowly climbs out of bed. He doesn’t live on a farm. The rooster sound happens to be the ringtone of the alarm on his iPhone, but he does wake up at the crack of dawn.

Although it is still dark outside, Grayson grabs his backpack and heads to his car where he listens to ESPN LA’s Colin Cowherd talk about the previous night’s sports action on the radio as he drives to campus. Wearing a Harvard-Westlake baseball sweater, he arrives at the senior parking lot at 6:10 a.m. then walks to the bottom floor of Taper Gymnasium with the rest of his teammates. Strength and Conditioning Coach Marcin Jagoda is already here waiting for the players to arrive. Grayson and the 2013 National Champions change into their gym clothes and head into the weight room start their 90-minute lift session.

“It can be a grind to lift on some mornings,” Jackson said. “But once I get to school and start working with my teammates, we build a stronger bond with each other.”

Many teams at Harvard-Westlake have opted to lift in the morning twice a week in order to save time for practice after school and avoid having members of a team lift individually throughout the day. In addition to baseball, teams like football, cross country, boys’ golf and boys’ water polo have all had official team weightlifting sessions before school this year.

“I think morning lifts are needed so we can have more time after school to practice and we don’t have to worry about lifting later on,” Grayson said. “Also we can study during our frees instead of having to use them to lift like other teams.”

Although having to miss out on an extra hour of sleep before morning lift days, athletes have been receptive to the idea of lifting at 6:30 a.m.

“At first I wasn’t happy about having to lift so early, but I knew it would lead to great improvement,” football player Desmond Butler ’15 said. “Looking back I’d say the morning lifts kept us in shape while getting us stronger so we would be able to compete in the season. You get used to it after a while and the benefits were tremendous. Definitely worth it.”

“I think that morning lifts have mainly had a very positive impact on the team,” Jackson said. “I see the team chemistry that we build through our lifts as more important than the sleep we may lose. I don’t think that waking up early has affected me in practice because we very rarely practice on days that we have morning lifting.”

Despite building a predilection for lifting in the morning, athletes at Harvard-Westlake might be underestimating the value of the extra hour of sleep they could have each night if they lifted during another time.

Baseball and boys’ water polo have both won CIF titles in the last two years, and players have said that morning lifts were key to the championship runs, but studies have shown

that proper sleep is also a crucial in performance in athletes.

According to David Geier, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, getting enough sleep is crucial for athletic performance with studies showing that good sleep can improve speed, accuracy, and reaction time in athletes.

Another study conducted by Cheri Mah, a sleep and athletic performance research scientist at Stanford University, concluded that when members of the Stanford basketball team received an extra two hours of sleep, their speed increased by 5 percent while both free throw and three point percentages increased by 9 percent respectively.

“Sleep for all students is something that is important to us and the athletic department has engaged in studies about sleep and where we have analyzed the affects that sleep has on athletes’ performance,” Head of Athletics Terry Barnum said. “So we know how important sleep is and it would be our preference for athletes to get as much sleep as they can.

That being said, weight training is also important to performance and we want to make sure we give athletes the opportunity to do so.”

Baseball Head Coach Matt LaCour acknowledges that proper rest is crucial for athletes to perform at their best, but he hasn’t noticed morning lifts affecting the ability of his players to fully recover. He said the team only lifts a couple days a week, not every day, and the team will schedule lighter practices on the days when the team does lift.

“I have not seen any negative issues with fatigue,” LaCour said. “We try not to have training class on the same days that we lift in the mornings to avoid unnecessary fatigue.”

Not only does scheduling morning lifts limit conflicts and assure that every team member can work out together, but some players like starting off their day with some exercise.

“Personally, getting up earlier and lifting didn’t negatively affect me in school because we only had it twice a week,” cross country runner Nicole Araya ’16 said. “I did have to sacrifice an hour or so of sleep but running in the morning decreased the mileage we had to do after school and it also made me more alert and productive in the mornings.”

“I liked lifting in the morning because it was really efficient and got us going for the rest day,” water polo goalie Anthony Ridgley ’15 said. “It’s fun to blast the music in the morning when no ones around and lift with the whole team.”

While the decision of whether or not to lift in the morning affects the number of hours players have to sleep each night, Barnum says the time of day when lifts are scheduled “We are in a little ways of a Catch-22,” he said. “We could not lift in the morning but then that would mean kids would have to lift as late as 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. at night, which again cuts into sleep just on the other end. And I think that that is the big conundrum that we are in as a school in terms of just having 24 hours in a day.”

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 13

GREG HILLIARD:

THE FAREWELL TOUR 30 YEARS IN THE MAKI N G

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Best Record: 35-1 (1997)

CIF Titles: 9

State Titles: 2

League Titles: 10

BY JONATHAN SEYMOUR

B

oys’ basketball coach Greg Hilliard, who is in the middle of his 30th and final season, discussed his experience at Harvard-Westlake and all of the memories that he has made.

Jonathan Seymour: How do you feel about your time at Harvard-Westlake?

Coach Hilliard: The fact that I have stayed at Harvard-Westlake for so many years means that I really enjoyed it here.

