A Close Finish Against Bear Creek

TJ Girls’ Basketball falls in a close game against the Bears.

By Keenan Moore

The Spartan gilrs basketball team hosted the Bear Creek Bears Wednesday night, and while showing a valiant effort, were not able to pull out a win as they lost 47-30.
     The girls started out strong yet again as they took an early 4-0 lead.  The game started out great for TJ, and looked like it could be the night the Spartans would be able to hold out for the entire game.  While the girls continued to put up the points, the Bears started to put up some scoring of their own.  At one point there was only a two point differential between the two teams, but towards the end of the second half, the Bears put up three consecutive three pointers and took a 27-18 lead.
     At the start of the third quarter, the TJ girls quickly sank two baskets and closed the lead to 27-24.  Unfortunately this is as close as they would get, as the Bears started to pull away with the game.  Although they ended up with the loss, the TJ girls are taking away some positive points from the game.  Their defense was strong throughout the entire game and they were able to steal the ball on multiple occasions.  This was the best performance from the girls so far this year.  The team will be carrying a lot of motivation going into their next game against Moffat County at TJ on Tuesday at 4:30.

TJ Gaining Altitude

TJ students explore the great outdoors in this new club.
by Rhea Boyd

    TJ’s newest club, Altitude, is an organization focusing on love for the mountains and a passion for the outdoors; its members will also contribute to the community by doing various volunteer activities.
    Junior Hall Hupperts created the club this year and Social Studies Teacher Kimberly Starks is the sponsor. “My goal is to spread the idea to as many of the students as I can that the mountains are there and they are awesome,” Starks said.
    Hupperts and Starks have a common love for the mountains, and outdoor sports are what motivated them to start this club. “We wanted something to get students interested in the Rocky Mountains and help them keep in shape,” Hupperts said, and Altitude will give students a chance to do both. The club will also show members that giving back to the community can be fun and helpful. Read more

Mankoff Chosen For All-State

TJ Center Matthew Mankoff brings honor to TJ football. 

by Marc Houghton

    Senior football star Matthew Mankoff was selected to the Colorado Coaches All-State Game last week, where he will play among the top football athletes from around the state.  The players were chosen by the Colorado High School Coaches Association to participate in the game this summer in Greeley. 

    The players chosen for this honor were selected based on athletic ability, citizenship and scholarship excellence.  The event is a showcase of five different sports with teams compiled of the best athletes from all classes of Colorado High School sports.  Each sport will play a game between a team from the South and a team from the North regions of the state.  Read more

Going…Going…Sold!

Planning is underway for upcoming TJ Silent/Live Auction.
by Christina Danek

    Sponsored by the TJ Partners, Thomas Jefferson High School’s third annual silent/live auction will kick off at 6:00 pm on the evening of Saturday, February 23 at the Embassy Suites Hotel located at 7525 East Hampden Avenue.
    According to Silent Auction chairperson Karen Swedhin, “The original idea of the auction was to help eliminate the numerous small fundraisers done by each group throughout the school year so they could just focus on one large fund raising effort.” Any group from TJ can participate in the fundraising, and each group is responsible for collecting its own items, filling out and attaching corresponding donation forms to the items, and getting the items to the donation committee. Read more

Basketball Falls to the Tigers

TJ Girls’ basketball is beaten 84-34 by the Lakewood Tigers.

By Keenan Moore

     The Lady Spartan basketball team traveled to Lakewood to face the Tigers on Friday night, and were not able to pull out a win, as they lost 84-34.
     The girls’ started out in the zone defense once again, which had proven to be effective against the other teams in their first three games.  It proved to take the Tigers by surprise, as TJ was able to hold off Lakewood’s powerful offense.  At the end of the first quarter it was a very close game, as Lakewood led 15-12.  The second quarter was not as effective for the Spartans, as they lost some of the spark that they had shown in the first quarter when the defense started to collapse.  The Tigers found a weak point in the Spartan armor.  At half time it was no longer a close game, for the Tigers had blown the lead out to almost thirty points.
     The girls kept playing the  zone defense in hope that they would be able to rebound strongly from the devastating second quarter.  While there were points in the game that it looked as though the girls had a chance to make the comeback, the Tigers managed to find a way to put an even bigger lead against the Spartans.  It seems like they will have to work on their defense to be more productive in their future games.
     The girls are looking forward to their next game, where they will take on Bear Creek at TJ on Wednesday night at 7:00.

