photo courtesy of Varsity Cross Country
Lick-Wilmerding student-athletes finished off the fall sports season with exciting news — setting new records and making school history. As winter sports kick off, let us take a quick look at the past season. Here is the fall sports wrap-up.
The LWHS Men’s Varsity Cross Country finished a stellar season strong, winning the 2021 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Cross Country Division V Championships for the first time in school history. Led by Alex Mader ’22, the Tigers finished with a combined team score of 76, heftily beating second-place Santa Fe Christian High School, who came in behind with a score of 107. Mader, the varsity team captain, ran a 14:56.3 5000 meter race. The Tigers handily won the CIF North Coast Section Championship with a team score of 31, and Bay Counties League (BCL) West/Central with a stellar score of 23.
For Mader, the team highlight “was definitely State. Winning State was awesome. That was a goal for the last two years — we had been building towards it and to see it come together was really cool. That was one of the best running moments I’ve ever had.”
The LWHS Women’s Varsity Cross Country had quite a successful run up to States. The Tigers took five of the top ten places at the BCL West/Central Championships, to finish in first place with a team score of 23, led by Amelie Maltz ’23. The Tigers proceeded to win the CIF North Coast Section Championship, finishing with a score of 41. Maltz finished in first place. However, the Tigers were upset by University High School in the CIF Cross Country State Championships. The Tigers barely finished in second place, scoring 103 to University’s 100.
“I think that one of the hardest things about states is because we had been winning all season. It’s a little disappointing that we got second. Instead of focusing on the loss, we’re trying to think about all the good things that happened in the season. We all worked super hard this whole year,” said Kaira Shlipak ’22, varsity team captain.
LWHS Women’s Varsity Field Hockey finished with a record of 6-3-2 in the league. Damien Glenn built the program from scratch less than a decade ago and was joined this past season by Rachel Park. Park brings her experience to the field hockey program as a former player at Princeton University. Although the Tigers’ field hockey program is still very young, with its inception only five years ago, the team knocked the Running Red Devils of archrival University High School out of the playoffs. The Tigers scored a tiebreaker late in the game by Paris Hing ’22. The winning goal was scored in overtime by Sophie Spokes ’23 to send the Tigers to the championship versus Redwood High School, finishing in second place.
Spokes described the game-winning moment: “I was extremely excited — everyone ran onto the field and we were all celebrating and hugging. It got emotional since we’d all been working hard for this. Throughout the entire season, the field hockey team’s been like a family.”
photo by Adrianna Delgadillo
LWHS Women’s Varsity Tennis finished 4-3 in BCL West, placing the Tigers in third. The Tigers reached the BCL finals after upsetting the second seed, Marin Academy, by 5-2. Although the Tigers won all three singles matches versus the Running Red Devils, the Tigers were unable to pull through with a win in the doubles matches, barely losing 3-4 in the BCL West finals.
“The highlight of the season was when we beat MA (Marin Academy) in the BCL semi-finals. It was rewarding to see all the hard work we put in pay off, especially because MA beat us badly in the regular season, so to have that kind of comeback was really fun,” Alexa DiSabato ’23 said.
photo by Adrianna Delgadillo
LWHS Women’s Varsity Volleyball finished 7-11 overall, led by coach Sabrina San Diego in her first year coaching varsity. Although the Tigers weathered multiple injuries, this season featured the honorable mentions of three players. Maya Abeyeta ’22 and Cate Warden ’23 received special recognition and made the BCL West All-League Teams. Zoe Yang ’23 received the BCL West honorable mention award, nominated by league coaches.
LWHS Men’s Varsity Water Polo finished 7-11 overall, placing them seventh in the league. A season highlight for team captain Will Fuller ’22 was the 22-7 win senior night versus Encinal High School. The Tigers, coming off a tough yet close loss to Berkeley High School, wanted to stomp Encinal High School. Fuller scored 11 times to set a record for the program.
photo by Adrianna Delgadillo
“It was great to leave that mark on a program that started recently,” Fuller said.
With many seniors leaving after this season, the team will have new shoes to be filled next year. “I’m looking forward to my senior season. Hopefully, I can step up my production,” said Rowan Morris ’23.
LWHS Women’s Varsity Water Polo finished 5-16 overall and 1-5 in the league, placing the Tigers in sixth place. The Tigers got their revenge versus Piedmont High School 13-8 later in the season after losing to them 19-7 earlier in the season.
photo by Adrianna Delgadillo
When asked about what she would miss the most, Zoe Solari ’22, said, “I’ll miss everyone on the team — it’s the favorite team I’ve ever been on in my entire life.” Emphasizing her connection to the program, Solari continued, “My heart belongs in the City College pool.”