I always say that I have never worked a day in my life, and I got to stay a kid all these years because I have been doing what I love to do and playing the game that I love to play. It’s sped by so fast.

When you’re having fun, time just goes by, and I sometimes look and say that I just can’t imagine that I have actually done this here for 30 years, but it’s been awesome. Sometimes it blurs together, but when I sit down and separate it, I do have a lot of great memories and great stories, and when I sit down and go through it year by year, I can actually take each team and identify a story. The stories are what make it all worthwhile.

J: You can remember each team?

CH: Once I look at the names, it all comes back and separates itself, but when I’m just thinking in general, I blur this year and that year. You know, when were we Harvard and when were we Harvard-Westlake? But when you sit down and look at the years, you can remember real clearly: Who were the funny guys and who were the amazing comeback guys and who were the against-all-odds stories?

J: So which years do you remember the best?

CH: When I go back over them, there were no best years. Every year has an awesome story or a strange and funny story. I can go back to the very first year that I coached here after I came down from Oregon. I wasn’t familiar with the kids or anything, and starting out that first year, we were getting ready for our very first game, and we were sitting on the bus, and I was counting heads, and there was one kid not there. His name was Rod Hall ’86.

I said, “Where’s Rod?” They said, “Oh coach, we forgot to tell you. He is doing his pregame ritual.

That’s ‘Rod the Rocket,’ and you are going to see why in a minute.”

I said, “OK. Where is he?”

They said, “Look outside over by the goalpost.”

We were on the bus, and I looked over at the goalpost and there he was, walking in circles around the goalpost.

Head looking at the ground, around and around. Then he walked over to the goalpost and three times he banged his head really hard against the goalpost.

As soon as he finished his third bang, he just sprinted to the bus. He was the last guy to get on. He climbs on, and the players say, “That’s why we call him the Rocket.

Did you see how fast he got from the goalpost to the bus?”

J: Was he good?

CH: No. He hardly played. He went through this ritual and made everybody and the coaches and the team wait because he had to go through this ritual.

It was good luck, but he hardly ever got in the game. That was the Rocket, and I will never forget the Rocket. [laughs]

Winning Percentage: .724

Players Drafted to NBA: 2

Career Record: 603 - 230

Winning Seasons: 27 BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 15

30 YEARS IN THE MAKING

But, yeah, every year has some interesting story that the rest of the campus never really hears about, but all of us players remember. I imagine that the guys from that team are still having beers and telling stories about Rod the Rocket.

J: Have you kept in touch with any of them?

CH: From that team, yes.

There are several from that team that I keep in contact with. Two or three of them are on Facebook with me, and we talk all the time.

One of the guys was our best player, Steve Green ’87, and he was a sophomore. That year, I inherited a team from Dr. [David] Waterhouse, who was the coach before, and they were 1-21. I also thank him for that. He didn’t leave me with a whole lot of talent there. We did a little bit better.

I think we were 4-19. We played Morningside High School with Elden Campbell, who later played for the Lakers. He was 6’11” and just a talent. Steve Green even scored 50 points in a game for me once, and he was a great shooter, so coming down against Morningside, he dribbles down the side and jumps up and shoots a jumper, and about halfway to the basket out of the air, Elden Campbell jumps up and catches it and dribbles down to the other end and scores. Steve looks at me and asks, “What do I do, Coach? I shot it.”

I just told him to keep shooting. He goes down, takes his second shot, and — bop — Elden Campbell jumps up and takes it out of the air and goes the other way. I think a score of 106-40 later, us on the losing end, the players were just shaking their heads and asking, “What do we do, Coach?”

I said that we were going to get better, but that it was going to take time. The next year, we went all the way to the CIF Semifinals and went 23-3 or something with the same guys, and Steve Green was all-world, but we had to go through a painful learning process.

J: I have heard some stories about how when Jason and Jar-

16 • BIG RED WINTER 2014-15

ELIJAH AKHARZTAD/BIG RED

ron Collins ’97 were on your team and you guys would travel to tournaments, when you would get off the bus, people would come up and ask for your autographs.

CH: Yeah. We have a video of that. One of the students who was the announcer during our games put together with the parents a documentary for that whole 1996 season. He’s got all of the interviews we did on national and local radio and TV, and he’s got pictures of us coming off the bus and signing autographs. You know, we were one of the top teams in the country for the last three years that those guys were there.

We couldn’t believe it either. We were high school guys signing autographs. There were even groupies that met us after every game who just wanted to see the Collins brothers. Everyone was kind

of a mini celebrity. We got our 15 minutes of fame, and we enjoyed it, but it was ridiculous. We were high school guys. Of course, we also had a story in and of itself from that team of Jason Segel ’97, who is a very funny guy.

J: Sure.

CH: Throughout the documentary, he is in there, and he is always making us laugh. We were in Florida playing in a tournament there, and during the day, we would go to Disney World, and we would get on one of those buses with everyone who was staying in our hotel and go to Disney World. Jason couldn’t stand how quiet everyone was while sitting next to these strangers that we didn’t know, so he turns to me and he says, “Coach, you got me on this one.”

