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MIRA LAING/ LA VISTA
BALLIN: Mira Costa baseball player Michael Rumpp practices pitching after school. Rumpp was
one of the Costa baseball players interviewed during the administration’s review of the program.
BY TAYLOR ST. GERMAIN
NEWS EDITOR
Mira Costa baseball coach Cassidy Ol-son has been restricted from coaching the baseball program until March 25, follow-ing a review by the Costa administration of the coaching tactics used by the coaches of the team.
Mira Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale, Vice Principal Ian Drummond, Athletic Director Don Morrow and assistant coaches inter-viewed each member of the baseball team after receiving multiple complaints from parents of current and former players of verbal and physical abuse.
Olson returned to coaching on Dec. 17 after being restricted from contact with players for over a month. He will be al-lowed to practice with the team until 3 p.m. but will not be permitted to attend games, scrimmages or tournaments.
“This is a personnel issue and, therefore, I cannot comment on the suspension at this time,” Dale said.
Dale proposes AP changesBY JOANI GILLAM
EXECUTIVE NEWS EDITOR
Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale proposed a revised policy regard-ing access to Advanced Place-ment and Honors classes on Dec. 4 that proposes to change the pre-requisite and waiver policies and eliminate commitment forms.
s u b m i t -ted to the Manhat -tan Beach U n i f i e d S c h o o l D i s t r i c t Board of Trustees yet, as Dale is revising his original AP policies after receiving general teacher disapproval at the Dec. 12 depart-ment meeting.
“I considered all the conversa-tions I’ve had with guidance coun-selors, AP teachers and the Board in order to get input,” Dale said. “I want to revise the entire [AP] system at Mira Costa: access, the right kids in the class and the ap-peals process in order to get the right approach for students.”
Among Dale’s eight bullet-pointed proposals is a six-week add/drop period, where students would be able to decide whether
drop out. Students can also add advanced classes to their sched-ule after the school year begins.
Another component of the new policy is the implementation of uniform assessment tests, which
would be devel-oped by each de-partment and taken by students who wish to waiver into an advanced class.
“The propos-als are pandering to a misplaced priority,” AP Government teacher Glenn Marx said. “The proposals advocate a feeling of open access which doesn’t exist right now.”
Dale is unable to release a date
Honor changes at this time.“The past policies for AP class-
es just weren’t working,” Dale said. “As of now, our goal is to make policy changes before the publication of the course hand-book next year.”
DECEMBER 21, 2012
1401 ARTESIA BLVD.
MANHATTAN BEACH, CA
90266
VOL. LXIII WWW. LAVISTAMCHS.COM ISSUE 4
“I directed coach Olson to have no con-tact with players or parents during the re-view,” Dale said in an e-mail to parents on Dec.18. “Assistant coaches under the direction of Coach Morrow managed the sixth period workouts.”
e-mail to parents that the administration did -
cal or emotional abuse, though reasons for the suspension are unavailable.
“I am extremely grateful to Coach Mor-row and Mr. Drummond for thoroughly investigating these serious allegations and clearing my name,” Olson said. “I look forward to getting back to playing baseball with a great senior class.”
Some parents of team members are not pleased with the administration’s decision to reinstate Olson as coach of the Costa baseball team.
“There are several families that believe the issue has not been resolved and we will be appealing it,” baseball parent Francine Clebowicz said.
DODGE A WRENCH: (top from left) After a three-year winning streak, seniors Grant Southwood, Travis
Bradford, Jack Hadley and Luc Alexiadas of the team “Amateur Hour” lost the dodgeball title to (bottom
left) senior Dillon Shambaugh and (bottom right) Grant Chalmers of “Volleyball Team Plus Chow.”
Not their !nest hour
Costa baseball program review ends
MBUSD plans to implement new teacher evaluation pilot programBY ARI HOWORTH
ARTS EDITOR
After a failed attempt on Nov. 14 to specify the conditions of the new teacher evaluation pilot program, Manhattan Beach
terms for the new evaluation system.The pilot program, beginning in the
2013-14 school year, will evaluate teachers on two mandatory and two optional stan-dards set forth by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. These in-clude “teachers are active members of their learning community” and “knowledge of their subject.”
“Our current system of teacher evaluations does not help teachers to improve in the long run,” MBUSD Super-intendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. “There are no agreed upon criteria on what makes a high quality teacher, so every evaluation can be done differently, depending on what each administrator believes.”
Each teacher evaluated will choose one standard to be graded on, and a Costa ad-ministrator will choose another. The other two standards of “continuous improve-ment” and “degree of professionalism” will be mandatory.
-tory that aligns teacher performance to
agreed-upon standards of teaching mas-tery,” MBUSD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Rick Bagley said.
In addition to evaluating teachers before they receive tenure, the new system allows tenured teachers to volunteer for the pro-gram to see areas where they can improve as educators.
“I don’t think tenured teachers would volunteer themselves for evaluation,” Costa science teacher Dan Bartlett said. “There should be, however, a way to eval-uate the methods of tenured teachers.”
The committee will begin testing the program on Jan. 9, using the standards to evaluate Costa teachers. They will dis-
cuss its effectiveness and make necessary changes to the plan.
“To have an ad-ministrator evaluate a teacher on one day of lessons doesn’t seem fair,” Bar-tlett said. “Teachers
observing other teachers with different and effective teaching methods.”
According to Matthews, once the full pilot plan is implemented, the administra-
make any necessary changes over the next two years.
“We will learn a lot in this pilot about
Matthews said. “We will use teacher and administrator feedback and change it as we go so it is the best system possible.”
“I want to revise the entire [AP] system at Mira Costa.”
Dr. Ben DaleMira Costa Principal
“Our current system of teach-er evaluations is inconsistent and doesn’t help our teachers improve in the long run.”
Dr. Michael MatthewsMBUSD Superintendent
TAYLOR ST. GERMAIN/ LA VISTA
NEWS A2 La Vista
Costa orchestra holds annual Winter Concert
GEOFFREY ST. JOHN/ LA VISTA
‘TIS THE SEASON: (from left) Freshmen Jordan Smith and Erin McCarthy and senior Sulibeth Ortiz Torres practiced their holiday skits Wednesday to prepare for the holiday assembly, which took place today in the Costa auditorium.
UC approves Honors Earth ScienceBY DANA STERNTHAL
STAFF WRITER
The Univeristy of California Board of Regents recently ap-proved an Honors Earth Science course that Costa will offer start-ing in the 2013-14 school year.
This class will be offered only to juniors and seniors and will be taught by Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Karl Kurz.
“As a geology major, I am passionate about teaching this new honors class,” Kurz said. “I brought AP Environmental Sci-ence to Costa, so I look forward to future successes.”
The Honors Earth Science class will be a dual credit class, mean-ing that students can receive a
grade on their transcript from the University of California Los An-geles extension program in addi-
-ceive these credits, a student must receive an A in both semesters and
about the class will become avail-able in the coming months.
“The class passed through the UCLA extension program, and we are now working with them to model a similar program that Har-vard-Westlake uses,” Kurz said.
There are no prerequisites for the Honors Earth Science class. In the last few months, the class was approved by the College Board, adding it to the curriculum.
“The class is a path for kids to take an upper level science class and get honors credit,” Kurz said.
FA LA LA LA LA: Multicultural choir members perform in “This Shining Night,” which took place Tuesday in the Costa auditorium.
BY MADDIE COATE
STAFF WRITER
-grams participated in the annual Performing Holiday Arts Assem-bly today during second period in the Costa auditorium.
Advanced Drama acted out original holiday skits; the choir
and the Coterie sang songs in-cluding “Oh Holy Night” and “At Last;” the advanced dance class danced to “Sugar Rum Cherry” by Duke Ellington and “All I
Carey and the Wind Ensemble performed “Slalom” by composer Carter Pann.
“The assembly was a fun way to show kids who aren’t in choir, band, dance or drama the dedica-tion and hard work we put into
Choir member junior Claudia Fellows said.
Band director Joel Carlson picks a different ensemble to per-form every year to ensure all band members get an equal opportuni-ty to perform. This year, he chose Wind Ensemble.
“To prepare, Wind Ensemble practiced in class for an hour ev-eryday,” Wind Ensemble member
“We also had a dress rehearsal the day before our performance.”
Carlson chose the piece “Sla-lom” due to its melodies, which he claims give the listener the
sensation of skiing. “We’ve been moving on to
more sophisticated literature in-stead of just the average holiday
great to be able to share what we’ve accomplished with the whole school while also spread-ing some cheer.”
The Drama Department per-formed original skits for the as-sembly that were holiday related.
“The skits came purely from our imagination,” junior Sabrina
our audience in mind when writ-ing them. The scenes were more talk-heavy this year than action heavy, so it took a more attentive audience to get the same result.”
The a capella choir groups, Co-
sang holiday songs.
Choir showcases winter selectioninto their closing performance of “Silent Night.”
“The addition of sign language to the performance creates an in-timate, solemn and touching per-formance for both the audience and the singers,” choir instructor
-ly special experience.”
In preparation for their De-cember concert, the Advanced Women’s Choral and Vocal En-semble sung on Dec. 10 for the Neptunian Women’s Club, a local women’s service organization.
“We have been invited to the Neptunian Women’s Club’s De-cember meeting for the past six years,” Hayden said. “They tell us we are their favorite guests to have at their meetings.”
The Advanced Women’s Cho-ral performed the same repertoire of songs that they sang for “This Shining Night” at the Neptunian Women’s Club.
“It was an honor singing for an incredible group of women,”
BY GASSIA ASHIKIAN
STAFF WRITER
Choir, Concert Choir and Vocal Ensemble held their annual win-ter concert, “This Shining Night,” Tuesday in the Costa Auditorium at 7 p.m.
group, Coterie, also performed a medley of traditional holiday car-
man a cappella group, sung a modern version of the traditional tune “Oh Holy Night.”
