Women’s Cross Country

Women’s varsity cross country team finished the season with two championship wins and an undefeated season with a 7-0 record.

The team competed against the entire league and placed first in the IAAM Championships on Oct. 30. With 36 points, they beating the second place team’s score of 56, because in cross country, the lowest score wins.

The captains of the team are seniors Kristen Kohles, Amanda Spaeth, and Alex Gromacki.

“It went surprisingly well, I had no idea we were going to the championship,” Gromacki said.

“Our strengths were a strong, deep pack of very good runners. Kristen was the best in the conference and the rest of the varsity were near the top of the league. We also had a large number of new girls that brought out the best in the team. Fortunately, we really didn’t have any weaknesses this year,” coach Rob Torres said.

The team was recognized and awarded an out-of-uniform day to congratulate them on their achievement.

According to Torres, “Next year, we’ll have a lot of talent coming back – six of our top 10 girls are back, and we have a lot of underclassmen with room to improve. The biggest question will be who will replace this year’s leaders.”

Emily Cassidy is a News Editor and Promotions Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Men’s Cross Country

Men’s varsity cross country ended the season with a record of 1-8. The Championship was on Nov. 6, where JC placed 11 out of 23 schools. “We had a solid top two running pair [sophomore Evan Moore and senior Will Hopkins] who could race with the best the MIAA had,” coach Mike Monaghan said.

“Moore was our number one runner all year. His race times improved throughout the season. He was followed closely by Hopkins in each race except for the final meet where Hopkins went on to finish as the fastest MIAA competitor at the Private School Championships,” Monaghan said.

The team captains this season were seniors Will Hopkins and Cole Alban.

Since the team only had three seniors, Monaghan said “the team is young… so the future looks promising. I think that the experience our freshmen and new runner group [had] this year will help to grab us a few more wins next year”.

According to senior runner Zane Van Pelt, “we have seven out of the top 10 returning, and they’re going to try really hard to pick up this year’s slack.”

Emily Cassidy is a News Editor and Promotions Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Men’s Volleyball

The men’s varsity volleyball team finished the year with a record of 5-13 and the JV team ended with a 10-7 record.

“I can confidently say that the team that I saw when I walked in on the first day is not the team that beat North Harford,” men’s varsity volleyball coach Larry Hetzel, class of ’05, said.

According the Hetzel, this year was a building year for the team they and got to the more advanced skills later in the season.

Heztel named outside hitter and senior captain Brad Paszkiewicz one of the most valuable players on the team. “From day one, he constantly worked to make himself and the team better,” Hetzel said.

“I think [this season] did a lot better than last year just because it was more organized, more strict, and we had a better coach,” varsity libero junior Rawlison Zhang said.

With eight of the 12 players returning next season, Hetzel has high hopes for the team 2014. “Our work this year should lead to a good season next year.”

Angela DeCarlo is a Copy Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Women’s Volleyball

Both women’s varsity and JV volleyball teams competed in the playoffs this year. JV had a record of 14-2 and won their championship 3-2 against Catholic High School on Oct. 31. Varsity finished the season with a record of 12-7 and a loss to Mount de Sales Academy in the Oct. 29 quarter finals.

“The team performed much better than we anticipated, and it was one of the best and most fun teams I’ve ever played on,” senior Briana Lockhart, varsity setter and co-captain, said.

According to varsity coach Greg Cullison, “the co-captains senior Briana Lockhart and senior Erin Hultberg were both extremely well organized [and] displayed leadership and sportsmanship by example.” Hultberg was an outside hitter.

“Overall, we need to improve our serving and receiving in order to compete with the top teams in the A conference. We will have a strong junior class returning next year,” Cullison said.

According to JV’s freshman middle hitter Julianna Richard, “I think that next year is going to be very fun and exciting. I’m looking forward to meeting new freshman players and playing again with all the returning players.”

Eric Johnson is a Staff Writer for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Men’s Soccer

The men’s varsity soccer team finished their season 11-10-2. JV’s record this year was 3-16-1 overall.

Varsity’s quarter final game against Archbishop Curley High School on Nov. 1 resulted in a 2-0 loss for JC. Overall, the team stayed consistently strong. According to varsity coach James Fendryk, “the team had a good mix of upperclassmen experience with 12 out of the 20 players’ being juniors or seniors.”

A few varsity MVP’s this year included seniors Colby Fell as holding defensive midfielder, Zach Hammons as center midfielder, and Guillermo Almirall as midfielder and striker. “Each player worked extremely well with the other two,” Fendryk said. “The three of them played huge factors in the success of the team.”

