Norsemen Basketball
The Norsemen basketball team kicked off their season at Sycamore High School, with the Thanksgiving Tournament. The boys started out slow, losing three of their first four games. The first was to Rockford Lutheran, the eventual champion of the tournament, by a score of 86 - 58. After Rockford Lutheran, they played Burlington Central, and the game went down to the wire. The Norsemen held a 2 point lead after the 3rd quarter, but they were outscored by the Rockets by 9 in the final period, taking a 58 – 51 loss. Jack Clausel led all scorers with 22 points, while Evan Schomer had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Will Clausel passed his way to 10 assists and 8 rebounds, a team high. All teams took Thursday off for Thanksgiving, but resumed action Friday. The team the Norsemen faced off against was the Dundee Crown Chargers. Again, the Norsemen held a lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hold on, falling 57 – 52. Jack Clausel had 17 points to go along with 6 rebounds. Evan Schomer scored 11 points and grabbed 5 rebounds, while Matt Eike had 9 points and 4 rebounds. After this 0 – 3 start, the Norsemen were looking to get their first win. They found themselves locked into a battle with Sandwich, but they went on a late run and pulled out a 60 – 53 win. Noah Nichols scored 11 points off the bench, while Jack Clausel had 17 points to go along with 15 rebounds. The Norsemen have more games coming up in the coming weeks, starting with the first home conference game against Somonauk on December 6th, then travel to Deerfield to play against Chicagoland Jewish, the team that the Norsemen played in the sectional final last year. The Norsemen are looking to pick up some wins in the coming weeks, and would love your support! Come cheer on the Norsemen!
By Jack Clausel and Karter Kunkel
The girl’s basketball team has gotten off to a great start! The junior varsity and varsity team have both played in a recent Thanksgiving tournament. The JV team got first in the Putnam County Tournament. The varsity team placed second in the Somonauk Breakout Tournament. They finished with two wins against Sandwich (38-22) and ACC (49-36) and two losses against Wheaton Academy (41-39) and Seneca (44-35). The lady Norsemen have also defeated the Varsity and Junior Varsity in their game against Somonauk on Thursday, December 5th. The Varsity finished with a score of 46-19 and the JV finished with a score of 41-19. The girls are expected to keep up the good work and have a great season!
While you’re out watching our boys’ basketball teams compete this season, you’ll have a few more people cheering on the sidelines. Cheerleading is back at Newark High School and head coach, Miranda Linco, couldn’t be more excited! When asked about what she expects out of the upcoming season, she said, “A positive season with my girls, a lot of hard work and dedication to our Norsemen!” The team started the tryout process for the freshmen and new students who missed tryouts in May on November 5th. Practices as a full team started November 7th. “I’m hoping to give the girls the most rewarding cheerleading experience that they deserve,” Coach Miranda said. Coach Miranda will be assisted by Newark’s very own Ms. Eibl. Come out and support the Norsemen this winter!
The Lady Norsemen finished up their successful season on Tuesday November 5th. The team competed against Mooseheart for the Regional semi final. They put them away soundly, and moved to their next opponent. After claiming the regional championship against Hinkley-Big Rock, the lady Norsemen advanced to their next game against Harvest Christian. This match was lost, ending the season, but did not end the great memories and great accomplishments achieved this season. After finishing with a 27-7 record and being undefeated in conference, and leaving with a Conference tournament championship, the Norsemen have nothing to hang their heads about. The girls have had a great season. All the hard work paid off with some great wins and they have a team to be proud of. Congratulations to the team on finishing strong and making the season one to remember. 
This 2013-2014 season for the Lady Norsemen Basketball has acquired new changes. The Head Varsity Coach, Coach Skelton retired from coaching last season which means Coach Holman is stepping up and taking the title as Head Varsity Coach. He states “Varsity basketball takes execution to win. JV is learning to play the game.” The new teacher, Miss Petges is also stepping into to take the roll as Junior Varsity Coach. Coach Holman has been holding open gyms here and there for the athletes that are not in sports at the moment. When asked how they were going he responded “Good so far. It’s hard because so many girls are in volleyball.” November 4th kicks off the first practice for the whole team. When asked how Mr. Holman thought the season would go, he responded, “We will be talented and will hopefully translate to wins. It will be a learning experience for everyone but I expect good things.” Senior, Lindsey Larson, stated “I’m excited for this year, it’s going to be weird without having Coach Skelton there to make joking remarks on the way I do things but other than it should go well. I think if we all focus in and work hard, we’ll have a stellar team.” Sophomore, Maddie Friestad, said “I’m excited and it’s going to really fun. All of us girls will work really well together.” Basketball is kicked off the October 30th at 6 o’clock for the basketball meeting that goes over the expectations and the season schedule.
