Bishop Ireton High School | Archive | June, 2009

 They gathered last fall for the first time since the mid-90’s to honor Tim Carrington’s induction into the Bishop Ireton Hall of Fame. “Why don’t we have another swim team reunion?” Coach Harry Sobers recalls Paul Skelly suggesting to the group. “I will host it.” And over a beer and lunch in Georgetown the idea took sprout.  Fast forward to June 2009. 

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, dozens of swimmers from the 1970’s and 1980’s, the “glory days” some might say, began to gather and cautiously look around.  The gray hair, expanded waistline, a wrinkle or two, but you would see in a moment the faces light up as the memories flooded back. “Dave! How are you?” “Oh my God, look at you!” and the stories began, and continued, the laughter louder.  People moved from scrapbooks to new arrivals, to old teammates and to people they would meet from today’s Bishop Ireton staff. But whether they graduated in ’71 or ’81, from Ireton or St Mary’s there was the one constant, Harry Sobers.  They spoke in awe of the coach that worked them out at the pool on Monroe Avenue all those years ago, drove the bus to Greenville, North Carolina, and Philadelphia.  And, for many, another familiar face journeyed back, Father Al Smith,OSFS, down from the “city of brotherly love”.  Dave Cloyd ventured up from Florida, staying with brother, Dan, now a Navy admiral stationed in the Pentagon. Mary Cook Carrington Young, a vice president for Dell, back from Pennsylvania to see friends and teammates. 

They stayed and remembered well after the sun had set. The fond memories and the desire to repay, in some small way, the program and the schools that helped them along their life’s journey. Soon it was talk of a scholarship in honor of their team moderator, Fr Al, and one after another the checks came forward. Advancement director Terry Rainey was more than a little surprised.  All in all, the gathering resulted in $11,000 donated to provide financial aid for a deserving swimmer at Bishop Ireton.   A great day, indeed, for all who were there, and with their generosity, for those swimmers that may be there in the future. 

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IRETON LACROSSE FINISHES 2009 RANKED #25 IN THE NATION

Two first team, two honorable mention US Lacrosse all-Americans for Cardinals, 5 others academic all-Americans

Bishop Ireton Girls Lacrosse finished the 2009 season with a record of 19-4 and ranked #25 in the nation by LaxPower.Com.  The national rankings take into consideration strength of schedule, goal differential, home, away and neutral site competition and calculates a power ranking for each of the 2400 high school girls lacrosse programs nationally.  Bishop Ireton’s previous highest ranking was #89 in 2008.  “We set a goal back when we began preseason conditioning that we were going to take that next big step to joining the top elite programs not just locally but at the national level” said Cardinal Head Coach Steve Tela.  Three of Ireton’s four losses came at the hands of #5 St. Stephens and twice to #12 Good Counsel including a double overtime heartbreaker in the WCAC Championships played at the University of Maryland.

The Cardinals shattered nearly every team and individual record in program history including most games won (19), fewest losses (4), winning percentage (.826), goals scored (401), and goals allowed (167).  Almost every individual season and career record also fell in 2009.

The Cardinals claimed a hearty share of prestigious honors including four US Lacrosse All Americans (Seniors Ashton Hellmuth, Lauren Gray first team – Senior Clair Banta and Junior Janet Tela honorable mention); five US Lacrosse Academic All Americans (Seniors Maria Bowman, Bridget Corridon, Rachel Gartlan, Lauren Gray, and Junior Jacqui Galdos); five Washington Post All Met selections (first team – Hellmuth, second team – Gray and Tela, honorable mention Banta and Bowman); and three All Virginia (Gray, Hellmuth and Tela) and four All Extra first team selections (Banta, Gray, Hellmuth and Tela).  In the Washington Athletic Conference (WCAC), six Bishop Ireton players were named to the first team (Banta, Bowman, Gray, Hellmuth, Senior Heather Olson and Tela) three to the second (Corridon, and Sophomore Sarah Rupp and senior Brittany Barnwell) and four to the honorable mention teams (Seniors Allie Fife, Rachel Gartlan and Chesney Hellmuth, and sophomore Katherine Simmons) .

The one accomplishment of which Coach Tela suggested he is most proud was not on the field, but in the classroom, where the players earned a team grade point average of 3.65. 14 of 20 varsity players being named Scholar Athletes and earning first or second honors during the season.  “They clearly demonstrated they are not just elite players but elite student athletes.  What they did this spring on and off the field will serve them well far into their future endeavors” said Tela.

