Working: musician

By HANNAH KIVI
UNLEASHED STAFF
Inspiration, practice, gigs, audiences, rehearsals, listening, traveling, spotlights, recordings. Music.
Welcome to the world of the professional musician.
“By the age of 16, I was 100 percent sure I wanted to be a musician for the rest of my life,” says Jeff Leonard.
Originally from Yakima, the 28-year-old now resides on the west side of the state. But one of his inspirations, friend and fellow musician Wayman Chapman, an R&B artist, still lives here. The 50-something Chapman not only taught Leonard, he gave him his first paying gig.
“He gave me the experience that I can’t even imagine where I would be without today,” the Bremerton-based Leonard says.
These days, Leonard is a bass player for five different bands: Vicci Martinez, The Glistening Moments, Money Penny, Higher Vibes, and Robbie Walden and the Gunslingers.
He plays a wide variety of genres — rock to country, reggae to Latin, jazz to pop.
“I honestly like them all, but I guess if I had to pick one, I would put gospel at the top of the list,” he says.
Of all the places music can take you, Leonard’s favorite is the recording studio.
“I love being a part of the smallest musical idea and turning it into a finished song,” he says.
Leonard also likes being on stage and performing to a responsive audience.
His days are filled with practice and learning and writing new material — all underlined by the hunt for inspiration.
At night, Leonard spends his time performing or playing at home.
When he isn’t practicing or performing, he loves to catch up with friends, play chess, cook, read and eat.
Within the year, he hopes to finish his first solo album, filled with instrumental gospel and country music. He also hopes to write a children’s book, educating kids on music.
Meantime, Leonard plays anywhere his music takes him — from bars to churches.
“So far, the farthest music has taken me is to Chicago,” he says. “However, I do believe that if I stick with it, and keep dreaming, it will take me all over the world.”

— Hannah Kivi is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. She attends Riverside Christian School.

Fresh Faces: Gage Neiffer

Name: Gage Neiffer
School/year in school/age: Riverside Christian, freshman, 15.
Activities/hobbies/clubs: Piano, video games, basketball, football, science, boy stuff.
Favorite food: Any bread with sauce on it.
Favorite movies: “Tommy Boy,” “Forrest Gump,” “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Pulp Fiction.”
Favorite book/writers: “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Favorite music, musician, or bands: The Ramones, Detektivbryan, The Offspring, Panic at the Disco, Shinedown, 3OH!3.
What is your most treasured possession? A ring I made.
Where is your favorite place to go in your hometown? The store.
Which person do you most admire and why? Paul Revere because he is so unrecognized for how great his accomplishments are.
What would you do with $1 million? Not tell anyone about it and put it into a savings account.
Three words to describe yourself: More to love.
What is your greatest achievement? Don’t have one, have many.
Worst fear: People finding out about something in my past.
Greatest wish: To be successful.
When and where were you the happiest? In English class or in a football huddle.
Where and how do you see yourself in 10 years? Having a successful career at Price Waterhouse in California.

— Hannah Kivi, Riverside Christian School

We’re thankful for …

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, some of the Unleashed kids — student reporters, photographers and artists from around the Yakima Valley — are sharing what they’re grateful for this year.
Some are local, like the terraces at Franklin Park. Some are personal, such as banana pancakes with toasted pecans and powdered sugar with steaming hot syrup. And some are universal: Life itself, clean water and food, shelter.
Plus, there are many more.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Jessica Serrano, La Salle High School
• Faith and justice.
• Family and loved ones.
• Diversity.
• Freedom of speech.
• Strawberrries.
• Philanthropy and philanthropists.
• Forgiveness.
• New beginnings.
• Art.
• Life itself.

Lisa Garrigues, Naches Valley High School
• My caring parents.
• My protective older sisters and brother.
• My supportive friends, teammates, teachers and coaches.

Hannah Naughton, Davis High School
• My family’s health.
• Banana pancakes with toasted pecans and powdered sugar with steaming hot syrup.
• My parents’ love.
• My friends.
• My two crazy sisters.

Samantha Knittle, Davis
• Marching band.
• My family.
• The sun and warm weather.
• School (but not homework).
• Clean water and food.
• My friends.
• Free speech.
• My teeth.
• Drum Corp International.
• God.
• Chocolate.
• Swing sets.
• My teachers.

