They Grow Up So Fast

   On June 10, SportStars will celebrate the fourth anniversary of its inaugural edition. Four years. Whoooo! Cue the confetti. 

   Now when most people think of big anniversaries, they think of those that end in 5’s and 0’s. Typically, a four-year anniversary goes by without much fanfare.

   But when you’re main focus is on high schools, it’s a different story. To all the seniors receiving diplomas over the never three weeks, congratulations. You’re our first true graduating class. Athletes of the Class of 2014 will be the first that SportStars covered throughout their high school careers. 

   All of which makes Trevor Horn’s story on Acalanes-Lafayette golfer Will Brueckner (which an be found on page 26) that much cooler. Horn covered the CIF NorCal Golf Tournament at Sierra View Golf Club in Roseville on May 19 when Brueckner shot a 6-under par 66 to take top medalist honors and qualify for his first state championships. 

   This is SportStars Issue #85. We first wrote about young William in Issue #5 on August 12, 2010. He was just our fifth SportStar of the Week after winning the Northern California Golf Association Junior Amateur Championship at Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach just a month before his first class at Acalanes.

   And sorry, Will. We’re going to embarrass you with a photo from that issue. But we’re just so darn proud. Brueckner won the North Coast Section Tournament of Champions as a freshman, and despite being incredibly consistent over the years, will play in the state tournament for the first time on June 4 at San Gabriel Country Club near Pasadena. 

   Seeing the full circle of his success, and so many others who are part of this graduating class, has been extremely rewarding. We’re glad we’ve been able to tell part of the story.

   And finally, while we’re speaking of milestones. We’re nearing some pretty big ones with our social media accounts. We’re honing in on 3,000 Facebook LIKES and 1,000 Twitter followers. So that’s pretty awesome. 

   We’d like to have our own little graduation party by reaching those numbers by mid-June. And, obviously, we need you go help us. We’re putting together a prize package that we’ll be giving away to two random winners. If you LIKE or follow us anytime between May 29-June 15, you’ll be entered to win. We will give away one prize to a Facebook fan and one to a Twitter follower. 

   Check out our cool little graphic here for more details on the prize package and more. 

FIRST PITCH: By Chace Bryson