Because JC placed reserve champion at the Oldfields show, the team gained enough points to qualify for Zones. A team gains points to qualify by picking a point rider at each show per class. The JC coaches do not tell the riders who they choose as point rider in order to keep the pressure to a minimum. The points earned in each class help gain points throughout the day. At the end of the day each team tallies up the points and are placed first through last. The team with the most points wins the show. Once the team qualifies for zones, the coaches must pick a point rider who will ride for the team in each class.

“As a team we really came together and had a lot more people qualify individually as well as a team which is a great way to end my senior year,” senior and captain Kelsey Lebuhn said.

Junior Nathan Barringer took first in the over fences class, which is a series of at least six jumps testing the riders’ different abilities and third on the flat in JV novice, which tests different skills at the walk, trot, and canter. Freshman Grayce Moran placed second in the JV beginner class.

“We had a lot of new freshman on the team this year, but we all worked together and ended up qualifying for Zones,” senior Heather Scampton said.

Each rider can participate in a total of five shows in the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA), and there are four divisions based on skill level, where riders compete against other riders in the same division. These divisions are varsity open, varsity intermediate, JV novice, and JV beginner.

Further dividing each division are two classes: a jump phase and a flat phase. Beginners, however, have two flat phases. To qualify, the rider must earn 15 points per class. At regionals, a rider must place in the top three of his or her class to move on to the zone finals. From there, if the rider places in the top two, he or she moves on to Nationals.

The list of riders that qualified for regionals was solidified at this past show. Those who qualified for varsity open are Scampton, Lebuhn, and fellow seniors Adrienne Clarke, and Megan Foard. Freshman Erica D’Anna qualified for varsity intermediate. Barringer and junior Bridget Rodriguez both qualified for JV novice. Moran and freshman Carlie Hopkins qualified for JV beginner.

“I feel so fortunate to be in such a program. It is going to be so much fun going to zones and regionals. I can’t wait,” Rodriguez said.

Miranda Ripken is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Additional reporting by Megan Foard.

On Jan. 26, the women’s varsity basketball team faced the Fallston Cougars, who in the past have provided JC with close games.  In a tooth and nail battle, JC came out on top 59-49.

Before the game started, senior Miranda Ripken was honored for scoring 1,000 career points in women’s high school basketball amidst last week’s game against the Institute of Notre Dame. This event also earned Ripken the titles Athlete of the Week at the Arena Club and Fox 45 New’s Prep Player of the Week.

“Getting 1,000 points was incredible for me. When I was a freshman, I viewed getting 1,000 points as something that would just be ‘cool to get,’ and never actually thought that I would get it,” Ripken said.

The team had decorated the gym with streamers and posters to congratulate Ripken.  She also received a basketball signed by her entire team.

“Miranda deserved the 1,000 points.  She is a wonderful teammate and amazing person,” long-time teammate and senior Maria Edwards said.

“The ceremony before the game was awesome. When the divider came down and the number 1,000 was on it, I couldn’t stop smiling. My team put a lot of work into making this ceremony something special and I am really grateful to them. The ceremony is something I’ll remember for a long time,” said Ripken.

With excitement filling the gym, the game began with JC gaining first possession of the ball and Ripken scoring an easy two points.  JC didn’t let the pressure of playing against Fallston get to them during the first quarter, as they moved the ball quickly from one side of the court to the other.  They ended the first quarter leading 11-8.

Both teams faced struggles during the second quarter with the referees, which caused frustration among the players on the court. The number of fouls JC committed began to creep up on them, but the team made up for it by scoring points.  Junior Mackenzie Reese was the leading scorer of the night and took charge during both the first and second halves.  JC ended the first half in the lead 27-22.

Throughout the rest of the game, JC and Fallston kept it close.  With the clock running out in the fourth quarter, JC committed seven fouls giving Fallston the advantage, allowing them to shoot foul shots every time a Patriot fouled.  With two minutes left in the game, Fallston pulled ahead by three points.  JC had one last play that could tie the game.

Soller made the three-point shot in the final play of regulation sending the crowd into an uproar of excitement and the teams into overtime.

“Even though we let the lead slip away, we didn’t give up and came out and played well in overtime,” Edwards said.

JC shut out Fallston in overtime keeping the ball consistently on the offensive side of the court.  The game became more at ease for JC as Fallston let up on defensive end giving JC easy foul shots, which helped them win the game 59-46, the first win against Fallston women’s basketball in the past four years.

“It felt amazing to win against Fallston. Even though it was out of conference, the game was a big one since we’ve had close loses to them in the past,” Ripken said.

Megan Battaglia is a Multimedia Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.org.

“It is disappointing to have such an opportunity and not be able to go, especially because it is my senior year and season. However, I think that the exciting things that are bound to happen in Spain are worth it,” Anderson said.

