Spring Sports Wrap-up

6/4/2015

Highlights and awards from the spring athletic season.

As the 2014-2015 athletics year comes to a close, we bid farewell to a committed, dedicated, and passionate group of senior athletes. Over the past four years, we have witnessed some amazing and heartfelt performances by them. Their coaches are grateful to have worked with them, their parents are proud of them, and the School will forever be indebted to their leadership and efforts on the fields, courts, track, and diamond. Great job seniors! You will be long remembered.

This was a memorable year as it was our first year participating in the Tri-County Athletic Association. In many sports, we were matched against larger schools with teams that play together for most of the year. However, even in the face of adversity, our teams stood tall and played with passion and determination against these worthy opponents.

That said, we had a very successful athletics campaign this year. We produced league champions in football, girls' tennis (both teams undefeated in league play and advancing to the CIF finals), and boys' cross-country (9th consecutive league championship). The boys' tennis team was a co-league champion, the girls' basketball team advanced to the semi-finals of CIF, and our track team broke numerous School records. In addition, we had many athletes named to first team all-league teams; highlighted by Lukas Ceseña '15 who was named CIF offensive player of the year for 8-man football. Also joining him for the all-CIF team John Carey '15 for offense and Mitch Weil '15, Nate Currie '15, and Jacques Robles '17 for defense. Other winners named to all-CIF teams were, Jordan Perry '17 for girls' basketball and Mitch Weil '15 for boys' basketball. Also, Libby Kern '17, Grace Bingham '15 and Grace Callander '16 were named Most Valuable Players for Frontier League in girls' tennis. Lastly, we had 9 teams qualify for post-season play and CIF championships.

Success notwithstanding, we also had teams with disappointing records, but even with discouragment, these teams fought hard throughout their seasons and never quit. Thacher athletes clearly showed they play the game for the passion, teamwork, camaraderie, sportsmanship, and pure enjoyment of the game. Win or lose, they left everything on the courts and fields and know that at the end of the day, the meaning of Thacher athletics is not on the scoreboard but in the heart. I couldn't be more proud of what our athletes accomplished this year. Godspeed, seniors!

—Director of Athletics, Pete Fagan

Girls' Varsity Lacrosse

Coaches: Heather Grant, Kara Hooper

Captains: Mackenzie Boyden '15, Anne Gregory '15

Seniors: Georgie Becker, Grace Bingham, Mackenzie Boyden, Anne Gregory
Season record: 9-9

MVP: Anne Gregory '15

Most Inspirational Player: Mackenzie Boyden '15

Most Improved Player: Libby Kern '17

Captains for following season: Charlotte Driscoll '16, Talia Isaacson '16, Margaret Troast '16

Season highlights: With only six returning players, this was a season marked by tremendous growth. This group of athletes was extremely responsive to the instruction of their coaches, implementing a number of new strategies throughout the spring and building upon concepts from previous seasons. We started the season with a string of wins against schools with newer lacrosse programs, which allowed us to gain confidence and experience as a group. Tackling some more experienced teams pushed us out of comfort zone a bit, but also applied the pressure necessary for real improvement. We ended the season with some decisive victories over Chadwick and La Reina (a team that we had lost to 1-15 earlier in the season). Our four seniors, Georgie Becker, Grace

Bingham, Mackenzie Boyden, and Anne Gregory, stepped up to the challenge of leading this inexperienced group in an unwavering fashion. A number of girls made a big leap to play at the varsity level after learning the basics of the game on JV last year. We also had the unusual good fortune of some freshmen who arrived at Thacher with previous lacrosse experience, which helped round out the squad on non-riding days. The coaches appreciated the willingness of this group of girls to put in the hard work necessary to experience significant growth this season. While we did not qualify for postseason play, we did have some athletes recognized for their individual accomplishments this season. Georgie Becker, Mackenzie Boyden, and Anne Gregory were all selected for the All LA Regional team by vote of the coaches committee. Freshmen Béa Pierrepont and Libby Hatton tried out and were selected for the LA Regional Team. They will be traveling to play in the Women’s Division National Tournament in Philadelphia to represent the area in May.

