WINTER 2017
BIG RED PLAYBOOK WINTER 2017 • VOLUME 10 • NO.2 Ellis Becker and Matt Yam:
10
FENCING
The fencing team has over 30 players. But they only have enough practice space for four.
13
Aaron Park: MORNING PRACTICE With limited gym and pool space, some teams have to practice before dawn.
14
Rian Ratnavale and Dario Madyoon: JOHNNY JUZANG The basketball star is the latest freshman phenom to bring Taper Gym to its feet.
Nick Reece: LEGENDS NEVER DIE Cole Jacobson ’15 was too small for college football. So he played sprint football instead.
Jake Liker: GIRLS’ BASKETBALL Last summer, the girls’ basketball team went 31-0. They only had 7 players to do it.
Joe Levin:
IDENTITY
As Harvard-Westlake becomes a more athleticminded school, how do we see ourselves?
19 20 26
theStaff Editors-in-Chief Joe Levin, Dario Madyoon
Executive Editors Jake Liker, Rian Ratnavale
Assistant Editors Ellis Becker, Claudia Wong, Aaron Park, Elly Choi, Oliver Akhtarzad, Zachary Swartz
Managing Editors Connor Reese, Bryant Wu
Presentations Editors Juliana Berger, Carina Marx
Adviser Jim Burns
2 • BIG RED WINTER 2017
BIG RED is a publication of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle, the upper school newspaper at HarvardWestlake 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 to editor-in-chief Bennett Gross, at bgross1@hwemail.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.
Cover image by Pavan Tauh
STRIKER ATTACK
ERRATUM
The article “Famous Jameson” in our Fall issue incorrectly stated that athletic director Terry Barnum met with the football team during Hell Week.
Jake Neuman ’18 chases after the ball during a match against Saint Francis. The squad played the Golden Knightsto a 0-0 tie. (photo: Pavan Tauh)
popCULTURE Wolverine athlete
Courtney Nunley Volleyball
Jeremy Yariv Soccer
Emily Hilliard Water Polo
Zac Harleston
Lacrosse/Football/ Golf
What should win Best Picture?
Highlight of 2016?
The Bee Movie is...
Dream Vacation?
Rain drop...
Hidden Figures
Michelle’s DNC speech
The funniest
Greece
Drop Top
Arrival
Summer
Incredible
Fiji
No comment
Passenger
Kanye
Better sped up
Hawaii
Drop Top
Fences
The Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the finals
Garbage
My own island
Drop Top BIG RED WINTER 2017 • 3
AARON PARK/BIG RED PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED
AARON PARK/BIG RED
ON POINT Top: Ali Iken ’17 dribbles the ball up the court against Crespi in a mission league contest.
BLOCK THE SHOT Bottom: The Wolverines attempt to block a shot on goal during a home girls’ water polo match.
SET PIECE Left: Boden Stringer ’18 prepares to kick the ball in a home match on Ted Slavin Field.
MATTHEW YAM/BIG RED
SKYWALKER Right: Jenna Moustafa ’17 rallies with her opponent at a preseason practice.
USE YOUR NOGGIN Captain Ethan Blaser ’17 goes up for a header in a home fixture for the Wolverines against St. Francis. PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED
PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED
FREE POINTS Left: Junior player Jayla Ruffus-Milner ’18 prepares to shoot a free-throw in a home match against FSHA.
IN STRIDE Right: Paige Howard ’17 steals the ball from a Chaminade player.
PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED
Small D’Armes
While many team sports have state-of-the-art facilities, the fencing team has been practicing in a small, tucked away storage room for 37 years.
