This Week in Athletics

April 28, 2023

We have come to the end of April, and with it, the close of the Spring regular season. Although the much-needed rain fall was wonderful for the California landscape, it led to some difficult playing conditions with most teams not competing until well after Spring Break. Even under those unusual conditions, our student-athletes continued to improve their skills and techniques waiting for their opportunity. All of that patience and perseverance led to five teams advancing to their respective CIF tournaments.

On the baseball diamond, the Rams endured a tougher season than they had hoped. The elements, some injuries, and an inexperienced team led to some unfortunate outcomes. However, there were moments of really good baseball played by this group. Stringing several innings together with great pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting left the coaches extremely excited about the future. With eight of their nine starters set to return, the team is poised to take the next steps in 2024. The coaches want to thank seniors Emmett Mack and Marley Joseph for all of their hard work over the past four years. They have set a great example for the underclassmen.

The boys volleyball team, much like the baseball team, was a young group with a lot of upside. The results were not always in the team’s favor but effort was never an issue. A loaded schedule of good competition was a little too much for the Rams this year. With the lessons learned from this year, a team returning all members should be ready to hit the floor running next year.

Down at the Emmett Horowitz Aquatic Center, the swim teams have been cruising by their competition this season, winning all but one of their meets so far. The Rams have been able to impose their will on their opponents in both their short and long races. On the boys side, it has been the fast swimming of Cyrus Symington ’23 (two school records – 200m medley and 100m breast) that has paced the Rams. Swimming along Cyrus in the medley has been Zach White ’24, Phin Stephenson ’25, and Joba Samson ’26. Not many have been able to stay close to this group. On the girls side, the team has been solid from top to bottom with multiple swimmers finishing in the top three of most races, and one swimmer in particular has been leading the way. Jenevive Won ’26 has stormed out of the blocks in her first year having broken the school record in the 100m fly and followed it up by breaking her own record twice. The team is getting ready to finish up their League Finals on April 28 and will see who will move on to the CIF Qualifiers. The coaching staff would like to thank seniors Cyrus, Brian Payne, Jack Higgins, Ellis Alegrado, Ada James, Nicole Teh, Lylie Bechtel, and Myla Van Lynde.

The boys tennis team, despite being one of the teams most affected by the weather, had a very successful campaign. A perfect 7-0 for the Rams all in dominant fashion led to a solid standing when the team moved on to the League Finals. After the first day of finals, the championships included five members of the Cate squad. Jengus Ercil ’23 matched up against the number one seed from Foothill Tech and following a back-and-forth battle, Jengus wasn’t able to top his tough opponent. On the doubles side of the draw, Cate’s Nate Newlove ’25 and Harry Su ’25 defeated teammates Nate Keshen ’24 and Ethan Bloom ’24. Now the team will look toward their CIF draw which will be revealed this weekend with first and second-round matches beginning next week. Jengus and Will Vanica ’23 have been stalwarts for the boys tennis team. Thank you to both for outstanding careers.

Boys lacrosse has been on a tear all season. The Rams began the season rattling off seven straight wins before losing their first and only game of the regular season. However, a quick bounce-back streak immediately after, highlighted by a 15-10 win over the Toads in Ojai, clinched a Channel League Championship. The defense and goaltending have continued to be the anchor of the team. The offense, led by seniors Wade Nieman and Harry McAdam, is scoring in bunches giving the defense more freedom to tighten the reigns on opposing offenses. The team will learn this Saturday who they will play in the first round with that matchup most likely taking place here on the Mesa.

What a year it has been for the girls lacrosse team. After losing their first three games, the girls finished the year on a nine-game win streak culminating in a Channel League Championship, as well. In that impressive win streak, the team managed two dominant wins against the team from Ojai only adding to the success of this year. The group is led by an impressive senior class with incredible depth in the underclassmen, who were able to learn from those upperclassmen while gaining all important playing experience. Those seniors – Liz Sutter, Gigi Geyer, Ellie Tunnell, Phebe Hancock, Devon Lack, and Mary Foster – have given so many years to the lacrosse program and the coaches could not be more thankful.

Up on the track, the Rams have been fast and dominant. Both teams have been placing in the top five in all races this year as a whole, with individual runners putting up some impressive wins. Most recently, at the annual Russell Cup held at Carpinteria High School, 12 runners posted personal best times, with three doing so in multiple events. The above and beyond standout performances of that meet, and for most this year, were Kennedy Kirkland ’23 and Seb Sutch ‘24 taking home three gold medals apiece, with Seb breaking the school record in the 800m and Kennedy being named Most Outstanding Female Athlete for the entire meet. Moving forward, the team will race in the League Championships on Friday, April 28, in hopes of qualifying for the CIF Prelim meet next Saturday, May 6 also at Carpinteria High School. An already tremendous year looks to be even better, and much of that has to do with the tremendous dedication from this group’s seniors – Kennedy Kirkland, Kendall Thorne, Emily Allison, Tamsyn Taptich, Emie Nam, Thalia Ruxin, Kaity Hendricks, Athena Ke, Justin Musyimi, Rory Zhang, Alex Tang, and Carlo Kim.

Thank you all for your continued support of our student-athletes. Hopefully, more great news is still to come before this year comes to a close.