Bishop Ireton High School | Articles | Uncategorized

The Bishop Ireton Rowing Team opened their spring season with the well-attended Anacostia Invite against DeMatha and Seton on Saturday March 19th at the Anacostia Community Boathouse in Washington DC. With over 150 athletes competing the ten races took all morning.
The conditions were slow – with a slight tail wind that eventually turned into a firm cross-headwind – proving a challenge for all teams during the first regatta of the season.

Choppy, breezy spring day as Cardinals opened 2011 spring rowing season with DeMatha and Elizabeth Seton

“We raced well and showed competency at what we have been working on,” Bishop Ireton Head Coach Eric Gehrke was quoted as saying, “and expressed good team speed all around. Now we must continue pressing forward with our end-goals in mind and our successes and trials of this regatta behind us.”

As the Varsity Girls and Freshmen Boys won their races in convincing fashion the Varsity Boys and Freshmen Girls were unable to pull out victories. With a competitive schedule ahead and the Cindy Cole Cup against five other teams next weekend that expression of team speed will hopefully carry over throughout the Spring season.

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Cards rode the big bat of freshman Susie Rhodes to first WCAC win of the young season

After losing the season opener to nationally ranked Bishop O’Connell, the Cardinals turned it around in extra innings Saturday against the Mustangs of Bishop McNamara.   With a strong offensive performance from freshman Susie Rhodes, the squad came from behind to notch their first win of the season and even their record at 1-1.

After spotting the Mustangs two runs on fielding miscues in the first inning, the Cardinals settled down.  Debbie Ward started a 4^th inning rally with a lead off triple and was driven  home  by Meghan Pearson.  A Katie Kiesner walk and double by Susie Rhodes put the Cardinals ahead 3-2.   

In the next half inning, however, the Mustangs came back to tie the score.  McNamara threatened again in the 6^th inning but a strong one hop throw from right fielder Kathleen Walsh allowed catcher Meghan Pearson to apply the sweep tag at home plate to end the threat.

Heading to extra innings tied at 3, a lead off single by Katie Kiesner was followed by a 2 out triple by Susie Rhodes to put the Cardinals back on top.  Fellow Freshman Heather Pearson’s base hit sent home Rhodes in what would prove to be a crucial insurance run.  The Mustangs were not finished and staged a furious rally in the bottom of the 8^th.  After cutting the lead to one and with the tying run in scoring position, pitching stand out Micki Crouch cranked up the heat and struck out the final batter, recording  her 9^th strikeout of the afternoon.

“The girls played well, but most importantly really showed what they were made of.  After getting behind, they rallied back twice and then played sharp defense to win the game,” said head coach Terri Pearson on the season’s first victory.

Bishop Ireton returns to action when the Panthers of Paul VI Catholic invade Alexandria on Monday, First pitch for both varsity and JV games are 4pm, varsity at Luckett Field, JV hosts the Panthers at Hensley Field.

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2011 Edition of Bishop Ireton lacrosse under new coach, Jon Reed

Joe Darville staked Bishop Ireton (0-1) to an early 1-0 lead and the Cardinals played a tough first half , but too much defense, not enough offense doomed the home team on the season opener and Coach Jon Reed’s debut as skipper of the Cambridge Road school 12-2 on Wednesday.

Darville’s early goal gave Ireton a temporary advantage, but Heights senior David Pim scored the first of four goals he would notch on the day to tie the contest at one apiece.  It would stay tied after a quarter before Cole Estrate gave the visitors the lead with the first of two goals he would tally in the second quarter.  Pim added his second and The Heights School (1-1) claimed a 5-1 lead at the half.

” I was very pleased with our defensive effort,” said Reed after the game. “It might sound strange given the score, but we played about 40 minutes of defense in a 48 minute game.  The Heights is a good team and good teams will score with that much advantage on offense.  We are going to have to find that guy that will step up and make the plays on offense for us.”

