![MORE THAN A GAME. With two diving catches in the outfield, the Lions showed up defensively, aiding in their victory over the Pacers. One catch was made by Atwood, and the other by McGraw. Throughout the game, the Lions knew that it wasn’t just about their victory today. “I think [playing for cancer] makes it bigger than just a game,” McGraw said. “Knowing that you have a bigger impact in this world than just who you are as one person.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/I70A1454-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Students in the National Art Honor Society work on the Mount Hood mural on the window of SouthLake Church. The students brought a variety of paints and mixed their own custom colors. “Instead of brushstrokes, we’re doing more dabbing, because it gives [a] better impression of tree foliage, rather than looking like actual brush strokes, because if we’re painting trees, we need it to look like trees,” Crawford said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_2397-1200x900.jpg)
Last year’s State Champs reload for another season
The Varsity Boys Lacrosse Team prepared for its 2015 season after graduating 13 seniors by hosting a jamboree featuring Beaverton, Liberty and Wilson yesterday. The jamboree honored their lost teammate Cooper Hill, junior, who died in a car accident in late February. The team painted a circle on the field located where Hill used to stand on his ‘man-up spot’.
The first play of the game West Linn stood with five men on the field and passed the ball around to remember their teammate.
“Leaving Cooper’s man-up spot open was the perfect way to remember him. It was an emotional moment for us,” Ryan Klose, captain, said. “We will be playing for Coop this year. We know the Hills will be watching and we will do our best for them.”
The Lions also used the three short games to help prepare for a tough pre-season.
“We are playing three very tough out-of-state teams in Florida so playing in the jamboree helped us get used to playing with each other,” Klose said. “We have been practicing very hard because everyone wants to beat us, so it motivates us.”
West Linn will be playing very high calibre East Coast teams during a spring break trip to St. Petersburg, Fla. When they return from Spring Break, they play Corner Canyon, a top Utah team, and Metro League Sunset, who they faced last year in the state quarterfinals.
“It’s tough losing almost half of our starters and having to replace them this year,” Dylan Tuor, junior midfielder, said. “But we are preparing the best we can to try and get some wins in the stat book before we head into the season.”
The Lions are ranked tenth in the West according to adrln.com, ranking them the highest of any Oregon team.
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The energetic Colin Squires, junior and a state champion in lacrosse, is also an active member of the West Linn community. Squires may appear to be just...