On October 2, the Newark High School Golf team played Seneca and Lisle at Whitetail in a tri-meet. The Norsemen tied the school record of the best varsity team score with a 168! That’s almost 20 strokes below their team average! The golf team also played in a 2-man scramble on October 3, against Oswego at Blackberry Oaks. They ended up winning the 2-man scramble by 1 stroke. On October 8th the Norsemen went on to participate in Putnam County’s Regional. The varsity team got 7th place out of 12 teams, with Jack Clausel coming in with a soaring 87 that will take him to sectionals! The following varsity players playing in regionals were Karter Kunkel coming in with an 89 just 1 stroke short of going to Sectionals, Zach Ward coming in with a 100 and, Will Clausel with a 101. At the sectional, Jack Clausel shot a 100, and sadly did not qualify, but Jack is only the 3rd Newark High School student to ever go to sectionals for golf. Congrats to the Newark golf team for a major improvement from last year and good luck next year!
Soccer is coming to an end, yet that’s not how the Newark Norseman are playing. They continue to play hard and continue to do well in conference, with a great homecoming victory against Hinckley Big Rock in overtime, when Tom Bartkus passed it across the field to Cole Westmoreland, who kicked the ball into the goal for the game winning point. This is the first time in history the Newark Norseman has beat Hinckley Big Rock in soccer.
The Norsemen golf team’s season is coming to a close, with regionals coming in the next couple of days. The Norsemen have been winning as of late, with wins over Harvest Christian, a JV won over Oswego East, and a win over both Hinckley Big Rock and Somonauk. The team is coming together well, with Cole Krug, Tyler Kaufman, Seth Larson, Jack Clausel, and Nick Minarich all turning good scores in those matches. The JV team recently won their first match of the season with Tyler Kaufman, Seth Larson, and Jack Clausel all shooting 43 and Cole Krug shooting a solid 45 to lead the Norsemen to victory. We asked Cole Krug about how he feels about the season. “Decent, we are stepping up our game, we are definitely feeling good about October.” When asked about how he feels about the home meets, he replied, “We are so used to the course that it gives us a huge advantage playing here.” How does he think the rest of the season will play out? “We will have a good shot at winning the conference tournament, and will try our best in Regionals.” The Norsemen will look to finish the season off right with a couple of wins and maybe some medalists at Regionals. 
The combined teams of Newark and Seneca start the season with a second place win at the Paw Paw tournament. They fought tough and competitively during the whole tournament, the outcome was a 5-0 win against Paw Paw, a 3-3 tie against Serena, and a sad loss 0-6 against Depue. They then went on to win their first conference game against Indian Creek with a rewarding score of 4-2. A close match with Somonauk that kept the team fighting the whole game was sadly met with a loss, 3-1, then off with a great 5-2 win at Elgin Academy. As the season progresses, the combined Newark and Seneca soccer team grows closer together and forms one great powerhouse team. Coach Veliz is very pleased with the progress of our team and knows as the season continues, the soccer team will only get better. The soccer team is getting ready for the upcoming games.
The Newark volleyball teams are off to a strong start! The Varsity team recently finished 3rd at the Manteno tournament. Juniors Melanie Kala and Rachael Lape were selected for the all tournament team. The JV team finished first at the Aurora Central Catholic tournament. They have some home games coming up and some conference games right around the corner. The girls are looking forward to a great season! Come out and support your Lady Norsemen this season!
Congratulations to the Soccer team for their 2nd place finish in the Paw-Paw Tournament on Saturday. Newark took 2nd place in three games with a 5-0 win vs. Paw-Paw, 3-3 tie vs. Serena and a 0-6 loss to DePue. Way to go! Great start to the season!
Golf season is already underway. The Norsemen have had two meets, both of the scramble formats, this week. The first one was Monday, the first day of school, at Fox River Golf Club in North Aurora. The best score was a 79, shot by Cole Krug and Jack Clausel, followed by an 81 shot by Tyler Kaufman and Zach Ward. The next meet was the Norsemen Scramble, which is a five man scramble hosted by Newark at Whitetail Ridge on Yorkville. The Norseman shot a 66 and finished fourth in the eight-teem field.
