![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
![All smiles. The group poses for a photo with last year’s book, “This is Our House,” along with their award for third Best in Show. Meikle, who was an Editor-in-Chief for the yearbook last year as well, holds both and stands at the center of the group. “That was an amazing feeling, going and grabbing the third place award,” Meikle said. “All of it paid off. I cried so much over that book, being able to receive [the award] was one of the highlights of my high school career, it was like the coolest thing ever.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/8bookpose_philly-1200x800.jpg)
The West Linn Girls Swim Team stood victorious on the podium when all the day’s events had finished, claiming third place to put an exclamation point on the 2012-13 swim season. As a team the Lions sent 12 swimmers to the state swimming meet this past Saturday at Mt. Hood Community College. The boys team placed 13th in final team standings.
The girls team took home the gold in the 200 yard medley team composed of Laura Laderoute, freshman, Brie Balsbough, junior, and sisters Sydney Pinger, senior, and Robin Pinger, freshman, with a time of 1.46.28. The team jumped and screamed as Sydney Pinger touched the wall to seal the victory.
“It felt really amazing. The pressure was on as we were the favorites to win and everyone was gunning for us,” Balsbough said. “We were able to put it all together and come out on top.”
In the other girls team events, the Lions also placed third in the 200 yard freestyle relay and seventh in the 400 yard freestyle relay.
In the individual races, Balsbough placed second in both the 50 yard Freestyle and 100 yard Breaststroke. Laderoute placed fourth in both the 200 yard Individual Medley and 100 yard Backstroke. Robin placed fifth in the 100 yard Freestyle.
The boys placed highest in the 200 medley, in which they finished 12th. That team was composed of Curtis Klein, senior, Ryan O’Leary, senior, Justin Highbarger, senior, and Ian Herr, junior.
In the individual events, only Klein placed in the top six in any of the events. In the 200 yard Freestyle Klein placed third. In the 100 Back, Klein was the defending champion and state record holder in that event. He was 23 hundredths of a second short and placed second in that event.
“ I was disappointed, but I knew going in this was going to be a close race,” Klein said. “But I kept my record (Klein holds the state record in the 100 back) so I’m happy about that.”
