Sports for the week of August 18, 2004

Football practices begin

Tracy/Milroy/Balaton began practice Monday with sights set on an improved season.

The Panthers were 1-7 last year. Graduating seniors from that team are all-conference picks Anders Davidson and Matt Persons, and Jason Morin, Pat Spielmann, Eric Peterson, Ross Ladehoff, J. Hamilton and A.J.Chandler.

Varsity candidates are: Kirby Arens, Cody Arnold, Matt Bauer, Paul Carlson, Derek Daniels, Matt Engesser, Sean Fox, Guiliaume Frebault, Erik Frisvold, Drew Hebig, Jason Heern, Kong Her, Brett Jackson, Paul Johnson, Sean Kirk, Brad Lanoue, Tristan Larson, Daniel Malmberg, Trevor Morin, Anthony Rasmussen, Kyle Rosa, Josh Ruppert, David Schiller, Bryan Smallwood, Adam Snyder, Donald Strand and Derrick Vandromme.

B-squad age players include: Travis Cambronne, Dan Deiter, Derek Evans, Pheng Her, Brady Jackson, Nathan Jacob, Andy Lackie, Adam LeClaire, Kyle McIntire, Tim Miller, Taylor Rignell, Logan Sanow, Nick Soupir, Seth Swan and Corey Warner.

C-squad players include: Michell Bot, Jordan Christiansen, Matt Deiter, Anthony Dolan, Kyle Fraser, John Gervais, Michael Lenertz, Drew Nelson, David Nilius, Steve Paradis, Andy Prairie, Matt Rosa, David Schmidt, Cody Schons, Ryan Thooft and Spencer Zwaschka.

The Panthers will open the season against R-T-R at Tyler on Thursday, Sept. 2. Their first home game will be against St James on Friday, Sept. 10.

Cross country team prepares for new season

The Panther boys and girls cross-country squads began workouts this week in preparation for the Mountain Lake Invitational to be held on Sept. 1. The girls have a long history of successes, having won the 212 Conference championship eight years in a row. The girls finished 6th in the section meet in 2002 and 12th last year. The girls are also the defending All-Academic Award winners in the section.

Dani Jones, Steph Kaup, Johanna Schmidt, and Erin McCoy were lost to graduation from last year's team.

Runners on this year's team are Celia Brockway, Bobbi Jo Buyck, Ashlei Carpenter, Jessica Coulter, Ashlee Domine, Becky Gervais, Jessica Mason, Cassie Miller, Julia Olson, Megan Pool, Jenna Schaar, Rachel Stobb, Jillian Tholen, Jenny Vroman and Stacy LaVoy.

This is the second season for the boys' squad. Alex Jones and Ryan Tholen return from last year's squad. Newcomers are Sam Van Nevel, Dalton Kirk, Josh Lubben and Chad Cooreman.

Twisters kick up big numbers

Thirty girls in grades 7-12 hvae reported for the first practices of the Tracy High School Twister dance line.

The squad's first scheduled performance is the Miss Tracy pageant on Sept. 5. Vicki Vandendriessche is the Twister coach. Team members are: Tina Gervais, Lyndsie Murphy, Katie Gervais, Sandra Hohfeld, Christina Peterson, Jackie Vroman, Annie Byrne, Shari Willard, Ayla Snyder, Paige Hansen, Maria Schmidt, Alexis Horner, Kayla Lanoue, Kayla Lanners, Casie Miller, Laura Peterson, Valeria Sotte, Diana Benevente, Megan Meyer, Chantalle Cooreman, Elizabeth Rayman, Allison Rasmussen, Samantha Meyer, Kylie Meyer, Ashley Knott, Dayna Vosberg, Alex Llima, Jessica Peterson, Haley Hebig.