“We worked well as a team moving the ball up the field, creating space in the opposing team’s half and in the final third of the field,” junior Robert Hodges, varsity right fullback, said. According to Fendryk, one of the team’s weaknesses included the fact they created too many opportunities for the other team to score.

As for next year, “losing eight seniors will be a little problematic, but [we’re] very confident in the guys we have brought in the past couple years,” Fendryk said.

“We will have some solid players moving up from JV to help us, and I’m sure Coach Fendryk has something up his sleeve. All in all, the returning players are excited for the next fall,” Hodges said.

According to Fendryk, “It will be pretty evenly matched next year, but we’re definitely looking forward.”

Hanna LeBuhn is a Lifestyles Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Women’s Soccer

Women’s varsity soccer ended their season 5-8-1 and lost in the semi-finals against Archbishop Spalding High School Nov. 3. JV finished 3-10-2.

According to JV coach Hayley Howe, varsity’s MVP was senior Sophie Centi, a center midfielder, because “of her sheer ball skill and her knowledge of the game, [which] was especially helpful since we had such a young team this year. [Centi] was also one of our captains [because] she has a very good head on her shoulders and doesn’t get very riled up.”

“[Our] strength is the JC heart. Our girls will do just about anything we ask them to,” Howe said.

According to Howe, another strength was “[passing] the ball through the midfield and [getting] it up to the front, [but] that led to one of our weaknesses: the scoring. Many of our games were decided by one goal.”

Varsity striker sophomore Alice Cumpston believes that women’s soccer “will be successful next year working more as a team and passing down the field, working off of each other. I think if we have the same goal and momentum that we had this year we will continue to be successful.”

“We’ll have a lot of returners; we’ll be a little more seasoned,” Howe said. She expects “to make it to finals [and] win.”

Elizabeth Driver is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Football

The varsity football team ended the 2013 fall season with a record of 4-6. JV ended with a 3-4 record.

The varsity team was unable to advance to the championship, which was held on Nov. 17 at Towson University.

There was a lot of “raw talent in pretty much all positions on the field” junior Jake Kahoe, varsity left tackle, said.

According to freshman quarterback Nate LeBuhn “the strengths of this year were the running game.”

However, according to Kahoe, the boys “didn’t play as a team and couldn’t come together when it mattered.”

With the close of the season, varsity football head coach Rich Stichel Jr.’s time as coach is also ending. Next year, his position will go to Bill Lewis, the JV head coach.

LeBuhn expects next year to be “a rebuilding year with a new head coach and a new offense.”

According to Lewis, “my goal is to be in the championship [next year].”

Billy Jump is a Copy Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Tennis

Women’s varsity tennis finished this season with a record of 3-3. JV only played one match against Beth Tfiloh, resulting in a 0-5 defeat.

“It was a great season,” senior varsity double player Catey Minnis said. “We may not have won as many games as we had hoped, but it didn’t lower our enthusiasm for the game or each other.”

Even though the team did not have success as a whole, a few players stood out. In the individual tournament held at McDonogh. The first varsity doubles team, made up of juniors Emory Gaeng and Brigitte Lutche, claimed second in the McDonogh tournament.

Freshman varsity player Alex Martinez won the first singles portion of the tournament. She went undefeated throughout the year, only losing one set. “Alex is our star. Only a freshman and she can crush everyone in the league.” Minnis said. Martinez is the star and a motivation to the rest of the team.

Justin Hawkins is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Field Hockey

Women’s JV field hockey finished with a record of 8-1, allowing only three goals through all nine games. Varsity field hockey finished 5-10-1.

“This year was my first year coaching varsity in four years” varsity coach Gary Scholl said. “The level of competition in the IAAM B Conference has greatly improved. We used to be able to compete by having dual athletes that came from either playing lacrosse or just looking for a sport to play. But this year, we played against a team that had the U19 National goalie, and we just could not get any shots past her.”

“We win some. We lose some,” said senior captain Kirsten Kyburz. “Scholl was an inspiration for our team at games and practices. He inspired us with the Native American culture and their traditions. One practice he even started burning sage. Whenever we won a game, we would have a vision quest at practice.”

Scholl also spoke of how senior captains Lindsay Kraus and Kirsten Kyburz brought unique talents to the team. Kyburz provided a sense of humor on the team while still maintaining her reputation as a fierce competitor. Kraus led the team by example and was easily able to do so because she plays year round.

“If we develop the way we could, I believe that we could compete with the top half of the league [next year],” Scholl said.

Eric Johnson is a Staff Writer for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.