The Drive, Vol. 1, Spring Issue, 05/13/22

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THE DISPATCH PRESENTS:

Spring 2022 www.thedispatchonline.net James Bowie High School 4103 W. Slaughter Lane, Austin, TX, 78749

Pride in Publishing

THE DRIVE

BASEBALL Pages 4-7

SOFTBALL Pages 8-11

TRACK Pages 12-13

Anthony Simmons

Emma Solis

Drew McGilton

GOLF Page 14-15

Leyna Huynh

TENNIS Page 16

Ramon Humphreys

2022 Spring Sports Magazine

Letter from the Editor Welcome to the first ever issue of the Drive! The Drive is a Dispatch Media production created to expand our coverage of Bowie athletics. Our goal is to produce a digital version of the Drive each sports season, fall, winter and spring to give athletes at Bowie a program-like product as a keepsake and a small memory book of their time at the school.

The content of the Drive was created and produced by Dispatch staff with lots of help from the Bulldog athletic department. We want to thank all of the spring sports coaching staff’s for their help organizing mug and team shots for this product.

As this is our first attempt at making a sports supplement, we are pleased that we have a working template to build further editions of the Drive in the future.

What started out as a preview-based presentation, has turned into a review of the spring sports seasons, but we are still very happy with what we have produced.

We hope you enjoy this edition of the Drive, and we pledge that we will continue to try to bring the best coverage of Bowie athletics to you in the future as we continue to grow our offerings to support the entire Bowie campus, especially all of the student-athletes who participate in sports at the school.

DRIVE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RILEY PAYNE

GO BULLDOGS!!

EDITORIAL POLICY • The Drive is a Dispatch Media publication and is part of the official student newspaper of James Bowie High School. The Drive is be distributed electronically to 3000 students and their parents three times a year in correspondence with the UIL sports seasons. A version is also available on the Dispatch Media website located at thedispatchonline.net.

• The Drive is an open forum for student expression. The Drive is not reviewed by school administration prior to distribution, and the advisor will not act as a censor. Content represents the views of the student staff and not school officials.

• The Drive staff works to avoid bias and/or favoritism. We strive to make our coverage and content meaningful, timely, and interesting to our readers. Our articles reflect our genuine objective of reporting news and will be held to a high standard of quality.

• We make every effort to avoid printing libel, obscenities, innuendo and material that threatens to disrupt the learning process or is an invasion of privacy. We avoid electronic manipulation that alters the truth of a photograph without indicating that the photograph is an illustration.

• The Drive leadership welcomes reader input. Please send any letters, articles, comments or corrections to bowie.journalism@gmail.com, call (512) 841-7825, mail them to 4103 W. Slaughter Lane, Austin, TX 78749 or drop them off in room F-203 with adviser Michael Reeves or any editor.

Letters must be signed, and emailed letters will require verification before publication. We will not necessarily publish all letters received and reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.

THE DRIVE STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Riley Payne

MANAGING EDITORS

Dimitri Silva Dylan Zellner

Special thanks goes out to the senior leadership team of the Dispatch for their support and help creating this new project. They are:

SECTION EDITORS

Sam Vane Ben Tillisch

SUPPORT STAFF:

Nick Wood Alex Edwards

Corinne Piorkowski Arushi Sharma Anna Holme Reagan Zuniga Sammie Thompson ADVISER

Michael Reeves, MJE

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PRIDE IN PUBLISHING

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SPRING 2022 www.thedispatchonline.net James Bowie High School 4103 W. Slaughter Lane Austin TX, 78749