And he walks straight up the

aisle to the bus driver, who had a microphone, so he asked, “Can I borrow that to get this bus alive?”

He comes back and tells us that we are all going to sing all of the Disney classics together before we get to the Disney World park. He tells us that he is going to walk around to us and put the mic in our faces, so we should be enthusiastic and sing as loud as we could.

J: That’s awesome.

CH: He had the old ladies joining in. He was telling jokes in between. Then he won the big dunk contest against three guys who would later play in the NBA. He won the contest with an incredible dunk where he would pull his shirt over his head like he couldn’t see. Then he would start from the corner and count the steps off and then do a windmill dunk with his eyes covered.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: Head coach Greg Hilliard and Alex Copeland ‘15, Noah Gains ‘15 and Spencer Perryman ‘15 are in their final seasons with the boys’ basketball team.

GO TIME: Coach Hilliard gives a pep talk to his team during a mid-game timeout.

GRANT NUSSBAUM/BIG RED

Needless to say, the place went crazy. He dove into the crowd, and they passed him all the way to the back row and back. Everbody was holding up “10” signs because he was the winner.

I asked him how he did his dunk and he said, “Coach, the jersey is mesh.

I could see through it the whole time.”

He put it over his head, but he could see clearly through the mesh, and he did just a regular dunk, but everybody was so impressed that he got all 10s.

J: What do you take away most from coaching?

CH: I think I take away the relationships. It’s all about the relationships for me. An oldschool part of me still sees myself as a teacher, and basketball just happens to be the subject that I teach. Everyone today is a pro-

fessional coach, but in the oldschool genre, as my role model John Wooden said, I still think of myself as a teacher. I take away the opportunities that I have had to relate with a whole bunch of diverse students in this place.

They are great people. This school is known for its incredible students. I was just blessed with the opportunity to work with some of them. These stories that I tell, I am full of them, and they make me smile. When I run into somebody that I know, those guys and I can immediately start swapping stories, and we may even continue talking late into the evening.

J: One person that I know on the basketball team said that you tell stories about how you used to play tennis with Arthur Ashe and other big tennis players.

CH: I played professionally for a short bit after I got out of

college. I never really liked the sport, but the NBA didn’t call me, so that was all that I had left.

I played four sports all the way through college, and so I decided to see the world and travel, so I played in all the satellite tournaments, which are the ones where you play the “nobodies,” like me.

If you win that nobody tournament, you get put against the first seed in the U.S. Open or Wimbledon or this tournament or that tournament. Basically, you are fodder for their first round, which they aren’t supposed to lose. Believe me, I didn’t disappoint them, but I had the pleasure of losing quite decisively to Arthur Ashe and Dan Smith and Jimmy Connors.

J: What’s it gonna be like this year?

CH: Well, this year, I jokingly say that we have

come full circle. Remember the 4-19 team that I was talking about? This team is the shortest team that I have coached since then, and we don’t have a lot of size, and we are unfortunately in the Mission League, where we will take on the role of underdogs. But we are making that the message of this season: We are extreme underdogs. On paper, we aren’t expected to win any games.

However, we are going to surprise a lot of people, and what is going to hold us together and keep us going is the idea that people should watch out for us because we are better than they think, and we are dangerous. The kids are playing really hard for me in my last year, and it’s gratifying, and I am coaching hard for them, and we’ll see what we can get done. If we win a few games and upset a few teams, it’ll be a great season.

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 17

Outside the lines: HWTV

BY BENNETT GROSS

PEP TALK: Varsity Football Head Coach Scot Ruggles coaches the offense in the team’s 44-10 win against Taft High School.

Half an hour before kickoff on a September Friday night, the scene at Ted Slavin Field is quiet despite the excitement that is about to ensue.

While parents of both teams begin to take their seats, and the football players begin to come out of the locker room for preliminary warm-ups, the students who volunteered for Harvard-Westlake’s HWTV have already been working for more than 30 minutes preparing to produce a livestreamed broadcast of the game.

The faculty representative in charge of the new operation is Athletic Director Jason Kelly. With the help of Sergio Paredes, who has a radio broadcast degree from LaVerne University and is currently the sports information director at Milken Community High School, and Max Tash, who has been working on television shows since 1987 and is the head of video production at Milken, Kelly not only runs the production, but also educates the student participants about the technology in the booth and the sports that they are broadcasting about.

During the hour leading up to the start of the game, Kelly and his crew help the students who will be on either side of Paredes — providing color commentary to his play-by-play — write their scripts for the pregame show, highlighting important players on both squads, talking about recent games and events regarding each team. They also decide who will be the expert on Harvard-Westlake and who will learn more about the opposing team, in order to give on-air commentary.

Student cameramen work with Tash, who insructs the students on basic camera skills such as panning, zooming in and out, and how to communicate with him via audio headset during games. An on-field reporter, who performs the interviews during the games, tries to find either administrators or coaches who are willing to answer a few questions.

Once the stands are filled with cheering fans, the staff of HWTV tries to run their production as perfectly as the Wolverine offense on the field.

