Bishop Ireton High School | Archive | March, 2010

The Bishop Ireton Crew team took home four championship cups this weekend  winning the men’s, women’s, and combined overall trophies of the Cindy Cole Cup championship, and the Bishop’s Cup.   The teams competing in the event included Walt Whitman, Holy Cross, Bishop, Bishop O’Conell,  Sidwell Friends, Blair, Walter Johnson, and Gunston Day  School.

In the Bishop’s Cup (Ireton/O’Connell dual race) event, it was nearly a clean sweep for the Cardinals over Bishop O’Connell as Ireton decisively won 7 of 8 races against the Knights.

The Ireton Women’s Varsity 8+ (8-0) took down a strong crew from Walt Whitman High School.  In the morning the Cardinals rowed easily through the heats knocking out Whitman B and Walter Johnson. The Women’s Varsity 8+ in the grand final looked sharp rowing 4 strokes per minute  lower than the competition and took command of the race early defeating O’Connell, Whitman, and Sidwell with a time of 6:11.04. 

The Varsity Women’s 8+ had just come off the water after splitting up into fours and winning the Varsity 4+ and 2nd Varsity 4+ by open water  rowing 26 strokes per minute.   Both fours rowed a time of 7:01.8.  The Women’s Varsity 8+ this week was comprised of Coxswain Katie  O’Neill, Katherine Aust, Sarah Morgan, Olivia Babiec, Catherine  Burgin, Meredith Ramey, Helen Fonda, Lily Ramey and Cecilia Baxter.

The Men’s Varsity 8+ (5-0) won decisively over two Whitman crews and Bishop O’Connell with a time of 5:20.2.  The Men’s Varsity 8+ included Coxswain Amanda Krauss, Garrett Hulfish, Patrick Walsh, Ryan Dougherty, Thaddeus Babiec,  Jacob Ramey, Chris Ring, Neil Heitbrink and Jimmy Fonda.  The Men’s 2nd Varsity 8+ won by open water over Whitman, Walter Johnson, and O’Connell.  Other victories included the  Women’s Freshmen 8+ and Mens Varsity 4+. The Men’s 2nd 8+ included coxswain Caitlin Lucas, Joe Morgan, Nathan Hahn, Justin Roczniak, RJ Nagel, Sean Scalsky, Mike McCabe, Frank Kozuch, and Zach Deforge.

As part of the day’s events, a blessing of a new racing shell was performed by Fr. Edwin Perez, Bishop Ireton chaplain.

The Cardinals, fresh from a strong outing Saturday, now look forward to good training in South Carolina for the next week during spring break.

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Bishop Ireton battled to their third straight win in the span of four days with a dramatic 13-12 win over Virginia public school heavyweight, Loudoun Valley, in Alexandria Monday.  On a blustery, overcast day where rain threatened but never came, the Vikings and Cardinals slugged it out toe-to-toe for 50 minutes before the clock stopped the see saw affair between two evenly matched opponents.  It was sophomore Eva Irwin’s goal-scoring bolt up the middle in the waning seconds that proved the the gamewinner for Ireton. Even then, fans were on the edge of their seats for the final 16 ticks of the clock until  Maddy Connor’s draw was cleared to Maddy Irwin and the Cards rode out the remaining seconds.

“We continue to improve as a team and today was a team win.” said head coach Steve Tela. “The girls are doing the little things people don’t always see. Scoring goals is one thing, but Sarah Rupp, for instance, was exceptional defending a potential all Met player in Shannon Harkey. She played the entire game and it was the ground balls, the turnovers she caused, and her defense that was huge for us today.”

The game started with Loudoun Valley grabbing an early lead only to see the Cardinals repeatedly tie the score, but never push into the lead until junior Olivia O’Sullivan gave the home town team a 6-5 advantage, part of what would become a 5-0 run for Ireton to end the first half and open the final period.   Ireton closed the half up 8-5 and would extend the lead to 9-5 early in the second half before the Vikings began to chip away at the lead, creeping to 11-10 with 6 minutes remaining in the contest.  Sophomore Maddy Ziegler pushed the lead to 12-10 before the dramatics of the final two minutes played out.

In a game with more twists and subplots than a John Grisham novel, senior Janet Tela’s windmill swing of her stick behind the play with two minutes to play drew a yellow card and left Ireton a man short for the remainder of the game.  Loudoun Valley’s Ellen Fuller capitalized at 1:02 left to close the gap to one. After a Viking draw possession, the green and gold launched a frantic attack in the game’s final minute and Morgan Becker knotted the score at 12 with a rocket from inside the 8 meter arc, setting up Irwin’s last minute shorthanded heroics.  But the story behind the story was compelling as well.