THE DRIVE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 THE DRIVE

3

Mason Cuchia

Wilson Benesh

Patrick Collopy

Cole Miller

4

LF 11

RP 12

SP 12

RP 10

THE DRIVE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

Ben Merriman

Luke Jaynes

Trey Brown

Lucas Bole

CF 11

Matthew McGowan

P 12

Ethan VonQuintus

RP 12

Brody Miller

RP 11

Brandon Mallett

2B 12

RP 12

RF 12

1B 12

Danny Rodriguez

Jonathan Gonzales

Ty Kutac

Christian Garcia

RP 12

3B 12

LF 12

3B 12

Jayden Francis

Brendan James

John Bukowsky

Travis Starkey

2B

12

OF 12

C 11

C 11

Mayson Winters

Cade Urbanski

Greyson Ramirez

Anthony Simmons

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 THE DRIVE

SS 11

3B 12

SS 12

SP 12

5

Patrick Collopy Senior Pitcher

Jayden Francis Senior 2B

Brandon Mallett Senior Pitcher

Clayton Kershaw L.A. Dodgers

Mookie Betts L.A. Dodgers

Chris Sale Boston Red Sox

COACH’S CORNER

As a ball is smashed into left field, varsity baseball coach Sam Degelia makes the call to send the runner on 2nd base home to take an early lead in the bottom of the first inning.

Coach Degelia has been coaching baseball since the 1990s.

“I have been coaching here at Bowie since 1990, I was a freshman coach for a few years, and then the JV coach for a few years, and then for the last nine years I’ve been head coach,” Degelia said.

As time moves on younger coaches in baseball attempt to coach players with a lot of new drills and techniques.

“Don’t reinvent the game, I mean this game of baseball is pretty simple. You gotta be able to throw, pitch, catch and hit,” Degelia said.

“I saw a tweet this morning talking about young coaches coming in and bringing cones and ladders and you know things like that to a baseball practice which is good if it works for them. For me, I’m an old-school coach that in practice will consist of batting practice, pickoffs, PFP, which is pitches-filled-in position.”

When playing baseball the physical aspect is very important, but the mental game is another huge factor every player has to deal with.

“You can see a kid when they’re pressing mentally because then they just start swinging at everything,” Degelia said. “They’re not in the game, so they’ll start swinging high pitches, swinging at balls in the dirt. I don’t ever tell my kids to try to get a base hit, I say hit the ball hard and things will happen for you.”

While coaching the game of baseball coaches have the opportunity to teach kids lessons

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on and off of the field.

“You’re gonna strike out in baseball, you might lose a job at some point but how are you going to deal with it?” Degelia said. “How are you going to deal with it because there’s always tomorrow, what are you going to do, are you going to learn from your past and say okay, if I strike out, I gotta adjust. Well if you lose your job maybe why did I lose my job, did I not get up early, was I late all the time. In those situations, you’ve got to do something different. It’s the same thing, life, and baseball, they go hand in hand for sure.”

Degelia does what he can to give his players the best situations to be in to be successful on the field.

“We try to work advantages, you know, especially at the plate,” Degelia said. “We tell our kids to work counts. For example, if it’s no balls, two strikes you go into ‘Survival Mode’.

On the other hand, a count of two balls, no strikes, probably 70% of the time it’s probably gonna be a fastball. So we tell them to swing hard. Unless you know he’s got a curve ball that he might just hang within. I tell my kids you look at the fastball. If the pitcher throws another ball, now you’re looking at the fastball for sure.”

Degelia reflects on what he has experienced as a coach up to this point.

“I don’t think about myself too much or what I’ve accomplished,” Degelia said. “It’s really about these kids to me. I like to see them graduate and come back and catch up on the program. Some will even come to take some batting practice.” STORY BY Riley Payne

THE DRIVE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

Early Texas State University commit on his route to driving team to the top Riley Payne Drive Editor-in-Chief

