The woman behind the gyms: Cathy Lancianese
November 30, 2009
Allison Jackson
Behind every team, behind every coach there is one person that makes things happen. At Hoban, that person is Cathy Lancianese.
For ten years Lancianese has cheered on teams from the sidelines, scheduled opposing teams for games and sent game results to the newspapers. Lancianese ensures the success of Hoban sports and practices.
“She’s the glue of the athletic department,” head football coach Ralph Orsini said.
Lancianese, a 1977 Hoban graduate and a parent of six Hoban alumni, is one of the first faces Hoban student-athletes encounter when they turn in their physicals.
“I keep track of the physicals and eligibility lists and help out the coaches with whatever they need,” Lancianese said.
She organizes senior nights and banquets to make sure that every student-athlete is given the recognition they deserve.
“My favorite part of my job is the athletes, the students,” Lancianese said.
Her love for the students is shown in the snacks she keeps on her desk for the students to nibble on throughout the day. Although the athletic office has moved behind the gyms, Lancianese’s presence is still strongly felt by the students.
A frequent fixture at most home games, Lancianese can be seen bundled up during fall sporting events when the weather is less than favorable. However, Lancianese admits that she has a favorite sport to watch.
“Football. It’s always been, even when I was growing up,” Lancianese said.
When she is not cheering on teams from the sidelines she is organizing player lists, recording game scores and scheduling practices.
“I don’t think any athletic team could be successful without her,” athletic trainer Candace Larlham said.
The hard work and dedication that Lancianese shows to every sport makes her the undisputed MVP Hoban athletics.
Student trainers ready to protect winter sports
November 30, 2009
Danielle Hale
Three rolls of tape, two rolls of pre-wrap, one cooler of ice, five water bottles and one pair of scissors. Those are what make up an Athletic Training student aid. Fall has come to an end and the winter aides are eager to take on their role.
Thirteen students are aides for the upcoming winter season, ten girls and three boys.
“I try to place one student aide with all contact sports,” Certified Athletic Trainer Candice Larlham said. “I can usually place two student aides with each sport. For example this winter we have student aides with boys and girls basketball at all levels, wrestling and swimming.”
Each aide has many responsibilities. They are in charge of making sure stocking the kit, cleaning the training room, and preparing water and ice for their team.
The most important role of the student aide is learning about injuries and anatomy. They must be able to tape and know when to send an injured player to Larlham. Because of their responsibilities to the players, many of them attend summer camps to learn techniques and assessments.
“The student aides are a tremendous help,” Larlham said. “They make life a lot easier and free up a lot of my time to focus on injury evaluation and treatment by taking care of the daily needs of the team.”
Athletes incur many different injures that student aides need to be prepared to handle. They are normally the first ones on the court or field to assist an injured player.
“My favorite part is getting to know the teams and seeing athletes’ injuries from beginning to end,” senior Alex Clark said.
Clark has been a student aide since her sophomore year and has lettered six times. She thought it would be a lot of fun and a great learning experience.
“It is a great program and I have met so many great people,” Clark said. “They really appreciate what we do. I love training and I’m super glad I got involved.”
House passes divisive health care bill
November 23, 2009
Ever since President Obama was elected, the country has been buzzing about healthcare reform. Last Saturday, the House Democrats finally achieved their goal and passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
“Thanks to the hard work of the House, we are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America,” Obama said in a statement from Camp David. “Now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will, and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year.”
With a vote of 220-215 and 218 votes needed, the House was truly divided on this important issue. A total of 39 Democrats voted against the 1990-page bill, while only one Republican voted in favor of it. It is estimated that around 96% of Americans under age 65 will be covered, and couples earning over $18,700 a year must have insurance or will suffer a 2.5% income tax. The plan will include a government option available in 2013 and will cost anywhere from $894 billion to $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
An amendment was passed largely thanks to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that explicitly ensured that funds would not be put towards abortion. However, for many Congressmen, more than just abortion needed to be eliminated from the bill.
“We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, ‘This is making me sick,’” said Representative Candice Miller, R- Mich.
Many are also concerned that the plan fails to lower costs and will instead increase the federal deficit.
However, the bill is not a definite law yet; it still has to pass the Senate and face thousands of Americans opposed to it. The bill is available online at http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf.
Highway Speeds Revved Up
November 18, 2009
Nick Pelini
Years of sluggish driving and absurd speeding tickets are finally coming to a halt, or in this case, a step on the gas.
Beginning this week, the speed limit on the recently reconstructed stretch of highway from Cleveland-Massillon Road to Vernon Odom Boulevard has finally been increased from 55 mph to 65 mph. Route 8 through Cuyahoga Falls has also been raised to 65 mph.
