‘See You at the Beach’: PCC Week
This is the week that everyone has been waiting for. It's PCC week for all members of the Porter County Conference. Both boys and girls basketball teams compete for the Golden Ball conference trophy. This is the week to see which school’s team is the best in the conference.
Senior Kayla Sullivan played this week with the WT girls varsity basketball team. They played Morgan the first round and unfortunately lost.
She says, “I started playing basketball because I loved the idea of a close team with a bunch of people that also loved to play that sport”. Since WT is so small everyone is very close. Kayla doesn’t just play basketball, she also plays softball and soccer. Kayla does want to continue her soccer career into her college years.
Being a senior Kayla says, “I am going to miss all of my friends in all of the sports that I have played and I am going to miss playing in those close games just like the first round of PCC against Morgan”.
Fortunately, one WT team did some damage in the PCC tournament. Our very own boys had the chance to bring an end to an about 90-year conference title drought. They made it to the championship game against Boone Grove, however, lost a hard fought battle. Sadly for the seniors, they will not get another chance to win the trophy and the keg though their legacy certainly will not be forgotten.
Track Season Coming Soon
Basketball season is almost over and track will be starting soon. Senior Hannah Manson has already started preparing for her last high school sports season. She has been running for two years now. If it wasn’t for her friend Jude, she wouldn’t have even thought of trying.
“Sophomore year the WT track team only had two girls on it: Liz Mason and Jude Connelly. I am good friends with Jude and she forced me to run with her”, Hannah says.
With this being her last season she says it is definitely bittersweet. She will miss her close-knit team, but will enjoy going to college and making new friends while there.
On the boys track team, Brenden Payne is a junior. This will be his sixth year running track for WT.
He says, “The reason I started running was because everyone always told me I was very fast“. Brenden has won many ribbons and hopes to keep doing so. The thing he is most excited for this season is winning.
Fortunately, for Brenden, this isn’t his last year. He will have this year and next year to keep winning.
Braden Kingery at DECA Competition
This month Junior Braden Kingery got the chance to travel to Hobart High School to compete in the district DECA competition. DECA stands for Distributed Education Clubs of America. DECA is an organization that, according to DECA.org, “prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe”.
Since Braden is in the Sports Entertainment Marketing class at the Porter County Career and Technical Center, he was required to compete.
Braden says, “My partner and I ended up placing fourth in our category. Even though it was a requirement, I still enjoyed it”.
Braden took advantage of a great opportunity and ended up doing very well.
Tim Brunton in the Gym
Mr. Brunton is one of the middle and high school gym teachers at WT. Being very active in high school, Brunton knew PE teaching was the job for him and has been doing it for five years.
He says, “My PE teachers in high school were one of my favorite teachers. I learned so much from them and I wanted to have that same effect on students as they were on me”.
Since sports were also such a big part of his life, Brunton couldn’t be apart so he decided to be a coach. At WT Brunton is the girls coach and is loving every minute of it.
“In high school, I played football, basketball, and baseball and one year I did run cross country. Those coaches were some of the biggest influences in my life. When I coach now I use many strategies and concepts that they used on me when I played. I believe that almost every athlete, once their career is over, would love to be a coach. It’s a rewarding feeling when you take your knowledge and apply it to an athlete to improve their abilities”, says Brunton.
Now that Brunton is an adult, he has stopped playing high impact sports such as those he did in high school. He now plays more relaxed sports such as bowling and golf. Since Brunton had never played these sports before, he says it was part of the fun just learning how to play.
Brunton is doing the job he loves and hopes to do it for a while. Hopefully, he can impact some of his students to follow the same path he did.