8February 2014Hi Times Issue 5 Vol. 105

GET 5 BUCKS INYOUR SLICER CONNECTACCOUNT FOREVERY A!*

*Student receives $5 for each transcripted grade “A” for each trimester course. Must have open LaPorte Savings Bank Slicer Connect account to be eligible. Promotion available to LaPorte High School students only. Student must show report card within 14 days of trimester end in order to receive deposit to his/her account. Report card may be presented for payment at any LaPorte Savings Bank branch and may only be presented once. Payment will be direct deposited into student’s Slicer Connect account. May be subject to tax reporting.

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By Matt PritzAds Staff

The Slicer’s boys’ basketball team has had a successful season so far. They are now 10-4 (0-2 in DAC) with four games left in the season. They Slicers started off their season on a great run this year and even won the Holiday Tournament by beating Valparaiso 44-41 and beating Michigan City 68-58 to claim the tournament title. “My favorite part of the season was when we won the Holiday Tournament,” said senior Blake Arnett. The Slicers are now later in the season but they are still looking forward to games ahead. “Our season is going pretty good so far, but we still have a long way to go,” said Arnett. The boys are now into the home stretch of their schedule and are now into conference play. The Slicers first conference game took place at Slicer Gym against the Lake Central Indians, although the game ended up as a loss for the slicers they bounced back a day later to beat South Central in a throwback game at the Civic Auditorium by a score of 69-39. The Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) is never an easy schedule, and the boys are looking into new goals for the rest of the season. “My goals for the rest of the season are to win as many games as possible and to have fun,” said senior Miles Browder. “My main goal for the rest of the season is to win sectionals,” said Arnett. The Slicers take on Valparaiso tonight at 7:30 at Valparaiso. The boys have already beaten Valparaiso once this year and are looking for another victory tonight.

Boys’ basketball takes it to the hoopKnocking over the competitionBy Brent Banic Staff Writer

The bowling team has been tested all season with tough competition. Their battles have built up their strength as a team. Their strength and weaknesses have been shown through the season. The rival competition has got-ten the team overwhelmed, but looking through that they have showed improvement through-out the matches. The chemistry of the players has helped with the success during the season. “Our goals right now are to keep being a strong team, win sectionals and finish the season positively,” said senior Jessica Sizemore. The hard work showed off during the Baker tournament, when the team battled to a win against 12 other teams. The team barely made the cut to be in the elimination round. Being in the position they were, they played hard and defeated Lake Central for the win. Sizemore said, “I’m looking forward to sectionals because it’s mine and the other seniors last year and we want it to be memorable.” On Jan. 25 the team got to compete in what they have been practicing for all season. Sectionals were held at Seven Peaks and the teams compet-ing were LaPorte, Portage, Valparaiso, Chesterton and

Griffin. The hard work paid off and the LaPorte placed second, falling closely behind the rivals’ Portage. With the second place finish, the team gets another chance to come out on top dur-ing regionals. The seniors hard work showed during sectionals. Se-nior Savanah Becker individu-ally advanced to regionals for singles and senior Tera Hata-burda made it to all conference. “The seniors want to make the team successful so they can keep strong for next year,” said Sizemore. “We’ve had some ups and downs and our goal is to end on an upside.” Regionals took place on Feb. 2 at Country Lanes. The team was not projected to place in

the top three due to the tough competition. The teams La-Porte had to face were High-land, Portage and Lake Central. They went out and proved that they had what it took and placed first in regionals making them regional champions and are advancing to semi-state on Feb.8 in Fort Wayne. The team played their hardest knowing their competition were the best of the best. They averaged 117 pins their first game, 184 pins the second game and 162 pins bakers. In the first championship match LaPorte took a strong advantage with a score of 203-152. Good luck to the team during semi-state.

By Mary Beth LangfordStaff Writer

LPHS’s girls’ swim team is currently 5-9 in their season. They hope to grow closer as a team and as a family. They hope to improve as a team and individuals as the season progresses. Freshman Summer Huber says, “My favorite thing about being a part of the team is that I can consider every single teammate as my sister. Being a part of this team has helped me better myself mentally and physically which is also a plus.” Sophomore Lauren Mc-Quarters said, “This season has had it’s ups and downs, but overall I have had a pretty good season individually and so has the rest of the team.” The girls hope to defeat their rivals, Michigan City, in sec-tionals. They also hope to have most of their team make it to the second day of sectionals. The girls’ sectionals will take place on Thursday, Feb. 6th and on Saturday Feb. 8th. McQuarters said,“Sectionals are always something we

Girls’ swimming to success

hopes for sectionals. They are currently training harder than ever, in hopes of getting far. “I’ve been preparing for sectionals by drilling hard and getting my endurance up,” said Fargo. While the team has been working hard, the recent weather has impacted their training. With constant school cancellations and delays, it has become a challenge to keep working hard and stay on top of conditioning. “Due to the weather and the extended days off, it has been a challenge to correctly prepare for sectionals. Taking a week off affects conditioning, obvi-ously, the wrestlers themselves are the only ones who know if they are truly ready for section-als,” said Kuzdas If the team can manage to stay on task and maintain focus, the post-season may hold many opportunities for

By Charlie WilliamsStaff Writer

The LaPorte boys’ wrestling team has finished their regular season and is evaluating the goals they have achieved and challenges they have overcome. “Our team’s goal was to fin-ish the season with a .500 dual meet season record or better. We finished with a record of 12-14, which is just short of our goal,” said Coach Kuzdas By continually training and pushing themselves to the limit, the wrestling team did all they could to strive for their season goals. Not just having a winning record, but achieving more individual goals as well. “My goals for the season were to have fun, bond with my friends, and win. This season, I’ve done all three of these,” said senior Jake Fargo. After a fairly successful regu-lar season the team has high

Wrestling team fights on

success. “High expectations are set early in the season and prepar-ing for the final tournament is something both the wrestlers and coaches look forward to,” said Kuzdas. With the expectations set high the wrestlers move on to the post season, hoping all of their training will pay off. “Another goal for our team is to qualify someone to state field this February,” said Kuzdas. Now that their season is over, the team is ready to strive for this new goal.

Photo provided

Photo provided

The team discusses their tactics throughout the course of the game against their opponents.

Jake Fargo fights the competetion in a tough match agaisnst Valparaiso High School. Fargo con-tributed to the teams 12-14 record.

Photo provided

The team celebrates a regional championship at Country Lanes on Feb. 2. The team will advance to semi-state Feb. 8 in Fort Wayne.

look forward to as a team, but I personally always look forward to our senior night as well.” The seniors on the team this year are Erin Pickford, Jasmine King, Stephanie Pajor, Stephanie Peo and Brielle Warnock. Last year the team lost a lot of people, but this year the freshman are making up for the loss of people. Senior Brielle Warnock stated, “I love how swimming is an individual sport but you also have to work as a team.” Huber said, “I hope to drop time on all of my events and create better relationships with my teammates.” The girls’ swimming team shares a strong bond and creates a family-like atmosphere. Many of the girls consider each other sisters and have created friends and bonds that will last a lifetime. Be sure to look out for matches in their sectionals match and be sure to help and show support the slicers as they compete in the post season. Good luck to all swimmers that are competing in the rest of the season!