Loudoun Valley’s Kelsey Luck, one of the area’s premier goal keepers, had enrolled at Bishop Ireton for her junior year when she moved to Alexandria.  But when the talented junior decided her heart remained in Purcelville, she returned to Coach Jay Harkey’s Vikings for the second semester.  The Cardinals then found themselves with a hole in a spot they expected to be a strength. Enter Maggie Covert.

The gritty junior had played in goal as a youth player but had not stood between the pipes in years.  She soon realized that she was the Alexandria school’s best hope for a varsity goal keeper and volunteered to patrol the crease. On this emotional day, it was Covert, with a great 55% save ratio, that outdueled Luck with key saves that kept Ireton close in the early going. It was also the determination of a core of defenders, seniors Haley D’Antonuo, Jackie Galdos, and junior Katherine Simmons. The three, with help from Liz Tauke and Eva Irwin, frequently stonewalled the powerful Viking attack, driving the forwards away from the goal and riding the attackers out of shooting range to protect the new keeper. Simmons recorded a pair of turnovers and five ground balls to slow the Loudoun Valley counterattack.  But for the girls, the day clearly belonged to Maggie.

“Kelsey is a wonderful girl and a great talent.” commented Bishop Ireton athletic director Bill Simmons. “Sometimes things don’t work out, but we wish Kelsey nothing but good luck at Loudoun Valley.  She is a tremendous competitor. I am sure the girls wanted to win this game a little more because of what happened but Kelsey Luck will bounce back, today Ireton got the last break.”

The win evens Ireton’s record at 3-3, 1-1 in the WCAC.  The redbirds head to Georgetown Wednesday for a rematch with the Cubs of Visitation, still stinging from the setback in Alexandria last year.  For the Vikings, it was their season opener after four scrimmages, with the promise of many better days ahead after the epic battle on the road to begin the 2010 campaign fell just short.

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The Bishop Ireton Track and Field team began its 2010 campaign with a big bang at Saint Stephens and Saint Agnes. Thanks to intense winter conditioning and a rigorous spring season indoctrination, two school records were shattered and several returning varsity athletes boasted personal bests during the season’ss opening meet.  5 team members came in first place at the early season meet. 

 Last year’s girls MVP, junior Shannon Gordon, won the 100-meter hurdles with a personal record of 16.7 seconds, and finished 4^th in the long jump.  Other notable performances for the girls team included junior Marin Nolan (1:05.3) and freshman Sarah Hersey (1:09.9) in the 400-meter dash.  Freshman Nicole Bond ran (13.4) in the 100-meter dash . A time of 13.4 might not be notable if not for the fact that she did not use blocks or wear spikes.  Adding both will get her under 13 in no time. All four women teamed up for a third place finish in the Medley Relay with a school record time of 4:44.9.  Joanna Faletti continued to improve in the 800 posting a 2:42.3 for second place overall.   Freshman depth was evident in the 1600 meters with Lindsay Martini running 6:06.1 to finish in 7^th. 

The boys team may be the strongest that BI has had in quite some time.   The combination of Cross Country leaders, sprint veterans, and varsity football players is providing the makeup of a team that will almost certainly have a shot at the state title.  The Cardinals are loaded with sprint talent fielding an 800-meter relay team composed of Holmes, Levy, Ferrara, and sophomore BJ Townley that set a new school record with a time of 1:37.9. Ferrara ran a personal best, 53.52 seconds in the 400-meter dash, followed by Chris Levy, and BJ Townley in the days only sweep of a event.  These 3 athletes along with senior Mark Holmes are also positioned to set a new school record in the 4 x400.  Distance runner depth is already picking up where the Cross Team’s success left off. 2009 MVP, Michael Andersen, along with Junior Andrew Kicinski led from start to finish, providing a 1-2 BI punch in  the 800-meter run.  Kicinski’s  time was  a personal best of 2:09.  Holmes (11.5) and Vines (11.7) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100-meter dash.   Doug Vines is no stranger to speed as a starter on the Varsity Football team for all four years at BI.   Murphy Costigan came from behind in the boys 1600 and provided the day’s most exciting finish.  His time  of 4:46.5 was a personal best.

Theo Daubress was first in the Shot Put with a throw of 36-0.  Teammate Jacob Manley came in 4^th with a throw of 33-1. 

Coaches Brad Byrnes and Tracey Golden note that the 2010 girls and boys teams are much larger than the past few years, and have never experienced such an explosive early start.

