HIGHLIGHTS VOLUME II, ISSUE THREE · TODAY WELL LIVED · OCTOBER 21, 2011thesportseditionTennis back-handed by Harvard-Westlake

Benjamin Hannani

Meghan McMurray anticipates the return from Harvard-Westlake team. Oliver Gallop

Meet the Captains

After a 17-1 loss to Harvard-Westlake on Wednesday, the members of the girls’ tennis team said changes will be made. The silver lining of the day came from sophomore Miriam Binman’s 6-2 victory, the only player on the squad to win a match. Afterward, Binman expressed that the team’s overwhelming loss served as a good wake-up call and that adjustments would be made.

“We have to take our practices more seriously and we have to focus on what we did wrong and improve,” Binman said.

Despite the disparity in scoring, Coach Mike Margolin saw improvement from the squad, particularly from the doubles teams. Margolin is keeping watchful eyes over his players’ growth and was generally pleased with the team’s performance. He also acknowledged the quality of the opponent and its influence on the match.

“I think the girls improved…[Today’s match was] good because Harvard-Westlake pretty much had a very solid team, so we didn’t really put out any weakness on the court,” Margolin said. “We’re just trying to see a little more improvement [in] every match we play out of our doubles teams, and we saw that today. I think the girls are able to see it because they’re playing against very good players, who are sort of doing the things we’re trying to work on.”

The match was Beverly’s first league loss, giving the team a league record of 2-1 and a ranking of second in the Ocean League standings behind Santa Monica. With less than two weeks remaining until playoffs, the Normans must sustain their second-place ranking in league in order to qualify for CIF.

Margolin shared that he is not necessarily concerned about the outcome of the

matches as much as he is about seeing improvement from his players as the progress through the season.

“We’re not trying to concern ourselves too much with winning or losing. We’re [focusing on] what level we’re at right now and ‘Can we make it better [in] the next match we play?’ That’s how we’re going through the season,” Margolin said.

This season has been particularly unique for Margolin since the squad was less experienced than in previous years. While teams from past years had ample tournament experience, Margolin recognized that many girls were going through “a new experience.” As a result, he has to conduct practices differently and adjust expectations.

“I try not to throw too much information out all at once, I try to go a few weeks at a time. In this situation, it’s just a little different because they don’t have the experience, but the practices are still just as rewarding,” Margolin said.

In spite of a young squad finding its way this season, Margolin was excited about the prospects for next season.

“I think that the obvious upside [to this season] is starting out inexperienced. Very quickly these girls are gaining experience, so it’s making the season still quite rewarding as the weeks go by,” Margolin said. “Looking at the future, a lot of these girls are coming back next year and they’ll have a whole full year of varsity experience under their belt that they could use next year.”

Results from the team’s match against Morningside on Thursday, Oct. 20 were unavailable as of press time. The team’s next match is at Inglewood on Monday, Oct. 25.

Water Polo Co-Captain Cross-Country Co-Captain

DillonSilversteinSeniorHeight: 6 feet

Before each game, Silverstein uses a band to stretch.

In order to mentally prepare, Silver-stein “listen[s] to this song on [his] goalie’s iPod called ‘Faded,’” by dubstep group Mt. Eden.

He is looking to break the Norman assist record.

Silverstein captains boys’ varsity water polo with senior Zak Zukoski, who will be featured in the next edition.

Josh GalenSeniorGalen’s favorite Gatorade flavor is lemon-lime.

His pre-meet ritual is to “take a bath before, and then...listen to some classical music.” It gets him “really pumped.”

He is a self-proclaimed “tall 5 foot 6.”

Galen’s favorite course is “Mt. SAC…because it’s fast…like everyone goes really fast, and also there’s a lot of competition, and everyone’s cheering the whole entire time.”

This is his fourth year on the varsity cross-country team. Last year, Galen “ran like 16 [minutes] flat” for a three-mile run.

On Friday, Oct. 14, the Nor-mans played a victorious game of football against the Haw-thorne Cougars, overpowering them 42-7.

The team is tied for first place in Ocean League along with archrival Santa Monica.

Running back Frank Brown had a season-high of three touchdowns. Quarterback Cam-eron Countryman, wide receiver Willie Green and tight end Mad-ison Moore had one touchdown each. Kicker Dylan Fussman also converted on all of his PAT kicks contributing a total of six points.

Head Coach Donald Paysinger was impressed with the team’s ability to keep the Cougars down to seven points the entire game as opposed to Hawthorne’s aver-age of 24.

“As a team, we played really well,” Paysinger said.

Paysinger believes that the first games of the season are always some of the most important games; their victory benefitted the squad mentally. The win sends a message out to the rest of the league: the Normans are ready to play.

As a result of the game, Green, wide receiver Brodric Smith and linebacker Austin Towns suc-cumbed to injuries. They are not expected to play in the team’s upcoming game against archri-val Santa Monica, a bigger op-ponent.

Paysinger believes Santa Mon-ica has one of the better running teams in the league and Beverly will have to work hard to keep up.

The team is set to clash with the Vikings this Friday, Oct. 21.

thesportsedition HIGHLIGHTS · VOLUME II, ISSUE THREE · TODAY WELL LIVED · OCTOBER 21, 2011

thesportsedition staff

Ryan Feinberg, Benjamin Hannani, Danny Licht, Mallika Sen, and Arman Zadeh

advisersGaby Herbst and Katie Murray

beverly hills high school241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Missing ‘60s cheerleaderexpected to return soon

It was a dark and stormy October afternoon, before the football field got lights. It also happened to be the darkest homecoming in Beverly Hills High School’s history.