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 A cloud burst of sustained heavy rains around 2pm on Thursday, June 18th, made Fannon Field look like Fannon Pool as water washed onto the field. The unusual sight was a first in the nearly six year history of the field, but the waters drained into the sub surface drainage system shortly after the picture (left) was recorded.  The volume of rain caused back pressure on the drains as well and two large bubbles, the size of a pitcher’s mound, developed suddenly at mid-field and near the east end lacrosse goal.  Just as quickly as they formed, they gently receded without damage to the half million dollar carpet.  Football players began arriving an hour later with no evidence of the unusual occurance. 

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 Coach Tony Verducci and staff welcomed more than 70 athletes to the 2009 edition of Cardinal football summer camp.  Wesley and Willliam Rush, 7th graders from Potomac Middle School in Woodbridge like what they see at the camp.  “It’s good for improving our fundementals,” said William, a linebacker and running back for Potomac Middle and the Dale City Bengels.  “I was surprised it was four hours long though,” added brother Wesley, a five year veteran of organized football and rising 8th grader.

The camp focuses on the fundementals and teaches individual skills.  It is also about attitude, according to Verducci.  “We scored over 80 points in our final two ballgames last year. Stealing a line from Taylor Swift’s comments last spring, we want to be ‘relentless’  in our attitude this season.  As we get a second season in the spread offense, with this very talented group of players returning, we want to be relentless on both sides of the ball.”  Coaches agreed with the third year head coach that this is a very athletic group of youngstes at the camp.  “They can run” offensive coordinator Ed Malinowski observed during the second day of camp.

Boys learn the proper technique to warm up and stretch, then break into smaller groups where they begin with stance and body positioning.  From balance to technique the simplest tasks are the focus of the early periods of camp.  Gradually drills are taught, conducted, and critiqued.  Lars Anderson, a rising freshman from St Mary’s School in old Town Alexandria, said he has hasn’t played organized football but the experience has made him convinced he will be back in August.  “I didn’t expect so many guys to be here.  My mom told me there was a football camp at Ireton and I decided to give it a try.” A veteran lacrosse player, he thinks his future may be as a lineman at Ireton.  “I am meeting new guys every night, and I am having fun here.”

The Cardinals offer a youth camp, Football Fundementals, July 27-30, for boys ages 5-9.  A “non-contact” evening camp for middle school students that will expose them to offense, defense, and special team techniques under the watchful eye of the Ireton football staff.  Information and enrollment forms are online at www.bishopireton.org

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 Head Coach Tony Verducci enters his third season at the helm of the Cardinal football program looking to return to Virginia’s Independent Schools division I football playoffs after missing the event last season.  The Cardinals’ schedule gives the Alexandria school three home dates to open the 2009 campaign before venturing a mile and half to St Stephens/St Agnes on Sept 26 for an intra-city rivalry contest.  Bullis School returns to the football “dance card” after a ten-year absence to play Ireton’s homecoming game and Woodbury Forest, St Albans, and Friendship Collegiate School replace Bishop McNamara, Bishop O’Connell and Paul VI. 

“It wasn’t an easy decision to replace our WCAC and diocesan rivals, but it became an issue of playing our biggest games and some of our toughest opponents in the first three dates of the season.  That can quickly put you in a hole with our poll-based playoff system in the VISFA that historically we were hardpressed to overcome.” explained AD Bill Simmons. “The WCAC games didn’t count toward that championship and O’Connell and PVI have limited flexibility this year to accomodate our needs, so we decided it was best to move in directions that were advantageous for our football program.  We have not abandoned these relationships, but we are trying some new approaches. You will see both schools on our JV card, we will scrimmage at PVI, and we will work to get these rivalry schools back on our future schedules.”

The Redbirds continue an exciting rivalry with neighboring St Stephens as the Cardinals will hope to make it three straight over the Saints in late September. Riverdale Baptist follows Archbishop Carroll to Alexandria and Woodberry Forest will make its first appearance in Alexandria in 21st century.  Bullis comes to Alexandria for homecoming on Oct 3rd, then Ireton will travel three straight weeks into DC and Richmond  to face St Albans and Sidwell Friends in between a journey down to call on the always tough St Christopher’s School.  The Alexandria school ends the home schedule with a senior day tilt with Friendship Collegiate School before the regular campaign draws to a close with a night game on Nov 3 at St Mary Ryken.  Mark your calendars for senior day, not only to bid farewell to a large number of Cardinals but the previous two encounters with FCS have been thrilling one-point games, the Cardinals winning on a two-point conversion with six seconds left in the game in 2006, and FCS scoring a two-point conversion in OT during the 2007 season.

