Palo Verde conquers first-year jitters

     By Damon Hodge
     View staff writer
      Palo Verde's inauguration at the varsity sports level was filled with first-year bumps but athletic officials say the 3-year-old school is on a faster-than-expected road to respectability.
      "We had a surprisingly good year across the board," said Darwin Rost, the school's athletics director and football coach. Excluding cross country and track and field, Palo Verde went 199-196-7 in 12 sports during the regular season.
      The football team finished 3-5, with the school's first varsity win coming in the season opener against Rancho. The Panthers nipped Mojave on a late-game field goal and pushed playoff teams Gorman and Western late into each game.
      Rost said the Panthers have a bright upside, given promising newcomers and a talented crop of underclassmen.
      Baseball: Charlie Cerrone expected to do a little better than 7-9, but was heartened by his team's competitiveness.
      "We were in every game," said Cerrone, who will leave the team to coach at Centennial next year.
      Adjusting to varsity pitching and maintaining focus proved tough for the young Panthers. Solid pitching and steady defense led a confidence-lifting 9-3 victory against Cheyenne and tough 9-6 loss to Durango after leading 4-1.
      "The foundation is there for something special," he said.
      Basketball: Phil Clarke's boys' basketball team lost six games by five points or less.
      "Our biggest weaknesses were our lack of experience and senior leadership," he said. "We weren't able to finish games in crunch time and we didn't have a player who demanded the ball at the end of the game."
      That role will likely fall to junior center Josh Clark. The 6-foot 4-inch Clark averaged 13 points and eight rebounds in last year's 8-19 campaign. The team's tallest player, he was also it's best 3-point shooter.
      "If we put him on the perimeter, we didn't have anybody banging down low," Clarke said. "We hope to get more depth next year."
      Led by All-Sunset division guard Ryann Russell and her 16-point, 6-assist per game average, the girls' basketball team finished 13-15 overall, 6-8 in division play.
      "We would have liked to finished .500 but I was happy that we competed with everybody," coach Gina Piccolo said.
      The Panthers notched wins over Cimarron-Memorial and zone champion Silverado. Palo Verde was the only team in the division to defeat the Skyhawks.
      "Last year was my first year with the girls so we spent the year adjusting to each other," Piccolo said. "The girls worked hard and worked well together but they will benefit from a year's experience."
      Bowling: Peggy Lair's bowling teams were mirror images of each other. Both finished fourth in the Sunset division, fourth in zone and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
      Sophomore Ted Kanae led the boys' team, finishing with a season average of 188 and bowling a 746 series, a 250 average, midway through the season. The 12-man team lead the division early in the season before faltering and finishing 34-30.
      Freshman Stephanie Cole's 167 average led the girls. Smaller than most teams, they relied on consistency and finished 39-24.
      Cross country: Men's cross country suffers from being sandwiched between football and basketball, coach Kevin Soares said. He fielded 15 athletes, not nearly enough to knock off top schools like Basic, Green Valley and Silverado, though Palo Verde runners have competed at the varsity level for two years.
      Sophomore Barry Mathews and junior Ramen Abraham are the top returnees and several track athletes have expressed interest.
      "Better talent and more depth will help them out next year," said Soares, who will coach at Foothill next year.
      Girls' coach K.C. Hackbart made due with only seven athletes. Fortunate for her, two of them were Janee Roberts and Michele Rennie. Unfortunate for Hackbart: Rennie will focus solely on swimming next year.
      Hackbart was heartened by her team's work ethic and said a year's experience in the distance races should mean faster times for the returnees.
      Golf: A talented quartet -- three freshman and a sophomore -- piloted the boys' golf team to a 13-5 mark, 11 wins in the division, and pushed the men's golf team into the zone tournament.
      Though youth was the biggest strength, it proved an Achilles heel during a crucial mid-season stretch, coach Jeff Wolfram said. The team grew lax, lost a couple of games, but finished strong.
      "Four of our top six players aren't even juniors yet," Wolfram said. "We're in good, young hands."
      Nearly as exceptional, the girls' team went 9-7 and set the stage for a division title push in the spring of 2000.
      Depth kept coach Peggy Lair from taking her 9-7 squad to zone. She said her goal is to find strong fifth and sixth players and expects a contingent of quality freshman to contribute immediately.
      "We sent three sophomore and one freshman to zone. Of that, a sophomore (Suzie Sherba) and freshman (Terri Henderson) went to state," she said. "The nucleus is there."
      Soccer: Despite a 4-1 first-round playoff loss to Las Vegas, the boys' soccer team is riding high. During an 8-7-3 regular season, the inexperienced Panthers upset perennially tough Gorman 1-0, beat Clark and Western and twice came up short in 3-2 losses to a powerful Durango squad.
      "Our inexperience hurt us," coach Kevin Hagood said. "We led in a lot of games, then lost in the closing moments or we fell behind big, stormed back, but didn't have enough to win. The most impressive thing about us was that we won the games we had to win."
