Sequim Loses in District Championship

KENT- The eighth ranked Sequim Wolves (20-4) basketball team lost on Monday to No. 4 Clover Park (19-6) in a game that had the Wolves in striking distance all game.  Clover Park jumped out to an early eight point lead and never looked back finishing the first quarter up 17-9, led by Junior David Crisp, who finished the game with 26 points.

Sequim competed against Clover Park at the 6,000 seat ShoWare Center after winning three games in the district tournament.

The boys were never really able to claw back after falling behind early. At one point late in the third, the Wolves, cut into Clover Park lead and were only down seven points but Sequim was not able to get any closer to Clover Park’s lead. Jayson Brocklesby paced the Wolves with 22 points followed by ten for Gabe Carter. He also had eight rebounds and six assists. Clover Park pulled away late in the fourth quarter winning the game 60-45.

Sequim finished the district tournament carrying the second seed into regionals where they will play Hockinson (14-10) on Saturday at 4 PM at Kent-Meridian High School, where the winner will advance to State to play at the Yakima Sun Dome.

Equestrian Team Left in the Dust

Overlooked and left in the shadows, the Sequim High School Equestrian Team feels as if they have been left in the dust. The competitive horseback riding that the team participates in is not considered a sport at Sequim High School. Many of the people around the school believe that it is.

Here at Sequim High School, the equestrian team, and the events that they partake in are not considered sports activities. The team is not able to earn a letter. Since the team is referred to as a club, they are not able to earn these benefits that come along with sports. They still work as a unit and support each other, just as any other sports team would.

Jared Hollen, a junior, said about the team, “Yeah, it takes a good amount of skill to do that.”

Matisen Anders, a sophomore that is currently a member of the equestrian team, believes that most don’t consider it a sport since all they do is ride horses. She believes that horseback riding actually does take a lot of skill, concentration, and work in order to be good at it. They put in as many hours as any other sports team, if not more. “You are not only trying out yourself, but your partner as well,” said Anders.

Anders also acknowledges that the team could do a lot more in order to promote their team and their success. This last season, they did more to publicize than usual. They put up posters for the first time, and plan to work harder next time in getting the word out, Anders added.

Many ideas were floating around the hallways about what the school could do in order to improve the amount of attention that the equestrian team gets. Hollen offered to do a segment on the GNN. Ciara Westhoven, a sophomore, suggested that the team be featured in assemblies and the announcements just like all the other sports.

Since the equestrian team is not counted as a sport here at Sequim High School, they tend to get put to the side and go unnoticed. Although they do not advertise, many people think they should still be recognized for their accomplishments. While the equestrian team is not officially recognized by the school, they have still made an impact on the student body.

Internet Browser Choice Loads Problems

Despite common belief, internet browsers are for more than just Facebook and Tumblr.  But for those who limit their web life to social media, how does each browser stack up? “Ease of access and speed are most important” said Charles Kleinberg, the multimedia teacher who prefers Mozilla Firefox.

Internet Explorer (I.E) is the default browser on Personal Computers. However, according to Stat Counter, I.E. is used only about 1/3 of the time by US consumers. Firefox and Chrome both have about 23% of the browser share.

In multimedia and video productions a class “I.E. is used by the majority of students” said Kleinberg. But for some changing their browser for school is just not a big deal. “For 45 minutes a day, it really doesn’t matter” said Tyler Campbell, an I.E. user at school who prefers Firefox on his home computer.

If speed is the deciding factor, users should turn to Firefox according to Wackao.com. When starting each browser and loading 6 webpages, Firefox loaded 4 seconds faster than I.E. and over 9 seconds faster than Google Chrome. The difference in speed might not be huge but to some, but it still matters.

“The difference in time might not be significant, but I.E. just seems slower, clunkier and contains more bugs with sites and toolbars,” said Jeremy Huls. Huls is a second semester student in Multimedia and an advocate for Chrome.

Of the media teachers asked, all preferred Chrome or Firefox over I.E. but often let students decide their choice of browsers. While it’s against district policy for students to install software, many students still use their preferred browsers.

Some think that the choice of browser is trivial and doesn’t really matter, but for those students that are in CAD or Multimedia it can be important. For assignments that are mostly through the internet, the browser you choose could save you time or help students succeed.