The CHIEF November 2018

By Weiland Torkelson Running Towards State

Our student body is very proud of our three golfers who competed at the state level, including Griffin Nyi, Dani Grace Schrock and Ali Schrock. It was my pleasure to recently interview Dani Grace, who won bragging rights as the first- place finisher in the state. I asked Dani Grace how she felt when it was announced that she’d won first place as a freshman while playing against upper classmen, including her own sister. Dani Grace had this to say, “When I found out I won, I felt many emotions. I mainly felt happy and sad because I had wanted to win state, but I felt sad because I wanted to see my sister play well and win her senior year.” Dani Grace went on to explain that she was proud that her hard work had paid off. After all, “I practice every day in the summer and I take a two-hour golf lesson every Saturday. During the school year, after golf season, I try to practice as much as possible, but it just depends on the weather and how much homework I have.” Naturally, any athlete will feel nervous when competing at the State level. Dani Grace commented about that: “I was a little nervous going in because there are a lot more people at the high school level at State than junior high and also, this year they had a cut and so I was extra nervous because I wanted to make the cut so I could have a chance at placing in the top ten. The main way I dealt with my nervousness was just taking deep breaths and also by talking to (Coach) Brunner.” Clearly, the life of a golfer isn’t all relaxation; it is a very competitive sport that requires skill. Playing golf can be as nerve-racking as taking an important exam. It takes much patience and practice, and isn’t as easy as Dani Grace makes it seem. The PTHS men’s cross country team has been working really hard for the past few months. We have been training to make it to state since late May and will hopefully continue to train through November. The training and running has taken place around Pontiac. Our training has included many methods of getting better. We stretch, roll out, warmup, and cool down, in order to keep our bodies ready. We have to keep our bodies ready for the hard workouts that we have 2-3 times a week. The other days at practice we do longer runs (8+ miles) or tempo runs which are a longer run but at a fast pace. All the way back in May on the first day of summer training, Coach Lucas said, “Gentlemen, we know what our goal this year is.” By that he meant our goal was going to State. The team’s lead runner is Joshua Davies whose personal record is under 16 minutes. Davies placed 34th at State and the team placed 25th. By Jacob Orndorf Golf Interview