This past weekend, Lakshmi Wood (’24), Alessia Cicuto (’24), and Charlotte Dadd (’24), members of the U14 Carolina All-Stars Field Hockey travel team were in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the U14 Field Hockey National Indoor Tournament. Go Chargers!
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56-47-31. No, not the combination to the safe buried deep in the hollows of Berger Hall but rather a testament to the hard work the young men and women put into this year’s swim season.
56. The size of the swim team this year. These individuals were comprised of boys, girls, upper school, middle school, year-round and traditional season athletes; the biggest variance and challenge for any team on campus. How does a team like this “gel” in order to become successful? How do we manage the magnitude of personalities and needs? Thankfully that challenge doesn’t fall squarely on the shoulders of the coaches. The team’s Junior and Senior leadership helps lead the way. By the time we make our way to GAC, one unified team is ready to compete.
47. This year 47 athletes earned the right to compete in the biggest swimming event of the year through their achievement of state qualifying times. Is 47 a lot? Give me a little perspective. Providence Day, an athletic powerhouse, arrived with the second largest squad – 30. Ravenscroft School whose seasonal team measured 96 brought 25 to the dance. 47 is an intimidating number.
31. The number of swimmers who qualified for Finals and scored in this year’s state meet – the number is simply staggering! Again, the mixture of talent was evident. 14 girls and 17 boys, with the inclusive of 7 middle school students, were ready to contribute to a single goal; win a state championship!
Throughout last night’s competition personal bests abound, records fell, All State recognitions were earned and medalists were plentiful. And, for the fourth consecutive year the girl’s team won the NCISAA State Championship in convincing fashion. The boys, fell just short. In a battle with nemesis Charlotte Latin (side note – are those ridiculously talented swimmers EVER going to graduate?), the team gave everything possible. In a score which featured two teams earning over 300 points, the CA boys came up 23 points shy to claim State Runners UP; 120 points ahead of 3rd place Cannon School.
Details of individual swims will have to wait as official times seem to be stuck in hyperspace. But, I wanted to post this result so the young men and women of CA swim could be recognized for last night’s effort and for another successful season. Every coach commends you for your will to Commit, Train and Achieve. A job well done!
Go Chargers!
– Athletics Director Kevin Jones
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There’s “Back 2 Back” and “Three-Peat”, but what moniker is used when you’ve won ELEVEN Conference Championships in a row OR even SIX? I call it CA Swimming!
Heading into today’s Championship meet, the Chargers were the favorites to repeat at the TISAC Swimming Championships held at the Triangle Aquatic Center, but not without competition. The Lady Saints and the Ravens boys team were both equipped to give CA all they could handle with a slew of talented swimmers; Arens, Crouse, Ringenbach, Hardy, Russell… And, that held true through the first three events. The boys team fell behind Ravenscroft 45-43 while the girls held a marginal lead. That’s when the opened door was SLAMMED Shut! Izzy Barnette, Elena Zayas, and Jordan Smith stepped on the blocks for the 50 Free; Result…..A Charger sweep and a 12 point swing in points. There was no looking back! The girls would go on to win 6 of the 8 remaining events en route to a 191-111 win over their closest opponent.
A similar fate held for the boys. To coin a term, the Ravens and the rest of the TISAC was “Alexanderized.” Nate simply took over the next two events. He won the 50 Free – along with a fantastic 2nd place finish by Cy Reading — and the 100 Butterfly with little brother Evan finishing as close as you can (0:57.54 to 0:57.55) for a second-place finish. The points piled and the Ravens plumage had been plucked.
Scoring to 8 places, both CA teams scored the maximum number of allotted individuals (3) in EVERY EVENT! In 15 of the 16 individual events, CA had at least one person medal (1st, 2nd or 3rd place), 12 Different swimmers earned All-Conference and Isabella Barnette was Co-“Swimmer of the Meet” along with Abby Arens. To boot, there were oodles of Personal Best Times achieved, Jasmine Ye and Anna Cheng earned their first state cuts of the year (Breaststroke), while Owen Taffar (IM), Alex Rousseau (100 Free), Jacob Farris (100 Free) and Christian Herrera (Fly) added to their repertoire of State qualifying events. Did I mention, SEVEN different Middle School Swimmers chipped in points with their swims: Sydney Martin, Katilyn Martin, Addy Neira, William Hook, Cade Reading, Andy Lim, and Alex Moore!