“I had a lot of fun singing such a different selection of songs this year,” Vocal Ensemble member junior Avery Jett said. “We prac-ticed together everyday leading up to the concert to make each song sound completely unique in its own way. I think everyone en-joyed our singing.”
Following annual tradition, the entire choir department incorpo-rated American Sign Language
BY CATE SCHIFF
STAFF WRITER
-formed in its annual Winter Con-cert on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Costa auditorium.
Since this concert was right before the holiday break, the or-chestra played classical songs as well as upbeat holiday music.
“This was one of the best win-ter concerts we have ever had,” violinist sophomore Katherine Spencer said. “The range of mu-sic from classical symphony mu-sic to sing-along Christmas songs
orchestra department.” The students practiced every-
day for this concert, often times after school as well.
“We all put in a lot of hard work and practice on a daily basis,” orchestra conductor Peter Park
a strong musical program, we are
quality literature.”The Chamber Orchestra played
of “Dvorak Serenade” and “It’s
Year.” The Symphony Orchestra played Borodin Symphony No. 2 and the classic holiday song, “Ru-dolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
“I enjoyed the songs we played,
strong and powerful, but then the last movement is lighter and hap-pier so it creates a good contrast,” Spencer said.
With the support of Park, the
students have learned to perform at a collegiate level.
-ly hard during rehearsals to help us get to performance level,” Spencer said. “His enthusiasm helps us work harder as students,
-pared us very well and has done a great job.”
the concert believe that the hard work Orchestra put into perfect-ing their concert paid off.
“I thought the orchestra mem-bers did really well at their con-cert because they were very pre-pared,” attendee sophomore Scott
Park and the students have put a lot of thought into the pieces that were assigned at the end of last year, according to violinist senior Allie Campbell.
“We got the music for this concert at the end of last year and started preparing as soon as
school started,” Campbell said. -
ting the orchestra into the right mood and character.”
To carry out their performances successfully, orchestra members practice with Park during their class periods and after school.
“We practiced playing accu-rately and together as an orches-tra,” Campbell said. “We also worked on having an aggressive tone in the key moments of the piece and contrasting that with a lighter tone in other parts.”
Park purposely made this con-cert different than the previous performances by making the stu-dents step into the character and mood of the pieces of the music in order to ensure that the concert was unique and memorable.
“We want every concert and performance to be unique, not through special effects, but just by the music we present to the au-dience,” Park said.
own and then came to me for the -
chael Hayden said. “We tried to add a more contemporary per-spective to holiday music with our own renditions of the songs.”
began preparing two weeks be-fore the assembly.
“This year’s show contrasted with last year’s as the songs in the show were more holiday-related,” Advanced Dance member senior
time to perfect the dances, and were able to expose Costa kids to jazz dancing.”
watching Costa’s performing arts programs collaborate to produce the Holiday Arts assembly.
“I love going and getting to see the holiday assembly,” sopho-more Skylar Caputo said. “It gets more impressive each year.”
HANNAH DAGIAU/ LA VISTA
December 21, 2012
BOWS OF HOLLY: Orchestra members perform at their annual Winter Concert, which took place Dec. 7 in the Costa auditorium.
Junior Maddy Shea (center) and sophomore Megan DiLeva (right) col-lect food donations for the homeless as a part of Associated Student Body’s annual Operation Happiness at Mira Costa.
Operation Success
EMMA SALZMAN/ LA VISTA
NICK MATSON/ LA VISTA
Costa Arts perform in Holiday Assembly
The stu-dents who attended the Paris con-ference were unable to be a part of the L A I M U N XVIII staff. To make up for their ab-sences, senior and junior dias posi-tions were replaced with juniors and sophomores, respectively.
“It was re-ally fun being
a vice-chair as a sophomore,” sophomore Jack Howorth said. “My chair gave me a good amount of time to run the committee, and I got a good idea of what it’s like to be on the other side of a debate.”
MUN in-creased the number of stu-dents that at-tended from prior years by about 50, to-taling 850 stu-dents. Accord-ing to leaders of the program, L A I M U N XVIII was one of the most suc-cessful yet.
“Even though we were missing a few vital team members in Par-is, we pulled off a conference that ran smoothly and really helped the freshmen learn about MUN and
NEWS A3La VistaDecember 21, 2012
GEOFFREY ST. JOHN/ LA VISTA
Costa Model United Nations crosses national, international borders
ONE LAST TEXT: Costa students watch a video in the Costa cafeteria about Mary Tessmer, a mother whose son died in a distracted driving accident.
ALEX WHITE, HANNAH DAGIAU/ LA VISTA
BY MORGAN THALER
STAFF WRITER
Throughout November and De-cember, the Mira Costa Model United Nations program won numerous awards at regional, national and international con-ferences and on Dec. 9 held its eighteenth-annual Los Angeles Invitational MUN conference.
The conferences took place in San Francisco, Providence, Rhode Island and Paris, France.
LAIMUN XVIII, which was held at the Costa campus.
“Costa MUN has been working really hard so far this year by re-searching, practicing and improv-ing as a team from the sophomores to the seniors,” Secretary-General senior Taylor Lewis said.
All grade levels of the ad-vanced MUN team participated in the travel conferences. A group of MUN students departed for the Brown University MUN con-
ference on Nov. 5 and returned on Nov. 11 after competing in a three-day debate.
Individual Mira Costa MUN students won a total of six Best Delegate awards or gavels, 12 Outstandings, along with 12 Commendations at Brown.
“We did well at Brown, and about 83% of our group received recognition,” MUN advisor Rob-ert Timberlake said. “We brought a very young group with only seven seniors but still managed to win against our competition.”
The combination of grade lev-els at the Brown conference was originally thought to be risky by some Costa delegates.
According to MUN students, a major focus was uniting as a team throughout the past three confer-ences. MUN students aimed to have the upperclassmen help make the underclassmen more prepared
past major conferences. “It was great to have the op-
portunity to represent our school on the national stage,” senior Jack Rosen-berg said. “I was proud of our team for doing so well with such a mix of soph-omores, ju-niors and se-niors. I think it means good things to come for the program.”
Later in the
month, Costa debated at the Re-gional High School MUN confer-ence in San Francisco from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. The team received the Award of Excellence, which translates to second place.
“RHSMUN was a great expe-rience,” senior Ryanne Martucci said. “I’m proud my sophomore partner, Chase Williams, and I did really well.”
Though Costa MUN has trav-eled internationally in the past,
-gram attended the Paris MUN conference in France.
Fifteen Costa students got the opportunity to debate with schools from all over the world from Dec. 1-10 in the United Na-
Culture Organization building. -
egate awards.“All of our students were treat-
ed to a real cultural experience,” Timberlake said.
real world issues,” Lewis said. “I’m so happy to be a leader of a program that operates success-fully and that can be counted on to step up to the plate, which ev-eryone involved with LAIMUN did to the fullest extent.”
Tech committees were intro-duced to LAIMUN this year as well. Senior Tyler Shalvarjian and juniors Arani Bhattacharyay and Milo Davis created a way for participating delegates to use computers throughout the day, eliminating the use of paper from four different committees.
“The tech committees at LAIMUN were designed to pio-neer Mira Costa’s vision of the future of MUN,” head of Tech-
-tion Bhattacharyay said. “This year was successful, and we hope to expand this model from the original four committees to 22 in the future.”
Members of the Costa MUN Secretariat are the main orga-nizers of the event. Each member has a designated role in making sure the conference runs smoothly.
“I’m a believ-er in student-run p r o d u c t i o n , ” T i m b e r l a k e
said. “Although with my experi-ence I do keep an eye on things, in the end, the secretary-generals, Brady Currey and Taylor Lewis, are the ones in charge of handling just about everything and will continue to do so.”
“Costa Model United Nations has been working really hard so far this year by researching, practicing, and improving as a team from the sophomores to
the seniors.”
Taylor LewisSecretary-General
MBUSD holds CP class workshopMB celebrates 100th anniversaryBY KATE ROBAK
CALENDAR EDITOR
Manhattan Beach residents at-
Meaning to the Future,” a com-munity discussion on Dec. 1 at the Joslyn Community Center, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Manhattan Beach.
Manhattan Beach residents Robert Brigham, Russ Lesser, Beverly Rohrer and Arthur Verge led a discussion about the city’s history. Several community orga-nizations presented.
“I learned that all of the di-verse people who live in Man-hattan Beach can get together to celebrate the history of our city,” Mayor Wayne Powell said. “Some residents are new and some have been here for more than 60 years, but everybody came together for this celebration.”
To further celebrate the 100th anniversary, Skechers sponsored
followed the 24th annual Holi-day Fireworks on the Manhattan Beach pier.
“The centennial is very impor-tant as it helps us take the time to think about the past 100 years and the future of Manhattan Beach,” Lesser said. “It gives us a chance to think about what makes our city such a special place.”
PACE highlights driving dangers
BY COURTNEY HUGHEY
STAFF WRITER
School District and Costa teach-ers discussed college preparatory classes at the Dec. 6 MBUSD Board of Trustees meeting.
Common Core State Standards alignment, smaller class sizes and course rigor were the main topics at the MBUSD workshop.
“These workshops were inter-active,” Board President Ellen Rosenberg said. “We get a per-spective on how to reach goals that the district is proposing.”
The discussion was dedicated to whether or not decreasing class sizes is a legitimate solution to creating a more effective learning environment for students.
“Class sizes are a very pivotal focus of any learning environ-ment,” Costa English teacher and department chair Pamela Jenning said. “We want to look at it in terms of how the curriculum is delivered to give students the op-portunity to improve their learn-ing experience.”
According to Costa Vice Princi--
itations are an obstacle in making immediate changes to classes.
“I don’t think it is possible to reduce class sizes right now,” Drummond said. “Budget con-straints limit what the district is
able to do.”The workshop attempted to pro-
pose goals to increase consistency within departments by establish-ing a Common Core Alignment in CP classes. This program would include common student evalua-tions, department collaboration and similar grading strategies.
