Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo courtesy of Matshots.com

Snow may not be in the air much this winter season, but there sure is success for the West Central girls basketball team. The Lady Trojans have a 10-2 record so far despite temporarily losing junior starter Hunter Matheiu and junior Brennan Ensz. Luckily, with all the other talent, the girls have been able to keep up with their opponents. Part of the success is coming from star players on the team, but a large portion can also be attributed to the leaders. Seniors Shelby Sieverding and Allie Macdonald take their role as seniors very well.

Sieverding is happy that she is finally a senior on the team. She believes that her role as a senior is to be a leader and keep the team free of drama. Sieverding shares, “I hope we keep improving and work hard every day in practice because we can always get better.” Once she leaves the team, she will miss the people in basketball and making new memories each day. Sieverding, for now, is planning to focus on school rather than let college track distract her.

Macdonald says, “It feels good to finally be the ‘top dogs’ of the team.” She has always felt like a leader but is glad that she’s finally at the top level. Macdonald expresses, “I believe the harder I work, the harder my teammates will work. I try to lead my team in a positive manner at all times. Also, I continue to encourage them even when everything isn’t going exactly right.” Her goal for the team is to make it to state this year. When the season comes to an end, she will miss the relationships she has made with the coaches, opponents and teammates. Once graduated, Macdonald is planning to play soccer at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

As the season comes and goes, the memories and friendships will always be there for these two senior basketball players, and their leadership might just bring the Lady Trojans further than ever expected.

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo by Brennan Ensz

This season has been a rocky one for the Trojan boys, with just two wins this season against Vermillion and Lennox. Even though they have only two wins, the Trojans have been in some really close games under new head coach Levi Tvedt. The boys have been losing by an average of only five points per game.

Last year, the Trojans’ only two wins were against Harrisburg. This year the Trojans have beat two good teams in Lennox and Vermillion. The Trojans pulled out a close one against Lennox by just one point for their first win of the season. Surprisingly, that was the first win against Lennox in three years. After getting beat by five earlier in the season, the Trojans went down to Vermillion to pull out a another win, this time beating Vermillion by eight points.

The Trojans have been very competitive this season by losing to some very good teams by just a couple baskets. The Trojans played at Sioux Falls Christian and lost by three points to a 10-3 Sioux Falls Christian team. They also played Madison, who is a 9-3 team, down to the wire, losing by five with some last second free throws. Then the Trojans went up to Milbank and played an 11-3 Bulldog team whom they also played down to the wire and lost by just 1 point. Milbank, in the end, made two free throws to take a one point lead with three seconds left. West Central came close, though. At the end of the game, the Trojans threw up a last second three-pointer from half-court and almost had it tipped in. The season so far hasn’t gone the Trojans’ way, but their competitive games have made the season nothing to hang their heads on.

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo by Jill Goertel

West Central has many athletic opportunities; one of the options that female athletes have to participate in is gymnastics. Over the course of the regular season the girls participate in 10 meets, all leading up to regions and state. Gymnasts can qualify for the state meet individually throughout the season or at regions. The state meet is in Brookings Feb. 17 and 18. As of now we have one gymnast qualified for state. Sophomore Libby Goertel will be competing in the state meet again this year. “I got really nervous last year at state, but hopefully since I’ve been there once before, it will be easier to just focus on my routines and not on my nerves!” 

Our gymnastics team doesn’t have any seniors this year,  and junior Brittainy Schmitz is suffering from an injury, so the team has had to pull up some younger gymnasts to fill her spot. Sophomore Libby Goertel and freshmen Amanda Pennock, Sara Waldner and Paige Hanisch make up the varsity team for West Central.

Unfortunately, Brittainy will not be able to compete at regions, on Feb. 9. She said, “I won’t be able to put that much pressure on it when landing.” Instead of competing herself, she will continue to cheer and support her teammates at practice and regions. She also wants to help them prepare for the last meet of the season on Jan. 30, so they can do their best.

She believes the team has come a long way as far as talent and scores. Brittainy said, “I think as a team we will do pretty well unless we don’t compete as a team.”

She is looking forward to next year and thinks there are a few eighth graders and freshmen that definitely have talent.

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo by Mike Smith

In the 2011-2012 wrestling season, West Central has been off to a very good start. Toward the beginning of the year we had many kids ranked in the top 12 for state. Still this far into the season we have three: senior Spencer Hastings, junior Brandon Pennock and sophomore Cole Tirrel. The team is coming up on the regional tournament quickly, and they’ve been training hard for it.

