Moeller High School 1985-86 Swimming & Diving

Area swimmers/ divers head for state swim meet The best swimmers and divers of the state are preparing for their last high school meet of the season.

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 2H and March 1, outstanding swimmers and divers will he competing at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, in the Ohio State Swimming and Diving Championship.

At the Southwest District meet at Keating Natatorium on Feb. 21 and 22, local swimmers competed for the chance to go to the state meet. The top three finishers in each event qualified, plus 11 at· large from the fastest times from all districts. There are a total of24 swimmers and divers competing in each event at the state meet.

At the boys' district meet, Larry Lyons of Sycamore was named District Coach of the Year by the participating coaches.

Lyons made these comments after the meet: "The outstanding

200 medley relav Jack performers at districts were Steve Siple, Paul Taylor, Eric Champ, Prause, Cra(g Williams, Scott Shannon Scalcucci and Chrissy Murphy and Tim Rengers, 1Gth, Hughes. Sycamore overall did not 1:41.41. 200 free - Mark have a good meet because very Erdmann, 7th, I :4fi.42. 50 free few tapered for this meet. Jeff Steinebrey, Hth, 21.HH; Brad Everyone is pointing toward the Tieke, 14th, 22.04; Steve Siple, state meet, where they hope to get 22nd, 22.:39. Diuing - Dean big drops in time. Sycamore is in a Panaro, 4HH.4 points. 100 fly good position for the state meet." Scott Murphy, 7th, G2.H:l. 100 free Also coaching for Sycamore are - JeffStcincbrey, fith, 47-H:J; Brad Tieke, 7th, 4H.I 0. 500 free- Mark Fred Cooper and Ed Bachman.

In district diving competition Erdmann, 7th, 4:4H.66. 100 hackFeb. 19, Sycamore freshman Dean Jack Prause, IGth, GG.H7. 400 free relay Brad Tieke, Mark Panaro qualified, placing third.

Sophomore l{ichard Schwartz Erdmann, Scott Murphy and Jeff performed some excellent dives in Steinebrey, 4th, :3: I :l.H5.

200 medley relay - Shannon the competition.

Coach Jack Phipps cOJ1mwnted, Scalcucci, Triria Klasmeier, "Both l{ich and Dean have done· Kathey N clson and Dami Reams, well in districts after a long, hard 19th, 1:G6.50. 500 free - Chris season of competition. l{ich Higby, 21st, G: 17.22. 100 hack placed 1:3th, missing the final cut Shannon Scalcucci, I :lth, I :02.1 H. . 400 {ree relay - Chris Higby, by one place, or v~-point."

Sycamore state qualifiers, the Shannon Scalcucci, Nina Taylor place they arc seeded at state, and and Dami Reams, 1:lth, :3:45.42. t) u a I i fie r s from Moe II e r their district q ilalifying times are:

are: 200 free - Todd Hoffman, 4th, 1:41).24. 100 free - Todd Hoffman, 9th, 4H.2:l. JOO breastTim Beerman, I Hth, I :02.09.

Other local qualifiers, not eligible for team points, are Matt Breeden, Madeira, diving, 5:31.6 points; and Dave Lane, Deer Park, 100 free, 14th, 4H.9:l.

Qualifiers from Ursuline are: 200 medley relay - 9th, I :54.61. 200 free - ,J ulic Dah I, 7th, 1:5G.7:l. 200 I.M.- Elaine Gunn, 11th, 2: I:l.G:3; ,Jenny Grathwohl, 12th, 2:14.0G . .SO free - Joyce N ordeman, 12th, 2G.OO . .500 free,Julie Dahl, 1:3th, 5:10.24; Leah Boback, I flth, G: 14.50. 100 breast -Jenny Grathwohl, 6th, I:OH.99.