This new swift speed has come after years of driving at one of the lowest speed limits in the country. Compared to last year, a 32 percent increase in tickets has been handed out which has lead many to believe that the speed limit was only slow solely to give tickets.
Raising the speed limit does not come without controversy. It inevitably ignites the debate over what speed limit is safe. Arguments that 65 mph is too fast and will cause more crashes always surface; however, the Akron Beacon Journal reported that only 14.2 percent of last year’s crashes were due to unsafe speeds. Also, 65 mph is the standard limit in most other states.
The speed limit change comes as a welcome to many throughout Summit County on the three-lane stretch of highway. So push the pedal to the metal and drive on.
Boys cross country seniors finish career as 11th in the state
November 16, 2009
Jules Libertin
There is a time to let things happen and there is a time to make things happen, that time is now.” This quote sums up the boys cross country season. Since their freshman year when former head coach Tim McGrath told them they could do anything if they put their minds to it, the senior class of Jake Frego, Ryan Spear, Jason Green, Jake Craine and Chris Alto wanted nothing less than to make it to the state cross country meet. After three long seasons of not making it out of districts, the team finally accomplished the dream this season.
“It is the best ending possible. We put so much time, effort, and work into accomplishing it. I can not put into words how it feels,” senior team captain Ryan Spear said.
Even though their goal started way back in their freshman year, the mission truly did not start until last year when the team did not make it out of districts for the third time in a row.
“Ever since the team did not make it out as a whole last season I have seen a difference in all their work efforts. They are a great group of guys, who have worked so hard this past year,” head coach Andrea Hoffman said.
While the majority of teams train only during the season and pre-season, the Hoban cross country team has trained all year. In the winter, some of runners ran and weightlifted daily to get the extra edge. They would run between 20-30 miles a week in the freezing weather outside.
In the spring, all of runners ran track. Coach Hoffman made intense workouts increasing the boys mileage to around 44 miles a week. The difficult workouts helped prepare them physically for the upcoming season in cross country. Once the track season was over, the boys took only two weeks off before starting pre-season conditioning. Their summer was filled with running, running and more running. They ran between 50-55 miles a week while weightlifting.
“I did not want to end my senior year at districts and I wanted to get to states. The workload has been hard, especially in the summer. It has all paid off ,” senior runner Chris Alto said.
When the season began, the boys knew it was time to make their name known and feared across the state. They accomplished this by upsetting rival St.Vincent-St. Mary, placed an outstanding eighth place at the tough All-Catholic Invitational, placed fourth overall at the North Coast League meet and on top of that everyone kept improving their times throughout the season. Through all their season accomplishments, the Knights entered the State tournament ranked 14th in Ohio.
This season has been very exciting, especially for the seniors. All the seniors knew what we wanted to do, and we wanted to do it together. What we did this season proved how hard we worked,” senior Jake Frego said.
When the state tournament district meet arrived the team was mentally and physically prepared to tear up the course. They placed an impressive second place, advancing to the regional meet.
“We wanted to get to states and getting second at the district meet showed us that we could do it,” Spear said.
The Knights raced the following weekend at Boardman’s regional meet. They placed fourth– advancing them to the state meet. They finally accomplished their long awaited goal.
“It was the best feeling in the world. I kept saying ‘We did it!’ I knew I was a state champion no matter what happened at the meet,” senior Jason Green said.
With excitement and confidence the team packed their bags for the state meet and headed down to Columbus. They all could hardly hold in their excitment.
“The night before, all I wanted to do was just run. I was so thrilled we made it the state meet,” senior Jake Craine said.
Finally, the moment came. The boys headed to the state cross country meet course, Scioto Downs, in the morning. As they walked into the stadium, they were welcomed by over ten thousand fans – equal to the amount of spectators at the Mum Day football game.
“I saw all the teams, banners and fans. It was intimidating, but exciting. I cannot describe how amazing it was to see,” Frego said. “I wanted to go out and run the best I could. I knew it was our last race.”
The race was at a blistering fast pace, but that did not affect the team. They finished in 11th place. Leading the team was senior Jason Green who finished 47th out of the 146 top runners in Ohio. He was followed by Jake Frego (75th), Chris Alto (88th), Jake Craine (90th), Max Moore (113th), Ryan Spear (116th) and Max Straus (125th).
“It has been 33 years since a Hoban cross country team has gone to states. We were ranked 11th and got 11th which is great. I could not be a prouder coach,” Hoffman said. “i am so honored to have coached them.”
Pat Kramer successfully walks on to Notre Dame football team
November 16, 2009
Evan Shaub
If in his freshman year at Hoban someone had said that Patrick Kramer was going to be playing football at Notre Dame, they might have received some confused looks.