With Tash directing the cameramen and on-field reporter, and Paredes announcing the game with the help of two upperclassmen, most of the time, more viewers watch the game on HWTV, than fans in the bleachers. Some watch it live, and others watch the archived version the next day or later.

18 • BIG RED WINTER 2014-15

After the game, if the Wolverines win, the on-field reporter will talk to the head coach and a couple of star players. Then, on a voluntary basis, cameramen or the color commentators will do a wrap-up show talking about the results of that night’s game and also previewing the next time the team will take the field.

“I started HWTV last year, when I helped out with three or four football games,” on-field reporter Cameron Robertson ’15 said. “I really liked being on the field with the players, but it was sometimes stressful when it was a close game.”

HWTV’s first broadcast was the Loyola football game during the 2013 season. It was an experiment to see if students were interested, and if people outside would even watch the game. Kelly quickly got his answer, with close to 3,000 people viewing Harvard-Westlake’s improbable victory over heavily favored Loyola.

“There weren’t really any expectations going into it, and we had a huge success right off the bat,” color commentator Gabe Golob ’16 said. “In my opinion, it went really well. Even though it was successful, we learned a lot from that first game about how to improve and keep producing high quality live streams.”

With 31 events total currently posted on the livestream site, and 13 for this school year, HWTV is expanding past just broadcasting football and basketball, and is now getting other sports such as water polo and field hockey.

During the 2014 fall season alone, more than 27,000 people viewed events televised by the program, and more than 14,000 viewers watched the boys’ water polo game against Mater Dei on Oct. 14. These numbers have already surpassed last school year’s total viewers for all of their 18 events combined.

“As a football player, it is really convenient for my grandparents who live back east to be able to watch me play,” Alexander Barnum ’16 said.

“Instead of having to fly out here every time they want to see me play, they can see my games in the comfort of their own house.”

In 140 characters or less

The Chronicle sports staff is now live-tweeting games. Here is a sample of the best football tweets.

39-3 W @ LA SALLE

35-28 L @ CATHEDRAL

28-14 W vs SALESIAN

45-0 W vs ST. PAUL

42-14 L @ CRESCENTA VALLEY

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 19

GETTING UP: Linebacker Ryan Dominick ‘17 rises to catch a punt in the varsity football team’s 28-14 win over Salesian on Halloween Night.

BENNETT GROSS/BIG RED

‘Hudl’ Up

BY COLE JACOBSON

A member of the 2014 football team breaks down the meticulous film sessions, energetic speeches, unparalleled game planning and sense of humor that the football coaching staff used to motivate the team to its first CIF Southern Section divisional playoff appearance since 2012.

R

obinson buy you dinner last night?”

Varsity Football Head Coach Scot Ruggles quipped to offensive tackle Eric Bradley ’15 as the rest of the team entered the Ahmanson auditorium Saturday, Nov. 1, in the early morning. Ruggles was referring to Bradley’s recovery of a fourth quarter Garrett Robinson ’15 fumble in Salesian’s end zone the previous night, which clinched our 2814 league win over the Mustangs and propelled us into the Angelus League’s third place spot.

“Nah, still waiting on it,” Bradley replied.

This was the mood at times during our team’s film sessions, as we analyzed game and

20 • BIG RED WINTER 2014-15

practice film together throughout the 2014 season on the increasingly popular Hudl website, used by more than13,000 schools for football alone as of August 2013. For our own games and practices, managers Harrison Banner ’15, Joe Levin ’17 and Eli Timoner ’18 primarily did the filming. For our opponents’ games, defensive coordinator Bernardo Castro not only exchanged four games with each of our opponents, as was required by the CIF Southern Section, but also often sending middle school coaches to film extra games for the varsity coaches to dissect.

Once Castro uploaded the film he had received onto the Hudl website, we were ready

to go, watching film as a team during summer workouts, every week day after school and usually the Saturday mornings following games.

In the summer, because we didn’t yet have film of our opponents, we focused on mastering the playbook changes and improving individual fundamentals. Even though there wasn’t game film to analyze, the coaching staff still consistently found ways to improve us by looking at any mistakes made in practices.

“Ruggles’ coaching style is different than all the other coaches I was used to at Brentwood,” said quarterback Marshal Cohen ’16, who transferred to Harvard-Westlake after his freshman

BENNETT GROSS/BIG RED

HENRY VOGEL/BIG RED

WALK AWAY: The Wolverine defense exits the field as an injured Crescenta Valley player lies on the turf in the Wolverines’ 42-14 playoff loss to the Falcons. HarvardWestlake finished the year at 7-4 overall, their first seven-win season since 2009.

RUNNING THE SHOW: Varsity Football Head Coach Scot Ruggles roams the sideline in the team’s 21-7 loss to St. Francis.

year. “He’ll call me out, tell me to go back to Brentwood, but I stick through it … I think I’ve performed well, always trying to reach his expectations from his heavy criticism in the film room.”