Other local qualifiers are: Teresa Replogle, Indian Hill, 100 free, l:lth, G4.90, and 100 breast I st, 1:07.:31. Jenny Replogle, Indian Hill. 100 breast, 11th, 1:09.79. Indian Hill's 400 free relay team, 19th, :l:4H.H4. Kathy Bossert. Cincinnati Country Day,

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200 l.M., 22nd, 2:1 G.HH. Stella Day, 100 free, 16th, 55.11. Lor.l Kahn, Cincinnati Country Day, Rizzuto, Mt. Notre Dame, diuing, diuing, 449.0 points.· Less · 496.:35 points. Diane Kelley, Mt. Schroeder, Cincinnati Country Notre Dame, diving, 440.55 points.

Gymnasts to state Members of Sycamore High School girls' gymnast team are headed for the first state tournament in about eight years; according to their coach, Cindy Donehy. The Ohio high school athletic association girls' state gymnastics meet will be held Feb. 28 arid March 1 at Dublin High School in Dublin.

The top five all-around gymnasts who will make the trip to 3tate competition are soohomores Kelee Petzelt, Ann Stanko Kim DeBartolo and freshmen Amy Gausmann and Sarah Baker.

The Sycamore l{irl l{ymnasts

placed s~cond in the S<iuthwest District meet held on Feb. I G with 24H.:3a points. Northmont had 267.9G with the other three teams participating including Center: ville, Wayne and Beavercreek.

Kelee Petzelt was third in all' around with 69.7. She also placed on bars, beam and floor.

Sycamore also placed second. with I :3H.5G to Northmont's I :3H.ff at the Class III Sycamore:: invitational held Feb. H at"· Sycamore when 12. teamt competed. . >:: Petzelt placed second and Anne: Stanko third in all-around.

Kelly dives high for Moeller High School Mt>eller senior Davl• Kellv took :irst place in the GCL diving ;ompetitiun this year. Kelly was ;he first Moeller diving champion n eight years. This was only the ;econd year of diving for Dave who placed fourth in last vear's GCL diving· competition-. He ranks fourth in the city in the Enquirer's honor roll.

He is the son of James R. Kelly :associate athletic director at the University of Cincinnati)' and Jeanne E. Kelly who live at 4747 Elizabeth Pl. Diane Kelly, Dave's twin sister, dives fur Mt. Notre Dame. She finished second in thl• girls' GCL diving competition.

Dave's head coach, Mike Steward, coaches USA and YMAC swimmers and Ursuline

swimmers. Steve Voellmeche coaches the divers. Steve is a Moeller grad (class of I9H4) and dives for Xavier University.

Baslwtball Tlw freshmen GCL basketball team defeated previouslyunbeaten Elder on Feb. 7 bv a 494H score. In the first round. of the freshmen GCL tournament, Moeller defeated Purcell-Marian, :~9-:n.

Hockey Moeller's varsity hockey team lost in Sl'ctiunal play, :'>-:l, to Toledo Whitmer. The team ends with an I H-(j.J.

Wrestling In the GCL varsity wm.;tling

tournament, Mueller's Terry King finished first in the 145-pound class. Bill Palermo took second place in the 9H-pound class. Keith Wene (I 67 lbs.) and Dave Seeger ( II2 lbs.) each took third place.

Mike Hussenlopp took fourth place at I3R pounds.

Bashetball Moeller varsitv basketball team finished with ·a 9-11 regular season record. The Crusaders finished strung with three wins.

Mueller beat Sycamore, RH-64, defe<1ted Roger Bacon, 94-76, <1nd topped Middletown, 7:3-70.

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Rizuto wins diving title

BY CAREY HOFFMAN The Cincinnati Enquirer

CANTON, Ohio-Cincinnati won four state titles in the ·Ohio High School Swimming Meet ··Saturday, but Cincinnati boys were ·shut out.

