Canyon Softball’s Nicole Johnson
May, 2008 - Issue #43 
Nicole Johnson’s most exciting moment on a softball field occurred in Colorado three years ago. She was playing in the championship game for her summer travel team, the Krushers, against a team that had beaten them the day before.
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‘Check’ Your Ego at the Door
April, 2008 - Issue #42
If thoughts were like voices, the sound reverberating from CYCL headquarters Wednesday and Friday evenings would be deafening. The clamor would be unbearable.
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Where are they Now?
March, 2008 - Issue #41
Some have called the period between 2001 and 2006 the golden age of girls high school basketball in the Santa Clarita Valley. They might be right. Night after night, fans witnessed a parade of college-bound talent.
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Conquering “The Beast”
February, 2008 - Issue #40
My car rolls to a stop just beyond Highway 14 at about 6:20 on an impossibly cold Newhall morning. San Fernando Road dead ends here, but my journey is just beginning.
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Dates to Remember
December, 2007 - Issue #38
It happens every season. Somewhere, on some field, an athlete does something spectacular. It could occur on a single play - the diving grab at the back on the end zone as time expires or the walk-off home run with two outs.
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Valencia High’s Girls Tennis
December, 2007 - Issue #38
Annie Kellogg is building something special at Valencia High School, but it’s not what you think.
You could argue that she’s building a girls tennis dynasty. History would certainly back you up. The Vikings have captured six consecutive Foothill League team championships.
And her team’s success has extended beyond the Santa Clarita Valley. The Valencia girls tennis team appeared in back-to-back CIF-Southern Section Division III finals in 2005 and 2006 - a remarkable feat for a public school in the arena of high school tennis.
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Saugus Cross Country Athlete Katie Dunn Next Front Runner
November, 2007 - Issue #37
The seeds of Katie Dunn’s success may be bearing fruit now that she’s a senior, but they were sown two years ago, during the last mile of a race in the summer before her sophomore year.
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Local Trio of Track Stars Compete for U.S. Championship
August, 2007 - Issue #34
At about the 750-meter mark of an 800-meter race, it began to look as if it wasn’t going to happen for 2004 Canyon High graduate Alysia Johnson. That’s where Johnson found herself suddenly behind a surging Hazel Clark, the defending 800-meter Olympic Champion and two-time world title-holder, at the 2007 U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Finals in Indianapolis on June 24. Johnson could have simply accepted second place. No one would have faulted her. Just a college junior at Cal-Berkeley, Johnson is years removed from her professional peak, after all.
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Valencia Softball Ranked Number One in the Nation
July, 2007 - Issue #33
In light of the kind of year our local high school athletes enjoyed in 2006-2007, you could argue that the Valencia softball team topped it off in fitting, if not inevitable, fashion. First, there was the Saugus girls cross country team, which won its California state title in November. Weeks later, the Canyon football team followed suit, capturing the state championship with an upset win over previously undefeated Concord de la Salle.
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Canyon Track Star Ready for the Fast Lane
June, 2007 - Issue #32
Canyon sprinter/hurdler Trevor Habberstad doesn't have to think very long to remember his worst day on the track. It took place at the Foothill league finals two years ago, when he was just a sophomore. Habberstad, already the surprise league champion in the 100 high hurdles, was coming around the turn, about 200 meters into the 300-meter hurdle finals. He had the lead and he had fuel to burn. He was on his way to another league title and he knew it.
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Hart Girls Basketball Coach Dave Munroe Set to Retire After 18 Years with Indians
March, 2007 - Issue #29
Dave Munroe’s career in coaching has been marked by two constants. The first is family. The second is winning. When he was a boy, he followed his dad, Phil, the first baseball coach at San Fernando Valley State College (Cal-State Northridge) from game to game. When he turned 21, he followed his uncle, Jerry Williams, who coached the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles from 1969-71, to training camp.
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Make Some Noise For Your Boys
February, 2007 - Issue #28
Canyon High shocked the high school football world last month at the Home Depot Center. Behind a near-perfect first half from quarterback Ben Longshore, a 146-yard rushing performance from senior J.J. DiLuigi and a stubborn, punishing defense, the Cowboys toppled Concord De La Salle, the number-one-ranked team in the nation, 27 to 13, to become CIF Division I state champions. Canyon (12-2) trailed just once, 7 to 6, early in the second quarter. But Longshore, who threw for 151 of his 163 yards in the first half, connected on a 30-yard score to Kenny Suber on the ensuing Cowboy drive to make it 12 to 7.
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SCV High School Football Kicks it Up a Notch
January, 2007 - Issue #27
When you look back on the 2006 SCV high school football season, what will you remember? Doubtless, the answer to that question depends on which team is your favorite. Will you recall Saugus' historic 36-21 win over Valencia - the one that put the Centurions in position to finally crack the Foothill League top three? Or perhaps it will be the Cents' upset of number four-seeded Atascadero in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Northern Division playoffs.
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Local Hoops Titles Up for Grabs
The object of the game is as simple as it is difficult. Put a round ball through an 18-inch hoop suspended 10 feet off the ground. Do this more than your opponent in a 32-minute time span and you win. But there are many factors which determine who will do it better. Which team is faster? Who is taller? Who can jump higher or shoot with greater accuracy? Which team plays the toughest defense or makes the crispest passes? Which team plays harder and which team has the best game plan? Who wants to win more? It is in discovering the answers to those questions that basketball becomes art - potentially beautiful and almost always unpredictable.
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Winter Looks Brighter for Golden Valley High
December, 2006 - Issue #26
Fall was a difficult season to cheer for Golden Valley High sports. The Grizzlies struggled to find their footing during their first trip through the competitive minefield that is varsity Foothill League sports. League wins were rare for the girls golf team and the cross country teams, and rarer still for football, girls volleyball and girls tennis. Heading into the final two weeks of the fall season, only the girls golf team and the cross country teams had registered Foothill League wins, and those were scattered at best.
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