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Athletes set foundation for future

Shalimar Hicks and Jonathan Beringer

Jonathan Beringer and Shalimar Hicks can finish their senior year knowing that they’ve earned an important place in the history of Millennium High School.

They were named the Falcons’ male and female athletes of the year and were on the first teams to represent Millennium in California Interscholastic Federation league play. So as they prepare to graduate, they also know that something they started will stay with the school.

“I look at it like we’re the test case,” Beringer said. “It’s good to know it will keep going for the younger kids.”

For the first time, the boys basketball and baseball teams and the girls volleyball and basketball teams competed in the Harvest Christian League in the Sac-Joaquin Section. They also competed in tournament play and against teams from some of the section’s bigger schools.

Hicks said that while Millennium has a campus culture different from West High, where she attended her freshman and sophomore years, the charter school’s student body enjoys having sports teams for all students to rally behind.

“I think sports is drawing people to the school more,” Hicks said. “A lot more people know about it because of us.”

Hicks was involved in sports at West High and wanted to live up to the example set by her older sister, Cameo Hicks, who was a star player on the West team and now plays pro basketball in Europe.

She came to Millennium last year, joined the basketball team, and played volleyball as well. On this year’s basketball team, she averaged 19.8 points per- game and was voted to the All-League first team for the Harvest Christian League and gained All-Area honors, too.

Her contribution led the girls volleyball and basketball teams to the playoffs in their first year of league play. Before she was named for any individual honors she was proud to be on teams that exceeded expectations.

“Most people were really surprised when we went to the playoffs,” she said.

But Hicks said she and her teammates weren’t surprised and expected to have good seasons.

“I could tell,” she said, adding that the rapport among players and coaches added to the enthusiasm. “I knew it was going to happen.”

She said that the teams provided her with an opportunity to develop as a player that she wouldn’t have had at West.

“I wasn’t as focused there as I am here,” she said.

Beringer said he didn’t expect to get involved in school sports when he started at Discovery Charter School in the sixth grade. He’s one of about 15 students to stay with the academic program through graduation.

“My parents wanted me to do it because it would be a better education,” he said. “Once I got here I liked it and wanted to stay,” even though there were no extracurricular sports at the school at the time.

When the basketball team was formed three years ago, he jumped at the opportunity to join the varsity team, which competed among other small schools even though it wasn’t involved in league play. He joined again when the baseball team started its first season three years ago.

This year, Beringer was the only senior on the baseball team, and while the team didn’t make it to the postseason, he said the progress over the past couple of years has been substantial.

“The first two years, we had a lot of skill but we never played as a team,” he said. “This year, we came together as a team.”

Eleven other Millennium athletes received their varsity letters: Lillian Buckley, volleyball; Leticia DeLeon, basketball; Alison Forrest, volleyball and softball; Amber Fuentes, volleyball; Amanpreet Kaur, volleyball; Timothy Langston, golf; Abigael Medina, volleyball and basketball; Davielle Ornelas, volleyball; Ryan Plusch, soccer, basketball and golf; Julia Robertson, basketball and softball; and Mary Sue Savage, softball.

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