The Cincinnati winners were: ..... • Mount Notre Dame sophomore Lori Rizuto, who won the ··diving title, totalling 444.30 points, ~15 better than second-place Beth ..Wadlington of Worthington. , ,. • Katherine Creighton of Wyo. nting, who successfully defended her 500-yard freestyle title. rCreighton qualified for the finals in -fourth place, but she swam a , 4:57.38 to claim the title over top qualifier Mary Jo Moavero of Par~ Holy Name. Moavero turned in ~a 4:58.83 in the finals. ... • Finneytown's Lisa Reinke, ,who won the girls' 100-yard backstroke final by .03. Reinke swam . the distance in 58.32 to nudge out ~Ion's Catherine Byrne, who finIshed in 58.35.

• Indian Hill's Teresa Replogle slowed down in the finals from her '"'qualifying time but still managed to hang on for the girls' 100-yard -breaststroke title. Replogle quali.fied at 1:06.28, and swam the ~·finals in 1:07.05. · · The Sycamore boys overpowered four other teams in the chase . for se~on~ place to claim the high.est finish m school history. · St. Xavier slipped to fifth its ·lowest finish since the 1960s.'

Upper Arlington in the boys competition had locked up the ..state title early on Saturday, but Sycamore and Gates Mills Hawken entered the final event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay, grappling for the runner-up spot. ~girls

, Here are results from Saturday's finals at the slate gorls and boys nigl school swimming and diving champion~:,;'~,~ Branin Natatorium, isting place, swi!Mler,

100 freestyle-!, Sarah Ralston, ·Gates Mils Hawken, 51.37. 2, Melanie Valerio, Gates Mi!s Hawken, 51.66. 3, Buffy Krieger, Flnneytown, 51.76. 4, JeMifer Hesp, Beav· ercreek, 53.08. 5, Page Kunst, TUrpin, 53.10. 6, Teresa Replogle, Indian Hill, 53.86.

500 freestylt-1, Katherine Creighton, Wyoming, 4:57.31. 2, Mary .lo Moavero, Parma Helgl1ls Holy Name 4:58.37. 3, Kathy Hoffman, Beavercreek, 4:59.64. 4, Sar~ Spears, Gates Mils Hawken, 4:59.71. 5, Angle Shook, Springfield Shawnee, 5:01.17. 6, Kelly Taylor, Strongsville, 5:01.83.

110 bac:llstroke-1, Lisa Reinke, Flnneytown, 58.32. 2, Clllherlne Byrne, Solon, 58.35. 3, Kerl Odom, Sylvania Northview, 5U8. 4, Denise Puplllo, Warren Harding. 59.63. 5, Kami Mathews, Troy, 59.66. 6, Linda Friedberg, WV• mlng,S9.93.

110 breaststroke-!, Teresa Replogle, Indian Hill, 1:07.05. 2, C8y Brunsman. Yelow Springs. 1:07.15. 3, Tracey Russel, Gates Mils Hawken. 1:07.25. 4, Kim Wines. Canton McKinley, 1:07.32. s, Holly Reimer, McAuley, 1:07.93. 6, Jenny Gralbwohl, ursuline, 1:08.59.

400 frHstyte relay- I, Gates Mils Hawken (Jennie Schiler, Margaret Campbell, Sara Spears, Melanie Valerio), 3:33.10. 2. TUrpin, 3:34.49. 3, Beavercreek, 3:37.78. 4, Upper Arlington, 3'.37.77. 5, Worthington, 3:38.00. 6, ursuline, 3:39...

TEAM SCORES: I, Gates Mils Hawken, 183. 2, Upper Arlington, 99. 3, TUrpin, 93, 4, Beavercreek, 92. 5, ursuline, 84. 6, Sylvania Norlhview, 72. 7, Solon, 67. 8, Worthington, 66.

