Athletes of the Season

Christie+fires+at+goal+while+guarded+by+Novato+defender

Roderick Miles

Christie fires at goal while guarded by Novato defender

Bryan McCaffrey, Reporter

Kate Christie – Water Polo

Team Accomplishments:

The girls water polo team had an incredible season, they went undefeated in MCAL play and through the MCAL tournament bringing home a championship banner. They went on to earn the number 2 seed in NCS and made it to the NCS finals for the first time in Drake girls water polo history. None of these achievements would have been possible without Kate Christie’s stellar season.

Coach Gina Castagnola Remarks:

This season, Kate Christie, as a team co-captain with Daniela Sale, led her team to an NCS Finals appearance. This is the furthest the girls program at Drake has ever made it.

One of our team goals was to win MCALs. We were able to achieve that goal. At the beginning of the season, we set another goal to be top 4 in NCS, which would have been an improvement from last year in its own. Many players stepped up and progressed as the season went on.

This team would not have made it as far as they did without the consistent play of Kate Christie. She played hard each and every game, no matter how experienced the opponent was. She led our team in goals, assists, and steals. She was our strongest offensive player. Not only was Kate able to find the back of the net in every game, she was also able to make incredible passes and plays, setting her teammates up for success as well. She is also extremely smart defensively. She anticipates well, and reads other players, which enables her to make

“I am truly proud of the way she stepped up this year. We needed her to play her best water polo this year, and I think she exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

Christie’s Comments:

“Since day one we wanted the MCAL title back that we lost last year. That was our motivator all season and it definitely worked. When we beat Acalanes for the first time, we realized that we had a real possibility of placing high in NCS. Throughout the season many of our younger players stepped up and were forced to put away their shots. Something that made us a really strong team was that we weren’t a one man game. Every player on our team was contributing to offense and defense, making it hard for other teams to shut us down. Even though we lost in the NCS finals, it was still incredible to be the first Drake Girls team to make it there.”

 

Sam Reilly – Cross Country

Team Accomplishments:

This season our boys XC team had a strong season. The team finished 3rd in the MCAL race and helped them run into a second place NCS finish. There stellar NCS race helped them qualify for the state race, accomplishing one of their goals at the beginning of the season. At states they put up great times and finished in 11. None of these accomplishments would have been possible had it not been for the  leadership and successful season of four year runner Sam Reilly.

Coach Robyn Berry’s Remarks:

“Sam Reilly had a huge season this year.  He regularly improving by about one minute on each course over the last year.  He was consistently the #2 scoring man on the team.  He was unsure about that role at the start of the season, because as the 7th man last year, he really had to step it up, but he did the hard work last summer to put himself in that position.

“A good Captain has to be the Chief Worrier on the team, not only paying attention to his own training, but to others’ as well.  At the end of the season there are so many risks.  You have a boat that leaks and sinks or a boat that you keep patching and rowing and that is what he did. Patch, patch, patch.  Keeping the team afloat takes effort beyond your own training and he took on that vision for the team that got them to state. One day he said he was going to puke at the end of the season, it’s so much stress just getting everyone healthy and to the starting line.  He felt responsible for getting them all there and he helped make that happen.”

Reilly’s Comments:

“Coming into this season we knew that we were going to have to do things differently. Four of our top five runners weren’t returning, and most of our incoming varsity runners had never ran high school cross country.

“Nicco Pompili and Sam Bruckner both came back from injuries this season that prevented what would have otherwise produced phenomenal performances by both of them at state. The four new varsity runners, three of whom had never run high school cross country before, all raced beyond their years. The youth were the core of our team, leading us to an 8-1 season.”