BY ELLIS BECKER AND MATTHEW YAM GOLDEN TROPHIES LINE the thin shelves nailed to the wall of the school’s Salle d’armes- French for “armory.” A trash can sits in the middle of the floor, collecting the water dripping from a leak in the roof. The fluorescent lighting inside reflects off of the trophies and the smudged mirror, shedding light on the faces of roughly 20 athletes sitting on the floor and a sofa on the side of the room, idly watching eight of their teammates practice as the minutes tick by. Harvard-Westlake is famous for its top of the line athletic facilities. A drive into the school parking lot will take you past its earthquake resistant, Olympic-
10 • BIG RED WINTER 2017
sized stainless steel pool, imported from Italy in 2012. In the distance you can see the AstroTurf football field encircled by a high-end polyurethane track. A ten minute drive takes you to the O’Malley Family Field, a state-of-the-art baseball diamond decked out with a locker room, lounge and a surplus of storage space for equipment. Amazing facilities unmatched by any other high school in the country. But if you asked the average Harvard-Westlake student where the fencing team practices, they probably won’t be able to tell you. Tucked away behind the Hamilton Gym, the little room
shared by drumline and fencing contains only four strips for all of the fencers. That is only four strips for nearly 70 athletes across the foil, saber and epee teams. Not only are there few strips, but they are nine feet shorter than regulation size and are simply spray-painted outlines on the carpeting inside. One strip is designed for two people to spar at a time, leaving roughly 20 students to sit out while their teammates practice. “Honestly, when eight people are fencing, the rest of the people are just kind of on the side,” epee fencer Warren Wang ’18 said. “The majority of people are doing homework, some of
them are waiting for a strip to open and talking to friends or just chatting around. We’ll spend an hour and a half at practice every day, and you end up really fencing for 25 maybe 30 minutes. And there’s warm up and everything, but there’s quite a bit of it that’s just sitting around.” Along with having less space, the fencing team is also understaffed. While most other teams have on average three or four assistant coaches, Fencing Program Head Ted Katzoff spearheads the program on his own. “There’s only one coach, and the coach is usually on the strip helping people or trying to give pointers and stuff, so nobody
really cares about the other peo- is great. The main thing that is ple who are just off to the sides,” both wonderful and a problem Wang said. is that the numbers have grown However, Katzoff recogniz- quite a bit, lots of people are ines that the lack of space would terested in fencing and want to make having additional coaches get that experience, but I’m very unwieldy. happy we do “When have a space If we were given you look at the to provide space, there rethat, and I’m the space, I’m sure we ally isn’t room very grateful would all be able to for an assisto the school take our skills to the tant coach. The for being so questions you supportive of next level and take the have to ask are fencing world by storm” the program who are they throughout the —William Chow ’17 time I’ve been going to work with? Can we here.” do two things Saber speat the same time? And we just cialist William Chow ‘17 excan’t, and so the room itself pre- pressed that he felt the program vents a larger staff,” Katzoff said. as a whole would benefit im“If I had a space like Hamilton mensely from a more spacious Gym and everyone practiced facility. there, at that point an assistant “Every day in practice, I coach or maybe two in a single look around the room and see space would make more sense.” my teammates waiting eagerly Along with the fact that the to get back on the strip. There’s cramped space doesn’t allow for so much potential, and so much multiple coaches, there are a more we could accomplish,” host of other disadvantages that Chow said. “If we were given the come with the lack of space, Kat- space, I’m sure we would all be zoff says. able to take our skills to the next “Well, the exact limita- level and take the fencing world tions of the space are that one, by storm, but instead, we sit on there are only four lanes. Two, the floor for one hour out of the it makes it very difficult to do more than one activity at a time. If I had a room near the size of Hamilton Gym, I would be able to have a drill going on, some kids fencing, some kids on strips and that could all happen at the same time,” Katzoff said. “Another thing is that I cannot meet the whole team all at once, I only meet two weapons at a time, and even then the space isn’t adequate enough for that. So the space prevents me from doing some of the things I’d love to do and things I’d have them do, just because there’s not enough room.” Despite the disadvantages, Katzoff says that he appreciates that the school provides a space for fencing that most schools are unable to, and believes there are positives to the space itself. “The facility is very small, but it is ours and there are some advantages,” Katzoff said. “For one, it’s indoors. We also have plenty of storage space, which
“
three hours of practice we have “When I started the program per week. Also, the room is so I wanted to create an experience cramped, and the strips are so that kids might not usually get. close together, that you can actu- It’s an opportunity for kids who ally get hit by someone fencing are already involved in fencing on another strip.” to continue with that in school Despite all the barriers in and to represent their school,” its way, the fencing team has Katzoff said. “It’s an opportunity performed well during Kat- for some students who would zoff ’s 37 years as head coach. never look at themselves as beAlthough there is no California ing an athlete or being involved Interscholastic Federation (CIF) in traditional sports. It’s an opsanctioned fencing league, the portunity to learn a sport and team has been competing in the participate in competition. Team Southern California Scholastic sports are not necessarily perfect Fencing League with other in- for everyone, so this provides dependent and public that.” schools for the past Despite the com24 years. During that mendable strides time, the Wolverines the fencing team has took the league title made, many athletes 11 times and amassed who practice at club an impressive array of programs tend to individual and team perform better than awards, evidenced by athletes who don’t, the rows of trophies and many of the team ’ lining the wall and members believe that Dylan crammed in the closet. the small space plays Faulcon ’18 Aside from pure into that. Captain of competition, Katzoff seeks to the foil team Dylan Faulcon ’18, provide a unique platform for who currently fences at a club students who might not be natu- outside of school, believes that rally inclined to try traditional his extra practice gives him an team sports, or for students who edge in competition. want to further their own fenc“I do fence outside of school ing career. and I think that fencing at a club NATHANSON S
