Cross country’s last race until State was October 27th, at Evergreen State College.  The district race consisted of 2B, 1A, and 2A starting at 10 AM.  The girls raced at noon and the boys raced later in the day. Most runners’ seasons ended at districts. But, Brandon Huntley and Danielle Won ran well enough to compete at Pasco the following Saturday.

Lina Phan went to Pasco to run with Danielle as she prepared for the big race. Lina stated that her goals for next year include, “getting closer as a team, beating her personal record, and recruiting more team members.”

The girls’ team is expected to be very strong next year because the lack of seniors on the team. The girls plan to train all summer preparing for this race next year. The boys’ team will be losing one of their best runners, Brandon Huntley who was 7th at the district championship. Particularly the boys also gained a valuable runner, J.P. Guyer with the best time as a freshman.

Kendall Hendricksen was asked how she felt about the results and said, “ I beat a girl on my team I haven’t since last year, and another I haven’t ever beat in the two years I have done this sport. I am proud of my performance.”

Although their season ended at districts many runners understand the difficulty of making it to state and strive to make it the next year by setting higher goals.

Some ways that Cross Country prepares for Districts is tapering their running, giving their muscle memory time to recover and strengthen for the big race. The Washington weather also doesn’t stop their ability to compete; many actually enjoy the rain as they run.

The only girl from Black Hills participating in the state race commented, “The state race is very different from any other race I have done before. The competition is fiercer, the stakes are higher, and the race is much bigger than almost all other races.”

These girls and boys run every day and many through the summer training for this difficult race. Brandon Huntley and Danielle Won preformed very well and were lucky enough to run at Pasco.

By Kassandra Hendricksen

Zach Joaquin runs for a first down on a fake punt

This was the wolves’ last game of the season and an exciting last game for them. The Black Hills wolves were four and four going into the game and needed this one last game to break .500. A lot of pressure and exhilaration flowed through the players heading into the game. The boys had some expectations to fulfill and fans they did not want to let down.

Black Hills didn’t start out the game very well. On the first drive of the game, Tumwater had an interception off the Wolves’ quarterback. The interception was one of those kinds of plays that rarely ever happen. The ball was deflected in the air and before it hit the ground it was kicked back into the air by a Tumwater defender. The ball ended up right into Tumwater’s hands and returned the other way. Black hills had a couple bad calls against them, giving Tumwater more opportunities to score.

The highlight of the Black Hills Wolves was their defense. They never gave up through the entire game. Watching the game from the stands, one could tell they gave their hardest effort. The overall score to the game was 35 Tumwater, 7 Wolves. “I think our team prepared the best we could for Tumwater, but we just so happened to come out on the losing end” says senior receiver Max Trotter. The final score doesn’t show the effort given by the team.  Every Wolf is proud of them and they let no one down.

Black Hills has always had trouble with trying to match up to Tumwater’s school spirit. Either they didn’t have enough bodies or they just didn’t have enough school support. But on Friday, the t-birds couldn’t hold a candle to the passionate student body. “The school fan section this year was a massive improvement over previous years, even though we lost it made me proud to be a wolf,” said senior, Colton Walker. There was wolf pack pride pouring out of the hearts of all of Black Hills students and parents that night.

There was never a minute when the stadium couldn’t hear “wolf pack power” or “we are the wolf pack” not giving the T-birds the slightest chance to speak. Black Hills shined this year with outstanding school spirit and will continue for years to come.

By: Lexi Hitchens

Gabe Hall gave a standout performance in one particular scene that involved a funny mix-up. Gabe was hilarious in his scene, causing laughter from the audience to erupt throughout.

Indeed the audience seemed to enjoy the play immensely. One student who attended the play, Ian Forester, said, “I enjoyed the play. I thought it was hilarious,” He also said that his favorite character was, “Gabe’s character because he was hilarious and he had a bunch of funny lines,” he also said that he liked Andy Brown’s character because, “he’s a great actor and very funny. His singing was awesome too,” Andy Brown played a character named Costard. He was a clown of the Shakespearean era and was another standout role. Ian said he would recommend the play to other people.

The play was accompanied by two of Black Hills High School’s most talented musicians, Kyle Groden and Reese Maultsby. Kyle played the piano while Reese played the drums. Their music was a fantastic addition to the play, and helped develop the songs that were sung.