Wrestling Takes Down League Opponents

The TJ wrestlers dominate Lincoln and Kennedy.

By Matthew Mankoff

The Thomas Jefferson Wrestling team had a doubleheader Thursday night, beating league rivals Lincoln and Kennedy.

    Their first match was against the Lincoln Lancers, and even after a slow start the Spartans beat the Lancers handily 66-16.  Strong performances were turned in by Evan Duran, Alec Groditski, Michael Hawkins, Matt Nordlander, Dana Rusk, Chris Salazar, Adam Simpson, Justin Tara, MK Taylor, Patrick Taylor, and Boris Tubic.

    The second match was another dominating performance by the Spartans, as they destroyed the Kennedy Commanders 82-0.  The wrestlers won every match they competed in against Kennedy, but the Commanders’ lack of athletes led to only four wrestlers competing for the Spartans in the match up.

    On the night, outstanding performances were turned in by Justin Tara and Chris Salazar, who added a 20 second-pin each to their 2-0 records.  Tara, Salazar, and the rest of the Spartan wrestlers will look to continue their success against Cherokee Trail at TJ on December 13th.

Sci-Fi Juggernauts: Dune

Frank Herbert’s classic mirrors current events.

by Sinjin Jones

There are dozens of classic novels that fall under the category of “must-read” science fiction. Throughout this year, I will examine why a handful of these particular works are absolutely essential additions to everyone’s reading list, even those who do not consider themselves science fiction fans.

"Religion and law among our masses must be one and the same…"
-Duke Leto, Dune

    Dune, by Frank Herbert, is a novel that strikes chords with science fiction fans all over the world because of its intricate plot, its mirroring of modern society, and the entertainment derived from reading it. Spawning a successful movie, miniseries, and a collection of sequels, this novel will live on in the vaults of literature for years to come. Read more

Deca Dominates State

33 out of 55 from TJ’s DECA Program qualify for state.
by Vince Crespin
    The Thomas Jefferson DECA chapter was pleased with its successful district competition at Johnson and Whales University on November 30th, sending an impressive 33 out 55 student competitors on to the state competition in two months.

    “Numbers wise this is our best year since I have been here. We did very well sending 60 percent of our kids through to the next round,” explained Matt Nicolo, the Lead DECA Advisor for the TJ chapter. The competitors consisted of sophomores, juniors, and seniors, all of whom Nicolo said prepared equally as hard and worked together through many of the preparation stages. This group was lead by Nicolo, who is in his fourth year with the TJ DECA program, and Chapter Advisor Danny Showers, who has been with the DECA organization for nine years.
Read more

Senior Video in Production

Seniors must take this opportunity to break the mold.

by Ryanne Mollo

    “A great, great deal has been said about the weather, but very little has been done,” reads what many have attributed to the pen of Mark Twain.  Regardless of who said it, this classic witticism perfectly describes the graduates’ attitudes toward the senior video each year.
    For the past three years I have been at TJ, and when it comes time to watch the senior video it seems like the same five most popular people from that particular year are in every other slide. In all fairness to the students who have made the videos the past three years, the only people who sent in pictures were those same five people and a few others; but like Mark Twain, I hear lots of complaining but I don’t see much being done to correct the situation. Read more

Spartan Boys Dunk Panthers

Guys’ basketball strikes paydirt against rivals Harrison.
by Philip Karlberg

    The TJ Boys’ Basketball squad beat out their arch-rivals the Harrison Panthers on Wednesday night in an intense game that ended 68-57.
    The game started out great for TJ with seven unanswered points right from the beginning.  The quarter continued to play out well for TJ as it ended with a score of 16-11.  The TJ guys picked up steam from there and went on to dominate the second quarter and scored more than twice as many points as the Panthers.  When the halftime buzzer rang, the score was an impressive 41-23 for TJ.
    During the halftime break, something changed for the Harrison team.  The Panthers came out red hot in the third quarter and quickly made up ten points.  The Spartans were back on their heels for much of the third quarter, struggling to stall the Harrison onslaught for as long as they could. Read more

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