Hannah Kivi, Riverside Christian School
• Freedom of religion.
• My parents.
• My friends.
• My Bible.
• Softball.
• My house.
• My school.
• Unleashed.
• Our country.
• Music.
• My ability to write.
• Gum.

Lety Clark-Olivero, Eisenhower High School
• My parents.
• My siblings.
• Shelter.
• Sustenance.
• My cell phone with its unlimited texting.
• Jesus.
• A healthy body.
• Laughter, life, love and a little dancing mixed in there somewhere.
• My boyfriend.
• My friends.

Kami Cross, Eisenhower
• “One Tree Hill.”
• Starbucks Christmas decorations.
• A car that runs (most of the time).
• Addicting books.
• Cuddling.
• My loving family.
• Thursdays.
• Friends.
• Football games. (And the end of football season.)
• Rainy days.
• Strawberry-pineapple iced teas.
• Musicals.
• Running through the sprinklers at night.
• My bed being right under the heating vent.
• Peacoats.
• Family videos from when I was little.

Georgia Gempler, Davis
• Freedom.
• Education.
• Family.
• Animals.
• Shelter.
• Opportunity.
• Books.
• Technology.
• Snow.
• Music.
• Artistic expression.
• Free time.
• Movies.

Loren Button, Riverside Christian
• Jesus.
• My parents.
• My home.
• My friends.
• “Guitar Hero: World Tour.”
• Being a senior in high school!

Colleen Fontana, Davis
Long books and warm blankets on cold rainy afternoons. Music and iPods and singing loudly in the shower. Friends to understand me and parents to confide in. Sisters to cry to and brothers to make me laugh. Raspberry peach iced teas from Lincoln Avenue Espresso and blue Papermate pens.
Warm winter coats and old furry boots. Moleskine planners from Inklings Bookshop and sledding down the terraces at Franklin Park. Stick shifts and curly hair and laughter and bright pink nail polish. My camera, Benji, and pony tail holders.
Summer thunder storms and the smell of the rain afterward. Games of kick the can and lap tag. Volleyballs and pianos and coffee. Thank goodness for coffee, and the roof over my head and the God over my roof and this life with which I have been blessed.

Sean Nagle-McNaughton, Davis
• Books.
• Music.
• Friends.
• Parents.
• Brothers.
• Kindness.
• Knowledge.
• Challenges.
• Grandparents.
• Conversations.
• Peace and quiet.
• Those who help others.
• Nature.
• Happiness.
• The whooshing sound of deadlines going by (just kidding).
• The world I live in.

Janessa Mains, Eisenhower
• My family.
• My friends.
• My camera.
• Knowledge.
• Books.
• My cat George.

• Animé.
• Gay pride.
• Music.

Hannah Besso, Davis
• A supportive family.
• Loyal friends.
• Laughter.
• Sports.
• Music.
• Weekends.
• Summer.
• Good food.
• Snow.
• Sleep.

Libby Young, La Salle
• God.
• My family.
• My friends.
• My school.
• Church.
• My cats.
• My teachers.
• Life.
• Dance.
• Vacations.
• Books.
• Freedom.
• My iPod.
• My cell phone.

Kacie Cross, Eisenhower
• God.
• My parents.
• My sisters and brother.
• My friends.
• Boys.
• Music.
• Dancing.
• Paper.
• Air.
• Elephant Ears.
• Food.
• Eyes.
• Hands.
• Computers.
• Telephones.
• Movies.
• “One Tree Hill.”
• Books.
• The saying, “If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
• Tennis.
• Musicals.
• Makeup.
• Showers.
• The color blue.
• Rain.
• Relationships.
• Life.
• Love.
• Laughter.

James Hibbs, Davis
• Books.
• The Davis High School library and its librarians. They keep it open from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday to help kids study.
• Doug Johnson and Avid.
• Food.
• My siblings.
• My parents.
• Kenneth Capp and epistemology as manifested in “Theory of Knowledge.”

Alex Braman, Davis
• Davis High School.
• My friends (We make Davis fun).
• My iPod (I take it everywhere).
• My camera (I want to take it everywhere).
• My family (They raised me how I am today).

Jasmine Okbinoglu, Eisenhower
• My family and friends.
• Music.
• Books.
• Food.
• Tennis.
• Laughter.
• Summer.
• Swimming.
• Movies.
• Art.
• Nature.
• Candy.

