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SPORTS & ARTS
may 1, 2009
B Mt. Carmel SuN
Blalock retires as varsity girls basketball coach Makes tough decision to leave team, focus on family
RACHEL MARTIN OPINIONS EDITOR After ten years as the very successful coach of the varsity girls basketball team, Robin Blalock has announced that she will be stepping down as coach for next year. It was announced last Tuesday in an email from the principal, Dr. Tom McCoy. “It’s one of those things when there’s probably not just one reason,” Blalock said. “For maybe the past couple of years, I’ve kinda thought about it. Teaching English here, I love, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of focus. And basketball is like another full-time job.
“So, it just became burnout almost, from constantly working and constantly giving, and never feeling like I had a rest or an opportunity to rejuvenate,” she said. “And in order for basketball continue to be really successful and continue to reach the levels that we’ve reached, it will require more energy and more energy. And I don’t feel like I have that energy necessarily to give.” Still, the news came as a big surprise to many students and teachers. It wasn’t a decision that Blalock made easily. With her impending marriage and working towards her master’s degree, she simply does not have enough hours in the day to de-
vote to teaching and coaching. Although she has thought about stepping down for the past few years, the time was never right until now. “Something always brought me back,” Blalock said. “The girls, the enjoyment, you know, everything I love about the sport. And it was always like, ‘No, I think I got it in me to do another year. Nope, I think I got it in me to do another.’ And, I find, if you keep saying, ‘Well, I’ll wait until so and so graduates,’ well there’s always someone new to wait for them to graduate. It never ends. I get attached to them, and I enjoy working with them.” Blalock realized that she just needed more time for herself and to devote to her family.
She plans to help whoever replaces her as varsity coach for next year, but she wants the new coach to feel as though “it’s their program and their team.” Although there are many things that Blalock will miss next year, there is one thing she will miss the most. “I think one of the greatest things is I’ve had such a great opportunity to coach some of the neatest kids over those ten years, and I can think back to almost every single team, just the amazing girls that I’ve had, and the amazing times that I’ve had,” Blalock said. “For me, that’s absolutely why I do it—to share my love of the game with them and to share the experiences with them.”
In the past ten years, Blalock led her teams to six CIF championships, winning five of them. They also won six league championships. “It takes a lot of hard work, and then just seeing them when they succeed and all of that which is magnificent,” Blalock said. “And there’s so many year after year, and what’s neat is it’s the same things almost year after year for me, but it’s new because it’s new to see it with them. And, so it’s kind of like if somebody were to say, ‘Well, you’ve already won five CIF championships,’ but it’s a different win every time because it’s that kid’s first, it’s that player’s first, and that’s why I did it for the amount of time that I did it.”
Melissa Roadman | editor-in-chief
Robin Blalock (first left on the bench) looks on and coaches as her CIF championship team competes during the 05-06 season. This was one of five seasons in which Blalock’s varsity team won CIF.
Individuals excel as track team leads league; relay teams shine ABBY MANSOUR STAFF WRITER
The long jumpers are all lined up. It’s time for sophomore Brandon Ford to show what he can do. He steps up and begins to run faster, then faster still. He reaches the line and hurls his body as far as he can, leaping 20’8”. Ford and all the track athletes have been competing in meets for several weeks and they don’t seem to be slowing down. Coach Nathan Boyer has noticed athletes’ “desire to improve more.” At the Jaguar Invitational on April 18 there were many shining moments for these hard-working athletes. Along with Ford’s and senior Yachi Fail’s third place finishes in the boys and girls long jump respectively, all of the relay teams competed well. Especially notable were the boys and girls varsity 4X400 relay teams at the Valley Center hosted invite. The girls team, which consisted of senior Alex Wright and sophomores Lauren Hall, Alex Parks, and Alex Butler, pulled off a close win, beating Sweetwater High’s team by a little more than a second. The boys team placed second with an impressive time of 3:32. The teams overall took third for boys and second for girls. With over 40 schools attending, this was an impressive finish. This hard-fought victory established MC boys track as the league leader. The girls team is currently in second, just behind Westview. Boyer credits some of this success on the hard work done in practice. Mary Carmen Gonzales | photographer “Practice is crucial,” he said. “It Eric Mansour (12) races toward the finish line against San Marcos on is true that practice is physical, racing April 23. The Sundevils won this meet, helping the boys remain undeis mental. We race well because we feated and keeping the girls in their second place position in league. practice hard.” With all the amazing performances the track team has turned in and Erin Menefee, but many athletes takes place tonight. this season, it is hard for Boyer to pick have improved so much that it is imWith only one invitational left just one to highlight. possible to compare.” before leagues, and CIF starting on “So many [athletes] have done The team only has one dual meet May 12, the team is looking forward such great things,” he said. “Brandon left this season, on May 7, against ri- to competing on a bigger scale. Ford has dominated his event this val Westview at home. The last invi“We should win leagues,” junior year, as have [juniors] Jacob Wood tational, the Escondido Invitational, David Vasko, a distance runner, said.