After being congratulated by a good man, Bill Newman, after the meet, my response was “it never gets old!” How could it? Watching the team work hard all season long and then come together to achieve a common goal while shouting cheers of encouragement so their peers pick up an extra point or achieve a personal best, it’s what team sports are about. Coach Sanchez, Coach Pullen, Coach Lauffer, Coach Nye, Coach Kevin Chen and I are so proud of you! Rest Easy Chargers, you’ve earned it. Tonight you go to sleep a Champion!
Final Scores:
Boys
Cary Academy (177)
Ravenscroft (146)
Durham Academy (81)
Wake Christian (41)
NRCA (37)
Girls:
Cary Academy (191)
Saint Mary’s (111)
NRCA (93)
Durham Academy (55)
Ravenscroft (26)
Wake Christian (24)
By Director of Athletics, Kevin Jones
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On Wednesday, CA Athletics recognized three members of the Class of 2020 who have committed to play a sport at the collegiate level. Dorrit Eisenbeis, who will play field hockey at UNC-Chapel Hill and Laney Rouse, who will play soccer at the University of Virginia, signed their Division I letters of intent. Jack Todd has committed to swimming at the University of Chicago, a Division III school. Go Chargers!
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At the NCISAA State Championship cross country meet, the varsity girls cross country team took second place, while Kenny Eheman ’21 finished as an All-State runner, leading the boys to a 4th place finish, overall. Go Chargers!
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At the TISAC girls golf tournament, on Tuesday, October 15, Erin Singleton ’20 was named TISAC Player of the Year (meaning she had the lowest overall average in the TISAC for the entire season), and earned the Medalist Trophy (best 18 hole score for the tournament) as CA’s varsity girls golf team took second place.
During a beautiful day at Croasdaile Country Club in Durham, the Chargers beat out NRCA & The Ravens for second place, but couldn’t quite get DA. Both Singleton and Cate Pitterle ’20 were named to the the All-Conference Team.
The varsity girls golf team next plays at the NCISSA tournament, at the Country Club of Whispering Pines, October 20-22.
The final scores:
DA – 254
CA – 262
NRCA – 263
Ravens – 263
St. Mary’s – 338
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On a cloudy, breezy, chilly, beautiful (for cross country!) afternoon, the CA MS boys three-peated as conference champs! Way to go Chargers!!
The afternoon started off with the Co-ed Open race. Charlie Eheman was the overall winner of the boys’ race in 11:10 and was closely followed in by Derek Wang, Adam Zhang, Mordecai Mengesteab, Ike Ugwa, Ian Chen and Fred O’Brien – CA’s boys took the top seven spots in the race! Congratulations to all of our Charger runners in the Open, you did a phenomenal job!
The Girls’ Championship race followed. Our girls ran hard over the hilly, wooded course. Ava O’Brien was our first CA girl to cross the finish line in 12:31. She was soon followed by Maddie Alvarez (12:47), Maggie Su (13:31) and Mirella Digiulio (13:50). The girls field had tough competition and though our girls ran their best, Franklin Academy won the Girls Conference Championship, with CA finishing 7th out of the 10 conference teams.
The Boys’ Championship race was the last race of the afternoon. Our top seven boys ran to defend our Conference Championship wins from the last two seasons; it was a close race with excellent competition from several other teams. Our boys took four of the top 10 places: Blair Mitchell finished 2nd overall with a time of 10:09 and was the first Charger across the line. Kevin Kaufman finished 4th in 10:22, Jacob Farris was 5th in 10:30, Ben Holton was 9th at 10:40 and Evan Astrike-Davis rounded out CA’s top five in 19th place with a 10:58.
Everyone held their breath as the team scores were announced; it was a VERY close race, but the Chargers edged out 2nd place Magellan 39-to-43 to capture our third consecutive conference championship! What a great way to wrap up the 2019 season!
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The American Baseball Coaches Association has awarded the Spring 2019 varsity baseball Chargers with the “Team Academic Excellence Award.” Cary Academy was only one of two high schools in North Carolina to receive this national recognition, awarded annually since 1949. In order to be nominated for the award, teams must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (without rounding-up).
written by Communications Intern Caroline Diorio.
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Often, community building requires community buildings.
For the Athletics department, the fall tailgate—the unofficial athletics kickoff for the 2019-20 school year—is fast approaching (and, unlike last year, should hopefully be free of hurricanes *knock wood*). In addition to celebrating our athletes, next Friday’s tailgate marks our first chance to show off some dramatic and exciting changes to our athletics’ facilities and program.
You might ask: how does improving our athletics facilities strengthen our community?
