Hops on hops on hops

Charlotte Biffar and Sammy Solomon
April 26, 2013
Filed under Features, Profiles, Top Stories, Track & Field

At the start of the spring sports season, most members of the Palo Alto High School track team hit the ground running. However, the Paly jumpers, those track members who participate in the high jump, long jump, and triple jump, could be seen just walking. “So far we’ve barely started jumping this... Read more »

Diving deep

Jordan Gans and Hilda Huang
April 26, 2013
Filed under Features, Profiles, Swimming - Boys, Top Stories

Few sports have a lower performance to training time ratio than does diving - an Olympic repertoire typically lasts no more than a minute or two, a high school six-dive lasts no more than 30 seconds. That hasn’t deterred freshmen divers Reed Merritt and Mimi Lin from training 14 hours a week, hurtling... Read more »

The Sonny side

Audrey DeBruine
April 26, 2013
Filed under Features, Golf, Profiles, Top Stories

Over 200. That is how many golf balls Paly golf captain Grant Raffel (‘13) estimates that he has in his bedroom at home. One-hundred six of them are displayed on the walls, one from every course he has ever played including favorites California Golf Club and Eagle Bend. Fifteen are labeled with... Read more »

Hansen: the man behind the mustache

Pippa Raffel, Staff Writer
December 15, 2012
Filed under Features, Profiles, Top Stories

He is pretty hard to miss. Standing at 6 feet 1 inch tall, with dark sunglasses, a puffy mustache and a booming chuckle, Paly head football coach Earl Hansen has led the Vikings to 195 wins, four Central Coast Section titles and two California State Bowl Game appearances in 27 seasons. He was also... Read more »

The house that Harbaugh built

Sammy Solomon and Jonny Glazier
December 14, 2012
Filed under Featured Athlete, Profiles

Whispers circulated through the student section as the Viking football team took on the Los Gatos Wildcats; “Jim Harbaugh (‘82) is here.” Wearing a Giants baseball cap, the San Francisco 49ers head coach was sitting towards the top of the Paly stands next to his wife Sarah and high school friend,... Read more »

The big three

Audrey DeBruine, Staff Writer
October 10, 2012
Filed under Features, Profiles, Top Stories, Water Polo - Boys

It is not a difficult task to determine when it is game day for the boys’ varsity water polo team. Matching sun hats can be seen dispersed around the quad with sun-bleached hair peeking out under the brims and green polos donned by all the players. The unified front the team exhibits can be attributed... Read more »

Secret to Success

Jordan Gans, Staff Writer
October 10, 2012
Filed under Cross-Country - Boys, Featured Athlete, Profiles, Top Stories

Unlike most athletes, cross-country runner Nate Cook (‘15) does not partake in his sport for the thrill of victory. In fact, Cook does not even care about winning, and he  started his sophomore year with little motivation to continue with cross-country. Yet, as a sophomore on varsity, he has become... Read more »

Male Athlete of the Year 2012: B.J. Boyd

Colin Patterson, Staff Writer
June 6, 2012
Filed under Baseball, Fall Sports, Featured Athlete, Features, Football, Profiles, Spring Sports

In the first 10 seconds of the 2011-2012 Paly football season, B.J. Boyd (‘12) found the end zone. Using his blistering, 4.4-second 40-yard dash speed, Boyd took the opening kickoff 85 yards all the way past the San Benito High School defense.  Three months and 25 touchdowns later, Boyd closed the... Read more »

Back in the Box

Sam Borsos and Jacob Lauing, Managing Editors
April 23, 2012
Filed under Featured Athlete, Features, Profiles, Top Stories

Baseball is a game of adjustments. A flyout teaches a hitter to stay on top of the ball. A walk does not discourage a pitcher from pounding the strike zone on the next at-bat, it drives him to try even harder. A baseball player is considered great for getting a hit just thirty percent of the time. Even... Read more »

Mind over matter

Charlotte Biffar and Nora Rosati, Features Editor, Editor-in-Chief
April 20, 2012
Filed under Baseball, Featured Athlete, Profiles, Spring Sports, Top Stories

From a chess champion in fourth grade to a two sport varsity athlete, Alec Wong (‘12) brings another element to the athletic arena.  For many, the ideal “male varsity athlete” fits a preconceived physical image.  Yet a look at the various Paly varsity athletes suggests that this image does not... Read more »