Girls Volleyball / Semi-finals CIF

Although our Girls Volleyball team didn't bring home a CIF title, their accomplishments are far reaching.  This is how Maxpreps sports has them listed:

Mascot: Saxons Team: Varsity 12-13 

Colors: Scarlet, Vegas Gold, White

Coach:Allison Somers 

Address:1765 W Cerritos Ave, Anaheim, CA 92804

Overall:27-1-1 

League: 10-0-0 

National Rank:2625

State (CA) Rank: 239

Their ranking just keeps grows and their individual stats are amazing.  They dominated their opponents throughout the season as you can see by stats by match.  So when they didn't pull off a win in the Semi Finals, this viewer didn't walk away with his head hung low, he walked away knowing these girls made Saxon History.  They are the best we've seen (so far) and their accomplishments are something that should be written about in a blog.

Going into the Semi Finals this is what the OC Register wrote about the game to come:

No. 2 Hemet (Mountain Pass League champ, 21-5) at No. 3 Loara (Golden West League champ, 27-0-1)

Outlook: The Saxons are in the midst of a magical run, entering the semifinals undefeated. Loara swept Connelly in the quarterfinals, 25-17, 25-21, 25-23. After a first-round bye, Loara defeated Big Bear in four and swept Connelly. The Saxons have only dropped eight sets all season. Hemet won the 4A title last season. The Bulldogs have won their last six matches, including a three-set sweep over Twentynine Palms and a four-set victory over Colony of Ontario.

Thank you ladies for a magical season, it's been a great ride.

Band Spectacular

 taken from the program November 7, 2012

A Bit of History

Excellence in music in the district began in the early 1920's when Joshua Williams came to Anaheim High School.  During the 30 years at that school he gave free lessons to his high school students as to make a complete orchestra, then he encouraged the elementary schools to develop music programs.  The next important champion in Anaheim was William (Bill) Cook, who came to Anaheim High School while he was still a senior at Redlands College.  With the retirement of Williams in 1950, Bill Cook spearheaded the development of music throughout the new schools that were being  built in the district.

Loara has been blessed with only 3 band directors in our 50 year history,

1. Rick Moreno
2. Bill Schroeder
3. Scott Domingues

The first Spectacular was held at La Palma Stadium in 1963.  The show moved to the newly opened Anaheim Stadium in 1967 and back to Glover Stadium in 1984.  During the enrollment high of the district, and prior to the high schools becoming four year institutions, the Spectacular drew crowds of over 25,000 and featured 26 AUHSD schools (17 junior high schools and 9 high schools).

The Band and Pageantry Spectacular was never intended to be a competition, but rather a "show." The basic rationale of the "show" was to show off the excellence of the Anaheim Union High School District music program and to help the progression of young musicians from the junior high school programs through the high school band programs.

The All District Junior High School Band is composed of 120 musicians represent the eight junior high schools in the Anaheim Union High School District.  The members are selected by their directors to join in this opportunity to introduce them to the high school band program.  The goals of this group are to promote high expectations, outstanding achievement, motivation, and involve junior high school students in the large scope of music education.

The All District High School Band is also chose by the band directors.  They chose an equal amount of students so the band is a overall representation of the best of the best when it comes to High School music.  Over the years some of the best musicians in the nation played in the all district band.

Since the early 90's Loara's ASB has agreed to attend each and every band spectacular and since then other ASB's have been seen there supporting their bands ... of course Loara High School is always the loudest.

Once a Saxon, Always a Saxon.

3rd National Title: Hot Rodders @ Loara

Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) 

Auto Show 2012

Aileen Melendez, Josh Coman, Andrew Romero, Chris Shamtiz, Steven Brown, Coach Russ Baccerala
(not pictured alternate Robert Loera)

THE EVENT

The event itself resembles the tear down between rounds at a drag race. The engines are identically prepared small block Chevy's complete with all the goodies, Edelbrock air cleaners - carbs – aluminum manifolds - heads - water pumps and valve covers, MSD distributors - wires, K&N oil filters, Hedman ceramic headers, TD timing chain covers, Moroso oil pans, ARP head bolts, Fel-Pro/Speed Pro gaskets and components, Melling oil pumps and Royal Purple lubricants. As you can see, we have many companies already involved with this event that show case their products. We have numerous manufactures supporting this program that do not build engine products. These Manufactures show support by sponsoring teams at each event. Students must properly disassemble the engine down to just crank, cam, and block using hand tools only with proper detorque and disassembly procedure. The team then returns behind their work bench, and when approved by the judges, teams begin working to reassemble once again with correct assembly procedure and torque specs, all while being viewed by judges and spectators. Time added penalties are assessed for dropped components, improper disassembly/assembly, poor sportsmanship, etc. All procedural penalties are in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow rule book provided to the High Schools at the start of the school year. The team with the fastest time including penalty minutes wins.

HOT RODDERS OF TOMORROW NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

Las Vegas NV. - "Showdown at SEMA" is the title of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge National Championship at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas. This year 13 High School Auto Tech teams competed Oct 29 through Nov. 1, 2012 in the engine teardown and rebuild contest in front of thousands of spectators at the entrance of the SEMA show.

Loara High School Wins Their Third Straight National Championship Title

Team MOTIVE GEAR - Loara High School from Anaheim CA. won the 4th Annual "Showdown at SEMA" their third straight, with the average time of 21:24 minutes. The top three teams were so competitive that they all ended up less than a minute apart! All thirteen teams competing this year did fantastically well with the 13th placed team average being only 33:46!

Event Winners and Wildcard Teams Compete 

The thirteen teams earned their way to the "Showdown at SEMA" national championship. Eight teams by winning their events straight out and five additional teams that had the next best qualifying times in the Nation were invited to compete.