School, but also just to win as many of our games in the district to have a shot to win district and also prepare Growing up in baseball cleats, us for the postseason,’’ Merriman junior Ben Merriman was a natural said. “We’re a top-three team in our on-base machine no matter if the district, so we will be in the mix combaseball was on a tee or coming at peting for the district title.” him over a hundred miles an hour on Merriman is one of few underclassthe mound. The Texas State commit men starters on the current varsity has eyes on the state title and is going baseball roster. to contribute in every way possible to “I think my individual goals for this achieve that goal. season are staying within myself and Merriman found love for the age of making myself a role model for the baseball at a very young age. team and just being able to lift the “I’ve been playing comteam with my actions and my words, petitively since I was five to ensure the team sees me as a leadwhenever you could first er,” Merriman said. join in leagues,” MerriMerriman will be entering his man said. ”Growing second season on the varsity team and up I’d sit down with has standards for himself. family and baseball “I think as a player and a leader, is what we would I’m looking forward to just leading have on every by example, and showing how to night when be a better teammate,” Merriit was on in man said. “I also hope I can the season. show the younger guys their Playing baseway around and do whatever I ball I just fell can to help them improve.” in love with the Merriman is very detercompetitiveness and just the mined to improve rapidly feeling you get when you get as a young ballplayer. to play.”

“Just seeing yourself The 2021-2022 Bowie grow with the work that Bulldogs boys baseball you put in and just also team made a playoff staying humble within appearance and yourself, keep it never finished 2nd in the getting too high or district. too low,” Merri“As a team, man said. our goal is to The Bullgo to state and dogs varsity bring a title baseball IN THE BOX: Ben Merriman readies for a to Bowie pitch. Merriman will become a Wildcat at team has in 2023-24. PHOTO BY Riley Payne High prac-

tice every day after school unless the team has a game or is competing in a tournament.

“Typically outside of school throughout the week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, I’ll either hit or I’ll do some throwing.

Then Thursday night, I normally work with my hitting coach and do some lessons with him. To wrap up the week I hit again on Fridays,” Merriman said. “With the team, I also have a practice before that consists of throwing, fielding and even hitting in the cage there at Bowie where I get some more work in.”

Merriman doesn’t have a capital C on his uniform but is looking to take on a captain role.

“As of right now I see myself being a very leader in the way of example,” Merriman said. “If you know, I’ll show you the right way to play and instead of saying how to do something. At some point, I’ll also become more vocal but that comes with time. I am just going to learn when to be vocal, because I think there are times to be vocal and there are times that examples are the best way.”

Bulldog varsity coach Sam Degelia was aware of Merriman before he even stepped foot onto the Bowie campus.

“I heard about Ben before he was even here, and I know he was a good runner at Bailey, like setting a mile record or something like that at a track meet,” Degelia said. “Ben has made some good adjustments, and he’s starting to hit the ball well, he’s starting to understand that he has to hit the ball hard.”

Degelia and Merriman both have

ties to TXST within the sports realm.

“I like Ben’s progression even with his injury setbacks,” Degelia said.

“I’m excited for him, He’s gonna go play at my alma mater. I graduated from Southwest Texas and I played down there to where he’s going. And so I’m happy for him.”

On the field, Degelia has a standard for all of his players just to do the job assigned to them.

“He plays well defensively, he’s fast and he catches a ball routine,” Degelia said. “That’s all you ask for players to do is make the routine plays if they make anything beyond that, and that’s extra like he made a little Ben Merriman diving catch last night that’s extra.”

Growing up playing ball Merriman has been playing with his current shortstop Mayson Winters for a while now.

“It’s nice having a certain comfortability around him and just knowing my best friend is out in center-field,” Winters said. “It just is a trust factor between us that’s beneficial for us to have.”

Merriman is known for his ability to go out on the field and lead the way by example “He’s a leader to me, I kind of look up to him like he’s a leader to me,” Winters said. “I look up to him because he’s always someone I and the team can count on.”

