Fall Athletics Summary, 2016

 

The Cross Country team competed with and beat the best runners in the Washington area. Lowell ran at the Landon Invitational, which featured over 500 participants from thirty different teams. The boys were 11th out of 30 teams, defeating GDS and Flint Hill. The girls were 12th out of 30 teams.

For the third season in a row, the Lowell Cross Country team won the ISSAC Championships at Barrie. This season the team had it’s best team score in Lowell history with 5 of the top ten 10 finishers. Benji (12:17), Dylan (12:18) and Olly (12:50) earned 5th, 6th and 7th place overall respectively. Elka (13:33) was the 2nd female finisher.

The team had over 30 runners, each improving throughout the season and earning personal records as they trained hard in Rock Creek Park logging tons of miles and battling through challenging interval workouts. The Leopards benefited from great senior leadership from their seven eighth graders, most notably Elka and Benji, each of whom improved their own school records in the two mile. Having said that, the team is still very young with three of the top five runners in primary school and is poised to go after their fourth consecutive title next year. Their success at ISSAC’s earned the team an invitation to the MD/DC Private School Championships for the second year in a row, which was held at the Belvoir Scotts Plantation in Crownsville.

Each of the Lowell Soccer teams enjoyed great success. The Middle School Boys went undefeated for the first time in Lowell history. Opponents continued to underestimate their ability, but Lowell made quick work of Norwood, Woods Academy, Sandy Spring, Covenant Life and many more to the tune of an 8-0 record. The team was led by strikers Alex and Tristan, one of whom scored in every game this season. Berke was a rock in goal, earning multiple shutouts, and the defense of Flynn, Ethan, Andrew and Jay was absolutely essential to their victories. The Leopards have an incredible amount of skill and were able to out maneuver bigger and stronger opponents, using team work and a brilliant tactical approach. We will be raising a banner in the Lowell Dome to commemorate this magical season. With only one 8th grader on the roster, the Leopards will be a force to be reckoned with in the 2017 season.

The Girls Soccer team won it’s first game in Lowell History, 6-4 against JPDS back in September. The Leopards had contributions from many different players. The team worked together and gained toughness and grit as Coach Mallory put them through tough practices. Isabella was always the fastest player on the field, and the team has clearly found a fantastic goaltender: Arielle had two shutouts this season. Both of those games were very exciting – scoreless ties against Woods Academy and Norwood. The defense of Catherine, Elise, Gabby and Brielle was formidable, and with no 8th graders graduating, there is nowhere to go but up for this team of pioneers.

The 4/5 Boys Soccer team had a strong season and constantly improved. After a tough loss early in their schedule, the team rebounded with big wins over Grace Episcopal and an exciting 3-2 win on the road at Norwood. Down 2-1 at halftime, the team rallied for an incredible victory. The game was punctuated by fabulous goal tending by Eli, James contributing his fourth goal of the season and an amazing game winning goal by Josh with 7:00 left on the clock. The team had few subs on their bench, so every Leopard got the opportunity to play a lot of minutes this season and worked hard throughout each game.