100th Win for Captain Jeff Brichford

BY: Taylor Stevens

January 26-27th, 2018 was the wrestling tournament: Grove City. This was the tournament that Jeff Brichford won his 100th match. This was a huge achievement for Jeff’s high school wrestling career. Grove city was a tough tournament for a lot of the wrestlers, but our players came out on top. Other varsity captain, Douglas Bailey, placed 2nd. Brody Arrundale placed 6th. Jeff placed 3rd.  Madison overall placed 13th out of 36. Jeff is a 2nd year captain for the team and the other team captain is Douglas Bailey, a 1st year captain.

Jeff has been working hard since his freshman year of wrestling. He had helped from former captain, Corbin Post. During practices everyday Jeff was paired up with him to run drills. This helped Jeff get to where he is today. Not only did Jeff have a great partner to help him, there was also a class during school that was made for a lot of wrestlers and football players. This a new class and only has only been available for the last couple semesters. The wrestling team also has morning practices that helped Jeff and all the other wrestlers improve themselves.

Jeff has worked hard throughout his entire wrestling career. Two years ago he placed 6th in districts and the year after, Jeff placed 5th. This year Jeff is hoping on placing even better than the last two years and to make it to states. He also wants to see other wrestlers from Madison to make it to states. As the post season approaches, Jeff is bettering himself as much as he can. Jeff has advice for the underclassmen with a post-season coming up and just for future seasons: “Don’t get discouraged with a tough lost, just keep working hard and bettering yourself as a wrestler”.

With the season coming to a close soon, the team has a night to honor their seniors, Jeff Brichford and Clay Smith. This event will take place February 15th, 2018. JV starts at 6 pm and varsity starts at 7 pm. Coach Tomaso was glad to be able to coach Jeff and watch him grow as a wrestler. Tomaso said, “to win 100 matches is a great accomplishment, especially to achieve it in about three years”. With the post season coming up make sure you attend as many matches as possible to support the Madison Wrestling team!

Cheery Times

Summer Cummins is a senior at Madison High School. During the winter sports season she participates in not only basketball cheerleading, but also competition cheerleading. She started cheerleading for football and basketball her junior year, and continued throughout her senior year while additionally doing competition. She spends almost everyday of her week at practices, games or competitions. Sometimes she will have a competition and game in the same day. “Cheerleading for both basketball and competition is very time-consuming, but my teammates and coach make it enjoyable and it’s a different experience everyday. Some practices we just do jumps or conditioning, sometimes we do our dances, and other days we practice our cheers.” Although it keeps her busy, she enjoys spending her free time cheerleading.

Although both of these activities are cheerleading, Summer says that the experience differs. For basketball cheerleading the main priority is cheering on the basketball players. Practices consist of practicing their cheers and working on dances for halftime. At a competition practice they practice their routine and make changes needed to try to score higher at their next competition. Summer says that at competition practices they really focus on jumps and technical parts of their routine so that they will score high at competitions.

Summer says that she likes doing competition cheer more than basketball. “I like traveling to different competitions and spending time with my friends and team. Competing is fun and more interactive than basketball.”  

Dancing to John Carroll

BY: Toni Burr

On January 14th the Madison Dance team traveled to John Carroll university for a Dance competition. They competed in three dances and got first in all of them, they got 3 first place metals in everything they competed for, and 3 banners to add to their growing collection! They competed in Jazz, which took place at 11:15, Pom, which took place at 12:30, and in Lyrical, which took place at 1:20.

Alyssa Dory said that the competition was very fun to participate in. She also thinks that at the next competition they will do better as a squad. Brooke Howley also said she had a lot of fun at the competition on Sunday. Ashley Jones competed for a solo and got first in it which made her feel great, but she was upset she only got a metal for all of her hard work so she said, "Instead of metals, why didn't I get a trophy?"

The girls danced their butts off at this competition at John Carroll University and worked very hard and everything  paid off in the end for the squad and the Madison family. They are done with competitions for this month but will still be practicing for their next comp in February. Then in March is where all the juicy stuff happens, they have a lot of stuff to be practicing for! Good luck to the girls dance team! We will all be cheering for you!

Thea Sapic and Her Love For Music

BY: Seirra Craddock

Thea Sapic, one of the most amazing, talented involved students in all three choirs. She has been in concert choir since she was in sixth grade, and she has loved it ever since. Thea started out in Mentor school doing orchestra and she played the viola. Then when she transferred to Madison we didn't have that. “I took it to the extreme when I started into choir," Thea said. She explained how she has always had a love for music ever since she was little. She has been a huge impact to all three of the Madison.