As we’ve said before, despite its status as an academic powerhouse, CA’s student body is full of athletes, with 81% of eligible students playing at least one sport. So, it only makes sense that—much like completing the CMS and redesigning the library—improvements to our athletics facilities will have a similarly significant impact on our students, fans, and families.
For years, the weight room in the Fitness Center gym has been cramped, dark, and generally uninviting. Aside from use by teams, it has served the community through the hard work and personal dedication of Information Services Consultant Eric Moore and Landscape Technician Roy Peterson, who devoted their time to guiding workouts for students, staff, and faculty alike.
To better serve the community, we’ve rethought the design and function of the weight room to reflect a larger goal of whole-body wellness with a philosophical focus on functional training, in addition to traditional weight-based strength training. Over the summer, the rechristened strength and conditioning room was significantly expanded, nearly doubling in size. Larger windows will allow more light and make the room’s atmosphere more welcoming, while non-porous MONDO flooring will make high-impact workouts safer.
Have you ever avoided the gym, intimidated by the prospect of working out next to an intense ‘gym junkie?’ We want the new strength and conditioning room to make everyone feel welcome, regardless of their strength and athletic prowess. The addition of functional training, which uses body mechanics and functional movements tuned to the individual, is a more accessible approach to fitness and one that we hope can benefit the health of the entire community.
Ensuring that everyone can benefit from the new space and workout safely, the expanded room will house the offices of Head Athletic Trainer Rob Assadurian, Assistant Athletic Trainer Eldridge Baltazar, who is now a full-time member of the CA staff, and our first full-time Strength and Conditioning Coach, Richard Huxford.
Coach Huxford comes to CA after a career playing in the English Football and Scottish Football Leagues and coaching the Carolina Railhawks and North Carolina FC. In addition to his experience as a world-class coach and athlete, he brings expertise in biokinetics. Biokenetics—which uses motion tracking to help athletes study their body mechanics in detail– will allow Coaches Huxford and Moore to improve our teams’ and individual students’ athletic techniques, mobility, and quickness, once the strength and conditioning room opens.
But what of the experience of going to games, how is that improving?
The FC has received a fresh coat of much brighter paint, which has, in my opinion, made a huge difference in making the fan experience much more welcoming. It’s also allowed us to reorganize our championship banners (I have to say it makes me feel proud to see our student-athletes’ accomplishments covering the walls!).
The baseball field is also getting a major upgrade with the construction of a new pressbox and announcer’s booth. In addition to housing conveniently-located bathrooms—which will also make life more comfortable for events and sports on the Middle School field—the new building will provide an enhanced fan experience, turning games into community events thanks to better announcement, entertainment, and technological capabilities.
I know what you’re thinking: I get that CA has a reputation as a ‘technology-driven school,’ but how exactly does improved support for technology at our athletics venues improve our program and help us build a better community?
Thanks to a future installation of a new Hudl Focus smart camera in the FC, we will be able to automatically capture game footage for later analysis by coaches and players. Happily, the equipment also supports livestreaming, which will allow us to pilot and experiment with that technology in the future.
Don’t get me wrong: we still want fans, families, and supporters cheering our Chargers on in person. But, if you can’t make it, this technology has the potential to allow you (or other Charger fans from afar) a virtual seat in the stands. In addition to games, since the FC is also an event hub for our campus community, livestreams could allow members of the wider CA community to view schoolwide experiences, such as Ubuntu, Middle School students vs. faculty games, Wacky Olympics, and more.
But that’s not all.
Launching today, our brand-new CA Athletics site—GoChargers.caryacademy.org—will also provide a better experience for fans, families, and members of the community, conveying important athletics information and broadcasting the hard work and accomplishments of our Charger athletes, coaches, and supporters.
Finally, our longest-term ‘summer’ project is racing towards completion.
Back in May, a few days before commencement, an expert crew began completely rebuilding the track and field running track. We are replacing the 22-year old latex surface with a premium MONDO performance track, the same surface used in many recent Olympic Games.
CA will be the first school in North Carolina, and one of a handful of schools in the South, with a MONDO surface. Once completed in October, Charger athletes will train and compete on a world-class track that is on-par with (and in many cases, better than) the running surfaces they will experience at the collegiate level. It will help them continue to excel, while providing a safer surface for their joints and muscles. The MONDO surface will make our track one of the best in North Carolina, opening the door for our school to host more community events and athletic competitions in the future.
There’s so much to be excited about, as our campus and Charger spirit grows. Next Friday, come out and join us for a slate of home games, to cheer on our school, get to know each other, and take pride in our strides.
Go Chargers!
Written by Kevin Jones, Athletic Director