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Bishop Ireton (2-3, 1-1)got on the winning track with a Friday/Saturday pair of wins against more strong competition. Holy Cross (2-3, 0-1)hosted the Ireton squad on a muddy, natural grass field Friday in the first road contest in the WCAC for the Cardinals.   Ireton jumped out to to lead it would not relinquish lead with sophomore Aubrey Gartlan’s 3 goals and 13 saves by junior goalkeeper Maggie Covert enroute to a 13-9 win.  The win extended Ireton’s string of hard fought victories over the Tartans to 5, one of the few schools with whom the Cardinals have a losing record overall.

Up 6-3 at the half, the Tartans Slater took the team on her back and willed the purple-clan hosts back into the contest.  But Covert, playing only her fourth game as a keeper, responded with key saves in the second half to preserve the win.

Saturday saw the Highland Hawks visit Ireton on a blustery spring day. Samantha Crew tallied 3 times to lead the visitors but the Cardinals got balanced scoring from its “Maddy” attackers, senior Maddy Connor, Maddy Irvin, Maddy Ziegler, Gartlan, and 5 goals from UConn-bound Janet Tela to pull away for a 16-4 win over last year’s Division II state semi finalists.  Covert contributed 8 saves in the Saturday affair, looking more confident and sharp in the crease with each game.  Up 7-3 at halftime, Ireton turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and, with Covert playing exceptionally in the net, the Cardinals dominated the Hawks 9-1 in the final frame.

“Maggie is really playing as well as anyone could hope.” said Steve Tela of his rookie keeper. “When you look at the other things, like draw control, ground balls, and reducing our turnovers from 38 in the Good Counsel game to 13 today, the team is really playing better every time out.” 

Ireton hosts Loudoun Valley on Monday in a varsity/JV doubleheader on Fannon Field, varsity start time is 4:15.

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In a “rivalry”  match against Seton’s top Varsity 8+ the Cardinals took 
the lead early and opened up water with every stroke. The Cardinals 
finished with a time of 5:21.7 and Seton finished with a time of 
5:32.7   The Ireton crew consisted of Katherine Aust, Sarah Morgan, 
Olivia Babiec, Catherine Burgin, Meredith Ramey, Carmen Fox, Lily 
Ramey, and Cecilia Baxter and coxswain Katie O’Neill.

The Ireton Men’s Varsity 8+ took a lead on DeMatha Varsity 8+ early 
and never looked back. The boy’s finished with a time of 4:50.5, 
DeMatha finished with a time of 5:16.1. The Cardinals had a strong 
crew that included stroke seat Garrett Hulfish, 7 Patrick Walsh, 6 
Ryan Dougherty, 5 Thaddeus Babiec, 4 Jacob Ramey, 3 Justin Roczniak, 2 
Chris Ring,  bow seat RJ Nagel, and coxswain Amanda Krauss.

The Freshmen Boy’s 8+ started the day with similar success taking an 
early lead and edging out both DeMatha’s freshmen boats. The Ireton 
Frosh boat included Kevin Shoop, Carter, Chris Adelson, Stephen 
Barlow, Josh Martini, Nick Warner, Scott Bergstresser, Billy Colbert, 
and Daniel Roldan.

The Ireton Men’s Varsity 4+ edged out DeMatha and was the closest race 
of the day. Ireton was able to take the last stroke that squeezed out 
DeMatha by 3 inches in the final moments that propelled them across 
the finish line ahead. Referee Cindy Cheng described how close and 
exciting the race was, “DeMatha had a couple inches on Ireton and it 
came down to who took the last stroke and was similar to watching 
Michael Phelps take the final stroke that just barely pushed him ahead 
right at the very end.” The crew consisted of Neil Heitbrink, Patrick 
Walsh, Garrett Hulfish, Jimmy Fonda and, Coxswain Amanda Krauss. Their 
time for 1500 meters was 5:16.1. DeMatha was so close their time was 
not able to be accurately recorded.


The Ireton crews are looking ahead to next weekend where they compete 
in the Cindy Cole Cup Championship. The event hosts some of the 
fastest local crews in the DC Metro area including Whitman, O’Connell, 
Holy Cross, Blair, Walter Johnson, and Sidwell Friends. The teams will 
compete for the team combined championship where the team that wins 
the most races scores points to win the cup.

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When the 2010 girls lacrosse schedule was announced, the Cardinals knew they were in for all they could handle early in the season;  opening with national power St Stephens followed by Richmond powerhouse, Collegiate. The road doesn’t get easier next week as the Cards host 6-time defending WCAC champions, Good Counsel, perhaps the best team of the bunch.   The strategy behind the schedule was to season an inexperienced squad that graduated 11 seniors, including 7 division I players.  That seasoning is underway as the Cougars of Collegiate bounced back from an early 1-0 deficit with three straight goals enroute to a 16-10 win in Alexandria.