9, Canton McKinley, 41. 10, Shaker Heights, 32. 11, Mother of Mercy, 30. 12, Wesl1ake, 29. 13, Indian Hill, v. 14, Oak Hills, 25. 15, Troy, 24. 16, McAuley, 23. 11 (lie), Mount Notre Dame, Middletown and Warren Harding. 16 20 (tiel, Chagril Fals, Country Day, Sycamore and Toiedo Notre Dame, 14. 24 (lie), Akron Firestone and Columbus School for Girts, 13. 26, Walnut Hills, 12. 27, North Canton Hoover, 11. 28, Toledo St. Ursula, 10.

BOYS Diving-!, Paul Feduchak, Upper Arington, 492.25. 2, Lyle SUess, aeveland Orange, 465.75. 3, Steve lieU, TUrpin, 460.20. 4, Matt Breeden, Madeira, 451.35. 5, Mike Svets, Oeveland St. Ignatius, 417.95. 6, Scott Slford, Toledo St. Frands, 417.20.

100-yard butterfly- I, Mike Noonan. Gates Mills Gi~ moor, 4'1.72. 2, Eric Ruby, St. Xavier, 50.01. 3, Zeb Esse~ styn. Gates Mils Hawken. 50.75. 4, Ty Nelson, Columbus Academy, 50.97. 5, Chris Burt, Upper Arington, 51.33. 6, Scott Murl>h'f, Sycamore, suo.

110 freestyle- I, Ciff Arslanian. Solon, 46.66. 2, Byron D_avis, Gates Mils Hawken, 46.90. 3, WillS ton Richey, Akron Forestone, 46.94. 4 (lie), David Henkel, Gates Mils Hawken and JeH Stelnebrey, Sycamore, 47.G6. 6, Brad Tleke, sycamore, 47.37.

500 freestyte-1, Charlie Pike, aeveland Orange 4:38 50. 2. Mark Erdmann, Sycamoro, 4:38.73. 3, Ted Steiner, Upper Arlington, 4:38.81. 4, Tm tarmody, MIJ«oe Lemon-Monroe, 4:40.94. 5, Casey Lichlenclahl, St. xavier, 4:41.12. 6, Dave Lannon, Upper Arington, 4:44.60.

110 backstroke-!, Doug Kelerstrass, Beavercreek, 53.25. 2, Gordy Woolberl, North Canton Hoover, 53.47. 3, Erik Ardelean, North Canton Hoover, 53.97. 4, Bob Remskl, Centerville, 54.24. 5, Eric Chambers, Columbus Beechcrolf 54.37. 6. Mike Valentine, Worthington, 55.26. ' 110 breaststroke-!, Brent Axline, Westerville North, 57.02. 2, Bob Houser, Upper Arlington, 57.20. 3, JeH Bishop, Northwest, 59.41. 4, Chris Dieter, Worthington, 59.83. 5, Jay Wrigllt, Ash~ Teays Valey, 59.90. 6, Greg Grolke, Sylvanid Souttw~ew, 1:00.02.

400 freestyle relay- I, Gates Mills Hawken (Robert Sclmidl, Zeb Esselslyn. Byron Davis, David Henkel) 3:08.96. 2, Sycamore, 3:09.04. 3, Akron Firestone, 3:09.17. 4: =.Arlington, 3:11.87. 5, Solon, 3:12.76. 6, St. Xavier,

GIRLS Diving-!, Lori Rizzuto, Mount Notre Dame, 444.30 points. 2, Beth Wadlington, Worthington, 427.95. 3, Stella Kahn, Cindnnall Country Day, 42US. 4, Stacie Ogden, Oak Hills,407.10. 5, Margie Stoll, Toledo St. UrS<Jia. 405.70. 6, Angela Johnson, Middletown, 405.50.

HJO.yard butterfly-!, Mary .1o Moavero, Parma Helgllts Holy Name, 56.08. 2, Sarah Weis, Sylvania Northview, 56.63. 3, Carrie Grant, Upper Ar1inglon, 58.92. 4, Julie Hosier, Carrol Bloom<:arroll, 59.30. 5, Lara Frost, walnut Hills, 59.39. 6, Dawn Davies, Akron Firestone. 59.54.

