Senior class sings alma mater

On a night when the baseball team clinched a playoff spot and the softball team won their game giving them a playoff spot and the best ever season in Clark history, the Clark athletic community celebrated a year of great accomplishments.  The annual Clark Athletic Booster Club Sports Banquet was a phenomenal success with accolades for players and coaches alike.

Highlights included a moment to recognize Coach Lloyd Alexander and his role in shaping a culture of winning in competition and in life, a parade of athletes and coaches that also included each player and teams successes and the awarding of $15,000 in scholarships to Clark seniors.  The $15,000 was a new record for scholarships awarded by the Booster Club and was made possible by parents and their membership fees, cap/tshirt and etc. sales, ad sponsorships by advertisers and volunteers at concession duties and the ATT golf tournament.

The Booster Club has also given over $30,000 this year directly to the athletic department for their needs.

SASports.com’s Jay Tope emceed the event and as usual did an outstanding job.

All Area/District teams announced

Several Clark Cougars from this year’s fall athletic seasons were peppered throughout the Express-News’ annual recognitions of local players.  28-5A All District Teams were also named in volleyball (Clark football All District awards were released earlier and can be found here). Complete lists can be found here.

Congratulations to each on their individual accolades and representing Tom C. Clark High School in the stadiums, gyms and fields.

ALL AREA FOOTBALL PLAYERS

ALL DISTRICT VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS

CROSS COUNTRY CLASS TEAM

The varsity football team finished #2 in the area rankings after a 13-1 season which took them to the state quarterfinals.  They were #1 in the KSAT 12 rankings and #10 in the Associated Press (AP) rankings.

New cross country assistant coach Mark Pedroza is featured in the Conexión section of the newspaper this weekend.  New to Clark, along with Head Coach Anne Ager and assistant coach D’Layne Kelly, they’ve taken the teams to new levels.  You can find out more here.

Shantel Swift

David Scorcelletti

Congratulations to Shantel Swift and David Scorcelletti as they represented Clark at the State Cross Country meet. It was hot, hilly and the competition fierce, but an experience they will never forget. A huge thanks to the Cougarettes and Drum Line and everyone who participated in their send off on Friday. Pictures of the send off and meet can be found here . Complete results at http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/cross_country/state/index.html/.

-Rose Meade

Cougars to run at State meet

The Region IV Cross Country meet, held at Brooks City Base today, resulted in two Cougars qualifying for the State meet next weekend in Round Rock!  Shantel Swift (11:49.2) placed 9th in the girls 5A 2 mile race, and David Scorcelletti (16.04.8) was 8th in the boys 5k race.  The top 10 individuals and top 3 teams move on to State.  Just missing the trip north with great runs were Glynnis Meade (11:58.4), 11th and Jose Sierra (16:25.0), 12th in their respective races, and the boys team finished an amazing but heartbreaking 4th place.  The girls scoring was wrapped up by Stacey Wilkens (13.08.4), Katherine Ritchie (13:31.1) and Shaneve Swift (13:35.3), and the boys by Austin Wells (16:36.2) – who was 17th, plus James Leopold (17:12.0), and Ryan Pavlich (17:35.8).  The girls team finished 12th.  Congratulations to all for a great season, and best wishes to Shantel and David at State!

Headed to Regionals!

It was an exciting day at the District 28-5A meet for the Clark Cross Country teams.  The girls kicked off the bright cool morning by finishing 3rd in a close race, only 8 points behind O’Connor, who was only 1 point behind the winner Brandeis.  Among the top finishers were Shantel Swift (12:22) 2nd and Glynnis Meade (12:26) 3rd – well done!  Shaneve Swift (13:20), Mel Schwartz (13:30), and Katherine Ritchie (13:42) finished in the remaining scoring spots, and Stacey Wilkens (13:46) and Toria Seifert (14:04) rounded out the team.

Clark Cross Country dominates area teams

The Clark Varsity Boys Cross Country team dominated the SAISD Metro meet on the grounds of the San Antonio State School today, Saturday, Oct 24th. All five scoring runners finished within the top 11 spots for the 3.4 mile race, specifically David Scorcelletti (16:40) 3rd, Jose Sierra (16:51) 4th, Austin Wells (17:09) 9th, James Leopold (17:11) 10th and Ryan Pavlich (17:13) 11th, with a team score of 34 points for 1st place out of 18 schools.

The Varsity Girls team also scored well, finishing in 3rd place out of 17 schools over their 2.1 mile course. Shantel Swift was 3rd (13:07.2), with Glynnis Meade right on her heels in 4th place (13:07.9). Next in were Shaneve Swift (14:13), Katherine Ritchie (14:16) and Stacey Wilkens (14:23).

JV Girls also finished in 3rd place, and JV Boys were 6th. Complete results can be found at http://www.saisd.net/dept/athletics889/index.php?option=com_docman&taskÊt_view&gid 1&Itemid0.

Both Varsity teams should do well at next week’s District competition. Come cheer them on at the Hardin Athletic Complex on Saturday, Oct 31st, starting at 9am. Go Cougars!

-Rose Meade

Clark Cougars take to the field

Over (well, next to) the river and through the woods, the Varsity Cross Country teams did go as they took on more than 30 teams at the Matador Invitational in Seguin on October 17th.  The boys finished in an amazing 3rd place, with David Scorcelletti (16:10) finishing 13th, Jose Sierra (16:11) 14th, Austin Wells (16:22) 19th, Ryan Pavlich (16:44) 32nd, and James Leopold (17:00) 49th for a total of 125 points, only 16 points behind 1st place!  The girls team took 8th place, with Shantel Swift (12:27) coming in 16th and Glynnis Meade (12:31) 19th.  Wrapping up the team scoring were Shaneve Swift (13:12) , Katherine Ritchie (13:25) and Stacey Wilkens (13:32).

The JV teams took part in the Central Catholic Relays on Wednesday, Oct 14th.  Teams of 3 runners, girls each running 1.5 miles and boys 2 miles, totalled their times to determine their finish place.  Next Saturday, all teams will be at the SAISD meet at the San Antonio State School.

Photo by Lisa Wells

Clark’s Varsity teams both fared well with 3rd place finishes at the NISD meet on Saturday, October 10th.  Twenty five teams covered the course at Hardin Athletic Complex on a cool, overcast morning.  Shantel Swift (12:31) was 2nd in the 2 mile girls race and Glynnis Meade was 4th (12:36).  Rounding out the team scoring were Mel Schwartz (13:31), Shaneve Swift (13:36), and Katherine Ritchie (13:42).  The boys team were led by 5th/6th place David Scorcelletti (16:41) and Austin Wells (16:42) for the 3 mile course.  Jose Sierra (17:15), Ryan Pavlich (17:29), and Jim Wells (18:21) were next in for the Cougars.  Pictures of the Varsity and JV races can be found at http://clarkcrosscountry2009.shutterfly.com/.

The JV teams will be at the Central Catholic Relays on Wednesday, and Varsity will travel to Seguin on Saturday.  Countdown to District – 3 weeks!

-Rose Meade

The toil and soil of running

For your viewing pleasure, the blood, sweat and mud that goes into being one of the best – a Clark Cougar Cross Country runner.

See more PHOTOS here.