The Week in Sports
May 19, 2017
Joseph Thomassen ’18 gives a quick return during a doubles game last week. (©Ashleigh Mower for Cate School)
The regular season has come to a close and along with the school year, the post-season is winding down as well. It has been a terrific year for the Rams with many exciting moments filling the Mesa with joy and energy. This past week was no different. Before we recap the post-season events we want to recognize a few individuals.
Brie Walker ’18 and Summer Christensen ’17 were recognized on Wednesday night at the Santa Barbara Athletic Roundtable’s Evening with the Athletes. Walker was named Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year following an outstanding season in which she helped lead the team to the US Lacrosse Los Angeles semifinals. She was among the team leaders in goals, assists, ground balls, and draw controls on the way to an undefeated regular season. Summer was named as the Cate representative for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award given to a senior at each of the local high schools. In addition to an impressive GPA and classwork, Summer participated in three sports while at Cate including serving as captain of the Tri-Valley League champion girls tennis team. Congratulations!
The Coastal View Athletes of the Week were:
Kyril Van Schendel ’18 and Rivers Sheehan ’19: Both athletes advanced to the CIF Division 4 Finals in two events following standout performances at the Prelims. Kyril will compete in the 1600 and 3200 races while Rivers will compete in the long jump and triple jump events.
The boys tennis team earned the #1 overall seed in the Division 3 CIF Championships based off of their 15-0 regular season record. The team lost #1 doubles player Nicholas Hilldebrandt ’18 to injury right before the playoffs, leaving the Rams with a bit of a hole to fill. The team responded in fine fashion defeating St. Joseph (Santa Maria) in the first round. The #1 doubles team of Christian Herman ’17 and new partner Joseph Thomassen ’18 looked sharp, while Brad Gordon ’19 and Charlie Morris ’18 showed why they were TVL champions. In the second round, the Rams hosted Webb and pulled through some tight sets to earn a hard-fought win over the Gauls. Ethan Ha ’20 and Kevin Ha ’17 were perfect on the day in singles en route to a 12-6 win. The team hit the road for a long trip to Santa Ana on Monday to face Foothill High School. In a wild affair, the Rams went back and forth with the Knights all afternoon long. Number three singles players Anhyo Jeong ’17 and Elliot Tsai ’20 won a combined three games on the day. While they did not win any sets, those three games proved vital as the teams tied 9-9. In tennis the first tiebreaker is the number of games won, and the Rams emerged victorious 70-69! It was an exciting win on the road setting up a home match with Buckley in the semifinals. The match with the Griffins proved to be a tense, hard-fought battle. The Ha brothers went unbeaten on the day and the doubles pair of Gordon and Morris were strong as well. The Rams dropped a tie-breaker set, as well as two sets at 5-7 and that proved to be a difference maker. It was a fantastic season for the team that ended just a few sets short of competing for a CIF Championship. Kevin, Ethan, Brad and Charlie will continue on.
The track team had an outstanding day at the CIF Division 4 Prelims held at Carpinteria High School last week. Many personal records were broken and one school record was erased in exciting fashion. The girls 4×400 relay team broke the previous record set in 1993. Isabel Montes de Oca ’18, Elle Smith ’19, Rovenna Armi ’19, and Sarah Polowczak ’19 combined to take a half-second off the school record, running 4:10.8 and placing tenth overall. They will be alternates for the CIF Finals on Saturday. Van Schendel moves forward placing seventh in the 1600 and fourth in the 3200. Sheehan will compete in the long jump and triple jump after finishing ninth in the long and seventh in the triple. They will travel to Cerritos College on Saturday to compete in the Southern Section Championships.
The swim team qualified five swimmers for the CIF Division 3 Prelims last week. This is the highest division Cate has ever competed in. Halie Straathof ’17 qualified as an individual in two events, the 50 freestyle and 100 back. She placed 29th and 23rd respectively, just missing qualification for finals. On the boys side, the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams qualified and finished 24th and 23rd respectively. The teams were comprised of Marcos Brasil ’20, Andre Pincot ’18, Victor Vasquez ’19, Kaiser Ke ’19, and Julien Maes ’17. It was an exciting season for the team and it was exciting for the group to compete against schools ten times the size of Cate.
The girls lacrosse team capped an unbeaten regular season with a run to the US Lacrosse Los Angeles tournament semifinals. The Rams crept up to a #4 overall ranking to end the regular season. The Rams hosted Thousand Oaks and Oak Park for two incredible and thrilling games to start the playoffs. Against Thousand Oaks, Katherine Grossman ’17 was outstanding scoring clutch goals, including the overtime game-winning eight-meter shot to seal the 14-13 win. Eva Herman ’17, Morgan Prinz ’17, and Summer Christensen ’17 locked down the Lancers top scorers to lead the Rams to victory. Against Oak Park, the Rams never trailed, but never led by more than two goals in the 11-9 win. Freshman goalie Liza Borghesani ’20 was huge in goal, racking up nine saves. Brie Walker ’18 tallied five points (3g, 2a) while Grossman added five goals of her own. The Rams traveled to Culver City to face off against #5 Chaminade in the semifinals. The Rams battled through the early part of the game to tie the game at three before going cold. The Eagles went on a four-goal run to close out the first half. As has been the case all year long, the Rams battled back in the second half to cut the lead to 7-8 with a minute to play. Unlike previous games, the girls could not get that last clutch goal, falling to Chaminade by a score of 7-9. It was a thrilling end to a wonderful season for the girls, despite being different from the one they had hoped for.
Good luck to the athletes still competing as we wind down the school year. To all the parents and fans that supported the blue and white this year, we say thanks. GO RAMS!!!