Coming off a region title, state quarterfinal appearance and the winningest season in school history in 2023, softball is back and hungry for more, as they look to break into their first state semi-final game and contest a state championship. 

“Our main goal for this season is definitely states as we came super close last year by winning regions,” sophomore third baseman Ella Reynolds said. 

While the team lost key seniors like first baseman Brooke Levin, second baseman Maya Rickles and third baseman Sophia Ikeda, the team has also added new players. 

This year, juniors Cece Robinson and Ellie Weinstein have each moved up from the JV team, while senior Ellie Langley joined the team having transferred from St. John’s High School last fall. 

“We miss our seniors, especially the leadership they provided but we have a solid group of new seniors that have stepped up to take over. We are already bonding well just like last season,” senior captain and starting pitcher Sami Rosenberg said. 

For head coach Richard Carter, the goal for the season remains to get as far as possible in the postseason. 

“We wanna go as far as we can this year. Hopefully, win the region again and see how far we can make it. We just work to get a little bit better every day,” Carter said.

Preseason matchups against Elizabeth Seton and Poolesville High Schools on March 12 and 14, respectively, gave Carter and the team opportunities to fine-tune and lock in lineups. 

The team will open their 2024 campaign with a tough back-to-back against Sherwood and Gaithersburg High Schools, away on Friday, March 22 and at home on Saturday, March 23.

Returning from a county championship victory over Sherwood, the baseball team is looking to build on their success by getting over the hump at the regional level and contending for a state championship. Each of the last two years, the Wildcats have played in the regional championship, and in both cases, they lost to Whitman (2023) and Churchill (2022) respectively. 

While the squad lost key contributors such as Leo Simpson, Dan Avillo and Braden LaChapelle, the Cats are filled with senior college commits and juniors ready to make a huge impact. The group has 13 veterans returning and that experience should help them during the regular and postseasons.

Since baseball (and softball) has the longest season out of all the spring sports, staying focused on end-of-season goals and growing as a team from game to game will be paramount for the team’s success.

“We just need to take this season one game at a time. It’s easy to look ahead but the only way we are going to achieve what we want in the postseason is to lock in in the regular season. A state championship run is on all our minds but it starts day one vs Magruder and [at] every practice and scrimmage before and after that,” senior Vance Bonior said.

The Wildcats’ first game against Magruder will be at home on Thursday, March 21 at 3:45 p.m. Additionally, they will see their rival Whitman Vikings twice this season with the first of the region final rematches taking place soon after spring break on Thursday, April 4 at home at 3:45 p.m. and the second being played on Tuesday, April 16 at Whitman at 7 p.m.

“I’m most looking forward to playing Whitman hopefully in the playoffs and being able to beat them … I think the team is adjusting very well and I could say we might be better this year than last so we’ve definitely adjusted well,” senior Jay Wandell said.

Coming off a regional win, the Catlax Killas are ready to fight their way through the 2024 spring season. After making it as far as the state semi-finals, the Cats have a lot to live up to.

“I am excited to see people step up into new roles as players and leaders on the team. I personally enjoy the sister relationships, it is a really unique and cool experience to have a sibling on the same team. Spring season really rolls quickly, and I am excited to have something to look forward to at the end of the school year,” head coach Christina Fitzpatrick said. 

The Cats began to prepare for their season in the fall. Not only did they have fall and winter ball, but captains organized practices where players could practice their shooting, footwork, drills and agility. In addition, weight room practices were scheduled every Wednesday leading up to tryouts. 

Because it’s a new season and five seniors graduated, Fitzpatrick had to add new teammates to the team.

“I’m most excited about being able to play with my big sister for a year and the new friends I’m gonna make this year on the team. I think I’ll play a good role in hyping up our team and keeping everyone motivated and confident,” freshman Julia Zucconi said.

Starting preseason, the Cats have had intense practices that consist of fitness such as Man-Us, running plays, scrimmaging and drills. On Friday, March 8, the Wildcats were defeated 10-8 by the Maret School Frogs, however, they fought their hardest. 

“My goal for this season is to get far into the playoffs and win a lot of our harder games that we have coming up … I think the team this year will be really good because we all click really well together and we know how to have fun but also be serious when we need to be,” Zucconi said. 

Most importantly, in addition to making it far in playoffs, the Cats want to foster a welcoming and fun atmosphere. 

“I want to create good team chemistry and a welcoming environment for everyone to feel included … I’m most looking forward to getting to know the new players on the team and just playing,” senior captain Natalya Krouse said. 

For their first away game, the Cats play against the Blair Blazers on Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m.

Boys lacrosse looks to return to their great form in their 2024 campaign after posting a solid 8-5 record in the 2023 season. Varsity will be adding lots of intriguing talent from their JV team, including juniors Gavin Hartz and Noah Prevost.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to show my skill set and what I can bring to the team … I am gonna give it my all this year and hopefully that brings success to the team,” Hartz said.

There is an immense amount of work the team has to put in to be better than last year, all stemming from former varsity players and the leadership they can bring to incoming players.

“The season fell a little short last year with a disappointing loss to Churchill, but this year I feel like because we developed so much in the offseason we have a chance at states,” junior John Jernell said.

Second-year head coach Jacob Anderson, also known as coach “Bubba” impressed with his ways of coaching last year, playing a huge role in the Wildcat’s success. Anderson will aim to keep the train rolling this spring.

“(Anderson) brings great energy and knows what he is talking about… we have a similar team to last year so we hope to build and improve together,” senior Karthik Pidathala said.

The Wildcats have their first regular season matchup against Blair on Thursday, March 21. The first game will set the tone for the rest of the season, as the Cats hope to jump out and snag an important win.