As we got into the regular season, the vibe became more serious, as the coaching staff wasted no time in breaking down our upcoming opponents. Every week, the coaches gave us gameplan packets, which included descriptions of the opposing team’s starting offensive and defensive players, a list of our own preliminary depth chart for the week, diagrams of plays that we anticipated using during the game and more information specific to each team. Each week had its own theme, but the general idea was consistent — any team we played was good enough to beat us, but we were also good enough to beat any team we played. The coaches did an excellent job keeping us level-headed, never too arrogant after wins but never too disgraced after losses.

In addition to pure strategic breakdowns, the coaches also found time to motivate us.

Safety Chase Aldridge ’15, who sealed the 2013 team’s season-opening victory over Loyola with a fourth quarter interception, said: “My favorite moment in film this season was before Loyola, when a pre-game hype video showed everyone storming the field from last year, and Ruggles just said, ‘This is what we can do; we can do something epic.’”

With the whole team in Ahmanson together, there was time for joking around as well. As we piled into the auditorium before taking on Taft in our home opener Sept. 19, Ruggles joked about our school’s Homecoming Formal, which was taking place the next day. When told that freshmen weren’t allowed to attend unless asked by an upperclassman, he gave one of the biggest grins I’ve ever seen from him, pointing at cornerback Cameron Jones ’18, saying,“You play well, Cam,

Instead of yelling, Ruggles summed up his frustration in one sentence, telling Cooper: “It was my fault for playing you.”

In the fourth quarter of the same game, firstteam Angelus League wide receiver Renard Bell ‘16 took a 78-yard reverse handoff for a touchdown, outrunning our whole defensive line and breaking a few tackles at the second level. Instead of looking for one person to blame, the coaches called out the whole team, describing the play as “Harvard-Westlake football in a nutshell.”

As we entered the tail end of our season, we became even more dedicated. Ruggles told us before the Salesian game, when we were 1-2 in league play and in need of two consecutive wins to clinch an automatic playoff spot, that “nothing should matter to us besides family, school, and football.” The team took this message to heart, responding with arguably our two best games of the season to clinch the coveted spot.

Still, we maintained a sense of humor until the end. Ruggles didn’t think much of a Glendale running back who picked up a first down in a regular season game against Crescenta Valley, our playoff opponent. As we watched CV’s film, he addressed our main running backs, saying: “Dezz [Butler ‘15], Carter [Begel ‘17], Garrett, Mini-Dom [Ryan Dominick ‘17]: I think you’re all a lot better than this minion.”

Ultimately, while our playoff run didn’t end up how any of us anticipated, the coaching staff ’s dedication to analyzing our opponents and having fun in the process was respected by our whole team.

And, even though the football program faces personnel uncertainty with 26 of 44 varsity players, including four first-team Angelus League members, graduating, I’m confident that next year’s team will be not only better coached, but also more of a family, than anyone who lines up across from them.

you just might get a date.”

Jones went on to return an interception for a touchdown in his first career varsity game that night, a 44-10 win.

Usually, the harshest moments came in our post-game sessions — especially after wins. One of Ruggles’ mantras is that “winning masks problems,” so our staff wouldn’t hesitate to point out mistakes that came during eventual victories. On the first offensive drive of our 37-21 win against the Palisades, Cohen faked a handoff to Robinson, before keeping the ball and streaking up the left sideline for a 63-yard touchdown. At the time, it looked like an instinctive read by Cohen, but the following day’s film revealed that it was supposed to be a predetermined handoff to the running back. Ruggles ripped Cohen, calling him selfish and disrespectful, demonstrating that our staff refused to be complacent even on apparent highlight-reel plays.

“I know that he appreciates good plays, even when they don’t necessarily come out of what he was intending to happen … most of the time he’s right about things that could have gone differently,” Cohen said.

After losses, the team wasn’t exempt from criticism either. In our 35-28 loss to Cathedral on Oct. 24, we gave up four second-half touchdowns, and the coaches didn’t hide their discontent at the performance. In the third quarter, because cornerback Alex Barnum ‘16 went down with cramps and cornerback Cole Fletcher ‘15 was already out with an ankle injury, the coaching staff put in Ben Cooper ‘16 to play nickel cornerback against the pass-happy Phantom offense.

When the score was 21-21 in the third quarter, Cooper lost his outside contain on a blitz, allowing Cathedral QB and Angelus League Offensive MVP Andrew Tovar ’17 to roll out of the pocket and hit first-team Angelus League receiver Marshaun Cameron ’15 for a 25-yard touchdown.

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 21

BACK IN TIME

Record: 10-3

College Players: 9

NFL Players: 1

Playoff Wins: 2

22 • BIG RED WINTER 2014-15

2006 FOOTBALL

BY TYLER GRAHAM

A

quick glance at the championship banners draped on the walls of Taper Gymnasium reveals Harvard-Westlake’s dominance in many sports. Girls’ and boys’ tennis, girls’ soccer and boys’ water polo are close to requiring new banners to display their overflowing number of league championships.

Though the school is known as a sports powerhouse, that “powerhouse” definition doesn’t apply to the quintessential high school sport: football. The football team’s league championship banner shows four league championships in school history, with their last one coming in 2006.