MBUSD staff emphasized the importance of helping the “mid-dle student” in the workshop.
“We want to provide resources for students in order for them to be successful,” Board member Bill Fournell said. “We want to make sure that CP classes are challenging students.”
MBUSD has observed Palos Verdes School District’s common classroom program as an example of a program that could be used to improve CP classes.
“There’s a hypothesis at [PVSD] that students who are successful tend to be with the same successful students from freshman to senior [year],” Four-nell said. “Maybe there could be a program where students could work with other students at the same performance level.”
At the next district board meet-ing on Jan. 16, MBUSD will con-tinue to discuss these issues.
“CP classes should be rigor-ous enough for students,” Jenning said. “I hope these discussions
BY CHRISTOPH NEUMANN
STAFF WRITER
People Attaining Complete Equality held a distracted driving assembly on Dec. 12 to inform students of the dangers of multi-tasking while driving.
The assembly featured a video presentation and the story of Mary Tessmer, a mother whose teenage son died in a distracted driving accident in 2007.
“The purpose of the assembly was to educate students about the life-threatening dangers of dis-tracted driving,” PACE instructor Dr. Rocky Wilson said.
PACE also hung posters around campus showing the numerical statistics of the consequences of distracted driving before the as-
sembly took place“Word got out, and I believe the
message of the assembly was very well received,” Wilson said.
PACE member junior Nick Miller organized the event and contacted speakers.
“My uncle was in a distracted driving accident, and that in-
about the issue,” Miller said. PACE wants the student body
to come away from the assembly more aware of the issue of dis-tracted driving.
“The assembly affected me on a personal level,” senior Aedan Madillian said. “I was part of a distracted driving accident and my car was totaled, so I was hap-py to see that people wanted to raise awareness about the issue.”
COURTESY JACK ROSENBERG, EVA ABRAMSON,
GOLDEN GAVELS: (top) Costa MUN students traveled to Brown University for a national conference, and others travel to San Francisco (bottom) to debate.
LE MUN: (top) Los Angeles MUN students debate at Cos-ta’s annual LAIMUN, while (bottom) some Costa MUN stu-dents were in Paris for an international conference.
NEWS A4 La Vista December 21, 2012
COURTESY CASEY CHOI
MARCH TO VICTORY: Costa’s Marching Band and Colorguard members practice before their competition on Dec. 1 at
the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Championships in Downey, California.
ComedySportz wins !rst match
Marching Band takes fourth at SCSBOABY SIERRA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
With a score of 83.7 out of 100, Mira Costa’s Marching Band and Colorguard received fourth place out of 12 bands in Division 4A on Dec.1 at the Southern Califor-nia School Band and Orchestra Association Championships in Downey, California.
the Mira Costa Marching Band and Colorguard competed at the championship level; however, this was the group’s last competi-tive performance of the season.
“We all knew it was our last show with the current senior class, and that encouraged us all to do the best that we possibly could,” saxophone player junior Thomas Alexander said. “We had
really great student leadership, an amazing staff and extremely dedicated members.”
The band only had a week to practice for the competition after Thanksgiving break.
“Even with only a week to practice, we wanted to do well and took the championships more seriously than any other compe-tition throughout the year,” Col-orguard co-captain junior Chelsea Williams said.
A majority of the 2012 March-ing Band and Colorguard seniors has been part of the program for four years.
“We do something called Lega-cy Arcs, where all the seniors step out and watch the band perform one last time after the season ends,” percussion section leader senior Casey Choi said. “That is
when it really got emotional and people started crying.”
Although it was a bittersweet event, the Marching Band mem-bers believe they had a great sea-son with their performances of “Electropolis,” this year’s theme.
“I was in denial that this was my last show,” Colorguard cap-tain senior Rachel Azafrani said. “I am so proud of the Colorguard. We ended the season strongly.”
“Electropolis” helped the band receive a total of 14 awards throughout the 2012 season for its performances.
“There have been groups at-tending the championships for 10 years who have never cracked the
-son said. “The hard work we have
right work by the judges.”
LAUGH OUT LOUD: (from left) Sophomore Tamara Knell, senior Molly Curtis,
the year, which ended in a 46-43 win for Mira Costa on Nov. 30.
MUNAM WASI/ LA VISTA
BY QUINN KROPSCHOT
STAFF WRITER
Costa’s ComedySportz team kicked off the 2012-13 season
against El Segundo High School in the Costa drama room.
Only returning ComedySportz
match. The new members of ComedySportz will only be able to play in matches during the sec-ond semester.
“I am so proud of the team,” co-captain senior Molly Curtis said. “I could not have asked for a
Costa’s participants included sophomores Tamara Knell and Charlie Durham, junior Gabby
Wolf and Curtis. The second half consisted of seniors Zack Gill, Kathleen Yates, Taylor Howat and Ron Yadin. Co-captain senior Buster Baer refereed.
ComedySportz is always the nerves, but those go away once you’re on stage,” Yates said. “Even though it’s technically a competition, you just feel like hanging out with friends.”
ComedySportz won their sec-ond match on Dec. 14 in the Cos-ta drama room. They will perform
show tonight at 6 p.m.
a ComedySportz match and it was a great experience,” sophomore Roxy Vabrey said. “I can’t wait to attend more matches.”
BY MADDIE NERAD
STAFF WRITER
District Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 7, the Board approved the new director of information technology position, which will be a district-level job.
The director of information technology will oversee the current Technology De-partment. The position’s creation comes
-cal changes, such as the iPads and wireless routers being brought to Costa.
According to the job description, the director will report to MBUSD Superin-tendent Dr. Michael Matthews and will be responsible for “organizing, planning, and supervising the operation of the Informa-tion Technology Department.” The annual
salary for this position will range from $82,425 to $100,283
“This position was created in response to the growing need to provide consistent technology services and expertise through-out the district,” MBUSD Director of Hu-man Resources Kathy Hall said in a state-ment on mbusd.org.
In February, the Board approved the position of systems analyst to create and analyze MBUSD databases. However, no candidate could be found, and the position was abandoned, according to Hall. The di-rector position was posted Dec. 7 and will remain until Dec. 21.
“We now screen applications, conduct testing, create an eligibility list for approv-al by the Personnel Commission and hold interviews,” Hall said. “I expect the direc-
Board creates new tech director position
Despite dangers of !scal cli", spending cannot be raised
Anti-cyberbullying program necessary at Costa
Marijuana legalization in Washington, Colorado points to change for CA
BY ADAM GERARD
OPINION EDITOR
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JACK ALLEN, ADAM GERARD, ALEX WHITE/ OPINION EDITORS
DANNY KELLEHER/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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Top 10 Ways to Prepare for the End of the World:
A5OPINIONDecember 21, 2012 La Vista
!e rate at which cyberbullying oc-curs and can be spread is constantly increasing over time.
JACKSON CASADY/ LA VISTA
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Obama has already laid out a plan that will reform government spend-ing if the Republicans agree.
Costa teams qualify for fall CIF tournaments
Although the boys varsity water polo team did not win CIF this year, many seniors and juniors stepped up and showed that they are still able to compete throughout the Bay League.
With a record of 18 wins and 10 losses, the boys’ season came to an end after los-ing their third-round CIF match, 7-6, to Martin Luther King Junior High School.
“Overall, we played well in our match,” senior captain Jimmy Bissell said. “Ev-eryone was where they were supposed to be and on top of the game. We just couldn’t pull through to win in the end.”
place title in Bay League and the second overall ranking in Division III.
“It was pretty sad knowing that when we lost it was the last time I would be playing water polo with this team,” Bissell said. “A part of me is excited to see
With a bounce back year and a less than perfect ending, the 2012 varsity football season came to end on Nov. 16. The team ended the season with an overall record of 9-3, making Costa second in Bay League, and made it to the sec-ond round of CIF.
The Mustangs were eliminated in the second round of CIF in their game against West Tor-rance High School. The lead went back and forth throughout the game, with West winning 49-42, in the end.
“I am so thankful to have played with this group of guys,” senior quarterback Ryan Sweigart said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world, and I will carry this experience with me for the rest of my life.”
The Mustangs’ season began with a 35-13 win against Inglewood High School. The team played the 31st nationally-ranked team, Junipero Serra High School, in a
with a 15-2 record overall and a Bay League record of 7-2. The Mustangs took second in Bay League and ad-vanced through two rounds of CIF.
The girls went undefeated for the
defeating teams they had struggled against in previous years, such as Santa Monica and Brentwood.
“I think we did really well this season, and the num-bers show it,” senior Alex Waller said. “This is the best we’ve done in about 10 years.”
Costa also won matches against rivals Redondo Union High School and Palos Verdes High School. The girls faced off against Palos Verdes in two matches, both of which resulted in victories for the Mustangs.
“I enjoyed every moment of this season,” coach Joe Ciasulli said. “One of the highlights was beating Redon-
After a season of ups and downs, the Mira Costa girls volleyball team ended its season with a loss to Orange Lutheran High School, 3-2, in the second round of CIF. The Mustangs took second place in Bay League, losing only to Redondo Union High School, resulting in a league record of 7-3.
Costa started off the 2012 pre-season with two
against Palos Verdes High School.“The beginning of our season was really great
for us,” junior Sammy Furlan said. “We really got to know each other better as a team.”
Despite its regular season success, the team lost twice in Bay League to Redondo Union High School. The losses kept the Mustangs from the
-match of last season’s CIF game against Orange Lutheran and had the same outcome.
“We had our hopes high for the Orange Lu-
With the combination of experienced and young runners, the Mira Costa girls cross country team was able to qualify to run in the California State Cham-pionship. However, the boys did not share the same success.
Costa’s front runner, junior Abby Hongin third place overall with a time of 17:11, fol-lowed directly by senior Sarah Locke-Henderson with a time of 17:50.
“That meet showed other teams that even though we lost some key runners to college, we were not going to back down,” Locke-Henderson said.