Girls' JV Lacrosse

Coaches: Logan Brown, Whitney Livermore
Captains: Hillary Ellman '16, Kathryn Lynch '16

Season Record: 3-1-2

MVP: Elizabeth Swindells '17

Most Improved Players: Faith Earley '17, Jasmin Kim '17

Most Inspirational Player: Kathryn Lynch '16

Season highlights: We only had six games this season due to a lack of competition in the area, but the girls played their hearts out in those six games. They also worked tirelessly in practice, and that hard work paid off, as the improvement seen by the team was really remarkable. Many of our girls came out in March having never picked up a lacrosse stick. When we did our end of season voting, over half the team was voted for the most improved player award. The spread of voting, as well as a big win against rival Cate (after having lost to them in a close game just a few weeks before), were both great demonstrations of our team’s vast growth. The most fun game to watch was our game against Chadwick. At the beginning of the season many of our goals were scored in fast break situations. We had some very speedy attackers and they would score by outrunning their opponents. Although this was a great skill to have and benefited us greatly, it was really fun to see as the season went on girls putting together passes on our transitions from defense to the midfield, and then using a settled offense and quick passing to get by defenders to score.

Cate 10 Thacher 8 first game against rivals in April
Thacher 9 Cate 6 second game a few weeks later

Boys' Lacrosse

Coaches: Tim Sullivan, Bob St. George, Cam Spaulding, Brandon Doyle, Conner Schryver

Captains: Kipper Berven '15, Stuart Brown '15, Griffin McMahon '15, Jack Pierrepont '16

Season Record: 4-8

Seniors: Kipper Berven, Stuart Brown, Griffin McMahon, Orren Fox

MVP: Jack Pierrepont '16

Most Improved Player: Homa Bakhiet '17

Thacher School Boys Lacrosse Team Spirit Award: Jack Pierrepont '16

Unsung Hero: Sam Butler '16, Ronan Byrne '17

Captain for following season: Jack Pierrepont '16

Season highlights: This season marked yet another step forward for the boys’ lacrosse program, despite the fact that our 4-8 record didn’t necessarily reflect it. Coming into this season, we expected to compete at a much higher level than we’d done in the past, and I constructed a challenging schedule for that reason. Unfortunately, we lost two players to injury Sam '17 and Jack '15 Richardson who were among the guys we were counting on most going into the season, and their absence unquestionably had a negative effect on our record.

That said, enthusiasm for lacrosse here at Thacher continues to grow, and that’s reflected in the ~50 percent increase in participation that we had this season. As a result of that growth, we were able to have a hybrid team this year: we didn’t have quite enough for a fully independent JV team (although we hope to next year), but we did play three JV games, and we were able to have one of our coaches, Conner Schryver, dedicate himself especially to working with the younger guys. The results were tremendous. Guys like Homa Bakhiet '17, Conor McCune '18, Peter Conte '18, Carson Van Kalsbeek '18, Tobi Oyinlola '17, and others who’d never played lacrosse before made incredible gains in their lacrosse ability and understanding this season, and that’s largely thanks to Coach Schryver.

Among the varsity regulars, there were definitely some highlights. First and foremost, we beat Cate by a score of 7-6 on April 2. After running out to a 5-0 lead, Cate mounted an incredible comeback and tied the game in the late stages. With the game tied and Thacher a man down, Kipper Berven '15 made an incredible headsup play to get the Toads a quick restart before charging down the field and feeding the ball to Orren Fox '15 to take the lead. Our other wins, against Viewpoint, Malibu, and Pali Charter, were highlights as well, and even in many of our defeats we proved that we could play with top level competition we just couldn’t keep up for four quarters.

Other highlights: Stuart Brown '15 moved from LSM to offensive midfield midway through the year and added an explosive scoring punch up front. Laurence Jackson '17 proved to be a 1980s -style two-way middie, capable of being a factor on both the offensive and defensive ends of the field. Jack Richardson '15 demonstrated that he is a top-flight goaltender, not only by recording a number of acrobatic saves throughout the course of the year, but also by clearing the ball himself on many occasions and even contributing an assist here and there.

