Photo Credit: Mitchell Askew[/caption]On September 3, the Orange High cross country team traveled to Jordan High School for the first race of the season. The race consisted of four schools: Orange, Jordan, Research Triangle High School, and Hillside. The girls team did very well, beating all three of the other teams and starting the season 3-0. Orange’s own Adalynn Fleming, Claire Barger, and Julianna Lester were the top three runners in the girls race. The boys team did decently well for the first meet of the season. They were 1-2, winning a close race against Hillside. This was the first race for many of Orange’s runners, and they have been working hard.
The next meet will be on Saturday, September 13 at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro. They will race at that course twice this year, so it will be a good measure of how fast they have gotten over the course of the year.
Jessica Scott hits a backhand. Photo Credit: Yearbook Staff.[/caption]The women’s tennis team celebrated senior night on Tuesday, October 8, after it was canceled on Monday due to rain. The team faced a tough match against rival, Cedar Ridge High School, and lost 0-9. Even with the loss, the team remained in high spirits enjoying their last match of the season. At 4:15 pm the senior night festivities started and at 4:30 pm the matches began.
To recognize the seniors, Coach Andy Brown called out each senior onto the courts one by one to be joined by their teammates and parents. He thanked them for their participation, mentioned their post-high school plans, and gave them a flower. The seniors on the team were Kiana Bell, Jessica Scott, Mary Katherine Dougherty, Skylar Crabtree, and Brianna Hales. Skylar Crabtree said, "[Senior night] was amazing. My favorite part was when Coach Brown did the curly shuffle." At the end of the ceremony Coach Brown demonstrated a dance called the curly shuffle to the team.
Every year, the underclassmen plan senior night for the teammates graduating. They contributed by making posters for each senior and the foreign exchange student, Ines Soffer, since this will be her only year playing on the team. Parents of the seniors brought food for all the players to enjoy. The team continued the celebration at Tokyo Express, where they ate out and enjoyed their last night together. Jessica Scott said, "[Senior night] was a bittersweet moment for me. I have been blessed to have a caring and loving team this season and a fantastic coach...I'm so thankful for the awesome season we had."
Although this was the last match of the season, the conference tournament was held at OHS on Wednesday, October 9 at 1 pm. Kiana Bell and Beth Bryan both played singles matches against Northwood and Chapel Hill respectively and lost in the first round. Jessica Scott and Michaela Shriner played doubles and lost to Chapel Hill in the first round as well. Mary Katherine Dougherty and Brianna Hales played doubles against J.F. Webb and won, progressing to round two. They lost to Cedar Ridge.
Head coach Marcus Alfred, who, when asked about the four ladies, said, “They were definite standouts for sure.” Overall, the men's team finished with a record of five wins four losses and one tie, while the girls had a slightly better record of seven wins and three losses.
Both teams were filled with valuable seniors, and Alfred recognizes that, saying, “We had a lot of seniors graduate this year. I hope we will be able to pull in some freshman to fill in the void.” One of those graduating was men’s team captain Thomas Doyle whom Alfred said was another standout.
The team also had to deal with the lose of junior swimmer Chase Underhill. When asked how the team responded and remembered Underhill, Alfred said, “It was very tough. Chase is a positive force on the team and we really felt his absence. However, the team came together to support each other and as a result, really came out stronger. Several swimmers dedicated the rest of their season to Chase's memory. Many also bought camouflage swim caps or made signs to hang up at our last home meet.”
Overall this year's Orange High School swim team had to overcome some difficulties but was able to finish strong and are looking forward to the future.