A Recap of Hockaday’s performance at SPC
Hockaday came out on top in the Southern Preparatory Championships this spring, winning three out of the five sports in which we competed: tennis, golf and track.
Lacrosse, softball, tennis and track competed in Ft. Worth while golf competed in Houston.
Tennis:
After numerous doubles and singles matches, the Hockaday tennis team, coached by Carol Thumlert, claimed the SPC championship for the second year in a row.
Senior Connor, a member of the Hockaday varsity tennis team since her freshman year says that the Hockaday tennis team went into SPC “motivated to win,” and after an undefeated season, successfully maintained their immaculate record.
According to freshman Melody, “it felt really nice” to win SPC as a freshman.
After winning all three of their matches at SPC, the team celebrated and printed commemorative “SPC champs” t-shirts.
Golf:
The five golfers who make up the SPC Hockaday golf team, coached by Chris Lagow and Rod Skaife, were victorious after two days of tough competition in Houston.
After playing in individual rounds, the Hockaday golfers were unsure of their final team results until they had all reconvened back at the club house where the final scores were tallied.
“Not knowing exactly who had won yet but just being able to enjoy the experience and the sense of accomplishment of having finished such a long tournament [was the greatest part of SPC],” says freshman Alexandra. “We didn’t see it coming.”
Having not won SPC in golf since 2008, the team was motivated and excited to reclaim its first place title.
Junior Brooke says that the team was really excited coming into the second day of the tournament because they had finished the previous day in first place.
“Once we moved up in the bracket as a team, it was more nerve-wracking but still very exciting,” says Brooke.
Brooke also says that the improvement in the team’s dynamic was due to the balanced act between Coach Lagow’s instructions and Coach Skaife’s drills.
Lacrosse:
Finishing in fifth place at SPC, the Hockaday lacrosse team, coached by Elia Kochan, was seeded first in the north zone at the beginning of the tournament. But after a disappointing first game, the team was no longer in the contention for a first place victory. Following their first game loss, the lacrosse team rebounded, winning their other two games and ending the day with victories.
Excited with “the prospect and potential of winning it all,” senior Allie, a midfielder on the lacrosse team, says that the team was too focused on playing a later game against St. John’s and, in turn, did not focus on the first game victory that was required to take them to the next matchup.
Softball:
Batting, running and sliding, Hockaday softball players also had an exciting SPC weekend, winning one out of a total of three games.
Senior Meghan, who has played Hockaday varsity softball since she was a freshman, says that SPC was exciting and that she enjoyed getting to know the girls on the team over the past four years.
After three tough games at SPC, the softball team was able to relax, joke and enjoy a successful season at a team dinner where the seniors passed out tank tops with players’ nicknames on them to everyone on the team.
This year the softball team also partook in team bonding activities, like their traditional team cake-off which senior Margaret started three years ago.
At the cake-off they bonded over senior Tory’s Lol Cats cake and Rote’s Royal Wedding Cake.
Freshman Lindsey, who played varsity softball for the first time this year, says that the team and the many bonding activities created a “relaxed environment.” Lindsey also says that SPC was both exciting and sad; exciting because it was her first SPC tournament, but sad because it would be the last time she would play a Hockaday softball game with the seniors. “They are such an important part of our team,” says Lindsey.
After the combined efforts of the spring sports teams, Hockaday is now ranked first in the overall SPC standings for the year.
—Alaina
