10 Sports

April | Stampede 2015

Pole Vaulting Her Way To SuccessKayla Hughes/Girls Track

This year track has been good for McCook High School. Track is an all around sport you have shotput, discus, pole vault, long jump, high jump, triple jump, hurdles, and all the various running events!

McCook has always been decent at track because we have such good teammates.

Everyone has been saying there are quite a few people out for track, which is great! Many people at McCook High School say that any sport helps you improve on another, just like track.

Kayla Hughes said her favorite part of track is all the new people out this year.

In Kayla’s last track

meet, she got 3rd place in pole vault. So far, her highest vault has been 7’6”.

“I’ve been in track since my 8th grade year,” said Kayla.

Kayla also mentioned, “There are a lot of underclassmen out this year.”

It is absolutely amazing we have many kids out

for track! McCook girls track is growing more

and more every year, with new athletes and

“newbies” that didn’t go out the year before.

KoryJanousekAdvertising Manager janousek97@gmail.com

Morgan UerlingAssistant Editoruerlingmorgan@gmail.com

Winner of 2014 Class B State pole vault, Spencer Powell returns this season with record breaking jumps.

He tried pole vaulting for the first time freshman year and jumped the highest at 10’8”.

Sophomore year, he jumped up to 11’6” and then was out the majority of the year due

to a hip flexor strain. Powell started out his

junior with 11’10” at his first meet, and then jumped 12’6” at several following meets. Powell said his coach then decided to throw him in a JV meet for the heck of it and he PR’d by a foot and jumped 13’6”. He ended up his junior year winning Class B state with a jump of 14’2”.

He started out his senior year with a jump of 15’ and then was out for a couple of meets due to shin splints. Because of the severity of his shin splints he has spent the year only participating in meets, and not practice. At a following meet, he broke the school record at Gothenburg with a jump of 15’5” and then broke that record as well

as the Gothenburg meet record, the same meet, with a jump of 15’9”.

Powell has increased his jump height by about 5 feet since his freshman year despite his struggling through a couple injuries.

He says his goal for the rest of his senior year is for his shin splints to heal, to reach a jump of 16’, to win state back to

back, and get all class gold.

As a final t h o u g h t , Spencer says confidently, “No doubt in my mind I’m going to break that 16’ barrier.”

Striving for 16’A back-to-back state title wouldn’t be so bad either

Photo by Brian Payton

7 Features

Stampede 2015 | April

Senior StressSix Simple Strategies To Managing It

Memorial United Methodist Church

105 East E. - McCook, NE

www.mccookumc.orgmemorial@swnebr.net

(308) 345-2445

Join us for Sunday worship at 8:15 or 10:30 am

Youth Fellowship-Sunday evenings 7:00-8:00 pmMusically talented and want to praise God? Join the Signifi cant Light Praise Band! WORD Bible Study

Grades 9-12 WelcomeWednesday Nights

For more information, call

It’s no secret that high school students deal with stress on a pretty regular basis. However, there’s one group of high schoolers that definitely deal with the most stress, especially this time of the year: the seniors.

From the outside, it looks like seniors have it easy and don’t really deal with stress. While that may be true at the beginning of the year, it’s definitely false once the end of the year rolls around. Because on top of final projects and tests, most seniors also have to juggle graduation and college responsibilities. Most seniors also have a part-time job to save up money. And on top of all that comes the normal stress of everyday life that everyone deals with.

All of these obligations

and small problems can add up and become overwhelming and create a high stress, high anxiety environment. Too much stress can be really hard on a person, both mentally and physically, so it’s important to have a few tricks up your sleeve to help you manage your stress level. According to an article on helpguide.org, there are six easy stress management strategies.

Stress management strategy #1:

Avoid unnecessary stress. One of the easiest ways to do that is by learning to say “no”. You can also try and avoid people who stress you out, if at all possible. Taking control of your environment in any way that you can will

also help lower your stress level. You should also avoid hot-button topics, or topics that get you upset, if you want to stay in-stressed. The final way to avoid unnecessary stress is too pare down your to-do list and stay on top of your responsibilities.