Thea is also been Choir Council for two years and she takes very much pride in it. “ It’s been a very amazing experience, you see all of us as one big happy family which is very inspiring to the other students who want to join any of the choirs”. She also said she fell in love with being as involved and it became her top priority.  Wanting to watch it grow and build and improve even in the middle school to the community before she graduates is her biggest wish as well.

Traveling for the concerts seems to be one of her favorites as well, she says that seeing everyone in the audience is breathtaking because everyone in the choirs has worked so hard to perform in front of everyone as well as overcoming their fears. She said she has never felt so much love and impact from the students as well as from the audience.

Her favorite genre of music was hip hop because it’s a very pumped up time especially when everyone is into the music. She loves how the do other music as well other than English. Show Choir is currently working on a Latin song. Thea is looking forward to doing LCMEA where they practicing for Contest. She will be missed as well when she graduates.

Checking Back In...

By: Amelia Marlow

The concert band is counting down the days until their highly anticipated performance at Severance Hall. The big event is this Sunday, January 28th and everyone is welcome. Both the Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band have made a huge amount of progress over the past month. Band members and directors have been working extremely hard rehearsing their music and making sure it is top-notch.

When the concert band performs at Severance Hall, they should expect the music to sound different than other venues because of the shape of Severance Hall. According to Assistant Band Director Mrs. Stout, "the band as a whole will perform beautifully and the participants and the directors will enjoy the experience.”

While both bands are performing on stage, the audience should expect to see two bands from Madison High School that worked diligently, despite limited rehearsal time due to winter break and snow days, and focused on perfecting their pieces.

Participants at Severance Hall will get an idea of how professional bands operate under certain conditions while playing in front of an audience. They will also have a chance to watch other bands and hear how they sound.

Since performing at Severance Hall is a rare opportunity, band members are eagerly looking forward to the show, even if some are a bit anxious. Mrs. Stout is extremely excited and a little nervous for this opportunity of a lifetime.

The Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band will each be performing at Severance Hall this Sunday, January 28th. The Symphonic Band will open the concert at 2:00 pm followed by the Wind Ensemble. It will be a day full of music starting at 2:00 pm and ending at 7:00 pm. Less than 100 tickets are still on sale for anyone who wants to attend the event. The tickets cost $10.00 per person and is for general seating. Tickets are good for all day admittance. Anyone who wants to purchase tickets is asked to let Mr. Tomko or Mrs. Stout know as soon as possible as they are sold on a first come-first serve basis.

Best of luck to the Madison High School Concert Band!

Jack's Journey Through The Junior Year

BY: Jack Tagliamonte

Everybody get up, it's time to see the truth. Michael Jordan, I know you actually did go against the aliens and possibly even scientific experience. How I can prove this I can hear you whisper, video evidence. In the 1996 hit movie starring Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, and Bugs Bunny proves that Michael Jordan was kidnapped by the Looney Tunes and asked to play basketball to save their freedom, which is already a spooky premise, but what makes it scarier is the fact that Danny Devito is the main bad guy alien. Now I know what you're thinking, "But Jack doesn't that mean that it isn't real?" No, it doesn't, they killed the alien, Swackhammer, at the end, they used Danny's voice to fill in because they couldn't actually use him in the movie ya know?

Michael, if this was court you wouldn't even have a comeback to this,video evidence is pretty tough to contest, especially when your name is all over it. Now there's one thing that can completely debunk this whole theory, the Monstars stole Charles Barkley's, Shawn Bradley's, Patrick Ewing's, Larry Johnson's, Muggsy Boques' basketball skills, leaving them absolutely trasheroni on the court. There's no way they lost their skill and you're right, they're beasts, so I guess I was wrong.

Whoops.

Miss Miller

BY: Rosemary Bias

Ms. Miller’s first year at Madison has been going great. She is starting off the year with planning an amazing homecoming with Mrs. Hanley, it was a great idea and everything turned out great.

She went to Lake Erie College to become a teacher, wanting to make a difference that's because her older sister paved the way into teaching. Since then, Ms. Miller has been involved in teaching and volunteering time into classrooms. Another reason she wanted to become a teacher was she wanted to inspire them to be more than what they originally thought they would be. She loves the students and the teacher at Madison.