With a late scheduled start this year the Cardinals begin workouts on August 11th for two-a-day practices and will camp at Randolph Macon Academy from Aug 16th to the 21st in Front Royal.  Ireton returns to scrimmage PVI’s Panthers on Aug 25th in Fairfax at 7pm and head to Thomas Jefferson on August 28th for their final tune up before opening the season at 3:30pm on Friday, September 4 with the Lions of Archbishop Carroll at Fannon Field.

Bishop Ireton 2009 Varsity Football Schedule (home games in CAPS)

Fri     Sep 4        ARCHBISHOP CARROLL        3:30pm
Sat   Sep 12       RIVERDALE BAPTIST           2pm
Sat   Sep 19       WOODBERRY FOREST         2pm
Sat   Sep 26       @St Stephens/St Agnes      2pm
Sat   Oct 3         BULLIS (Homecoming)         2pm
Sat   Oct 10       @St Albans School              2pm
Sat   Oct 17       @ St Christophers School    1pm
Sat   Oct 24       @Sidwell Friends School     2:30pm
Sat   Oct 31       FRIENDSHIP COLLEGIATE(senior day) 2pm
Sat   Nov 6         @St Mary Ryken                7pm

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For some, the end of finals brings visions of the beach, sleeping late, and summer jobs. For a growing number of Cardinal athletes, summer means club sports teams.  While experts debate the long-term benefits of nonstop participation, particularly in only one sport, area athletes increasingly turn to club participation in the off season to improve their skills.  Ireton freshman Sadaf Najafzadeh tried the last “open gym” session available last August for volleyball and fell in love she said.  “Miss Gutmann encouraged me to play, in a good way, and I am glad she did,” said the outside hitter.  “I like to play tennis and softball, but I joined a volleyball club to play in the off season and it has really helped me improve.” She suggests that she is not only a stronger player, but understands the game, the strategy, and the techniques much better from increased participation. “I want to play volleyball my entire high school career, and my goal is to be a good varsity player.”

Coach-of-the-year Steve Tela, Ireton’s girls’ lacrosse mentor, has no doubts about the value of summer club teams and coaches one himself. “There is a direct correlation between the success of our girls’ lacrosse program and the number of players who are members of select lacrosse clubs. In 2005 we had 5 girls playing club lacrosse. In 2009 every member of the varsity team was on a club team. In order for us to be competitive in the WCAC and our nonconference schedule our players have to be under the guidance of superior coaching and top competition in the summer and fall and that comes through the clubs.”  At 19-4 during the recent spring campaign, Ireton’s girls’ lacrosse program saw Ashton Hellmuth become the School’s initial first team all-Met performer in the almost 20 years of the program’s history, two others selected second team, two honorably mentioned, and seven seniors going on to play college division I lacrosse next season. “Our record the past few years (36-9) clearly supports that philosophy and we have a record number of girls playing at the division I level as well.”

Victor Zare, father of all WCAC second baseman Frankie Zare, agreed. “Club/travel baseball made Frankie a much better ballplayer than he otherwise could have been. The exposure to top-notch players, coaches, and competition was invaluable.  The opportunity for college coaches to see him play was a plus as well.” Zare says it was impossible to imagine his son playing at the same level without the additional participation.

Athletic director Bill Simmons is supportive, but up to a point.  “There is no doubt that every sport these days has year-round opportunities.  I worry that we can burn out young people when they participate in only one sport nearly year round. Ireton, in particular, needs good athletes to play more than one sport  for us to field competitive teams. Increasingly, college coaches suggest that multi-sport athletes are less likely to suffer physical injuries from overuse or repetitive motion problems than is a single-sport athlete. They like to see a lacrosse player on the soccer field in the fall. There is also the mental fatigue aspect that can just take the joy from the game and cause some kids to simply walk away from it.”

Simmons suggests it is important for players and families to examine why they play. “If athletes are playing club and focusing year around for the love of the game, I am their biggest fan,” commented the Ireton AD. “but if it is the drive for college scholarship money, I think the reality, at Ireton anyway, is that the average graduate’s academic scholarship is greater than the average athletic grant, and comes without all the obligations. When you look at it, no one is getting a “full ride” athletically, but we do see some generous academic awards each year. Maybe going to the beach and actually doing the summer reading will pay more dividends in the long run than playing all summer in the hopes of catching a coach’s eye.”

Club obligations can complicate life in high school as well. While Tela points out that club lacrosse does not cross over into the high school season, others, like soccer often do.  For soccer players, in-season weekdays are typically devoted to high school teams while Friday night through Sunday belong to the travel club team. Some WCAC coaches scale back their schedules or weekday practices to avoid wearing out a teen who may play four or more games a weekend and may rarely see a day off during a high school season. Ice hockey follows a similar pattern, and in extreme cases, some club teams have prohibited players from playing in certain situations for their high schools as a condition of club participation.  Bishop O’Connell’s Chris Bond and Alex Guerere were teammates on a junior national hockey club team with such a rule. Bond elected to sit out the Knights’ 2009 NVSHL championship game while Guerere played and was bounced off the junior national squad as a result.

