The two lifts that the weight classes did were bench and power cling.

“I worked so hard all year long to reach my goal. It’s kind of fun because we have little competitions between people. In the end I think Barta was pleased with how much I lifted,” Amber Searles, 10, said.

Over 100 students participated in the lift-a-thon. Out of these, three boys competed to break the school record and to beat their own personal best.

“I was so happy when I actually broke the school record for bench. I ended up lifting about 315 pounds so it was also my personal best. I can’t wait to see how much more weight I can get up to next year,” Drake Ewing, 10, said.

For the senior class, this was their last time that they could reach their personal best. Some achieved this while other fell a little short.

“I wasn’t really upset that this was my last lift-a-thon. I ended up reaching my goal so I was pretty satisfied with how the night went,” Kelsey Helus, 12, said.

The freshmen through juniors can come back next year to continue improvement. Barta strives for teens to do the best that they can and that’s all he could ask for.

Rundown word of the Day: Ham,

Definition: not sure

Usage in a sentence: We gonna go “Ham” tonight and win this game.

Start using it every chance you get people, Z better be hearing it in the halls or he get upset.

Congratulations to the Girls basketball team for making it to state for the 6^th year in a row. That’s gotta be a record

Congratulations on a great season to the wrestlers and good job to all the wrestlers that competed at state

As for the boy’s basketball team, it was a great year and the memories we all made together will never be forgotten

It’s time for March Madness Baby, the Kansas State wildcats are poised for a huge tournament run this season. Rodney McGruder gonna lead us to the promise land.

As for the Jayhawks, good for you, you made it again. Now maybe you let someone else win a Big XII title. One word, SELFISH

Linsanity sparked Harvard to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1946. Congratulations to the Crimson, that Lincredible.

Linsanity is still Lingering, but the Knicks need to start Linning again if the want to make it to the LinBA playoffs.

Rajon Rondo’s performance against the New York Knicks was Linsane, 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists. Why on earth would the Celtics want to trade Mr. Rondo?? Sure he throws basketballs at Refs, but c’mon those are some good stats

The masked mamba is a force to be reckoned with, the Lakers are looking to make a late-season surge into the playoffs. Heck as soon as Kobe’s nose heals, I vote he keeps the mask, his intimidation level is sky-high

ZP dislikes the Heat from Miami, therefore I’m going to give a shoutout to the Miami Heat, let’s get it done not once, but twice, three times, four, five, six maybe.

Now on to god’s sport, Baseball

The Royals are no longer undefeated this spring, dangit

Predictions for the upcoming year, Z has the Royals winning the World Series, L’eggo!

More realistically though, the Royals will finish second in the division behind the Tigers that cheated and stacked their team. Forgot

Hosmer going to rock the Mohawk hairstyle this year again, that alone will boost his batting average up 10 points.

Question: How the heck did Ryan Braun avoid the 50-game suspension?

Answer: He lied, he did the Roids. Not that hard.

The Diamondbacks, Giants, and the Bees all played against each other in a spring game recently, the swarm of several hundred bees interrupted the game leaving multiple stings on players and fans. Definitely gives a new meaning to the phrase, “beeline for Home

Bounty hunters playing in the NFL? That just sounds messed up.

According to sources, previous New Orleans Saints, defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams offered money to take certain people out of the game including targets such as Brett Favre, and Michael Vick.

Peyton Manning is officially going to be released from the Colts organization.

ZP says he will end up in the greatest city on earth, known as Kansas City and will be in red this season.

I respect that

Matt Cassel, you might as well start requesting a trade.

As you are reading this last part, you might as well start applauding, this was definitely Z and Jakes best effort on behalf of the Rundown. Your thanks are appreciated and stay fresh.

The sound of a bat cracking, a ball whizzing by, or the pop of leather as a player catches a ball. Yep, it’s softball season. Soon, all of those sweet sounds will be combined with the cheering of fans, the crowd munching on popcorn, and an announcer telling who’s up to bat.

Softball practice started on February 27, with pitchers and catchers practicing in the morning for extra work and the whole team practicing after school. With many drills for the girls to do, softball practice is never slow or boring.