Pim scored two more Heights goals in the third stanza, when the Maryland visitors sealed the deal. Victor Haraongozo and mates on the defensive side of the field gave Ireton little room or opportunity to get back in the game. Darville managed to end the drought in the final period to round out the scoring for the redbirds.  

The Cardinals will regroup and host Flint Hill School on Friday at Fannon Field, 4pm start with JV opener to follow.

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Bishop Ireton opened the 2011 campaign with a 12-5 win over St Stephens/St Agnes School Saturday

A year ago the Bishop Ireton Cardinals might have lost all confidence when the St Stephens/St Agnes Saints took a 2-0 lead on a monster home run in the top of the first inning.  But it’s a new year and a new attitude that allowed Cardinal junior Jake Guttman to record 9 strikeouts in a 4-inning outing to beat the Saints 12-5 at Frank Mann Field in Alexandria Saturday night.  After the home run, the lanky hurler allowed only one more hit.

After Gutman ended the visitors half of the first, the Ireton bats went to work.  Andrew Selby and Corey Phillips drew walks before Brian Lewis followed with a booming double to score Selby.  By inning’s end, John Todd and Alex Hurst added 2-run doubles and the Cardinals were rolling.  Gutman retired the Saints in the 2d, and the Cambridge crew took up where they left off in the first.

Lewis was hit by a pitch to open the frame, Gutman walked, and with two outs, Nick Tangora laced a single loading the bases. Hurst walked to force in a run, Ben Judd plated Gutman and Tangora with a single and the Ireton advantage ballooned to 8-2.  Gutman continued his mastery of the visitors in the third and the redbirds continued to build their lead.

Lewis doubled in the bottom of the third, just missing a home run and he scored on a Pat O’Connell single.  Tangora would send O’Connell around to score with a single. Ireton added another run in the 4th and Coach Mike Gallagher used the remainder of the contest to play non-starters in the season opener.

The 1-0 Cardinals travel to McLean on Monday to challenge the Potomac School of the MAC. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30pm.  The JV, weathered out of their opener at St Stephens Saturday will try again on Monday as they host the Panthers at Frank Mann Field. Gametime is 5:30pm.

Coach Mike Gallagher enters his 4th season at Ireton excited about a young, talented 2011 edition of Cardinal baseball.

IRETON STATS

#7 Andrew Selby, CF- 0-3, 2 BB, 1 R
#11 Corey Phillips, C- 0-3, BB, E5 (2B), 2 R
#3 Brian Lewis, SS- 3-4, 2 2B, HBP, 4 R, RBI
#10 Jake Guttman, P-1B- 2-4, BB, 1 R, 2 RBI
#28 Pat O’Connell, 1B- 2-3, 2 R, RBI
a-#6 Cody Hagenston, 1B-P- 0-2
#23 John Todd, 3B- 3-4, 2 RBI, 1 R
#13 Nick Tangora, 2B- 2-3, BB, RBI, 2 R
#16 Alex Hurst, RF-P- 1-2, BB, 3 RBI
b-#4 Sean Boldaji, RF- 0-1
c-#15 Andrew Bladen, RF- 0-0
#1 Ben Judd, LF- 1-3, BB, 2 RBI

a- Entered Game in 4th, replacing O’Connell at 1st. Moved to P in 7th
b- Entered Game in 5th, replacing Hurst in RF. Left game after 5th inning.
c- Entered Game in 5th, replacing Guttman at P. Moved to RF in 6th inning, left game after 6th.

#10 Jake Guttman- 4 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 9 K, 3 BB, 1 HB
#15 Andrew Bladen- 1 IP, 1 K
#16 Alex Hurst- 1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 1 BB
#6 Cody Hagenston- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

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End to end fields with a softball diamond near the Telegraph Road railroad overpass highlight the new Witter Fields project.

With Mayor Bill Euille, the City Council, outgoing City manager, Jim Hartman, and scores of other dignataries and local youth organizations in attendance, the ceremonial “first shovel” of dirt was turned over Saturday morning, March 12th at the Witter Field project site, only two blocks from Bishop Ireton at 2600 Witter Drive, Alexandria.

