Sports In Review: A recap on the fall sports season

The girls tennis team came in first overall at State on Oct. 17.

The state team consisted of senior Allison Wilcox, junior Bridget Epstein, sophomores Greta Stechschulte and Bryson Langford and freshmen Abigail Long and Katie Schmidt.

The final round of the doubles tournament was an all East championship — Stechschulte and Langford vs. Long and Schmidt. Winning the match 6-0, Stechschulte and Langford took home first place for the second year in a row.

“It was really good for our team that we had both our doubles teams in the final because it helped us break away from Blue Valley North, our biggest rival, quite a bit,” Stechschulte said. “As for playing our teammates, it wasn’t the first time and won’t be the last.”

In addition to the doubles teams’ success, senior Allison Wilcox and junior Bridget Epstein took home third and seventh place at the state singles tournament, leading the team to take home first overall — something they were hungry for after tying with Blue Valley North at state last year.

“They had a fantastic season,” Head Coach Andy Gibbs said. “To go from a tie for the state championship last year, to knowing at that point that we had clinched the state championship even before the final rounds were played. It was one of those moments that for them they could see the payoff of their improvement.”

The girls trained at Overland Park Racket Club to prepare for the upcoming season. Including the state champions, the program had almost half as many girls tryout this year compared to last year due to COVID-19. Halfway through tryout week, their goal of securing the state title was almost taken away when the district made the decision to postpone sports. Once the team was allowed to continue their season, time was of the essence as three weeks of the already shortened season had been stripped because of COVID-19.

As tennis fell in the low risk category, not many changes were made to their usual season. Small adjustments, like practice size, were made to help keep it safe for all players, but no major accommodations were forced. 

“In the past a designated varsity and junior varsity group practiced every day together and other players apart of the blue and white team would come in for an hour playing matches against one another,” Gibbs explained. “Rather than having a set group of 32, we organized girls into smaller groups which we nicknamed ‘cohorts’. We were encouraged by the board to keep kids in smaller groups for contact tracing purposes.”

As the UV increased during the eight mile Monday run at cross country practice, the heat became unbearable. As they rounded the corner towards sophomore Luc Prendiville’s house, the temptation of his pool was too good to pass up. The team hopped the fence and dipped their heads in the pool, shaking it out before continuing on their route.

From crazy sock day to countless chalk drawing contests, the cross country team has bonded as a team, but also found success through this season by crushing their workouts and working on developing a better mental game. Workouts included interval training to help build stamina and teach the runners about the importance of consistency, running hills to understand the strategy of a course with obstacles and team workouts that forced them to run as a team, pushing each other to their limits.

The girls team has exceeded the team’s pre-season expectations, placing in the top third of participants of the competition each week. 

“The girls have proven every single race that they are consistent, hungry, eager and just excited about their successes,” Head Coach Tricia Beaham said. “I believe these girls will be on the podium [at state this weekend] and hopefully reach the top three.”

To reach this success, the top four girls with the shortest 5k times —  seniors Kate Kowalik and Grace Strongman, junior Grace Meyer and sophomore Scarlett Pearlman — continued their workouts even when they didn’t know if they had a season, running on their own time every day.

“Us four still trained all summer until school started,” Meyer said. “We met everyday and ran together because even if we didn’t have a season we were still planning on running together and being together. Depending on the day we would run anywhere from three to nine miles.”

These extra workouts lead Meyer, along with three seniors on the varsity teams, to break East records at the meet on Oct. 17. Their names and record times will be engraved on the leaderboard that is presented in the trophy case and holds East’s top runners and records dating back to 2001. 

Without much football action, the Friday night lights have morphed into cross country’s carbo load feast and ultimate frisbee playground for the boys. After losing multiple strong seniors last year, the boys have chosen to rebuild and incorporate new members through intense ultimate frisbee pickup games.

“These kids are very zoned in on the fact that it is a privilege to have a race each Saturday.” Beaham stated. “I think they are that much more healthier and think harder about choices that may compromise their immune systems.”