Sister Act

In this day and age every student athlete wants to continue their sport at the next level, which is college. It’s rare for one member of a family to achieve that opportunity. It’s even rarer for two people to achieve it.  Rachel and Rebecca Ho are two Golden Valley graduates who have done just that.  Stars on the tennis court and in the classroom their success on the hard-court earned them both scholarships to the college level.  Rachel attends UCSB and Rebecca is a student at Washington University in St. Louis Missouri.

Both were stars at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita for Head Coach Josh Stimac, “Rachel was a fierce competitor which earned her a great deal of respect around the league. She was also well liked around the league on and off the court because of her easy going and friendly demeanor.” Younger sister Rebecca on the other hand, “was relentless on the court. Earning first team all-league for three years, two of which she was the foothill league individual singles champion,” said Stimac. Rebecca finished 160-13, engraving her name as the winningest girl’s tennis player at Golden Valley High school. “Rebecca is one of the most successful female athletes that ever attended Golden Valley”.

As the sisters had to learn on the fly and transition to playing at the next level, they both mentioned that they continue to use their same style of play from high school. “There hasn’t been any change in my stroke or play style,” said Rebecca. Although the Ho sisters bring their same savvy play style from high school, they still had to adjust to the higher level of competition. On the other hand, in some occasions you could get an early preview of what collegiate sports could be like. “The competition in college is definitely much more challenging, although there were a few exceptional players from the other high schools that presented me with difficult challenges,” Rachel mentioned. That competition in high school allowed Rachel important preparation for success at the next level.

The high level of competition wasn’t the only the struggle the two young ladies faced, juggling their academics with tennis was the most enormous task they're currently facing. “My biggest challenge is managing my time with school and also keeping up with other athletes who have trained just as hard, if not harder than I have” said Rachel.   Both sisters mutually agree how difficult the task can be. “It’s very tough to balance the two effectively” Older sister Rebecca mentioned. Of course balancing the two can be very challenging, but it is even tougher when you attend Washington University which is one of the top fifteen institutes in the country. The well-known UCSB isn’t exactly the easiest schools to attend either. The two sisters aren’t just achieving their goal of being a student athlete at the college level; they are going above and beyond by earning an education at two of the toughest and competitive schools in the nation.

By Nash Solimon

Toby Okunna Signs

Toby Okunna signed his national letter of intent  yesterday to Western New Mexico University. Okunna has only been playing high school football for 2 years but in that time he saw an opportunity that his talents might earn him a scholarship at the next level. " I have worked very hard for this from lifting at 6 in the morning before school to working out another 3 hours after school". Okunna looks to make an immediate impact on the team playing defense end and linebacker by hopefully contributing the Mustangs to a wining season.

by Nick Herrera

2015 Signing Day at Golden Valley

This year Golden Valley had 3 student-athletes sign scholarships. Zachary Bygum, a baseball player, signed with Dartmouth College an Ivy League school in New Hampshire. Vincent Hill, a baseball player signed with Midland University in Nebraska. Golden Valley’s lone football player that signed a scholarship was Nash Soliman, who will be attending Northern Montana State University.

                       

Zachary Bygum is second year Varsity pitcher for The Grizzlies. Zachary is a hard throwing right hander standing at a towering 6 ft. 6 inches with a fastball that can reach up to 88 mph. Dartmouth is a highly touted Ivy League school and Zachary’s 4.1 overall grade point average and talented pitching abilities is what convinced the Dartmouth staff to pursue Zach.

Vincent Hill also in his second year as a Varsity pitcher, has a wide variety of pitches that cause miss-matches for opposing batters.  With a devastating curveball and newly acquired slider that just breaks off the plate, Vincent has the perfect size for a pitcher trying to succeed at the next level.  Standing in at 6 ft. 4 inches he definitely has a pitchers frame and has plenty of  room to fill out in order to be successful as a college pitcher. Midland University is an NAIA school located just outside of Omaha.  After visiting the school Vincent decided that it was the right fit for him and his family, “I discussed it over with my friends and family, and agreed that it gave me the best opportunity to play at the next level.”

