The spring sports season at Camas High School (CHS) has been off to a great start for most teams, with all of them putting in time and effort to improve.
“Our softball team is doing extremely well. Best year they’ve had in a long time,” CHS Athletic Director Stephen Baranowski said. “Baseball is battling for a playoff spot while track has had awesome experiences at the Oregon relays and is doing really well in league.”
According to Baranowski, the boys soccer team has a talented group and is working its way through league play. Along with the boys soccer team, tennis and golf are also off to a strong start.
Specifically, the boys soccer team has been working to stay connected as a team to keep getting wins, because at the beginning of the season, the level of play was off to a slow start for the athletes.
“We’ve been doing great. Started a little slow, but we’ve been picking it up, and we’ve been getting quite a few wins,” CHS senior Roman Bakman said. “I think it was just a lack of team chemistry at the start, but after, the team bonded, we got way more fluid in our games and just picked up from there, and now we’re getting some good games and winning.”
The community that spring sports foster is part of what allows these athletes to grow and make long-lasting memories.
“I love pole vault. I mean, it’s really the community. It’s the people,” CHS senior Carter Anderson. ” We’re kind of our own, like, little section in our own team inside the track and field.”
Besides community building, the athletes are looking forward to improving their scores and their skills as the season goes on.
“I’ve been getting some PRs, and I’ve been getting some really crazy heights in practice,” Anderson said. “Today I’m planning on getting another PR.”
For many athletes, pushing through struggles allows them to get better and set their sights on their goals of winning league and state championships.
“[We want to] win state, but winning league is the main focus at first because we have to just stay focused and keep winning the games,” Bakman said. “We gotta beat Skyview next time we see them and beat the rest of the teams. [We also have to] keep winning and then from there on, we’re gonna push our goals further to state.”
The weather has also been a struggle during the season, but as the weather is starting to get sunnier, the moods of the athletes have improved.
“When the weather gets better, that’s when it actually gets fun [since] the weather’s been pretty bad this season,” Anderson said.
“I always feel bad for spring athletes because the weather is so bad, and right now they’re going to get sunny weather,” Baranowski said. “They’re gonna make great memories, and they’re heading towards the end of the school year.”
The athletes are looking forward to the rest of their seasons and are hoping for people to show up and cheer them on in their respective games and matches.
“Show up to our games, and let’s get some people out [in the stands],” Bakman said.