Boys volleyball remains undefeated; dominates league with confidence Sara Shantz Staff Writer
The boys volleyball team is still on a high from their close win against Poway on Thursday, April 16. The game was very close. MC creamed Poway in the first and second games, winning 25-13 and 25-16. Poway made a comeback and took the fourth and fifth games, winning 16-25 and 20-25. MC managed to come back, regain the lead and win the fifth game 15-10. “We played a very good game against Poway, and they always bring our game up a level because of the intense rivalry that we have with them,” junior Bobby Luft said. “We all were just very focused, and really wanted to beat them because we lost to them in a tournament, and they were favored to win the game.” The boys are dominating in the Valley League with a league record of 3-0.
“Our team has showed huge improvements in playing well as a team no matter who is on the court,” junior Nick England said. “There isn’t much to work on, sometimes staying more positive, but overall we are gelling well and we are playing extremely well together.” Luft feels like the new league is a bit of a blessing and a curse. “Our old league had a lot of very good teams in it to push our game to the max, but I feel that the league we are in now is not as strong but with all the wins we have [it] is giving us the confidence that we need to do well in CIF,” Luft said. They are confident about their chances of earning a second consecutive CIF title. “I think that our biggest competition in CIF’s will be either Westview or Valhalla both are very good teams, but we have beat them both previously this season,” Luft said.
Swim and dive prepares for toughest matches KEVIN LAGE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
With just two meets left in the regular season, the MC swim team is still sporting a flawless record on all levels.
Boys
Unfortunately for the boys team, their toughest competition is still yet to come. “In the past, Westview has always been a very strong opponent on the boys side,” sophomore Nick Hefner said. “We realize we are not going to have an easy time with them, and we are training very hard to make sure that we can take them on.” The team also realizes that the competition in CIF will be a lot stronger than anything they have seen thus far. “Even though the season is winding down, we are still working just as hard every time that we get in the pool,” Hefner said. “We know that we have had it very easy this season and that we have a very good chance if we keep performing at our current level.”
Girls
The girl’s team is still going strong, and they don’t see any threats to their flawless record. “Canyon Crest and Westview should not be a threat, at least as far as the girls team is concerned,” senior Taylor Bugg said. “Our chances of winning leagues is very good; our only main competition that we have to worry about is Ramona. As for CIF, there are definitely teams that are much tougher that we are up against, but the championship is no doubt within
our reach.” The team believes that they can take on anyone that they face during CIF. Bugg thinks the main reason for their success is the amount of effort that they put into all their practices “Not only is this team experienced in working hard and racing, but we have a lot of depth,” Bugg said. “Every person on the team contributes and plays a role. We also have an incredible bond. We spend so much time together, and get to know each other very well. We are one big family that goes through everything together, making our bond even stronger.”
Dive
Heading into the final weeks of their season, the MC dive team notices a few potential problems for them in CIF. “We know that there is tough competition that we have not seen this year yet, but I think that it drives us to practice that much harder,” junior Serena McClintick said. “If we had seen them we might be affected by that. By diving up to our own standards and no one else’s, whether they are higher or lower, we are guaranteed to dive to the best of our abilities.” McClintick appreciates the fact that they have had an easy time this season, but also realizes that it has negatively affected her season. “Because dive is a lot about the mental aspect of sports, and is basically an individual sport I don’t think it [has affected] us to a large extent with regards to CIF,” McClintick said. “I do have to say though that meets are very fun when you get to talk to other competitors and right now are season is pretty boring because during the dive part, the meets feel a lot like practice.”