Dog Dayz

By Braden Dorhmann

I feel like it was a shorter month, and I didn’t do as much as I would on a regular month. However, it was a big month for our school, as wrestling and basketball competed for state titles. Also, my grades have been wiped clean for a fresh second semester.

When I left you guys last month, the first semester of my school year was ending. I told you I had some finals coming up. I did pretty well on my tests, and ended with a 4.0 GPA. Now, as I said, I have a clean slate and have to start from scratch to keep my 4.0. While I know grades aren’t everything, they are important to me.

This month, the playoffs began for basketball. Both the boys and the girls made it to Districts. The boys beat Seton Catholic for Coach Galloway’s first playoff win in Montesano, but eventually were eliminated. Don’t worry there will be many more playoff wins in the future, I will promise you that. The girls however, started off with two dominating victories in Districts, and took 2nd place. They had a Regional game in Wenatchee vs. Okanogan this previous weekend. Win or lose they have already clinched a spot at state. The fans were tremendous this year and really showed our Bulldog pride.

With basketball behind me, I have been working hard to get stronger, faster and improve my game in baseball. I have looked forward to playing baseball for Montesano High School for as long as I can remember. I have been going to the batting cages two to three times a week, and I’m ready for the season to begin. In fact, when you are reading this it will be baseball season, softball season, track season, boys soccer season, girls golf season, and girls tennis season. Next month I will tell you how baseball tryouts went, how all the teams are looking, and how girls basketball did.

Next, the wrestling state tournament was this month. There were nine state competitors from Montesano, and five of them placed. Tony Williams took third. In fact Taylor Rupe and Austin Cain were state champions. Taylor and Austin won back-to-back championships in back-to-back years. Another impressive wrestling season for Montesano. Also, the fans showed up at state and we made our presence felt.

Another thing that has started up this month is my football workouts. I really enjoyed going to these last year, and I am even more excited this year, because I’ve spent a year in the system and I am more experienced and skilled. What we do is run routes and at the end go against a defense. It is before school, so pretty early, but it wakes me up and I always look forward to it.

Going in to this year I will admit I was a little intimidated to be the new kid on the block — the freshman. But I have to say the upperclassmen have been awesome. The seniors showed a lot of leadership and protected us freshmen and taught us what they know in both football and basketball for me. I have also become really good friends with some of the juniors, sophomores and even some seniors. I got to know them through practice at football, playing with them in basketball, to even having classes with them. I just have a feeling of acceptance from them. It is definitely another great quality of our small town.

Finally, the wait continues for spring break. We are a month out. I am excited to go to Arizona and be in the warm sun. I am excited to get some color back in my skin, and I am just looking forward to a nice break. An awesome thing I am doing while there, is going to the Men’s College Basketball National Championship in Phoenix. The atmosphere is going to be electric. It’s going to be amazing. I am hoping to see Gonzaga and maybe witness their first championship ever. I admit, I am a pretty lucky guy.

Braden Dohrmann is a freshman at Montesano High School. He writes about what it’s like growing up in Montesano. He participates in many school sports and activities, works hard in class and enjoys taking vacations with his family.