The 2006 squad is remembered as one of the best ever in the Harvard-Westlake football program’s history.

The team was coached by Vic Eumont, and finished with a 10-3 overall record, and an undefeated 5-0 record in the Del Rey League.

While current Head Coach Scot Ruggles employs a run-first, spread-option offense, Eumont relied on an explosive aerial attack.

At the reins of Eumont’s offense was quarterback John Howe ’07, who threw for 1,734 yards, 600 more than his closest competitor in the Del Rey League.

GRANT NUSSBAUM/BIG RED To put his impressive numbers in perspective, Howe threw for 1,161 yards more than current Wolverines quarterback Marshal Cohen ’15 did this past season.

Cohen did outrush Howe by more than 400 yards.

Howe was protected by current San Francisco 49ers backup right tackle Jonathan Martin ’08, who played left tackle for the Wolverines. Howe’s primary target was Ryan Calvert ’07, who hauled in 55 receptions. Calvert went on to play at UPenn.

Although the Wolverines were clearly talented in 2006, much of the talent was young and unproven heading into the season.

“We had a small senior class, but a really good group of underclassmen that did really well,” Eumont said. “Out of the small senior class, every player really contributed, which was important to our success.

Howe and Calvert were two of the main reasons why we were so good.”

Martin, who went on to play at Stanford, and Calvert weren’t the only college-bound players on the team. Nine other players from the 2006 team went on to play football at the next level.

The team suffered two narrow losses in its first three games, and headed into a showdown with Carson as huge underdogs. The game was played at the

Home Depot Center, now called the Stub Hub Center, and the Wolverines took advantage of their time in the spotlight. At one point in the third quarter HarvardWestlake trailed by 15 points, but came back to win 31-30.

“Because we started off 1-2, nobody expected us to do anything,” Eumont said. “We really turned it around in the big game against Carson. It was a real turning point for us. After that win we didn’t lose until Oaks Christian in the playoffs.”

Throughout the season, Eumont and his staff decided to play only one player, Clark Porter ’07, on both sides of the ball in order to conserve the team’s energy and be able to win close games in the fourth quarter, like they did against Carson.

Running back Paul Royster ’08, who played his college ball at Azusa Pacific, believes the combination of the team’s size in the trenches and speed on the edges was the key to their success.

“We were able to win League simply because we had a lot of good athletes on the team,” Royster said.

“We had a lot of size up front with Martin, Jakarri Hamlin ’08 and a few other guys. We had a lot of speed with Calvert, Terry O’Neal ’07, Elias Dewitt ’07, and myself.”

The Wolverines won their first two playoff games over Baldwin Park and Pioneer Valley, and entered their third one, the CIF Semifinals, on a nine-game winning streak. The Wolverines fell to high school football powerhouse Oaks Christian 48-14 to end the season. The Oaks Christian squad was led by NFLquarterback Jimmy Clausen, and featured multiple other players who would go on to the NFL, like Marc Tyler, Casey Matthews, and Chris Owusu. The Oaks Christian squad finished the season undefeated and went on to win the CIF title.

In the eight years since the 2006 league championship, the football program has been unable to reignite its spark and find its way to back to prominence. Eumont believes that it is difficult for such an academically-oriented school to compete with football factories, like Oaks Christian.

“Harvard-Westlake is really a true academic school,” Eumont said. “Many schools title themselves as academic schools, but they aren’t really. At HarvardWestlake you’re not going to get as many guys on the team who are solely focused on football. We had guys on the team who were involved in five different extracurricular activites, so going to this school doesn’t allow you to make the commitment to football that they do at other schools.”

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 23

FINISH LINE

Jordan Ellison ’15 and Sean Quinn ’18 both cycle competitively and train rigorously in the hopes of achieving their ambitious goals.

BY KELLY RIOPELLE AND JONATHAN SEYMOUR

H

er cycling career was almost over before it started when Jordan Ellison ’15 was forced off the road by a bus that cut her off during her daily ride to school last fall. She crashed into a streetlight pole and very badly bruised her shoulder. Ellison’s injury could have been much worse, but she recovered and began racing again in February.

Ellison isn’t one to let adversity get in the way. Up until the end of last year, she didn’t even see cycling as her main sport.

From ninth grade through the summer before her senior year, El-

lison believed that she was going to play softball in college. She had more than 10 colleges giving her offers to play at their schools.

After watching the cycling events on television during the 2012 London Olympics, she decided that she wanted to try cycling.

She began organized competition in February. Since then, with what most members of the cycling community consider to be lightning speed, Ellison has propelled herself onto the path to greatness, and her goal is to win the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She grew to like cycling so much that she quit softball.

“The story of how I got into cycling is pretty amazing,” Ellison said. “The short version of it is that I saw [cycling] in the London Olympics, thought it looked fun, tried it one day, and everything just blew up.”

Sean Quinn ’18 also cycles competitively. It’s pitch black outside and the rest of the neighborhood is still asleep. Quinn zips up his skin suit, velcros his cycling shoes and pumps up the air in the tires of his bicycle. For most teenagers, waking up as early as 6 a.m. on the weekends is unheard of, but for Quinn, it’s just another Saturday.

