Sports teaches us life lessons

Gina Lin - CHS Class of 2024
Richelle Zheng - CHS Class of 2025

(12/2023) In a blink of an eye, the fall sports season has come to a close. The track teams continue conquering competitions effortlessly, with the boys winning the MPSSAA 1A West Region Championship and the girls following in second. Although not all Catoctin sports teams reached their expectations on the field, the lessons learned from those games are what remains the most important at the end of the day.

This year was the first year of the pilot flag football program. Even though the Cougars didn’t do the best this season, the coaches have a lot to say of the girls' efforts. The assistant coach, Rebecca Hurley commented, "I enjoyed watching the girls learn the sport and grow as a team while having fun." Hurley will be coaching flag football again next year.

"Hopefully, we’ll learn new flag skills and participate in team building. Due to a combination of factors, Cougars flag football fell behind this season. Hurley pointed out, "There were some schools, such as Oakdale and Urbana, who had unofficial flag programs." But Catoctin’s players didn’t have previous exposure to flag football. Moreover, Catoctin had such a small team compared to bigger schools with twice the number of members. Since the game requires seven players on the field at once, they struggled with player rotation. Hurley also discussed some of her struggles with coaching.

"I learned a lot about myself by finding a balance in coaching skills and making it fun for the girls." She described times where she would encourage the girls after games, as they tried their best during games, even being disadvantaged. The girls should be commended for learning a new sport and participating in something outside of their comfort zone. The coaches also made suggestions to the pilot flag football program, such as better promotion to increase interest in the sport.

There have been notable moments in Cougars football. For example, they won the playoffs for the first time since 2019! The Cougars played Loch Raven High School on November 2 and won 33-12. Then the Cougars advanced to the regional second bracket on November 9th against Patterson Mill High School Huskies. Although the Cougars slipped in the 4th quarter by falling behind by two touchdowns, they recovered. In the end they were able to squeeze past the Huskies with a 20-19 victory. Catoctin will face Mountain Ridge High School in the 1A State Quarterfinals.

This season, the team also learned to bridge a language gap between their kicker, Jorge Diaz-Nichols, a Spanish foreign exchange student, and the rest of the team. Diaz-Nichols had never played football before but the team saw potential in him and the more they invested in him, the more he improved – it’s almost like a positive feedback loop. This season proved to be a successful one as the Cougars made significant improvement on the field.

Field hockey has experienced a roller coaster of events this season as they had a pretty even distribution of wins and losses. Catoctin field hockey prevailed over Brunswick High School, 6-1 on October 26 and proceeded to regional finals. The regional finals took place on October 31 against the Middletown High School Knights. The Cougars fell to the Knights, 0-2, effectively concluding the 2023 season. Senior Grace Williams participated in the FCPS senior all-star game alongside players from Urbana, Middletown, and Thomas Johnson High School. Williams played on the White team which won the game 5-0 against the Dark team.

Although the Catoctin boys soccer team didn’t make it to the playoffs, they performed significantly better than last year. This year the team won five games in total, and lost seven. Their final season home game took place on October 19 against Boonsboro High School. The Cougars won 3-1. The final game of the season took place on October 27 and was played against Brunswick High School Railroaders. The Cougars lost the game 2-6 against the Railroaders.

The Catoctin cross-country team has also been extremely successful this season and continues to be a formidable force on the field. The cross-country team participated in the Frank Keyser Invitational on October 7th at Boonsboro High School and had a great meet! The boys team placed fourth overall, with Gabe Riling placing 5th, with a time of 16:07 minutes and Santiago Canadas Fraga’s time of 16:57.5 placed him in 11th place. In the end, the boys team placed fourth overall with a score of 119. From the Girls’ team, Keria Taylor placed 15th with a time of 20:52.6. The boys team continued their success by taking first place in the CMC Championships on October 20, which was held at Boonsboro High School. Later, they participated at the Frederick County Championships on October 26, at Utica District Park, where they placed second.

Both the girls and boys cross-country teams qualified for states at the 1A West Regional Championships, which was held on November 2 at the Allegany College Course.The boys team placed first at 1A West. The teams completed a 5,000 meters trail, with Gabe Riling securing first overall at this meet and becoming the regional champion with a time of 16:09. Riling, Canadas, Daniel Hoyle, and Dennis Lease all finished in the top 15! On the girls team, Conley, Casne, and Taylor, placed in the top 15 as well.The girls team completed the competition second place overall, which qualified them for states as well. This is a huge milestone, as the girls CHS cross-country team has not been to the states since 2015.

Both teams ran at the 1A State Championships on November 11, at Hereford High School, where the boys fought hard and brought home second place, with 134 points. At states, Riling placed second overall, with a time of 17:01.16. Gabe Riling and Daniel Hoyle also qualified for the all-state team as they placed in the top 25. As a result of Riling’s successful season, the Frederick News-Post named him as an Athlete of the Week.

Moreover, the Girl’s team has worked extremely hard this season and conquered fourth at states with a score of 95. From the girls’ team, Jenna Conley placed 6th with 21:05.10. Aniston Casne followed with a time of 21:43.06, ultimately placing her in 15th. Although they weren’t state finalists, their team has potential and will continue to conquer the obstacles. Additionally, Riling competed in the 5,000 meters open invitational NXR Southeast Regional Championships at WakeMed Soccer Park in South Carolina on November 19. Riling did a great job and placed 97th out of 640 runners, finishing in 16:31.2. Ultimately, the Catoctin cross-country teams sure had a great season this year and has made Catoctin proud!

For closing remarks, all of the Catoctin sports teams put forth their best efforts. They tried their best to adjust to the abrupt changes in roster and the relative skill levels of their players. Even though not all of CHS sports teams received recognition, we hope this article provided some insight into the experiences of Catoctin players.