Fall sports in review

Volleyball

This year, the volleyball team had an exceptional season, finishing with a record of 15-2.

Their consistent play has been the leading factor in their success. 

“I think we’re pretty good at not playing down to easier teams’ levels, we just play our game,” said senior captain Josie Adamson. “We live in a good, competitive mentality.”

The team operated with a new coaching staff this year. The new coaches brought a new energy to all levels of the volleyball program, and the players succeeded within the new style of coaching. “He’s (Coach Zach Wurtz) totally involved in all of our academics, and he’s super positive, so that definitely helped.” Adamson said.

Girls Soccer

Working through the adversity of the cancellation of practices and games due to poor air quality, the girls soccer team finished their regular season with 8 wins, 4 losses, and a draw.

The team ended the season on a high note, with a 2-0 win over Lincoln.

Senior captain Katherine Mullins said the team’s success has partially been derived from strong team chemistry.

“I think we’ve worked really well together and found a good community, and that has overall improved our performance because we trust each other, and we know how to play with each other.” Mullins said. “All of us are in the same mindset of wanting to continue to get better, and that’s something that’s super important because you can’t really change the mindset of a team through coaching.”

Golf

This golf season could only be characterized as a tale of two seasons, one being a winning streak to begin the year, and the other a string of consecutive losses to end the season.

Despite the competitiveness of the team faltering in the latter half of the season, Senior Captain Julius King expects the team to develop well in the coming years. “We have a rising, talented young core.” King said.

Senior Captain Jorryn Taitch agrees with King, saying that the team will be competitive in the coming seasons.

Football

This year, the football team worked hard to adapt to many unforeseen and out of their control obstacles, particularly COVID cases, injuries, and canceled practices due to poor air quality. 

Despite this, the team has maintained an unwavering sense of camaraderie.

“The brotherhood that’s been created throughout Ballard football is definitely something that is always really important to the team,” junior Ryan Bohanan said. “It brings us together no matter how the team does record wise.”

Head coach Ross Humphries agrees, saying that for both players and coaches, the lasting memories of Ballard football are typically not of the outcomes of the games, but of the relationships formed between everyone involved.

“I expect the team to develop very well.” Humphries said. “I mean, we’re a pretty young team. We have nearly 75 players on the team, and I believe we have only 14 of them being seniors.” 

I think the most important thing is for us to spend time together in the offseason through weight rooms and study hall, which is something that because of COVID we haven’t been able to do at the same level we did pre COVID, and that has an impact on team chemistry and development.”

Girls Swim

This year, the girls swim season has been characterized by the development of every swimmer on the team, and many personal bests.

The team saw many qualifications for postseason meets. “A lot of people have gotten metro and district cuts, so that has been a highlight.” Junior Claudia Yovanovich said. 

Subsequently, the team has had great success in the postseason, and made history, breaking the school record for the 200 free relay. Set by senior Lucy Ahrens, sophomore Mia Onkels, sophomore Alyson Chew, and Junior Claudia Yovanovich, the new record is a testament to the hard work the team has invested into their training this year.

Heading into the postseason meets, the team hopes to break an additional school record, the 200 medley relay, an event that requires a versatile team and strength in all four strokes.

Cross Country

This season, the cross country team was able to return to their home course at Lower Woodland Park. 

Their season was a successful one, with the girls team qualifying for state, and some individual runners from the boys team also qualifying for state. 

Senior Garrett Knight upends the common perception that cross country is a purely physical sport by explaining that there is a lot of strategy and mental fortitude involved, an aspect of the sport where Ballard excelled. “Our team had a pretty unique approach to running this season,” says Knight. “We race all our meets all out, whereas most other teams will race regular season meets at half effort just to train.” 

The future looks bright for Ballard cross country. “We have a lot of underclassmen who show a lot of promise, and they can definitely drop a lot of times throughout their high school career.” Said Knight.

Slowpitch Softball

In just the second season of the Ballard slow pitch softball team, the team ended the year with a 14-4 record, and took down a strong Chief Sealth team in the metro championship to claim the title of 2022-23 metro league champions. 

From a coach’s perspective, seeing the team improve throughout the regular season to the point of winning a championship was unforgettable.

 “We were a pretty young ballclub, but myself and the coaching staff were ecstatic to work with this group.” Said head coach Dale Griffith. “We focused on fine tuning the fundamentals of the game, and we saw great improvement on offense and defense”

Senior Monse Eckert attributes the team’s success to a strong rapport within the team.

“We’re really good friends, so we always want to help one another with different things like staying on top of homework so we’re able to focus more on the playing.” Said Eckert.”We also saw a lot of improvement from players who haven’t played before.”

With this outstanding result in only the second year of the program, the team set the precedent for years to come.