Photo Credit: Mrs. Walla
Senior Ryan Walla
December 1, 2011
Cyril Sambrano
Senior Ryan Walla plays varsity soccer. A veteran of the sport since 2001, Ryan participated in baseball and martial arts. After the soccer season, Ryan runs for the school’s track team as well. Ryan’s father used to play soccer as a kid, which got him to try it and eventually he ended up loving the sport. Freshman year was when he started to play competitively and improve due to hard work and a great coach who set the foundation for him. His coach taught him all the basics and helped him move onto a more difficult level of playing the game. Ryan expects this year’s team to do well as long as the players maintain good grades and get a great team chemistry going on the field. Ryan said, “We have the potential to be in the top three schools in our district as long as we make sure that we don’t lose any of our key players.” Outside of school, Ryan plays for the Mission Valley United (MVU) club, which is the competitive team for Fremont. He is the one of the captains of the club and hopes that he can be the captain for this year’s soccer team at Washington. During his freshman and sophomore year, Ryan played for the junior varsity team and moved up to varsity as a junior. He loves the fact that the school team has different players from different clubs bonding together as a team to show pride in their school. He hopes to play soccer in college and will definitely play for an intramural or club team at the college he will attend. Ryan’s favorite memory while playing soccer was when he was in Belize on a mission trip and was playing against the local team. He scored a goal as he got body checked by one of the opposing team’s players. As he was lying on the ground, he wondered why everyone was cheering when he got hit but soon realized that he had scored a goal.
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October 14, 2009
Kaylee Miu
1. 53 runners; 14 varsity
Cross Country is one of the largest sports teams at Washington, with 14 varsity runners. Though there has been a shortage of girls on the team in previous years, this season it is evenly split, creating a solid girls team. The JV girls defeated Mission San Jose Oct. 7.
“Our girls are stronger than ever this year,” junior Jessica Gerards said. With all returning runners, the girls varsity team continues to grow as a team.
2. Varsity Boys have won the league title for the past 3 years in a row.
For the past three years, the varsity boys’ team has had a perfect season; undefeated and owning the league title. In 2007, the boys’ team placed 4th at the North Coast Sectionals, and in 2008, they took 2nd, only 4 points shy of making it to state. 4 varsity runners graduated, but a strong team continues with new incoming runners.
With a tough loss of graduating 4 of the 7 varsity runners, most teams would be set back in league. However, the impact isn’t as bad for the huskies, especially with fast incoming freshmen and upperclassmen stepping up their game to fill in their shoes.
“Running varsity is a lot more fast pace than racing for CYO. Everyone is really focused and serious about running in general,” freshman Jessica yee said.
3. Roaming Practices
There is no set practice location for the cross country team. They typically run from school to Quarry lakes, approximately 3 miles round-trip, then once at Quarry Lakes, they then take a run around either “big lake” or “baby lake.”
“We easily run over 500 miles a season,” senior Ben Rich said.
4. More injuries than football!
Cross Country is classified as a non-contact sport, yet many runners every year are put on the injured list. So what’s going on? According to team members, calf, hamstring, quadricep, and shin injuries are frequent every season and require weeks to recover. So why run?
“I run because i love the exhileration and feeling of it,” sophomore Sameed Siddiqui said.
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September 28, 2009
Edin Cristofi
Being a cheerleader at Washington High School is not an easy task. They cheer at all school football games, home or away, and they practice for future tournaments and competitions. The girls went all the way to Santa Cruz Sept. 26 to see if their practice had paid off. In past sixth years, the girls have owned this tournament’s title. And now, in their seventh year, they’ve done it again.
“It’s worth working really hard in practice, as long as you come out on top. Especially because it’s my senior year, I want to go out with a bang and win all the competitions we have on our schedule,” senior varsity squad captain Shay Mozzetti said.