TEAM SCORES: I, Upper Arlington, 190. 2, Sycamore, 113.5. 3, Gates Mils Hawken, 110.5. 4, Worthington, 98. 5, St. Xavier, 711. 6 (lie I, Oeveland Orange and North Canton Hoover, 65. 8, Akron Firestone, 62. 9, Solon, 58. 10, Columbus Academy, 37. 11, Toledo St. Francis, 35. 12. Beavercreek, 33. 13, Westerville North, 32. 14, Gates Mils Gilmo<K, 29. 15, Oeveland St. lgnalfus, 25. 16 (tiel, Prlnctton and North Canton GlenOak, 23. 18, Sylvania Southview, 20. 19 (lie), Cenl!"vile and Monroe Lemon-Monroe, 18. :n. TUrpin, 12.

22 (lie), CoMnbus St. Charles and Wooster, 10.

Swimming Hawken came from behind to win the race in 3:08.96, but just as importantly, Sycamore placed second at 3:09.04, keeping the Aviators ahead of Hawken in the team scores. Sycamore finished with 113.5 points. Hawken had 110.5 for third.

Upper Arlington piled up 190 points for its second consecutive championship.

"It feels great, but it felt great all year," said Sycamore coach Larry Lyons on his way to being thrown int0 the pool. "These kids are something else, just super."

Sycamore got a boost from Mark Erdmann in the 500 freestyle. Erdmann entered the tourney seeded seventh, but finished second in the finals.

St. Xavier, who had won 13 of the last 16 boys titles, placed fifth with 71 points.

"I can't be too discouraged considering the kind of year we've had," said St. X coach Mark Sullivan. "We just have to look at the individual honors, and be happy.

We know now what we have to improve on to do better for next year."

In girls team competition, Turpin finished a surprising third, ahead of fourth-place Beavercreek who beat Turpin at last week's district meet.

LORI ELLEN RIZZUTO Olympic Caliber by '88? rembling slightly, she looked down at the water 10 meters below and asked herself, "Am I going to die?"

Imagine hurling yourself from the top of a three-story building into 17 feet of water and you'll probably agree that's a pretty good question, especially if you're 11 years old and have never done it before. From that height a diver hits the water at approximately 33 miles an hour.

But Lori Ellen Rizzuto 's first platform dive went off without a hitch. After executing an inward n~ somersault, she knifed into the water with barely a splash. ''It was like floating on air forever," she reca11s.

That was nearly five years ago in the life of one of the country's premier high school divers. Rizzuto, now a sophomore at Mount Notre Dame High School in Cincinnati, finished second in the one-meter springboard competition at the Ohio state championships last year

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The Mount Notre Dame sophomore is favored to win the next three Ohio state championships.

"In terms of natural talent, Lori is probably in the top 5 percent of athletes l' ve seen.

What's more, she's a vzczous competitor."

as a freshman . Her potential is unlimited, and most experts agree that she shou ld win the state crown each of the next three years .

"She 's a very dedicated athlete, " says Sandy Witte, swimming coach at Mount Notre Dame, an allgirls parochial school with an enrollment of 572. "She's a pretty good student as well. She talks a lot and she's popular with the other students. She's a very nice sophomore."

Lori has come a long way since she was a toddler thrashing about in the neighborhood pools of Blue Ash, her Cincinnati suburban hometown. Always graceful and athletic, she took gymnastics classes and played softball and volleyball before deciding at age 9 to concentrate on diving because "it's more fun."

She joined the sam'=! YMCA diving team as her older brother, Phil, now a 20-year-old defensive back on the football team at St. Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa.

He recalls hi s sister was fearless.

"She'd try any kind of dive," he says. "Nothing scared her. I remember we used to go to a big

BY TOM GROESCHEN Photos by Joe DiMaggio

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Diving

Strapped into a spotting rig controlled by coach Casuto, Lori bounces on a trampoline to eliminate flaws in her dives. amusement park where I was always afraid to ride 'The Beast. ' It was billed as the fastest roller coaster in the world, hitting speeds of more than 70 miles an hour. But that didn't bother Lori. She'd hop right on."

