Stevens, Sholz among graduating athletes leaving big shoes to fill
It’s hard to believe that another school sports year has come and gone. It seems like just yesterday that young athletes were filtering in from the dog days of summer to begin practice in the summer heat for the fall season.
And yet, here we are. Another June and another senior class is heading off toward a bright future.
But as so many classes do, this one leaves behind some truly memorable performances.
Fall
What makes East Valley’s Chad Stevens special isn’t on ready display. To find it, you have to run almost a full cross-country race.
The senior admitted he came to the closing yards of the state meet on a November afternoon in Pasco running on fumes. That’s when he dug down deep and discovered just how much he wanted to win a state championship.
With a pack of runners on his heels, Stevens put on a burst to cross the finish line in 15 minutes, 27.30 seconds to capture the state championship, with teammate Scott Kopczynski in third place.
At Central Valley, Chloe Sholz more than paid her dues to earn the starting goalkeeper job on the defending state girls Class 4A soccer team. For three seasons she served as an able backup to starter Jessie Kunz-Pfeiffer, who was a four-year starter for the Lady Bears.
As the understudy she performed wonderfully, filling in when Kunz-Pfeiffer was injured and late in games that had already been decided.
As the starter, she helped CV to a 20-2 season and backstopped the team in a 5-2 win over Jackson in the state championship game.
Winter
Trey Meyer got the area’s wrestling fans in a tizzy before the school year began by winning a cadet national wrestling title – the first for an East Valley Knight. University heavyweight Tate Orndorff did the same by turning in great performances in a number of national tournaments.
By the time the final whistle had blown at the state wrestling championships, Orndorff had won a second-straight state title and Central Valley brothers Blake and Bryson Beard were state champions as well.
Senior Markus Goldbach won the state 182-pound championship and sparked Freeman to its first state wrestling championship.
Spring
Records fell in the spring.
EV’s Kopczynski defended the state track championships in the 1600 and 3200 meters he won as a junior, and he broke some long- standing school records in the process.
EV teammate Brittany Aquino also set a school record in winning the state 1600 title.
But one of the most impressive senior seasons in recent memory was posted by West Valley’s Mack Baxter.
Baxter was a good hurdler for three seasons, but for his senior year he took the advice of his coach, Vic Wallace, who told him the only way his times would come down would be if his strength went up.
So he hit the weight room hard, and by the time he swept both hurdling events at the state track meet, he wasn’t just the fastest hurdler in Class 2A, he was the fastest in the state, period.