Over Spring Break, Varsity Lacrosse and Varsity Track and Field both spent the weekend travelling to California for out-of-state competitions. Here is a recap of the team’s trips and successes:

HVL VISITS SAN FRANCISCO

Hockaday Varsity Lacrosse visited San Francisco for three days of practices and games. The team began their trip by visiting Stanford University to watch the collegiate girls’ lacrosse team practice. The team got the opportunity to watch them in their stadium, and briefly talk to coaches and a player from Dallas.

“Watching the Stanford team practice was a great experience because we got to watch girls playing at such a high level,” sophomore Catalina Littrell said.

After the practice, the team played in three games over the weekend, ending with a 16-11 win against Carondelet High School and two overtime losses against Sacred Heart (12-13) and San Ramon Valley (13-14).

“This was the first time we have faced similarly high-level competition, and it definitely highlighted some room for improvement,” junior Alex Blue Baron said. “We were able to fill in gaps and adjust our playing very quickly which I am super proud of.”

This year was Blue Baron’s, the team’s goalie, third varsity lacrosse Spring Break trip to California.

“The past couple years our team has visited San Diego, so seeing the city of San Francisco was cool,” Blue Baron said. “This trip presented lots of opportunities for team bonding which I think has definitely improved our team cohesion on and off the field.”

TRACK & FIELD RACE AT REDONDO NIKE TRACK FESTIVAL

Over Spring Break, Varsity Track and Field travelled to Redondo Beach for the Redondo Nike Track Festival, a two-day meet. There, 24 girls competed in 12 different events.

“The competition will be harder, and the weather will be hotter, but it’ll prepare them for college competition,” Head Coach Laboris Bean said, in anticipation for the trip. “We are having constant workouts and I’m having the girls look at posted times from other competing schools for motivation.”

Although the girls were ready for the competition, they were not prepared for the challenges that came with travel.

“Our flight from Dallas to L.A. got delayed for five hours because of the weather, and we didn’t arrive at our hotel until 2:00 am,” freshman Callie Coats said. “The meet started at 11:00 am the next day.”

As a freshman, Coats was excited to travel with the team and participate in the meet. There, Coats competed in two different relays and the 300-meter hurdles.

“The competition was definitely more competitive because we were competing against big publics schools in California, but overall, I enjoyed getting to know my teammates and my team bonding over the trip,” Coats said.

The team saw many successes over the two days. Both senior captains, Margaret Thompson and Alyssa Anderson, came home with medals. Thompson received second place in the 3200-meter race, and third place in the mile. Anderson brought home first place in the long jump, after recently breaking the school record, jumping 18’10 feet, at Greenhill during their first meet of the season on Feb. 24.

Sophomore Lily Roberts recounted her successes from the meet, participating in three events where she received medals. She received a medal for her long jump of 15’11 feet, setting a new personal record.

“I ran the second leg in our 4×100, which we got a medal for running it in 49.86 seconds,” Roberts said. “It was so exciting, we also placed second in our heat for the sprint medley I raced in.”

Roberts enjoyed getting the opportunity to travel out of state with the team and challenge herself.

“This was by far the biggest meet I have ever been to, and the competition was really good,” Roberts said. “We were also one of two schools that were from out of state, so this was a big deal to us.”