Oltman crowned 2005 Homecoming Queen

Tuesday Oltman was crowned as Homecoming Queen during halftime of Friday's game against Bishop Kellly.

Tuesday Oltman was crowned as Homecoming Queen during ceremonies at halftime of last Friday's homecoming game against Bishop Kelly.

The top-ranked BK Knights won the homecoming game, defeating the Mountain Home High School Tigers 70-0, throwing cold water on an otherwise pleasant week of homecoming activities at MHHS.

Oltman was escorted at halftime to the stage set up in front of the full stands at Tiger Field by her father, Leonard Oltman, who beamed at his daughter's success after her named was announced as the queen.

Oltman is involved in journalism and photography at the school and plans to go to college to become a journalist.

She was one of four candidates to be selected during balloting last Tuesday as finalists for the honor of homecoming queen. All four of the girls appeared on stage anxiously awaiting the announcement of who won.

The other candidates were:

* Teysena Chatman, the daughter of Leroy and Cynthia Chatman. She is president of the Business Professionals of America Club, the Associated Student Body Treasurer, and a member of the varsity track and field team and also plays basketball. She plans on attending the University of Washington to study dentistry.

* Whitney Playle, the daughter of Kurt and Patricia Playle. A cheerleader for three years, she also is a member of the Natural Helpers group at school and is involved with Artopia. She plans on attending Hawaii Pacific University to study liberal arts.

* Lacy Simono, the daughter of Rick and Laurie Simono. Lacy is a member of Natural Helpers and has been selected as a national achievement recipient. She also is a member of 4-H and a lieutenant in the Mountain Home Police Department Cadet Program. After graduation she hopes to enter the law enforcement field.

Earlier in the day, during the homecoming assembly at the high school gym, Jarom Groat was announced as the Homecoming King, beating out David Anderson, Tyler Hicks and Thomas Miller in balloting for the honor.

At the homecoming dance Saturday night, Tyson Session was named Prince and Angelina Garcia was named Princess for the junior class, and Chris Knudsen and Hannah Zamora were named as Duke and Duchess for the sophomore class, completing the homecoming royalty.

It was a relatively quiet week for homecoming, with no serious incidents reported.

Activities took place all week long, including dress up days each week, most tied to the week's Viva Las Vegas theme.

The week featured two role-reversal contests, the Macho Man volleyball game Monday night, won by the senior boys over the junior boys three games to one.

Wednesday featured the popular Powder Puff Football Game, which was won by the juniors 10-8. The game featured a touchdown by each squad with the juniors scoring a two-point conversion, a safety by the seniors, and a rare two-point play by the juniors who intercepted the seniors' attempt at a two-point conversion and ran it all the way back to the end zone. That play, near the end of the first half, was the margin of victory for the juniors.

The main events took place Friday, beginning with the homecoming assembly, in which the seniors won all of the contests (pep jug, windows, hall decoration and skit), followed shortly afterwards by the homecoming parade through the downtown area and the tailgate party prior to the game.

Mountain Home faced the defending 4A state champions that night, and many questioned why.

Athletic schedules are drawn up well in advance of the school calendar, and when school officials met to decide on the date for homecoming they did not want the event to be held in October, because of the cold temperatures typical at that time. The first week of school was too early, the next week was AFAD weekend, the week after that was the air show and a number of other community activities, and the third week the students were involved in ISAT testing. That left the last week in September as the only home game open date prior to October, and Bishop Kelly had been scheduled for that week.

With only a few exceptions, most of the Tigers did not seem anxious to take on the Knights that evening, and it showed, as they suffered one of the worst losses in school history, 70-0 (See story on Page B-2).