As the youngest of three children, Lori developed a spunky spirit at an early age. When her two older brothers, Tony and Phil, went to the sandlots to play baseball and football, she was their tagalong.

"We used to call her 'The Park Bum,'" says her father, Jay. "Whenever the boys played sports they'd drag her along."

Both of the Rizzuto boys, incidentally, went from the sandlots to the varsity football team at Cincinnati's Moeller High, which today is one of the best-known prep teams in the nation with five "mythical" national championships .

Because of her incredible talent at an early age, Lori had entered and won several national competitions long before her second-place

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springboard finish as a freshman in high school.

As a 10-year-old, she finished third in the three-meter springboard event for 12-and-unders at the Junior Olympic Championships in Santa Clara. California. At age 12, she won her first national title in the three-meter springboard at the National Junior Olympics. At 14, she became the youngest diver ever to compete in the U.S. Senior Diving Championships; at 15, she finished ninth at the Senior Nationals in platform competition .

Because of her interest and development in the sport prior to high school, Lori joined the Red Roof Inn Divers ab out six years ago and has received expert tutelage from Charlie Casuto, regarded as one of the finest coaches in the country.

"Without question, Lori can be one of the best in the world, " Casuto says. "I've seen her perform a list of 10 dives better than anyone her age, and she does a back 11,2 with 3J.il twists off the tower better than any girll've seen in age group

diving. Her takeoff on that dive is the best I've seen from anyone."

Great divers are born with certain physical attrib utes such as leaping ability, strength, flexibility and kinesthetic sense (f e ability to spin in the air without getting ''lost") . " In terms of natural talent," says Casu to, "Lori is probably in the top 5 percent of athletes I've seen . What's more, she's a vicious competitor."

Lori devotes two hours a day, six days a week refining her dives .

Because Mount Notre Dame does not have a pool, she and her teammates practice at a nearby high school. For springboard, she trains at the University of Cincinnati pool, jumping on a trampoline for 15 minutes to work out flaws before performing approximately 50 dives.

Mastering a dive sometimes takes months. It took six, for instance, to perfect the back 21.2 from the threemeter board.

Since there are no 10-meter platform facilities in the Cincinnati area, Lori accompanies her Red

.

After 15 minutes on the tramp Lori performs as many as 50 practice dives off the springboards.

Roof Inn team to a tower in Indianapolis two times a month between September and May. In the summer, the team practices at an outdoor facility in Noblesville, Indiana.

In competitive diving, judges core each performer on a scale of 0 to 10, and they base their ratings n the four primary parts of each dive: approach, takeoff, technique in the air and entry into the water.

These scores are multiplied by a factor known as "degree of difficulty," which ranges from 1. 3 for a simple inward tuck to 3. 5 for a 4L2 tuck.

Lori's repertoire already includes some of the most difficult dives, and she is believed to be the you ngest diver in the country executing a back 1L2 with 3L2 twists from the platform.

Dick Kimball, diving coach for 27 years at the University of Michigan and three-time coach of the U.S. Olympic team, agrees. "Lori is an outstanding prospect," he says. " She has great potential but still a long way to go to make the Olympic team."

Despite the demands of diving, Lori still has time for a social life.

She enjoys music and being with friends, and on Friday nights during football season she cheers for Moeller High, where her boyfriend, Tim Jennings, plays. Her only hobby, in fact, is football; s he watches every game she can on television.

Already, scholarship offers are pounng m.

"It's wonderful," says her mother, Pat. "She'll be able to go almost anywhere she wants." " Wherever she goes, " says her father, Jay, "she will have earned it. She likes diving, and it's what s he wants to do in her life."

