Sole junior track star advances to state meet

The girls track team traveled to Abilene last Friday and Saturday to compete in the regional track meet.

Junior Arin Rice placed first in the 1600 meter race and second in the 800 meter race by one-one hundredth of a second and will represent Canyon in Austin next Friday and Saturday in the state meet.

“It’s always an honor to move on to state,” Rice said. “But I do wish that I had a teammate going on with me.”

Rice said that she had been sick earlier in the week and was skeptical about how she would perform at the regional meet.

“I was happy that I actually qualified, because it was actually a really bad day for me racing,” Rice said.

Rice competed at the state meet last year and placed first in the 800 meter race and third in the 1600 meter race.

“I expect to run pretty fast times at state,” Rice said. “I am hoping to break the state meet record in the 1600.”

Baseball crowned district champs, to face Rider in first round playoffs

The varsity baseball team completed their district season last Friday in Hereford. They defeated the Herd 12-1 and will play their first playoff game today in Lubbock against Wichita Falls Rider.

Juniors Grant Glaze and Jace Vessels rocked the mound Friday night with Glaze pitching the first four innings, and Vessels closing out the final inning.         

“It was good to go out with a win,” Glaze said.  “We just wanted to start playoffs off with a good start.”

 Senior Austin King said that they are not going to take their first round match up with Wichita Falls Rider lightly, but that they are going to continue to play their own game.

“They’re going to be a good team,” Glaze said. “We are confident and will have to play hard. We will just try to win the game of baseball.”

Softball mercy rules Caprock, faces Randall for second time

The varsity softball team faced the Lady Longhorns Tuesday night and run ruled them 15-0, making their district record 5-3.

“We played great against Caprock,” sophomore third baseman Jaci Castagnetta said. “We played with a passion, a purpose, and a fire to win.”

The Lady Eagles will travel to Randall today to battle against the Lady Raiders for the second time at 4:30 p.m.

“Playing Randall the first time showed us what needed to improve on and I think we have,” junior first baseman Kati Krause said. “We know what to expect for this game.”

Varsity tennis finalizes rankings, prepares for district tourney

The varsity tennis team competes today and tomorrow at the Amarillo Relays to finalize their individual rankings before district.

 “Amarillo Relays will be tough competition,” Coach Aaron Fuller said. “It’s probably the second toughest tournament in the panhandle behind the Sandie Cup.”

Their district tournament is April 4 and 5 at the Austin Tennis Center in Amarillo.

“I’m confident our district tournament will go great,” Fuller said. “I think we’ll surprise some people and win some divisions we’re not expected to.”

Ranked third in state, baseball keeps game-to-game focus

The varsity baseball team continued their district win streak by defeating the Dumas Demons 12-5 Tuesday night. They are now ranked third in the state.

“We’re not looking too much into our ranking, we are just considering it another number and will worry about it when the time comes,” senior Colton Baker said. “We feel confident about our team this year, we’ve been working hard, and we’re looking forward to showcasing our talents this year.”

The boys will face Hereford tonight at 5 p.m. at Connor Park.

“Today is just another game and we are just looking to go out and kick some Whiteface tail,” senior Austin King said.

Play-in game brings season to close

 

The varsity boys’ basketball season ended with a rematch against the Palo Duro Dons to determine which team would advance to playoffs. The Eagles lost 48-53, ending in fifth place with an 8-6 record in district play and a 20-12 overall record.

 

Canyon began their season strong with a win over Randall, and a win over the Caprock Longhorns, 54-39.

 

They then faced back to back losses by the Plainview Bulldogs and Frenship Tigers, making their district record 2-2.

 

The Eagles, however, bounced back with three straight wins against Dumas, Palo Duro, and Hereford.

 

The boys then faced Randall for the second time and came back to Canyon with a disappointing loss of 79-65.

 

The 5-3 Eagles moved on to beat Caprock for the second time, 61-42, but also fell again to Plainview and Frenship.

 

Canyon then snuck out a win against Dumas with a final score of 52-51 but  suffered a defeat to the Palo Duro Dons.

 

Canyon played their last district game in Hereford and came away with a 59-35 win. Their play-off chances were determined by a Randall and Palo Duro match up. After a Raider last-second win, the Eagles were scheduled to face the Dons for a third and final time in a play-in game. The fourth place Dons went on to lose their first round play-off game to Little Elm, 56-70.

 

“We were all really disappointed that the season had to end before play-offs,” sophomore post Dylan Douglass said. “We weren’t ready to accept that our season and time with the seniors was over.”

 

Lady Eagles grab post season spot, still reign undefeated

The Lady Eagles basketball team clenched a spot in post season play last Tuesday with a 46-34 win over the Randall Lady Raiders. They increased their undefeated district record to 13-0.

They faced Caprock last Friday and came away with a 44-32 win over the Lady Longhorns.

