Columnist Spencer Patterson: Cimarron volleyball coach gets shut out

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 10:17 a.m.

Spencer Patterson's prep sports notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at spencer@lasvegassun.com or 259-4085.

In professional sports, mid-season coaching changes are a dime a dozen, often nothing more than an attempt to get a losing team back on track.

At the high school level, however, student-athletes go into a season assuming that, barring an unforeseen illness or disciplinary issue, they'll finish the year playing for the same coach they started with.

As former Cimarron-Memorial teacher Holly Condron learned recently, that's not always the case.

Condron, who had served as a Spartans volleyball coach for the past five years -- the last four as head coach -- was informed that she was being transferred to Molasky Middle School due to a surplus of teachers at Cimarron.

"The district overprojected the number of kids that would be at our school this year, so I was 'surplused,' " Condron said. "The principal decides which department has a surplus of teachers, and I had the (least amount of) seniority in the P.E. department."

Condron was given the opportunity to remain coach, but that's akin to an employee being fired and then being asked to continue pitching for his or her company's league softball team.

Now, after taking the Spartans to the zone playoffs in each of the last four years and to the 1998 state tournament, Condron finds herself out of coaching, because local middle schools do not field volleyball teams.

"I've never heard of them surplusing a head coach in the middle of the season," Condron said. "Coaching is one of the reasons I got into teaching in the first place."

The Spartans, 4-5 this year under Condron, will play the remainder of the season under Lynn McCann, one of Condron's former assistants.

"They know her, so it's not like they're getting a whole new coach," Condron said. "But it's hard for them, and it was hard for me."

The move leaves Cimarron with five men and one woman in the physical education department.

* GATORS' STREAK HITS 100: Green Valley's golf team pushed its dual-match streak to a whopping 100 consecutive victories on Monday with a win over California's Estanzia High, 208-257.

Nearly as impressive as the streak (which now stands 20 shy of the national record) is the team's willingness to risk it by scheduling tough out-of-state competition such as its recent foe from the Golden State.

* 'FAITH'FUL REWARDED: After winning just four games during the last three years, the Faith Lutheran football team served notice that times may be changing at the Class 2A private school.

On Friday night, the Crusaders (1-3) posted a thrilling 22-19 win over visiting Hesperia (Calif.), scoring the winning touchdown on a 25-yard pass play from Brian Poynter to Scott Ongman with 18 seconds remaining.

"We've been saying all along that the kids need to learn how to win," first-year coach Pete Renn said. "They've been working their tails off for so long, it was nice to see them smile."

* TIDBITS: Elko, McQueen and Reed all posted lopsided wins in week five to remain in the top five of this week's Sun state-wide football poll. Elko trounced Galena, 41-12, McQueen hammered Sparks, 47-7, and Reed routed defending Class 3A state champion Tahoe-Truckee, 54-7. Wooster rose one spot to No. 6 after defeating Carson, 27-0, while South Tahoe moved up to No. 9 on the strength of a 19-17 victory over Reno....

Bonanza's boys and Green Valley's girls remained No. 1 in this week's Southern Nevada Track and Cross County Coaches Association Top 10 polls. On the boys side, Durango, Boulder City, Green Valley and Basic rounded out the top five, while Durango, Boulder City, Bonanza and Basic trailed the Gators in the girls rankings. ...

Host Durango posted the top local finish in last weekend's Maui Life/Durango Fall Classic girls volleyball tournament, placing eighth among 16 teams. ...