Stress management strategy #2:

Alter the situation. You can alter a situation by expressing your feelings, being willing to compromise, being more assertive, and managing your time better. Implementing these little habits will help change things so that the problem doesn’t present itself in the future. Some of these alterations require changing the way you communicate and

operate in your daily life, but the pay off is worth the work.

Stress management strategy #3:

Adapt to the stressor. Sometimes you can’t change the stressor, so instead you have to change yourself. If you change your expectations and attitude you can adapt to stressful situations and regain a sense of control. You can adapt to stressors by reframing problems, looking at the big picture, adjusting your standards, and focusing on the positive.

Stress management strategy #4:

Accept the things you can’t change. Don’t try to control the uncontrollable, look for the upside, share your

feelings, and learn to forgive. Some sources of stress are unavoidable and can’t be prevented or changed. In these cases, the best thing to do is just accept things as they are.

Stress management strategy #5:

Make time for fun and relaxation. Don’t get so caught up in life that you forget to take care of your own needs. Nurturing yourself is a necessity, not a luxury. Set aside relaxation time, connect with others, do something you enjoy everyday, and keep your sense of humor. If you regularly make time for fun and relaxation, you’ll be in a better place to handle life’s stressors.

Stress management strategy #6:

Adopt a healthy lifestyle. It may sound like a stretch, but if you strengthen your physical health you can increase you resistance to stress. So exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, reduce caffeine and sugar, avoid alcohol, cigarettes,and drugs, and get enough sleep.

Some of these things may seem hard to implement because some of these could be big lifestyle changes. But if you begin to practice even just one of these strategies, your stress level will surely begins to decline and become more manageable.

Kristin BlankCopy Editorkrissi.mechelle@gmail.com

8 9

FOCUS FOCUS

With the 2016 presidential election coming up quickly, many controversial topics are flooding social media and the news media, daily. One of these topics, which is exceptionally popular with the young adult population, is tuition-free college.

Tuition-free college sounds like the best idea ever to that student looking forward to $80K+ worth of schooling, but is this education, or anything for that matter, really FREE? Everyone has their opinion on this particular topic, and who they decide to vote for will most likely reflect this. But does everyone have all of the facts? Let’s take a brief look at both sides, the pros and the cons, of this issue; then you decide:

2016 Presidential Election -- Is Promised Free Tuition A Deal Breaker?By Morgan Uerling

Pros:

Cons:

(usgovernmentdebt.us)

(newsmax.com)

*Statistical information on Norway and the U.S. found, respectively, at borgenproject.org and povertyusa.org.

Can Free Public College Tuition Actually Be Free?

3Editorial Viewpoint of The Stampede

4

EDITORIAL

Everyone is familiar with New Years and the tradition of creating a ‘New Year’s Resolution’ for yourself. This seems like a good time to do this because, in a way, it’s like time is starting over and we get another chance to live the way we really would like to.

Some of the most typical New Year’s resolutions usually have to do with things like going to the gym, eating better, being more organized...etc. While these are all really great to do for yourself, why is it that these resolutions are rarely kept longer than a couple of months?

Life is busy, let’s face it. You may be able to set aside time every day to hit the gym or cook a healthy meal for a little while, but eventually things will get in the way. Schedules change and get busier. While making a New Year’s resolution to better yourself is a good idea, it’s more impractical than anything.

Instead of making a big, life-changing resolution for yourself to begin the day the New Year begins, try starting smaller. For example, smaller as in making sure you eat fruit at least once

a day, or make yourself throw your dirty clothes into the hamper rather than beside it. A simple change like this will be easier for you to remember to do, all the while making you feel better at the end of the day.

With resolutions like these, you have more chances over time to accomplish what you want. Once you get in the habit of doing whatever your personal resolution is, it will only get easier to make that a bigger and more permanent part of your life.

Or, instead of making a New Year’s resolution at all, why not change what you want to change as soon as you decide to change it? Putting off a plan to better yourself until New Year’s comes around is only an excuse to not have to work at something right away. Which in return only makes it harder on you!

Whichever method of resolution you choose for yourself, be serious about it. Place a note on your mirror, or write a reminder on your hand. Changing something about your life for the better is nothing but rewarding, and it definitely can be done!

New Year’s ResolutionsIs yours working for you?