“Practices are sometimes confusing, but otherwise they are really fun. There’s always something to do!” Ali Morris, 9, said.

The four seniors on the team this year have many underclassmen to look after.

“The seniors are always really helpful at practice, even when I’m super confused on what’s going on,” Morris said.

Twenty-two girls are out for softball this year, including nine freshmen, a lot more than in the previous years.

The girls first game will be on Monday, March 26, Holton’s first day back after spring break. But don’t think they won’t be ready;  the team practices many days over the break to make sure they are coming to win.

“I think that both JV and varsity will be good this year. We have some good leaders and role models. And I think that’s a big factor in a good team,” Morris said

“It gets me more into the game and something to look forward to since I’m not a huge fan of basketball. It makes each game a more memorable memory.” Taylor Rahe, 12 said.

Sheridan Wilt who is a participant encourages people to try it.

“To people who don’t participate, I know you’re probably thinking, oh, people would think that’s weird, but if everyone else is doing it, it’s more fun!  Just try it once or twice and you’ll like it!” Wilt 10, says.

You’re probably wondering how they come up with student section themes. Victoria Harsahw, 12, and Justine Powls 12, brainstorm ideas for the student section themes. “We try to think of what holiday or special event we can link it to. Like last Friday was Friday the13th so we decided to wear creepy masks” Harshaw said.

“A lot of players and other students have noticed our “lacking” student section.  The student sections boost the teams morality and energy.

“There are some games when the visiting team out numbers our student section which is kind of sad,” Kyrstie Miller, 10 said.

Even though few students participate, players still appreciate the support. “I appreciate the themes, and the dressing up. It would be a lot better if more people participated and more people showed up though,” Ethan Holaday, 10, said.

Once the seniors are gone, Powls thinks that the themes will end. But she hopes the underclassmen will continue to do them.

“Spirit Camp is a fundraiser for the Spirit Squad, and it helps buy many supplies for use,” Karen Beightel, Spirit Squad sponsor, said. The squad usually makes around $600 for the account.

Children from Colorado and Central Elementary School came to the high school Saturday morning for practice. There will also be another practice today after school.

“I like spending my whole day with the children when teaching them,” Jordan Barber, 11, said.

The cheerleaders will be performing “Stomp and Scream” for the grades K-2 and the grades 3-5 will be cheering “Boom Boom.”  For the dance portion the grades 3-5 are dancing to “Rockin’ Robin” and grades K-2 will be dancing to “Yellow Submarine.”

Their performance is at the game on Tuesday, Jan. 31.  Grades K-2 will be performing between the girls and boys varsity game and 3-5 will be performing during halftime of the boys varsity game.

“The energy that the little girls put in it, it’s not something that they do all the time,” said Shannon Maxwell, 12.

“I enjoy getting to watch the little kids look up to all of us and just have fun, and remembering how we felt”, Hanah Suarez, Junior said.

The Invitational is named Gerald Sadwoski because the was one of the legendary coaches when Holton had the most success. “The help of my teammates is what encourages me to keep going,” said, Justin Twombly, 12. The wrestling team here at Holton High School is just like a family. They do activities together and they also care and help each other out when another is in need.

Andrew Rieschick, 10, tells how he feels about the tournament when he says, “Invitational is a great preparation for regionals.” People wonder why wrestlers put themselves through all the working out, getting in shape, and starving just to make weight on time, it’s because they’re determined to get their arm raised at the end of every match and having the crowd cheer for them.

The end of the big weekend full of wrestling had the results of Holton getting 4^th place overall. Jonah Lutz, 10 got first place in the 106-weight class, which was what got the team into 4^th place!

-       Kansas State fell to the Razorbacks of Arkansas… The night of the game, the Holton boys basketball team beat Perry- Lecompton and also beat the odds and didn’t find out the score of the game

-       It wasn’t till later that night that Trent messed up the DVR and we saw the final score before we even saw the game…. Thaaaaankkss Treeennntttt.

-       Kansas Jayhawks are playing well, Thomas Robinson is definitely an all American candidate in my book.