PHOTO BY Reagan Zuniga

MLB ROLE MODELS

Junior ‘Dawg leads by example

TEAM HUDDLE

WATCHING THE BASES: Coach Sam Degelia heads back to the dugout after warm ups. Before district play Bowie competed in tournaments in Dripping Springs. PHOTO BY Riley Payne

FAMILY RITUAL: Before every game the team warms up and huddles around Coach Degelia to give his final words before the game. After that a student-lead huddle develops next to the dugout. PHOTO BY Riley Payne

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 THE DRIVE

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Alyssa

Lusk

FR

BOWIE BULLDOGS

Emma

Solis

Feeney

SR

Matthews

FR

Pantalone

SR

Olivia

Moreno

SR

THE DRIVE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

Mia

Rincon

BOWIE BULLDOGS

German

SO

Taylor

Haywood

JR

Cassidy

McLean

SO

Julianna

Dankert

BOWIE BULLDOGS

Benton

FR

Keira

Rusinko

SR

BOWIE BULLDOGS

SR

BOWIE BULLDOGS

SO

Hope BOWIE BULLDOGS

BOWIE BULLDOGS

BOWIE BULLDOGS

BOWIE BULLDOGS

8

Kalyn

Anya BOWIE BULLDOGS

BOWIE BULLDOGS

BOWIE BULLDOGS

Kelly

Youngblood

SR

BOWIE BULLDOGS

BOWIE BULLDOGS

Valeria

Lauren

Rylee

Amidon

FR

BOWIE BULLDOGS

SO

Emmersyn

Villa

JR

BOWIE BULLDOGS

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 THE DRIVE

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Favorite pitches to hit?

Kelly Matthews Right Field

Cassidy McLean Center Field

Kalyn Pantlone Outfield

Fastball

Inside Fastball

Down the Middle

COACH’S CORNER

As the Bowie varsity softball team celebrates another trip to the playoffs, head coach Elisabeth Wissel will turn her attention to the next game, one at a time.

After closing out the regular season with a 12-3 in district record, the Lady ‘Dawgs ready for another deep playoff run.

The Bowie Varsity Softball team has players from every single grade, which means the experience level grows with each game played.

“Every player comes in and plays for us and in the beginning, I talked to them in the off-season around when we got out for Christmas break,” Wissel said. “We have conversations and we talk about what their rooms gonna look like in the spring so they know coming in they may not get a lot of playing time, but this is what their job is for this season.”

While playing the sport of softball the ball is in play for a small percentage of the game’s length, but when it is, the game moves very fast.

“We talked to the girls about checking in and checking out, you know, after a pitch, they kind of check out for a second to take a little mental break,” Wissel said.

“They look around, and that’s why you always seem like throwing up numbers, you’ll see them goof around and that’s just their way of staying calm. You can see

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when our pitcher gets ready, everybody else is in position and they’re focused.”

Some players tend to get in their own heads after a mistake or possibly a slump, according to the coach.

“You absolutely can see if a player is in their own head, because they kind of wear it on their sleeves and are not as competent when they go into bat,” Wissel said.

“That’s just maybe they’re not seeing the ball that well, maybe they made an error, and you know one thing I tell them is, hey, you’ve got to keep doing it, you gotta keep swinging, you gotta keep hitting.”

Bowie High School’s softball team has had a lot of recent success in the playoffs, including a 2nd place finish at the UIL state tournament in 2017.

“It’s always a goal of mine to just have a great group of girls that are understanding and are willing to try to do whatever it takes to win,” Wissel said. “Obviously, the long-term goal is to win a state championship, we’ve been close a couple of times. We were in the championship game a couple of years ago, but fell short that night. It’s always reachable now that we’ve been there, we know that we can get back.”

The team focuses on winning, but at the end of the day it’s about family and being teammates, according to the coach.

While leading the Bulldogs to a play-off berth, she committed to Galveston Riley Payne Drive Editor-in-Chief

the game goes,” Youngblood said. “While playing 1st base the stress levels decrease compared to being on the mound.”