The new recreation area, one of the mitigation projects from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction, is funded entirely by federal and state transportation dollars to provide the City with two rectangular fields and a state-of-the-art natural grass regulation softball field.   The addition of the rectangular fields addresses critical shortages of these fields for Alexandria. The artificial turf and lights will increase the City’s recreational resources by thousands of hours annually when the two rectangular fields and the softball diamond come on line in March, 2012.

Significantly, the rectangular fields will be available for Bishop Ireton on a regular basis during the School year in the all important 3-6pm timeframe.  “This is a huge improvement for our athletic program and for our athletes.” said Bishop Ireton athletic director, Bill Simmons.  “Witter Fields will be artificially turfed, they will be lit, they are two blocks from Ireton.  They open up a lot of options and just the quality of the practice facilities available to us just make this one of the biggest physical improvements available to us since we brought artificial turf to Fannon Field in 2003.  Any future expansion of our athletic program is tied to the success of,  and access to, Witter Fields. ”

The softball diamond will be the final portion of the complex completed and will become the softball home of the TC Williams Titans.  The natural grass will be laid in February, according to the construction schedule, and time will be required for the grass to “take”.  With the modern drainage and sub surface, the softball field will be the jewel in the City’s softball field crown.

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Coach Angela Hope- Eschew led Cardinal Cheerleaders to CCA national championship in their third year together.

Bishop Ireton’s Cardinal cheerleaders soared to the pinnacle of the Christian Cheerleading Association with a Division I large squad category cheerleading championship and the award of Grand Champion of the overall 2011 meet.

It was the Cardinals’ first ever championship at the national level after placing in the top five in their first two years at the event.  Hickory Grove Christian High School of Charlotte was second and Mount Airy Christian School from Maryland was third in the Division I competition.

It was a long road for the team to the title in Charlotte, NC, both literally and figuratively.   The varsity Cheerleaders won 1^st place at Regionals in Richmond and Classics in Lynchburg before they received a bid to compete in the Christian Cheerleading Association’s National championships in Charlotte, March 4 & 5th. It was their third straight trip to the nationals—all since Coach Angela Hope-Eskew has been leading the team—finishing 5th in 2009, 4th in 2010, before they won everything in 2011!

Best of all, in the eyes of Coach Hope-Eskew, the Alexandria school was awarded for the third straight year the “Spirit of Competition” trophy.  Every team competing at nationals votes for the team with the best attitude and spirit for the “Spirit of Competition” trophy. Coach Hope-Eskew was also selected as one of the top 20 Christian Coaches in America. The varsity cheerleaders competed against teams from Maryland, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Florida, California, Hawaii, and Ohio, just to name a few.

Coach Angela Hope-Eskew said, “This has been an amazing year! It is extremely exciting to put Bishop Ireton Cheerleading on the map. The team worked incredibly hard and they did a fabulous job at competition, we have been truly been blessed!” The team brought home scholarships, cash prizes, and two 6ft trophies and one 5ft trophy!

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Cardinals look to senior captain Caroline Boddie to have a banner spring for the 2011 edition of Cardinal softball

After two weeks of cold weather practice, the Bishop Ireton Softball teams kick off their seasons this week.  The varsity squad will be led on the field by senior captains Caroline Boddie and Meghan Pearson.  2010 All WCAC pitcher, junior Micki Crouch returns to the pitching circle, supported by her classmates, Katie Kiesner, Jess Taylor and Debbie Ward.  Sophomores Sarah Howell, Emily Quinn and Kathleen Walsh are poised to make an immediate impact on the team while freshmen Maria Manzek, Heather Pearson, Suzie Rhodes and Megan Sullivan are expected to make a contribution.

As a final tune up, on Tuesday and Wednesday the girls endured the damp weather with scrimmages against Flint Hill and Wakefield High School.  Throughout both contests the Cardinal bats showed great promise while strong Ireton pitching kept the opponents in check.