BIG RED WINTER • 11
IT’S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT LESS THAN HALF OF THE TEAM IS FENCING AT ONE TIME
does give athletes an advantage because they normally will get to fence a lot more at their club than the average athlete who just fences at school,” Faulcon said. “At my club for example, up to 16 fencers can fence at one time in comparison to our school fencing room where only eight fencers can fence using the electronic scoring systems at a time.” Not only do the clubs provide more space, but because of the increase in numbers, Faulcon believes that adequate equipment has become an issue as well. “Also, fencers who go to club usually have their own equipment whereas the majority of our athletes borrow equipment from the school for competitions,” Faulcon said. “This year we saw a sharp increase in the team’s roster size and as a result we have recently run out of working equipment for all of our
12 • BIG RED WINTER 2016
athletes who need it.” In the past few years, the team’s numbers have risen dramatically, and while Katzoff describes this as both wonderful and a problem, many of the athletes feel some of the negative impacts. “Even though bouts are fairly short, there are so many people that even when you rotate constantly you have to wait several minutes to fence again,” Elly Hong ’17, who has been fencing epee for four years said. “There are four strips in the fencing room and up to twenty people at each practice, so it’s quite possible that less than half of the team is fencing at one time. This year’s team is particularly large, which
makes this even more difficult.” Faulcon and his teammates believe that the recent success and the caliber at which many of the athletes are competing at warrants an upgrade, especially when the facilities are compared to those of other sports. “I couldn’t call myself a good team captain if I didn’t point out that the fencing team has a lot of very accomplished athletes, some of whom are nationally ranked and rated and compete internationally,” Faulcon said. “The team consistently brings home some form of a championship victory each year, and so I think that because of our success and the prestige we bring to the school every year that it
is warranted for us to have adequate equipment for us to practice. This is Har vard-Westlake, and when you think of Harvard-Westlake you think “the best” because that’s what we’re taught to strive for here. I’m not saying we need Olympic caliber facilities and gear, but I think the team has demonstrated we deserve adequate practicing space and equipment.” Packed as tightly as they are, the shelves still aren’t large enough to fit all of the awards the team has accumulated. Many of the accolades are tucked away in the back closet of the fencing room, tucked away in the back of the senior parking lot. Perhaps the ones sitting there, idly watching their fellow trophies stand proudly, are the ones that could shine the brightest, but the small, weightstrained shelves may never display them for the world to see. ■
BEFORE THE SUN COMES UP All sports are a commitment. But for some athletes, the push to greatness involves practicing hard before their peers have woken up.
CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS
The swim team practices in the Copses Family Pool by the predawn light.
BY AARON PARK Every Tuesday and Friday, Paul Leclerc ’18 wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to attend swim practice. For one and a half hours, Leclerc and the swim team train in the water, followed by a forty-five minute weight lifting session. “Any extra work is going to help, especially in swimming, where it’s very work-intensive. So, I think that the morning practices are very useful,” Leclerc said. “There are also times where we can work on things that we don’t usually have time to work on in regular practices.” The swim team is only one of several teams to use the hours before dawn to polish their craft. To accommodate the practice schedules of the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, the boys’ vol-
leyball team trains in Taper Gym during the mornings. “Because they have priority with their season, it’s a good time for us to do (sic) the gym,” opposite Colin Shannon ’17 said. “I think it helps out with overall team bonding, all waking up in the morning together. Aside from providing extra time to practice and refine neglected skills, sharing the experience of sacrificing sleep for practice also brings the players closer. “Not many people are willing to wake up every week, two days a week, at four thirty or five, to get into a cold pool at five thirty,” Leclerc said. “We usually get ninety to 100 percent to show up, so i think it does show that our team is mentally
strong and is mentally willing to work.” The practices, however, can also have their drawbacks, though the players said that they’d learned to adjust their schedules to prepare for morning training. “After a while you get used to it,” Leclerc said. “Because you kinda get into the routine of ‘Oh, it’s Monday night, or its Thursday night, I have to get my homework done faster so I can go to bed earlier.’ You also get used to working with less sleep.” Shannon believes that a morning schedule helps students complete their schoolwork more efficiently. “Usually, if we were to have afternoon practices, especially when they’re not right after
school, people tend to delay their homework or they worry about their homework and stuff,” Shannon said. “I find myself a little less focused on homework. It just works out that that there’s a lot to be said for coming together in the morning and working hard.” Overall, the morning practices have the added bonus of boosting a team’s confidence and mental preparedness. “Usually, I have a better practice in the mornings than in the afternoon, so I think being like ‘yeah, I woke up early, and I did a good job in the pool, and I put in work,’ you can feel like its paying off,” Leclerc said. “Yeah, we get prideful when we have a good practice, after a morning practice.”
