The girls’ basketball team is returning this season with big goals ahead of them as they look to make a deep run in the postseason. Last year, the team earned a 13-7 regular season record before losing in the second round of the playoffs to Whitman.

This year, the Cats look toward what they hope to be a promising season. Only about two weeks into the season, the squad said they believe they have started to develop a good rapport with each other, a possible formula for success throughout the season.

“I’m noticing the intensity and the desire to do well this year has taken over and everyone has really stepped up,” head coach Christopher Donlon said. “Everyone’s worked hard and [those are] good things that we want to see. The comradery is coming along as well and I think we’re at a good place right now and we keep improving day by day.”

Entering this season, the Cats believe they have a talent-filled roster with plenty of depth from top to bottom.

“I would say the good thing about our team is that on any given night, anyone can really step up,” Donlon said. “And so that goes a long way and I think that shows [the] quality of our team and depth of our team which is something we’ve really been working on.”

The Cats have high aspirations for the upcoming season as they look to advance well past the second round.

“We have to work as a team, not be selfish and make sure everyone is on the same page,” sophomore guard Mira Mann said. “We believe our team is a states team and that we can make it far into the playoffs.” 

The boys’ basketball team is set to enter this winter as a new-look squad as 11 players from last year’s team have since graduated. The Wildcats, who went 10-11 last year, said they are looking to build experience and become better as the season goes on so that they are playing at their peak when the 4A state playoffs start.

“We’re going to have a lot of new guys so we’ll see how it goes the first couple of games, but we’re gonna put a lot of effort in and try to work hard,” junior Will Kreisle said.

Even with less experience, some players have said that practices have been tougher and that players are using a ‘next man up’ mentality.

“I think the intensity in practice is different than last year,” junior Jake Forburger said. “I think this group of guys cares more and they’re more invested in getting better each day.”

One upgrade the Wildcats have is that they have a larger coaching staff. This has enabled them to focus more on each player by splitting into smaller groups.

“I think we try to pick guys intentionally that really do want to compete and push each other to get better,” head coach Kevin Parrish said. “I think as the year goes on, if we keep up with the intensity of the practices, the team will get better and better, but still like a work in progress, for sure.”

Teams with players who are mostly new to each other can sometimes struggle with team chemistry. One way the Cats have attempted to combat this is by doing team-building activities outside of practice. For example, the team took part in a team obstacle course where players had to work with their teammates to work through the course. 

“The team chemistry has been really good, so hopefully we can continue with that,” Parrish said. “I think like this year it’s amore cohesive group.”

Three players to look out for are senior Jordan Silverstein, freshman Max Raue and sophomore Connor Luecking. Silverstein has been on the team the longest, being pulled up from JV at the end his freshman year, and was a key player for the team last year. Raue is the first freshman to play on varsity at the start of the season since before the pandemic, and Luking is new to the varsity team as well as he was sidelined for much of last season with an injury.

One goal some players on the team have said they have is to beat rival B-CC, a feat that hasn’t been completed since 2020. The Cats face Richard Montgomery, one of last year’s state semifinalists, at home for their first game on Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:15 p.m.

Equipped with sparkling pom-poms, matching outfits and a series of impressive dance routines, the WJ Poms team is ready to kick off the winter season with a bang.

Poms hopes to keep the momentum from their impressive fall season, which featured spirited performances at numerous WJ athletic events. Being WJ’s only multi-season sport means that year-round improvements are necessary to succeed.

“We had some really great routines and had a great time dancing at the football and soccer games. We always use football season as a foundation to prepare us for competition season, so the progress that the team has made is going to pay off significantly,” coach Tanya Ang said.

As the Poms team approaches competition season, the dancers plan on ramping up their training regimen to match the high stakes. In such a unique and complicated sport, this includes building on a variety of different skills.

“We’ve been working on our jumps, getting more flexible and building our strength so that we can do Discs and Turning Cs [two difficult jumps],” senior captain Hannah Salerno said. “It’s going to be important that we rely on each other when we get tired.” 