Boys' and Girls' Track & Field
Coaches: Joel Sohn, Sarah DelVecchio, Donald Okpalugo

Captains: Lukas Ceseña '15, Kennedy Green '15

Seniors: Emmanuel Aruho, Jordan Augustus, Lukas Ceseña, Ben Chadwick, Arianna Finger, Kennedy Green, Alex Levers, Andre Ntshaykolo, Andrew St.George

MVP: Kennedy Green '15

Most Improved Player: Sarah Voss '16

Captains for following season: Peter Callan '16, Serena Warren '16

CIF qualification: Ben Chadwick '15, Peter Callan '16, and the boys' 4x400 relay team (Jordan Augustus '15, Lukas Ceseña '15, Ben Chadwick '15, Spencer McCune '16)

Season highlights:

Sarah Voss '16 running a 5:22 at CIF prelims
Ben Chadwick '15 setting school record in 400m and 4x400 relay
Kennedy Green '15 setting both 100 and 200m School records
Peter Callan '16 setting School record in the 1600m
Boys' 4x400 set school record: first broke by Manny Aruho '15, Jordan Augustus '15, Lukas Ceseña '15 and Ben Chadwick '15 then again by Jordan Augustus '15, Spencer McCune '16, Lukas Ceseña '15 and Ben Chadwick '15
Athletes competed at CIFs:

Peter Callan '16 in the 1600, setting school record and placing 6th, Ben Chadwick '15 in the 400m, and the boys' 4x400 (Jordan, Spencer, Lukas, and Ben).

Boys' Varsity Tennis

Coaches: Scott Burton, Peter Fagan

Captains: Mitch Weil '15, Ben Yih '15

League Record: 7-1

Season Record: 10-1

Seniors: Alex Chen, Mitch Weil, Ben Yih

MVP: Mitch Weil '15

Most Imrpoved Player: Pierre Weil '17

CIF qualification? Yes

Season highlights: For the first time in many years, the boys' tennis team finally beat Cate. We beat them at home by a score of 12-6 and barely lost to them at Cate, 10-8. Our two captains, Mitch Weil '15 and Ben Yih '15 have been excellent throughout the season. We have also gotten numerous contributions from sophomores Shinn Taniya, Lukas Chao, Finn Ehringer and Pierre Weil. We were co-league champions of the Tri-Valley league and qualified as a 2nd seed for CIF. We lost to Yorba Linda High School in the first round of CIF. Mitch Weil '15 and Colin Troughton '16 made 1st team all-league and Lukas Chao '17, Shinn Taniya '17 and Joe Hardwicke '18 made 2nd team all-

league. Ben Yih '15 was all-league honorable mention.

Boys' JV Tennis

Coach: Jon Swift

Captains: Kevin Ryu '16, Bynk Chanuntranont '17

League Record: 4-1

Season Record: 5-1

MVP: Kevin Ryu '16

Most Improved Player: Hayton Oei '16

Sportsmanship Award: Bynk Chanuntranont '17

Season highlights:

Bynk Chanuntranont '17 shaking his doubles partner’s hand after every point (and I mean every point), win or lose.
Jay Won Lee '18 getting 3 games out of Carpinteria’s #1 singles player.
Any one of Diallo Scott’s '18 amazing lobs.
Yousef Lawrence’s '18 tenacity.
Bynk Chanuntranont’s '17 unyielding enthusiasm during practice and matches
Hayton Oei’s '16 final stroke of the season… an overhead smash in a 6-0 victory vs. Carpinteria.
Kevin Ryu '16 beating coach in a game to claim shotgun on the trip to Dunn.

