by David Sutton
Sports Editor
For seniors Jeff Drouin and Shelly Moreno, the end of the road is here. Their days of competing on the field in their respective ULV uniforms are over. Drouin, a transfer student, was a starting offensive lineman on the football team for two years. He believes that coming to ULV to play football was a plus for him and made the game more fun to play.
“I didn’t have someone screaming in my ear all the time,” said Drouin.
He liked the fact that the practices were short, the coaches were like friends and he won football games. “At Victor Valley I won five of 20 games and here I won 16 out of 19,” said Drouin.
He feels he ended his career on a good note because of “two of the most innovative coaches [Don Morel and Rex Huigens] I have played for.”
“They never asked me to do anything I couldn’t do,” said Drouin. At first, he was mad when Morel asked him to play center instead of guard last season. “I thought my chances of making all conference were going to go down,” he said. Drouin was selected to the first team all SCIAC in 1994.
Moreno has been at UL V for her entire college softball career. As a freshman, she started at second base for the Leos. “I thought I wouldn’t make the team,” said Moreno.
During her freshman year, she recalls the termination of the head coach, which led to two new coaches being brought in. Gary Stewart and Tim Confair were the men’s and women’s head basketball coaches at the time. “It was weird to have basketball coaches as our coach,” said Moreno.
At the beginning of her sophomore year, Julie Kline was hired to take over the coaching duties for the team. “She came out and taught us the fundamentals of the game, nothing fancy,” said Moreno.
The high point of Moreno’s career was when the team made it to the nationals of the NCAA softball championship in Decatur, Ill., last year. She was named to the all-SCIAC team that year as well.
“Going to nationals made all four of my years good,” she said.
Her senior year was perhaps her toughest to deal with. She played a total of two innings all year and feels that she was not given the opportunity to play. “There was a lot of talent out this year,” she said. The year was not a total loss for her though.
“I feel like I contributed to the team by always cheering,” said Moreno.
Throughout their college careers, both Drouin and Moreno have had many experiences. The most remembered tend to drift away from the immediate athletic careers.
In two years of playing football at UL V, the most memorable thing to Drouin is looking up in the stands and seeing his parents at every game. “I haven’t always had a good relationship with my parents, so seeing them was real special,” he said.
Moreno says she has not reached her best moment yet. That moment will come on May 28 when she receives her bachelors degree.
“I will be the first person to get· a degree in my family. It feels good to know that I have succeeded. I owe a lot to my parents for paying for school,” said Moreno. She plans on returning to ULV next year to earn her teaching credentials and then move on to become a kindergarten teacher.
Drouin plans on applying to graduate school for occupational therapy. If that does not work out, he wants to teach and possibly coach football.
David Sutton