BIG RED FALL 2016 • 13
UP
NEXT MAN
JOHNNY JUZANG ALREADY DOES IT ALL ON THE COURT. AND HE’S ONLY A FRESHMAN. By
Rian Ratnavale and Dario Madyoon 14 •BIGBIGRED REDFALL WINTER 12• 20162017
Photographs by
Aaron Park/ Big Red
BIGBIG REDRED WINTER 2017 •• 13 15 FALL 2016
JOHNNY JUZANG ’20 MIGHT as well be the Dak Prescott of the Harvard-Westlake basketball team. Obviously, Juzang is not a quarterback, but when he’s on the court the Wolverine offense has a distinct organized flow to it akin to the mistake-free and efficient offense run by Prescott’s Dallas Cowboys. The impact that the 6’7” freshman guard has had on the team in his rookie year lies eerily parallel with that of Prescott’s.
He isn’t just an average rookie. Even with all of the talent surrounding him, Juzang stands out as a player who can stabilize the Wolverines on both ends of the court, yet gives them a chance to explode to new heights in Mission League play and beyond. Juzang calls himself a playmaker, but believes that his impact reaches far beyond putting the ball through the net. “I’m a scorer and playmaker,” Juzang
“I TRY TO DO EVERYTHING AND MAKE AN IMPACT IN ALL ASPECTS OF THE GAME.”
16 • BIG RED WINTER 2017
FAST LANE Juzang drives to the basket against Crespi. The freshman averages 15.7 points per game, which ranks second on the team, and is shooting 44 percent from the field. said. ”Putting the ball in the hoop is what I do best, and my court vision and passing is something I’m good at as well. But I don’t like to label or box myself because I try to do everything and make an impact in all aspects of the game.” So far, he’s done just that. Juzang is averaging 15.7 points per game, which is second on the team to Cassius Stanley’s ’19 18.8. The lanky freshman is strong enough to bully his way into post ups, but especially thrives on midrange
ROCK N’ROLL While the Wolverines have been good on offense with Juzang on the court, the team averages almost 20 less points in games that Juzang misses. level. The coaches at Harvard-Westlake have helped me a lot as well.” Coming to Harvard-Westlake pushed Juzang to work hard everywhere, and at every workout. Although Juzang still recognizes that he has work to do on the defensive end, he believes his athleticism and determination will lead him to success there soon. “I’ve changed my mindset and approach to the game, so that whenever I step on the court or into any kind of workout, I go as hard as I possibly can,” Juzang said. “ I’d say that improved defense is a result of just going hard in general. It’s gotten better but I’ve got a lot to improve on. On-ball defense is a big focus right now.” The perfect fit, as Juzang describes
shots. His ability to score from all areas of the court gives the Wolverines lots of spacing as well; Juzang is one of five players on the team shooting at least 35 percent from behind the three-point line. “He looks incredibly confident out there, and that’s huge for his development,” HWTV analyst Adam Rich ’17 said. “He’s a gifted playmaker with vision and really good shooting mechanics. He’s shot incredibly well from mid range, especially off the bounce.” A simple eye test is enough to see that Juzang has had an immediate impact on the Wolverines. While he’s 6’7”, Juzang is not restricted to being a situational big man even though he is the tallest player on the court a lot of the time. Juzang doesn’t fit one specific mold. He’s one of the team’s best shooters, but if need be, the team’s leading
rebounder can go crash the boards to give the Wolverines another possession. Even though he’s a freshman, Juzang has shown enough physicality and grit to be an impactful defender, yet has the poise and basketball IQ to wreak havoc on offense. Juzang’s length and height as a point guard in combination with his post-game and athleticism put him in the mold of a young Shaun Livingston, the Golden State Warriors point guard, according to Rich. While Juzang is an efficient long-distance shooter, he thrives when he’s able to take advantage of mismatches in the post. If Stanley or Ali Iken ’17 starts getting hot, Juzang is a willing passer, but he is also adept to moving through screen to get an open shot and is good at making his own offense off the dribble. He credits a lot of the successful transition to his previous basketball training at Core Academy. “Athletically the transition has been fairly easy,” Juzang said.“I came from Core Academy and they more than prepared me for high school basketball. Still, being the best school year I’ve had, the training schedule was like no other and they taught me a very hard work ethic, so I was very ready for the next
BIG RED WINTER 2017 • 17
HI-FIVE At 6’7”, Juzang is the second tallest player on the team, only trailing fellow freshman Mason Hooks ’20. He leads the team in rebounds per game with 7.8 rebounds.
