The fall sports programs have started off strong. Here’s everything you should know about the 2023 Volleyball and Cross-Country seasons so far.
The volleyball team is coached by Kendall Gomez, Mark Stone and Faith Gerkin. The managers are Emily Jones, Hannah Tichenor, Chelsea Vu and Makayla Coles.
The Eagles have had a good season so far with a record of 7-5, a marked improvement from last year’s 7-13 season. According to Gomez, all losses were from 5A or 6A teams.
“For a 3A team that is currently unranked, we are doing well and hope to continue improving throughout the season,” she said.
The team finished third out of eight teams at the Northwest Classen Invitational Tournament.
Despite the varsity team missing four key players due to a COVID outbreak, the Eagles beat our rivals Harding Fine Arts 25-13, 25-10 and 25-9 on Aug. 29.
“Our team has so much potential and amazing talent, we just need to keep our energy high and minimize errors,” said varsity player Mae Caudle. “Once we do that, we will be so much stronger.”
Spirit Night is Sept.5th against Classen SAS. Any HCP student that attends can find a student council officer and receive $1 of student store credit.
Volleyball’s senior night is Sept. 28, against Millwood.
Cross-Country is coached by Mark Busick, Sheila Carr, Rodney Nichols and Doug Ozment.
So far, the season is looking great. Several players have already beaten their personal records or are close to doing so.
“I’m doing better than the start of last season,” said junior Keven Espinosa. “I think I’ll be able to beat my time by at least a minute and a half.”
Oklahoma’s heat has made running this season extremely difficult. Most of the time, players would have to wait until the sun went down to begin running. Sometimes they even had to run inside.
The team runs at Pre-State on Sept. 23. Regionals are on Oct.21.
Senior Lily Boevers said she is most excited about the Chili Pepper Festival at University of Arkansas. This event takes the top seven varsity runners to watch collegiate teams race. HCP’s runners get to run a 5k with other Oklahoma schools such as Classen SAS, Bishop McGuinness and Casady.
Historically, the Eagles have found the Chili Pepper Festival to be conducive to setting personal records. The team is excited to see how they fare this time on their trip.
