AD's Corner: Standout spring athletes continue at state

The boys tennis and boys soccer teams returned to the state final four. Track and field athletes set several new school records, and the girls team finished as state runner-up while boys earned fourth place. Also, view photos from the amazing seasons of our High School varsity spring sports using the links below.
- Baseball
- Boys Lacrosse
By Josh Scouten, Athletics Director

Tennis
The boys tennis team returned to the state final four this year for the first time since 2018. After a delay to start the match against Christian Academy of Knoxville, USN started the match a little slow with just the bottom three singles lines on the court first with Jude Eskind ’25, Collin Chen ’25, and Simon Fox ’24. The two sophomores struggled to find consistent rhythm in their matches and fell behind early. Simon remained steady in his match as he picked up valuable, but long points to stay just ahead of his opponent throughout the first set. Seniors Henry Stack and Bennett Dickerson found their way onto open courts just after Simon won his first set 7-6 in a tiebreak. The momentum propelled them to pick up points early and often in their respective singles matches. Christian Academy of Knoxville picked up the first two points of the match though with wins at Singles Lines 3 and 4. Henry and Bennett answered back with the next two points to even the match. The pivotal third point of the match would rely on each team’s number five singles player. Simon dropped the second set and would have to play a full third set. Momentum had shifted and the CAK player was able to close out the third point with a 6-4 win in the set. Despite Henry and Bennett picking up another game tying point for the Tigers in their last match together, CAK pulled out the match win with a Line 2 Doubles victory over Jude and Collin. 

The Tigers have four students who qualified for the state individual tournament. Henry Stack and Bennett Dickerson will compete in the boys singles tournament at Adams Tennis Center in Murfreesboro. Meera Boyapati ‘23 and Gabby Siew ‘23 will compete in the girls doubles tournament. Both tournaments will crown a champion on Friday, May 25. 

Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team returned to the state final four for the second year in a row. The Tigers faced the top team in the tournament, Lausanne Collegiate, this time around. The Lynx scored on a counterplay with a centering ball from the end line. The ball made its way through the Tigers defense and the Lynx finished the ball for an early lead with 21 minutes left in the first half. At that point in the game, the Tigers took over and controlled the pace of the ball for the rest of the match. Unfortunately, the Tigers could not capitalize on their possessions, and the solo tally in the first half proved to be the difference in the match. Jordin Palmeri ’23 made one big save late in the match to keep the game in reach. The Tigers finished the year with an overall record of 10-5-4. 

Track and Field 
The Tigers Track and Field team returned to Murfreesboro and the MTSU Track for the state meet on Wednesday, May 24. The girls team finished as state runner-up and the boys finished in fourth place. 

Holly Schrieber ‘23 kicked off the meet in grand fashion with her first vault of the day at 11 feet securing her fourth state title. She would also clear 11’9” which would be her final tally for the day after failing to clear at 12’4” on her three attempts. She ends her career as a four-time state champion and school record holder with her highest vault at 12’ 6 ½” earlier this year. 

The rest of the meet happened in the evening and the girls 4 x 800 m relay kicked off the night with a fourth place finish improving their seed time by four spots as the last team entered. Olivia Jelsma ’23 started her night next and took fourth place as well in the 100m hurdles. Alima Kassim ’24 and Sidney Ware ’23 kicked off their impressive nights by winning the 100m dash. Alima and Sidney each set a new school record in the process breaking Jordan Lavender ’11 record with the time of 11.74 and his personal record in a new time of 10.49. The Tigers continued to post impressive performances throughout the night with Auldyn Plant ‘23 and Liv O’Hara ‘25 finishing 4th and 5th in 1600m and Ryder Ortner ‘26 finishing first in the 1600m and second in the 800m runs. Olivia posted a second place finish just behind the runner from Webb School in the 400m dash. Alima and Sidney returned in the 200m dash and posted their second wins of the night, another school record for Sidney in a time of 21.46. The 3200m run allowed a little time for the sprinters to rest while Auldyn and Frederick Rudolph ’23 finished fourth and fifth respectively in their races. The 4 x 400 relay was a battle between the top two girls teams in the meet, USN and Webb School. The Tigers got off to a great start with Harper Phillips‘‘24 on the lead, and Alima helped keep them just ahead of the handoff for the third leg to Morgan McAteer ’26. The Webb School surged ahead with their runner, and Olivia nearly ran her down to finish in second place. The result kept the Tigers five points behind to finish as team runner-up. The boys 4 x 400m relay finished off to meet with a fifth place performance that surged them into fourth place overall.
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