it, is something that has made his transition to high school basketball that much easier. Head coach David Rebibo coached Juzang’s older brother, Christian,and Juzang and his family have admired his coaching style ever since. Juzang chose to apply to Harvard-
18 • BIG RED WINTER 2017
Westlake based on his familiarity with Rebibo, among a host of other factors. “I was never recruited to Harvard Westlake,” Juzang said. “My family has known Coach Rebibo for years because my older brother, Christian, played for him as a freshman and he’s always been
a great coach. We choose the school because we thought the academic and athletic programs would be a good fit for me and my sister. The transition to the school has gone pretty well. There’s definitely no shortage of work but as long as you manage your time you’ll be fine.” Just because Juzang is new to high school basketball doesn’t mean he is new to competing at high levels of the sport. As a point guard for the AAU team the Compton Magic, Juzang is no stranger to having the target be on his back; many times the Magic was ranked as the top club team in the country. “It’s a phenomenal program with great people,” Juzang said. “We’re an Adidas program and play in the Adidas Gauntlet. We have so much fun and everybody can play. Over the spring and summer, we travelled all over the country and a little bit out of it to Canada. It was tons of fun and a great experience.” One of the best ways to see how valuable Juzang is to the Wolverines is watching how the team does without him playing. Juzang was absent for the Wolverines’ narrow win over last-place Notre Dame and in a tournament loss to De La Salle because of a broken finger. It’s no coincidence that the lanky guard’s absence resulted in a season low in points, 47 and 41 respectively, and field goal percentage for the team at 22 percent. Although it’s a small sample size, the fact that the team scores almost 20 less points per game speaks to the importance of the attention, spacing, shooting and passing that Juzang brings to the table every night. “Playing with Johnny has been very fun,” Iken said. “He’s very talented, so he gets a lot of attention. It just opens up the floor with his ability to shoot the ball. People don’t put as much help defense on the rest of us so you can go off screens, attack the basket from his side, and when he’s open you give him the ball. He’s most likely going to make the shot.” ■
LEGENDS NEVER DIE Cole Jacobson ’15, the beloved ex-football and track athlete, was too small to play college football. So he joined Penn’s sprint football team instead.
BY NICK REECE Cole Jacobson ’15 never thought that he was going to play football again after high school, but he was approached by the defensive coordinator of the University of Pennsylvania sprint football team at orientation. “Once I got to Penn, I ended up talking to the team’s defensive coordinator at the new student orientation,” Jacobson said. “He pitched the team to me and I thought it sounded really cool, it sounded like, a team I was good enough to play for, and it sounded like it would be a really fun experience, so I figured, why not go for it, if I’m never going to play football again anyway I figured I would go for that chance.” Sprint football has all the same rules as NCAA football, but with one major change: all players must weigh in at 172 pounds or less two days prior to game day. The Collegiate Sprint Football League, CSFL, is an eight team league from schools in the Northeast. “There’s really no reason anyone on the west coast
would have heard of it, and I hadn’t before college. It’s kind of isolated in that way,” Jacobson said. Jacobson helped the Quakers to an undefeated season, the first for the school in 16 years, one that culminated in a league championship with a 41-12 win at Post College. “Finally getting that championship at the end of the year was definitely one of the best, if not the best feelings of my life just because we wanted that so badly the whole year and to finally get it done felt pretty surreal,” Jacobson said. When asked if he planned to continue, Jacobson said that he would so long as he avoids injury. “I definitely plan to play the rest of my time there, health would be the only thing that would stop me from doing it, and at the end of this year I felt pretty good so hopefully I’m able to play two more years because this past year was really awesome.”