There have been a lot of injuries this year, and because of them, the team is at a disadvantage. This past week they had three kids get injured, but luckily the injuries have been minor. Hopefully before the regional tournament rolls around, all of the wrestlers will be in good shape and ready to wrestle. Despite the injuries, the team still has been practicing hard, and they hope to send the majority of the team to state.

“The wrestling has been good, especially with the circumstance we’ve been put in and with the challenge we’ve had, we’ve been able to step above that to become that much better,” wrestling manager Melinda Knuth said. “We have six opens this year and with a 14 person team, almost every kid has to win in order for us to win a duel, especially because we’ve moved into a new region.”

However, with all of the challenges that have arisen, there have been a few wrestlers that have stepped up, including Cole Tirrel, with a 20-1 record. “It is great to know that my hard work has finally paid off. That all the camps I did in the summer actually did something for me.” Tirrel said, “I had to push myself to get the record I have now; you can’t just work harder than the other people in the room.You have to work harder than the rest of the state. I think I have a lot of pressure because I’m always trying to impress my dad, even though I know he wouldn’t care what my record is. Being ranked in state is also a lot of pressure to where I have wrestled my best every match because people are going to give me their best every match, no matter what.”

Freshman Tayt Boeckholt is out with a concussion. “Well, the doctor said I didn’t fully have a concussion, but if I would have wrestled the next few days after that I could have possibly have gotten a concussion,” Boeckholt said. “The doctor said I’d only be out for a few days. I don’t think this should affect my future wrestling career unless I hit my head and actually get a concussion.”

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo Courtesy of Tracy Ketcham

While Friday the 13th tends to be perceived as a day of bad luck, the Lady Trojans were ready to take on the challenge by playing the Harrisburg Tigers. After losing their first game to Harrisburg 69-62, the Lady Trojans were prepared to face their rivals. The Trojans knew it was a big game for them; they needed a win to stay in the hunt for a conference title. The Trojans began the game with a 10-0 run, but the Tigers fought back to a close halftime score of 24-20, with the Trojans still on top.

After halftime, both teams were ready to battle again. The Tigers were on top almost the whole second half. Madison Kuehl surprised the Tigers when she hit a big three pointer to get the Trojans rolling again with 43 seconds left of the game. This put the Trojans ahead 41-39. The Tigers responded well though, hitting a baseline jumper with just 16 seconds to play. Allie Macdonald, for the Trojans, raced the ball down the court with a pass to Brennan Ensz. Wide open, Ensz nailed the game-winning shot with just 5 seconds left. The Tigers had one more attempt, but the shot fell short, leaving the Trojans with a 43-41 victory. Macdonald finished with 10 points, and Kuehl finished with nine points.

The 6-2 Lady Trojans will host the Dell Rapids Quarriers on January 17, and they will travel to Milbank on January 21.

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo courtesy of Matshots.com

The 2011-12 girls basketball season has been very interesting to say the least.  There have been many teams coming out on top that were predicted not to be contenders this season…one of the teams being the West Central Trojans, having only two senior leaders on the entire squad. The girls have found themselves with a record of 6-2, and not only beating their opponents, but beating them by double digits.

The Lady Trojans, being led by Senior Allie Macdonald and Shelby Sieverding, just came off a huge home win against the Madison Bulldogs with a score of 65-40. The Trojans were led by Macdonald, who is averaging 11 points per game.

“We have really turned our game around since our season-opening loss to Harrisburg, and are really looking like a potential front-runner when regions arrive,” says Macdonald. “We are looking forward to the rest of the season and hope to come out on top of our district.”

The Trojans will host the Harrisburg Tigers on Friday, January 13, for a rematch after a close and tragic loss on opening night in Harrisburg. The girls will look to move their record to 8-2.