Lori has a few other things she 'd like to do. She may decide to become a physical therapist someday or to get involved in sports training. She also wants to maintain her association with the U.S. Diving Committee and perhaps become a television commentator at diving meets.

For now, though, her principal

aim is to earn one of four spotstwo each on platform and springboard-on the 1988 Olympic team.

First, though, she must qualify for the Olympic Trials by twice placing in the top 8 at the Senior Nationals, which are held in April an August.

Last s ummer, in her best performance so far, she finished ninth on platform, missing eighth by onetenth of a point.

'Just to get to the Games would be great," says Lori. "My biggest problem is my attitude. I'm still a little scared every time I go up to dive, and I put too much pressure on myself. My coach says I'm ahead of a lot of people, but I'm not really convinced.''

Says Casuto, "For her age, she's the most accomplished diver I've ever had. I don t have to do much more than convince her she's good enough to accomplish almost any goal she sets."

Torn Groeschen is a sports writer for The Cincinnati Enquirer.

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]arret Schmidt and Scott Hunter discuss team strategy with coach Benson.

Benson, who won the state singles title for Creek in 1971 and 1972 and who claims he can still beat any member of the team, says, "In any sport, if you have big num ers, good things have a better chance of happening."

"I would bet the Bruins' top 50 player s could compete on any varsity team in the state," says Dale M c Coy, c oach of 1984 runner-up Columbine High. "Cherry Creek has so many kids eager to be good that other schools cannot really compete."

Bruin team hopefuls re port to pre-season practice each year in the middle of August, where for three weeks they meet en masse to work on conditioning and funda mentals. Coach Benson and assistants Kir k Price and Tom Bancroft dot eir best to maintain order, but with nearly 200 boys armed with rackets and balls, chaos sometimes takes over.

"I r eme mber one practice," says sophomore David Poticha, "when 14 of us were on one court-seven on each side of the net. We were supposed to hit baHs back and forth, but it was so crowde d everybody was hitting each other."

Fortunately, for the safety and well-being of Cherry Creek tenni enthusiasts, mass practice ends when school begins. From then on,

Benson meets daily with the 11man varsity while the rest of the players disperse to courts around the city to challenge one another in hopes of moving closer to the exalted sphere of varsity.

Benson monitors t he progress of these players through an elaborate !add r system programmed into a camp ter.

Each player who joins the team starts at the bottom. To improve his ranking, he must challenge a teammate above him. They meet on a convenient court and play a match of three sets, judging calls themselves. Results are fed daily into the computer and updated rankings are posted at three sites in the school.

Benson's permission is required for challenges involving players ranked 12th to 30th, and no player may challenge the top 11 once Benson has selected his varsity team.

"The depth of this team is so great," s ays Chris Henry, ranked 12th at the end of the 1985 season, "there's more competition on the ladder t an against other teams.

Sometime I think our jayvees are as tough as opposing varsities."

"The ladde r also keeps you up to date," says Mike Zuffoletto, ranked No. ~- "And it shows that you can accomplish some thing. You set a goal and shoot for it since everyone starts at the bottom."

Garth Weinstein, a freshman, is a good example of how the ladder works. He started las t season as No. 175, which is abo ut as low as the ladder goes. Through hard work and a lot of challenge matches, he peaked at No. 26 before fa lling back to 42.

"I have been a club player for seven years " he says, "and it was never as competitive a the ladder.

I got as fa r as I thought I would my first year, but the number of kids out for the team still blows me away."

And the numbers are precisely the reason Cherry Cr eek continues to blow their opposition away.

"Some teams lose their best players to graduation and then can't replace them," says Benson.

"But because we have so many talented guys, someone is always good enough to move up.

"Some people tell me their grandmother could coach Creek to a state championship. And I guess they're right. Sometimes it hurts to hear tha t. But we know everyone's gunning for us anyway. It's only natura l. We just hope we have what it takes to cont inue. " They certainly do. They have the numbers.

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Neil Devlin is a sports writer for The Denver Post.

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