Photo: Lilly Pauley
Spring Sports in Review
By: Ryan Zidarich
With the fast arrival of summer and the school year quickly coming to an end, let’s take a look down memory lane to review all of the spring sports that concluded at Central DeWitt High School.
The girl’s tennis team had a very successful outing this year. Senior tennis star Saydie Roling qualified for state as an individual by defeating Ali Wood from Grinnell. Accompanying Roling at state are two more seniors, Isabelle Pierce and Brooke Bloom. Pierce and Bloom combined forces and qualified for state as doubles by defeating Grinnell.
Roling described teamwork and team chemistry as being very important.
“Teamwork and being able to get along is so important. If you do not get along it can easily drop your mood and negative attitudes never end in success. Going deeper into the season we make sure to have plenty of team dinners to connect with each other, if one person is in a bad mood it can bring down the mood of the team and all we want is for everyone to succeed.”
Her output on the team’s future was described as uncertain.
“We have no idea how next year is going to go for this team. They will need to put in the work to get to what we have accomplished but it is completely doable. All of the girls have the determination to win, now they just need to be able to do it at a higher level.”
Finally, Rolling was asked about how state has motivated her and her teammates towards success:
“We set a big target for ourselves last year with our 3rd place win, so of course any team would want to match that or do even better and we are no different. All 6 of us girls want the bragging rights to prove that we are some of the best players in the state and that has pushed us to never give up even if we are losing a match, you can always find your way out in the end.”
The boy’s tennis team also found their success, co-winning the MAC tennis tournament. Some of the key assets for the team were a sophomore, Max Froeschle, and a senior, Grant Gregoire. The team went 12-0 during the regular season, remaining undefeated against all odds. Pleasant Valley remained a perfect 12-0 on the season as well, which halted the Sabers from getting an outright win of the MAC. Historically speaking, this season for DeWitt was phenomenal when compared to other years. One year prior, they went 9-4, and two years ago they went 4-6-1.
The boy’s soccer team has had a very successful season and stacked up evenly against the other teams that they faced. Freshman Jonathon Garrison led the team in goals, putting 18 total in the back of the net. This was enough to crown him second place in goals amongst all players in the MAC conference.
This astonishing amount of goals led to Garrison scoring 13 more goals than the next freshman in the MAC. Leading the team in total assists was junior Dolan Theisen with 9 on the season. Other players on the team flew under the radar but still heavily contributed to the team’s overall success through their tactical and efficient play style. Some of these players include a junior Caleb Sherwood and the senior tandem of Wyatt Penniston and Andrew Carlson.
A key win for the squad included a 1-0 win over Assumption who at the time was ranked #5 among all Class 2A. The team had a lucky draw with the bracket that they were put in for substate, which will see them competing against Maquoketa in the first round matchup and then the winner of the Decorah vs. Wahlert Catholic matchup.
The girl’s soccer team had a season that came with ups and downs, but through it all they stuck together and sought to keep every game competitive. The team ended the regular season going 6-9, which put them eighth outright in the MAC. Leading the way in goals was sophomore Zoey Fuglsang with 14 goals. Another sophomore, Mackenzie Lebarge, led the team in assists with 7 on the year. Lebarge also contributed 11 goals for the team. Some of the noteworthy wins on the season were beating North Scott 2-0, and demolishing Davenport West 13-0 despite the Falcon’s having home-field advantage in this game.
Lebarge stated, “This team has succeeded this year by beating North Scott for the first time in Central DeWitt history. We don’t really do or work well at tough times but we always overcome that and come out better than ever.”
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