Jessica Cummings, Bickleton High School
• God.
• My loving family.
• My church.
• My fellow believers.
• My friends.
• My gifts and talents.
• My country.

Alyssa Patrick, Eisenhower
• John Mayer’s lyrics and musical talents.
• Sunday nights, squished on the couch between my mom and sister, watching “Grey’s Anatomy.”
• My brother.
• Authors who lace so much into each sentence that my mind never has to stop unraveling new clues.
• Jim and Pam. Always. If the writers on “The Office” break them up, I will have a nervous breakdown.
• Rachel’s Challenge, Leadership Camp and Invisible Children.
• Mango ice cream.
• “Benny and Joon.”
• My family.
• Teachers who never stop teaching the way they believe they should teach, even when some of their students don’t give them that effort in return.
• Broadway.
• Ike’s Little Theater.
• My car, its CD player, and 20-minute drives at the end of long days.
• My bed.
• My physical health, so I can dance.
• My opportunity to go to college.

— Want to see more artwork by artist Samantha Knittle? The Davis High School senior has an online portfolio. To check it out, visit http://samanthaknittle1.tripod.com.

Seven deadly sins: group project

Illustration by Loren Button of Riverside Christian School

See You at the Pole: Students Pray for School, Election, Change, Community

By HANNAH KIVI
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Many students. Several prayers. One flagpole.

“See You at the Pole”is an event in which students take time out before school to gather around the flagpole and pray for their school, their leaders and the nation.

It happens on the fourth Wednesday of September, usually at 7 a.m. Students across the country in both private and public schools participate.

“I think it’s a great rallying point,” says Jim Herring, a Bible teacher at Yakima’s Riverside Christian School. “It sets the stage for the year.”

The tradition started in 1990 with a group of teenagers in Texas, and has continued on ever since. In fact, the movement has spread to other countries, including Canada and Australia.

Last year, more than 2 million teenagers met for “See You at the Pole” events in all 50 states, according to the official “See You at the Pole” Web site at www.syatp.com.

This year’s event took place Sept. 24. And this year’s theme came from the Bible verse 1 Samuel 3:10: “CONNECT: Speak, for your servant is listening.”

At Riverside Christian, a group of students — including 13-year-old Megan Bos of Yakima — arrived at school an hour early to make it to “See You at the Pole.”

“I came to pray with friends,” says Bos, an eighth-grader. “I think it can bring the student body closer together.”

Students’ prayers ranged from reaching out to the community to raising money for a new school building, and even for the soccer game taking place later that day.

“The more we pray for the school, the more it will change,” says 16-year-old Riverside junior Holly Allen. “And I want to see a change in the city.”Students also expressed their gratitude for the United States and the First Amendment, which grants freedom of religion.

“Freedom of religion means I can worship God however I want to,” says 13-year-old Jordan DeSanto, an eighth-grader at Riverside.

Public safety in the Yakima Valley and the upcoming presidential election were also on students’ minds during the event.

“I think the topic most prayed about across the nation is the election,” Allen says. “It is a really big deal.”

• Unleashed reporter Hannah Kivi is a freshman at Riverside Christian School.

Creation Festival Northwest

By HANNAH KIVI
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

THE GORGE AMPHITHEATRE, George, Wash. — The line had been forming for four hours before the gate finally opened.

When we walked through it, I was so excited.

Creation Festival Northwest is a four-day Christian music festival featuring not only the hottest bands in Christian music, but moving speakers and hilarious comedians.

The four-day event, held at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash., ran July 23 to 26. I went with the youth group from Connections, a church that meets at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church in Yakima.

Above the main stage, a banner proclaimed: “A Tribute To Our Creator.” Below us, a beautiful view of the Columbia River stretched beyond the stage.

Flyleaf kicked off Creation 2008. The Texas band has a hit single, “All Around Me,” which plays not only on Christian radio but mainstream radio as well. The genre is hard rock with some metal mixed in, and I liked their originality. Lead singer Lacey Mosley definitely seemed passionate about her music.

Leeland, a more laidback band, followed Flyleaf. I feel like I saw God working through the hearts of the audience that first night of the festival. As we sang Leeland’s version of “How Great Thou Art,” the music and scenery around us was captivating and showed me that God’s plan for us is something we can’t fathom.

Justin Lookadoo was the first speaker of Creation. He was enthusiastic and humorous. I really enjoyed listening to him talk. He held my attention and kept everyone entertained while sharing a great message.