Kramer started at Hoban as a punter and 2nd string wide receiver on the freshman team, but sophomore year he moved almost exclusively to punting– starting for the first time in the fifth game of the season that year.
Now, in an ironic twist of deja vu, Kramer is again competing for the job of punter at a Holy Cross school, this time as a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Unlike most other members of the team, Kramer isn’t at ND on a football scholarship. This chemistry major is there based purely on his abilities in the classroom, and he made the football team as a walk-on when he arrived there. But just because he is a walk-on doesn’t mean he does less work then the other members of the team. Actually, he feels it’s the opposite.
“Almost every player on the team is at the school to play football. They are the best of the best. So if I want to keep up, I have to work that much harder to do so,” Kramer said.
Playing at Notre Dame has also led Kramer to have some opportunities he wouldn’t have otherwise.
“The most famous person I’ve met so far since I’ve been here was Vince Vaughn, he came up for the Michigan State game. I shook his hand and we talked for like 30 seconds,” Kramer said.
Along with Vince Vaughn, other celebrities who have shown up at practices and games include Regis Philbin and Taylor Swift.
“When word got out that Taylor was on campus, the whole student body basically left their classes and started looking for her,” Kramer said. “She’s really tall.”
But according to Kramer the most special experience he’s had didn’t come when he met Vince Vaughn or when he’s talked to Jimmy Clausen in the locker room, it came during the pep rally before the USC game
“The pep rally before the USC game was really special, “Rocket” Ishmael (a former ND wide receiver and the 75th ranked greatest college football player of all time) came and talked to us, and (he) got the crowd pumped up, we all understood what a big responsibility playing well in the game was,” Kramer said.
Kramer never saw the field in the USC game. In fact, he may never see any playing time, but he doesn’t think of it that way.
“If you don’t believe in yourself,” Kramer said, “no one will.”
With the Hoban family behind him, Kramer has found all the believers he needs.
Romero and Veillette lead a ferocious defense
November 16, 2009
Evan Shaub
Sometimes the best player on a team is the one with the least amount of recognition. The Knights have not only one, but two players who fit that profile. That dedication has some people calling them the unsung heroes of the football team, even though they tend to disagree. Those two players are Matt Romero and Steve Veillette.
“My job on the defensive line is to make everyone else look good while I take up two or three blockers.” Romero said. “The way I see it, as long as I have taken two blockers I have done my job, making a tackle is just a bonus for me,”
If that’s the case then Matt has certainly earned a lot of bonus points this year because he is second on the team in tackles.
Both Romero and Veillette have been waiting to play under the Friday night lights since childhood and, for both of them, this is their last year.
“I have been playing football since the fifth grade,” Veillette said. “I started out at offensive line and switched to linebacker when I got to Hoban.”
Romero has been playing football for even longer.
“I have played football since the third grade, three years for Green youth, three years for St. Paul’s, and four years for Hoban,” Romero said.
All those years of experience seem to be paying dividends for both players, experience they will use heading into round two of the playoffs tomorrow night.
“Poland Seminary is a very good team, and I don’t think the score of the game against St. V’s really reflected how well St V played against them, but regardless we’re going to have to play really well this week,” Veillette said.
Even if they don’t put points on the board, the Knights, led by Romero and Veillette, will have a strong defense to keep them in the game.
Girls basketball look to continue success
November 16, 2009
Evan Luse
The hoops have been lowered, the nets have been hung and the Nike’s have been laced– it’s time for girls basketball. With the first game of the season looming at the end of this month, the squad looks to continue the success achieved last season. The Knights have big shoes to fill, coming off a 20-3 season last year and an OHSAA Sectional Championship.
The squad will lose three main contributors from last season in NCL MVP Rachel Tecca, 1st Team NCL Nikki D’Amico and 2nd Team NCL Brittany Brown. But despite these losses, head coach Tracy Miller feels the team will not miss a beat.
“We are losing three great players from last year,” Miller said. “But our goals remain the same– to win the NCL and make a deep run in the tournament.”
Last season, the team went undefeated in the NCL and won its fourth consecutive league championship. Along the way, the squad strung together a school record 17 consecutive wins. With last season’s success behind them, the girls will turn to the leadership of returning players to guide them to success.
“Krissy Sokol, Taneka Lewis and Emily Orsini will be leaders for us on and off the court,” Miller said.
Certainly one of the biggest challenges to be faced is an issue with physical size. The team will be undersized compared to previous years, but Sokol feels that they can overcome this obstacle by adapting a new style of play.
“We are by no means a big team so we will have to out run teams that are bigger,” Sokol said.
Over the weekend, the girls looked strong in a scrimmage against Manchester, winning two of three quarters.
The team will tangle with North Canton Hoover this Saturday at 10 AM at Hoover High School.
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