“Coach Gonzales and I are real pleased with how the girls have prepared for the season and impressed with what we have seen so far,” said head coach Terri Pearson.  “Am also excited for the J.V. squad.  They have a great coach in Alyssa Lombardi and I’m looking forward to seeing them develop as players and as a team.”

The squads have a very busy week ahead with three away games as they meet up with perennial WCAC power Bishop O’Connell on Monday and St Mary’s Ryken on Wednesday before finishing Saturday at Bishop McNamara.

As always the preseason pundits look to Bishop O’Connell as a favorite to lead the WCAC, with Good Counsel and St Mary’s Ryken among the strong programs in the very tough Catholic conference. PVI looks to be tough once again, and Holy Cross and Elizabeth Seton have one of their best teams returning. The Cardinals, historically one of the league’s best programs continues on the rise and hopes to be a contender in one of the most competitive seasons ever in the WCAC under first year coach Terri Pearson.

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Junior Maddie Ziegler and Cardinals got off to a fast start in their win over Madeira Tuesday.

Coach Sofield promised the girls that winter conditioning would pay off and it sure did!  In their season opener Bishop Ireton earned a solid win over Madeira 21-5.

Within the first ten minutes of play, Ireton led 4-2 with Maddie Zeigler scoring three goals and Ellie Marrin one.  The quality of play increased throughout the entire first half of the game with Ellie scoring again, Catie Isham scoring two goals and Emily Kearney, Sarah Rupp, Eva Irwin, and Margaret Nealon each scoring one.  The first half of the game came to a close with 11 Ireton goals on the board to Madeira’s 3.

The Cardinals again came out flying in the second half with Aubrey Gartlan leading with three goals and Margaret Nealon scoring an additional two within 40 seconds of one another.  Megan Fyffe, Brenna Heaney, Megan Mosely, MacKenzie Whalon and Ciana Puglise rounded out the final count, each scoring one goal.

Throughout the game, Ireton’s strong defense worked hard to keep Madeira in check and Sofield singled out goalies Maggie Covert and MJ Foster for a number of outstanding saves.  The newer Cardinals earned significant playing time and got an opportunity to show what they’ve learned in the preseason.

The Cardinals (1-0, 0-0) continue a string of three straight games against ISL opponents when they play at Bullis on Thursday, March 10th.   The opening draw is scheduled for 4:15pm.  The JV contest has been postponed in anticipation of heavy rains before and possibly during the day on Thursday which will make the JV facility unplayable.  The date of the reschedule has not been announced.

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Junior Reeme Lghzaoui is one of 9 letterwinners the Cardinals look to return to the 2011-12 campaign

It was a whirlwind experience for Bishop Ireton in the 2011 Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Division I girls basketball tournament.  The Cardinals hosted Epsicopal High School Tuesday night in Father Godley Gym and used a big third quarter to pull away to a 51-33 win. The next afternoon, the Alexandria school journeyed to Oakton to play second seeded Flint Hill, falling to the Huskies 66-44.

Episcopal jumped to a 5-0 lead early in the contest and junior guard Reeme Lghzaoui tumbled into the bleachers attempting to save an errant pass at the 5:15 mark in the opening quarter and could not return to action.   But Coach Derek Campbell responded to the unusual start with a full court press and the Cardinals scored the next 11 points of the quarter to close in period of play up 11-5.

The visitors from Quaker Lane responded with a 6-0 run to tie the contest and the second quarter was a see-saw affair with Ireton clinging to a 20-17 halftime lead.  It was the Cardinals’ third period, however that decided the contest.

Ireton returned to a pressure, full court press to open the second half and the tight defense opened up the Cardinal offense as the hosts raced away with a 19-3 advantage through the period with a last second Maroon three-point shot accounting for half their 6 points in the third stanza.  Going into the final session the Cards held a 39-23 advantage.

