Nordic Skiing

Nordic skiers look to senior returners Pat Madden and Bella Smith, both previous state champions, to lead the way.

“I think we will do just as good as last year,” said Mel Hopkins. “The Storm has a strong returning team pushing for another Oregon High School Nordic League (OHSNO) state title.”

Keelin Moehl and Mackenzie Naffziger placed seventh and tenth overall at the two-day state meet last year while Danny Coil and Mike Widmer placed fourth and fifth for the boys.

The Storm hosts the first race of the season Dec. 19 at Mt. Bachelor.

“We do not have as much competition from local schools,” said Hopkins. “Redmond and a Washington schools probably will pose the biggest threat.”

Basketball

The Summit boys won their first Aloha Tournament game, 65-45 over Centennial, on Dec 4. Junior post Mitchell Wettig led the Storm with 15 ponts. The squad fell to Aloha with a score of 56-48 the next day, despite 11 point scores from Justin Huckins and Jesse Heinly.

Summit went 12-11 overall last year, with a league record of 6-8, finishing fifth in the IMC.

The boys basketball team returns a strong core of senior players including Huckins, Heinly, Matt Meagher, Cody Absalon and Brandon Norby.

“We hope to win the IMC, make the state tournament, and win the preseason tournament,” said senior post Matt Meagher. “Our strengths are speed and quickness, three-point shooting and our defense, but a weakness is our lack of height.”

The girls basketball team fell in the first round of the Aloha Tournament, 31-23 to Forest Grove. Jesse Luersen led with 12 points.  Grant High School beat the Storm 58-44 the next day despite Luersen’s team high of 13 points. Sophomore Sarah Edwards added eight points.

“This is going to be a special year for us,” said girls basketball coach Ryan Cruz. “After finishing top of the IMC and sixth in the state last year we have a lot to live up to, but I know we can do it.”

“Our game strategy is going to be different this year,” said senior captain Jesse Luersen. “We are going to be faster and that will make up for not having Taylor [Pierce, who is out due to injury], and we also have some talented posts that will step it up.”

Senior returners for the team include captain Jesse Luersen, Becky Defoe and Breanna Wilson.

“We know we have different personnel then we did last year, and we definitely lost some key players,” said Parr, a returning varsity starter. “But the team is faster then we were last year and everyone is getting excited because we want to make this a great season and finish better then we did last year at state.”

Wrestling

The ever-expanding Storm Wrestling Team, which now includes more than 50 athletes, celebrated its first tournament win in school history, topping the 12-team competition in Springfield.

Sam Walker (125 pounds), Conner Rueth (130) and Eric Thompson (135) all finished first in  their respective brackets.

“I’m really excited about the season,” said Thompson. “For the first time, our team has lots of depth, so we won’t face too many forfeit situations.”

Nathan Guyer

Sports Editor

Repeating last years successes, both boys and girls cross country teams climbed their way to IMC titles.

Bend’s Pine Nursery hosted the 5000m district race on Halloween Day. It was a Storm sweep for the boys and girls.

Megan Fristoe came in first in the girls race, posting a time of 18:59.9. Next came Eirann Cohen, Sara Fristoe, and Kira Kelly who came in third, fourth and sixth respectively.

“Coming into this year I knew we had an intimidating team,” said Veronica West. “I think we got better from last year.”

Pat Madden took home first place in the boys race, a feat he had been fighting for since his freshman year. Madden placed second in districts his freshman and junior year and seventh his sophomore year. As a senior, he brought home the title with a time of 16:44.2.

Close behind him was freshman runner Travis Neuman, who was awarded second, placing just three tenths of a second behind Madden. Other runners in the top five included Cameron Clark and Mike Widmer.

“It was fun to run with Cameron and Travis at Districts and I was very happy to win,” said Madden. “We also got less points than the girls, which was cool.”

Finally the teams test of their dominating season came at the state meet on Nov. 7.

The girls proved they deserved the state title after beating out second place finisher Crescent Valley by more than 50 points. Megan Fristoe’s 18:52 finish brought her the individual state title, followed by Schueler (fourth), Cohen (sixth) and Brit Oliphant (seventh).

Led by Neuman’s ninth place finish, the boys were able to finish third at state. Madden was unable to hold off Neuman as he did at districts, finishing 12th with a time of 16:38, just four seconds behind Neuman. “Throughout the season, he just got closer to me every every race,” said Madden about Neuman’s  impressive performance.

Next for the Storm was Clark (27th), Widmer (38th), and Ryan St. Clair (51st).

Back on Oct. 17, the team traveled to Portland for the Puma Inivitaional. Megan Fristoe came in first for the Storm and finished 13th overall with a time of 19:26.3. In the elite varsity category, the girls were awarded second place, behind Jesuit.

Led by Madden’s 21st place finish at Puma, the boys elite varsity ran to a fifth place overall finish. Neuman trailed just four seconds behind Madden with a time of 16:29.2.

The Storm made their final season appearance in Boise, Idaho to compete in regionals. The boys ran in an open varsity race, and came out in first place over 32 other teams across the northwest. Because of their national ranking, the girls qualified for the championship race and placed eighth.

“I was happy with my performance this year, especially because my personal record was over a minute faster than last years,” said West. “Next year I hope to improve again and get my time under 21 seconds.”

“When I was in eighth grade, I remember wanting to come and run for Summit,” said Madden. “These four years went by really quickly and I will miss the team.”