Quinn cycles six days a week: two hours most days after school and early mornings for three and a half hours on the weekends.

Quinn’s training varies, with typically two to three days spent on an indoor bike or “trainer” and weekend rides with a larger group often along Pacific Coast Highway towards the Santa Monica Mountains. In total, Quinn cycles about 300 miles a week. However, his goal is not mileage but rather preparing for races, which occur approximately every other week.

Quinn is also a part of a premier junior cycling team called Rokform based in Orange County

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF SEAN QUINN

PUTTING IN WORK: Sean Quinn ’18 turns sharply during one of his early morning workouts. He cycles for three and a half hours every weekend morning and two hours after school every day. One day, he hopes to be good enough to compete in the Tour de France.

24 • BIG RED WINTER 2014-15

and appreciates the support riding with a team provides. Ellison is coached by Travis Smith, who noticed her at a time trial in March. Under Smith’s tutelage, in just five months of training and racing, Ellison was able to compete at the 2014 United States Junior National Championships at the end of June. She also placed third in the 500-meter time trial, fourth in the flying 200 — named because the racers get a flying start as opposed to a sitting start — and seventh in the keirin, which is her favorite race.

The keirin is an eight-lap race with six riders. The first five and a half laps are paced behind a motor that gradually accelerates, and the last two and a half laps are a sprint.

Ellison said that the support of the cycling community and her luck in finding the right people, including her coach, Smith, were the key reasons why she decided to quit softball for cycling.

“One of the biggest things for me has been that the cycling community as a whole has been really supportive and really welcoming to me because I have been so new to the sport,” Ellison said.

“What I’ve enjoyed the most is training with and being mentored by members of the [United States] National Team, specifically Missy Erickson, who is the fastest [female cyclist] in the United States. I’ve also trained with members of the Trinidad and Tobago and Canadian national teams. That’s pretty cool if you ask me.”

For Quinn, what started as a childhood love of watching the Tour de France later developed into a passion. Quinn started taking cycling seriously about five years ago.

“My dad rode bikes ever since I was born,” Quinn said. “He didn’t race but he rode a lot, and I also watched the Tour de France every year since I was a kid so that really got me into [cycling].”

Despite common misunder-

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JORDAN ELLISON

INTENSE WORKOUT: Jordan Ellison ‘15 makes a sharp turn during one of her near-daily workouts.

Ellison has only been cycling competitively for nine months, and she is already seeing success. standings, Quinn emphasizes the camaraderie cycling provides. In fact, he and his teammates are friends and sometimes make faces at each other during competitions.

“A few years ago I wasn’t really on a big team, but it really helps and there’s a lot of extra support and we have lots of mechanics at the race and coaching and it really helps a lot,” Quinn said. “Teammates in races kind of work for each other. It’s kind of looked at as an individual sport but it’s more of a team sport than people [typically] would think.”

“Training with world class riders for five months is the reason why I was able to quickly make a name for myself within the sport, not only on a local level, but on a national level,” Ellison said.

“Something that’s funny is that by

the end of junior nationals this past summer, people, including USA Cycling officials, the official videographer at the track, and other coaches all knew me as ‘that softball player that has been racing for only five months.’”

While Quinn has accomplished a lot during his time on Rokform, most notably placing fifth at Nationals a few years ago and second in California this year, he shows no sign of slowing down.Ultimately, Quinn hopes to compete in the Tour de France someday.

Quinn insists he loves everything about cycling, even the early wake up times, and although he’s not sure if cycling serves to relieve stress, he does know one thing: “[Cycling] is just what I love to do, [it’s] my favorite thing.”

Ellison has a gofundme.com

page set up to raise money to help pay for her transportation to and from races, gear and training costs.

On her page, she says that her three major goals are to become the Junior and Collegiate National Champion in all sprint events, stand at the top of the podium at Junior World Championships and attend all National Track Calendar Races.

“For me, track cycling began as something I merely did on the side, [but] it has turned into something I am now pursuing to the highest level,” Ellison’s page says. “I never could have imagined that I would be the only junior female in the country dedicated solely to track sprinting that currently trains with former/future Olympians as well as national team members that represent three different countries.”

BIG RED WINTER 2014-15 • 25

Wolverine roundtable

Members of the Big Red staff give their take on key issues in current Wolverine sports.

Q: Which team will surprise the most this season?

Graham:

Following a disappointing sub .500 season, the boys’ soccer team has gotten off to a blazing start to their campaign. Head Coach Lucas Bongarra seems to have his squad locked and loaded heading into a very competitive Mission League.

If veteran players like Cole Fletcher ’15 and Henry Quilici ’15 can continue their exceptional play, the only thing standing in the way of the Wolverines and a league title is defending champ Loyola.

Vogel:

Though I may be biased, the boys’ basketball team is going to turn a lot of heads this season. As league play approaches, the team has been overlooked for its lack of height at the forward and center positions. Through its first few tournaments of the year, however, the boys have shown a ton of heart and will to win that has historically carried teams far in the always-competitive Mission League.