After his talk, loyal Hawk Nelson fans started to gather in front of the main stage, wearing “Hawk-Mart” hats and anxiously waiting. Hawk Nelson’s music is lively and fast-paced. When the band performed, high energy pervaded the air. On the floor in front of stage, everyone danced, jumped, and yelled out the lyrics.

The last group to perform that first night was Kutless. I knew very little about the band, but as I watched I liked them more and more. They had a good mixture of worship and entertaining songs. The crowd loved them and they were called back for an encore after the show.

And that was only the first night.

There were many more great performances throughout the next three days, including Switchfoot, Jeremy Camp, Tenth Avenue North, Skillet and the David Crowder Band. And all of their music was positive and uplifting — just like the atmosphere of the entire festival.

The mood was very loving. Random people would ask for a high-five, even a hug. Everyone was very energetic and fun to be around.

I didn’t know too much about Connections when I went to — and camped at — Creation with members of the congregation. But by the end of the festival, I felt like part of the church. I look forward to spending more time with that youth group.

Creation was definitely worth going to and I would recommend the festival to anyone that is interested. It’s a great way to come closer to God and join in fellowship with other people.

Plus, it was a lot of fun.

I would go back in a heartbeat.

— For more information, visit www.creationfest.com.

New Relient K release: Like Two Albums in One

By HANNAH KIVI
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Following the hit albums “Mmhmm” and “Five Score and Seven Years Ago,” Relient K fans have been wanting more.

And July 1, they got it.

“The Birds and the Bee Sides/The Nashville Tennis EP,” released at the beginning of the month, features 26 songs. And it’s like two albums in one.

Both portions of the new release contain 13 songs. “The Birds and the Bee Sides” features three acoustic songs, three demos, and songs from previous EPs, or extended play albums. Most are old songs.

“The Nashville Tennis EP” features new songs and a rock ‘n’ roll sound with an unexpected twist of country.

The demos reveal a Relient K that’s just beginning, and you can tell the difference from the old and new songs.

It’s the first CD with the band’s new drummer, Ethan Luck. Band members Matthew Hoopes, Jonathan Schneck, John Warne and Luck have all written and recorded a song on a the new release, and lead singer Matthew Thiessen wrote and recorded the rest of them.

Relient K keeps its creativity and quirky sense of humor throughout its new album. Though songs have some humorous moments, they also have some very meaningful lyrics with important messages.

The band presents uplifting and relatable music. Some songs are upbeat and some are more relaxed. But all in all, Relient K’s music is quite catchy, and its lyrics are clean and positive.

The lyrics for “Up and Up,” an acoustic song on “The Birds and the Bee Sides,” say, “Yesterday is not quite what it could have been/as were most of all the days before/but I swear today/with every breath I’m breathing in/I’ll be trying to make it so much more.”

I was pretty pleased with this EP, and I am anxious to see what Relient K does in the future.

— For more information, visit www.relientk.com.

Facing the Music

By WYATT KANYER
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Music is a visit to the soul of its creator, and people react to the sound in their own ways.

Some dance, some close their eyes to absorb the meaning of the rich lyrics, others are simply awestruck, suspended in a moment of musical revelation.

This image is the goal of 26-year-old Dave Buchanan, lead vocalist of Thee Letting Forth of Fire, a seven-piece progressive/experimental metal band from Yakima.

His ideal music scenario is what he calls “honest art.”

Good music, he says “can be super-technical metal to underground hip-hop. As long as it’s honest, it’s legit. It’s not dependent on the style.”

Members of Thee Letting Forth — as the band is commonly known — don’t simply strive to write music that pleases the crowd. They aim to write quality music, music that allows them to demonstrate their artistic passion.

Buchanan compares bands that please the crowd first to “waiting at the gates” for the next trend to pass through, waiting to pounce on what’s popular.

“If you want to be an entertainer, that’s fine, but if you want to be an artist, you have to be willing to fulfill your own desires,” he says. “Artists … do art that might not ever get published and be what the mass market wants.”

Dying represents decay, void, darkness. And it’s the easy choice for Buchanan when asked to describe Yakima’s music scene. He attributes choosing such a severe term to the fact that there seems to be almost no adult support for the youth music scene.

“Yakima is eating its youth,” he says. “There is good art here, but most people aren’t allowing it to thrive.”

