by Terrence Echols
The Jamesville-DeWitt Varsity Girls Tennis team has enjoyed a very successful run for past eight seasons, finishing either first or second in their league. The 2014 league champs continued their streak by finishing 10-3 and second behind Christian Brothers Academy in their league. They advanced to the second round of team sectionals where they fell to eventual sectional champion Oneida. However, their successful run did not end because nine girls competed in individual sectionals. Seven of the nine lost in the first round, but two, Jungyun Kim and Maya Pollock, made it to the state qualifiing rounds for doubles where they lost. Junior Katie Tzivanis went into the season very confident. “I expected we would win a lot and I’m proud of how well the team played,” she said. Tzivanis is also excited about all she learned in her first year playing and is proud of herself for making sectionals.
The girls are most proud of how well they played in their 5-1 win against CBA. “Everyone knows about the infamous rivalry; we were really excited,” said senior captain Julia Skeval. Even though she’s leaving for college, Skeval is optimistic about the team for the next few years; “we have a lot of good underclassmen on our team; they will be okay next year.” She was skeptical at first of how well they would do because of all the seniors they lost “(going into the season) I didn’t know how we would do.”
The Varsity Girls Cross-Country team has also enjoyed some success this fall. They have been victorious in all their meets, earning them a record of 5-0. “We’ve done really well so far,” said junior Hannah Butler. Junior Ally Street is very confident in her team. She believes the team can win sectionals this year if they can handle their biggest threat: Westhill. “I think we even have a good chance to place people on the podium at states,” says Street. The Lady Red Rams will be competing in sectionals on Nov. 7. “I’m excited (about sectionals), we’ve been running really strong,” said Butler.
The girls recently traveled all the way to the media capital of the United States, New York City, for a race. The race took place in Manhattan, with many teams from all over the country in attendance. The girls did well, finishing in nineth place out of 30 teams. “It was really fun,” said Butler who thought running the course was very difficult because so many people were competing.
The Varsity Boys Cross-Country team is working hard to improve their record. They are 1-3 in dual meets and are currently in fourth place in their league. “We’ve done a decent job this year; we’ve lost a couple heartbreakers,” said junior Nick Palin. Even though they haven’t been as successful as they thought they would be, the boys are proud of their effort at the Whitesboro invitational where they won every event. The boys look forward to sectionals which take place on Nov. 7.
The team may have a new star on the course, but in a different kind of way. Junior Mikey Yonta has now become a bit of an Internet celebrity. Yonta and fellow junior runner Pat Dye devised the idea to have Yonta fall and Dye record it. So during one of their meets, Yonta was at the part of the course where you must jump over bails of hay in order to continue on with the race. He found Dye, who was positioned with his phone in hand, and tripped on purpose, then took a few steps then fell over one of the stacks of hay. He got quite the reaction from spectators watching; most of them gasping in disbelief. Dye’s video on his Twitter account has gained about 110 favorites. The video was later posted on a popular running Instagram account where Yonta’s fall got 11,000 likes.