Polliwog Park. Junior Abby Hong placed third
The Mira Costa girls won the race, beating out Redondo Union by six points and securing the
With two tournament wins and an undefeated season, the Mira Costa girls golf team exceeded its expecta-tions in the 2012 golf season.
The Mustangs went 9-0 in Bay League and were the Bay League Champions for the second consecutive year.
“I was very happy the way our team played this sea-son,” junior Megan Kim said.
70s and broke the team record for best score in a match. The girls scored 175 total against Palos Verdes.
“We broke a lot of records,” senior Raquel Gordon said “We are really proud of how we performed this year.”
The girls had at least a 20-shot lead in every match. They had two strong wins against Chadwick High School, winning 288-195 and 292-194. The team also had two crucial wins in the West Covina and Knabe
Boys water polo !nishes !rst in Bay League, loses in CIF semi-!nals, 7-6, to bring season to a close
what’s next in my future, but knowing that it’s all over with Costa is bittersweet.”
A high point this season was when the Mustangs played against Peninsula High School, a historical rival of Costa. The Mustangs were able to walk away with a 13-5 win.
“That game was an essential win for us because if we had lost we would not have won the Bay League,” senior Cody Kelley said.
Many of the juniors who joined varsity this season, such as Gabe Smith and Drew Rogerson, became leading scor-
ers for the team. Other players like Bissell, Kelley and seniors Sam Siltanen and Ian Zaun helped lead the way for the rest of the team throughout the season.
“This season was probably one of the most fun seasons I’ve had on Costa water polo,” senior Bissell said. “Even though we didn’t
that worked really well together.”
minutes. “We were able to maintain a high level of play despite the many injuries we had to go through in the season,” senior quarterback Khalil McClain said.
Costa then lost to rival Loyola High School, 35-14, but came back with a win of 26-14 in the team’s next game against Newport Harbor High School. The win brought Costa into Bay League with a 3-2 record.
“It was a really satisfying season,” senior corner-back Jack Hadley said. “I had an unforgettable ex-perience with my awesome teammates and coach-
es.”
behind CIF champions Palos Verdes. The Mustangs went 4-1 in Bay League.
“It was tough to lose so early in CIF,” coach Don Morrow said. “All in all it was a great season and I’m proud of what we
accomplished this year.”
do when we had to come back and win the last set.” The team’s two losses were both against Penin-
sula High School. The team was unable to hold the lead, resulting in an end to its undefeated streak. The girls faced Peninsula on Oct. 18 again, which resulted in a 10-8 loss.
“Our team played really well this sea-son, considering we played against some very
strong teams,” junior Paula Cenusa said.
match, Costa defeated Palm Springs High School, 17-1. The girls season came to an end in the second round of CIF with loss of 13-5 against Thousand Oaks High School.
“This season gave us a great sense of ac-complishment,” sophomore Mai Nojima said. “I’m proud of how our team played this year.”
theran game, and we really wanted revenge from last year,” senior libero Carly Muller said. “But we got
ultimately ended our season.”Through the trials and losses of the season, the
leadership of the seniors drove the Mustangs to their many successes.
“The seniors were a great anchor to our team,” coach Lisa Arce-Zimmerman said. “And the rest of
the team now has a lot of great experience that will help the team next year.”
Now that the season is over, the team will be los-ing nine seniors. Though the seniors will be missed, the
team looks forward to next season and hopes to extend the season farther into CIF next year.
“We really got close to each other, and I’ve made a lot of great friendships over this past season,” Furlan said.
“A lot of why we did so well this year was because we really connected on and off the court.”
Bay League title .“Knowing that all of our hard work paid off in the
end is a feeling I cannot describe,” senior Lauren Hagedorn said. “I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful team.”
After advancing through CIF Preliminaries and -
fornia State Championships on Saturday, Nov. 24. The team lacked experience, as none of the girls
had competed at the state level before. The Mus--
did not qualify the team to continue on to the National Championships in Oregon, ending the team’s season.
-mance at State and in the season as a whole,”
sophomore runner Natasha Bruinstein said. “It was a great way to end the season.”
tournament wins in school history. “All of our accomplishments this season were
really exciting,” coach Tim Kelley said. “Hope-fully, we can continue to improve from there.”
of CIF. The team took sixth overall at the Leg-ends Golf Course, shooting a 387.
“We may not have made it farther but we played well,” Kelley said. “We had really high
goals, but all that matters is we did our best.”Kim was the only girl to advance in the indi-
vidual CIF golf level. She did not qualify at the state level in Murrieta, however, as she was un-able to place in the top nine.
“We are lucky to have so many talented girls,” Kelley said. “It is important we stay focused on what is to come.”
After a successful fall season, many of the Mira Costa teams, with the exception of boys
second round. While none of the teams won a CIF championship, boys water polo, girls golf and girls cross country each won a Bay League title.
Girls golf had an undefeated Bay League season, and junior Megan Kim advanced in the CIF individuals for the sport but was not able to qualify for the state level. Costa’s girls ten-nis team and girls volleyball team each placed second in the Bay League along with football which fell just behind rival Palos Verdes High School.
“!roughout this season, we had our ups and downs, but we always came out "ghting. I’m very
proud of everyone and how hard we worked.”Mitchell Traino# (above)
Senior
“We were able to maintain a high level of play de-spite the many injuries we had to go through in
the season.” Kahlil McClain (above le$)
Senior
“Our team performed really well this year, and I’m proud of how far we got in CIF. I’m glad I got
to end my Costa career on such a high note.” Juliana Ho$ (above)
Senior
“I was very happy with the way our team played this season.”
Megan Kim (above)Junior
“I am very satis"ed with our team’s performance at State and in the season as a whole. It was a
great way to end the season.”Natasha Bruinstein (above back)
Sophomore
“!e volleyball season was a lot of fun overall. I look forward to next season.”
Brooke Feld (above)Junior
Football !nishes second in Bay League, loses in second round of CIF playo"s to end 2012 season
Girls tennis !nishes second in Bay League, loses in second round CIF to #ousand Oaks High School
Girls golf earn Bay League championship with un-defeated overall record, competes in !rst round CIF
Girls cross country quali!es to compete in State Championship a$er winning Bay League title
Girls volleyball !nishes second in Bay League, loses in second round CIF to Orange Lutheran, 3-2
COMPILED BY SPORTS WRITER CAMILLE JUTON, ALYSSA ZUCKER, KATIE VON BEHREN, COURTNEY HUGHEY, REBECCA HEXT, AND IAN RAPOPORT. ALSO COMPILED BY SPORTS EDI-TORS CASEY SUBLETTE, REGAN ESTES, AND HANNAH PROCTOR.
Senior Sam Siltanen
Junior Harrison Morrow
Sophomore Brooke Swallow Junior Megan Kim
Sophomore Emma Lautanen
Senior Lexi Millington
Hannah DaGiau/La Vista Mira Laing/La Vista
Nick Matson/La Vista
Geoffrey St. John/La Vista Lisa Valicente/La Vista
Emma Salzman/La Vista
Costa teams qualify for fall CIF tournaments
Although the boys varsity water polo team did not win CIF this year, many seniors and juniors stepped up and showed that they are still able to compete throughout the Bay League.
With a record of 18 wins and 10 losses, the boys’ season came to an end after los-ing their third-round CIF match, 7-6, to Martin Luther King Junior High School.
“Overall, we played well in our match,” senior captain Jimmy Bissell said. “Ev-eryone was where they were supposed to be and on top of the game. We just couldn’t pull through to win in the end.”
place title in Bay League and the second overall ranking in Division III.
“It was pretty sad knowing that when we lost it was the last time I would be playing water polo with this team,” Bissell said. “A part of me is excited to see
With a bounce back year and a less than perfect ending, the 2012 varsity football season came to end on Nov. 16. The team ended the season with an overall record of 9-3, making Costa second in Bay League, and made it to the sec-ond round of CIF.
The Mustangs were eliminated in the second round of CIF in their game against West Tor-rance High School. The lead went back and forth throughout the game, with West winning 49-42, in the end.
“I am so thankful to have played with this group of guys,” senior quarterback Ryan Sweigart said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world, and I will carry this experience with me for the rest of my life.”
The Mustangs’ season began with a 35-13 win against Inglewood High School. The team played the 31st nationally-ranked team, Junipero Serra High School, in a
with a 15-2 record overall and a Bay League record of 7-2. The Mustangs took second in Bay League and ad-vanced through two rounds of CIF.
The girls went undefeated for the
defeating teams they had struggled against in previous years, such as Santa Monica and Brentwood.
“I think we did really well this season, and the num-bers show it,” senior Alex Waller said. “This is the best we’ve done in about 10 years.”
Costa also won matches against rivals Redondo Union High School and Palos Verdes High School. The girls faced off against Palos Verdes in two matches, both of which resulted in victories for the Mustangs.
“I enjoyed every moment of this season,” coach Joe Ciasulli said. “One of the highlights was beating Redon-
After a season of ups and downs, the Mira Costa girls volleyball team ended its season with a loss to Orange Lutheran High School, 3-2, in the second round of CIF. The Mustangs took second place in Bay League, losing only to Redondo Union High School, resulting in a league record of 7-3.
Costa started off the 2012 pre-season with two
against Palos Verdes High School.“The beginning of our season was really great
for us,” junior Sammy Furlan said. “We really got to know each other better as a team.”
Despite its regular season success, the team lost twice in Bay League to Redondo Union High School. The losses kept the Mustangs from the
-match of last season’s CIF game against Orange Lutheran and had the same outcome.
“We had our hopes high for the Orange Lu-
With the combination of experienced and young runners, the Mira Costa girls cross country team was able to qualify to run in the California State Cham-pionship. However, the boys did not share the same success.
Costa’s front runner, junior Abby Hongin third place overall with a time of 17:11, fol-lowed directly by senior Sarah Locke-Henderson with a time of 17:50.