Volleyball is in full swing this year. The program has all three levels competing. Varsity, Junior varsity, and the freshmen team are going to be successful this year with the talent the girls have brought with them and the coaching they’re receiving. Coach Grayson agrees. When asked how she thought the season would go, she replied with, “We’ll win the Little Ten Conference, the Conference Tournament and get the 20 mark win again. We’ll be good I’m just waiting to see exactly how good.” She was also asked what she’s most excited about this year and she answered, “Just getting on the court and competing. The team is a fun one this year. Everything off the court as well such as the team retreat.”
The Lady Norsemen softball program is wrapping up the season with a record of 14-6. They finished second in the conference with a record of 10-4. The Ladies received the first seed in their regional which began on Monday, May 13th. The top seed gave them a first round bye, so they did not take the field until Tuesday night against Paw Paw. Lady Norsemen have won the regional championship and the first game of the sectional. They will play for the sectional championship on Saturday, May 25th at 11 a.m. in Varna. Coach Holman said the team has been in a minor slump lately, but he is confident the ladies will bounce back for the post-season games.
Saturday, May 4 was senior day when six seniors on the team were honored: Dominic DiClementi, Kenny Hume, Joe Hughes, Chris Murawski, Tyler Wiesbrook, and Wyatt Williamson. The Norsemen played Earlville/Leland and had a good game; the seniors played their best and everyone else played a great game too. Earlville/Leland played well and led the whole time. After a good game Earlville/Leland took the win 8-4, and the Norsemen boys were upset that they had not won the special game, but Coach J.R. Veliez said, “I am sorry that we couldn’t get a win for you senior boys today, but it’s time to get ready for regionals. So you boys as seniors are gonna have to lead this team through it and show that you are seniors.” The seniors still walked off the field with their heads high and their parents proud of them. Now May is the start of regionals, and Newark ball players are preparing themselves to do their best and earn the wins.
The Newark Norsemen are facing some tough competition. They have looked great on the field, but their stats do not show it. Most of the games have been lead by the Norsemen, but once it comes to the last inning they cannot seem to hold on to their lead. During the Sandwich double header, the boys played a very good first game; it was tied for most of the game until the seventh inning, when Sandwich came out swinging their bats. During the second game Newark was winning for most of the game; they were doing their jobs, playing good defense and offense. As the seventh inning arrived, Newark was winning, but Sandwich tied it up it, going into extra innings. Then Sandwich pulled ahead with a small lead, and Newark could not tie it up to get the win. So in spite of all their great efforts Newark, couldn’t capture one win from the double header. Coach J.R. Veliz was very impressed with his team. He said, “If we can play every time like we just did, we will have a lot more wins.” 
The Lady Norsemen softball team is off to a solid start with a 9-1 record. The girls have won all their conferences games thus far including two wins against Paw Paw and two against Hiawatha. Coach Holman is pleased with how his team has been competing against bigger schools. The Ladies defeated Plano, Rosary, Wheaton, St. Francis, and IMSA. Their only loss so far was against Putnam County by three runs. The girls were scheduled to play two more conferences games Thursday and Friday against LaMoille but results were unavailable at press time. Senior center fielder Melissa Schmidt stated that she and her teammates are looking forward to competing against more conference teams in the next couple weeks. Go Lady Norsemen! 
Softball season is underway at Newark High School, and Mr. Holman and his team are excited it’s finally here! Many new freshmen and a couple new sophomores joined the team this season, but unfortunately there are not enough of them to make a J.V. squad. The weather has prevented the team from playing their games thus far, but they are hoping to get out on the field soon! Good luck to the Lady Norsemen softball program this season!
This year for baseball we have our seven returning seniors, and they have been working really hard to prepare for the season. They give 110% every practice and try to work on what they can improve. Coach J.R. Veliz says, “This season no one is worried about Newark, but believe me, they’re going to wish they did.” The Norsemen also have a new coach, Coach Steve Carlson, who was a closer for a minor league team. Coach Carlson also tried out for the Yankees before he was injured. He has a lot of experience pitching and has been working with the pitchers to show them all the little things they can do just to get a little bit more zip on the ball or make sure they don’t hurt themselves while pitching. The boys are really excited for their season to start and see how far they will get with their hard work.
