Cross country

This fall, the girls varsity cross country team and sophomore Sammy Connell qualified for the state championship; last year, only a couple athletes made it to state. This was the first time in eight years that the entire girls varsity made it to state. Junior and varsity team member Paige Stewart (she/her) said that girls varsity has improved greatly since she joined in her freshman year.

“My freshman year, we only had a few girls that were running low times in varsity,” Stewart said. “This year we got two new freshmen who are top four in varsity. That helped a lot because it kind of solidified and created more depth on our team.” 

Stewart said that their team’s accomplishments did not fully sink in until they placed at KingCo since she did not expect their team to go that far. Stewart said that their varsity team had trouble solidifying their lineup in the beginning of the season.

“It was hard because we didn’t have a finalized team, so we weren’t bonding as a team until the very end after the elimination rounds.” 

As a cross country athlete, Stewart said that having teamwork, a good community and a strong bond with team members is very important for their performance.

“I think [our community] is really, really strong, because we’re all going through the same thing and running the same distance and races,” Stewart said. “That helps a lot because we’re all stuck in it together; there’s a lot of emphasis on team bonding.”

 Stewart said that in cross country, the team dynamics really benefit the athletes and the team as a whole.

“To use each other and to use the support and to ask for help, advice, tips and stuff — that helps a lot. We are all going through the same thing, and it’s not on one person.” 

Stewart credits the girls varsity team’s success to their dedication and consistency.

“Everyone shows up to practice, and runs it to the best of their ability. We don’t skip workouts. We run them to our best. We take time outside of practice to recover and work on ourselves as athletes. Yeah, hard work definitely pays off.”

Slow Pitch

After a strong performance, varsity slow pitch softball wrapped up their season with a record of 8-12. Upon being crowned KingCo champions, they moved on to state championships. Senior Emmy Ha (she/her) said the team has improved significantly since she first joined.

“From my experience, our team is probably the best it’s ever been this year,” she said.

While qualifying for state was a surprise for the team, Ha said that confidence levels in the team were high, leading them to believe that this season would stand out.

“I think deep down, we all knew that this year was different in that we were going to make it,” Ha said. “From the beginning, just because of how good all our players are.” 

Alongside state, the varsity slow pitch team achieved many smaller successes that helped define their outstanding season.

“Beating Bothell was probably the highlight of the season, because Bothell has been beating us for the past three years. So being able to beat Bothell was really cool,” Ha said. “That, and getting first in districts.”

While the influx of new members this year made it initially difficult to achieve team chemistry, Ha said that it also strengthened the team community by creating fast friendships. She said that every player’s dedication and passion for softball showed, as the team put a lot of effort into each game and practice. Moving on to state marked a powerful finish to the varsity season.

“Even though most of our players are really good, we haven’t been able to make it until this year,” Ha said. “It takes time, but eventually, hard work gets you there.”

Volleyball

Girls varsity volleyball concluded their season with eight wins and nine losses. Head coach Alex Nottingham (he/him) said the successful season marks an improvement from last year, when varsity went 0-16. He said this success is, in part, because of the community within the team.

“All of our coaching staff is on the same level of communication, and just being able to work together, talk together and just support every single team,” said Nottingham. “I think it’s been a great season for that.” 

The season was not always easy. Nottingham said even though the varsity team was strong, many teams they played posed a challenge.

“When we played Issaquah a couple weeks ago, it was a really tough team,” Nottingham said. “They were coming in 13th ranked in the state and it was going to be a great challenge, but the girls stepped up; they did a great job. We put up 20-plus points each set. We ended up losing 0-3, but they played really, really well against Issaquah.”  

Underclassmen made up the majority of the team, which Nottingham said made it difficult to get into the right mindset before games. He said that encouraging the team to cheer on their younger members helped them to overcome these issues, leading to more victories later in the season.

“The best game we had all season was against Redmond, just a week or two ago,” Nottingham said. “We ended up losing the first set, but they came back and controlled the pace of the game and the energy of the game, and ended up beating Redmond in four sets.”

He said that the season and the attitude of the players made him feel satisfied with their accomplishments.

“I’m just proud of how this team attacks every single day and just works hard,” Nottingham said. “They’re always passionate, they’re always listening, always wanting to learn.”