How She Wins

Superstitions, Superstitions, Superstitions! Everybody has them and some of them are very strange.

Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks, will wear the game shorts of the opposing team to bed the night before the game.

Bruce Gardiner who was a former Ottawa Senator, would always dunk his hockey stick in the toilet before every game, prior to going on the ice.

Lone Peak athletes have pre-game rituals too. Rituals can come about in many different ways, and help athletes in their own specific game play.

Lone Peak senior soccer star, McKenzie Evans, has some superstitions of her own. Evans says, “Before every game I have to juggle a ball 14 times.” This ritual began when she was a junior and her number was 14 and juggling helps settle her down before games. McKenzie has many other rituals that improve her game such as; she has to wear her shin guard sleeve and put her bracelet in it that she wears everyday, but only on her left foot and then tape her right shin guard with medical tape. Evans says, “After devotional, before the game we pass around skittles. I take only four and if I get matching colors that means I will have a good game, or it determines how many goals I or my team will score depending on how many matching colors I pick.”

The Lone Peak girls soccer team have a tradition together. They drink out of the same water bottle named, “Dale”, to receive good luck in the upcoming game. Not only does the team drink out of the same water bottle, but five players (McKenzie Evans, Kaitlyn Wright, Kim Josse, Sara Burns, and Cara Olsen) have to perform their own handshake prior to walking on the field before the game.

McKenzie Evans comments, “Personal training helps me get in shape for the season and for try outs. It helps a ton!!” When asked how juggling the ball helps her in her game she says, “Juggling the ball, I initially did it to help me settle down and find my touch, it helps me calm down and focus, even if it is just 14 juggles. The skittles, shin guards, and handshakes are all mental superstitious things for me, but they keep me focused, motivated and pumped before games.”

Through athletes careers they acquire their own unique, superstitious pre-game rituals. Lone Peak’s, McKenzie Evans, is one of those athletes, and these specific quirks help her in her own game as other routines help athletes all across the world.

What Happens In Vegas, Travels The World

On Friday, Jimmer Fredette, made jaws drop around the world, when he dropped 52 points against the New Mexico Lobos, to help his team get to the finals in Vegas. Shooting 59% from the field and 50% from beyond the arch, he could not be stopped. The National Player of the Year, as named by cbssports.com and si.com, and also the nations leading scorer proved himself on the court at the Mountain West Conference Tournament. Averaging 28.5 points per game, he has shown the world that not all of the best players go to the NBA right after the first year of college. Fredette has been a basketball enthusiast ever since a little kid, being in kindergarten when he would go to his older brothers varsity basketball practices and watch all the drills and workouts intensely, and even became the ball boy. Now off to play Wofford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the hardest worker on his team, Jimmer, has shown that the best players can come from anywhere. Just remember, What Happens In Vegas [Jimmer], Travels The World.

It's KNIGHT-TIME

You Can't Beat Us! You Can't Beat Us! These were the words that echoed through the Dee Events Center, during the 2011 5A State Basketball Championship, when the Lone Peak Knights got passed the American Fork Cavemen for the third time this season. The Knights are now ranked #10 in the Nation, #1 in the State, and they have shown that they truly do deserve this sort of recognition. Sophomore, Nick Emery, completed the season with 542 points and 73 3-pointers, to help his team win the 5A Crown. None of this was easy. Lone Peak came across a scare when the Fremont Silverwolves gained a 17 point lead in the first half of the semi-final game, but when a die hard fan, Tyler Johnson, was asked, "Are you scared? Do you think that we will win now?" His response was, "Do you see that man crouched down on the side of the court? Ya! He is the best coach in the state...Don't worry, We Will Win!" And that is exactly what happened, the Knights came back, closed that gap, and beat Fremont by three, to advance to the State Finals and win their 5th State Title, which is also Coach Lewis' 4th, since he started coaching in 2003. Any way you look at it, the Lone Peak Knights are now State Champions and one of the Nations Top Teams.