-       Kansas State Basketball is also rolling, Taking down Mizzou and almost knocking off the top ranked Baylor Bears. Hopefully Frank can get the guys rolling after another notorious bad start in conference play.

-       Shout out to Jon Holliday for being recognized as Regional Coach of the Year.

-       Shout out to my favorite math teacher, and Head football coach, Mr. Barta for getting inducted into the Shrine Bowl Hall of Fame.

-       Not going to lie, I think all of Holton High School was pulling for the Broncos in the playoffs. Broncos winning, equals less Middlemist which leads to easier PE classes.

-       Unfortunately Tebow Time was all spent on the Steelers.  Timmy Tebow is going to have to work on using it sparingly in the offseason in order to be successful next year.

-       The Rangers spent about as much money on Yu Darvish as JY spends driving to Topeka every weekend.

-       Shout out to Tyler Burdiek taking on the new Sabetha basketball floor. 7 stitches… I think the ground won that one.

-       Ravens over Pats

-       49ers over New York football Giants

-       Superbowl Sunday is going to have to change it’s title to Brodown Throwdown, Harbaugh V Harbaugh.

-       Boycott ESPN due to the fact that they supported the SOPA bill being proposed in congress.

-       Follow the fake Zach Porter on Twitter, it’s just Z bein Z

The boys began the season with a disappointing loss to Wamego in their home opener, but then went on to win 4 straight.  Their next tough test was at home against a solid Nemaha Valley team, where they played arguably their best game of the season, winning 42-36. At the end of the first semester they had a record of 7-3 finishing with a comfortable win over Sante Fe Trail at home.

But their coach still sees plenty of opportunity for improvement for the remaining half of the season.

“I think we still need to improve our ability to work the ball in to the post and make that a bigger part of our game. We have come a long way on our rebounding ability but still need to improve on that a bit as well.” said Coach Hundley.

The boys start up their games at January 31^st against Hiawatha. Then follow this game up with games against Royal Valley and Nemaha Valley.

When asked about what he expects for the rest the season Coach Hundley replied “ I expect the boys to continue to work hard each day and for improvement to continue to be the number one goal. If we do that, I feel we have a chance to beat any team we will face in the remainder of the season.”

Out of roughly 120 college teams, 70 are required to play in the 35 bowl games. That is well over half and is getting ridiculous. Why don’t we just put every team in a bowl game?

It used to be an honor for a team to get to play in a bowl game. Now it is just no big deal for some of them. Some schools have appeared in over 55 bowl games.

There used to be four major bowl games: the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Rose Bowl. Now there are names like the Gator Bowl, Holiday Bowl, and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

The schools could gain a lot of money for playing in a bowl game. The most recent payout for the Rose Bowl is $18 million, most recent for the Potato Bowl? $750,000, which isn’t even close to $18 million.

The school is obligated to sell their share of the tickets to the game. They have to sell 17,500 or pay for the rest of them. That can cost the schools big money.

I think its time for the companies to go together to sponsor a bowl instead of having their own. How many people really watch all 35 games anyways?

Coach Watkins believed that if they worked hard enough, they would be right on their way to Salina, and that’s exactly what happened.

“I think the season is going well. We have positive attitudes that are stretching throughout all levels of play. And we’re also having a lot of fun,” Coach Theresa Watkins said.

Holton, seeded 3^rd in tournament first faced Rose Hill, the 6^th seed in the bracket with a record of 34-6. After, they played the 7^th seed, Towanda-Circle who has a record of 31-11. Last on Friday night, the girls faced McPherson, the 2^nd seed, with a record of 40-2.

“We saw Circle at the Rossville tournament, but we haven’t seen Rose Hill and McPherson play. McPherson has a two seed but record doesn’t really mean anything, because anyone is beatable,” Tanking said.

Coach seems very focused on being a team. She feels that if they stay close as a volleyball family they will definitely succeed. Working together and communicating is some very important tools she loves to see happen.

“If we continue to improve on our communication skills, and support each other as a volleyball family, we will have achieved our goals for this year,” Watkins said.