“That meet showed other teams that even though we lost some key runners to college, we were not going to back down,” Locke-Henderson said.
Polliwog Park. Junior Abby Hong placed third
The Mira Costa girls won the race, beating out Redondo Union by six points and securing the
With two tournament wins and an undefeated season, the Mira Costa girls golf team exceeded its expecta-tions in the 2012 golf season.
The Mustangs went 9-0 in Bay League and were the Bay League Champions for the second consecutive year.
“I was very happy the way our team played this sea-son,” junior Megan Kim said.
70s and broke the team record for best score in a match. The girls scored 175 total against Palos Verdes.
“We broke a lot of records,” senior Raquel Gordon said “We are really proud of how we performed this year.”
The girls had at least a 20-shot lead in every match. They had two strong wins against Chadwick High School, winning 288-195 and 292-194. The team also had two crucial wins in the West Covina and Knabe
Boys water polo !nishes !rst in Bay League, loses in CIF semi-!nals, 7-6, to bring season to a close
what’s next in my future, but knowing that it’s all over with Costa is bittersweet.”
A high point this season was when the Mustangs played against Peninsula High School, a historical rival of Costa. The Mustangs were able to walk away with a 13-5 win.
“That game was an essential win for us because if we had lost we would not have won the Bay League,” senior Cody Kelley said.
Many of the juniors who joined varsity this season, such as Gabe Smith and Drew Rogerson, became leading scor-
ers for the team. Other players like Bissell, Kelley and seniors Sam Siltanen and Ian Zaun helped lead the way for the rest of the team throughout the season.
“This season was probably one of the most fun seasons I’ve had on Costa water polo,” senior Bissell said. “Even though we didn’t
that worked really well together.”
minutes. “We were able to maintain a high level of play despite the many injuries we had to go through in the season,” senior quarterback Khalil McClain said.
Costa then lost to rival Loyola High School, 35-14, but came back with a win of 26-14 in the team’s next game against Newport Harbor High School. The win brought Costa into Bay League with a 3-2 record.
“It was a really satisfying season,” senior corner-back Jack Hadley said. “I had an unforgettable ex-perience with my awesome teammates and coach-
es.”
behind CIF champions Palos Verdes. The Mustangs went 4-1 in Bay League.
“It was tough to lose so early in CIF,” coach Don Morrow said. “All in all it was a great season and I’m proud of what we
accomplished this year.”
do when we had to come back and win the last set.” The team’s two losses were both against Penin-
sula High School. The team was unable to hold the lead, resulting in an end to its undefeated streak. The girls faced Peninsula on Oct. 18 again, which resulted in a 10-8 loss.
“Our team played really well this sea-son, considering we played against some very
strong teams,” junior Paula Cenusa said.
match, Costa defeated Palm Springs High School, 17-1. The girls season came to an end in the second round of CIF with loss of 13-5 against Thousand Oaks High School.
“This season gave us a great sense of ac-complishment,” sophomore Mai Nojima said. “I’m proud of how our team played this year.”
theran game, and we really wanted revenge from last year,” senior libero Carly Muller said. “But we got
ultimately ended our season.”Through the trials and losses of the season, the
leadership of the seniors drove the Mustangs to their many successes.
“The seniors were a great anchor to our team,” coach Lisa Arce-Zimmerman said. “And the rest of
the team now has a lot of great experience that will help the team next year.”
Now that the season is over, the team will be los-ing nine seniors. Though the seniors will be missed, the
team looks forward to next season and hopes to extend the season farther into CIF next year.
“We really got close to each other, and I’ve made a lot of great friendships over this past season,” Furlan said.
“A lot of why we did so well this year was because we really connected on and off the court.”
Bay League title .“Knowing that all of our hard work paid off in the
end is a feeling I cannot describe,” senior Lauren Hagedorn said. “I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful team.”
After advancing through CIF Preliminaries and -
fornia State Championships on Saturday, Nov. 24. The team lacked experience, as none of the girls
had competed at the state level before. The Mus--
did not qualify the team to continue on to the National Championships in Oregon, ending the team’s season.
-mance at State and in the season as a whole,”
sophomore runner Natasha Bruinstein said. “It was a great way to end the season.”
tournament wins in school history. “All of our accomplishments this season were
really exciting,” coach Tim Kelley said. “Hope-fully, we can continue to improve from there.”
of CIF. The team took sixth overall at the Leg-ends Golf Course, shooting a 387.
“We may not have made it farther but we played well,” Kelley said. “We had really high
goals, but all that matters is we did our best.”Kim was the only girl to advance in the indi-
vidual CIF golf level. She did not qualify at the state level in Murrieta, however, as she was un-able to place in the top nine.
“We are lucky to have so many talented girls,” Kelley said. “It is important we stay focused on what is to come.”
After a successful fall season, many of the Mira Costa teams, with the exception of boys
second round. While none of the teams won a CIF championship, boys water polo, girls golf and girls cross country each won a Bay League title.
Girls golf had an undefeated Bay League season, and junior Megan Kim advanced in the CIF individuals for the sport but was not able to qualify for the state level. Costa’s girls ten-nis team and girls volleyball team each placed second in the Bay League along with football which fell just behind rival Palos Verdes High School.
“!roughout this season, we had our ups and downs, but we always came out "ghting. I’m very
proud of everyone and how hard we worked.”Mitchell Traino# (above)
Senior
“We were able to maintain a high level of play de-spite the many injuries we had to go through in
the season.” Kahlil McClain (above le$)
Senior
“Our team performed really well this year, and I’m proud of how far we got in CIF. I’m glad I got
to end my Costa career on such a high note.” Juliana Ho$ (above)
Senior
“I was very happy with the way our team played this season.”
Megan Kim (above)Junior
“I am very satis"ed with our team’s performance at State and in the season as a whole. It was a
great way to end the season.”Natasha Bruinstein (above back)
Sophomore
“!e volleyball season was a lot of fun overall. I look forward to next season.”
Brooke Feld (above)Junior
Football !nishes second in Bay League, loses in second round of CIF playo"s to end 2012 season
Girls tennis !nishes second in Bay League, loses in second round CIF to #ousand Oaks High School
Girls golf earn Bay League championship with un-defeated overall record, competes in !rst round CIF
Girls cross country quali!es to compete in State Championship a$er winning Bay League title
Girls volleyball !nishes second in Bay League, loses in second round CIF to Orange Lutheran, 3-2
COMPILED BY SPORTS WRITER CAMILLE JUTON, ALYSSA ZUCKER, KATIE VON BEHREN, COURTNEY HUGHEY, REBECCA HEXT, AND IAN RAPOPORT. ALSO COMPILED BY SPORTS EDI-TORS CASEY SUBLETTE, REGAN ESTES, AND HANNAH PROCTOR.
Senior Sam Siltanen
Junior Harrison Morrow
Sophomore Brooke Swallow Junior Megan Kim
Sophomore Emma Lautanen
Senior Lexi Millington
Hannah DaGiau/La Vista Mira Laing/La Vista
Nick Matson/La Vista
Geoffrey St. John/La Vista Lisa Valicente/La Vista
Emma Salzman/La Vista
dards, and the standards are supported by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.
The fact that the CCSS span across 45 states will help students be better prepared for out-of-state colleges and jobs. Teachers will have more resources and will be able to share common teaching methods across state lines. Additionally, the standards will help students who move states stay on track in school. Location will become less
of a factor in determining whether a student is prepared for college and the workforce.
When designing the stan-dards, those who created the
new policy looked at top-per forming states and other countries, and tweaked their
American educa-tional needs.
Reducing the number
of standards was initially a
worry to some Costa teachers, such as
math teacher Linda Gesuald; however, by cutting the number down, more time can be spent on each standard. Teachers will be able to delve deeper into each topic to make sure students are pre-
EDITOR’S NOTE
BY ALEC LAUTANEN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
After the terrible tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School, ev-erything from mental health care reform to gun control has been thrown on the table to debate. One of the most interesting aspects from a journalist’s point of view, though, is the role of the media in tragedies like this.
Numerous criticisms have been voiced that point to journalists as the instigators of events like these. Some claim that the
and pushes them to such a level of infamy that other deranged individuals seek to copy them.
As a journalist, covering tragedies like
this puts newspapers and their staff in a very precarious situation. On one hand, publications have to maintain their respon-sibility to report the news. In spite of this commitment, human morals often pull in the exact opposite direction.
Last summer, at a journalism workshop I attended, we had a class discussing how to report on disasters. As part of it, counselors played victims of a simulated earthquake and students were told to prod for informa-
three-year-old son.
seemed like too much. I respect the search for facts and the communication of infor-
mation, but there has to be a limit to what’s acceptable in terms of the emotional cost.
There is not a complete set of guidelines for how journalists deal with tragedies, but the media should strive for professional-ism through discretion. Journalistic integ-rity shouldn’t be forsaken and facts should be reported, but there’s a line for what is necessary to communicate news. In cases where it isn’t totally clear, exhibitionism should never be an end goal for any publi-cation under any circumstances.
It’s hard to call for a decrease in infor-mation reported, especially in an age where instant facts are the norm for a majority of information-age readers. However, the ability, and more importantly the demand,
mean journalists should forsake moral and sympathetic discretion.
Sandy Hook tragedy raises journalism questions
The decision by the California Depart-ment of Education to implement the Com-mon Core State Standards in the state’s high schools will provide a more comprehensive education for students and will adequately prepare them for career and college experi-ences anywhere in the country.
promise across the nation, though the tran-sition process may be time consuming. Al-
teaching practices, MBUSD has taken steps to prepare for this transition period and to make the new standards clearer and more consistent.
The Common Core State Standards are a set of concepts stu-dents must master in each grade level. These standards have been adopted by 45 states since their debut in 2010 and will replace California’s current content standards. The CCSS will be implemented in California gradually until 2015.