As good as the third quarter was for Bishop Ireton, it was equally rough in the fourth.  EHS came out with a 8-0 quickly and closed the margin to 39-31.   Sophomore Mara Celis-Copeletti finally hit a jumper for the Cardinals and pushed the lead to 42-32 with 2:30 remaining and both squads emptied the benches and the Ireton reserves etched their names in the scorebook as the lead ballooned to the 51-33 final. Celis-Copeletti led Ireton in scoring while Episcopal’s Cat Lambert led all scorers with 13 points.

Wednesday was another rematch with Flint Hill and once again the Huskies proved to be too much for the Cardinals to handle, falling 66-44 in Oakton.  Alex Long of Flint Hill led all scorers with 19 points, once again Celis-Copeletti paced Ireton with 12 in the loss.  Junior Helena Barber added 7, as did sophomore Camille Webber.

The Huskies held a 31-19 lead at the half on the strength Long’s three point shooting.  Unlike the previous night, where the Cardinals went 18-24 at the charity stripe, neither Flint Hill nor Ireton had much success from the foul line, with the Cardinals only 7-13, and the Huskies 12-21.  Flint Hill (25-6) advances to face Bishop O’Connell on Friday in Richmond and a possible championship date with top seeded PVI on Saturday. The Cardinals end the 2010-11 campaign at 5-22.

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The Bishop Ireton Swim and Dive team wrapped up a successful 2010-11 season with the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships (METROS), which was held February 23rd through 26th at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center in Boyds, Maryland. 

The divers competed first.  Senior Cameron Wallace dove well and earned the team 90.85 points.  Freshman Alex Branham also had a terrific meet, finishing 24th and adding 154.85 points to the team’s total.  Michael Ryan Clark, Liz Collins, Andrew Crandall, Ryan Dougherty, Kevin Grant, Saskia Kroesen, Brian McGinty, Kelly Palmer and Allison Wulff were the BI swimmers who competed in individual events. In addition, Liz Collins, Saskia Kroesen, Kelly Palmer, and Brian McGinty made it to finals in individual events. 

Liz Collins finished her very successful high school career with a newBishop Ireton record in the 100 breaststroke.  She broke her own record and set the new one with a time of 1:06.11, which earned her a 4th place finish in this incredibly competitive meet.  Collins also swam an all-time personal best in the finals of the 200 IM (2:11.86), dropping nearly 4 seconds from her preliminary swim and finishing 12th.

Saskia Kroesen also completed her high school swimming career with a great meet. Kroesen swam a season best time in both the 50 freestyle (25.17, 14 place) and the 100 butterfly (59.24, 12 place).  Kelly Palmer broke the 5:20 barrier in the 500 free with her best swim ever in the finals of the 500 free at Metros to place 19th overall.  Kelly has dropped 21 seconds in the 500 free this season.

Brian McGinty has dropped a significant amount of time in the 100 breaststroke this season and capped off a great high school career with a 100 breaststroke time of 1:01.46.  Brian’s goal was to swim a 1:02, a number which he’d written on his hand this year as a visual reminder of his objective.  Brian not only reached his goal, but surpassed it.  Brian finished 19th in the 100 breaststroke overall.  

All of the Cardinal relay teams made it to the finals, a significant accomplishment.  Liz Collins, Saskia Kroesen, and Kelly Palmer, together with Laura Becht and Maddie Zeigler made up the formidable BI women’s relays.  The women’s 200 medley relay finished 11th, the women’s 200 free relay 19th and the women’s 400 free relay 14th.

The men’s relays were just as successful.  The team of Clark, Dougherty, Grant and McGinty made up all of the men’s relays. The men’s 200 medley relay finished 13th overall, moving up from a 17th seed in the preliminary swim.  The men’s 200 freestyle relay, the only BI relay to swim in the “A” finals, finished an impressive 10th place.  And finally, the men’s 400 freestyle relay moved up two places from their preliminary swim to finish 16th. 

Overall, the Bishop Ireton women finished 13th out of 34 teams and the men 16th out of 35 teams, a commendable accomplishment according to second year skipper, Coach John Gullickson.  The aquadic Cardinals wrap up their campaign with their annual awards dinner at the Springfield Country Club Sunday evening.

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