During performances where dancers have to constantly (often physically) support each other, trust between teammates is vital. Salerno, along with fellow senior captain Siena Fluegel and junior captains Charlotte Austegard and Lila Leavey, are working to strengthen the team’s bonds and act as solid role models for their teammates. 

“The team is really close and that makes us dance better,” Fluegel said.”I definitely have to focus more on how I act in front of the team. In past years during rough practices I’ve been pessimistic, but this year I need to focus more on being positive and setting a good example for my teammates.” 

The team will compete in their county championship on Feb. 1 against other Division I teams, which pose as tough competition. Despite the challenge, they aim to improve significantly on their last competition season, in which they placed 5th at counties.

“I think we’ll be happier with our performance than we were last year,” Salerno said. “My personal goal is to just have fun with the rest of the season because it’s my last year on the team.”

The WJ swim and dive season is underway, making waves across the region as the two teams try to continue their storied tradition of excellence. The girl’s team enters this season as the reigning Metros runner-up, and the boys’ team looks to improve from a 4th place finish at Metros.

Coming into the season, the girls’ team suffered a heartbreaking loss at the Metro Championship, losing to Richard Montgomery High School by 6 points. The tough loss has stung throughout the offseason. 

“There were a lot of technical errors and a lot of stuff that didn’t go the way we hoped,” senior captain Addie Pollitt said. “We’re hoping this year we can learn from what happened and make sure we don’t lose by such a small margin.”

The leadership of captains Addie Pollitt,Isla Bartholomew, Noah Potter, Kai Lawson and Max Bagshaw will help bring together a team featuring high expectations.

“We want to go out, have a winning season and hopefully win states,” junior captain Max Bagshaw said.

With the high expectations comes pressure to outdo the previous teams. The program has featured countless Division I commits, record times and multiple state titles. 

“Every year I’ve been on the team, we’ve been in the running to win either metros or states, so there’s definitely pressure,” Pollitt said.

The pressure keeps the team motivated as they face a tough schedule with meets against reigning boys’ Metro champion Churchill and rival B-CC High Schools.

“This year, we’re going to try our best and raise up our spirits,” Bagshaw said. “There’s always the pressure to do better from last year, but we always need to beat BCC and Churchill like we did last year.”

With the departure of many strong seniors last year, new faces will have to dive in cold and swim up the ranks.

“We have a lot of really good incoming freshmen and strong underclassmen,” Pollitt said. “People are continuing to get better.”

However, the team sets their eyes on the pool as emotions and spirit are high.

“I’m encouraging everyone to do spirit for the meets and get excited for them,” Bagshaw said.

Swim and dive will first be tested this Saturday versus Whitman in Olney at 5:15 p.m. 

A new season for WJ’s runners presents another strong cohort. This winter, the Cats plan to continue to rank in the top of the county rankings. 

Boys distance runners Jasper Goldstein and Jonah Daniel will continue to lead the pack this year as seniors. The girls distance runners, led by senior Megan Raue and sophomore Mirae Denaro, will also look to contend this season.

“[WJ] has so much talent on both distance and sprint rosters,” junior Alejandra Gomez said. “It’s going to be exciting seeing what both teams can do.”

The sprints team will also have the talent to compete deep into the event season. The boys are led by junior captain Alessandro Marenco and senior Rafa Meltzer, along with the girls led by Gomez and senior captain Bella Relacion. WJ’s sprinters are a strong group, as the Cats sent four sprinters to Nationals last year.

“It’s great to lead all of the runners and see how they progress over the season,” Marenco said.

The distance team will also see a new coach this season. Former sprints coach AP Lang/Hon English 11 teacher Alexis Phares has moved over to help the distance team reach their full potential and ultimate goals. 

“I’m excited to see what we do this year with the amount of talent we have,” Phares said.

With a coaching change and a roster filled with talent all around, WJ hopes to be a force to reckon with in the county.

Compromised of the coed varsity and junior varsity teams and a girls’ team, wrestling looks to repeat successes from last year, where they sent seven wrestlers to states, with two ultimately placing.