Photographs courtesy of Cole Jacobson ’15
BIG RED WINTER 2017 • 19
31 GAMES. 7 GIRLS. 4 TOURNAMENTS. 3 MONTHS. 1 SUMMER. 0 LOSSES. HOW THE WOLVERINES SOMEHOW PULLED IT OFF. By
Jake Liker Photographs by
Pavan Tauh/ Big Red
COURT COMMANDER Justine Baraza ’17 calls a play during the team’s 59-24 home rout of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy on Jan. 05. The team currently owns a 16-1 record this regular season, following the incredible summer. BIG RED WINTER 2017 • 21
HOW DOES A Boeing 777 vanish out of thin air? If a plane crashes in the ocean but no one’s there to hear it, did it really make a sound? It’s hard to lose anything in the digital age. Practically every piece of information is recorded electronically and available at our fingertips. When everything happens and is absorbed in real time, even the most of surreal events become processed, normalized, and eventually forgotten. Two Malaysian Airlines planes encountered disaster in 2014. All 239 people aboard Flight 370 are assumed dead, and the circumstances surrounding the incident remain muddy. Flight 17 was shot out of the sky over Ukrainian airspace by Russian separatist insurgents on the ground, killing 298 people. To this day, the incident remains the deadliest airliner shootdown in history. One disaster draws a collective shrug, the other sparked international outrage and brought tensions in the largest European war of the decade to a fever pitch. And yet, it is the former whose legacy lives on. Because nowadays, when you know everything, it’s what we don’t know that captivates us all. Mystery captures the imagination. Legends are birthed from the womb of the unknown. What the Harvard-Westlake girls basketball team did this summer remains unknown
22 • BIG RED WINTER 2017
to almost everyone. It was, in a word, legendary. How does a basketball team with only 7 players go 31-0? If you win all your games but no one records the results, did you really win anything at all? Like most legends, this story was forced to spread by word-of-mouth. It was not passed down by the eldest member of the community to children around a campfire, but rather was hurriedly orated by one the player’s mothers through the rolled down window of an SUV in a school parking lot. Like with Flight 370, the details are muddy and there are a lot of blanks that need to be filled. Summer league games aren’t recorded anywhere, not a single score is on file in the coach’s office. Even some of the players themselves don’t fully remember what happened (“I barely remember summer, that was forever ago,” one player said when requested for comment). But even the few snippets of information that come to
FLYING HIGH Melanie Hirsch ’18 flips a layup over an reaching defender during the team’s 59-24 home rout of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy on Jan. 05. mind from the chance encounter in the parking lot many months ago make this a tale worth retelling: Girls’ basketball team...summer...31-0...six-and-a-half players. Two varsity starters, Jordan Brown ‘16 and Lindsey Tse ‘16, graduated. Another, Lauren Lapesarde ‘17, tore her ACL last spring and would never again don a Wolverine jersey. There were no freshmen playing at the varsity level. That left three rising seniors and four rising juniors on the varsity roster when summer rolled around. “I remember [Head Coach Melissa
Hearlihy] used to be like, ‘This year, we’re just going to have fun’,” guard Justine Barraza ‘17 recalls. “I really don’t think she wanted to put that pressure on us.” “I don’t really worry about wins and losses in the summer because, do you see it recorded anywhere?” Hearlihy said. “Right? So you don’t really worry about that, you worry about getting better and focusing on individually getting better and team bonding, I would say that was one thing that definitely happened this summer because we graduated and lost some great kids so new kids had to step up and figure it out. That’s what we did this summer, we figured it out game by game.”
There was a lot of figuring out to do. Hearlihy’s teams are characterized by breathless, up-tempo play. On offense, they sprint. On defense, they swarm. The result is a beautiful madness that leaves every Wolverine bathed in sweat. But with only seven players, substitutions would become much more scarce, so a full-court press was no longer feasible. “Our focus this summer honestly was to get better in the half-court set,” Hearlihy said. “Because of our numbers, we weren’t allowed to be real aggressive full-court defensively, which is typically our gameplan, so we had to sit back and play man (defense) and learn how to score (with) a half-court offense.”
IF YOU WIN ALL YOUR GAMES BUT NO ONE RECORDS THE RESULTS, DID YOU REALLY WIN ANYTHING AT ALL?