The entire school was “really just psyched out” for the event, but “something really kinda weird happened, you know,” former Beverly student Dennis Jardine, class of ‘61, said.

Cheerleader Carri Sigrant’s sole desire was to become homecoming queen, and the only thing standing in her way was archnemesis, Rhonda Davidson.

The two “didn’t get along too hot,” Jardine explained. “One was always taking the other’s super-groovy dance moves or stealing a crazy, catchy anti-war slogan.”

Furthermore, a week prior to the game, Sigrant’s ex-boyfriend Biff Green began to date Davidson, refueling their rivalry—their dark, dark rivalry.

“It all happened in the locker room, where my sweet Carri went and got herself missing,” Davidson said. “We were just playing around and arguing with some petty things, like scissors.”

The two were co-captains of the cheerleading team, and were changing out of their uniforms and into their taffeta gowns, each bracing themselves for victory-—sweet, sweet victory—over the other.

“We shared hugs and kisses, and then I left the room and told her I’d see her later. And I’m so certain that it was just her and me in there. No one else saw,” Davidson continued.

Fellow cheerleader Donna Winters, however, begs to differ.

“I saw, I saw. I know I saw. I definitely did, and I promise,” Winters, who is currently being treated at a local mental hospital, said.

“Calm, now,” Davidson, who was visiting her “dear old friend,” hushed. “Everything’s okay.”

Rumors from the fatal day spread quickly because a loud rumble was heard from the girls’ locker room across the campus.

Many hypothesize that, while Sigrant was leaving, she made a great ruckus and used her scissors to splatter her own blood across the room.

Davidson, whose father was a prominent figure in district politics, is “really still so effected by the event.”

In fact, she has recently started to see a therapist to cope with her post-traumatic stress of “losing a beloved friend.”

She went on to win the crown unopposed, and she mentioned her “beloved friend” in the speech.

“I am so sad that she couldn’t be here right now. She probably just did something stupid and is hiding in a covered hole up by Runyon Canyon or something. I wish my beloved friend were here to see me,” Davidson tearily proclaimed, according to the transcript printed in Highlights.

After a few minutes, Davidson ran back to the stage and screamed, “I’m sure she’s alive and well!”

When she had not been seen for a few months and all hope was lost of finding the girl, a memorial was erected on the football field.

In August, however, when the football team realized that they would need the center of the field, where the monolith was placed, it was taken down and placed in a storage room.

Since then, around the time of homecoming each year, “strange things have been a-happening,” former school janitor Jenkins Fritz said.

“There was this one time when I was just locking up the school, ending my day with the locker room, and I swear to the heavens that I saw the ghost of that poor girl. She told me, I tell ya, that that she’d come back for revenge of some sort on her 50th

deathaversary.”That day is coming, Normans. Stay

inside, and stay away from the football field. Strange things will a-happen.

as told by Danny Licht

Football triumphs over Hawthorne Cougars

Arman Zadeh

OCTOBER 14OVERVIEW

THREE TOUCHDOWNSby Frank Brown

TOUCHDOWN by Willie Green

TOUCHDOWNby Madison Moore

Friday, October 21 : Var-s i ty Boys Footba l l vs Santa Monica, 7 :00 p.m. Vars i ty Boys Water Po lo vs E l Se-gundo, 3 :00 p.m. Satur-day, October 22 : Jun ior Vars i ty G i r ls Vo l leyba l l @ Va l ley Chr is t ian Tourna-ment , t imes TBA. Vars i ty c r o s s -c o u n t r y @ Mt. SAC In-v i t e , 1 2 : 0 0 p . m . T u e s -day, Oc-tober 25 : Vars i ty G i r ls Vo l leyba l l vs Santa Monica, 3 :15 p.m. Jun ior Vars i ty G i r ls Vo l leyba l l vs Santa Monica, 4 :30 p.m. Frosh/Soph Gi r ls Vo l leyba l l vs Santa Monica, 4 :30 p.m. Vars i ty G i r ls Tenn is @ In-g lewood, 3 :00 p.m. Ju-n ior Vars i ty G i r ls Tenn is @ Ing lewood, 3 :00 p.m. Wednesday, October 26 :

Vars i ty G i r ls Vo l leyba l l @ Ing lewood, 3 :15 p.m. Ju-n ior Vars i ty G i r ls Vo l leyba l l @ Ing lewood, 4 :30 p.m. Vars i ty G i r ls Tenn is vs San-ta Monica, 3 :00 p.m. Jun ior Vars i ty G i r ls Tenn is @ Santa Monica, 3 :00 p.m. Thurs-day, October 27 : Jun ior Vars i ty Boys Footba l l @ In-g lewood, 5 :00 p.m. Frosh/

Soph Boys F o o t -ba l l @ I n g l e -w o o d , 3 :00 p.m. F r i d a y , O c t o b e r 28 : Var-

s i ty Boys Footba l l vs Ing le-wood, 7 :00 p.m. Vars i ty Boys Water Po lo vs Ing le-wood, 3 :00 p.m. Satur-day, October 29 : Vars i ty G i r ls Vo l leyba l l @ Chadwick Tournament , t imes TBA. Ju-n ior Vars i ty G i r ls Vo l leyba l l @ Nor th Tournament , t imes TBA. Frosh/Soph Gi r ls Vo l leyba l l @ Va l ley Chr is-t ian Tourney, t imes TBA.

Homecoming gameon October 28 vs.

Inglewood 7:00 p.m.

Upcoming games