Also traveling to Spain with Anderson are juniors Ally Kozel and Leanne Ches, and senior Lauren Baretto. Track and field coach Robert Torres identified Kozel and Anderson as runners who will have the most impact on the team while they are away.

“Our number one sprinter is missing. Again,” Torres said.

Kozel, whom Torres was referring to, qualified for the 55-meter sprint, the 300 meter sprint, and the 4- by-400 meter relay. She has the second highest total points behind junior Rebecca Driver.

This year Kozel set two school records. In the 55-meter dash, Kozel holds the school record of 7.4 seconds, and she ran the 300-meter sprint in 42.9 seconds.

“I’m now kind of sad that I’m missing championships because we’re doing well in the season and I wanted to be a part of it,” Kozel said.

Despite the loss of some key runners to the Exchange, Torres and the team are optimistic about how the championship meet is going to go.

“I think the team will do really well. We have great seniors on the team, some amazing juniors, and the freshman and sophomore bunch will definitely be able to pick up the pace . . . We’ve had a lot of [personal records] and new school records this year, which is always encouraging. I’m sure that the positive energy that has come out of this season will carry on into championships,” Anderson said.

“We have a very good shot at second place. We’ll need every point we can get,” Torres said.

Disappointed that they could not compete in the championship meet, all Anderson and Kozel can do are hope their team can perform the best they can.

“My advice for the rest of the team would be to get excited of course and not let nerves get to them,” Anderson said.

“Good luck and I hope everyone does really well because we’re still a good team. Make me proud,” Kozel said.

Miranda Ripken is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Each swimmer is allowed to enter up to a maximum of six individual events for the meet. Dukes competed in the 100 meter butterfly, the 200 meter butterfly, the 100 meter freestyle, the 50 meter freestyle, the 100 meter breast stroke, and the 200 meter individual medley.

In the 200 meter butterfly, Dukes placed sixth. In the 100 meter butterfly, Dukes placed sixth with a time of 56.33, which ranks her at 21st in the nation, an improvement from her previous rank of 83.

“Preliminary heats occur in the morning and the top qualifiers come back for the championship at night. In both butterfly events, I made it back and placed in the championship heat. This was big since my competitors at night were women who were much more experienced,” Dukes said.

Going into the Husky Invitational, Dukes’ goal was to lower her times in all her events in order to get closer to qualifying for Nationals and the Olympic trials.

“I was very surprised at how well I did. I dropped a lot of time in these events and moved up places from where I was seeded. It was a lot of fun because I got a feel of how the west coast kids swim and how I compare to them. Even though I did very well, there
are still people out there that are just as good as or better than me so I know I need to focus and keep working hard to accomplish my goals by the end of the season. My biggest goal for this year is to make Nationals in the 100 fly,” Dukes said.

Miranda Ripken is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

On Dec. 6 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, members of the JV and varsity women’s basketball team raised money for families in need by shooting foul shots through the Shooting Santa Foundation. To raise money, the players must ask people to donate to their cause.

According to the women’s varsity basketball head coach Mike Blizzard, the team’s monetary goal for this year was $10,000. The team will then go to Target to buy toys and other items on the wish lists of the 15 families they sponsor.  They personally deliver the items to the families’ homes.  The Shooting Santa event has been going on for ten years.

Each player is required to meet a $400 goal to evenly divide up the $10,000 team goal.  So far, at least five people on the JV and
varsity combined have met this goal.  The actual amount of money raised this year cannot be calculated because some members are still collecting donations.

“Our motto is ‘no kid should wake up Christmas morning and think Santa forgot about them,’” Blizzard said.

According to Blizzard, it is the hope of this Shooting Santa Foundation to see members of the team go on to continue setting up similar programs later in their lives.  It is hoped that after experiencing the personal delivery of the items to families in need, the players will aid their neighbors in need.

“Delivering gifts is definitely the best part of it all,” senior Talia Kahoe said.

“I like going shopping for them because I like trying to think of what other people would like, and giving clothes and toys is more personal than giving money,” senior and captain Maria Edwards said.

Donors can either pledge a certain amount for every foul shot their sponsored basketball player makes, or pledge a flat donation.

Players attempt to make as many foul shots as they can out of 50, and if someone has committed a certain amount per shot, the total will reflect how many shots the player makes.  For example, if a donor commits fifty cents per shot, and the player makes 40 out of their 50 shots, the donor will give them $20.

This year, Perryville High School, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Jayhawks team coached by assistant coach Craig Simmons, and Northeast are other teams who participated with JC in the Shooting Santa Foundation’s mission.

Grace Kim is the Online Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

“Being selected to the All MIAA Team means a lot and it is a special honor to be selected. It means that you are an elite player in the MIAA conference and it is a tough league to play in and I greatly appreciate being selected,” junior Alex Gambrell said.