Sarah Rupp paced Ireton offensively, but the red and gold had no answer for the dominance of the visitors in the center draws.  Ireton managed only 9 wins in nearly 30 draws on the day, pinning the Cardinals in their own end for extended periods of time. Junior Maggy Covert, playing her second game in goal, made a number of strong saves, but the Cougars had too many opportunities.

Ireton drew within 5-3 when sophomore Maddy Ziegler scored and the first half ended 10-6 for the green and gold clan visitors.  Collegiate would come out in the second half to score the first goals of the period and hold Ireton at bay until Rupp scored with only 14:16 left in the contest to make it a 13-7 game.  The teams played evenly for the balance of the contest on a perfect weather day for lacrosse. Collegiate improved to 3-1 on the young campaign while Ireton fell to 0-2, with the Falcons visiting Fannon Field on Tuesday at 4pm.

“We played much better today,” said Ireton’s head coach, Steve Tela. “We are a better team now than we were a week ago.  You want to win them all, but it is about winning the last two in May more than winning the first two in March.”  The Cardinals made strides in that direction.

The Cougars bolted to a 5-0 advantage in the JV nightcap, enroute to an 11-3 win. The loss dropped the young Cardinals to 0-2 with Good Counsel visiting at 5:30 on Tuesday.

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 Bishop Ireton had a two-man advantage in the final quarter and couldn’t convert, spelling the difference in a hard fought 4-3 loss in Alexandria to the Flint Hill Huskies on Friday.

Tyler Lewis opened the scoring at 6:48 of the first period to stake Flint Hill to an early lead. The teams’ goalkeepers were turning away numerous shots, including both Corey Cosgrove and Tommy Kestermann, for the redbirds. Senior Dom Puglise knotted the score following a superbly executed clear for Ireton at 9:37 of the second period.  Kestermann gave Ireton it’s first lead at 2-1 when the versatile keeper took a short stick to work with Cosgrove in the cage.

The Huskies’ Danny Evans answered to draw Flint Hill even at 2 before Puglise scored his second of the contest to push Ireton back to a 3-2 lead after three sessions of play.  Flint Hill senior Tim Peterson tied the game with just over 9 minutes remaining before Evans scored the game winner with 5 minutes remaining.  Ireton pressed the attack in the waning moments, overcame a shorthanded situation, but both squads traded unforced turnovers in the game’s final minute before the Oakton school prevailed.

The Cardinals head to Good Counsel on Monday for an evening affair, JV tussle begins at 4pm with the varsity match to follow in Olney at the Falcon’s Kane Stadium.

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The Cardinal JV (1-0) spotted the Saints (0-1) a 4-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings, then went to work on the visitors, combining 7 hits and 8 St Stephens’ errors for a dozen runs enroute to a 12-4 pasting of the city rivals at Frank Mann Field.  Cody Hagenston (1-0) got the complete game win pitching a solid game for the full seven frames.

Ireton began the comeback in the home half of the 4th, tallying a pair of runs, then adding three more in the 5th to take a lead they would not relinquish.  The 6th proved to be a  disaster for the Saints where some key hitting but also defensive lapses opened the floodgates as  7 Cardinals scored to break the game wide open.

The young Cards return to action at Frank Mann Field Saturday at 11am in the warm up act for the varsity home opener.  The JV host Archbishop Carroll, the varsity entertain the Covenent School at 3pm.

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 St Stephens’ Joe Warren no-hit Bishop Ireton for 6 2/3 innings Thursday, striking out 13 Cardinals enroute to a 9-2 thumping of the Catholic school.  On a perfect day weather-wise, the Cardinals gave up a four-run second  inning and another 4 in the bottom of the sixth to send Ireton to a loss in the season opener at St Stephens/St Agnes.

Warren (1-0) had a near perfect start, fanning the first six Cards he faced and 13 for the day. Sophomore Jake Gutman (0-1) opened on the hill for Ireton and classmate Andrew Bladen, a three sport starter, mopped up for the redbirds. Ireton surrendered five walks in the contest, four of whom scored, and four errors aided the Saints’ attack. 

The Cardinals finally got to Warren in the seventh, when an error, wild pitch, and successive doubles by Andrew Bladen and Andrew Jenkins plated a pair of runs.  Ireton returns to action Saturday in their home opener when The Covenent School visits Frank Mann Field at 3pm.

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