The girls’ tennis team has their sights set on another successful season, after finishing second overall in the county championships last year (only losing to Whitman).

“I’m extremely excited (for the start of the season). This is going to be a good transition year for us, because we lost a couple starting seniors from last year. But we also added a couple new freshmen and sophomores, so I’m very excited to see them keep up what we did last year,” head coach Mitchell Duque said.

The team will be without outgoing seniors Alicia Barnett, Alison Razafimandimby and Irene Tarpy. Led by senior Sky Carter and junior Mia Milicevic, the team looks to continue on from the successes of last season and make up for the loss of talent. Last year, Carter was part of a mixed doubles team that won states and Milicevic brought home a singles championship from counties.

The team’s second-place county finish was an improvement from 2022 when the team placed fifth and fell behind Churchill, Wootton and Poolesville in addition to Whitman. Now, the team looks to continue their progress from last year and hopefully make a run for a county championship.

The team looks to kick off the season with their first game on Thursday, March 21, at home against Montgomery Blair HS.

After finishing 5-7 last year, boys’ tennis is equipped to reach new heights this season. On top of having a new head coach as the face of the program, the team received a notable transfer from Kennedy High School, junior Santosh Sundar and is a relatively young team with no seniors and five freshmen on the team of 15. 

“The first few practices have been a lot of fun. Coach [Franck Soulerot] makes practices fun but also challenges us at the same time,” freshman Om Shah said. 

The team is looking forward to strengthening its dynamic through their connections with each other and Soulerot. Last season, the Cats took down the Barons in the regular season, something they hope to achieve again this year. 

“I thought the season went well last year given that we didn’t have a coach that played tennis but there was always room for improvement. I’m looking forward to the new coach because he can actually teach us and improve our skills during the season,” junior Corey Cohen said. 

The team faces their first opponent on March 21 at Blair. 

The start of a new spring season calls for the return of the gymnastics team. In preparation for an exciting season, members of the team have come together for practices, conditioning and mentally getting ready for upcoming tournaments and competitions. The team has also been welcomed with new mats thanks to the Booster Club. With the start of this season looking bright, the team hopes to focus on collaboration and improving their skills for future showings. 

“As a team, we are trying to focus on our techniques in each of the skills,” senior Marygrace Jackson said.

Gymnastics have multiple meets and counties, events that are highly looked forward to, especially from senior Kimmi Shiau, who expresses much excitement and eagerness for what the team has to show. 

“We are very excited for the Whitman meet as well as counties and varsity B,” Shiau said. 

Prior to the start of spring, the team had some clinics and meet-ups at open gyms for some pre-season training to warm up to what to expect. Right as the season commenced and tryouts were held, the team got right into work. For their first practice, the team met up for their introductions and rundown of expectations for the team, followed by a productive session of conditioning. 

“We’re excited to have the opportunity for everyone to compete! Our goals are to work as a team and perfect our skills for these competitions,” Shiau said.

Coming off a successful season last year with multiple first-place finishes in meets, the team is looking forward to a much more successful season.

Last year, WJ track had a successful season with a winning record, and hope to continue this stellar performance.  

They still have many of their key runners giving them the opportunity to perform well. These runners include senior captain Mackenzie Raue, junior Megan Raue, senior captain Beth Fogg and senior Carolyn Hultman.  

In practice, they have been preparing for their upcoming season by working towards their best times and doing certain workouts to help their speed and endurance.

“My personal goals are just to have fun and enjoy running. The team goals, at least on the girls’ distance, is to encourage each other to do our best, to enjoy running and to get best times,” Fogg said.  

Additionally, this year, they hope to go states and have been working hard to prepare for this feat.  

“We are focusing a lot on strengthening. We have been doing core workouts every day after practice and going to the weight room,” Hultman said.  

With a new class coming in and crucial runners still on the team, this season is looking promising for the Cats.

The first dual meet is on April 4 at Richard Montgomery at 3:30 p.m.

After an 11-2 season and a second straight county championship appearance, the boys’ volleyball team has a new look with many new players and first-year head coach Sara Williams.

The team lost seven seniors including star players Joe Morris and Seba Sani, the former who is playing at Belmont Abbey College and the latter who plays for Long Beach State University. 

“They were definitely a big part of the team. They were basically the entire program, so it’s going to be much different. The pacing of our games are going to be different. Practice is going to be different. I think everyone just needs to put in more work. We need to fill in this role of being a strong WJ team and I think everyone on the team now can do that,” Goerlitz said.

The Cats are looking to build their chemistry as they will attempt to make another run at a county championship. One of the team’s big focuses for the season is making the next game their best game.

“Winning is obviously our top priority, but also just getting better each game, each week, playing better, getting better as a team and getting to that stage where we can put up a fight against those strong teams,” senior captain Victor Goerlitz said.

Even with the challenges of bringing together a mostly new group of guys, the Cats are confident they have the talent and work ethic to succeed. 

“I feel like we have a lot of good players who can really step up to the role,” junior Ravi Zutshi said.

One of Williams’s goals is to build a volleyball brand at WJ and increase student attendance at matches. As volleyball rises in popularity across the United States, Williams hopes to bring the energy and excitement of the sport to WJ and beyond.

“I think one of our key pieces is we really want to come together as a team to make WJ a volleyball school. Even last year with Seba and Joe, there wasn’t as much turnout, so we’d like to see a lot of turnout, a lot of kids coming to support volleyball. Overall, my goal is always to grow boys’ volleyball in this county, this state and the East Coast because it is underrepresented as a sport. My goal here is to make WJ one of the schools like Churchill that really have built a strong program over time,” Williams said.

The squad begins their season by traveling to face Poolesville on Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m. and they have key meetings with Churchill and Blair on April 17 and April 29.