The Week in Sports

October 26, 2018

Right now, our community is divided. Over the last few weeks, it has become clear that members of this Cate community have taken sides; some of us are red while others bleed blue. The entity breaking apart the strong, unified fabric of this community is something that should be bringing us all together – Major League Baseball. The Boston Red Sox, the popular team of choice for many of Cate’s members, are in the middle of the World Series against the local favorites, the Los Angeles Dodgers. No matter which side of the baseball aisle we find ourselves, we are all pulling for the Cate Rams. The end of the fall season is here, and the excitement on campus is palpable.

The boys varsity water polo team recently wrapped up their season with a nice win and a pair of tough losses. After defeated rival Villanova, the Rams dropped two contests to Carpinteria High School and Malibu High School. While this marks the end of the campaign for Cate, it doesn’t diminish all that the team was able to accomplish this season. The team swept Villanova this season and competed very tough against every other league opponent. Seniors Cullen Barber ’19, Sebastian Sak ’19, and Peter Firestone ’19 have been a huge reason for the team’s success and have laid the foundation for the younger Rams like Peter Bulkley-Armas ’20, Marcos Brasil ’20, Emil Strauss ’21, and Lukas Hendriks ’22.

Due to a change in the CIFss calendar, the girls varsity volleyball team wrapped up their regular season earlier than they had previously done before. The Rams wrapped up their regular season on an 11-game winning streak and finished the season as Frontier League champions. Cate’s playoff run started with a home win over Rosemead High School and a road victory over Mary Star of The Sea High School. The two wins earned Cate a spot in the CIFss Quarterfinals, where they dropped a five-set heartbreaker to top-seeded Linfield Christian. The Rams finished the season 13-2 and will say goodbye to seniors Georgia Douglas ’19 and Katie Browne ’19, who helped lead a very young team all season long. With four freshmen on the roster and lots of talent returning, the future is bright for the future of Cate girls volleyball

The running Rams of the Cate cross country team have had a nice showing at the last few meets. In the famous Mr. SAC race, both sides battled illness on a hot afternoon and have very respectable finishes. On the boys side, the team finished 10th out of 18 teams. Tesfa Asmara ’20 led the Rams by placing 37th overall. Co-Captain Aber Olivares ’19 (45th overall) and Nick Patrick ’22 (52nd overall) both did a nice job for the Rams. The girls side was led once again by Anna DiSorbo ’22 who ran a time of 20:49 and finished 6th overall. Her time is good enough for 8th best Cate time on the famous Mt. SAC course. Co-Captain Bella Hillyer ’19 (32nd overall), Kennedy Simpson ’22, (58th overall) and Ari Sterling ’21 (82nd overall) rounded out the Rams scoring. The boys team also had a great day at the Santa Barbara County Championships recently, placing 10th overall. Co-Captain Josh Shields ’19 returned from illness to help lead the Rams, finishing 33rd overall. DiSorbo ’22 made history in the girls race, finishing 2nd overall; no female runner has ever finished in the top three. The Rams will run in the league finals at Lake Casitas to finish out their regular season.

On the tennis court, the girls varsity tennis team finished their regular season with a showdown of the top two teams in the county as the welcomed San Marcos High School to campus. The Rams suffered their first blemish of the year, falling to the Royals in a very tough 10-7 matchup. Cate still finished the season as Tri-Valley League champions and clinched a birth in the upcoming CIFss playoffs. Before that kicks off, however, a league individual champion needs to be crowned. Some reshuffling of the lineup has put Rams fans in a, particularly tough position. In the doubles individual championships, it will be Fritzie Mayer ’21 and Sarah Polowczak ’19 vs. Carol Cai ’20 and Grace Fuss ’20 in an all Ram affair. That’s right, both of Cate’s doubles pairs will compete in the finals. There aren’t often certainties in sports, however, it’s safe to say that the Rams will take home the doubles individual title. Which Rams, however, remains to be seen.

The Cate football team is currently 7-0 and is at the top of both the CIFss Division 1 coaches poll and the calpreps.com poll. In fact, according to maxpreps.com, the Rams are the 22nd ranked eight-man football team in the country. Quarterback Jack Deardorff ’19 has been one of Cate’s top players all season and recently named honorable mention for the Athlete of the Week presented by the Santa Barbara Round Table. It’s the third time this season Deardorff ’19 has been named honorable mention. The Rams are coming off a 55-12 win on Family Weekend over previously unbeaten Hesperia Christian, who is the top-ranked team in CIFss Division 2. The senior leadership from the Rams has been outstanding. Deardorff ’19, Sebastian Richardson ’19, Ethan Cassulo ’19, Carson Williams ’19, Drew Anastasio ’19, and Cal Sinclair ’19 have integral parts to the team’s success. The Rams have also seen great production from Scott Holmes ’20, Callum Casey ’20, Will Anderson ’20, Dalton Phillips ’20, and William Deardorff ’21. Standing in the way of an undefeated regular season for the Rams is their old friends from Ojai. Thacher will host Cate in the regular season finale on what will no doubt be an action-packed game.