GOING FOR IT ALL Jayda Rufus-Milner ’18 fires off a last-second buzzer beater during the FSHA game. Rufus-Milner is averaging 13.2 ppg this season. Even so, stamina is an absolute must for her teams in any circumstance, regardless of the number of players on the bench. Luckily, that meant the girls were ready for this challenge. “Last year [Strength and Conditioning coach Victoria Druehl], who’s now left and gone to IMG, really did an amazing job last year getting us ready for the season last year, then post-season, working through the summer, they lifted through the summer conditioned them so they were ready to go and so that’s something that again had us ready to go at the beginning of this season,” Hearlihy said. Indeed, it may as well have been business as usual for the girls, some of whom look back on the challenges of playing with just seven players with astonishing nonchalance.
BIG RED WINTER 2017 • 23
“It was tough at first,” guard Sydney Tsutsui ‘17 said. “Except you start getting used to getting no subs and we all sort of started expecting not to rest.” The team has two-a-days for the first two weeks of summer. A test of endurance on its own, add asthma into the equation and most would be spent. For Stephanie de Soto ‘17, it was fun. “I kind of got used to the two-a-days just because I did that for four years...the summer going into my freshman year, sophomore, junior, senior year,” de Soto said. “And honestly, those are kind of fun even though they’re exhausting, because everyone is together when we do boot camp.” Stronger Together. It may not have won an election, but it won 31 basketball games over the summer, and lost none. It’s why de Soto thinks they were able to go undefeated. “I feel like all of us have been playing together for such a long time and we just know each other on the court so well,” de Soto said. “I’ve been playing with the twins (Jayda and Jayla Ruffus-Milner ‘18) since I got here, and even a little before that in 8th grade. Syd(ney Tsutsui) I’ve been playing with since middle school, and it was easy to gel with Ashley (Wong ‘18) and Justine (Barraza) and Mel(anie Hirsch) just because everyone was a unit and we stayed together throughout the entire summer. Obviously we spend so much time together off the court too and that kind of bonding is necessary.” At a tournament in Palm Springs, all seven girls (Wong, de Soto, Tsutsui, the twins, Barraza, and Hirsch) stayed in one hotel room, a suite with two queen beds, a king bed, and a pullout. Always together. They went on to win that tournament, as well as two others in which they played, and a showcase. “We just kind of knew like we were still all strong together, we still all had that same chemistry from last year, we all still had that experience and we knew we could be good,” Barraza said. As the wins piled up, so did the team’s confidence. But Hearlihy remained tightlipped. “[The girls] embraced it. The parents were more about, ‘okay we’re 25-0, we’re 26––those words never came out of my mouth, until we were 31-0,” Hearlihy said. “Cause to me we didn’t need–it’s not recorded anywhere, there’s no banners
24 • BIG RED WINTER 2017
THE BEST DEFENSE... Forward Jayla Rufus-Milner ’18 looks to steal the ball during the squad’s 79-51 home playoff victory over Carson last year.
going up, so it didn’t need to be discussed. It was more we’re gonna go play this team, we need to get better to get ready for next year.” But when the team finally won its 31st and final game of the summer, then came the time to celebrate. Hearlihy excitedly recalls the last win. “Oh my God, we had to beat– and Jayda went down before the semi game so we weren’t even sure if she was going to play against Valencia, who at that time was expected to win the tournament. So we just beat Redondo, which was a big win, now we gotta go play Valencia, it was them and Ventura was supposed to be the final this great matchup and she ends up playing and we–” Rattling on about the sense of accomplishment she felt, speaking at the same pace at which her team plays, she catches herself. “I call them my grinders, we grind
everything out...I think for us it was that bonding and understanding and trusting that what makes this team special. Nobody cares who scores. Nobody cares. They want to make sure that we’re winning at the end, that we have more points than the other team and I’ve done this for 34 years and never had a team like that ever. EVER. [In terms of] just not worrying they’ve only had 6 points. Jayla doesn’t care. What she cares is, is she playing well and is she doing what she needs to do to help the team win. That’s what the kids care more about, and to me, that’s the core of our success.” School started up again, de Soto left the team (“I loved playing with the
girls but it was definitely a decision that needed to be made,” she says), Tsutsui got injured. Players were being called up from junior varsity. Jayda had injuries and asthma of her own to deal with. “You would see her, her legs would start burning so she couldn’t feel her legs,” Hearlihy said. “And you’ll see it, sometimes it still happens but it was really bad this summer, like she would have to run off the floor, and lay down and [an assistant coach] would stretch her and try to get the oxygen back into her legs and
the whole thing.” With all of that said, In the preseason, they were reduced to six players at times, and still won tournaments. There is new sense of belief permeating through this squad, having beaten teams like Sierra Canyon, Ventura, Valencia, Mater Dei, Windward, etc. “I think this team can win any game that they put their mind to,” Hearlihy said. “That’s what I love about this team– we think we can beat anybody, where last year we lost five games but 1, 2, 3 points,
and they’re games we couldve shouldve won, well this year we’re winning those games, and that’s a big difference.” They’re 16-1 to start the season and ranked 15th in the nation, 6th in the state by MaxPreps’ computer rankings. And they keep getting stronger–together. Barraza knows it after their incredible summer run. “We can achieve anything, really, as long as we are together, I mean it’s really cliche and really simple but as long as we have each other’s backs, we’ll win.” ■
BIG RED WINTER 2017 • 25
WHO ARE YOU? BY JOE LEVIN
As Harvard-Westlake becomes known as a sports powerhouse, how has our identity changed?
