ATHLETES TRY WINGS IN EAGLES' NEW AERIE.Byline: Bryan Winchell Special to the Daily News With no graduating class coming for a few years, athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic Mark Kemp Mark Kemp, a graduate of East Carolina University, has served as music editor of Rolling Stone and vice president of music editorial for MTV Networks. In 1997 he received a Grammy nomination for his liner notes to the CD Farewells & Fantasies is already predicting that new Lancaster High School's Eagles will be flying high by the turn of the century. ``I think we're going to a powerhouse in quite a few sports,'' Kemp said. ``The writing's on the wall. With only freshmen and sophomores on the varsity teams we have now, we're already competing at a very high level.'' Kemp points to the success of the boys' soccer team last season as proof. With only freshmen, the team finished 8-8 in varsity competition, including seniors on opponents' teams. The team could improve its record this season and will improve its name recognition when it hosts a 16-team tournament at the school in December. With only two grades instead of the four it will have starting in the autumn of 1998, Lancaster High's enrollment is not only young, but also only about half of the 3,000 students expected later. ``Right now it's a little difficult,'' Kemp said. ``But the kids are hanging in there. It'll be a huge step forward for them when they become juniors and seniors.'' By next season, all of the school's sports teams will be competing at the varsity level and in the Golden League. The boys' and girls' cross country teams, the girls' tennis team, the girls' softball team and the boys' soccer team already are competing at the varsity level in the league. The tennis team is coached by Stacy Bryant, former coach at Palmdale and Quartz Hill high schools Quartz Hill High School is a public, co-educational high school located in Lancaster, California. Founded in 1964, it is the third oldest comprehensive high school in the Antelope Valley High School District (AVHSD). and at Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. . She's hoping this year's Lancaster team can qualify for the playoffs. ``I'd like the team to get to the playoffs and see what goes on there,'' Bryant said. ``And hopefully within two years we can be league champs, and within three years we can do well in the playoffs.'' The team lost its first match, 14-4, at Valencia, but got scoring from Dionne Werthmann, who is Bryant's daughter; from Nita Reynolds, daughter of the assistant coach, Janet Reynolds; and from sophomore Stephanie Chang. The tennis team plays at Antelope Valley College, but most of Lancaster High School's teams already have their own home playing venues on campus. The school has a baseball and softball field, a practice field, a soccer field, a football field, a couple of basketball courts and handball handball Any of a variety games in which a small rubber ball is struck against a wall with the hand or fist. It can be played in a three- or four-walled court or against a single wall by two or four players (in singles or doubles games, respectively). and racquetball racquetball, sport played indoors by two or four players, combining elements of court handball and such racket games as squash racquets. It is played on a standard handball court 40 ft (12.2 m) long, 20 ft (6. courts. The school brings in portable stands from the baseball field to the football field. Kemp was hoping to have permanent seating for this football season but said the school is still working out funding with the city for next year. Lancaster High's varsity football team will make its debut next year. This year, the school is fielding a junior varsity team For the American rock band, see . In sports, usually at the high school and college levels, members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as a football or basketball game) are called junior varsity players. and two freshman teams. Kemp also expects varsity basketball competition next year for boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. . While the Eagles are young, they may not get to the top of the pecking order pecking order Basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank. For groups of mammals (e.g. , Kemp concedes. ``We'll take our lumps in every sport,'' Kemp said. ``But I think we're going to surprise some people.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Coach Stacy Bryant, second from left, talks with pla yers on her tennis team, all freshmen and sophomores, at Lancaster High School Lancaster High School may refer to:
Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion