Story by Max Niles '18 IAC Champs. That’s all there is to it. After three months of grinding in practice, unexpected losses, and glorious victories, we seized the day and won the IAC at Georgetown Prep. But the championship was not unexpected; the #IACin17 movement was strong before the season started. After losing to St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School in a 1-0 game in the quarterfinals of the IAC playoffs last year, the seniors came into this year hungry for their first IAC. Our only goal was to win that IAC against Prep and the entire season was devoted to it. Our season started in the middle of February for a brutal three weeks of cold practice leading up to our first scrimmage against Maret. After the scrimmage against Maret, we played against St. John's and St. Mary’s School of Annapolis and lost both games in chilling temperatures. We headed to Florida unsure of how the team was shaping up after what ended up being two blowout losses. The spring break trip to Florida was another addition to the journey of this season. We arrived in Florida playing some of our worst baseball all year and it showed as we got mercy ruled twice and lost some truly disappointing games. But the trip ended on a high note as we battled for a 2-1 victory in an extra-inning duel under the lights in the small town of Okeechobee. We celebrated by eating their delicious barbecue.
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Story by Zack Martin '18
If there was a game this season that could be more hype than the Dogs’ OT win over Episcopal, it was the Friday home IAC tournament matchup versus St. Stephen’s St. Agnes. It was the first time STA had hosted a postseason game in several years. It was Flower Mart Friday. It was Alumni Weekend. The BEEF came in numbers. Even the rain cleared in time for the opening faceoff. It had all the makings of a game for the history books. The Bulldogs had already defeated the Saints in a regular season thriller (8-7), and confidence occupied much of conversations amongst the team and St. Albans community. Come gameday, however, the mentality of the team still remained focused on going all-out and leaving nothing on the field, no matter the results of contests from previous weeks. Brian Geffroy ‘17 spread this mindset with the phrase, “Burn the boats.” In his words, “Burning the boats is when you go into a battle and you burn your own ships because you are either going to win or die trying. There is no such thing as retreating.” STA Baseball- Max Niles '18
#ForTheShip. The baseball dogs are about to play their final game of the IAC championship in a winner take all game at Georgetown Prep on Wednesday at 4:30. This week, we went out to Landon on Tuesday for some quality bear hunting in the semifinals of the playoffs. Behind a strong pitching performance from Clark Klitenic ‘19 and an early 3-0 lead, we beat the Bears 8-1. The next day, we went out again, this time to Georgetown Prep, for the first game of the championship. As James Howe ‘18 will tell you, we left them “stunned,” riding a great start from Ethan Roth ‘17 and some early offense, and we beat them 4-2. On Friday we came back to the Mount, trying to win the title at home, but Prep came with other plans. The Little Hoyas came out strong, scoring in all of the first 6 innings in the rainy game, and we ended up losing 6-1. But, the series continues on Wednesday as we look to win our 31st baseball IAC championship since 1970, so get out to that. STA Baseball- Max Niles '18
Survive and Advance. The Baseball Dogs played St. Stephen's and St. Agnes three times this week, twice during the regular season, and once in the playoffs. We dropped our first game to the Saints 2-1 despite a stellar pitching performance from Andrew Keane ‘17 and a sacrifice fly by Austin Burgess ‘18 that should have tied the game. But we came back strong on Thursday after our defeat two days prior and beat the Saints 3-1. Clark Klitenic ‘19 led the day with a trademark pitching performance and Ethan Roth ‘17 slammed the door shut to close the game. After hearing that Landon came back to beat Episcopal on Thursday, we were assigned the three seed in the IAC playoffs, meaning we would play in the quarterfinals versus St. Stephen's and St. Agnes again. We bounced back from our anger over losing a tournament bye and led 1-0 until the sixth inning thanks to RBIs from Brandon Torng ‘20. Keane hurled another great game but in the sixth, the Saints struck with two runs. In the next half inning, the Saints brought in a wild pitcher who walked in Drew Posner ‘17 to tie the game. Keane kept the Saints bats silent again in the top of the seventh and left our bats to do the work. Chase Daneker ‘19 led off the inning with a grinding, nine-pitch at-bat infield single to second base. Sam Valleca ‘17 laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Daneker over to second, and James Howe ‘18 won the game on a walk-off double to left-center. We take the field again in the IAC semifinals at Landon on Tuesday at 4:30, and hopefully versus Georgetown Prep or Episcopal for the IAC championship on Thursday. Story by Zack Martin '18 STA Baseball- Max Niles '18
The Baseball Dogs had a great week in the IAC. We had games scheduled against Landon on Tuesday and Thursday, but the rain got in the way of that, so we played the Bears on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Andrew Keane ‘18 pitched a resilient game despite a first-inning home run by the Bears. We got our bats moving thanks to Clark Klitenic ‘19, James Howe ‘18, and Henry Large ‘18 and we ended up winning the game 5-3. We came back the next day and scrapped out a win against the Bears again. Landon took a 3-0 lead that they carried into the fifth inning when we scored five runs. We ended up winning the game 7-5 and finished our Bear hunt. On Saturday, we went out to Riverdale Baptist in 91-degree heat to face a pitcher throwing 91 mph heat. We fought valiantly against the Crusaders in both games of the doubleheader, but we fell 2-0 and 6-5. This week we take on St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School for our last two IAC games before the quarter-final next week. Story and Interview by Isabella Houle '19 Dancing everything from a snow angel to Clara in the Nutcracker, Emily Hester is a well known and incredible dancer. In her nearly 15 years of ballet, she’s done many shows, and placed in competition, but right now she’s taking on one of her biggest dancing challenges yet: half a year spent training in Russia under Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy. After spending her summer in their Summer Intensive, Hester was chosen to return for the semester to dance yet again. Here’s Emily answering questions about her time in Russia!
STA Crew - Harry Grigorian '19
On Saturday, the STA crew team rowed out of our own boathouse on the Potomac for the Thompson Boat Center (TBC) Tussle. Low temperatures and consistent rain made for difficult racing. St Albans raced both McLean and Yorktown in the 1v, 2v, 3v, and Freshmen boats, racing each team individually first, then both at the same time. The Freshmen had a great day, beating McLean and Yorktown by solid margins. When racing both together, the Freshmen continued their success, opened up a quick lead and eventually won by a large margin over both schools. The 3v, racing together for the first time ever, put together some very solid races, falling to McLean and beating Yorktown. The 2v beat McLean slightly and Yorktown by a little bit more in the head to head races. However, in the three-way race, the 2v jumped out to an amazingly quick start and added to it over the course of 1500 meters, winning handily. The 1v beat McLean and Yorktown by very large margins in all 3 races, capping off the near-perfect day for the Bulldogs. Next week, the Dogs will again race at home in the Charlie Butt Regatta Track and Field - Isabella Houle '19
With the STA/NCS track team hosting their first meet on Wednesday, NCS track has started off the season great. Last Saturday, varsity girls competed at the Potomac School and although coming back into the sport after Spring Break, NCS competed well. With Niaa Jenkins-Johnston ’18 coming in 8th of 52 in the 100 meters, Selin Everett ’17 placing in the top 15 of 45 in the 400, Sierra Turner ’18 running 4th place in the 100 meter hurdles, and a 2nd place finish in the 4x100 relay, the varsity team had a strong showing. On Wednesday, the full team competed well yet again in a school-hosted quad meet, with NCS placing 2nd. With top three finishes in all field events, three 3rd place finishes, and 1st place finishes of Margaret Thoren ’17 in the 1600 and by the 4x100 relay team, the Eagles put forward great efforts and can’t wait for their next meet, this Wednesday! Crew - Katelyn Craven '19 This spring, the crew team is going to be using our time on and off the water to become the best team we can be. We had our first regatta on Saturday, April 8th at the Occoquan and will have our next regatta in Delaware at St. Andrew's School on April 15th. On Saturday, the Junior Four won their final with a time of 8:10.5, the Women's 2nd Four won their final with a time of 7:03.7, and the Women's 1st Four won their heat with a time of 7:24.2. The freshmen team got first in their heat with a time of 7:07.4. Coming up, we have several regattas each Saturday on the Potomac before "Championship Season". Competition will be high as always, but we hope that every change we make and stroke we take on the water will lead to much success in the following weeks. Softball- Logan Robinson '18 Softball is really young this year adding five freshmen and two sophomores to the team. We have converted Emmeline Leggett to catcher, and she is taking over the role very well. We have just started league play and are looking forward to coming into our own and having another successful year, hopefully defending our DCSSA title. Come out to a game! Lacrosse- Ashley Cullina '18 CVL began our season with the theme of positivity in mind. This ethos has really fostered a mentality of supportiveness and trust both on and off the field, that has lead our team to success. After going undefeated in Florida, we suffered a loss to Bullis, but quickly rebounded with a win against GDS. Story by By Katelyn Craven ‘19 Over Spring Break, the members of both the NCS and STA crew teams packed their bags
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