Walking up to the plate senior Lauren During the recent recruiting cycle Youngblood is ready to duel any pitcher Youngblood decided to continue her softon the mound. A piercing sound fills the ball career at Galveston College. ballpark as Youngblood sends her second “I’m excited for the intensity that colno-doubt home run of the season over the lege softball brings because it’s its super wall. intense sport,” Youngblood said. “I’m just During a student athlete’s kind of ready to play with peocareer in high school, they ple that love softball as much have a chance to be recruitas me and that are good and ed by colleges. competitive.”

“I would say about like, Most varsity teams are filled a couple of years ago I comwith upperclassmen, on the mitted to working as hard current roster, Bowie has a girl as possible when I started from each grade level on the seeing that I could go someteam. where,” Youngblood said.

I think I’m someone that “College coaches started likes to lead by example in talking to me, that’s when ways like hustling, like doing I kind of realized I could go things that we’re supposed to Lauren Youngblood far and do something.” do,” Youngblood said. “I think Youngblood explained the people follow that just because emotional side of being recruited was like, I’m a senior and they know I know something that was difficult for her. what I’m kind of doing, not in a cocky “It was nerve-wracking at first because way. I also feel like I lead by example, too in softball you go to camps and then the like I think younger people will be like, coaches reach out to you or you’ll reach oh, like look how she does it when I’m at out to them,” Youngblood said. “Reachpitching practice.” ing out and emailing these coaches these Senior outfielder Kelly Matthews has formal emails is a little scary, but after been playing with Youngblood for the past college coaches started emailing you back four years of high school. and they’re sort of going to your game to “I’ve seen Lauren improve throughout kind of make me relax a little bit.” high school,” Matthews said. “She’s a Youngblood is a pitcher, but also hits very motivated player and dedicates a lot when not on the mound, a situation often of her time to practice to become a better known as a two-way player. She is on the player.” field every game, and plays first base when Matthews explains the impact of havnot pitching. ing a player like Youngblood in the locker “My hitting is probably something room.

I could consider like my strong suit,” “She’s a very vocal leader and makes Youngblood said. “Running is probably sure the team is always on task,” Matone of my areas I can improve the most, thews said. “She makes sure we don’t get but I’m a pitcher so it kind of balances in trouble and we’re doing what we’re itself out.” supposed to be doing.”

As a two-way player in softball that Head softball coach Elizabeth Wissel comes with the opportunity to shut down has been coaching Youngblood since her an offense while pitching on the mound or first year at Bowie. help the team score as a hitter.

“She’s gotten a lot stronger, she’s got“I prefer pitching in the sense that I get ten more confident and her mental game to control the game and I control how fast PHOTO BY Nick Wood

SOFTBALL Q&A

Youngblood readies for college experience

LAUREN YOUNGBLOOD STATS

SWING AWAY: Lauren Youngblood digs in the batters box for one of her first at-bats of district play. She has a .455 batting average this year. PHOTO BY Nick Wood

has improved tremendously,” Wissel said.

“I think that’s just with experience and just growing up as well, she was a fresh-

man on varsity. She has come through the entire program and is a great leader, she’s very determined to be successful.”

FINAL DISTRICT STANDINGS

PLAYOFF BOUND COACH: Coach Elisabeth Wissel has her team back in the playoffs and ready for another state run. The Bulldogs finished 2nd in District place this year. PHOTO

BY Riley Payne

THE DRIVE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 THE DRIVE

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TRACK TEAMS Strong finish in district for track

Sprints Sophomore Joshua Murillo competes in the 4x100 4x200 relay, as well as the 100 meter dash. Starting running in seventh grade, his favorite part about track is winning events and earning medals for first place finishes. At this time, Murillo does not plan to pursue collegiate track.

Senior Lyndee Lambert races in the 100 meter dash, as well as the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays. Lambert’s favorite part of track is the adrenaline that she experiences each time she races. Competing in track ever since seventh grade, Lambert is not planning on running in college.

Distance runners

Senior April Ikard began running for track and field her freshman year of high school. Competing in the mile, Ikard likes to push herself and appreciates the self-satisfaction of racing long distances against her peers. At this time, Ikard does not plan to take part in track in college.