Baseball

Coaches: Tony Franco, Cal Jensen

Captains: John Carey '15, Marshall Fisher '15, Pedro Ureña '15

League Record: 0-10

Season Record: 1-16

Seniors: John Carey, Marshall Fisher, Pedro Ureña

MVP: John Carey '15

Most Improved Player: Braden Roh '17

Most Inspirational Player: John Carey '15

Best Chatter-er: Teddy Williams '16

Captains for following season: Tucker Bennett '16, Eric Oregel '16

Season highlights: We started the season off at lightning speed with two competitions up in San Francisco during the second week of break. What an experience! I'll take this opportunity as yet another shout out to our lovely SF families who did more than just host us. Thank you, so very much, again, to the Carey, Williams, and Kern families! The one hiccup in that trip, however, was that our vocal leader, a captain, and core of the squad, Pedro Ureña '15, went down with an injury. From there on out, the season had its peaks and valleys. We sprinkled a dash—or three—of excellent play, but noticeably struggled in the experience department. Seniors and captains Marshall Fisher and John Carey led the team with their skill, heart, desire and love of the sport. As head coach, I could not have asked for better leaders—or better people. These two young men are, without a doubt, of the highest standard. Sherman Day Thacher would be proud to call them Thacher boys. Every other player followed suit, and we even relied tremendously on freshmen Elias Ceseña and Chris Robinson. We're truly looking forward to their efforts next year when we'll have them in a more full-time capacity. Leading the squad next year as captains will be junior, pitching ace, third baseman and second-team All-CIF-SS, Tucker Bennett, and sophomore, hefty-lefty and first baseman, Eric Oregel.

Dance Ensemble

Director: Gallia Vickery

Captains: Hayley Kong '15, Wesley Liang '15

Seniors: Inga Conyngham, Hayley Kong, Wesley Liang, Emily Su

Season highlights: Dance Ensemble had a full and rewarding spring term. In addition to our regular performances at Grandparent's Day and Gymkhana Weekend, the dancers had an intensive with Jennifer Backhaus of backhausdance, that culminated in a performance for the whole school of a piece created and developed in 11 hours over three days We were also invited to perform in the Dance Collective at Center Stage Theater in Santa Barbara with SBCC and UCSB. This gave the dancers a sense of a performance series, with technical and dress rehearsals, a Friday evening and Saturday matinee and evening performances. Our signature piece of the spring "Doorways," had two sections, the first using doorways covered and uncovered to help create images of hiding, testing, discovering, finding support and moving forward. The second section

involved more free, abstract dance and culminated with a return of the doorways as a shared space. Our other pieces this spring were "Quartet" to Dance Me to the End of Love by the Civil Wars, and "Young and Beautiful" to Lana Rey's song of the same name, a dance for six choreographed by senior Wesley Liang.

Rock Climbing

Coaches: Brian Pidduck, Bo Manson, Mark Benkert

Seniors: David Amano, Taylor Bacon, Mohammad Bakhiet, Liam Carpenter-Urquhart, Sienna Currie, Bailey Cypheridge, Owen Driscoll, Robin Evans, Kevin Griffee, Cassie James, Apollo Kaneko, Declan Kelly, Skylar Lewis, Charlie Morgenstein, Adam Silberberg, Kameelah Sims-Traylor, Sarah Van Son

The Brotherhood/Sisterhood of the Rope Award: Sienna Currie '15

Most Improved Climber: Serafina Nieves '17

Mentor Climber Award: Liam Carpenter-Urquhart '15, Owen Driscoll '15

Most Impressive Ascent: (three climbers on multiple climbs, but most significantly on Plaque Direct on Jameson Boulder) Sienna Currie '15, Robin Evans '15, Adam Silberberg '15

Season highlights:

1. Adam Silberberg '15, Robin Evans '15 and Sienna Currie '15 lead climbing at Y-Crack and climbing Royal Arches in Yosemite Valley in September.

2. Seeing Liam Kirkpatrick '17, Andrew Eaton '17 and Peter Schmidt '17 climbing Jameson Face at the Thacher Boulderfield.

3. One of the best climbs of the year was Serafina Nieves '17 climbing Jameson Face —

incredibly inspiring to see how hard she worked and to see her succeed.

4. Sienna, Adam and Robin climbing a myriad of problems on Jameson Boulder that only

they can do. Highlights were Plaque Direct, Meditation 41 (Robin and Adam), and the

DoubleDyno (Robin and Adam). Sienna has been working on the Plaque Direct for 3

years; she succeeded this spring!

5. The MOST important highlight for the coaches was the unwavering enthusiasm, high

level of safety and support for one another that all of the climbers showed for themselves and for one another. This was an impressive group and very talented. At the same time, they are humble, appreciative, and show a deep love for climbing and being in the outdoors.

6. In addition, seeing the 9 beginning climbers demonstrate their knowledge of the

fundamentals of climbing and passing their C-Climber Test at the culmination of the

season was a highlight for the coaches (and, I believe, for the students as well!).

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