Their talent was obvious especially during the transition moments of the play, during which sets were changed and the stage was dark. During these moments, Kyle and Reese played filler music without anyone singing to it. They are both amazing musicians and the cast was lucky to have them accompanying them.

Overall, the play was fantastic and well worth the 5 dollars it costs students to get it to see it (10 for adults). All the actors performed wonderfully and the sets and music was top notch. It was a great success for the Black Hills Theater Department.

-Roslyn Buff

On November 6th, after weeks of shifty poll results and heated inter-school debates on political views, Obama has become the 45th president of the United States, evoking both cheers and tears.

During the debates, political polls indicated that Romney was gaining in popularity, while Obama took a tough blow. However, as we inched closer to November 6th, President Obama steeply climbed back to his seat of popularity, and had many states' vote.

It all came down to Election Day, where the race was iffy. Romney had an early lead with 19 Electoral Votes to Obama’s measly 3. As more data was collected, it showed that Obama was climbing in votes. By the end of the night, it was in light that Governor Romney would not win this year’s election.

Weeks before the election, speculation was cast on which battleground states would go to Obama and which would go to Governor Romney. Among these battleground states are; Colorado, Ohio, Florida, and Virginia. These states have a good amount of Electoral Votes, which would help either runner in sealing a victory with 270 Electoral Votes, the necessary votes to automatically win.

According to Politico.com, Obama pulled through, winning both the popular vote, and a total of 303 Electoral Votes. Politico gives detailed maps of the election results and statistics.

After it was shown that Obama was going to secure the win, he offered the media an outstanding speech. During his speech, he brought up his wife and daughters, unity of our country, and freedoms of the people. The crowd was cheering and waving American flags with a ferocity.

Of course, Governor Romney has to give a condolensce speech. He offered a prayer to our country’s success, announced that America had chosen it’s next leader, and wished the President his best.

Hurricane Sandy fiercely hit the East Coast on October 29 leaving thousands of people out of power and anticipating what is next in relief efforts

The water front was the hardest hit area. The streets and board walk of the Jersey shore were flooded with water leaving citizens helpless. New Jersey citizens were stranded in their homes waiting for rescue crews which were set to arrive between October 30th and November 1. 

Livescience.com, a website focused on scientific brealthroughs, says that Hurricane Sandy is a record breaking storm for the East Coast. Hurricane Sandy devastated the land as it grew more and more powerful after its initial hit.

According to Livescience 4.7 million people in 15 states were out of power. All forms of transportation skidded to a halt and will stay this way until government safety officials give the green light for transportation to resume.

The storm was such a catastrophe government intervention was needed. President Barack Obama met with the Chris Christie, the Governor of New Jersey, to discuss damage control and the next steps for the areas' rehabilitation. The hurricane was declared a state of emergency by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A study from www.forbes.com, a business magazine website, averages the costs of the damages to be about $158 million dollars. There are many options and websites accepting donations for the effort such as redcross.com.

When asked what the students at Black hills could do Ms Layton said donations to the Red Cross "would be better than care packages because the Red Cross knows specifically what each community needs.”

Unfortunately in the midst of Hurricane Sandy clean up there is a predicted snow and ice storm from the North East is headed toward the East Coast.

The best advice for East Coast residents at this time is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Preparation tips and emergency plans for residents in high risk areas are available at fema.gov.

Mr. Wegener said that in his opinion the art display looked good but, “art displays always look nice, easy to read, professional, and they don’t fall.” He also said that, “students liked it because it looks professional it’s in a gallery for one thing, not just at the school…other people get to see it, and arts walk gets to see it.”

When asked what it was like to be selected as best in show, Merissa Simental stated that, “it was really awesome, but I was so surprised at first that it didn’t really sink in until I saw it up on the wall of the store.” She also said, “It was really awesome seeing my painting up on the wall of a store because it made it look so official and professional, but I didn’t actually want it to be sold so I was also happy when I got it back.”

Merissa Simental was asked if she would recommend that people go to arts walk and see the display from our school to which she replied, “Definitely, it was really interesting to see what other students at the school who won submitted and in general to see what other students create from a vague direction. Some of them are really amazing.”

-Merissa Simental