Mrs. Miller is really good in math and if anyone need asks her for assistance she is always willing to help and will help you threw it, making sure that you understand everything. Something that she has said in the past has been “there is a lot of learning that comes with a first year job and people are helping her along the way”. She has a lot of school spirit, every time you see her she is wearing a Madison t-shirt or Madison colors. She also has a good sense of humor and she can always make everyone smile and make everyone's day better because of how she is always happy.

After working hard at school, her free time is spent playing and coaching soccer and she also loves hanging out with her friends, working out and watching movies. In lessons for her classes she tries to make learning fun and exciting. She wants all the students that graduate to remember her for her being fun and nice. She wants her students to remember that they can do anything they want with hard work.

Riveting Riverside Game

BY: Jordan Pasalaqua

The Madison Girls Basketball team had an outstanding game against Riverside High School last Wednesday. The team record is 5-9 and their conference record is 2-5. The girls played Riverside at Riverside High School on January 10th, winning 59-58. This game was important because not only was this a conference match, but the girls had a huge comeback in the second half when they were down 28 to 19.

The girls thought it was gonna be a close game before they stepped foot on the court because of the past battles with Riverside every year. Coach Smith said the girls had an outstanding second half and that their intensity lead to their win. Syd Guyer said they did not start very well in the first half because the girls weren't working together and not playing good defense. She also commented that Coach Smith’s speech at halftime motivated the girls better since they scored 40 points in the second half to get the win.

The top three performers during the Riverside game was Shyenne Ledford, with her great defense; Syd Guyer, with her outstanding shooting; and Chloe Wakim, stepping into the point guard position since Mykayla Askew is out with a knee injury.

Coach Smith said the win would boost the girls confidence for their next games coming up, such as their game against Chardon High School this Wednesday at home. The girls think the Chardon game should also be a close game because Riverside has defeated Chardon the previous week, giving the girls big motivation.     

Catch Me If You Can

State Champion.

It’s a title that very few get to obtain.  Especially in the highly competitive individual performances that are custom to gymnastics.

Nearly a year removed from claiming her title, Gabby Blackford stills dons an ear to ear smile every time it is used.  She’s only Madison’s second ever state champion, but the halls of Madison are hardly the only places she gets the notariety.

Last weekend, Gabby attended the Rock n Roll classic hosted in Brecksville.  The competition showcased eleven different teams and three individual performers.

“It’s a competition with all the best in the state,” Gabby commented.

Seeing as there’s none better in the state at the vault, each of Gabby’s attempts drew a lot of attention.  Whether it was simply to see a champion perform or to search out ways to dethrone the queen, her approach was always lined with enquiring eyes.  

“It gives me confidence,” Gabby stated of her newfound attention.  “I am the state champion and everyone there knows it.”

The target on her back may be growing, but Gabby only sees what lies ahead.  This weekend, she will compete in the important Western Reserve Conference meet.  She has come up against many of the competitors already and has never failed to reassert herself as the undisputed ruler of the vault.

After the WRC meet begins the trek back to the State competition.  The Sectionals will begin in mid February with States to wrap up in early March.  Not content to merely repeat, Gabby also has her eyes set on claiming another championship as the All Around leader.

One thing is certain: the next few weeks will be exciting to watch.  Do not miss out on your chance to see Madison’s champion defend her crown against the entire state!

Another Win

BY: Isabel Gnagy

Our Madison High School Blue Streak Boys Varsity Basketball traveled away to face the Berkshire Badgers on the 9th of this month. As the night was just starting the boys were a bit sluggish, but they quickly picked up there act and finished off the first quarter with a score of 23-6. At the start of halftime the boys had built up a score of 50-12 and the fourth quarter the Badgers hadn’t gained much with only 24 points and Madison with 73 points. In the final quarter the Blue Streaks brought home their second win of the year with the final score of 75-36.

Overall the Boys Basketball put on a phenomenal game. It was great to see them get their second win that night. All the coaches are very proud to see the boys play the ball so well and work together. They also expect to see many more wins in the future. The boys will most likely continue to learn and become more of brothers than a team.

Coach Titman says, “We played great as a team. We shared the ball. A lot of the little stuff we have been working on, we saw a lot of progress last night, and every guy on the team was able to contribute to the win. Hopefully this game can launch us into playing some pretty good games later in the season.” Come out to Riverside on the 12th of January to watch the boys take on the Beavers and get another win.