The fall sports season is over, and with it comes an end to the after-school practices on Garfield’s new turf field. Football helmets and running shoes are being hung up, and a new wave of athletes prepares to put on the sacred purple uniforms we hold so dear. Not only that, but we can all look forward to seeing men in speedoes running around the gym very, very soon. Clearly it’s a good time of year. Here’s a look at what all the different winter sports teams have to offer us this year.

Wrestling

While past seasons have not gone so favorably for the Bulldog wrestling team, this season looks slightly more promising.

Garfield Wrestling is gonna step it up a notch this year, says senior captain Clifford Rostomily. We’ve started training early and we’re gonna train a lot harder this season.

Along with fellow senior captain Andrew Bennett, Rostomily leads a squad full of older talent. While there are only a few returning seniors this year, a number of their fellow ‘010 compatriots have decided to join their ranks this year. Translation: lots of testosterone, manliness, and borderline bromosexual love will make these matches quite the spectacle. Despite the fact that the swim team will always have them beat for questionable guy-on-guy activity, seeing these boys wrestling around on top of each other should still be pretty entertaining, and definitely worth seeing.

Boy’s Basketball

Garfield’s most prominent and successful team, the boys look to be a major contender for a state championship once again this year. Despite the loss of Tony Wroten, the team’s largest contributor last year, they haven’t lost once in their fall league so far. With several third and fourth-year varsity players, as well as some hotshot new freshmen, the team looks deadly as ever.

A lot of people are doubting us, says Senior Wilson Platt, but the fact is, besides Federal Way, the league is pretty weak.

That’s what I like to hear. With the frustration of last year’s defeat in the State Championship game still hanging over their heads, these boys are ready to re-establish Garfield’s complete and total dominance over everybody. Clearly, despite Ton-Ton’s absence, the Bulldogs will be running things in KingCo once again this winter.

Girl’s Basketball

While they don’t recieve as much attention or spotlight as their male counterparts, these girls have by no means been less competitive over the past couple of years. Coming off a strong third-place district finish and a State showing last year, the girls look to take the state championship home this year.

Welcoming back 10 returning varsity players, as well as KingCo All-League Second Team Cora McManus and Honorable Mentions DeAundreney Dillard-Brown and Shaunice Robinson, the girls will have plenty of experience to back up this year’s run to state. Led by Coach Andro Bernard (AKA Coach Dro), the team is not messing around this year.

We’re ready for this season and will settle for nothing but perfection, according to Junior McManus. We play Skyline for our first game and we’re prepared to crush them. This is only the beginning of the Lady Bulldogs Dynasty.

Clearly, they mean business. In the immortal words of Mr. T, I pity the foo [who messes with the Garfield Girls Basketball Team].

Boy’s Swimming

Despite being most notorious for their antics in the locker room, and not necessarily in the pool, these boys have managed to be one of the better Garfield teams in past years. The surprisingly under applauded boys Bullfrogs are looking to once again put on a strong showing this winter.

Coming off a season in which they went undefeated during the regular season, won districts, and placed sixth at the state championships, the boys have a high bar set for them. While ’09 studs Carl Majeau, Anton Devore and Owen Howey will be sorely missed this year, the Bullfrogs have a strong lineup again this year.

The team will look for big contributions from senior captains Andy Fulton and Reid Walker, fellow seniors Jason Hu and Michael Cho Snyder, and juniors Gary Kuo and Andrew Nemeth. The boys are also going to be expecting big things from the underclassmen of the squad, most notably sophomore Yang Yu and freshman Bailey Layzer. In general, the team seems to have set the bar pretty high for themselves.

We have a lot to live up to from last year, says Junior Andrew Nemeth, but if everyone works hard and focuses we should definitely send a bunch of people to districts and do well at state.

One of the more dominant Bulldog teams, these boys should be highly competitive again this year. Garfield boys in speedoes, stomping snotty Eastside teams… there’s really no reason not to go to a swim meet.

Gymnastics

As we all know, our dear old Seattle Schools District has always managed to make competent and intelligent decisions. In true keeping with their tradition, they decided this year not to give the Garfield Gymnastics team a floor to practice on. Classic.

However, thanks to the generosity (and this time I’m not being sarcastic) of one incredibly thoughtful parent, these girls have the money to create one, and will soon have their full practice facilities set up. Grievances aside, the actual team is looking very young, and nobody’s sure yet just how these youngsters will perform

We have a lot of newbies, says junior Lizzy Nesbitt. It’s hard to tell on a lot of the abilities of the team, as we don’t have a spring floor or bars yet.

That might not be too much of a problem, since only five gymnasts are scored at each meet. That means that Nesbitt, along with senior captains Tracy Wheelen and Kathy Hodges, Lakeside Student but GHS athlete Jessica Badgeley, and incoming freshman Falan Calderon, will probably be doing most of the actual competing this year. In the meantime,the rest of the team is developing, but it remains to be seen how well they will do.