Nash Soliman had a solid season for The Grizzlies who had a rough time finding bright spots this season. With 25 catches for 400 yards averaging 16 yards a catch Nash wasn’t a standout but a solid player for first year coach Dan Kelley. Nash isn’t going to kill you with size standing in at 5’7 and 150 pounds, but runs excellent routes and has great knowledge of the game. Northern Montana State University has found what people call a diamond in the rough.  A tough kid with very promising skill set this is the perfect fit for Nash.  “I talked to the coaches and they liked my abilities as a football player.  I wanted to continue to play at the next level and this is a great situation for me.”

by Andrew Sabedra

Lady Grizzlies Take on Lady Vikings

A lot of times in the sport of basketball teams have hot shooting nights. On Tuesday night at Valencia High School the Lady Vikings took that to a new level as  they shot 68 percent from the field in the first half.  Due to their great start they put themselves in great position for the rest of the game. After the first quarter the game was close 20-14, however the Lady Vikings and their hot shooting propelled them to a 22 point lead at the half. Leading the way for Valencia was Ashlee Ane who scored 14 of her 16 points in the first half, Kenadee Honaker with 14 points, and Talia Roth who put in 12 points throughout the game. The Grizzlies (13-6, 1-2) were led by the trio of Destiny Monroe, Serene Tyus and Cherokee Cardriche who each scored six points. The lady Grizzlies look to even their league record as they  play Hart Friday at home while the Vikings(14-6, 3-0) will match-up against Canyon, at Canyon.

by Nash Soliman

Trying to Get Back on the Winning Track

Needing to get back on the winning track after a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Canyon Cowboys (63-59) the Golden Valley boys basketball team took on the Valencia Vikings Tuesday night at Valencia High. Things didn't turn out the way the Grizzlies wanted as the Vikings won 72-50.

Sometimes teams get contributions from an unexpected source.  On Tuesday Valencia got their from Jacob Tor who hit back to back 3 pointers to extend a 12 point Valencia lead to 18 heading into halftime.

Coach Dan Alon mentioned that "That's the key. Someone you're not expecting to step up. We didn't get that from our guys."

Even though Valencia got some contributions from players like Tor their regular players also stepped. Dakota Abbott  chipped in 15 points to lead all Viking scorers and Alex Sanchez   stepped up and scored 12 points.

Despite Valencia's lead Golden Valley kept pushing. Golden Valley players Bryce Tyler-St. Clair and Isai Jimenez scored a total of 35 points.

It may be just another Foothill League game, but these players take their game very seriously. Hopefully things are looking up for Golden Valley (6-9 overall, 1-2 Foothill League) as they head into their next game versus Hart on Friday. Good luck boys!

by Charisse B. Atherley, Jordan Wiegand, and Daniel Patino

Golden Valley Makes a Comeback

The last time the Golden Valley Grizzlies won a league opener was in 2009 and their 62-52 victory over the Saugus Centurians on Tuesday was a step in the right direction.  After defeating the Centurians twice in league last season it was very important for the Grizzlies to continue that streak as their league season opened.

"It was important because people didn't think we were going to do well in league this year," said junior captain and forward Noah Heinzman.

Earlier in the year these two teams met in the Burbank Tournament where Saugus came out on top 61-59.

On Tuesday night the Grizzlies knew Saugus wouldn't be an easy win.  Early in the first quarter Saugus jumped out to a 13-5 lead.  Paced by Caleb Grisanti's 9 points in the quarter.  The Grizzlies clawed their way back into the game by rattling off nine unanswered points to take a one point lead at the end of the quarter.

Leading the way for the  Grizzlies was Isai Jimenez who poured in 21 points.

According to Heinzman it was important for Jiminez to score a lot of points because the majority of the scoring has come from Heinzman, Bryce Tyler-St. Clair and Derek Schlossman.

"If we can get scoring from other areas it makes us more difficult to defend and we have more weapons to attack anybody's defense," said Heinzman.

It seemed like the Grizzlies were going to be down a point at halftime but a bank shot three pointer from Jimenez gave the Grizzlies a two point lead and a lot of momentum going into halftime.

After halftime it was all Golden Valley as Derek Schlossman led the way in the third quarter with a pair of three pointers that gave the Grizzlies a thirteen point lead heading into the last 8 minutes.

We went around and asked some of the players what they think changed and helped them win. According to Noah Heinzman "Our defense helped us win. The pressure and intensity coming from them helped significantly." Isai accredited it to "just energy and being more positive. We weren't attacking, and that's what we're really good at."

With a win like this expectations are starting to build up for Golden Valley. There's plenty in store for their future as a team.

by Charisse B. Atherley