Spring at Lick may be the most highly anticipated season when it comes to athletics. There are seven different sports in the spring and this year has been highly competitive for all of them.
As the Major League Baseball season begins, Lick baseball comes to an end. Led by captains Frankie Lewis ’15, John Kevane ’15 and Jack Brownrigg ’15, our team currently holds a strong record at 14-8. They also placed fourth going into the NCS tournament. This means that their chances of going into the tournament are very strong. They look to improve on their NCS success from last year, where they were knocked out in the first round.
This year, nine badminton players, four doubles teams and one singles player, qualified for NCS at badminton’s BCL Championships (with Warren Tse ’17 and Amie Baumgartner ’17, Caitlin Murphy ’16 and Amelia Roskin-Frazee ’15, and Shashank Gupta ’15 and Bijan Karrobi ’15 finishing in the top three in their categories). The team also finished second in BCL with a record of 10-2.
The boys’ tennis season can only be summed up by success. Captains Max Ozer-Staton ’16 and Jacob Shaw ’16 led the team to clinch their second consecutive BCL West title.
Undefeated in singles, Drew Tomao ’17 sums up the season in his own words: “We’ve overcome massive obstacles between injuries and having our number one singles player graduate to play in college. But we have been very successful, winning the BCL Championship and placing third in NCS.”
Invincible was the outlook for the girl’s soccer team even after their first game resulted in a tough loss to highly seeded Tamalpais High School. They were able to finish first in BCL West, beating every one of their opponents in the league twice. Unfortunately, the team suffered a devastating loss to Urban in the semi-finals. While their BCL West run came to an end, their aspirations still remain high, as they placed fifth in NCS.
Bonnie Wong ’17 says, “This year is a lot better than last year. This year we are a lot more focused, more together as a team, and we understand each other so we just work a lot better together.”
The swim team’s season was full of defining moments. For one, the boys’ team went 8-0 in league this year. Second, and perhaps most importantly, both the boys and the girls beat University this year for the first time in Lick history. This declared Lick as a dominant swim team for the future.
Keanu Velasquez ’17 states, “Overall, we did really well. We hadn’t had an undefeated record in extremely long. I also think that the team’s dynamic was way more fun and supportive during races.”
Varsity lacrosse for both the boys and the girls has progressed significantly since last year. For the boys, the beginning of the season started with a blowout against Bay with a score of 14-1. They reached the playoffs, placing fourth in BCL West, but ultimately getting knocked out by Marin Academy in the semi-finals. David Rupright ’16 defines the season in four words: “building for the future.”
As for the girls’ lacrosse team, Ciara Keegan ’16 sums up the season: “So overall we had a pretty good season. Since there aren’t many girls’ lacrosse teams in the area we often have to play division two schools but this year we won six games (two of which were league games) and lost eight (six of which were league games). Our captains this year were Sarah O’Connell ’15, Zeli Grey ’17, and myself. Our goalie this year was Nora Stacy ’17 (it was her first year playing goalie since she previously played defense). Our top scorer would be Emily Rupright ’18 (freshman!), who played club before coming to Lick, and other high scorers include Michele Gee ’15 and Grey. We also had two new coaches this year: Spencer Yu and Andrew Manansala.”
The track program at Lick continues to be the most popular in the athletics department. This season, the track team consisted of almost 70 athletes competing in 18 meets.
Julia Thompson ’15, co-captain and Athlete of the Year, says, “I think that the season has been different from how we thought it was going to go because a lot of our top athletes people have been really injured or sick. But I think the team has done a good job of overcoming that.”
On Saturday May 19, the teams competed in the BCL Championship, and had a number of impressive performances from both the boys and the girls.
Junior captain Shevann Steuben ’16 won the BCL West’s Outstanding Girl Field Athlete award for her impressive performances in the shot put and the discus. Zachary Oji ’15 turned out what coach Jeff Gardiner called “one of the great all-around performances in team history,” qualifying for North Coast Section Championships in a whopping four events. In total, 10 boys and 11 girls qualified for NCS Championships.
“We’ve come a long way since the start of the season, and it’s been a season to be proud of,” said Cole Crawford ’16, an NCS qualifier in the high jump. “I can’t wait to see how we perform at the North Coast Section Championships.”