I WAS IN AN UBER last fall when the driver asked me where I went to school. When I told him, his eyes lit up. “Doesn’t that Cassius Stanley kid go there? He’s insane. I’m gonna go to some of your games this year.” Months later, during the Wolverines’ game against Loyola, sometime after Cassius’ two alley oops but before his reverse, I looked across the gym. There was a familiar face in the doorway of the gym, and his eyes were still glowing. That wasn’t the only time someone has recognized our school for its athletics. A good friend of mine said he had a similar exchange at a barbershop. And when I was touring a prospective family around the middle school, there were just as many questions about athletics as there were academics. “You guys have pretty incredible athletics,” the father said. “Is it even possible to make a team if you aren’t going to play in college?” It wasn’t long ago when the mention of Harvard-Westlake was automatically meant with “Oh! How much homework do you have a night?” or “What movies have your parents made?” So, yeah, the Uber driver’s reaction was a welcome
26 • BIG RED WINTER 2017
change, but it also underscores a larger shift on campus. Our identity is in flux. Every day I’ve been at Harvard-Westlake, it’s identified itself more and more with top-notch athletics. That’s certainly not a bad shift. Sure, sports won’t get someone elected mayor or put in charge of a multi-million dollar business. But they do have an impact—and a pretty significant one at that. First of all, just look at what they’ve already done to the reputation of the school. Schools can become internationally recognized by incredible academics, but only the very best of the best. Alabama is just as well-known as Princeton, and somewhere like Cornell might get lost in the shuffle while George Mason is still discussed because of their 2006 March Madness run. That Uber driver might never have heard about our school until our basketball team won the state title, and now, he’s visiting campus. The increased attention means there will also be increased scrutiny. Take Duke, for example. With their long history of chippy, petty and whiny players like Christian Laettner, J.J. Reddick and now
Grayson Allen, the basketball team’s caricature has become the school’s stereotype as well. Our coaches tell us all the time, but it’s truer now than ever: when you’re wearing that black and red, you’re representing the school as a whole. We need to make sure our athletes play with integrity, because, like it or not, they’re the outward face of the entire student body. It becomes easy to get blinded by that spotlight, though. You forget who you are. You start to become the stereotype. That’s another thing we have to remember as our identity shifts: who we are. Harvard-Westlake is a place that should celebrate both the highlight reel wonder kid and the benchwarmer senior who plays two other sports. It should be a place that values sportsmanship and hard work. And most of all, it should stress the value of a team. The idea of the team is the best part of sports. Community’s been a buzzword on campus as of late. Surveys say we don’t have enough of it, and administrators want more of it. So they’ve planned events like the Jacobson Cup at the Middle School or the Festival of Spring at the Upper School. But what they’re really
trying to cultivate is the sense that we’re all on the same team, that feeling that you’re stronger because of the person on your left and you’ll give strength to the person on your right. Sports have us believing. These basketball games—featuring both the high-flying boys team and the technically precise girls—bring us together. We pile into the gym, we heckle the opposing team, and when we head to the parking lot, we high five. The next day, we still talk about what happened, and if we go out to lunch or an after-school snack, we’re a little prouder of our school. We’re not just that place that all the neighbors are mad at anymore. We’re all champs. We all made SportsCenter. We all just got an offer from another D1 school. See, the thing with teams is that if one person succeeds, then everyone succeeds. It’s hard to tell what success is when your identity is rooted in academics. One person passes a test, another fails. For every A, there’s a C. But with sports, there’s a clear winner. That’s something we all rally behind. Together.
BIG RED WINTER 2017 • 27