A coalition of educators developed the CCSS, and it has broad support. The Council of Chief State
-nors Association Center for Best Practices played a major role in developing the stan-
National testing standards will improve curriculum
MIRA COSTA HIGH SCHOOL
1401 ARTESIA BOULEVARD
MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA
(310) 318-7330
NOVEMBER, 2012VOLUME LXIII, ISSUE 4WWW.LAVISTAMCHS.COM
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
DANNY KELLEHER
ALEC LAUTANEN
MANAGING EDITOR
HANNA MCGUIRE
COPY EDITORS
ZACK GILL
MAGGIE ROBAK
NEWS EDITORS
JOANI GILLAM, EXECUTIVE
SHAYLYN AUSTIN
TAYLOR ST. GERMAIN
OPINION EDITORS
ALEX WHITE, EXECUTIVE
JACK ALLEN
ADAM GERARD
ARTS EDITORS
DYLAN FAIR, EXECUTIVE
ARI HOWORTH
JAKE MAHR
LIFE EDITORS
AVA KLEIN, EXECUTIVE
ELIZABETH KNEISLEY
EMILY LOCKWOOD
THEME EDITORS
AMANDA NEWELL, EXECUTIVE
ARI GEVOV
RISHA ROHERA
SPORTS EDITORS
REGAN ESTES, EXECUTIVE
HANNAH PROCTOR
CASEY SUBLETTE
CALENDAR EDITOR
KATE ROBAK
PHOTO EDITORS
NICOLE FISCHER
EMMA SALZMAN
CIRCULATION EDITORS
ANGELINA VOLLUCCI
JESSICA BEELI, ASSISTANT
ARTISTS
JACKSON CASADY
ANDEW ARVAN
JULIA CHAMBERS
ADVISER
MICHAEL MCAVIN
STAFF WRITERS
GASSIA ASHIKIAN, NIKKI BORDOKAS, MADDIE COATE, ASHELY COHEN, DANIELA COE-MCNAMARA, SARA FELD, NIKKI FOUR-
NELL, DELANEY HAWKES,REBECCA HEXT, COURTNEY HUGHEY,
CAMILLE JUTON, TAMARA KNELL, QUINN KROPSCHOT, SAMMY MATSON, MADDY NERAD, CHRISTOPH NEUMANN, KARA PAT-
MAN, EMILY PETILLON, SABRINA PICKETT, IAN RAPOPORT, MEGAN RIORDAN, PIPER RODOLF,
CATE SCHIFF, JULIA SHEETH, ISAAC SIEGEMUND-BROKA, DANA STERNTHAL, MORGAN THALER, KATIE VON BEHREN, SIERRA
WILLIAMS
PHOTOGRAPHERS
HANNAH DAGIAU, MADDEN LAING, MIRA LAING, JACK LEE, NICK MATSON, VAUGHN MICHAUD, GEOFFREY ST. JOHN,
LISA VALICENTE, MUNAM WASI
EDITORIAL BOARD
JACK ALLEN, SHAYLYN AUSTIN, ADAM GERARD, ZACK GILL, JOANI GILLAM, DANNY KELLEHER,
ALEC LAUTANEN, HANNA MCGUIRE, MAGGIE ROBAK, TAYLOR ST. GERMAIN, ALEX WHITE
DISCLAIMER: LA VISTA IS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MIRA COSTA HIGH SCHOOL, SERVING 2,700 STUDENTS IN GRADES 9-12. CONTENT, WHICH IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LA VIS-TA STAFF, IS NOT SUBJECT TO ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVAL. UN-SIGNED EDITORIALS REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE NEWSPAPER, WHILE OPINION COLUMNS REPRESENT ONLY THE WRITER’S VIEWS. ADVERTISEMENTS DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF LA VISTA. LA VISTA PUBLISHES 10 ISSUES THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL YEAR ON A TRI-WEEKLY BASIS AND DISTRIBUTES 3,000 COPIES TO BOTH MIRA COSTA CLASSROOMS AND SUBSCRIBERS. LA VISTA IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COLUMBIA SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION AND WELCOMES SIGNED LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ON TOPICAL ISSUES FROM THE MCHS COMMUNITY. THEY MAY BE MAILED TO MICHAEL MCAVIN IN THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING MAILBOX OR SENT TO [email protected]. LETTERS MAY BE EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY. PLEASE CONTACT LAVISTA-
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AND PROVIDING ITS READERS WITH RELEVANT CONTENT.
pared for state testing at the end of the year. Gesualdi notes that the new CCSS stan-
emphasis on critical thinking which had been lost with the state’s past changes in
The new tests will also be administered on computers and will adapt to each stu-dent’s needs as the test progresses. If a stu-dent is getting correct answers, the test gets harder more quickly, and if he/she is an-swering the questions incorrectly, the test will remain at the present level. Because testing is electronic, comprehensive results will be available to teachers and parents al-most immediately after the test is taken, so the students can receive instant feedback.
The biggest concern with the CCSS
teachers. Luckily, in California the pre-ex-isting standards align more closely with the CCSS than other states. According to Ex-ecutive Director of Educational Services
School District plans to offer in-depth de-velopment opportunities this summer and encourages the staff to use meeting times to plan for this transition.
While the transition to the CCSS may come with a learning curve, this is a small
gain when they are far more prepared for their academic and vocational futures.
Maddie Nerad contributed to this article
OPINION December 21, 2012A8 La Vista
JACKSON CASADY/ LA VISTA
STAFF EDITORIALS
AP policy changes don’t address teacher concernsAfter months of discussion among Mira
Costa administration, Principal Dr. Ben Dale released his proposed Advanced Placement and Honors enrollment policy, which includes changes in both prereq-uisite and commitment form procedure. These proposed changes are ir-responsible and will have detri-mental effects on students and teachers.
A complete disregard for teacher input is apparent in this policy. Despite many meetings and surveys through which ad-ministrators attempted to gain feedback from teachers and students, the new AP policy has been met with much resistance from these groups. There is a clear discon-nect between the teaching staff and admin-istration. The policy will never be effective if the teachers, who will be responsible for its implementation, do not support the changes.
Dale and the rest of the Costa adminis-
tration should not dictate what is an accept-able prerequisite. Instead, the AP teachers should decide what classes will prepare students for their own courses. Dale’s add/drop period proposal, which eliminates commitment forms, should be amended to
require a teacher or guidance coun-selor approval in order to prevent “teacher shop-
the administration has taken a hard line on in the past.
The current waiver process is unclear and convoluted at best. Students should be able to waive into classes, but the process
-cantly stricter with more eligibility restric-tions, contrary to what Dale’s new, more lenient policy proposes.
This new policy exhibits a less strict AP program, which attempts to push the mid-dle student into more rigorous and chal-lenging classes, just as basic level students were shoehorned into College Preparatory
classes last year.Once again, the administration is at-
tempting to decide what is best for students and teachers without giving either group’s opinions much consideration. The one sur-vey the administration gave to students
amount CP students were genuinely unin-terested in taking AP classes. This survey directly contradicts Dale’s proposal and proves that the student body and the ad-ministration are not on the same page.
Instead of focusing on expanding AP classes, the administration should consider bringing back basic classes and increasing the rigor of CP classes in order to meet the needs of the middle student. While increas-ing access to AP classes may seem desir-able on the surface, doing so would only dilute the rigor of AP classes and CP class-es at Costa.
In theory, AP classes should be treated as comparable to college courses. In practice, Dale’s attempt to broaden course availabil-ity will threaten the rigor of every class-room at Mira Costa.
!e administration is attempting to decide what is best for students and teachers without giving either groups’ opinions much consideration.
As a journalist, covering tragedies like this puts newspapers and their sta" in a very precarious situation.
BY TAMARA KNELL
STAFF WRITER
A change in the Mira Costa master sched-ule to eliminate zero period and delay the start of school to 9 a.m. would negatively affect students, faculty, and parents.
A change in the school schedule would result in a limiting of course offerings, and if zero period were eliminated, it would lead to forced schedule changes for parents and less time for after-school extracurricu-lar activities for students. It should be the responsibility of the student, not the district, to ensure a reasonable sleep schedule.
Doctors Linda Schack and Mini Mehra
School District’s Medical Advisory Board at a board of trustees meeting on Oct. 3
about the lack of sleep students are getting on a daily basis.
During the meeting, Schack and Mehra claimed that students are not receiving enough sleep due to the early start time school demands. According to the Sleep Founda-
tion, the hormone melatonin is released later in the night,
causing teenagers to have difficulty f a l l i n g asleep ear-lier than 11 p.m.
Schack a n d M e h r a also dis-
cussed a solu-tion that would change drop-off schedules in the morning for parents who are not available at 8:45 a.m., the recommended new start time. They suggested the opening of the library earlier for an early-morning homework club. This solution is unfeasi-ble because if parents are still forced to drop their kids off at the same time, the students will have to wake up at the same time. This
sleep deprivation.The current early start is essential to stu-
needs of certain students. According to Costa Vice Principal Jamie Mancilla, 756
OPINIONDecember 21, 2012 A9La Vista
PRO/CON
Would starting school later bene!t Mira Costa?
Should Costa’s daily schedule be changed to a later start time?ROVING REPORTER
PRO: CON:
students are currently enrolled in a zero pe-riod. Many of the students are enrolled in
and some juniors and seniors take earlier classes so that they can leave after fourth or
because it leaves more time to do home-work and other activities, like getting a job. Experiences beyond the school day would greatly suffer with a changed schedule.
in school ending at 4 p.m., which would affect sport practices and several other after-school activities. Not only will prac-tice times change, but being on a different schedule than other public schools in the area would cause problems in scheduling games at reasonable times. With long bus rides already pushing back game times for all sports, a later school start time would complicate the process further. Teachers are often frustrated with the amount of time missed by athletes, and this would only worsen the problem.
Although some believe that eliminat-ing zero period would raise test scores and improve the health of students, pushing a later start time would force kids to go to bed even later than usual. The lack of sleep students are receiving is purely caused by their own responsibilities, and the current schedule doesn’t impact students’ lack of sleep. Students just need to take it upon themselves to get more sleep and go to bed earlier if that is what they feel is needed.