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo courtesy of ESPN.com

The most exciting time of the year, for some people, has already rolled around in 2012. As the NFL playoffs began in the wild card round, NFL fans throughout the nation gathered around to witness the much anticipated excitement, certain to take place. On Saturday the Houston Texans took on the Cincinnati Bengals in Houston. Many expected a very interesting game, as Houston quarterback TJ Yates took on his counterpart, Andy Dalton, of Cincinnati at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Also on Saturday, the New Orleans Saints went up against the Detroit Lions. Detroit’s last playoff appearance dates back to 1999, and a few years back they were even 0-16 in the regular. It’s definitely no understatement to say they have come a long way in a very short time. This game consisted of a dangerous Saints offense taking on a very talented Lions defense. On Sunday two very talented NFC teams, being the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons, went head to head in New York. In the AFC Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos went up against Ben Roethlisburger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. This was perhaps one of the most anticipated games of the weekend as the underestimated Bronco offense took on the number one defense in the league.

In the Houston and Cincinnati game, both teams looked to be evenly matched. Home field advantage seemed to help the Texans, as they went on to win 31-10. The Lions appeared to have a great chance at beating the Saints in the next game. Even though they only had a lead at half-time, the Saints looked past that and stomped them 45-28. In the first game on Sunday, many looked at the Giants as a big underdog team. However, that was a lopsided game as the Giants took down the Falcons 24-2. In the last game, Denver had a 14 point lead going into half-time. The Denver Broncos ended up winning in overtime, 29-23 with a 1-play 80-yard pass from Tebow to Demaryius Thomas. This was a very exciting weekend of football as there were unexpected outcomes and close games.

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo courtesy of matshots.com

After losing only two players from the squad last year, the Trojans were looking for this season to be a good turn around from last year. Last year the Trojans were 2-19 with their only two wins against the Harrisburg Tigers. Even though the Trojans did not lose very many players, they did lose their head coach, Kent Mueller, and the person to take the open spot was Levi Tvedt. When asked what Connor Miles thought of the new coach he said, “I like him, he is fun and knows what he is talking about, and lets us be relaxed.”

The season started out with the boys basketball team going to Dell Rapids. They lost the game by 15, but that has been the only game with a double digit loss. The rest of the season so far has been losses of either one, three or six points. Miles thinks the Trojans need to start getting to the rim and rebounding for them to start winning.

In the last game the team went to Lennox and knocked off the Orioles, who were favored to beat the Trojans. The game started out looking like Lennox was just going to run away with the game, but after halftime the Trojans calmed down and started making shots. The game came down to a game winning shot with seven seconds left.

Trojan Tribune Staff

The West Central boys basketball program came into the season with a couple of new faces on the coaching staff, one being new head coach Levi Twedt. Twedt coached the junior varsity squad last year and had some success, but the job is a little different at the varsity level.

The Trojans have started off the season 0-2 with an opening night loss on the road to the #2 ranked Dell Rapids Quarriers, 64-49. It was a good game through the first three quarters, but that’s when the Trojans got into foul trouble, leading to a couple starters on the bench. The Trojans knew they played a good game and thought that without the fouls, they could be in contention for at least a conference title by the end of the year if they keep improving their game and making key baskets down the stretch.

The Trojans had their home opener Tuesday night against the Harrisburg Tigers. Harrisburg came into the game with a record of 1-1, with an opening loss to Vermillion and a win against Winner. There were 12 lead changes between the Tigers and Trojans. West Central looked like they were going to pull away with a victory at the end of the third quarter, but the Tigers had other plans as they outlasted the Trojans by three points to get the 53-50 victory.

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo Courtesy of Brandon Pennock

The wrestling season has started decently for the West Central team. So far, they have had three tournaments and several duels. Last weekend they had a tournament in Madison in which the team placed second and had some very successful individuals. There were four wrestlers from the West Central team that were champions Saturday.  These wrestlers are:  Jonah Rechtenbaugh, Cole Tirrel, Brandon Pennock and Aaron Welch.

Christmas is coming up soon and can either be great or terrible for wrestlers. If a wrestler plans on staying in the same weight class after Christmas break, they get a two pound allowance after the break. For instance, if they wrestle the weight class 106, they can weigh 108 for the rest of the year. This makes life a lot easier for wrestlers. However, if a wrestler decides to drop a weight class, it is extremely difficult to do during Christmas break. There are snacks, huge meals and a lot less exercise over the break. To drop weight over the break takes a lot of dedication and will power.

To top off the season before the break, the wrestling team had a duel against Vermillion on Thursday, December 15, at home, and a tournament at Madison on Saturday, December 17. The team won the Vermillion duel. Usually, the wrestling team doesn’t have a big student fan crowd. However, there was an unusually large student fan crowd. Wrestlers appreciate the support!