Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2000, Page 215

Description:	Carmel.The victory meant more work, as well as anopportunity to compete for a national title.While spending numerous hours in preparationeach day, the group began in April and May to finalizetheir plans for the National competition in Spokane,Washington.With Head Coach Mrs. Janet Nichols,special education, Assistant Coaches Mrs. CindyKvale, science, and Mrs. Beth Wolfe, science, andthree other adults the 14-member Purple teamleft on May 17 for National.Traveling together on the long and tiring flightsaided the team in its bid to finish high at National; itimproved their ability to work together understress.It was a lot of fun to compete inthe National competition, and it wascertainly fun to travel across thecountry and meet so many newpeople from places like Alaska! It wasalso great to travel together as a teambecause it built up a great sense ofteam unity that gave us an addedadvantage. None of this would havebeen possible, though, without suchgreat coaches pulling and pushingeverything together. It was also reallygreat to compete with partners aswell as individually, because thats anaspect you dont see in many sports,senior Sarah Mackenzie said.The team came out of the 23event-competition with an overallplace of I Ith out of the 54 teams whoparticipated.The team placed secondin both Tower Building (senior Jordan Garner andjunior Doug Miller) and Reptiles and Amphibians(senior John McClement and junior Emily Moran).Also, with an outstanding fourth-place finish wasthe Cant Judge a Power team, which consisted ofMackenzie and Moran.With a surprising finish of eighth in the Cow-A-Bungee competition, junior Parker Collins said, Itwas very exciting to place eighth, and I must say itfar exceeded our expectations going into thecompetition. I had a great partner (McClement) towork with also.Coming home with amazing scores and awonderful sense of team unity, the team finally hadtime to relax, settle down with their awards andrevel in their feeling of satisfaction of a job welldone, by Jessee HahnJunior Lauren Demmingsits atop her bikealongside senior DanMcGregor, junior JohnKeenan and senior AdamI Hale. Coach NormHouze was helping them% prepare before thethe IssuePhoto courtesy ofSolar Bike TeamRelentless, hardworking, dedicated and time-honored are only a few of the many words used todescribe the Solar Bike Team. With spring drawingto an end and most sports ending as well, the teamstepped up on the training and encouraged eachother to drive themselves to their limits inpreparation for National competition in May.Driving the long and lonely stretch in aseemingly cramped yet cozy van all the way toTopeka, Kansas, the team arrived on Thursday, May18 and commenced setting up and getting ready forthe race on Sunday. Sharing some of the same teammembers and coaches as the Science Olympiadteam along with the same competition weekend,the two teams were forced to fly members andcoaches between events, which caused an addedaura of stress and excitement.With this extra stress factor, some people wereforced to alter their schedules. The morningbefore the race I slept in and didnt get anybreakfast and during my one and only pit stop in therace, I got horrible cramps in mybooty, and the coach made me eatlots of bananas. It was the worstfeeling I have ever had except when Ibroke my collar bone last year inNationals, senior Andy Hart said.The four girls, junior LaurenDemming, freshmen Liz Keenan andEvann Smith and eighth grader MauraRatcliff, placed first in the two-partrace, leaving the second place girlsteam in the dust, who trailed aboutfive laps behind them.The boys,seniors Adam Hale, Dan McGregor,junior John Keenan and sophomoreJacob Sinex, were amazing as well,placing second in the race.An almost perfect record and aflawless reputation for excellencehave always preceded the Solar BikeTeam. In years past they have taken both first andsecond place spots in National and World races.Keeping up with this reputation can seem bothintimidating and inspiring at the same time.This is my first year cycling competitively, and itwas both motivating and scary because it felt like Ihad to live up to this great reputation of excellencethat the team had set in past years, but yet it pushesyou to do your best and beyond as well.You alwaysride better when you know someone is watchingyou, freshman Evann Smith said.After the spectacular finale, the team preparedfor the immense task of raising $25,000 to pay forthe teams trip to Japan this summer to compete inthe World Solar Bike Race, by Jessee HahnMrs. Cindy KvaleBrettVyTiite215
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/6727
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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