The band’s drummer, 23-year-old Josh Vega, agrees: “I don’t go to shows in Yakima anymore,” he says. “There is no individuality among the bands.”

And that’s not uncommon among bands in America today. The most popular bands are the ones on the radio, the ones who are controlled by the stipulations of their contracts with big-name record labels.

Twenty-one-year-old Jourdan Gaub, guitarist for the Yakima metal/hardcore band Bright Lit City, says the creativity behind the music affects its individuality.

“Bands in Yakima create music just to create it,” he says. “They just do whatever is most popular.”

The band’s drummer, 24-year-old Timothy Javins, says it correlates to a band’s identity and drive.

Eighteen-year-old Brandon Scott, one of the three members of the techno/hardcore Yakima band Traffic! Traffic!, says he notices Yakima’s metal trend. Yakima bands, he says “seem to have a small sense of music.”

But Scott also says he notices it’s not just the lack of individuality, but also the lack of ambition that prevents bands from blossoming.

“There are talented bands in Yakima, they just have the wrong goals,” he says, referring to band members’ tendencies to get wrapped up in their own “musical world.”

Scott’s philosophy: “I’m more logical regarding music. Music should be played to have a fun time, not to please other people” like record executives and close-minded fans. And he’s not alone in noticing that opposition.

“We don’t want to get signed,” Gaub says bluntly, pointing to how bands change their sound to fit the desires of their record labels. “Bands start sounding mainstream.”
What would it take to revive the “dying” Yakima music scene that Thee Letting Forth’s Buchanan referred to?

“It’s going to take an adult with a lot of money,” says 17-year-old Jeremy Schrank, a recent West Valley High School graduate. His band, Makings of a Massacre, has a rotating cast of members — three or four, depending on whether 16-year-old Andrew Evan, a junior at La Salle High School, plays “whatever’s needed, usually tambourine” — and a transformative name. (It went from Death at a Funeral to Rise, My Beloved to simply Rise to the current Makings of a Massacre.)

Schrank and Evan, along with 17-year-old guitarist Aaron Kunkler, remember The Zone, a defunct all-ages club in downtown Yakima. The venue, once known for its intimate shows, used to be the regular place for local bands to perform. It closed last spring, and no other all-ages club has taken its place.

“The support is not there yet,” Schrank says.

“It’s going to take more advertisement and teen interest,” echoes Kunkler, also a recent West Valley grad.

“The only places (to have shows in Yakima) nowadays are churches and houses,” Scott says, “and that’s not enough for how many bands there are.”

They agree: Yakima needs a venue for teens and twenty-somethings to showcase the “honest art” Buchanan describes and to connect with people.

“Music is about connecting on an emotional level,” his bandmate Vega says. “Whether it’s a Johnny Cash CD or an unknown artist, music should connect with a listener emotionally.”

“Scene” and Heard

By BRANDON RIEL
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

“I don’t like to be labeled,” says my brother, 15-year-old Zackary Riel, as I drill him with questions.

“I’m just the same as you,” he says. “I put my pants on one leg at a time, just like you.”

My brother’s agitation with my continuing questioning grows stronger. But do I let up? Of course not!

For 15 years now, I’ve lived with Zack and all the different phases of life he’s gone through. Being three years older, I’ve had the opportunity to observe — from an inside perspective — his truly eccentric life.

My brother and I are different; everybody says that, I know. But one glance at us and most wouldn’t even suspect we’re related.

My blond hair and his jet-black strands bear a similar resemblance to night and day. My clothes, tame and conventional, hardly compare to the seemingly endless supply of band T-shirts and skinny jeans in my brother’s overflowing dresser drawers.

“Zack does his own thing,” says his friend, 15-year-old Scott Shively of Yakima. “It doesn’t bother me, though; we’ve been friends forever.”

Zack’s style stands out at Yakima’s Riverside Christian School, but it hasn’t always been so. His fashion sense changed about three years ago.

“I think it started around eighth grade,” he says. “I think that time in your life is when you really start to find yourself.”

Looking back, I can recall my brother’s increased interest in drumming and music, the emergence of a patterned style, a change in his general attitude. Not a bad one, just a change in the way he began to develop thoughts all his own.

