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The year in review: Top Little Elm sports stories of '06
BY ANDREW MAY
Accomplishing great things never happens by accident. Achievements, then, are the result of hard work and dedication to one's craft. Here is a look at the top moments Little Elm High School athletic teams, coaches, and players produced over the past year:
Honorable mention
Golfer qualifies for regional - Rita Berumen shot a career-best 87 during her second round of play to advance to her second straight Class 3A Region I golf tournament in April. The senior shot 10 strokes better than she did in the first round to qualify. Berumen, who began playing golf as a freshman, shot an opening round 101 at Odessa's Nueva Vista Golf Club, and followed that up with a 109 in her final round. Her final score of 210 was good enough for 63rd out of 87 golfers at regionals.
The Top Five
5. Rhodes' return to state nets medal - With all of the notable accomplishments produced by Little Elm this year, Trevante' Rhodes narrowly makes this list, but the margin of victory was much smaller when he claimed bronze in the 200 meters at the 3A state track and field meet in May. After switching to the event following his freshman year, one in which he only competed in the 400 and 100 meter races, Rhodes blazed the track in Austin to win by just .002 seconds in the 200. Rhodes kicked it into high gear to pull past two other runners down the stretch in a photo finish. Rhodes' time of 21.77 was good enough for third, and would have placed him fifth at the 4A meet, the classification he will be competing in this year as a junior. Rhodes helped his team win the District 7-3A title, as the boys team had eight first-place finishers and at least one top-6 finisher in 23 of 24 events at the district meet.
4. New stadium, new district, new beginning - Little Elm's football team kicked off its inaugural Class 4A season with a 42-20 win over Sanger Sept. 1 to break in their brand new, state-of-the-art facility. The Little Elm Athletic Complex, which will play home to the soccer and track and field teams in the spring, gave the football team a distinct home field advantage. Though the Lobos split their six home games, they pulled off a huge upset in their final game of the season, beating McKinney North, 35-28, to prevent the Bulldogs from sharing a portion of the 9-4A championship. Little Elm went 6-4 on the season in its new classification, narrowly missing the playoffs as the district's third seed. Three of the Lobos' four losses came by a combined 13 points.
3. Beasley does it all - Even by his lofty standards, Cole Beasley had a phenomenal year. No single Lobo had a bigger impact on Little Elm sports this past year than did Beasley. A year after being named Newcomer of the Year, Beasley won Offensive Player of the Year last season in District 7-3A for his work on the hardwood. Having been named to two all-tournament teams this season, Beasley is well on his way to garnering similar accolades in a new classification. The junior is second in District 9-4A in points, third in 3-point field goals made, sixth in assists, and 11th in rebounding. His talents aren't just limited to the court. He became the baseball team's No. 1 pitcher last season and will again be counted on to be a force on the mound this year. In April, he won a district title in the long jump, posting a jump of 21 feet. A year after leading the football team to its first playoff victory in years, Beasley led his team to a 6-4 record this season and a near postseason berth. He rushed for 1,368 yards and 11 touchdowns and threw for 1,422 yards and 13 touchdowns in leading area 4A's fifth-ranked offense. In an upset of McKinney North in the season-finale, Beasley rushed for 183 yards, including two touchdowns of more than 30 yards apiece. He also threw for 86 yards and two scores through the air. For his efforts, Beasley was named the district's Co-Offensive Most Valuable Player.
2. Lady Lobos begin the tradition - In its inaugural year, the Little Elm girls soccer team competed to the tune of a 12-14-2 record to usher in the world's most popular sport. Under the tutelage of head coach Tim Thompson, the Lady Lobos won the Prosper Showdown tournament and placed third at the Denison junior varsity tournament. After losing to North Mesquite in their opener, the Lady Lobos notched their first win, a 3-2 defeat of Denton Guyer, in January to set the historic season in motion.
"Finishing with our record is pretty dog-gone good for a first year program," Thompson said. "We have a lot to look forward to next year."
Next year begins Jan. 5 against McKinney North when the team embarks on its first full season as a UIL team. The prospects are bright, as the squad only graduated one senior in Sarah Goodner, and pummeled North Dallas, 5-0, in its season finale to carry momentum and confidence over to this season.
1. Lifter raises the bar for LE boys - Ali Rajput secured his name in Little Elm High School history by becoming the first male Lobo to win a state title in any sport. Rajput's golden moment came in March when he won the state powerlfiting title in Houston. Having never dead lifted more than 600 pounds, Rajput was tied for first heading into his final lift, one in which he needed to dead lift 615 pounds to make history. Failing on both previous attempts at 600 pounds this season, Rajput ratcheted it up a notch, dead lifting a personal best to claim gold.
"It takes a little bit of guts in front of a big crowd to do 35 more pounds than he had done before," head coach Hack Holcomb said.
After a shaky start, Rajput squatted 640 pounds, benched 390 pounds and dead lifted 615 pounds to finish with 1,645 points, which was a 300-pound improvement from his sophomore year.
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