After two seasons as the head coach of the girls’ lacrosse team, two regional final appearances, a state semifinal appearance and one year as an Assistant Athletic Director, Christina Fitzpatrick will be leaving WJ to become the next Athletic Specialist at Einstein High School in Kensington, MD. In her first season as head coach, Fitzpatrick led the Wildcats to their first regional title in 14 years. This year as an assistant AD, Fitzpatrick added more athletic responsibilities to her plate as she helped ensure games went smoothly and assisted the department behind the scenes.

“She’ll be great. She is amazing at managing 500 things at the same time, not just with a single program, but this year she was also one of the assistant athletic [directors]. She was the one who was able to help get out the reports from Synergy for each team on the daily with attendance and twice a week [with] grade reports. She’s going to be great. I’m just mad she is leaving,” assistant girls’ lacrosse coach Ashley Herdman said.

Fitzpatrick, who is also a physics teacher, came to WJ from North Bethesda Middle School last year where she had coached the soccer team. The girls’ lacrosse team’s head coach Colleen Klipstein had just left and a few months into the school year, the Catlaxkillas were looking for a new head coach.

“When [Fitzpatrick] came in, I think a lot of people were scared, but she honestly just motivated everyone to be better and work harder in practice and I think that really helped us overall because if we were pushing each other in practice, then we just just going to be better and that obviously led us to states last year. She really brought the team together and made us have good chemistry,” senior captain Natalya Krouse said.

Fitzpatrick, who played club lacrosse at Ohio State, was no stranger to the game when she took over the team. While in college, she coached at the middle school, JV and varsity level. She continued coaching in grad school and while student-teaching in Columbus. In high school, Fitzpatrick played both soccer and lacrosse.

“I think teachers make really great coaches. You are teaching a sport basically, so it’s a natural fit and it makes teaching much more fun to be involved with kids outside of school. I think kids like you more when they see you outside of the classroom and get to know you on a different level,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick was on the interview panel to replace longtime Athletic Specialist Tom Rogers after his retirement, which sparked her interest in the position.

“I was in the interviews last year for the [Athletic Specialist] position here at WJ, and getting to listen to those candidates talk about the experience and what it meant to them, it got me thinking about how similar my thoughts were and how passionate I was about sports. A lot of times, I would go to games just to go and see and watch and see the amazing things our student-athletes are up to. I think it’s just really fun and interesting to be able to help people have a better experience in sports in high school,” Fitzpatrick said.

For the lacrosse team’s juniors, Fitzpatrick’s departure means that they will finish their playing careers under their third coach in four years.

“It’s going to be sad, it’s going to be tough because she holds our team together. She’s there for us on and off the field, so she’s a really good support system to have and she’s just a great coach. I don’t know what we are going to do without her next year,” junior Ginger Fishberg said.

Having started at North Bethesda while this year’s seniors were in middle school, Fitzpatrick has been in the building with a very large portion of WJ for both students’ middle and high school experiences.

“It’s really cool to have seen [the class of 2024] all through middle school and high school. A lot of them I had, seventh grade, eighth grade, junior year and a couple of them senior year as well. It’s so awesome to see what schools they are going to and the ones who are playing sports and I’m really happy that I got to be a small part of that. Obviously, I’ll miss the younger kids, all the staff members and friends that I’ve made here, but I’m not too far away, not going to another state or anything, so I’ll still be able to see a lot of them compete when they play the Titans,” Fitzpatrick said.

With their recent success and having returners such as Fishberg, freshman Becca Hymes, junior Mallory Booth and freshman Julia Zucconi who were all recognized as top players in the division, the Cats are set up to succeed in the future.