THE DRIVE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

Individually, and in relays, many varsity student-athletes qualified for the Area meet.

Boys’ Qualifiers: Johnny Homsy - Long Jump and 400 meter dash Drew McGilton - High Jump Kyle Knudson - Shot Put Wesley York - Triple Jump Evan Macgregor - 800 meter dash Zach Kehler - 800 meter dash Dower Powell - 100 and 200 meter dash Jackson Hees - 300 meter hurdles Zach Munger - 3200 meter 4x100 meter relay - Johnny Homsy, Griffin Crawley, Joshua Murillo, and Dower Powell 4x200 meter relay - Griffin Crawley, Jacob Kastl, Joshua Murillo, and Julian Whitby Girls’ Qualifiers: Melanie Stamm - 100 and 300 meter hurdles Lyndee Lambert - Triple Jump and 100 meter dash Arianna Buduan - High Jump Ella Mcdonnell - Pole Vault 4x100 meter relay - Lyndee Lambert, Arianna Buduan, Brooke Pesses, Kate Oelkers 4x200 meter relay - Lyndee Lambert, Brooke Pesses, Kate Oelkers, Ashley Salas 4x400 meter relay - Kate Oelkers, Leeann Stamm, Brooke Pesses, Melanie Stamm

Senior Zachary Kehler runs the mile and 800 meter dash for Bowie track and field. Kehler enjoys being able to push his limits and redefine his capabilities through track.

Having ran track for five years, Kehler plans to compete at the collegiate level for Texas State track and field.

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Following a successful regular season, the boys and girls track team competed in the District 26- 6A Meet, running, jumping, and throwing against the seven other squads with the same goal.

A very competitive meet, the boys’ varsity track team placed third overall. Likewise, the girls’ varsity track team completed the meet with a third place finish. Additionally, boys’ junior varsity, boys’ freshman team, and girls’ junior varsity ended the meet finishing in third. The girls’ freshman team placed in second.

Field events Junior Drew McGilton has participated in track and field since seventh grade.

Excelling in high jump, Mcgilton additionally runs the 110 meter and 300 meter hurdles. Mcgilton enjoys the competition and hopes to later compete for the University of Texas or University of Oregon.

Junior Avery Deithloff competes for Bowie in the field for the shot-put event.

Her favorite part of shot-put is the relationships she has created during meets and practices. Having competed since her seventh grade year, Deithloff does not currently plan to throw at the college level.

Other running events Junior Johnny Homsy has been running track and field since sixth grade. His events include long jump, the 400 meter dash, the 4x400 relay, and the 4x100 relay. His favorite part of track is breaking personal records. is currently considering running at the collegiate level.

Senior Kate Oelkers competes in the 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400 meter relays. Having competed in track for five years, Oelkers enjoys running in the relays and being a part of a team. Despite her love for the track community and teammates, the senior does not plan to run track in college.

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 THE DRIVE

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FRESHMAN FLASHES Sam Vane Drive Section Editor

Miller has seen massive improvement and is excited for the future.

“Each week, I keep seeing our playThe golfer bends to his knees and ers shoot more and more in the 70s looks at the ball on the green, trying and just becoming more consistent,” to see if it goes left to right or right to Miller said. “Even though this is probleft. His hands sweating and his mind ably the toughest golf district in the racing. He breaths and hits the putt… state of Texas. You’ve got a three-time he sinks it! repeating champion in Westlake who This fictitious golfer could be any puts two teams into the playoffs, and of a number of people, but at Bowit’s really hard to beat them because ie three people, Colin James, Knox they have so many quality golfers but Cannon, and Michael Vienneau are with what we have as freshmen, sophall super freshman omores, and seniors, sensations battling we’ve got a good for the Bulldogs. chance to chip away at For any sport them this year.” losing seniors to “Each week, I keep One of these freshgraduation is tough men coach Miller is seeing our players and golf is no diftalking about is Colin shoot more and ferent as head golf James. He has been coach Sam Miller more in the 70s and playing golf competihas experienced tively since he was 12, just becoming more this many times. which took some of consistent.

