The 2023-2024 winter sports season at Woodgrove is coming to a close, and it has truly been a remarkable one. Across all sports, the teams have showcased exceptional skills and determination showcasing this season to be one of the most dominant seasons that Woodgrove has had with claiming five Catoctin district titles.
The Girl’s Swimming team demonstrated their prowess by claiming the Catoctin district title with an impressive 450 points. Overall, the swim team secured victory with a total of 810 points. The girl’s also won the Region 4C Championship.
The Varsity Wrestling team dominated their districts, leaving the second place team trailing by a significant 64 points and have also picked up the Region 4C championship. In states, our wrestling team is going down in history as the first team in Loudoun County Public Schools to bring home the State Championship Title for wrestling. The team had a total of nine state places with two state champions, Sawyer Jones in 144 weight class and Austen Watson in 150 weight class.
Indoor track and field have been breaking school records with our girls 4×200 team running with a time of 1.50.66 and boys 4×200 team qualifying for nationals. The indoor track and field team competed in regionals and out of ten schools the boy’s team placed third and girl’s placed fourth. The track team is close knit, spending a lot of time together at training and meets. “I joined the team for the social aspect of my friends and getting to meet new people,” said junior Ariya Shah. As members of the team head into the final stage of the postseason the excitement is up.
The gymnastics team has been absolutely phenomenal this season, after becoming runners-up in last year’s state championship they have reached the state championship again with a third place finish. Earning top scores the entire season in all-around and individual placement. Two gymnasts qualified in the individual competitions at States: Hadley Ayotte competed on Vault and Floor and Rylee Evans competed on Beam, Bars, and Floor. Evans placed 5th overall on Floor with a score of 9.525, earning her a metal. Senior Haley McDonald explained, “Our overall season was a great victory and we are all very proud of what we accomplished and excited that we were able to get third in states.”
The boys’ basketball season was a huge success with ending the regular season with more than twenty wins and the Catoctin district title. The boys also had three players with First Team All District, three with Second Team All District, Coach Konstantine Papastergiou with Coach of the Year, and lastly Colin Fuller becoming Player of the Year. The boy’s team had the longest playoff run in team history, reaching the regional semifinals, but unfortunately running short to Loudoun Valley.
The girls’ basketball team is looking to carry their near-perfect regular season forward, eyeing the state championship as their next conquest. Senior Hope Thurman comments, “Our team’s goal in the postseason is to win game by game. We prepare for the game right ahead of us instead of focusing on potential games in the future.” With rigorous practice sessions and a strategic approach to each game, they’re poised to take on the challenge. “Our other goal is to put together all the skills and chemistry that we built throughout the season in order to have some of our best games during playoffs,” Thurman stated. After their win against Loudoun Valley in the regional semifinals, the team has qualified to the state tournament and with multiple games still to play we hope the girls will be able to go all the way.