Time Averaged Playoff Format 

During the normal event competitions through the year, all teams compete once. The best time wins the event and that team has the opportunity to compete at SEMA. But during the national championship "Showdown at SEMA" all the teams competed a total of 4 times during the SEMA show starting Monday. At the end of the fourth day each team's highest time was thrown out and the remaining three times were averaged.


The National Champion for 2012 - Team MOTIVE GEAR (Loara High School from Anaheim CA.) was determined the winner with the best average time of 21:24. Trophies and scholarships were given out on Friday morning at the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow award presentation.

Second Place - Team ENERGY SUSPENSION - Eastern Oklahoma County Tech Ctr., Choctaw, OK. - Average Time - 21:54

Third Place - Team MR. GASKET - East Ridge High School from Chattanooga, TN. - Average Time - 22:19

Fourth Place - Team AEROMOTIVE – Burton Center for Arts & Technology, Salem, VA.- Average Time - 24:46

Fifth Place - Team MAGNAFLOW - North Orange County ROP, Anaheim, CA. - Average Time - 25:35

Sixth Place - Team ROYAL PURPLE - Elkhart Area Career Center #1 - Average Time - 25:50

Seventh Place - Team ARP- Elkhart Area Career Center #2- Average Time - 25:53

Eighth Place - Team PROFORM - Peach County High School Fort Valley, GA.- Average Time - 26:14

Ninth Place - Team THERMO-TEC –Thomas County Central High School, Thomasville, GA.- Average Time - 27:40

Tenth Place - Team EDELBROCK - Fremd High School, Palatine, IL.- Average Time - 28:50

Eleventh Place - Team HEDMAN HEDDERS - Belvidere North High School, Belvidere, IL - Average Time - 31:04

Twelfth Place - Team MSD - Joliet Central High School, Joliet, IL.- Average Time - 32:31

Thirteenth Place - Team PAINLESS PERFORMANCE - Sequoyah High School, Soddy Daisy, TN.- Average Time - 33:46


1.2 MILLION DOLLARS Awarded to the participants in scholarship money

Three Auto Technological Colleges: 

Ohio Technical College (OTC), 

University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) and 

School of Automotive Machinists (SAM) 

are presenting all the High School students participating scholarship money.

Each College is awarding the following:

$10,000 to each first place team member,

$9,000 to each second place team member,

$8,000 to each third place team member,

$7,000 to each fourth place team member,

$6,000 to each fifth place team member and

$5,000 to each sixth thru thirteenth place team member.

50th Anniversary / Birthday Rally 11.1.12

On November 1, 2012 Loara High School celebrated their 50th year in existence.  Covered in an earlier blog, Loara Beginnings - 80's you'll remember the school opened on November 1, 1962.  We have been planning this day for quite some time but with the help of David Sporn (class of 1990) Chuck McCance (class of 1974), Susan Nicholas (class of 1965) and alumni teachers Gary and Jeanette Cleaveland we were able to pull this off in full Saxon fashion.  Of course the main players were in place, asb, the band, the choir, jrotc, the cheerleaders and the color guard ready to perform to put on a great show.  We also had help from the PTSA bringing in over 2000 cupcakes for our kids, our new Principal John Briquelet as our emcee, the Superintendent Elizabeth Novack as our guest speaker and several alumni, alumni teachers and staff along with board members and other district officials.  It was an afternoon to remember.

50th Anniversary Celebration

Other Loara Dignitaries were;

1. Alden Esping (Health and Activities Director / Also at Ball Jr. High 30 years)
2. Carol Cook 
3. Dr. Jan Billings (taught in AUHSD and former Superintendent)
4. Shirley Miller (Ball Junior High's Cafeteria)
5. Dr. Agnes Meck (AP)
6. Mike Greenwood and his wife (Math)
7. Don Budd (Math)
8. Dave Hurlburt (taught Drivers Ed and Math - the longest at Loara)
9. Luis Ruiz (one of the first teachers at Loara)
10. Beverly Nicholas (school nurse)
11. Dave Strauht (custodian in the 60's and 70's)
12. Chuck Darrington
13. Bob Gardener (Principal at Clara Barton)

I can't explain the feeling of the campus by students and teachers alike, they were more complimentary than I've ever seen them in recent memory.

That morning during the video announcements, Gwen Stefani wished the Saxons a Happy 50th Anniversary (a video we also showed those in attendance of the Homecoming Assembly.)

Gwen Stefani's Congrats

"Back on November 1st, 1962, Loara High School first opened its doors to the public. Over the intervening 50 years, it has been an outstanding public high school, one with a rich history of academic and athletic successes and one that is still cherished by its students, staff, alumni, and the local community. Because this Thursday marks the actual 50th Anniversary of the Saxons, we will be celebrating with a pep-rally and ribbon-cutting ceremony during our students’ lunch period. In addition to our own students and staff, dignitaries from AUHSD, and Loara’s storied past have been invited to attend. We are looking forward to a wonderful event that will help all of us memorialize this important date."

Mr. John Briquelet - Principal 2012

November 1, 2012 Saxon Shield

The Saxon Shield is back, after a few lean budget years and a year where they didn't know the name was the Saxon Shield, the Shield prints it's first issue in years and does so on the 50th anniversary of the school opening.  On November 1, 2012 the following shield went out.

Just a disclaimer, this is not done as a class any longer and the kids do this by their self .  Yes there is an adviser but for the most part it is a true student publication so any typos or not knowing formatting of newspapers needs to be forgiven.  At least for now, it's their first one.  

click here to see issue one November 1, 1962