Obviously, there are some positive ef-fects associated with a later start time. But the massive cost associated with the
can take it upon themselves to plan more time so they can go to bed earlier and get a greater amount of sleep.
Zero period currently provides students with opportunities to take extra classes, while still letting students out of school at a reasonable hour. Pushing back Costa’s
morning start time would affect stu-dents both athletically
and academically. Overall, the current zero period start time and bell schedule is productive and appropriate for students. The suggestion brought before the Board is unnecessary and would neg-atively affect Costa’s student body on all parts of the spectrum.
BY SABRINA PICKETT
STAFF WRITER
The recent suggestion to change Mira Costa’s current schedule to start at a later time is a good idea despite the potential problems it may present.
Executive Director of Student Services Ellyn Schneider along with Doctors Linda Schack, Mini Mehra and Lisa Santora, presented the suggestion to The Manhat-
School District Board of Trust-ees in a presen-tation at the Oct. 3 Board meeting. They presentation aimed to ensure student health by changing Cos-ta’s current schedule to an 8:45 start time without zero period. The Board acknowl-edged the issue but decided to take no ac-tion and keep the schedule the same.
According to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the hu-man body’s “master clock,” or Circadian Rhythm, is directly affected by light. Pushing the start time back would allow students to wake up in daylight hours and
natural sleep cycle. In the report, the original concept in-
cluded the elimination of zero period; however, this is not nearly pragmatic enough. For a schedule change to be fea-sible, the school should push the start time of zero period back, but not get rid of it entirely. This would allow students to take an extra class and still wake up at a reason-able hour.
Colby College Professor Finley Ed-wards showed that a lack of sleep can have harmful effects on students of all grade levels through his experiments in a North Carolina school district. Edwards saw an overall improvement in test scores when students arrived at a later time. A later start
physical and academic health.According to Brown University Pro-
fessor Dr. Mary Carskadon, who has con-ducted many teenage sleeping patterns studies and put together the Board presen-tation with Schneider, it is advantageous for students to start school a mere 45 min-utes later because attendance is improved and the number of tardies and nurse visits are decreased.
Carskadon also noted that students with
Starting later would improve students’ lives Later start not worth administrative price
“No, because if it started later then we would have to push back
the time we get out.”
Peter DaGiau
Freshman
-plex concepts later in the day helps with retention, but stu-
dents need to prepare in a world that starts early.”
Jessica Bledsoe
Science Teacher
“Yes, I think school should start at 10 because with all of the
homework students have, they need more sleep.”
Greg Whitaker
Junior
HANNAH DAGIAU/ LA VISTA
“No, because the earlier school starts the earlier it’s over with.”
Kathy Oroczo
Senior
Jordan Cohn
Sophomore
“No, because some people can’t take summer school, so they
-ing the regular year.”
an early start time suffered from concen-tration issues, aggressive behavior, incon-sistent mood swings and unhealthy eating patterns. With a later morning start time, students and teachers would therefore have to deal with less disciplinary issues.
Pushing back the start of school to 9 a.m.
would be more prepared to learn and test scores would rise, as proven by Edwards and Carskadon. Teachers would also ben-
schedule, because students would be more alert and at-tentive in classes.
Some have argued that working parents
kids to school if the schedule were pushed back. This should not be an issue, h o w e v e r, b e c a u s e many up-perclassmen are able to drive them-selves and neigh-boring friends. C a r p o o l s and public t ranspor-t a t i o n , a m o n g o t h e r things, a l s o e a s i l y coun te rac t this issue.
According to Vice Principal Jaime Man-cilla, another reason the Board opted not to make changes to the current schedule is because many students compete on sports teams that begin practice during sixth pe-riod and claim they cannot be pushed back any later. However, this claim is irrelevant because many teams currently don’t begin practice until 3 p.m. or later for reasons
not be affected by a later schedule. Also,
lights that allow athletics to take place late in the day.
Pushing back the start of school to 9 a.m. and moving zero period to 8 a.m.
ANDREW ARVAN/ LA VISTA
Students and teachers would deal with fewer disciplinary issues with a later school start time.
!e later school is pushed back the less time students have to complete the academic work for the next day.
The Mira Costa wrestling team had a strong showing in its Saturday match at Western
of 20 teams.
Seniors Will Goodwin and Mustafa Hafezada -
on Dec. 29.
-
Jimmy [Millea],
BY DANNY KELLEHER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Chaney is back and ready to take the Mira
Costa wrestling team to new heights.
the Costa wrestling team from the 1991-
92 season to the 2001-02 season. During
-
-
which he founded in 1985. An unlikely en-
counter brought him back to Costa.
me he was head coach now and asked if I
good way. We’re more controlled and more
-
BY ALYSSA ZUCKER
STAFF WRITER
Teddy Friedman’s struggle stems from be-
Friedman is at a disadvantage for most
“They way I run doesn’t look quite nor-
-
two goals and assisting two others.
-
twist to Chaney’s traditional style.
-
tics and strategies than the ones I learned in
There are currently more than 40 under-
amount than Costa teams of recent years.
future in the coming years.
With sons set to wrestle for Costa for the
coach at least until they have graduated.
Junior Friedman overcomes obstacles
Sports Briefs
Chaney brings blast of past to wrestling team
HANNA DAGIAU/ LA VISTA
MUNAM WASI/ LA VISTA
BELIEVE TO ACHIEVE: Junior Teddy Friedman plays on the junior varsity soccer team, despite the
“Even though he does not have full use of
the beginning of grade school. He started
South Bay.
“Soccer has always been my favorite
Friedman uses his disability as motiva-
tion. He feels that he has become a stron-
anything get in the way of his goals.
Vincent Licciardone said. “He is always
THE CHANEY GANG:
A10 December 21, 2012SPORTSLa Vista
The Mira Costa boys varsity soccer team tied Warren High School on Monday with a
forward Travis Bradford scored for Mira Costa in the second half.
forward Frank Ralyea
Brandon Tsua
The team’s next game will be on Wednesday in the South Torrance Tournament.
Grant Southwood
Boys soccer ties Warren High School, 1-1, in close match at home
Sarah Crist
Jordan Raney Kelly Giery. This was the girls’ last
Erin Clifford
Emily Milstead
the game.
Sage Roebuck said. “Not only do they
Girls water polo trumps Capo Valley, 9-6, improves record to 6-2
BY LACY CANO, REBECCA HEXT AND ALYSSA ZUCKER/ STAFF WRITERS
MIRA COSTA PONY
BASEBALL LEAGUE
Registration Fees: Ages 4-12 - $160 per Player
Ages 13-14 - $275 per Player
Most Games at Mira Costa High School
For Questions about Registration
310.374.8867
Baseball like the Big Leagues!
BR 2
6855
1 11
15
REGISTER NOW FOR
SPRING 2013
www.miracostapony.com
Protect Our Nation’s Youth
December 21, 2012 SPORTS A11La Vista
TEAM RECORDS as of Dec. 19
Connor Kernochan (Senior)Boys Basketball
rebounds and three steals against Torrance on Dec. 7. The Mus-tangs won the game, 62-36.
Chris Beuder (Junior)Boys Soccer
Beuder scored two goals in Cos-ta’s win against South Torrance High School on Dec. 11 in an away game. The boys won, 4-0.
Kara Enomoto (Senior)Girls Soccer
Enomoto scored two goals in
Westlake in six years on Dec. 7. The Mustangs won, 2-1.
Emily Milstead (Senior)Girls Water Polo
Milstead had four of the team’s nine goals in the win against Es-peranza on Dec. 8. !e Mustangs won the match, 9-4.
Will Goodwin (Senior)Wrestling
--
tional on Dec. 1. The team placed
Rachel Humphrey (Senior)Girls Basketball
Humphrey had 11 points and nine rebounds in the win against South Torrance on Dec. 10. The girls won the game, 63-57.
Seniors Campbell, Muller, White commit to Cornell, Penn State, Harvard, respectively
TOP PERFORMERS
SET FOR THE COLLEGE BUMP: Senior volleyball players (from left) Grayce Campbell, Carley Muller and Casey White have committed to Cornell, Penn State and Harvard, respectively, for both their academic and athletic success.
MUNAM WASI/ LA VISTA
BY LACY CANO
STAFF WRITER
With a careful combination of athletic skills and academic prow-ess, seniors Grayce Campbell, Carley Muller and Casey White
-mitments to Cornell, Penn State
Campbell, whose interest lies in biopsychology, sought a bal-ance of rigorous academics as
Campbell was ultimately faced with a decision between Tulane and Cornell.
“My parents really just told me that they wanted me to make the decision that would bring me the most happiness,” outside hitter Campbell said. “After thinking about it for a couple of weeks, I realized that Cornell was what I truly wanted.”
Campbell has been a part of
and is supported in her decision to choose Cornell by many of her Costa teammates.
“I was so excited for Grayce when she committed to Cornell,” senior teammate Corie Bain, who
said. “I know she will excel at Cornell, and I am happy for her.”
Muller has been playing since
by her older brother to take up the sport. She recently committed to Penn State, where she plans to major in communications.
-enth grade that I wanted to go to Penn State” libero Muller said.
home away from home. That, and the school’s great athletic and academic reputation, made it the perfect option for me.”
Muller’s dedication to the sport is apparent to many that watch her. The recruitment process in-
and emails between both parties.“Carly is a determined, self-
Arce-Zimmerman said. “She has always wanted to push herself to
done a great job of doing that.”An outside hitter for the boys
-
-eton. He decided to follow in his older brother DJ’s footsteps by
“The opportunity to go to an
for me to pass up,” White said. “Making a decision between these schools was really hard, but at the end of the day, I guess I thought that it would be more fun for me to play with my brother for the next two years than to be playing against him.”
