What they’re saying about the end of WNC athletics

What community members, parents and former players are saying about WNC athletics coming to an end:

“If someone was to ask me what has been a pivotal point in my life so far, it would be I was given the opportunity to play at WNC for Leah Wentworth and the rest of her staff.” — Carson High graduate Cassie Vondrak, who went onto to play for Long Island University and is now an assistant coach at Columbia University.

Steve Lewis, who helped lead the effort to begin athletics at WNC pointed out this fact: Grade point average for baseball player (3.32) and softball player (3.27) student athletes was found to be higher than the GPA of all full-time students (2.79) in 2011.

“In 2010, WNC held Big League All-Star Bryce Harper to only two home runs in the four games in Carson City when College of Southern Nevada came to town. This is true because I looked it up from my scorebook.” — Kiyoshi Nishikawa

“This whole story is a shame and from what I can tell not necessary. I’m not sure exactly what went wrong. This was fixable. There were those willing to get it back on track. Ordinary people capable of extraordinary things. My heart breaks for the school as a true and diverse campus, for the athletes, coaches and fans. And, for the founding group of individuals who synergistically came together to make this the amazing program it was. So much has been lost.” — Lori Hadlock

“I want to say thank you to those coaches for guiding and teaching us more about life then any professor I ever had. Kubi (Dr. Tom Kubistant) is the only exception for a professor who taught me about life lessons and the mental part of the game of softball. I want to say thank you to him as well for all he did for us and the softball program — he was amazing. I learned so much from him as my professor because he cared about all students and wanted them to succeed in life and for us softball players he was a great mentor who taught us a lot, so thank you Kubi.” — Jenny Rechel

“I was hooked on WNC baseball from the first game I attended. The year was 2006, and my son was 9 years old. When people ask me what I will miss the most, it will be without a doubt the relationships I have forged with the players and coaches. I have never been around such a group of respectful, appreciative, humble, hard working young adults in my life. They have captured my heart with their work ethic on the field and in the classroom. They help us umpire Little League, they teach and mentor our kids.” — Matt Teixeira

“Unfortunately, President Chet Burton failed to recognize this program brought national recognition to Carson City for academics off the field, success on it, and someone for the youth of the area to look up to.” — Joe Crunkilton