design: Cris Ropero Montoya
photo credit: Ava Musgrove and Ava Robinson
Winter is just around the corner and with it comes a plethora of sports. Tryouts are in full swing with practices starting immediately following. Orange has many different winter sports that are all preparing and practicing for tournaments, games and competitions.
Bowling
With its first tournament on Nov. 20 after tryouts on Nov. 9, the bowling team’s season is starting off strong. The girls coach, Quincy Walker, hopes the team will be able to communicate and understand the importance of teamwork in order to help each other succeed as a team and a school program.
“This year we have some young men and women ready to bowl and can come in and replace the seniors who graduated last year. Each man and woman worked hard over this summer to improve and I expect that hard work will pay off,” Walker said.
He mentioned that returning members Bobby Drexel, Jake Burre and Jaydon Goldenberg are returning members who have the ambition to succeed this year.
Drexel has a personal goal of getting his average up by around 20 pins, and he said as a team their goal is to do well in tournaments. Last year the team made it to states. “Our goals are to make states again- but more importantly nationals.”
Hockey
The hockey team is preparing for its new season having lost some key players and big goal scorers from last year. Senior Gabe Headlee said the new players will be able to step up and replace the ones that were lost in order to help the team beat their goals.
“One of the goals for us this season is to win our division and make it to districts,” Headlee said. The team also hopes to beat every team in their division at least once.
The first game is Nov. 19 against St. Charles; Headlee hopes for student support with full student sections at the games this year.
Swimming
Practices for the swim team are in full swing every day at 5 a.m. Davoney Charnier is the swim coach for both girls and boys. He hopes that both teams will be able to make the top three at the OCC’s.
Having lost many upperclassmen due to graduating seniors, Charnier hopes the incoming freshmen and sophomores will step up and fill the missing spots.
“We had a big senior class last year. However, this season we have many incoming freshmen and sophomores. I am excited for the new additions to the team. I am looking forward to seeing the growth the swimmers have over the course of the season,” Charnier said.
Also notable is the girls 400-relay team that made it to states last year.
Gymnastics
It’s an important time for gymnastics; although most gymnasts practice year-round, the winter season is when many of the meets happen. The girls’ gymnastics team started its school season practices on Nov. 7.
On Dec. 8 the team has a meet at Hilliard Bradley at 6:30 followed by one at Thomas Worthington on Dec. 15 at 6p.m.
Wrestling
After becoming district champs winning the OHSWCA wrestling tournament last year, the girls wrestling team has its work cut out for it if it hopes to repeat this title. Brian Nicola is the girls’ wrestling coach and looks at goals in two ways.
Nicola said that while their mission is to grow the wrestling program as a whole, their goal for the year is to be a strong functional team.
The girls’ wrestling team has 13 returning members in it’s line-up this year, including eight state qualifiers. Two notable wrestlers include Lexi Simmons and Ida Walters who both placed at states.
For boys wrestling, the first tournament will be against Upper Arlington on Dec. 4.
Basketball
Both girls and boys basketball are starting off strong with tryouts. For tryouts, both the girls and boys happened on Oct. 29 – 30.
Last year, the school changed to the OCC central division. Junior Brayden Hatcher said that their goal for the year is to work hard and see how far it takes them.
On the other hand, the girls basketball team is focused on building itself as a team. Sophomore Maddie Yanka, said their goal is to grow as a team and be as successful as possible, seeing how far they can go this year.