Continuing their winning streak, the girls went up against Plainview this Tuesday night. Canyon added yet another win with a score of 44-30.

The Lady Eagles will travel to Frenship tomorrow. Freshmen begin at 4:30 p.m., JV at 7:30 p.m., and varsity at 6 p.m.

Tennis springs into new season

The varsity tennis team began their district season last Saturday in Vernon, Texas.

The Eagles faced Burkburnett Saturday morning and defeated them 13-6. They battled the Vernon Lions that afternoon and snuck out a win, 10-9.

“Those were two big wins for us,” Coach Aaron Fuller said.

Canyon will travel to Texas Tech this Saturday to play Abilene Wylie.

Eagles defeat Dons, to face Hereford

The varsity boys’ basketball team defeated the Palo Duro Dons Tuesday night with a final score of 59-45.

The lead Eagles scorer was senior Will Tolliver with 15 points. He led Canyon, along with senior Isaac Williams, defensively with a combined total of six steals.

The Eagles battle Hereford at home tonight.

“We feel very confident going into Friday’s game,” sophomore Dylan Douglass said. “We’re hoping to hold our place in the district standings.

Freshmen begin at 4:30 p.m., JV at 6 p.m. and varsity at 7:30 p.m.

BCS, bowl selection need overhaul

 On Sunday, Dec. 4, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) released their official top 25 standings and matchups for all 35 bowl games. The rankings, conference championship results and several other factors compiled the final order and determined the teams who will play in a BCS bowl. This included the two who will play for the 2012 National Championship at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Despite No. 3 Oklahoma State’s performance in their domination over rival Oklahoma and their resulting Big XII championship, their first since 1948, it was not enough to sway the human components of the BCS, the USA Today coaches’ and Harris polls. For the first time ever, two teams from the same conference will play each other for a national championship. No. 1 Louisiana State against No. 2 Alabama.

Elsewhere, the Sugar Bowl features No. 11 Virginia Tech and No. 13 Michigan. Virginia Tech lost 38-10 to Clemson in the Atlantic Coastal Conference title game. Michigan sat at home while in-state rival Michigan State played Wisconsin in the inaugural Big Ten title game. Kansas State, Boise State and even Michigan State were better choices for the game. But because teams often do not lose ground in the polls when they do not play, the Wolverines stood firm while the Spartans slid. Bittersweet picks for this season’s Sugar Bowl.

The bowl picks cleared me of all doubt that the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division 1 needs a playoff system like every other college sport in every other division. Their bowl selection process also needs someone to step in and say “Here’s who’s playing. You don’t like it, tough.”

FBS football is the only college sport without a championship tournament or playoff. First and second in the BCS polls play for the title. All other teams play or sit at home on the whim of the games’ committees. Every bowl game has a group of people to determine who they want the most out of all the available teams. BCS bowls get first pick, followed by everyone else. Bowl games with traditional prestige, such as the Cotton Bowl, have more weight to convince a higher-ranked BCS snub than the Independence Bowl or the Music City Bowl.

However, the main factor with many prominent bowls comes down to the teams that travel better or are closer to the site of the game. Which school has more fans that will show up? While deserving conference runners-up should beat out other teams, money should not be the determining factor that manipulates who flies and who lies.

For the national title game, there are 59 coaches who get votes in the USA Today poll. Alabama coach Nick Saban and LSU coach Les Miles both get votes. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy does not. My suggestion is to use the AP poll for that third rather than half of the coaches to determine the entire picture.

California-Los Angeles (UCLA), despite a 6-7 record, will play Illinois in a bowl game. Western Kentucky, who finished 7-5, will stay home for the bowl season. UCLA played in the Pac-12 title game, so my theory is that the NCAA saw no reason to bounce the runner up from an AQ league championship. WKU finished second in the Sun Belt Conference in their third year as an FBS team. Yet despite their turnaround from a 0-4 start, will have to wait until next September for another game.

The BCS gives automatic BCS bowl bids to the champions of the following conferences (2011 champions): the Big Ten (Wisconsin), the Big XII (Oklahoma State), the Big East (West Virginia), the ACC (Clemson), the SEC (LSU) and the Pac-12 (Oregon). While most of these teams deserve a place in the BCS bowls, West Virginia finished No. 23 in the polls with a 9-3 mark, well behind 10+ win teams. Yet because of their championship, they pushed out other BCS potentials with better credentials.

Non-AQ leagues can only send their champion to a BCS game if they finish in the top 12 outright or in the top 16 and ahead of other champions of AQ leagues. One surprising stat is that non-AQ teams are 5-2 in the BCS, all against AQ league champions.

Overall, the system of giving bowls the power to choose who they want to play is bogus. They choose based on their own interests rather than on who deserves the better games more. The process to determine the national champion needs to switch to a playoff bracket like every other college sport and division. Even if it were only four teams to begin with, that would be a satisfactory start to let deserving teams prove why they deserve to play for the crystal football.

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