Along with Gambrell, seniors Jon Galarraga, Denzel Varner, Raphael Oduok, junior Montell Martin, and sophomore Gus Lane, were named to the All MIAA football team. Senior Luke Navin was an honorable mention.

JC’s 2011-2012 football team was more successful than last year’s team, winning one more game, including the win over Archbishop Curley.  Last year’s record was 5-4.

“I was extremely proud of beating Curley knowing that they were the number one seed and undefeated in the conference,” Lane said.

The football team had to deal with a few changes in the makeup of the squad this year. There were only 24 students on the team, forcing some to play multiple positions. The team also had more young players than in previous years.

“We thought we were going to get destroyed because of the size difference, but we really overcame that after the first couple of games. [We] did not realize how good our team really was,” Lane said.

Even though the football team was blown out by Annapolis Area Christian (6-4) in the first round of the playoffs, the team was left
feeling satisfied with the progress they made in the season.

“I feel like our season went pretty well considering the numbers we had. A winning season was a great one,” Gambrell said.

At the end of the fall season, the coaches of the football teams in the MIAA conference choose players from opposing teams that have performed exceptionally well during the season to be on the All-Conference Team.

Miranda Ripken is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

On Saturday, Nov. 12, the equestrian team held their home show at Hunting Ground Farm.  They competed against 81 riders from eight different teams and placed sixth. For the seniors, it was their last home show, and the pressure was on for those riders to
make their mark in the ring.

In the varsity open, Scampton placed first in fences and fifth in the flat, which is a class with no jumps.  Riders must instruct their horses to walk, trot, and canter each direction as the judge tests the rider on many different skills such as a sitting trot, halt, or hand gallop.

“It always feels good to win in an open fences class.  It takes a great amount of practice, and winning it helps to get me one step closer to qualifying for zones, which has already successfully been done,” Scampton said.

Along with Scampton, seniors Adrienne Clark, Megan Foard, and Kelsey Lebuhn also placed in the competition.  Foard was right behind Scampton in both events, placing second in fences and sixth in the flat.  Other teammates competed in the JV portion of the show and helped the team to place sixth overall.

When the team was not competing in the show, they were handling the horses, working in the barn, or talking up the benefits of riding to Principal Madelyn Ball. The competition was also attended by many spectators who came out to support the equestrian team.

“Our team worked very well as a group to make sure the show went off smoothly. Everyone did fantastic individually, even if we did not get the team results we had wanted,” Clark said.

While the team cheered with excitement about individual wins, seniors shed tears when they realized that their last home show was coming to an end.

“It was sad because this is my last year having the privilege to ride with my team.  I’ve grown as a rider with this team and I will greatly miss them,” Scampton said.

Megan Battaglia is a Multimedia Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Trent Shaw, class of ’11, has an extremely demanding schedule. He wakes up at 8 a.m. and is in class until 12:30-1:00 p.m. After class, he practices on his own for about two hours and then has a team practice that lasts until around 5:30 p.m. That is only for Wednesdays and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are a little different. It is the same schedule, but from 4:30 to 5:30, there is weight training. During the weekends Shaw has scrimmages.

“Being signed with a D-I or D-II school you definitely have more of an obligation to the sport,” Shaw said. Shaw plays Division I baseball at University of North Carolina, Asheville.

Tuesday through Thursday Allison Siegel, class of ’11, goes to school, University of Richmond, and then has practice from 3 to 6. Some days she has to stay after practice with the team to watch videos of the teams they will be playing that week.

Since it is field hockey season, Siegel has games on the weekends. They get back from their away game at 2 a.m. on Saturday and then have a home game on Sunday. Monday is an off day for Siegel, but since she does not get much
playing time she often goes to the gym to run and lift weights.

“My schedule is busy, busy, busy,” Siegel said. “Balancing school and field hockey is really difficult some days. At least for my first semester of school so far,
I’ve really just tried to focus on those two things – school and hockey,”

Siegel goes to a mandatory study hall where they are required to log in six hours of homework a week. “Most nights when everyone is going out I’m walking home from study hall and getting ready for bed because I have to get enough sleep to make it through a long practice the next day,“ Siegel said.

Shaw had his doubts about signing with a Division I school after a rough practice or scrimmage, but he is happy that he signed. “When I look at the big picture it is a great experience that I would not trade,” Shaw said.

Siegel was recruited, but if she had not have made a Division I team, she would have played club. “For people who don’t play sports or who don’t like them it may seem like there’s not much ‘freedom’, but I’m doing the thing I love and I don’t think it’s really getting in the way of me doing much,” Siegel said.

Shaw and Siegel both have advice for prospective athletes looking into Division I sports.