The Norsemen celebrated senior night with a commanding victory over Gardner-South Wilmington. This win gave the Norsemen multiple reasons to celebrate. It improved their home record to an undefeated 8-0 on the season, a feat to which they are well accustomed, as they have now accomplished this three out of the last four years. Senior Brett Anderson also became the third player in Newark history to score over 2,000 career points. The Norsemen finished the regular season with a trip to Indian Creek. A win over the Timberwolves would have given the Norsemen a share of the regular season conference title, but the team fell short of the victory.
The Norsemen continued their strong conference play as they took on Leland-Earlville on January 15th. Coach Tollefson said, “I felt like it was a slow game. We didn’t seem like we were playing well at all. Then I looked up at the score board, and we were winning by 30.” The team rode that wave of momentum into their matchup with Kirkland Hiawatha. The Norsemen had a very exciting game, winning by a score of 100-35. However, the varsity players did not achieve this on their own but received aid from JV players. After the starters were taken out with three minutes to play in the third quarter, the reserves stepped up and scored the final 30 points in the ball game. 
Going into the post-season ranked seventh in the state, the Lady Norsemen were feeling confident with a record of 26-1. The Ladies then defeated LaMoille-Ohio in the first regional game and finally earned the regional title since 2009 by beating Serena in the championship game. The team was ecstatic about the win but knew the road ahead of them would be a challenge. Annawan, ranked second in state, was their match-up for the first sectional game. The Lady Norsemen came up short against a dominating Annawan team and ended their season with a 28-2 record. Despite the upsetting loss, the Lady Norsemen set a couple schools records they can hang their hats on. The girls now hold the record for most consecutive wins in girls’ basketball history at NHS. The previous record of 19 consecutive wins was held by the 2008-2009 Lady Norsemen, and this year’s team surpassed it with 23. The 2012-2013 Lady Norsemen also achieved the best win/loss record in girl’s basketball history at NHS. The seniors all hoped for a better ending but are still proud of their accomplishments and know they have created lasting memories. 
The 2013 Newark Lady Norsemen Basketball Team achieved new heights by becoming the first Girls' Basketball Team in School History to set records of 28 overall wins, 23 consecutive victories and fewest losses, with only two.
The Lady Norsemen could settle for their most recent record of 22-1, but instead the Ladies have chosen to use it as motivation to “dig deeper and become the best possible team” they can be, stated senior Abbey Akre. The Lady Norsemen worked their way into the championship game after three consecutive wins at the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic and got first place by a score of 40-39. After their success at the Lisle tournament, the girls beat Kirkland Hiawatha and LaMoille. The Little Ten Conference Tournament was also a triumph for the Lady Norsemen as they received the first place trophy by defeating LaMoille, Indian Creek, and lastly Serena for the conference championship. Following the Conference tournament, the Lady Norsemen defeated the Wheaton Academy Warriors and the Plano Reapers. All the seniors on the team agreed they are pleased with how the season has gone thus far, but are committed to maintaining a good work ethic in practice to improve their skills every day in hopes of a deep post season run. 
The varsity boy’s basketball team took part in the 50th Annual Plano Christmas Tournament over Christmas Break. The team entered as the 14th seed out of 24 teams. After beating Burlington Central in the play-in-game, Newark upset the rival Yorkville Foxes, who were the 3rd seed. Newark advanced to the elite eight before falling to Kaneland, a 3A school. They proceeded to take on the Fighting Irish of Seneca, and lost by one on a controversial last second call. In their final game of the tournament, the Norsemen battled the Morris Redskins and lost by five after a fourth quarter run fell short. The Norsemen finished the tournament with a 2-3 record. Senior forward Brett Anderson was the team’s lone representative on the All-Tournament team. After a few days off to recuperate, the Norsemen returned to the court for a Little Ten Conference matchup with the Serena Huskers. The Norsemen struggled throughout the game, and managed only an eight-point victory over the young Husker team. Freshman center Jack Clausel compared the game to a pizza without a crust, “It was a sloppy mess!” The team was able to turn it around, however, and avenged their previous loss to Seneca with a crowd-pleasing victory. “It was a wild ride,” said senior guard Joe Hughes. “We were exhausted during the second half, but we were able to dig down deep and play from our hearts.” The Norsemen rode that wave of momentum into their potential conference championship game against Hinckley-Big Rock. The Royals were expected to come out on top easily, but Newark gave them a run for their money and took it into overtime before losing by five. The Norsemen will look forward to having a chance at redemption in a few weeks once the Little Ten Conference Tournament gets underway.