Photo by Ian Schutt
At last years lacrosse state championship game, the boys lacrosse team lost by one point to Rockhurst. Although the team was upset about their loss, their rather young team was just proud of the fact they made it to the championships. According to junior Griffin Frithree-timee time varsity East lacrosse player, the team is driven by that loss, and has been working hard during their preseason to prepare for the upcoming season.
The team has been practicing and conditioning since the end of November and will continue until their tryouts. The conditioning regimen has been intense this year, with the team practicing almost every day for an hour and a half to two hours and doing a number of different drills, Fries said.
The team typically practices from 3:30 to 5 p.m., doing passing and shooting drills as well as “jingle jangles” — sprints to the 20-yard-line on the baseball field.
“It’s pretty tough,” freshman Cade Eldred said. “It helps a lot though because there’s a lot of running in the sport.”
The tryouts will run from Feb. 26 to March 2. Almost 70 students are trying out, and while it is a no cut sport, making the team is still competitive, according to Eldred. Eldred has been playing lacrosse for five years, and is one of 14 freshman trying out for the lacrosse team.
After last year’s loss, the younger players, or the sophomores and juniors on the team, have a better idea of what to expect throughout the season. Despite this, the team has a lot of room for improvement, according to Fries.
“A lot more people want to work hard this off season,” Fries said. “We were so close to winning it last year, I feel like people realized that the off season is what [helps us] win.”
Conditioning and practicing helps every player during the season, Fries said. The running helps them get in shape, and the drills and scrimmages help them learn what to do in a real game.
Sophomore Will Mohr said that the main idea of conditioning and practicing during the off season is to “just play and get our sticks in our hands so that we’re not completely rusty when we get back to season.”
The preseason workouts will continue until the first day of tryouts. The tryouts consist of a full week of scrimmaging in small teams. Eldred says that this is so the coaches can see how the players do against other kids.
The team is hoping to make it to the state championship game again this year, and have been putting in the work to do so. If the team works together and puts in 100 percent effort at every practice, they will make it to the championship once again, according to Eldred.
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