COLE JACOBSON/BIG RED

BASELINE Alex Copeland ‘15 looks to dish to Spencer Perryman 15 for a threepoint attempt in the 91-57 win over North Hollywood on Dec. 10.

Q: Who do you predict to be the MVP of the winter season?

Gross: After being named the LA Daily News’ Girls’ Soccer Player

of the Year last season, Princeton commit Courtney O’Brien ’15, is hoping to lead the Wolverines to their fourth straight Mission League championship. She is coming off a season in which she had 22 goals and 11 assists, and as of press time has already scored four goals this season, including a hat-trick against El Camino Real. In each of the squad’s first two games, Harvard-Westlake has scored six goals, and has limited opponents to an average of 1.5 goals per game. Despite last season’s disappointing loss to Santa Margarita in the CIF Division I semifinals, O’Brien appears set to carry the Wolverines to a CIF championship after three straight grueling playoff defeats.

Jacobson: Point guard Alex Copeland ’15 already had a big junior

ELIJAH AKHTARZAD/BIG RED

DOWN THE FIELD Princeton commit and varsity forward Courtney O’Brien ‘15 runs down the field in an 8-0 league blowout over Louisville.

26 • BIG RED WINTER 2014-15

season; he averaged 16.9 points per game, 4.5 assists per game, 3.0 rebounds per game, and 1.7 steals per game, all while shooting 50 per cent from the floor, and was named to the first-team Mission League for his efforts in 2013-14. Still, he has taken his talents to a new level this year. With the team losing the remainder of its top four scorers from a year ago in Derick Newton ‘14, Mike Sheng ‘14, and Bryan Polan ‘14, Copeland is set to assume a more increased role, and he has dominated the competition so far. As of press time, the Yale-commited guard is leading the Mission League with 23.2 points per game, on track to be the first Wolverine to do so since Erik Swoope ’10 in his senior year. In addition, Copeland has shown unselfishness with 3.8 assists per game, and improved defense with a staggering 3.3 steals per game. He was named first-team all tournament in the Mira Costa Pacific Shores tournament in early December and has carried the team to a 5-1 record, and it’s no secret that if the team plans to improve from its 2014 quarterfinal finish, Copeland will be the leading the charge.

Man

Henry Vogel Tyler Graham Managing Editor Editor-in-Chief

Audrey Wilson Editor-in-Chief

Elijah Akhtarzad Editor-in-Chief

Mila Barzdukas Sports Writer

Jonathan Seymour Managing Editor PATRICK RYAN/BIG RED

Q: Which team has improved the most since last year?

Q: Which newcomer will have the biggest impact on their team this season?

Seymour:

Akhtarzad: The girls’ basketball team lost a pair of starters

Wilson:

Barzdukas: Point guard Wolfgang Novogratz ’16 transferred

It’s true that the girl’s soccer team was led by a dominating senior class that included such all-stars as Creighton commit McKynzie Dickman ’14 and Northwestern commit Mackenzie Howe ’14, but with a 3-1 record thus far in the season and new more team-oriented philosophy, the squad is clearly the most improved. I can see the girls making a very deep playoff run and even having a chance at a CIF championship.

Early on, the girls’ basketball team seems to have made tremendous strides from last year’s team, which exited the playoffs in a second-round upset against St. Anthony. The team returns six of its top eight scorers from a year ago, including double digit scorers Teeana Cotangco ’15 (10.0 PPG in 2014) and Lindsey Tse ’16 (11.3 PPG in 2014), and also now has a fully healthy Jordan Brown ‘16 (8.6 PPG this season as of press time), who only played in 15 of last year’s 30 games due to a hip injury.

Scarily, that’s not all the Wolverines have going for them; with freshman Jayla Ruffus-Milner ’18 averaging a double-double and twin Jayda expected to contribute heavily when healthy, it’s easy to see why the team’s 5-3 record seems to be the start of bigger things.

in Glenne Carter ’14 and Zoe Bohn ’14, but gained two studs in freshmen twins Jayla’ 18 and Jayda Ruffus-Milner ’18, both listed at 5’10’’ on Maxpreps. Jayda has yet to play this season while still recovering from a knee injury, but Jayla has already made an impression, averaging 12 PPG and a staggering 14 RPG as of press time. Ultimately, the young and athletic stars will both help keep the Wolverines in contention in the tough Mission League. to Harvard-Westlake from Poly Prep (NY) in the summer of 2014 as a highly touted recruit. On a team that only returns one starter from last season in Alex Copeland ’15, Novogratz, the fourth best 2016 point guard in California according to 247sports.com, will have an immediate opportunity to refill the scoring voids left by graduates Derick Newton ’14, Mike Sheng ’14, and Bryan Polan ’14. Novogratz missed the team’s first four games with a stress fracture in his foot, but already has made an impact with 11.5 PPG on 67% shooting as of press time, and seems ready to help carry a vastly retooled Wolverine roster to an improvement over last season’s disappointing quarterfinal finish.

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