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Sports
Passion for sports propels seniors to college Using their athletic abilities to pursue their passions, these seniors were accepted to their dream schools. Nick Pauley
Photo by Martin Bittner
UCLA
Freshman Abby Hartzell broke the school record for the 100 fly and qualified for three events
Swimming dives into CCS
“I love [dance] because of the way it makes me feel. Being onstage is awesome.” Photo by Robin Nelson
Alaina Woo Pomona College
Photo by Alsace Patrone
“I knew Pomona was a place I wanted to be academically and being able to stay involved athletically makes it exponentially better.”
Lilly Nelson Duquesne University
“The bigger part of swimming is swimming for your team. It’s so great to always have your team behind you.”
Photo by Robin Nelson
Megan Bartoshuk Carnegie Mellon University
Photo by Kirk Eppler
“Soccer is one of the lowest scoring sports, so the feeling of scoring is just the best.” —Compiled by Becca Melmon and Brianna Escobedo, Staff Reporters
By JARRETT CROWELL Page Editor The tireless hours of gasping for breath, stretching for the wall, and furiously kicking have resulted in 18 swimmers qualifying for CCS, including a freshman for breaking the school record for the girls 100 fly. Freshman Michael Ma, juniors Mark Ledbetter and George Archbold and senior Tristan Knoth, are the only boys out of the 18 swimmers who qualified. “It was very relieving to get to CCS because we’ve been so close and we’ve been trying and trying and we made it,” said junior Mark Ledbetter, who swam breastroke for the boys 200 medley relay team this year. Ledbetter attributes most of the relay team’s success to freshman Michael Ma, a new addition to the team. “Michael was the difference this season. We’ve never had a backstro-
ker before and he is phenomenal. He took that spot and carried our team,” Ledbetter said. In addition to the boys 200 medley relay members, Freshman standout Abby Hartzell broke the school record for the 100 butterfly and qualified for three individual events at CCS. Fellow freshman Alison Yanacek also qualified for the 200 free. This being their first year on the swim team, both Hartzell and Yanacek lean strongly on the support of their teammates and the upperclassmen. “Seniors are always coming up to me and encouraging me and giving me hugs and that just makes me so happy. I am talented and the seniors are really accepting,” Hartzell said. Hartzell has been part of a club swim team since she was young, and is enjoying the newfound sense of collaboration on the high school swim team. “It’s so much fun, I like it better than club. Your whole team is
focused on swimming and everyone has to do well in order for the whole team to do well. You’re so pumped up to beat the other team,” Hartzell said. The varsity girls team finished in third place in the PAL Bay division just behind Menlo-Atherton and Burlingame. Much of the team’s success can be accredited to senior Lilly Nelson who was named the PAL individual champion for the 100 breaststroke. She achieved PAL all-league honors and also qualifed for two individual events at CCS. She will attend Duquesne University and swim Division 1 for the school. The team performed well overall, with the girls 200 free relay finishing 13th, and Lilly Nelson finishing 9th for the 100 breaststroke. It was her last race as a Cherokee and a good way to conclude another successful season for the team.