Athletics

Takoma Park, MD
Monday, August 25th, 2008

The school year has officially begun and there is a lot going
on: registering for classes, decorating dorm rooms, seeing old friends, and attempting to make new ones. Soccer season is around the corner but the teams have mentally been preparing all summer and physically practicing for the past two weeks. Cross Country athletes are lacing up their shoes for early morning runs and are ready to arrive prepared at their first meet.

Athletically, the Pioneers have some huge shoes to fill from last year. Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, and Women’s Softball all improved from their previous seasons, Men’s Cross Country finished 7th in the nation, Women’s Cross Country finished 4th, Women’s Soccer finished 3rd, Men’s Soccer finished 2nd (losing 1-2 in overtime in the championship match), Men’s Baseball finished 1st (beating Apprentice School 8-1 in the championship game) and claimed the title of USCAA National Champions.

Every team has to step up and they all have accepted the challenge. Each athlete knows their role and is ready to do what needs to be done to have another phenomenal year. Last season several athletes accepted and surpassed the challenge of reaching for excellence. The Pioneers can boast that they had 6 All Academic Athletes, 6 All American Athletes, 4 Honorable Mention All American Athletes, 4 All Tournament Team Athletes, 9 Player of the Week Athletes, 11 Honorable Mention Player of the Week Athletes, and 1 #1 Nationally Ranked NCAA DII Athlete (Se-Eun Park) for points per game and goals per game.

So the question now is how far will they surpass last year’s accomplishments and how high will the bar be set for those to follow? Lets see…