On Tuesday, Sylvia followed her normal routine and visited her dad.  Her sister, Karen, was there so that she could be with Dad during his cataract surgery on Wednesday.  Karen gave Sylvia a clipping from their newspaper.

You can see our Briana and her friend, Eliza, as bookends in the back row.  Their friend and teammate Julia is second from the left in the first row. Briana in a comment said, “The blonde girl next to me (Emily Dean) will be my teammate when I play for GV!

The OK Conference is a seven-county High School athletic conference in West Michigan.  It is good to have this photo to add to our collection of memorabilia.

I went to the conference Website and found this nice shot of Eliza just before she blocks a shot on the Falcons goal:

Julia has two more years to compete for the Falcons.  Next month, Briana and Eliza will be starting their classes in college.  Soon, their High School days will be memories of good times and sweet victories.

I thought I had wrapped the water polo season for Briana on Tuesday.  Well, that was wrong.  You’ll have to forgive a proud grandpa for sharing a few stats from this year.

• Number 2 scorer on the team
• Number 2 on assists
• Number 2 at getting opposition players “kicked out” (that’s good!)
• Top shooting percentage–38.5%
• Top player for steals

Briana was awarded an Academic All State certificate and was named to the third all state team for the entire season’s performance.  I told you earlier that she won the Coach’s Award.  Her parents and grandparents are button-popping proud.

Last week, I received the following from my son, Bryant (Briana’s dad):

Seeing your blog today reminded me that if we are going to brag about Briana, I would add that at graduation she had gold cords from NHS and a Silver stole from a GPA of 3.989 and Cum Laude designation (missing the Gold and the “Summa” by only .01).

 Then last night at the Varsity Award night she received her 5th & 6th Letters for Swimming and Water Polo, 8th season “All-Academic” and also received an award and cash scholarship from the Kentwood Athletic Boosters. The KAB hands out 4 awards each year and it is based on coaches’ recommendations and an essay that the kids write.  They announce the winners by reading from their essay—so the winner knows within a few words that it is their essay being read.  Barbara & I knew she was up for some sort of award because we were told to make sure that she was there and that we had our camera—we didn’t tell Briana—lot’s of fun.

There is more to tell you about the weekend, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  I have an ocular migraine and so must stop for today.

Briana and the Falcons played in the Women’s Water Polo State Tournament.  On Friday night, they met and lost to Okemos (the first seed) 4 to 9.  Okemos had scored at least 12 goals in previous games this season.  The Falcons felt great.  Her parents, Barbara and Bryant were there to cheer on the team throughout the tournament.  Okemos went on to win the tournament and end the season with a perfect, undefeated record.

Saturday morning, they won against Ann Arbor Huron with a 9 to 7 score.  In the afternoon, they came up against Ann Arbor Pioneer.  The Falcons were on the short end of a 5 to 7 score.  Disappointing?  Not really.

The Falcons had been rated 8th in the state, and they ended their season in 6th place.  That ties the best that the EK Falcons have done in school history.

Eliza was named to second team all-state.  (That means she is recognized as the second best goalie in the state!)  Congrats Eliza!

Briana and Julia were named to the third team all-state.  Julia has just completed her sophomore year, so she’ll have two more years to continue to develop.

And that wraps the water-polo season and Briana’s High School career.  Sylvia and I will miss the games.  Over the last four years, we’ve come to understand the rules and appreciate the plays as well as the players.

Tuesday evening was dessert night for the Falcon gals’ water polo team.  Sylvia and I had been invited to attend and we were there for that special time.  After folks helped themselves to a selection of yummy desserts, Coach Lane and his assistant summarized the season for us.  First they talked about the gals on the JV team.  Then Coach talked about the varsity.  He called up a couple of freshmen who ended up playing with the varsity by season end.  Then the sophomores followed by the juniors.  It was interesting to see the gals in regular clothes.

It reminded me of an experience at the regional tournament.  I ended up sitting next to a very pleasant chap and soon we were talking.  He is the uncle of one of the players on the Jennison team.  He said, she’s number 11 and she’s 6 ft 1 inch tall when she’s out of the pool.  You’d never know it because in the pool she’s only this high–and he held his hands about a foot apart.  At the time I thought about the way Briana treads water and lifts herself up so that’s she’s out of the water almost to the waist.  It really helps get some power on her shot.