“Well, last year, the pressure off him we had definitely for tryouts. quite a few seSam Miller “I wasn’t really too niors and when sure what to expect.

Golf Head Coach you lose seniors, Like I knew I was a it’s always hard, pretty good golfer,” because they’re the James said. “So I ones that teach the mean, I thought I would make a team younger players,” Miller said. “It’s not I didn’t know what team, so I was always me doing the coaching out on happy when I made varsity.” the course. Having older players is During the offseason, James always a benefit.” worked really hard trying to improve While losing seniors is hard it is his game, especially his driver. also an opportunity for new players “I actually have been working a to show their potential and what they lot on my driver and hitting the ball are made of. farther. So I’m gained about 40 yards “Well, every year, you never know in my driver so now I’m up to 280 what type of experience level you’re yards,” James said. going to get with incoming freshLike coach Miller, James also men,” Miller said. “Seeing this year’s believes that Bowie will do well at group of freshmen was pretty shockdistricts. ing. You can tell that they’ve definite“I think we’ll do slightly better just ly invested some of their early years because I think all the guys have just into golf and definitely gone in the improved in the offseason so we will route that is specific to just golf.” get a few strokes better,” James said.

GOLF TEAM

”

”

CHIRP! CHIRP!: Freshman Michael Vienneau lines up a crucial birdie putt at ShadowGlen Golf Club. Vienneau is one of a trio of outstanding freshmen Photo By Ben Tillisch

“I think I’ll do much better because hitting the ball farther is such a big advantage in golf and I’ve really improved in that.”

Another star freshman is Michael Vienneau, who has placed in every tournament this year. Vienneau has had to balance basketball with golf which has taken away practice time.

“Well, with basketball season coming to an end I have more time to go to the range and practice more often and I can hopefully improve a lot of aspects of my game, especially like with my driver and my putter,” Vienneau said.

For many first-year golfers playing at districts would cause them to crack, not Vienneau however as he is more than prepared.

“I think it’ll be a good experience.

I don’t think I’ll do amazing, but I come in with a lot of expectations. I hope I can do well and hopefully our team will place pretty highly with everyone,” Vienneau said.

Another freshman, Knox Cannon, has also played golf for a long time.

“I started playing golf when I was nine years old,” Cannon said.

Cannon has also been working on things during the offseason and wants to improve his score a lot.

“The most important thing my coach and I worked on during the off-season was consistency and swing plane,” Cannon said. “Districts is always the hardest course to play as the course is really hilly and theirs usually wind when we play.”

2021-22 GOLF TEAM : Top

Row: Knox Cannon 9th, Michael Vienneau 9th, Jake Cole 11th. Middle Row: Coach Sam Miller, Alex Payne 10th, Collin James 9th, Ari Scoma 10th, Sam Vane 10th. Coach Karl Lauer Coach. Bottom Row: Scout Carroll 9th, Chloe Yoo 10th, Leyna Huynh 12th, Arushi Sharma 12th. PHOTO COURTESY OF BOWIE YEARBOOK

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Q&A

Which Golf player gives you the most inspiration?

INTERVIEWS BY Samuel Vane PHOTOS BY Samuel Vane

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THE DRIVE FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

”

My biggest golf inspiration is Phil Mickelson because of how competitive and funny he is.

Jason Oh-11th grade

Rory Mcilroy because he’s pretty short for a golfer but he’s still able to win at the highest level.

”

”

Alex Payne-10th grade

Chloe Yoo-10th

Tiger Woods because he’s a classic and you can’t diss him at all.