“Know what you want. If you want to go to college to party then playing a sport will make that tough. If you want to make friends that will last a lifetime and have a great experience for four years than play a sport,” Shaw said.

“The best advice I have for them is to start as soon as possible and to contact as many schools as possible,” said Siegel. She would email the entire NCAA coaching staff before tournaments so that every coach would know she was playing. “You can’t get discouraged the first time a coach tells you they’re
not interested. If I had done that, I would have missed a lot of other opportunities and wouldn’t be at Richmond,” Siegel said.

Megan Foard is the Multimedia Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com

For the 2012-13 school year, the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (IAAM) has decided not to consider cheerleading a competitive sport in the conference. “The reason is, the girls conference, the IAAM was considering making cheer a competitive sport in the conference,” Athletic Director Larry Dukes said.

“It was brought forward by myself and another athletic director from Mt. Carmel. Unfortunately, when it came to a vote, the other AD’s [athletic directors in favor in making cheerleading a competitive sport] were outvoted by other schools.” Dukes said that  the reasoning behind this decision is due to the lack of support in athletic departments in the IAAM schools.

“They [those who voted against making cheerleading a competitive sport] didn’t have enough support all the way around. The mats are an expensive commodity and some of the schools didn’t want to buy the mats. Only a couple of us [members of the IAAM] could host a cheer competition. And some of the schools just didn’t have the interest.” Dukes said.

“Because we’re members of the conference, we’re subject to whatever decisions they make in the conference,” Dukes said.

Other schools in the IAAM conference have decided to turn their existing cheerleading teams for next year into spirit, dance, or cheer clubs. However, Dukes has opted to still consider cheerleading a sport within JC.

“We’ve decided to keep it. That way it falls under my domain and they get funding for transportation and entry fees. We consider it a sport here at John Carroll. However, around the conference, it is no longer a sport,” Dukes said.

To Dukes, a challenge of the cheer program is that it has no strong definition of a season compared to other sports that know their conference, schedule, and costs a year in advance.

With this lack of definition, sophomore Andrea Roche, captain of the JV cheerleading team, worries that cheerleading will lack any consistency.

“It’s kind of a disappointment. So we kind of have changing practice times, we never have a set practice so it’s kind of frustrating that everything is all unorganized,” Roche said.

“We will still fund the buses, pay for the entry fees to some degree. Whatever budget is allocated to me is what I have to work with. They will have as much as they have this year to work with, more than likely, and that’s been pretty consistent for the last several years.” Dukes said.

Maggie Cassidy is the Print Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com

“Generally they have to have a certain level of talent [when you are invited to tournaments like this]. It may be one marquee player or a number of very good players. They have to represent all the best in academics and athletics which JC obviously does. And we have some pretty good talent on our roster at this time,” head coach Tony Martin said.

Not only will the men’s basketball team get the chance to play in the tournament, but they also have the chance to sightsee in Washington D.C. They will see national monuments and attend a dinner banquet with all of the teams in the invitational.

“I feel like it’s a great opportunity to showcase our talent.  I think we’re going to show people why we’re ranked top 50 in the country,” freshman
CJ Keyser said.

“It’s a good opportunity to play in front of scouts and play against competition,” freshman Jaleel Gibson said.

As far as the upcoming basketball season goes, the Patriots are keeping their thoughts positive. The team and their coach is  looking forward to the games,
feeling confident in the new additions to the team.

“We have a young man who is potentially one of the most talented players to come through the doors of JC
and that’s Justin Jenifer.  He is as talented in terms of his ball skills as anyone his age that I have ever seen.  Of course there will be an adjustment period
for him being a freshman. They’re a strong group of freshman coming in, but the other stand out is CJ Keyser- he is a long, athletic, hardworking forward,”
Martin said.

“It will be nice if I play in it [The Nike Invitational], I’m really looking forward to it.” Jenifer said.

The fresh faces on the team are also excited for this opportunity, but they aren’t too nervous about living up to last year’s progress.

“I’m confident in my team, I know we’re going to get the job done,” Keyser said.  He says that he is excited to show his athleticism and persistence on the court.

Assisting Martin on this year’s basketball season is Martin’s “right hand man,” Rick Landers, who has been with the JC men’s basketball team for seven years.

Also on the coaching squad is Mike Jones, who has been with JC basketball for two years.  Will Adelsberger, who formerly played for Martin is now helping
out, as well as JC alumnus Ryan Horka class of ’07 help to coach. Horka is a recent graduate of Catholic University and is looking forward to
helping out as he prepares for law school.

Leading the team this season as team captains will be senior Jarred Jones and junior Rodney Elliot.

“Every year is exciting, it’s a growth experience to blend our guys and see how they have grown over the past year and will step up to new roles when you lose seniors, you have to replace them so we want to make sure that we play hard, smart, and together,” Martin
said.

Imani Love is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com