Then coach called on the two seniors that played on the varsity team.  That would be Eliza and Briana.  Eliza has played goalie for her entire High School career.  Her teammates voted her most valuable defensive player.  She was named all conference (only one goalie is selected for that honor).  Briana has played a number of roles and for the last two years she has directed the team from the pool.  Her teammates voted her the most valuable offensive player.  She was second high for scoring with 100 goals and led the team in steals.  Briana was also named all conference.  In addition, Briana was given the Coaches Award.

All too soon, the evening was over and it was time to go.  First, they took a team photo.

These are the gals that will be going to the state tournament this weekend.  We’re hoping that they do well.  In the back row is Julia (high scorer with 112), Sarah (a team captain), Briana, Eliza (both seniors were team captains) and Chloe, who is the tallest gal on the team.

Turns out that Julia is the joke teller.  So they asked her to tell one of her better jokes.  She started laughing uncontrollably.  That’s when someone spoke up to say, “All her jokes start the same way.”  She started to tell her joke, but you couldn’t understand for the laughter.  That’s when Sarah stepped in to interpret for us, “There were two peanuts . . . much laughter . . . walking in the park . . . much more laughter . . . and one of the was a salted.”  The gals on the team broke up in howls of laughter.

It was a wonderful evening and Sylvia and I were so glad to be part of it.  Some of the gals that are tigers in the pool were such kittens out of the pool.  All in all they are a wonderful group of kids, and we’ll miss watching them play.  We’ll have to catch some Grand Valley State U games next year when Briana plays for them.

Friday evening, Sylvia and I were present for the Falcons’ game against Zeeland in the regional tournament.  The Falcons came on strong and had a commanding lead at half time.  Late in the fourth quarter, Zeeland tied the score at 6 to 6.  Briana scored once more and the Falcons won 7 to 6.  In winning they assured themselves a berth in the state tournament to be held June 4 & 5 in Saline, Michigan.

On Saturday, the Falcons played twice.  They met regional powerhouse, Hudsonville in the first game.  Going into the fourth quarter, the Falcons were up 5 to 3.  Could they do the impossible?  Evidently not!  Hudsonville scored 4 goals in the fourth and came out of the pool with a 7 to 5 win.

In the afternoon, they met East Grand Rapids.  The Falcons were on the short end of a 6 to 5 score.  The good news is that they are going to the state tournament.  The bad news is that they will probably meet Okemos, probably the best team in the state this year, in the first round.

Briana and Eliza were named to the all-tournament first team.  Julia was named to the second team and Sara received honorable mention.

At state, a Falcon loss to Okemos is not the end of the tournament for the girls.  However, the best they can do after that is fifth place if they win their next two games.  We’ll be following the action.

As a footnote.  Twice before the East Kentwood Falcons have placed sixth in the state tournament, so a fifth would be the best ever for the school.  Check back in a couple of weeks.

Barbara, Briana’s mom, uses the high-speed burst on her digital camera to capture the exciting action.  She has done a couple of flip books.  Each of them is a series of shots where Briana ends up scoring a goal.  As you flip through the images it is an animation as you follow the action of the shot, the flight of the ball, and the score.  Great job Mom!

This has got to be the luckiest guy at EKHS.

His name is Pablo, and he is an exchange student from Ecuador.  That wonderfully beautiful and rich country that sits astride the equator on South America’s west coast.  But that’s not the reason why I call him the luckiest guy.  Here is the reason–actually two reasons why I say that.

That’s right.  Eliza and Briana, co-captains of the Falcons water polo team and the best of friends.  (Don’t they look different here than they do in the pool?)  You’ll probably want to know more, and so by way of explanation, I offer this.

It was shortly after senior night, and the event was the prom.  Pablo had asked Briana to attend with him and she accepted.  They would attend with a group of their friends.  There was a problem–Eliza had recently broken up with her boy friend and she had no escort.  Eliza had organized a special evening for the group and so it would just not be right for Eliza to go with the group unescorted.  That’s where courtly manners and friendship enter.  Briana and Pablo decided that Eliza should go with them.  She agreed.  See what I mean about being the luckiest guy?  Imagine an evening with two beauties like these.

Prom evening arrived.  The group gathered and boarded their transportation for the evening–a trolley.

Our intrepid three are on the right.  The trolley took the group of friends to a restaurant downtown for a meal, then on to the prom and afterward back to the school.  It was a great night for everyone.

PS — Sorry Lin, no dorky prom pictures here.