      Hagood returns all but one player for next season.
      On the girls' side, Natalie Thomas' sophomore-dominated squad limped through the season but still managed a 9-9-4 record, often with freshmen plugging in at several starting positions.
      The team returns intact and boasts a star in junior Tami Miller, second-team all-conference at right wing. Thomas' squad swept Cheyenne, pushed Bonanza before losing 1-0 and gave Durango its only tie, 1-1.
      "I was really impressed with the way the girls responded," said Miller, who will be at Foothill in Green Valley next year. "We had a lot injuries and a tough schedule early but everyone stepped up. They'll go far next year."
      Softball: Defense carried the Panthers to a 13-15 record and a 7-8 division mark, including a hard-fought win over division champion Bonanza.
      Coach Lisa Campbell said tenacity was the team's strongest suit. Inexperience showed during crucial end-game situations, but Campbell said the
     near-misses will make the team better.
      Swimming: Though outmanned, the Palo Verde boys' swim team went 5-1 in the regular season, fielded several zone qualifiers and a state-title threat in Kevin Williams in the 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.
      "The boys exhibited a great work ethic all year long," coach Bob Nicholson said. "We set our goals high and we concentrated on meeting them. We've exceeded them and we plan on contending for the division title in the near future."
      Pat Habermas' girls' team also made a big first-year splash, going 4-2 and sending more than a dozen girls to zone.
      Leading the way were sophomores Rennie and Alexis McMurray, both state-level talents in the 100-yard breastroke and Courtney Ladd, a top competitor in the 100-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle.
      "The outlook on next season depends a lot on who we swim against," Habermas said. "We competed well against some of the more seasoned teams at our level. We'll take on bigger schools next year, but I think we will be competitive."
      Tennis: Missed it by one match. Coach Tom Froistad will use this year's narrow miss for a playoff spot as the catalyst for a zone push next year.
      The team is anchored by freshman Karl Riley, an excellent all-around athlete and the top singles player. Everybody's returning from a 7-5 squad that beat Cheyenne, Durango and Valley. A solid third doubles team would push the Panthers to division title contention, Froistad said.
      "Several of the players are participating in tournaments to get more experience," Froistad said. "They're really serious about success."
      Injuries and lack of depth contributed to a 4-7 season on the girls' side, according to coach Ralph Lovelidge. At times, eight freshmen filled the nine starting spots.
      Lovelidge said he looks forward to teaching more strategy and game preparation to second-year players. Team strengths include competitiveness, athleticism and junior Lindsay White, who went 18-0 in the regular season on the way to zone. Lovelidge said stronger doubles teams could put the Panthers above .500 and into the playoffs.
      Track: Coach Charlie Walsh thinks his boys' team, fifth in the conference championships, are on the fast track to a division title. The girls' squad is sprinkled with individual talent, but needs depth to be a contender.
      The boys are solid in throws, sprints and jumps. In an impressive two-week span, the team won the Sunset Conference Relays and Durango Relays. In the final meet of the year, the Panthers beat Bonanza and Cimarron. Top-performers were junior Cynric Moore, conference champion in the shot put and discus and the the 400- and 800-meter relay teams.
      Sprints and throwing events carried the girls' team. Janee Sonne is the best of three shot put and discus throwers.
      Kristen Sagers is looking to improve on a second-place finish in the 800-meter run at the conference championships, Tiffany Nelson qualified for zone in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and Janee Roberts made it in the 100 and 200.
      "If we get more bodies I think we'll be in the thick of things in the years to come," Walsh said.
      Volleyball: Lance Cooper's boys' volleyball team's surprising year ended with a not-so-surprising trip to the zone tournament. Cooper's squad finished 10-6 during the regular season despite being undersized and playing a tough schedule.
      "We've never even clicked on all eight cylinders for any length of time," Cooper said. "But when we did, we were something. The key to the season was that we beat the teams we were supposed to beat and beat some teams we weren't."
      Cooper said a year under varsity pressure should reduce the nerves that doomed the Panthers in big games.
      September Bauer entered her 4-15 women's team in an over-30 tournament. They finished seventh out of eight teams.
      "I wanted to show them a higher level of volleyball and show them that they could compete at that level," she said.
      The Panthers competed well all year but not enough to supplant the inexperience and lack of size.
      "These were 14- and 15-year-old girls playing against fully developed 16- and 17-year-olds. They were overmatched but they played hard." she said. "Most of them are still growing."
      Junior Courtney Wilks sprouted two inches to 6-foot-2 in six months and is among the players Bauer is looking to for leadership.
      Wrestling: Palo Verde's five state-qualifying wrestlers came back empty-handed.
      But the 10-10 season had several highlights -- losing by three points to Clark in a dual meet, placing third in the consolation bracket of a Green Valley dual meet and finishing seventh of 22 teams in the Silverado Invitational.
      "We have high expectations for next year," said coach Kris Davis. "Our wrestlers often faced bigger, stronger and more experienced competition. Next year, the field will be more level."