Perhaps no sport is so organized as basketball with its AAU programs.  Teams compete for players and may travel nationally, as companies like UnderArmor and Nike financially support the top-tier programs.  In some cases, the AAU coaches have begun to supplant the traditional high school coach as mentor for top senior players, often to the chagrin of college recruiters and certainly high school coaches.  High school supporters suggest the AAU motivation is often questionable as to whether the coach or the players are the ultimate beneficiaries. They lament AAU programs don’t have the same academic concerns, don’t deal with personal development as do high school coaches, their focus is only basketball.  AAU supporters counter that they don’t look to replace the high school program, rather they provide the exceptionally talented players an opportunity to compete with similarly talented players on a regular basis, something impossible to replicate consistently at the high school level. 

All of which points to the need for families and players to evaluate their objectives in undertaking club participation.  Even Simmons conceded  his daughter is a summer club lacrosse player. “My wife and I are out there a number of weekends in the summer, up and down the mid-Atlantic watching girls’ lacrosse.  I think we are doing it for the right reasons, my daughter loves lacrosse and wants to play as long as she can.  As long as she enjoys it, it is something we want to support.”

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Senior Ashton Hellmuth (Lehigh) became the first Girls’ Lacrosse player in Bishop Ireton history to be named to the Washington Post All Met team for 2009.  Hellmuth, a four-year varsity player, finished as the all time career leader in goals (185) scoring 72 goals this season and finished second overall in career total scoring at 211 total points.

Senior defender Lauren Gray (Georgetown) and Junior attack Janet Tela (UConn) were named to the All Met second team.  Gray finished out her career as the program’s all time leader in draw controls with 88 and tallied 43 goals and 23 assists in the 2009 campaign.  Tela set the single season records for total scoring (129 points), goals (86) and assists (43).  She will start her senior season third all time in career total scoring just eleven points behind Hellmuth and fifteen behind 2008 graduate Julianne Tela (George Mason University).

Senior defender Claire Banta (Virginia) and Senior Attack Maria Bowman (Villanova) were named to the Honorable Mention All Met team. Both players posted impressive numbers and were key contributors to the program’s success.  The Cardinals were WCAC finalists and Virginia State semi finalists posting an impressive 19-4 record for the 2009 season.  Ireton went 15-0 at Fannon Field, undefeated at home for the first time in program history shattering nearly every program record in the process.  “The class of 2009 has left their signature across the school record books on the field and in the classroom.  We are very proud of all eleven members of the class of 2009 who have given so much to the school, the lacrosse program and look to the returning upperclassmen to continue that tradition in 2010” said Head Coach Steve Tela.

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Seniors John Robertson and Dan Nicoll received more year-end baseball awards in separate announcements Wednesday from the Washington Post and the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association.  Robertson,a .393 hitter as a third baseman was tapped as a first team all-Met selection at third base by the Post.  On the mound, the tall right hander was 6-1 with a 1.61 ERA and a pair of saves to his credit.  The Virginia independent schools association also selected Robertson as a first team player on their all state list while Nicoll, a partner on the hill, was tapped for the second team all VISAA.

The Washington Post and VISAA honors cap an awards-ladened campaign for Alexandria’s Robertson.  He was selected as the redbirds most valuable player for their 15-12 campaign, which ended with a second straight appearance in the WCAC championship.  He was a first team choice by the WCAC, the Alexandria Sportsman’s Club picked him as player of the year, before the Virginia honor and Post all-Met teams were announced.  Robertson, according to pitching coach Ricardo Castillo, “was particularly effective because he could go to a breaking pitch on a 3-1 count and get it over for a strike.  That made him real tough for hitter to face.”  He will head to Clemson in the fall.

Dan Nicoll, a fireballer that led the WCAC with 82 strikeouts, was often the Cardinals best pitcher.  He no-hit DeMatha for six innings in the Cardinals 4-1 win in the conference semi finals, Ireton’s second win within ten days over the regular season WCAC champions.  Together it was not unusual to see Nicol, with an 8-2 record, come on to save a Robertson game or Robertson to save a Nicoll win.  He was an all around player, who tended first base on his non pitching days, anchoring the Cards defense.   A tough out at the plate, the Centreville native will play ball for Hampton-Sydney next year.

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