Photo by Patti Galloway
CONGRATULATIONS!
State Champion Girls Tennis Team The DA varsity girls tennis team, at the top of the private school tennis world all season, capped off a magical year with a 5–3 comeback win over Cary Academy in the state championship match on Oct. 28 at Salem Academy in Winston-Salem. The nail-biting, come-from-behind victory marked the first-ever state title for DA’s girls tennis program and the first state championship earned by any DA team since 2012. “I am really proud of the grit and fight this team displayed,” head coach Andy Pogach said. The contest got off to a tough start. Despite going 6–0 vs. the Chargers in doubles during the regular season, the Cavs started at a 3–0 deficit at the conclusion of the doubles matches. “But no one on the team let that affect them,” Pogach said. “In fact, it had the opposite effect. It made the girls fight a little bit harder, knowing we had no room for error.” They needed to win five of the six singles matches. Sophomores Renee George, Alexis Galloway, Taylor Hunter and Madeline Towning notched victories that started to turn the tide. The DA girls slowly turned what could have been a devastating upset into an epic championship win to end the best season in school history. George ended a brilliant season with her school-record 29th win on the year. Co-captain and senior Nicole Riepl trailed in her first set before winning 9 of the final 11 games. When Cary Academy’s shot went wide capping off her 7–5, 6–2 win, it clinched DA’s fifth singles match win —and the state championship.
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Durham Academy // Winter 2018
National Merit Semifinalists The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recognized 10 Durham Academy seniors as semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The DA seniors selected as semifinalists represent about 10 percent of the senior class: Zoe Boggs, Virginia Capehart, Austen Dellinger, Scott Hallyburton, Charles Hua, Lillia Larson, Ian Layzer, Eamon McKeever, Taylor Owens and Thomas Owens. Semifinalists were chosen by virtue of their performance on the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Of the 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools who took the qualifying test, approximately 16,000 students were recognized as semifinalists —495 of them from North Carolina. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than 1 percent of all U.S. high school seniors, and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. In addition, 11 students received letters of commendation: Alexander Brandt, Ethan Goldman, Robert Hellinga, Sam Higgins, Jeanne Jung, Steven Kohl, Christi Mela, Markus Narten, Bennett Sampson, Sara Templeton and Alex Tsuetaki. About 90 percent of students from the semifinalist pool are expected to advance to the finalist level in February. About half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, with notifications beginning in April and concluding in July. An estimated 7,500 National Merit Scholarships, worth about $42 million, will be offered in spring 2018.