White, who considers passing to be his greatest attribute as a
-
question, he will focus on spend-
the academic opportunities the school has to offer.
“Casey is always a good team-mate and always keeps the team smiling while also maintaining focus,” senior Riley Mallon said. “I’m really excited for him, and he will do great things at Har-
White will begin competing in his last season as a Mustang with
game will be played on March 1 in Santa Barbara.
“We are going to perform really well this year,” White said. “The returning guys still remember that
work extremely hard to try to get it again.”
Sport Overall Bay LeagueWin Loss Tie LossWin Tie
Boys Soccer Girls Soccer
Girls Water PoloBoys Basketball
Girls BasketballWrestling
9 1 2 - - - -
Shake in your penguin suits; our secret weapon is ready
Rank
8 6 - - - - - 4 4 - - - - - 7 3 - - - - - 12 1 - - - - -
4 2 1 - - - -
COMPILED BY REGAN ESTES, HANNAH PROCTOR, AND CASEY SUBLETTE/SPORTS EDITORS
PHOTOS BY EMMA SALZMAN AND NICOLE FISHER/LA VISTA
number of volleyball players that have committed to colleges. Corie Bain, Grayce Campbell, Gracie Chavers, Riley Mallon, Grant Chalmers, Carley Muller and Casey White committed.
64
725
6
might recall from last year, our el-ders created a team. Not just any team, but a team of titans, a true gang of legends, a band destined
the Midwest for its exceptional -
ing and dodging skill.The Dodgeball Tournament is
upon us once more. In a hidden -
crew of our predecessors. This, Costa, is the player of the future, as it is crafted with traits (and
most exquisite gene pool known to Mira Costa and beyond.
face it; they’re stag legs, really.
opponents in harm’s way. With Mr. Timberlake’s battle
cry, our crusader strikes fear into the hearts of his foes, from the pe-
team Chow happens to be free-loading onto this time.
Of course, we didn’t strictly stick to Costa’s denizens in the creation of our monstrosity. Met-ta World Peace’s arms allow our solider to simultaneously be ag-
bondages of old age, the brain of Alex Trebek will allow for our
seriously will not get out.
soldier with the stealth of master spy Mason Pierce. Straight from the mind-blowing soon-to-be-
published masterpiece of sopho-mores Derek Zeoli and Bram Osterhout, Pierce’s experiences
unbeatable in the sport.
Our champion has also been en-dowed with the mouth of the
extra limb for catching, as well as
from “Predator,” to help see.Finally, and perhaps most im-
portantly, our super soldier has the
ago became a master of dodging
Perhaps one day, when the
Solider, who we affectionately call “Caesar,” will be unleashed.
--
ably not chill.
Digits
the fall sports CIF. All of the teams competed at least to the second round of the competition.
approximate number of practices the baseball team has had to miss due to the recent investigation of the coaching staff relating to claims of emotional abuse of players by coaches.
the number of teams that signed up for the Dodgeball Tourna-ment this semester. Amateur Hour looks to maintain its unde-feated streak and win for fourth year in a row.
SPORTSA12 La Vista December 21, 2012
Boys basketball loses to Harvard-Westlake in close overtime game
WET FROM THE LINEMustangs’ 80-77 loss to Harvard-Westlake on Dec. 15. The Mustangs lost in the last minute of
overtime in the championship game of the El Segundo/Palos Verdes Tournament.
LISA VALICENTE/ LA VISTA
BY IAN RAPOPORT
STAFF WRITER
As time ran out and with the game on the
line, the Mira Costa boys basketball team
forced overtime against Harvard-Westlake
but was unable to win. The boys lost, 80-
77, making Dec. 15 Costa’s last game in
the El Segundo/Palos Verdes Tournament.
-
nament and lost to Harvard-Westlake in the
championship game.
“It was a highly competitive and fun
game to be a part of,” coach Jeff Amaral
said. “It was one of the games where you
are absolutely dying to win it.”
Senior point guard Cole Feaster led the
team with 18 points and seven assists. Se-
nior guard Kevin Kim and center Ryan
Kaseff scored 16 points along with junior
forward Justin Strings. Kaseff also had 10
rebounds in the game.
“Ryan really performed well through-
out,” junior center John Mical Watson
said. “He stepped up and showed his po-
tential as a defender in a huge way.”
-
lead of 20-16.
“We came in full force for the beginning
of the game,” sophomore center Gavin
Reagan said. “Toward halftime, Harvard-
Westlake really started to give their best
and things became really tense.”
Harvard-Westlake came back in the
Harvard-Westlake had extended its lead
to tie the score at 71-71, but after missing
a potentially game-winning shot, the game
went into overtime.
“Harvard-Westlake came back in the
third and really brought everything at over-
time,” Reagan said.
Strings led the Mustangs in scoring
in overtime, scoring all six of the team’s
points. Harvard-Westlake was able to get a
rally started and win 80-77.
“When the game was tied, we were still
said. “We were able to get some nice plays,
but they just made a few extra points to put
them over the top.”
Although the Mustangs lost in the cham-
pionship match, the team’s overall record
beat Tocaz High School, St. Monica High
School and Lawndale High School.
“We played very well during the tourna-
ment,” Amaral said. “In the end, we lost to
a well-respected and strong team. We really
gave it our all by pushing into overtime.”
The Mustangs are now approaching reg-
ular season, which begins in January. The
team trained hard during the offseason and
has started the season with just three loss-
es. The boys hope to bring their preseason
success into Bay League.
The Mustangs’ next match is today at
-
“I think now we are realizing our true
potential,” Watson said. “As the season
goes on we will continue to improve.”
KICKING AND SCREAMING2-0 victory over Marina High School on Tuesday. The Mustangs’ record improves to 9-1-2 overall in
the preseason as the team heads into Bay League play.
HANNAH DAGIAU/ LA VISTA
Girls soccer edges out Marina High School, improves record to 9-1-2BY LACY CANO
STAFF WRITER
With all its club players back, the Mira
Costa girls soccer team came out victori-
ous on Tuesday with a 2-0 win against Ma-
rina High School, improving its preseason
Early on, the two teams seemed evenly
matched, with neither able to gain a clear
advantage. Both of the teams maintained
ending in a 0-0 stalemate.
“We got off to a slow start because we
half,” sophomore Megan Carver said.
“We fought and played through the wind
which really impacted the game and was
The Mustangs came out strong in the
second half, particularly in the last 20 min-
utes of the game. The girls maintained pos-
session for the majority of the time, which
led to an increased number of break-aways
and on-target shots on goal.
“Even though we got off to a slow start,
we pushed hard in the second half and
started playing our game,” junior Mandy
McKeegan said. “We were able to take ad-
vantage of a couple key opportunities and,
second half of the game from sophomore
forward McKenna Doyle, with the assist
from freshman Hannah Watkins. Build-
ing on the Mustangs’ lead, junior Savanna
Sartini assisted senior Taylor Foland for
the team’s second goal minutes later.
“I think our success eventually came
down to us taking our opportunities by
settling the game down and keeping pos-
session,” junior Kimby Keever said. “We
The weather, which proved to be a ma-
jor obstacle, played a dramatic effect on
and shots on goal. The Costa coaching staff
kept this factor in mind while making pre-
game decisions.
“We used the weather as part of our strat-
egy,” assistant coach Amanda Cross said.
so that it would be in our favor for the sec-
ond half, giving us a lot of momentum.”
The team will play today in a home game
-
“The girls did a great job of coping with
the conditions,” coach Patty Perkinson
said. “This was our second-to-last game of
the preseason so it was nice to get a win to
push us into league.”
HOOP! THERE IT IS: Junior guards Shaylyn Austin (left) and Camille Mills (right) compete against
South Torrance in a Costa win on Dec. 10. The girls beat Bellarmine-Jefferson on Wednesday.
GEOFFREY ST. JOHN/ LA VISTA
BY KATIE VON BEHREN
STAFF WRITER
The Mira Costa girls varsity basketball
team was able to give all 14 uninjured
member of the team a chance to play in the
-
ment on Wednesday.
but results were unavailable due to time
of publication. The girls’ record currently
stands at 7-4 overall.
“I think we had a really solid and great
energy,” senior center Rachel Humphrey
had started it. Now, all we need is to con-
tinue to focus on our roles and bring them
to the court.”
Junior guard Camille Mills led the team
in scoring against Bellarmine-Jefferson,
scoring 12 points for the Mustangs along
with three rebounds. Junior guard Shaylyn
Austin scored nine points, also bringing in
three rebounds. Together, the team worked
on its communication skills to move the
ball down the court in order to advance on
the defenders.
“It feels great starting off the tournament
with a win, and I hope we can continue
to play this well together,” Mills said. “I
know we can go pretty far in this tourna-
ment. We just need to continue to trust each
other by passing the ball so we can try to
get into the championships.”
The girls started off strong with the lead
Girls basketball trumps Bellarmine-Je!erson in "rst game of tournament
points with the help of senior guard Bella
Emmetti, who scored six points.
and it shows. The win was crucial for us
because it sets the tone for the tournament,”
senior forward Taylor Lewis said. “I hope
we come out playing just as aggressively
tomorrow. I know that we have a good
chance to win in this tournament and that
we are ready for the season.”
Lewis helped the Mustangs on defense,
maintaining a strong lead over Bellamine-
Jefferson. Costa scored 17 points by the
“We all brought a lot of energy into
this game and put a lot of pressure on the
other team, which helped our success on
offense,” sophomore point guard Keilani
Ikehara said. “If we continue to play with
this same intensity and drive that we had
today, then we can go really far in this tour-
nament and will have a strong start in the
regular season.”
The Mustangs’ strong offense did not let
up throughout the game and continued to
strengthen Costa’s lead with the help of
different players. However, Bellarmine-
“It’s great to start off this tournament
with a strong win,” junior center Shannon
Savino said. “If we keep up our energy,
then our team has a real chance on making
it into the championships and winning the
whole tournament. It would be a huge ac-
complishment for us.”
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