”

Get in the Hole!: Freshman Knox Cannon watches his shot off the Tee at Morris Williams Golf Course. Cannon has been working hard freshman year to represent Bowie at the District event. Photo Courtesy Knox Cannon

Every team has star players, and every team also has new up and comers who will help the team greatly. For Bowie, those players are Knox Cannon and Jason Oh. Cannon, a freshman, is looking to improve even more after a strong fall season.

Cannon’s short game is his biggest strength and where he excels as it’s the difference between shooting 88 and 83. He has improved his long game as well, and his driver has gained massive distance in the offseason.

The other player to watch is junior Jason Oh as every tournament in the fall season he improved his score. Oh, who does golf training outside Bowie, has improved his overall swing and ball striking helping him shoot more consistent scores. Oh like Knox also has a great short game as his chipping is one of the best on the team and his putting isn’t too far behind. Oh, will look to break into the top five for Bowie.

The girls also have stars as sophomore Chloe Yoo is one of the best overall golfers in the entire program.

Yoo has great talent as her consistency and ball-striking are her strengths as she has scored very well at each tournament this year. A medalist finish looks to be in the works for Yoo this year. STORY BY San Vane

Team Results St. Michaels Tournament 3rd place Boys Hutto Tournament 3rd place Girls Hutto Tournament 2nd place Anderson Scramble Tournament 2nd place Boys District Tournament 7th place Girls District Tournament 6th place

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 THE DRIVE

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TENNIS TEAM

2021-22 TENNIS TEAM: Top Row: Lily Bourgeois,Hibiki Jige, Ezra Suez 9th, Evan McDaniel, Colby Lewis , Colin Doles, Satvik Raghunathan, Tristin Stine. Bottom Row: Ecaterina Sur, Stella Solaas. Natalie Dominguez, Karin Chiba, Andrea Abundis, Ryan Kohler, Cristina Canepa, Nicolas Ospina.

New coach leads young team from high in the sky above parking lot 40-40.

Satvik Raghunathan has practiced for many years, preparing for this moment. He had the advantage; all he needed was to score to win.

A breath of fresh air gave Raghunathan relief from the stress and gave him the confidence to throw up the ball to serve.

He struck the ball as hard as he could, and after a few return hits by his opponent, Raghunathan finally saw an opening, and after the ball bounced twice on the enemy’s side, he won.

“The team performed really well given the circumstances,” Raghunathan said. “We had a lot of seniors graduate last year, so we were definitely short-handed, but everyone showed effort, and we ended up doing okay.”

The team took a huge hit to start the season with a fresh new coach and many new players who hadn’t had much practice.

“Having a new coach was definitely a change of pace, but he has helped the team a lot,” Raghunathan said. “He has changed the way I play tennis, and I keep on improving because of his pointers. I can tell the other players have benefited from his help too.”

As district matches approached, the team continued practicing almost every day.

Raghunathan discusses how he prepares and his concerns leading up to the district matches.

“The worst moments were when players got injured,” Ra-

ghunathan said. My doubles partner got injured right before districts, which was frustrating as it caused us to under perform. Knowing this, I practiced almost every day to work harder like you would in any sport.”

Next year, the team shows promise for success with many returning players mentoring the new players.

The returning players also have mastered different skills helping them improve and beat certain teams and players they’ve previously lost to.

“I love our current coach, but I am still excited for a new one too,” Raghunathan said. “I think the new coach can show me even more than what I’ve already learned and I think just improving is always something to look forward to.”

After a successful match, the team meets at a restaurant where they celebrate their victories and eat the necessary proteins they need to continue outperforming other teams.

“The season was good overall, and even though tennis is mostly an individual sport, it was good to have a team to celebrate with and to train with. Eating after we won our matches was my favorite part and just bonding with the team in general,” Raghunathan said.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Vani Martinez and Ramon Humphreys practice in the new tennis courts above the parking garage. The tennis team lost a lot of seniors this past year but has made the most of it with new coaches and players. PHOTOS BY Nick Wood