Port Angeles High School (PAHS) Winter Sports are off to a great start this season. PAHS’ winter sports include: boy’s and girl’s basketball, boy’s swimming, boy’s swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, and winter cheer. Despite the forecasted snow and low temperatures across the Olympic Peninsula things are really heating up for the Roughriders during this winter sports season.

                The boy’s basketball team this year is led by the direction of the following coaches: Wes Armstrong, Tim Ochs, Jon Hamlton, and Brian Shirley. The girl’s basketball team is led by coaches: Michael Poindexter, Beth Krause, Jennifer Kunkel. This year the boy’s team hopes to go all the way to the state championship.  When asked about this year’s season Easton Napiontek (12) said, “we are the team to beat—best Port Angeles team in history!”

Despite losing some critical players last year the girl’s basketball team is optimistic and having a great season. Kiah Jones (12) had this to say about the girls team, “We are doing really well. This year we’ve had a lot of close and intense games, which makes it much more exciting than it has been in the past.” Both the boy’s and girl’s team have started off strong and don’t plan to let their guard down.

                The boy’s swim and dive team is led by the direction of: Rich Butler, Pete VanRossen, and Patti Riefenstahl. According to the boy’s team captain, Austin Fahrenholtz (12), “the people and the competition are great! We have not lost in four years—I would not like not to lose any meets this year.”

                The boy’s wrestling team is led by the direction of coach, Erik Gonzalez. Zach Grall (12), team captain for wrestling says, “My personal season is going really well. Most of my wins are by pin and currently I am 10-1. As for the team it has never been stronger—we’re on a roll this year and will continue to be stronger as long as we stay hungry and keep pushing ourselves.” When asked to reflect upon the wrestling season Brian Cristion(11) said, “I love wrestling! Wrestling is all about you; you can’t pass the blame off to anyone else when you lose; it’s the hardest sport and it’s all you; you can’t look to your team for help; it’s just you and your opponent and nobody else.”

                The girl’s gymnastics team this year is led by coach, Melanie Hyatt. Gymnastics has been undefeated this year. The gymnastics team hopes to place as a team at the state level in team competitions instead of placing individually. Gymnast, Chelsea Clearman (12), had this to say about the season, “The season has been going great! As a team we have beat both Kingston and North Kitsap so far, leaving us undefeated! Our team works really hard, which has definitely paid off. We have high hopes of going to state as a team rather than individually this year.” According to Clearman the single greatest thing she loves about gymnastics is, “how much fun it is. You spend so much time with your team, that you become really close and have a lot of fun. Also, you’re always working really hard to get new skills so that you can get higher scores when you compete; and when you finally get that skill you’ve been working so hard for, and you stick it in your routine, it’s the best feeling ever!”

                The cheer team is led by coaches Dana Snell and Kelsey Snell. When asked what she enjoys about cheer Brandi McFarlan(11) said, “I love cheer! It gets me involved in school more, and we are all close, like sisters!  I have made some of my closest friends through cheer!”

In true Port Angeles High School spirit the Roughriders are not to be outdone this year and have a promising warm winter season. Remember that the best part of winter sports is that they are played indoors! We all know that there will be at least one week of the baseball season where you have HotHands shoved in your pockets and you have to make multiple runs to concession stand for hot chocolate or send your friends to Starbucks or Roundup Alatte for mochas.

Stay track of Roughrider winter sports this season by following the Port Angeles High School Athletics and Events Calendar: http://pahs.portangeles.tandemcal.com/index.php or by visiting the Port Angeles Community Sports & Athletic Programs website at: http://www.paathletics.com/.