“My dress and my music and all of that stuff that would typically be labeled as ‘scene’ is simply a part of me because I like it,” he says. “I like the styles and the sounds of music I hear at Edgefest and at a show at Glenwood Square. But all of this, if anything, just serves as a representation of my attitude.”

That attitude, the one that became so apparent in junior high, is one of individuality. My brother values free and challenging thought.

“I’m trying to add some flare to this world,” says my brother, whose music is his passion. “It’s what I love. It’s what I love to do.”

Zack desires to stand out in the crowd and be a person who stands firm in the face of a challenge.

But he does live by a standard.

Many would be quick to view those who appear as he does as passive in spirituality. Not my brother. His commitment to his Christian faith and the doctrine outlined by the Bible serves as a basis for the free thoughts of this young man.

“I wouldn’t say that my desire to avoid conformity comes directly from scripture, but it’s definitely a biblical message,” says Riel, referring to a passage found in Romans 12:2.

The New International Version of the Bible reads: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

“Most ‘scene’ kids wouldn’t say that they are actually ‘scene’,” he says.

And in a sense, his simple statement might provide for the elusive definition for the so-called “scene” crowd: These teens love their music, they love their individuality, and they’d love for us to stop categorizing them.

League Split Divides Ike-Davis Rivalry

By WYATT KANYER
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Jessica Sachara had her plan laid out.

She wanted to be a part of the cheer squad and all that it offered, such as front row seats to games. But her biggest motive wasn’t the perks.

It was being involved in Ike-Davis events.

“It’s a tradition that everyone enjoys,” the 17-year-old soon-to-be Davis High School senior says of the long-standing rivalry.

The tradition is no more. At least, for now.

Recently, teens like Sachara — and the approximately 4,000 students combined that attend Davis and Eisenhower high schools — lost the opportunity to experience the spectacle that is Ike versus Davis.

Although it’s probably not permanent, Ike and Davis, Yakima’s two largest public high schools, were recently placed in separate divisions of the Columbia Basin League for several major sports, including football, basketball, baseball and fastpitch.

The two will still face other in every sport, but in sports involving the division split, those regular-season contests will not count on their league records.

And students aren’t too happy about it.

“It’s going to be bad,” says Tom McLaughlin, an 18-year-old recent Davis grad and the four-time soccer letterman. “Mostly because it’s a rivalry that has lasted for so many years — for generations.”

But Sachara, who will serve as the Associated Student Body secretary at Davis during the upcoming school year, might be one of the most adamant opponents. In fact, she’s trying to organize a petition, evening joining together with Ike students.

“We’re on the same level,” she says. “We want the games to count. When games don’t count, people don’t care.”

But people did care. It wasn’t just students turning out for annual Ike-Davis games. Many members of the community showed up for these events, too. In fact, Sachara says her uncle from Kennewick would make the trip to Yakima to witness the duels.

Now, students “feel like it’s just another game,” she says.

Though Sachara has a point — Ike-Davis matches might become “just another game” — there are some students who think things won’t change.

Take Kylie Svendsen for instance. The recent Ike grad plans to attend the University of Washington in the fall. She says she thinks the competition will always remain intense.

“The athletes will still see it as the Ike-Davis arch rivalry,” she says. In fact, she says, the new classification could even raise the competition’s intensity.

Still, she admits the news of the split was a not-so pleasant surprise: “I was shocked; I just didn’t think it would ever happen.”

Neither did 18-year-old Elena Boyd, a recent Davis grad: “The Ike-Davis games are the only ones I go to,” she says. “Everyone shows up for them. The split just takes away school spirit.”

Eighteen-year-old Jennifer Johnson played varsity soccer and basketball and competed in pole vault in track and field at Ike. But the recent grad is moving on. She’ll attend Saint Martin’s University in the fall and plans to continue her soccer and track careers there.

The new classification mostly affects those left behind: “The young kids coming up won’t be able to experience what we’ve experienced,” she says. Impending Ike-Davis games “would pump us up weeks before we even played them, and when we won, it would motivate us for weeks after.”

Though Johnson agrees with Svendsen’s belief that the split could lead to a spike in competitiveness, she recognizes it’s not the same: “It’s weird that two schools that are five minutes away from each other aren’t in the same division.”

Sachara has the same mindset. Why put two schools so close in proximity in separate divisions? And why Ike and Davis, two schools with such a renowned rivalry?

Now, “It will be different,” McLauglin says. “I guess we’ll have to find a new rival.”

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