Athletes from Tennis, Lacrosse, Golf, Softball and Track and Field all competed on April 28 and April 29 against the other private schools in the Southern Preparatory Conference to win two runner-up trophies and one championship title.

Winning SPC last year, the tennis team wished to take another championship; however, they finished close behind St. John’s in the finals.

Tennis captain and senior Chelsea Watanabe attributes her favorite moment of SPC to the close semifinal match against ESD.

“Everyone broke out in cheers by the fence and it was so fun to see all of the people supported us,” Watanabe said.

Getting fourth in the tournament last year, Lacrosse defeated Episcopal of Houston and St. Johns, but lost to ESD in the final.

Lacrosse captain and senior Isabel Smith’s favorite part of the weekend was being assigned someone on the team to write a motivational letter for them to open before the semifinal game.

The season isn’t over for Lacrosse yet. The team is going to the state final this weekend in Houston. Hockaday Lacrosse is the number one seed, and will play three game in hopes of coming home with a title.

Traveling to Houston for SPC, Golf took third place, with Sophomore Gabri Kim and Freshman Nyomi Thomas gaining All-SPC titles.

And for the first time in several years, Softball played their way into the finals of the consolation bracket. Facing Trinity Valley, Oakridge and Casady, Softball finished their season strong.

Junior Captain Katie O’Meara shares her pride in her team.  

“Overall the weekend went really great, and I can’t wait to try again next year. It was great to only play at Hockaday so that the seniors got three more games at our field,” O’Meara said.

In 2016, finishing in second by three points, and entering the meet in fourth place, each athlete had goals for themselves.

“Going into the meet having goals of what we personally wanted to do made the dream much more feasible. I think we had so many [personal records] and school records because of that,” Lake said.

Like last year, the SPC champion was decided by the last race, the 4×400. However, unlike last year, Katherine Lake, Justice Coutee-McCullum, Adoette Vaughan and Sophie Isom took first place, winning the SPC title and setting a new school record.

“For me, the best part of SPC was watching the last leg of the 4×4 after I had run it. It was awesome to watch Sophie (Isom) not only finish out our team in 1st place and with a school record, but also win with a huge crowd and lots of energy behind her,” Lake said.

Ultimately finishing 10 points ahead of St. John’s, the runners also set some new records. Coutee-McCullum broke the 100 meter and 200 meter school records as well as the 100 meter hurdles record all in one day.

Crew is not a sport in SPC. The Hockaday Rowing team competed in the Texas Rowing Championships last weekend, and will go on to the USRowing Central Youth Championships this weekend.

Athletic Director Tina Slinker voiced her pride in the spring athletes.

“Even though we have teams that were disappointed with their second place finish, they showed up to support somewhere else,” Slinker said. “What we all will remember is how we responded, how we accomplished the things we didn’t think we could and how we, at the end of the day, are Hockaday.”

Emily Fuller – A&E Editor